Archive by Category:


Social Media

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Social Media and Haiti

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Social Media has played an important role in Haiti. There have been people who are trapped who are using Twitter to “cry” for help and to let relatives know they were alive. Whole blogs have been set up to keep people informed as to what is needed in Haiti and what certain groups have already sent.

And the fundraising will be charged to your cellphone, just text “90999″ for the Red Cross’ Haiti fundraising effort, “QUAKE” to 20222 for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, “GIVE” to 25283 for the MTV telethon, “YELE” to 501501 for the Yele Haiti Foundation, “HAITI” to 52000″ for the Salvation Army, “HOPE10″ to 20222 for Unicef, “HABITAT” to 25835 for Oxfam America, Inc., “HAITI” to 40579 for the National Religious Broadcaster, “SAVE” or “SAFE” to 20222 for Save the Children Federation, Inc., “GIVE” or “World” to 20222 for the World Vision, Inc., “CARE” to 24383 for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc., “AJWS” to 25383 for the American Jewish World Service, “LIVE” to 25383 for Americares, Inc., “LWR” to 40579 for Lutheran World Relief.

According to MSNBC over $30 million has been pledged using cellphone text messages. That 3 million pledges of $10 each have been made. The power of the cellphone, think how powerful that is.

There is even a story on wired.com about how U.S. filmmaker Dan Wooley, in Haiti filming a documentary, survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app! The app in question was Pocket First Aid and CPR by Jive Media LLC. You know what they say, there’s an app for that!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Facebook vs. Twitter

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Okay, okay I have both, but really is one better than another for a “company”. Like everything else in life, it depends on the company. Whether you are a B-to-C or a B-to-B company, Facebook gives you an opportunity to have a dialogue with your customers. It is a great way to tell them about what is happening at your company that affects them (a sale/discount that is available, an event, a product update, etc.). Facebook let’s you create a relationship with the people who “fan” your page.

Twitter on the other hand, with a 140 characters, allows a much more direct and shorter conversation. In a professional sense, it is easier to send people to other locations for more information (did you see this article, check out our Facebook page, see my new blog on our web site, etc.). Twitter tends to be more immediate and it reaches more people.

Different people favor Twitter over Facebook, and each has their own unique features. As you take your company social, I suggest you look at using both Twitter and Facebook as you will reach different audiences, and they will help grow your social network and your business.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »

Social Media for Non-Profits

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Non-profits often feel like social media is just “one more thing” – okay so all my clients do. But non-profits don’t always see the benefit, but think about all the publicity. A recent Fast Company article in the October issue “Stinking It Up: We had a big party, but got no buzz. Lessons from a PR failure.” shows why Twitter is relevant for non-profits.

What DoSomething.org found was that they let some really big PR opportunities slip through their fingers, because they ignored social media. Why not let everyone in the room keep their phones on during the event and let them take photos, post them to to their Facebook accounts, Twitter about the event in real time. Blog about the event as you build it, as each event happens.

Before an event you can grow excitement by blogging about the event, Twitter about it, ask people to “fan” your Facebook page. Non-profits need to utilize social media more than corporate entities for a very simple reason, its free.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

YouTube is a Viable Marketing Tool

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Using YouTube as a Marketing Tool requires having the ability to make a video. Today, that’s as easy as spending $149.00 for a Flip Video Camera. The Flip camera has made everyone a director and given everyone the ability to get “their” message out to the world.

Once you post a video on YouTube you get a YouTube channel, this also makes it easier for people to follow you on YouTube (yes, more followers). You can then embed the video on your web site and grow traffic to your web site by editing your video to include your web address at the end of the video. Just remember that once the video is on YouTube it is on YouTube, it can go viral which can be good (if your message is good) or it can be deadly, if you go on a rant. As Google would say, just “don’t be evil”.

Utilizing YouTube is just one more marketing tool in the social media toolbox. You can have fun with your topic, make it personal, or make it professional. If your lucky it will go viral and take your company to the next level. Maybe it will be as popular as the cat who plays piano!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media | 3 Comments »

Best Ad Campaign

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

The International Cannes Advertising Festival awarded one campaign the Grand Prix award for direct, cyber and PR for the “Best Job in the World” campaign for Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia. According to Fast Company, the campaign was “done on a comparatively paltry marketing budget of just 1.7 million dollars and reliant on fortuitous PR and word of mouth, the campaign achieved stunning results, including over 34,000 video entries from applicants in 200 countries, and more than 7 million visitors to the site who generated nearly 500,000 votes.”

Okay, let’s start with the comparatively paltry marketing budget of just 1.7 million dollars. I think paltry is relative. Seeing as Hamilton Island has a population of 1500 people (according to Australian Bureau of Statistics) no math I know makes this look like a paltry budget, although it could just be that I’m jealous. The town I live in has just over 15,000 residents and and our marketing budget is approximately a whopping $200,000. Now I realize I’m using “Boomer Math”, but my friends in Hamilton Island are spending $1133 per resident while versus $13 per resident, yes they had better results. Miracle results? Let’s not let the media fool you into thinking they had a small little budget and pulled off a miracle, they had real money and agencies working for them on two continents.

