What the *Tweet* is Social Media?

Be a Social Media Rockstar | August 12, 2009 | St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI

Archive for category Post-event Follow-up

A Report on the State of Social Media in Northeast Wisconsin

Jul 1

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up | No Comments

Social Media Survey Results

In May, MarketingSavant and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce conducted a comprehensive survey on the state of social media marketing in Northeast Wisconsin. The survey reflected the first attempt at a public survey to gather usage data and to determine the importance of social media to the business community of in Northeast Wisconsin.

The results overwhelmingly pointed to the fact that social media marketing is here to stay in Northeast Wisconsin! Some of the highlights from the Northeast Wisconsin Social Media Survey include:

  • 100% of survey respondents indicated that they felt social media has a place in the business world
  • 35% of respondents are “very” to “extremely” familiar with social media
  • 69% of Northeast Wisconsin organizations reported that they were already using some form of social media in their business today
  • One-in-three respondents reported gaining customers through using social media
  • Social networking is the top tool of choice to enhance business marketing efforts
  • 50% of organizations allow their employees to participate in social media
  • Brand-building and the perceived low cost of social media are the key benefits that respondents derive from social media

Click this link to access your copy of the Report on the State of Social Media in Northeast Wisconsin.

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On the Subject of Vending Out Twitter…

May 30

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up | No Comments

failwhaleThere’s been some discussion recently about the efficacy of vending out your social media responsibilities. I’m not a huge fan of it, but it has it’s merritts. Here’s a recent post on some of the finer points, as it relates to vending out your “tweets”.

Personally, I believe that social media is something that’s got to have someone on the ‘inside’ as the organizational social media steward to be really effective.

 

Maybe I’m being old fashioned, but when we started BlogSavant in 2004, we held the same position on blogging. It was something best done from inside. Sure, you could have lots of help, but the content had to come from you, and you had to monitor and respond accordingly. With each of these great new communication channels and opportunities comes the responsibility to manage them to your constituents’ expectations.

1. Sorry, but I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to engage on Twitter that you should engage on a personal level. Social media, for what its worth, is really about having human conversations online. I realize that your social media consultant is human, but if you’re trying to be open, transparent, honest and quick, and I’m sure that they’re all those things too, they are not those things ‘inside your company’ and don’t have the corporate DNA in them. Analogy: I you wouldn’t send me to a networking meeting to meet people on your behalf, so I won’t tweet on your behalf either….Read More…

 


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New North Social Media Breakfast

May 21

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up | No Comments

newnorthsmb175A few people asked about attending the New North Social Media Breakfast coming up on June 4th. We’ll have a location for you this week, but here’s where you can learn more about when the events are coming up and where they’ll be. I recommend joining the LinkedIn Group or Ning Group to get the messages from the group.

NNSMB on LinkedIn

NNSMB on Ning

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Social Media Guides for Small Business

May 20

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up, social media how-to | No Comments

snag-0389 As part of the social media & social network marketing class at St. Norbert, we furnished the students with a number of helpful guides to give them the knowledge the needed to get a quick start on their projects.

One of the most useful resources was this Facebook page from Dell with features eight different guides on using social media in small business.

Check out the Dell social media guides here.

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Securing your social media namespace [ScreenCast]

May 20

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up, What the Tweet | 2 Comments

During the What the Tweet event, we capture a bunch of questions that we’re going to take a shot at answering here in the coming days and weeks. For the first “lesson”, we’ll walk through the process of checking to see if your social media ‘namespace’ is available and look at how we would secure that namespace on one particular social media service.

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The event slides are live!

May 20

Posted by Dana VanDen Heuvel in Post-event Follow-up, What the Tweet | No Comments

We’ve gotten all of the event slides and have put them online for you to download.

Check out the slides here: http://whatthetweet.org/event-slides/

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Step in to Social Media, but do it right…

May 20

Posted by Kiar Olson in Panelist, Post-event Follow-up, Speaker Notes, What the Tweet | No Comments

For all of you who made the What the Tweet event yesterday, it was a great event with lots of good information. The speakers were good and really gave some in depth information on how social media helps drive a brand, grow a category and work PR magic.

But, I had quite a few people approach me after the seminar and tell me they were still pretty bewildered. They seemed unsure how to best get their company or organization into SM without a lot of money or people to drive it.

So here is a few tips to help get you started.

1. Start small. If you want to just promote your brand, try starting a Fan page in Facebook based on who your target audience is or a Twitter blog that gives the latest product or industry tips that make you unique.

2. Focus. Keep to your core competencies and don’t try to be everything to everyone. People would rather see less frequent posts or tweets than lots of posts with too much fluff. Unless it’s the pistachio green fluff made with jello. That stuff is good all the time.

3. Have fun. This shouldn’t be something forced and trite. Your customers and audience will read your posts or tweets more often if you add humor or inject some of your own personality into your writing. Seriously, if I want to read your press release, I’ll click on it. But if you are talking about how you sneezed and drank an entire cup of coffee through your nose while writing that release, I’m so there. BTW, don’t do that unless you want to singe all the hair out of your nose.

Well, I hope this helps with any questions people may have. Dana and I are working on putting together some small group classes that will help businesses get a hands-on start in social media. If this is something that interests you, give Dana or myself a quick email or call.

Dana VanDen Heuvel - dana@marketingsavant.com - marketingsavant.com - 920-569-6535

Kiar Olson - kiar@goelement.com - goelement.com - 920-983-9700

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When Blogging, Remember This

May 20

Posted by Jeff Gahnz in Panelist, Post-event Follow-up, Uncategorized | No Comments

Don’t use a blog as a forum to pitch products. I know that there may be some that disagree with me, but (especially in B2B), the best blogs educate and create conversation. The blogs that pitch products will lose the one thing that a blog can create for you: Relevance.

If you look at a blog as education and serving your customers (current and future), you have the right mindset. To steal a line from Dana, “Think altruism before capitalism.”

Jeff - Nicolet Bank Marketing Guy

Panel Member Thoughts

May 19

Posted by Jeff Gahnz in Panelist, Post-event Follow-up, Uncategorized | No Comments

Wanted to post one quick thought that I wanted to get across but we ran out of time.

I was pretty nervous to enter into the Social Media world as a tactic supporting our overall strategy.  It would have been much easier to stick to the way things had already been done.  So, I’ve felt the same feelings that you may be now.  My advice to you is to take the risk.  More good can happen than bad.

Look at the risks as opportunities.  If someone says something bad about your company, at least they care enough to voice their thoughts.  Look at that as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than go into crisis-management mode.  Be humble, listen well and invite the person into the conversation, either in person or on a blog, Twitter, whatever.  You will be surprised at how few companies actually listen and how that can be turned into a competitive advantage.

If I can help talk you through any of the obstacles or issues, comment back.  Or call Nicolet Bank and ask for the marketing guy.  I’ll be happy to help.

Thanks for coming to the program.  Hope that it was helpful.

 

Jeff Gahnz - Marketing guy - Nicolet Bank