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Social Media: No Longer Optional

Friday, August 6th, 2010

It used to be that the Internet was used primarily to look up information. That’s changing. Today, an increasing number of people are using the Internet to connect with people. The Internet is no longer slow and accessible only through big, clunky computers. Today, the Internet is fast and accessible through any number of highly portable devices. People carry the Internet with them and it allows them to instantly connect with other people through a large number of social media platforms. The Internet is increasingly becoming more social.

Consider the following:

So why should you, as a business owner or marketer, care about all of this? Because it shows that people are increasingly integrating the Internet into their lives. They are now tapping their social networks for everything, from helping with purchasing decisions to finding a date for Saturday night, and everything in between. Businesses that can find a way to integrate themselves into their target audience’s social networks have a huge competitive advantage over those that do not. Inc.com recently ran an article spotlighting the importance of social media as a business tool. To quote directly from the article (full version can be found HERE)…

“When so many people are turning to the Internet to find soul mates, you can rest assured they are looking online for everything else – from their next pair of Oakleys to a new optometrist – and if you are a business seeking customers, you are well-advised to look online, too. You’ve heard it before: Social media is no longer an option; it’s a necessity.”

A business that doesn’t use Social Media to spread it’s message is wasting a huge opportunity. People are figuring out what to buy, where to hang out, and which service to try by tapping into their Social Media networks. So why are you still spending money on placing ads on TV, on billboards, and on the radio? By participating in Social Media, your business or brand has an opportunity to interact with current and potential customers. You can provide value to them by providing information when they’re looking for it, where they’re looking for it. You can gather their thoughts on your product, your competitors, and hear their concerns. You can then adjust and respond. Social Media allows to build meaningful, valuable relationships with your target audience where they are, where ever they are. No matter how big you make it, a billboard or newspaper ad can not do that.

Social Media isn’t some flashy new fad. It represents a shift in the way people gather information and interact with each other. Businesses who adapt themselves to become more social are going to have a huge advantage over the ones who choose to ignore the trend. As people increasingly use Social Media to help with purchasing decisions, the effectiveness of traditional media (print, television, radio) is going to decrease. Additionally, as fewer and fewer advertisers turn to traditional media to help share their message, these media companies will have to increase their prices for advertising just to remain profitable. So advertisers using traditional media will be spending more and getting less. Your customers and your competitors are embracing social media. Are you?

-Dan Cheek
LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467

Tags: laser burn media, Online Marketing, social media, traditional media
Posted in Social Media in Society | No Comments »

What is FourSquare?

Friday, June 25th, 2010

By now, many people have heard of and use FourSquare on a regular basis. However, unlike Facebook and Twitter, FourSquare hasn’t yet become a mainstream social media platform that is used by seemingly everyone. And there are still many people and businesses who have never heard of FourSquare and have no idea what it is, how it works, or the benefits that it offers. For those of you who don’t know what FourSquare is or how it can be used to help your business, read on.

So what is FourSquare? For the official explanation of FourSquare, I’ll quote directly from the FourSquare website….

“People use foursquare to “check-in”, which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we’ll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places – cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.

You’ll find that as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you’ll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you’ll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover.

Think of foursquare as an “urban mix tape.” We’ll help you make lists of your favorite things to do and let you share them with friends. Think beyond your standard review – we’re looking less for “The food here is top notch” and more for “Go to Dumont Burger and try the most amazing Mac and Cheese ever.” Foursquare will keep track of the things you’ve done, help you create To-Do lists and even suggest new experiences to seek out.

As you check-in around the city, you’ll start finding tips that other users have left behind. After checking-in at a restaurant, it’s not uncommon to unlock a tip suggesting the best thing on the menu. Checking-in at a bar will often offer advice on what your next stop should be. Every tip you create is discoverable by other users just by checking-in.”