Now for what they did right, they came up with THE IDEA (yes I meant to shout), it was fabulous. They had a beautiful, gorgeous location they wanted people to visit. Hmmmm, how to get the word out, I know, let’s have a contest! So they created a contest for the “Best Job in the World” where the job is to live for six months on Hamilton Island and share with the world your experiences through a blog, twitter, etc. And don’t forget you get paid for this, you get paid a lot.

So people started to apply online, lots of people. So many people applied that the web server crashed two days into the campaign. (oops, you’d think one of the agencies might have prepared for that.) Because you needed to have people vote for you to get the job, people started to create web sites and blogs to promote themselves, and of course this promoted the “job” itself. The perfect storm of publicity, when your PR goes viral.

So what did little Hamilton Island get for their 1.7 million dollars, they generated $200 million in global publicity for Tourism Queensland according to the BBC (I found this reference on Wikipedia). Now a new Yacht Club as well as a new Golf Club are opening in 2009. Oh, and I’m writing about it in my blog. What more could they ask for! Guess they’ll have some more “great jobs” for us to apply for.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Twitter for Business Can Be Effective

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Twitter is a great tool for a business if used correctly. There is a difference between using Twitter for personal use than for professional use. In the case of a business, I do not think it is necessary to Twitter daily, only Twitter when you have something important to say, such as you have a product update, a new product announcement a feature enhancement, etc. Announcements on Twitter are often forwarded faster than other media. I tend to Twitter daily, and I only Twitter about work.

Twitter is a great way to connect with your clients with information about what you do or what you think. It also keeps you from over thinking what you are going to say. When you are limited to a 140 characters you have to be succinct. I admit, as I see the character count down turn to red I start to evaluate the most efficient, clear and concise way to make my point. I am still a stickler for using proper words, I don’t want to use “text-speak”. I feel that as long as I am using Twitter as a professional medium, my tweets (okay, it is hard to write the word tweets and feel professional) need to be in proper English and sound professional.

You can follow me on Twitter @robinatribit

Tags:
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Facebook Pages, Are They Professional

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Several of our clients have asked if they should use Facebook as a way to connect with clients. If you have a personal Facebook account and like to “share” on it, continue to do so, just not with your clients. For your clients, set up a Facebook Page. The difference is that a Facebook Page is for a business or organization or band, etc. This is where you connect as a professional, so you can separate your personal and professional sides of your life.

I use my Facebook page to keep up with friends, Ribit’s Facebook page is strictly professional. For instance, when I post this blog to the Ribit web site, I will also post a comment on Ribit’s FB Wall (for those that don’t use Facebook, the wall is where you post your comments) that I have posted a new blog and suggest that Ribit’s Fans check it out. Yes, you have friends that connect to your personal account, but you have Fans that connect to your Facebook Page for your business.

I know it is all a little confusing separating personal and professional, but it is worth it. Once you have 1000 Fans for your Page you can get a vanity URL for your Page to make it easier for people to find your Page. A vanity URL is where instead of having a random set of numbers assigned as your page id, you can set your own id as long as no one registered it with Facebook before you did. Ribit still needs several more Fans before we will be getting our very own vanity URL.

Tags: ,
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Are You Linkedin?

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Linkedin is a great place to connect with your clients, potential clients, vendors, associates and anyone you would normally network with in the “real world”. You can use Linkedin to let the people you are connected with know what you are doing, what new projects you are working on, or even ask other professionals for their opinion on any given topic. I find it is a great resource for finding experts in any given field.

I personally use LInkedin as a way to stay to connected with and to network with people I know professionally. My Linkedin contacts may be clients, or vendors, or people I worked with in the past. I treat my Linkedin connections like any other relationship. If I don’t know the person, I don’t connect with them. I realize that for some people it is just about trying to get the most connections. I want people connected to me that if I ask them a question, I know that I can rely on their answer.

If you are using Linkedin, remember, that while it allows you to post comments similar to Facebook (What’s on your mind?) and Twitter (What are you doing?) you want to keep your Linkedin posts professional. The people that are viewing your posts may one day be a client, or your boss. You can check out my public Linkedin page.

Tags: ,
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Should You Be Using Social Media

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Is Social Media another “because everybody else is” event? Absolutely not, social media is yet another way to connect with your clients. You just need to use the correct tool correctly. Most of us already use e-mail, which is a form of social media, many of you are using e-mail programs such as Constant Contact or iContact to manage your database lists and to send a monthly newsletter to your clients. These types of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, help you not only keep your customer list up-to-date, but they also help you to abide by the Can Spam Act of 2003. If used correctly these e-mail campaigns can help you stay in front of your clients so they will remember you when they need the service(s) you provide.

Social Media today includes Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace (though MySpace is losing ground to Facebook and MySpace is not necessarily the right place for most businesses) and Twitter. And when talking about Social Media, let’s not forget blogging. Just remember that for all of these media you need to relay information that will be meaningful to your clients, that will give them information about your company, products, or services that will make them think more highly of your offering.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »