The Social Media Dilemma for Business

January 21, 2010 by Bob Sheehan  
Filed under Blog

Unless you live under a rock you have at least some knowledge of “social media.” As a business person you know that you should probably “do something” with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and all the other new ways to reach out and touch someone electronically.

Everybody says it’s easy to get started. That’s true, if you are a teenager, pop singer or NBA player who simply must use social media to let everybody know what you are doing every hour of the day. Basic use of social media is a fairly simple process. (It must be – have you seen some of the idiots who are tweeting?)

But it’s not easy for a business to launch a social media program that has substance and staying power. In fact, it is a mistake to take the social media plunge unless and until you have a plan in place and you are committed to making it an integral part of your overall marketing mission.

Sustaining the Effort.

The problem most businesses face with social media is not the initial entry. The challenge comes in sustaining the effort over time in a way that has an effect on the marketplace. Your social media presence will only deliver customers if they are presented with interesting and valuable information, and a reason to act on that information.

Strip away the newness and technology of social media and what do you get? Additional ways to put your company’s message in front of people. That’s why it is called “media.” And, like any other media, you need to fill the pipeline and keep it filled.

Would you reserve a full-page newspaper ad every week and then run the same ad over and over again? Of course not.  Similarly, you don’t want to create a corporate Facebook page and leave the same basic information up month after month. If anything, content gets old faster in the social media environment.

Getting Off on the Right Foot.

When you are ready to incorporate social media into the marketing mix, make sure you devote the resources it needs to succeed. Decide which of the many channels of communication are most appropriate for your needs; it will probably be several different platforms. The most popular (for good reason) are Facebook fan pages, Twitter, LinkedIn (especially for professional networking) and company blogs

In setting up your various accounts (all free) be sure the information and graphics you use adhere to corporate standards. Don’t get sloppy just because the media is new and free. Whether it is a blog header or profile information on Facebook, do it right to make the biggest impact.

Content is Key.

Even before you set up your Facebook page or send out your first Tweet, establish a schedule of regular updates and assign the responsibility for making them happen. This is where many businesses fall down. They get all excited about sending out a Tweet, getting fans on Facebook, or posting a blog entry that they forget that it is not a one-time event, but a process.

This is where professional help is needed. Either hire somebody in-house or contract with an outside writer to keep your messaging fresh, consistent and credible. Just as with any other type of advertising, it is the message that gets people to take action, not the fact that it came via e-mail or Twitter.

Customize your message for your business and your audience. Test out coupons and sales via Twitter. Get customers to share their experience with your company on your Facebook site. Make yourself an authority and expert in your field by posting compelling blog entries. Be interesting and people will be interested!

No Quick Fix.

Don’t expect a flood of response right away. Like anything else that is new, you’ll need to promote your social media presence and build up an audience before you start converting them into customers. But the advantages social media bring are enormous: instantaneous delivery of your message across multiple platforms, the ability to test various messages, measurement and accountability. Don’t waste these excellent tools by using “cheap lumber” in the form of poor and inconsistent content.


GenNext Media Lab Guest Author

n1639757431_5558Bob Sheehan is the founder of Coastline Advertising and a Surefire Social Certified Coach. As an advertising executive with broad experience in advertising and marketing, Bob is focused on generating actual measurable results for clients in a wide array of businesses. Bob has become a leader in contractor coaching by catering to the needs and wants of our clients.

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Manage All of Your Social Media Networks at Once? We Do…and So Can You!

January 20, 2010 by Alyssa Gagen  
Filed under Blog

In order to run a successful business, you must be organizes, inside and out. With all of the social media networks and constant updates, mentions and followers, it is no wonder that our social media strategy can fall under the radar.

Screen shot 2010-01-20 at 11.06.18 AMAs the social media guru at GenNext, I can attest to the sweat, pain and tears (maybe a little exaggerated…) we have gone through looking for a social media platform that can fulfill all of our needs.

The key to finding this, we have learned, is simply through trial and error. But first you must establish the features your business needs to run an organized and manageable social media marketing strategy.

So ask yourself, what is your ideal social media platform? Here are the things that were essential to us:

Scheduled Updates. Based on analytics, we schedule our tweets/updates to go out at particular times of the day, when they will have the best conversion rate. Therefore, if I want my blog post to go out at 3:00 p.m. sharp, I can schedule this in the morning and know that it is complete.