In addition to this, there is also a few other features of FourSquare that add to the fun for users. The person who checks in to a particular place the most becomes the “mayor” of that spot. If someone else comes along and checks in more times than the current mayor, that new person then becomes the mayor, ousting the exiting mayor. This aspect of FourSquare encourages friendly competition amongst users. Additionally, users can unlock “badges” by checking in at different locations. For example, someone who checks into four or more bars in one night unlocks the “Crunked Badge”. And someone else who checks into the same place three times in one week unlocks the “Local” badge. In addition to alerting the users’ FourSquare friends about these accomplishments, FourSquare can also send out these announcements via Twitter and Facebook.

The potential for business owners using FourSquare is huge, as you can probably imagine. Many businesses, such as Starbucks, encourage their customers to use the service and award prizes (free coffee, free drinks, discounts, etc) to the current mayor of their location. Additionally, FourSquare also allows business owners to track who’s visiting their location, when, and how often. And since FourSquare allows users to make recommendations and leave “tips” for other users on where to go, businesses who embrace FourSquare stand to have a huge competitive advantage over those that do not.

If you own a bar, restaurant, hotel, or store of any kind, there’s a good chance that your business is already listed on FourSquare. Users can add locations simply by using their GPS enabled phone (Blackberry, iPhone, Droid, Palm, etc) and once the location has been added, anyone can check in, leave recommendations, and tips for other FourSquare users. And it’s also important to keep in mind that this information isn’t just being shared across FourSquare. Users can share this information with all of their Facebook and Twitter friends, as well. This means that every time someone checks into your business, that information is shared with potentially hundreds of other people.

So, as you can see, FourSquare has all sorts of benefits for business owners and provides a simple an powerful way for owners to increase awareness of their services and products, increase customer loyalty, and provide others with an easy way to recommend your business to all of their friends. So what are you waiting for? If you’d like help using FourSquare and other social media platforms to strengthen and grow your business, the experts at Laser Burn Media can help. We would be more than happy to work with your business to help you build a lasting competitive advantage and build stronger, more profitable relationships with your customers. All for now.

-Dan Cheek
www.LaserBurnMedia.com
dan@laserburnmedia.com
Twitter.com/LaserBurnMedia
(570)795-9467

Tags: foursquare, laser burn media, social media
Posted in Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society | No Comments »

Big brands moving to social media

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Many more companies are starting to get on the social media band wagon. It is a subtle way to sell things on a social media site. It is not your typical sales style that these companies are used to. Every company want to be advertising in these social media sites. It is really word of mouth marketing in the end. Someone is usually spreading the word about the company at all times of the day and in all the contries that your brand has a presence in.

Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola’s Atlanta-based director of social media.

“Having the world’s most-recognized brand, we feel like there’s an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us; we have a duty to respond,” Mr. Brown says.

Best Buy Co. Inc. riled up the social-media world earlier this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing. One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter. (When that caused an online backlash, the electronics retailer opened the process of crafting a job description to the public.)

The larger companies are starting to catch on to this free advertising source. Why wouldn’t a company use social media? Social media is so important and moves at such a rapid pace that it can become overwhelming for one person to handle. Most of the complaints that people post on Twitter or Facebook want a fast response. So it is not just word of mouth marketing it is also part customer service.

The lightning-fast pace of social media, and Twitter in particular, has forced businesses to act in a whole new way, says Mr. Brown of Coca-Cola.

“If you don’t respond within three or four hours, you might as well not respond at all,” he says.

For example, a man on Twitter recently expressed annoyance at his difficulty in claiming an all-expenses-paid trip he’d won through the My Coke Rewards program. He Tweeted, “Coca-Cola, bring down your drawbridge,” Mr. Brown recalls. Within half an hour, Mr. Brown had engaged the customer on Twitter, got on the phone with him and resolved the problem.

Not long after, the man changed his Twitter avatar to a can of Coke Zero.

It is so important to have a one-to –one conversation with your followers even if the post is positive. Keep your followers engaged in the conversation public square that we call social media.

-John Botch
www.Laserburnmedia.com
john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Business Advice, Facebook, Ning, Online Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society, Twitter | No Comments »

Cup O’ Joe for a Joe

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Special Labor Day Edition.

Since this is a national holiday and some of our fellow American’s are not here to celebrate with us. I thought that I would take a look to see what things people are doing to thank the troops.

