Tag Archives: MySpace

Links worth a click #4

Here’s my pick of the best click worthy content from the last week.

First from Hubspot, a piece positioned as a startup’s social media starter list but actually useful to companies at various sizes and points on their development trajectory.

Next  if you’re moving your PR online and targeting influential bloggers and writers online, heed the warnings in this piece offering 6 Ways to Guarantee Your PR Pitch to B2B Bloggers Will Be Deleted.

Interesting stats released by com.score and reported on by Mashable this week suggested that social networking accounts for 1 of every 6 minutes spent online. I’m just surprised that 1/ people still use MySpace and 2/ people think it is even fair comparing it with Facebook.

Lots of companies are entering the social media space. Most are cautious, some write guidelines and implement policies to steer safely through. It’s ultimately becomes a case of how brave or conservative, and how empowered you want your staff to be. Here is an interesting Econsultancy read looking at whether all your staff need be engaging in social media?

Did you twang the Les Paul guitar strings on Google’s recent doodle? If you did you contributed to $268m in lost productivity, claims Search Engine Journal.

A random, and finally and just for sheer ‘awesome-ness’ here is a behind the scenes featurette from the new Transformers 3 movie, focusing on the birdman footage shot above Chicago.

Q: What have you been reading? Share your links in the comments.

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Blog Gold 2010: Propagating your personal brand

Last November, I told you that you’re an expert in what you do.

To support your outward promotion of your expert status and the value you can add, you might have a profile on MySpace or Facebook. You’ve realised it is important joining the debate on Linkedin, using it as a way of building your credibility and reach.

You post the occasional blog, answer a question and contribute to some industry facing groups. It’s a little time consuming but in giving back and helping others, it positions you as a worthwhile and credible contact.

You may be using a Twitter account to raise your profile and to post links to content – whether its either your own, or stories and posts that you might want to be associated with.

If you’re more switched on, you might have some content lodged on sites like YouTube, Vimeo or Slideshare. They are great for posting video snippets, photo slideshows, animations and presentations.

But, are these rich and powerful sources cited on your business card? Are they in your email footer? If not, you’re missing at least two golden opportunities to propagate your brand and expertise.

Don’t settle for guidelines dictated to you by the corporate design police in your company. Extol the virtues and importance of these things to senior management and encourage their use.

Promoting your use of these technologies demonstrates your understanding, shows you are forward thinking as an individual, as well as a business, and that you are prepared to engage and enter into a discussion with your customers.

Original posted 20 Nov 2009. Image courtesy of Elaine Fogel’s blog.

Social media and the power of advocacy

This blog reflects on the Econsultancy seminar on social media effectiveness at Technology for Marketing & Advertising 2010. More can be found at www.econsultancy.com.

The classic AIDA approach to sales and marketing has at its core a customer journey from unaware through to customer. Social media in a short space of time has proved that it can be used as part of a fully integrated marketing strategy to deliver at every AIDA stage but most effectively in the areas of engagement with, building trust of and facilitating loyalty to a brand.

Social media, explained simply, encourages and enables advocacy. The ability to instantly refer, recommend, share, advocate a product, service, supplier or idea has revolutionised the use of the Internet. You can tap into groups of likeminded individuals, make people famous and reward contribution.

The communication principles of ‘content in context’ remain key to this as people only share relevant, interesting, funny, good or plain cool material with their online contacts.

There are numerous examples of campaigns that have drawn on the power of social media to go viral and move people and opinion. Just consider the return of Cadbury’s Wispa, The X Factor vs. Rage Against the Machine chart battle, Blackberry having the first Facebook business page and online support for recent catastrophes in Haiti and Chile.

Small and large businesses alike are making platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and MySpace, blogs and more work for them. Make advocacy happen for you by doing the same and taking it one step further by making it easy for people to share your content. Use ‘Retweet’ and ‘Share’ buttons and sites like www.addthis.com and www.addtoany.com.