Combined URL Shortner and Analytics. A URL shortener is a must for Twitter updates, but they mean nothing if you cannot track who is clicking on them. We use analytics to monitor our target audience to shape our marketing strategy to what our customers are looking for.

Monitoring Twitter Mentions. In order to stay up-to-date on people mentioning your business throughout the distributed web, it is important to have an automatic system that informs you of when you are retweeted, direct messaged or commented on. We like to engage our audience and let them know that we are there for the social marketing needs.

Can you find all these things in one site? We did. HootSuite is a great organizational platform that fits all of our social media needs. But it might not work for your business. So, ask yourself, what are your social media marketing needs? Let us know…we can lead you toward a platform that will fit your business.

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

January 14, 2010 by Alyssa Gagen  
Filed under Blog

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.@RedCross Hatian Earthquake Updates

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 outreach as fast as possible.  With the simplest process possible, the Red Cross, and other charitable organizations, took advantage of the popularity and simplicity of the Internet as a medium for immediate response.

Social media marketing has become the new wave of communicating and it will be interesting to see what the future holds. What do you think?

For a list of reputable charities taking donations for our friends in Haiti, check out this CNN article released this morning.

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3 Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

January 13, 2010 by Chris Marentis  
Filed under Blog

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

linkedin-survey

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 do it. In the distributed web, becoming and information publisher and educator in your market are critical to success.

The third biggest challenge to implement a social media program is time to implement. This is scary stuff for executives already overwhelmed with things they need to do just to get their current tasks done.

Company Size

We also looked at these same variables by company size and it sheds more light on this subject.

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

By Business Size

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

LinkedInbusinessSize

Larger organizations appear to be more focused on understanding the strategy and how it fits the overall marketing communications effort. This makes sense since there is more structure and moving pieces in a larger enterprise. Larger organizations also do not appear to have as much of a concern with the content piece of social media marketing as does smaller businesses where resources and skill sets are more limited.

Social Media Challenges By Age

Interestingly, we also looked at these same variables by age.

Most Challenging Aspects Of Social Media Marketing

By Age of Respondent

Unscientific LinkedIn Poll

LinkedInSurveyAge

Business owners and executives in the “middle” of a career seem to focus on strategy.  Younger respondents have the most concern about content development and distribution. Possibly because they don’t have the experience, contacts or perspective yet to consistently create content.  Older professionals find the time issue hardest to handle. This new marketing world requires a time commitment and attention that they are not used to.

In our judgment, this all points to an idea we have been playing with (and testing in our GenNext Media Labs) over the past year. We created a system to abstract away the complexity of implementing a social media program. Not that our “system” is easy, because the fact is doing social media marketing right is not easy and requires more time and attention than traditional forms of marketing. Our solution to these challenges is a process with, work flow and organization businesses of any size can understand and implement.

The key, however basic, is to have a plan using a proven set of actions to start with so your organization doesn’t get trapped. Look at businesses that you think are doing it right and model what they are doing.  Follow what is working and then expand once you get started.

We launch social media marketing programs for companies large and small using a proven template of content, distribution, and a website/blog that all works together to have an impact. The focus is getting some level of leads and/or traffic to our sites quickly. It’s amazing how much time people find to do things once they experience some success.

If you have not responded to the survey, please go to this link and tell us what you think…most challenging aspects of social media marketing


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

January 8, 2010 by Alyssa Gagen  
Filed under Blog

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. The “Business” section of the applications page has some great tools to add to your page. For Contractors, I highly recommend the “testimonials” application and for small businesses, I recommend using “Static FBML” to create a landing page, or other customizable tabs, for potential fans to go to.
  • Advertise. Whether you put a button on your blog/website or run a paid advertisement for your page on Facebook, make sure you are making your presence known. I put a link to both of our Facebook pages in my email signature, and I also advertise it in the blogs and forums I frequently participate in.  Remember: every little bit helps, so don’t hesitate to try something and see if it works.Facebook
  • Post, Share and Comment. Don’t abandon your page! Being an admin on a Facebook page is like taking care of a newborn baby, it needs love and frequent attention in order to grow. Post article links, pictures, information, etc. about 3 times a day.  If someone posts a comment, you should be very proud of yourself, but don’t stop there. Keep the person engaged by responding in a timely manner to let them know that you are listening.
  • Use Other Facebook Pages to Network. Many of our fans, and leads to our website, have come from postings in other Facebook pages. Do a search and find some popular, frequented pages and start hanging out there.  Introduce yourself and mention the name of your business and many people will check your page out. The more you frequent these groups, the more relationships and credibility you will build, and thus, more fans you will produce.
  • If your friends really love you, they will become fans. Facebook is the mecca of viral marketing for your business. Every time you join, post, or reference a page, all of your friends see it on their “Live Feed.” Ask your friends to become fans of your page. It is ok if they are not involved in the same industries and niches you are. In fact, this allows your page to reach people that you might have never found on your own. So ask your friends to give you a hand…you can buy them a drink at happy hour to thank them.