I saw this advertisement on facebook the last few days; it is called “Cup O’ Joe For A Joe”. So I decided to click on the advertisement to see what it is all about. A company called Green Beans Coffee has launched this campaign.

In our travels to see the Troops, many share with us their sense of loneliness, isolation and feelings of being forgotten. Their commanders tell us that some Soldiers never receive mail from home. In response, Green Beans Coffee has launched Cup of Joe For A Joe to let anyone, anywhere in the world, say thanks to our troops through the simple act of buying a cup of coffee and having it delivered along with their own personal note of encouragement into the hands of a deployed Soldier.

Please join Green Beans in honoring our Troops. It only takes a few moments plus the spare change in your pocket to say thanks. Simply choose a purchase of any amount and we’ll do the rest!

Here is how it works. First you choose your gift. Gifts range on the donation to the troops is $2- any amount that you want to donate. A $60 gift sponsors 30 soldiers. The second step you write a message. Yes that is right, You get to write a message to the troops that you are sending your gifts to. Then enter your payment information and then they will deliver your gift. The soldier also gets a chance to respond to your message. Click on the link to donate or see more of what the program is about. http://www.greenbeanscoffee.com/coj/index.php

While searching for another story I came across one called U.S. troops in Iraq to get cigar gifts. The owner of a Phoenix cigar distributor collected over 6,000 cigars all donated by people and businesses.

The owner said this:

David Haddad said he packed his collected cigars into a package for the overseas troops and is personally traveling to Iraq to present his gift as “a little bit of hospitality,” The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.

“It’s an honor to the heroes … because they do what they do (in war) to make it possible so that I get to do what I do … My company offers … cigars to resorts all over the world,” Haddad said Wednesday. “It’s to bring a little bit of hospitality to the troops.”

Fumar Cigars Director of Operations Bradley Meduna said the cigar package has an estimated value of nearly $30,000.

The owner David actually got a chance to go to Iraq and have the biggest ever cigar party in a war zone. Many people are dong different things for the troops. I know that they appreciate every gift that they get.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Facebook, Online Marketing, Social Media in Society | No Comments »

Facebook Facing heat in Canada about Privacy.

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Ever since Facebook has decided to keep users information even if they cancel their account I have heard of people complaining about it. No one wants a company especially an online social media company keeping their information, especially if they canceled their account. So this isn’t really news to me because I knew that it would be against the law in once country or another.

Facebook has been facing some heat in Canada for violation of that country’s privacy laws, and tomorrow the Canadian privacy commissioner will announce what the social networking company will be doing to address those concerns.

The issue surrounds retention of customer data even after a user cancels his or her account, which the Canadian privacy commission claims violates the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

There are also apparently concerns regarding how Facebook () shares user information with third parties, particularly the now almost one million software developers making use of the Facebook application platform.

Though there’s no word yet on what exactly Facebook will do to address the privacy concerns, what is revealed at tomorrow’s press conference could have wider implications for other social networks and services surrounding privacy standards and the usage of customer data. Tamir Israel of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic said he also expects those changes to extend beyond Canadian borders as well and to possibly be implemented Facebook-wide.

Facebook has also informed us they’ll be doing a follow-up after tomorrow’s announcements:

“We will be having a media call tomorrow following the Canadian Privacy Commissioner’s press conference. The call will be tomorrow (August 27) at 11:30 AM EDT.”

We should know by later today if they decided to uphold the law in Canada or not. I for one am not a fan of facebook keeping information after someone cancels their account. There are other issues that people have with facebook like to sharing of information to third party developers. Hopefully these issues ill be squared away sometime in the short future. I am a huge fan of social media but people need to rise up and challenge these companies if there is something wrong in the way that they conduct their business. I applaud you Canada!

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Facebook, Social Media in Society | No Comments »

Brazen Carreerist, not your typical job posting site!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Brazen Careerist added a new feature geared towards Generation Y career searchers. Yesterday Brazen launched a social media aspect to the site. Now you can go and get advice for your resume and other career guidance for people that need it the most right now.

Brazen Careerist has quietly been a great place to connect with young Generation Y adults who care about changing the world, turning their passions into careers, and advancing themselves. It was co-founded by Penelope Trunk, a well-known author and columnist in the area of careers, along with Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh.

