How to Draw Meaningful Conclusions from Social Media Metrics
The wealth of information available to social media marketing practitioners is staggering. Companies typically track “likes” and retweets, but they can also track things they rarely focus on: the qualified leads coming from social, a company’s share of a conversation, and even the amount of revenue generated from an individual social marketing initiative. While this […]
Create Tools Agnostic Social Media Strategy in 8 Steps [Infographic]
Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on Social Media Explorer. Although social media continues to thread its way into the fiber of more and more organizations, my experience is that many small to mid-sized companies are still lagging behind when it comes to the development and implementation of their social media strategies. […]
3 Companies Focused on Helping Not Selling
This article for me is part sharing what I know about digital marketing tools and part love letter to three companies that really deserve your business. Each of these businesses are, in equal parts, inspirational and invaluable to me. Each of them I’ve used for years and am proud to write about and evangelize to […]
9 Tools to Improve Social Media Productivity
Do you find that the daily demands of social media promotion are increasing? Our time is our most precious asset and social media is great at eating into it! Thankfully, there are several wonderful tools that can help. Here are 9 social media tools that will help you save time and improve your productivity. 1. […]
4 Tools to Help Build a Social Media Analytics Report
In some circles, social media marketers still get a bum wrap for not being able to prove how their work impacts the bottom line. Despite an abundance of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many business leaders still view social media as a “nice to have” but not a necessity. “We see our competitors employing social […]
The 2 Ways Most People Are Misusing Vine
In this edition of The Baer Facts, I talk with Kyle Lacy of ExactTarget about Vine, Twitter’s new super-short video/animated gif app. Here’s the thing. Vine is strangely addicting to watch, and the ease with which you can create these short clips is astounding. But Vine is not revolutionizing content marketing. That’s just foolishness. You’ve […]
Social Toaster vs Zuberance – 2 Ways to Activate Social Advocates
I understand why “influencer outreach” is popular. The opportunity to hitch your brand’s wagon to the plow of a new media celebrity (or demi-celebrity) and have them propagate your message seems like a no-brainer. But, we too often mistake audience for influence, and in the bright light of day these programs can be great at […]
Don’t Be a Social Media Guinea Pig
When it comes to social media, there are few sure bets. One thing’s certain, however: people go nuts for new stuff. Show someone the latest gizmo, doodad, or whatchamacallit dubbed the “Next Big Thing,” and it will be very difficult for him or her to resist the urge to jump aboard. There’s something a little crazy, however, […]
Clearing Clouds of Confusion – the 5 Categories of Social Media Software
The social media software industry offers some amazing functionality, but it suffers mightily from murky messaging and customer confusion.
The truth is, many marketing professionals do not know what this software can do, much less what specific companies’ versions can do. And the software companies themselves make it worse by not being specific about their capabilities and areas of focus.
There are five specific categories of social media software, and lumping them all under “social media management” does us all a disservice. I’ll clarify the categories below…
Favorite Social Media Management Tools for Small Business
Although we consult primarily for large and medium-sized businesses here at Convince & Convert, we are often asked online and in speaking engagements about social media management tools for smaller businesses. Several tools have been developed specifically for SMBs, although they’re often overlooked because they don’t get as much love from Mashable, AdAge, and beyond.
If you’re thinking about adopting a social media management tool, there are several questions you should be asking yourself and your team before you dive in.
Social Media Time Savers: 4 New Productivity Tools and How to Use Them
Jess Ostroff is Managing Editor at Convince & Convert. She also acts as Director of Calm for the new virtual social media assistant agency, Don’t Panic Management. You can find her tweeting about social media, martinis, and music as @jessostroff. As Jay mentioned in his post yesterday, there’s a serious influx of information out there, […]
Is Social Media Strategy Required or Redundant?
I don’t have a problem with Guy Kawasaki. I enjoy his books. His track record in business is substantial. We have friends in common. But on the subject of social media strategy, we disagree in every possible way. Last month, Guy was interviewed (that happens a lot) in Inc. Magazine about social media, as was asked […]
14 Ways New Facebook Betrays Small Business
Do you have your copy of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype? Visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble to get your copy now! I get it. The IPO is coming, and even though Facebook is the largest seller of online advertising, it has massively under-monetized its inventory due to the relative paucity […]
9 Social Media Hacks I Use Every Day
Do you have your copy of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype? Visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble to get your copy now! Social media isn’t inexpensive, it’s just different expensive. To do it well requires a tremendous time commitment, and regardless of what your life and lifestyle entails, the time you […]
Why Social Media Has Ruined Your Advantage
Yesterday, I wrote about real-time information and the death of news cycles. This of course creates considerable challenges for business, which typically is not yet architected for real-time communication (at least not in public). Speed matters. Requiring someone to pull off to the side in your drive-thru lane like a vehicular leper because you didn’t […]
Social Media Success is About the Wizard, Not the Wand
Thoughtful research genius Tom Webster wrote an interesting post a couple weeks ago about where the location-based business could head, moving beyond the momentary check-in toward more nuanced and relevant customer interactions, using location data as the raw materials. His example was his local watering hole, where he figures by the time he’s checked in […]