Posts Tagged: business

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22
Oct 09

Link roundup: read & recommended between September 22nd and October 22nd

Added to my Delicious bookmarks between September 22nd through October 22nd:

  • 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
  • 5 Winning Post Ideas for Your Small Business Blog : Technology : Idea Hub :: American Express OPEN Forum – Keeping content fresh is one of the most important things you can do on your small business blog. Consistently putting out quality posts accomplishes two important goals: it turns visitors into repeat visitors and it creates a community around your content. Further, good content builds on itself over time and will slowly increase your blog's traffic as it becomes more discoverable in search engines. However, blogging regularly isn’t easy, and while it's true that almost anything can be turned into a blog post, generating ideas for fresh, original, high quality content is difficult, especially for those new to blogging.

    In this post we'll take a look at five different types of posts that you can use on your business blog. We'll talk about what these posts look like, explore why each variety of post works especially well for business blogs, and look at examples of each type of post from actual blogs around the web.

  • Working Less Means Working Better, Says Study – Productivity – Lifehacker – It's no surprise that cutting back on work and taking regular breaks is beneficial for workers, but a four-year study from the Harvard Business School found that less work also benefits workers—and workplace productivity—in less obvious ways.
  • The Beginner's Guide to Tricking Out Your WordPress Blog – Blogs – Lifehacker – Nice overview for Wordpress newbies
  • HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page – Nice, simple overview of how to set up a Facebook Fan Page
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21
Sep 09

Link roundup: read & recommended between September 16th and September 21st

Added to my Delicious bookmarks between September 16th through September 21st:

  • Foursquare Beats Twitter to Local Advertising Goldmine – Foursquare, however, isn’t wasting any time on monetizing and has just beat Twitter to the business services market. Today marks the launch of their beta advertising platform — Foursquare for Businesses — designed to provide retailers with an opportunity to highlight specials to Foursquare users who check-in nearby and get data based on the location-based campaigns.
  • Online Database of Social Media Policies – Database of 82 corporate social media policies
  • WordPress Super Cache – WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly.
  • Newspapers get the kind of communities they deserve » Nieman Journalism Lab – "… what seems to escape many journalists is the direct connection between their own indifference to interacting with readers and the parlous state of their comments. If my research has taught me anything — not to mention writing columns and a blog for 15 years — it is that the surest way to improve the tone of the debate in forums or comments is to get involved in them. Writers who do, both at the Globe and elsewhere, uniformly say it has a significant effect on the civility of the comments they receive afterwards.
  • Alvenda Lets Consumers Shop From Their Facebook Pages – Advertising Age – Digital – A hypothetical example of how it works: You create a gift registry on Target.com or Macys.com, and by hitting a button you can share your registry with all your friends on Facebook. They'll see the notification in their newsfeed — "Karen has shared her gift registry" — and, without leaving the newsfeed, Karen's friends can purchase off the registry. Users could also compile wish lists on retailer sites (or e-commerce-enabled brand pages) that they share with their Facebook newsfeed. Their friends will then have the option to pool their money to purchase items from that wishlist together.
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21
Jul 09

Link roundup: read & recommended between July 16th and July 21st

Added to my Delicious bookmarks between July 16th through July 21st:

  • iPhone Games: Idea Attracts Coke, Audi, but not Many Others – Advertising Age – Digital – there are only a few handfuls of branded games in the App Store. Those include Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory," released last month; Miller Lite's "Round Runner," launched in May; Ford Motor Co.'s "Flex Photo Lab," out last October; Audi "A4 Driving Challenge," released last August; and Pizza Hut's ordering and game app and Nissan's "Cube Party Roundup," both introduced last week.
  • Twitter leaps 1,989% YOY | MarketingCharts – Twitter.com was again the fastest growing site for the month, increasing 1,928% year-over-year, from one million unique visitors in June 2008 to 21 million unique visitors in June 2009. Facebook remains #1 for overall visitors as well as time on site.
  • New Study Finds Correlation Between Social Media and Financial Success – Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%.
  • SEOmoz | CAPTCHAs' Effect on Conversion Rates – With CAPTCHA on, there was an 88% reduction in SPAM but there were 159 failed conversions. Those failed conversions could be SPAM, but they could also be people who couldn’t figure out the CAPTCHA and finally just gave up. With CAPTCHA’s on, SPAM and failed conversions accounted for 7.3% of all the conversions for the 3 month period. With CAPTCHA’s off, SPAM conversions accounted for 4.1% of all the conversions for the 3 month period. That possibly means when CAPTCHA’s are on, the company could lose out on 3.2% of all their conversions!
  • 10 Rules For Advertising On Facebook – 'Rules' for Facebook have pretty good crossover for marketing/branding/advertising presence in other social media channels. Some really good advice here.
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30
Jun 09

Link roundup: read & recommended between June 29th and June 30th

Added to my Delicious bookmarks between June 29th through June 30th:

  • Teens More “Normal” Than You Think Regarding Media Usage | Nielsen Wire – "It might sound hip and trendy to suggest they’re too busy texting, Twittering or LOL-ing to be engaged with traditional media, but ultimately, the research proves otherwise."
  • HOW TO: Use Social Media for Enterprise Business – Don’t underestimate how much information is on the web. It’s stunning what you can learn just by reaching out. If you and your business have a strong social presence, it’s simply easier for potential partners, customers, employers, and businesses to find you. In enterprise, it’s about closing the deal and standing out; social media’s one of the easiest ways to achieve this goal.
  • BBQ Chain Smokey Bones Turns Staff Into Social Media Hosts – Advertising Age – Digital – “It's great for somebody to have a job as a tweeter. [It's] much better if tweeting, Facebook, blogging, etc. is part of lots of employees' jobs.” Case study of a small chain of restaurants that has created a 'social media army' of its employees to spread the word about the restaurant. Since the new website and associated features went live in February, web traffic is up 50% and the chain's e-mail list has increased 30%, "to the six-figure range," Mr. Unger said. Building the e-mail database was critical for the agency, which will rely heavily on e-mail blasts for future marketing efforts. Across the Facebook, MySpace and corporate pages, Mr. Unger said, the chain is adding about 2,200 followers each month. The web launch was accompanied by limited print and outdoor support.
  • Mobile Phones Beat PCs for Young Women – The “Women and Digital Life” study, revealed that more than 80% of US women now use a wireless device and 17% use using a smartphone, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry or models from HTC, Samsung, LG or similar. Among those in the 12-24 and 25-39 age groups, smartphone ownership is now 23%. In contrast 11% of women ages 40+ own a smartphone.
  • The 5 Phases Of The Facebook Sales Funnel – A useful 'Facebook Marketing 101' reference: "The Facebook sales process is an elongated one which entails engaging the user throughout the entire sales process (starting with their pre-purchase experience)."
Social Networking / Speaking engagements / marketing — Comments Off
11
Jun 09

IIMA presentation on Facebook

I spoke last night at an International Internet Marketing Association panel on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for business. My co-panelists were Ben Smith, VP of Marketing for Polygon Homes (speaking on Twitter), and Tatsuya Nakagawa, President of Atomica Creative. I was “Facebook Gal” for the night, and my job was to represent Facebook’s value for business.

Here’s my presentation … not quite the same without the “audio track” but I think there are a few nuggets to pull out anyway.

In essence, I believe Facebook is and will remain a major player in social networking and, with Facebook Connect, Open ID. It is market-dominant now, and its growth remains impressive. The biggest challenge for businesses on Facebook, in my opinion, is how to select the best tactics to fit within their broader marketing strategy.

Facebook offers so many options, from low-tech, low-cost Page setup to more creative and budget-intensive off-site efforts leveraging Facebook Connect. Even once the tactic is chosen (i.e. a Facebook Page), success depends on finding the unique customer insights that open the door to creating a healthy relationship between the brand and its customers.

I think many companies are misled by the ease of setup of a Page, and think that a junior staffer or even an intern can take care of it. It’s as though they hand the intern a hammer, a stack of plywood and a box of nails and say “go, build.” Without a blueprint to follow and a certain level of carpentry skill, the result is unlikely to satisfy.