What Would Martin Luther King Do With Social Media?

Dr. King made a huge impact on the world with his passion, revolutionary ideas, inspiring vision and charisma. That combination alone got him and his movement earned media worth hundreds of millions of dollars on network television, major weekly magazines and radio. Many of you might not be old enough to remember, but in those days, if you got on the three major networks (FOX, MTV and hundreds of other channels didn’t exist), the two major newsweekly’s and syndicated radio you reached virtually 100% of the US population.

Creating a movement today is easier in some ways and a lot harder in others. The proliferation of media channels provides a much larger opporutnity to tell your message but the fragmented audience makes it harder to reach people at scale…with earned or paid media. The big plus in building a moment today is [Read more...]

Bra’s and Facebook: A Social Media Inspiration for Your Business

Black. Pink. Leopard…I will let your mind do the rest. For those of you who are not avid Facebook junkies, like myself, you probably have no idea what these words even mean.  Well, it just so happens, that Facebook has been in the center of a social media-marketing storm.

Female Facebook users, from all around the globe, decided to implement a small “game” to raise awareness for breast cancer. All women (starting with only a few) bombarded the live news feeds with the color of their bras. Who knew that something this simple could become a ‘Grass-roots movement?’

Talk about viral marketing…within two hours, the Susan G. Komen Facebook fan page increased from 135 fans to 700.

Now, [Read more...]

In the Midst of Haiti’s Tragedy, Social Media Prevails

At GenNext Media, our thoughts and prayers go out to the citizens of Haiti who were affected by the earthquake that devastated their country a few days ago. In this time of need, social media marketing has become the disaster relief of the future. The Red Cross has already raised almost $1 million for the country of Haiti through text message donations, Twitter outreach and Facebook groups.

Even in the face of disaster, social media has become the “go to” network for updates, donation information and pictures from the scene. Is this the tipping point of social media? Do you think that social media has finally gone main stream?

The viral outreach of the Haiti relief campaign has caused a break through in the way we are able to promote action and encourage [Read more...]

Want To Increase Your Leads…Add Channels!

One of the most common questions we get from clients is, “how do we get more leads?” Leads are the lifeblood for any business, and they are harder to come by in a tough economic environment.

The first thing we do is analyze where leads are currently being sourced? We also look at the number of leads by channel. Even better, what is the ROI of each lead as well as conversion by channel. Without tracking you will never know where your business should continue to invest and focus time. As important as tracking is, this post is not about tracking. We want to focus on making sure you are making use of all the possible lead sources online.

Funny thing is, in this new “distributed web” we have a lot more channels to explore. Let’s quickly look at the online channels your [Read more...]

3 Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

Marketing in the distributed web takes a completely new set of skills than traditional business marketing.  We have been conduction a poll asking our audience (almost 1,000 on LinkedIn)of business owners and senior executives “What the most challenging aspect of implementing a social media marketing program is?”.

Here are some results:

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

By far, “strategy for a campaign” is the most challenging. Not surprising since we have so much information coming at us all the time and new ideas, techniques and media options emerge every day. I also suspect that many are confused between social media marketing and interactive marketing in general (the emerging distributed web).

Second runner up is content creation and distribution. Most companies are not set up to be publishers. They don’t have the skill set or workflow and systems to [Read more...]

Please Don’t Use Social Media Marketing If You…

Please Don’t Use Social Media Marketing If You…

…have the slightest inkling you have torpor.

Torpor means “lack of vitality or interest”.

Creating a long-term relationship with consumers, clients and brand advocates via the distributive and social Web requires that you have, or are doing, something we’ll find interesting: a message, product or service possessing value and exuberance.

Too many businesses, sites and brands are defined by torpor.

They have no purpose, they clutter the world with more useless “stuff”, they are boring, cookie-cutter products, and are not worthy of our attention.

These same brands and companies jump into the distributive Web hoping to build fans and to connect with existing as well as new customers.

Where is the passion and purpose in your brand or product? Can we “feel” it when we click on your site, Twitter page or blog?

Figure it out before you fill us with apathy (another aspect of torpor).

Definition from Visual Thesaurus: (one [Read more...]

Harnessing Brand Advocates In Social Media

Prospects involved in online communities can have a multiplier effect on your marketing effort if you can convert them into brand advocates for your business.

In a recent eMarketer post we found a recent survey conducted by Synovate for word-of-mouth ad network PostRelease investigated just how likely Internet users are to talk about Brands and motivate consumers to become advocates. The study confirms that involved Internet users express this brand advocacy in many ways online and offline. This is called “earned media” in professional marketing circles…where brand messages get repeated in traditional media outlets, online in social networks or offline in recommendations and conversations. It’s free and very valuable.

The concept of earned media is important because it is the most powerful form of communication. Studies have shown for years that work of mouth communication is the most powerful form of motivating consumers. This study looks [Read more...]

Are You Using Webinars To Build Sales Leads?

Webinars are a great tool for building sales leads in the new social media marketing world. The question is, are you using them to get closer to your customers?

I know you are getting inundated with webinar promotions and I know what you are probably saying, why in the world would anyone come to my webinar? Well, if you have Fans, Followers, email lists and the like, you have a bunch of people that like you and want to get to know you better. Webinars are another way to get your prospects down the funnel to become a buyer!

Webinars should be a consistent feature to your social media marking program. Use your distributed presence on all those web 2.0 sites and your blog to promote your webinars. You have a big presence now. Use it to drive people to get more involved [Read more...]

Facebook Marketing: 5 Surefire Ways to Give Your Page Clear Visibility

Facebook has gone from a small, Internet-based college directory to an International business platform.  Facebook is a network that gives you the insight into your target community, more so than any other social media site on the web. That being said, what good are all of these features if your businesses page is going unnoticed?

As your social media expert, and friend, I am here to unwrap your lonely Facebook page and give you the necessary tools and advice to frame your market and form a solid community around your business.

Here is the top 5 Surefire ways to get your page out there and get your business on the Facebook radar:

Utilize Facebook Apps. One of the best “perks” to having a Facebook page, over a Facebook group, is the availability of all the applications you can use to better your page’s visibility and community. [Read more...]

How To Create An Economic Advantage Using Social Media Marketing

As we discuss in Digital Forensics, listening to your customers and observing your competitors can give you a big edge when it comes to business marketing using social media and the distributed web. Done right, your will get to the point where you are learning a ton about how you can improve your product, delivery and messaging.

If your at the point where you have a good pulse on your customers from listening and participating in blog and forum discussions, then it may be time to consider embracing this information and taking action to further your brand objectives. By incorporating some of this rich customer information and  feedback into your marketing campaigns or product design or service offering, you can gain brand advocates and improve your brand/business positioning.

Getting started is simple:

Figure out the best way to solicit ideas from [Read more...]

« Previous Page — Next Page »