Primarily the Brazen Careerist website was focused on articles and blog posts from the community (a blog network), but that all changed an hour ago when the website transformed from a community website into an all-out social network, focused on flipping the conventional wisdom surrounding the resume by focusing on “idea feeds.”

Brazen Careerist now focuses on the social aspects, and the profiles are the center of this new universe. While you’ll find general information – followers, following, groups, interests, social media accounts, etc. – what makes Brazen Career different is the Ideas Stream and the Resume section.

Idea Stream essentially is a news feed, but focuses on career-related ideas, updates from your groups (i.e. New York professionals, Bloggers, etc.). Resume is exactly as it sounds: a version of your resume with your work history, education, and summary.

For the professional, it makes sense: it’s a great way to connect with other professionals, learn about your industry, and ask others for advice. For the company or the headhunter looking to find raw talent, it may be a bit difficult to sift through all the potential hires, as detailed filtering is not yet implemented.

Brazen Careerist has been one of our favorite Generation Y websites. But while the old site was really just a blog network, the new one really is “a career management tool for next-generation professionals,” even if it does not introduce anything groundbreaking.

It’s an intellect’s version of LinkedIn (), though it will need to implement a lot more social and organizational features before it can realize its potential. It also faces the uphill battle of convincing busy Gen Yers that spending time building a profile is worth their time.

For a Gen Yer that has just graduated from college this is a great website. They still have some social media features that have to be added. For the Human resource representatives it still need some work, before the industry as a whole will adopt this site. This has the potential to be a great social media website because the HR people will be able to see what the candidates are really like. Overall this website should be a hit within the next year of two, if they keep on adding features.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Business Advice, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society | No Comments »

AddATweet has a competitor

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Kutano is the name of the new competitor of AddATweet. Kutano runs as a browser plug-in. The basic part of this plug in is that you can leave a comment on the website you are visiting. There is another tab to this plug-in that lets you talk to community members that are on the same site as you.

When AddATweet launched we were immediately intrigued by the idea of using a Twitter () app to create a web commenting system. The idea is certainly a sound one, which is why we’re not surprised to see a competitor already emerge on the scene.

Kutano, which launches today, is also a browser add-on for adding comments to web pages, but this one functions as a Twitter client, a là TwitterFox (), with an intelligent automatic link-aggregating component, and a way to add instant conversation threads and tweets to a web page. It’s a web browsing Twitter utility you never knew you wanted.

Kutano is pretty darn impressive. After installing the plug-in, and creating a Kutano account (a step AddATweet doesn’t require), the app loads in a left-hand frame within your browser. You can use it like any other basic Twitter app to keep up with your Twitter timeline, mentions, direct messages, and followers. But the beauty of the tool is that you can use it while you browse to create, or add to, a comment thread on a web page, view the tweets that link to a particular page, follow people from within the app, retweet, and tweet your replies and comments to Twitter.

For example, for any public page that you browse, you’ll notice two applicable Kutano tabs you can use to engage with page or website content. The first tab is like a conversation hub. Click the bubble icon to display page and site discussions created by other Kutano members. Click a conversation to view comments, add your own, reply to a user, follow a user, and optionally select to tweet your response or receive notifications of new activity for the discussion thread.

Should you want to start a new topic for discussion via Kutano, simply hit the plus sign at the top (in the discussion panel), name your discussion topic, and choose whether or not you want to tweet the topic.

The other tab with page related content offers up tweets penned by Twitterers related to site content, and it functions by pulling in tweets with the specific URLs from the page or website as shared on Twitter. Here you can view page or site-wide tweets, reply or retweet those tweets, click to follow the Twitterers in question, or add your own tweet.

This is the newest type of add on that lets you leave a comment to webpage and business owners. This concept is great on paper, but the question is will people take to Kutano like they have embraced Twitter? I think that Kutano will not have a problem with that at all.

John Botch

Laserburnmedia.com

john@laserburnmedia.com

Posted in Online Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy, Social Media in Society, Twitter | No Comments »

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