I have found that Facebook is a tough place to get noticed (probably because of the millions of people surfing the site), but if you have patience and a strategy, you will be seeing serious traffic and increased conversion rates within 6 months.

So go out there and make Facebook your marketing platform, but before you do that…how about you become a fan of two more pages? We promise to return the favor!

Become a fan of GenNext Media and Surefire Social Marketing on Facebook!

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Business Marketing: How to get More Clients and Bigger Profits Using New Technology and Applications

December 17, 2009 by Alyssa Gagen  
Filed under Articles

Good news for the internet newbie: To the swift go the spoils. Master social marketing, and you’ll dominate your niche.

Entrepreneur hopefuls who are seeking for ways to succeed in online business may finally have a more level playing field thanks to social media. Reduced costs involved with social marketing and the ability to interact with customers easily through new technology and social media applications, make it possible for newbies to jump in and quickly become a trusted authority in a certain niche. This translates to more customers and increased profits in less time.

There was once a time when new business owners had to fight their way to the top and take a beating from competitors, but social media has changed all of that. It is a new game now, and if you can learn the ins and outs of successful social marketing, you can dominate your market.

Attract and convert customers

One word can describe the best philosophy for getting clients: relationship. If you can connect with your prospective customers, engage them and create loyalty, you are in an excellent position to convert prospects into paying customers.

But how do you build these valuable relationships? The answer is to go where your customers are. Use simple online research to identify a number of social media sites where your customers hang out. Search for forums, message boards, blogs and social networks where these people are asking questions, posting reviews and building relationships. Once you have found these sites, join in on the discussions. By posting thoughtful questions and valuable information to help others, you can become a part of the community.

It only takes a handful of quality communications with a group to become a valued member. When you become known as the person who brings something worthwhile to the table, you begin to establish yourself as a person of authority on the topic or niche. Then, and only then, can you begin to share your business subtly—through a signature link or a product mention.

Rather than approaching these social communities from a seller’s perspective, you approach them from a relationship perspective, which allows you to earn the right to present your products and services in time.

Create bigger profits

In order to increase your business profits, it is important to get past the mind-set of doing anything and everything for one sale. Instead, your focus should be on the repeat customer. After all, it takes a lot of effort, communication and sometimes money to convert that one customer, so why not make it worth your while?

The way to maintain the connection with the customer is to communicate continually. Consider sending out a monthly e-newsletter to stay in touch with customers in order to keep you fresh in their minds. That way, when they think of something they need, they will come to you instead of the competitor.

Make your marketing communications more than just a sell message. Offer something of value—a whitepaper, special report, e-book or video—to build rapport with your customer list. By sharing with customers information they desire, you are further solidifying yourself as the authority on the subject in their minds. This way, they click on your link and visit your site when they are looking for solutions.

Business marketing is so much more than it used to be. Rather than pumping money into ads that may or may not work, social media technology and applications now provide you with low-cost methods that in many cases are far more effective in reaching customers and increasing business profits.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Online Marketing and Advertising, go to http://www.gennextmedia.com today.

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Lead Generation Business: Sing, Ping & Ding with Social Marketing!

December 14, 2009 by Alyssa Gagen  
Filed under Articles

Lead generation business is big time Internet marketing for small businesses today. It’s a simple 3-step flow to: 1) sing, 2) ping and 3) ding! your way to increased visibility that promote leads.

1) Sing your company’s praises with happy customer testimonials on your website. Nothing beats converting leads to actual sales by using satisfied word-of-mouth referrals. Yet, this alone would not be effective in generating leads if no one came to visit your website.

How to get visitors to your website? Luckily, small business owners can now easily and affordably set up a blog using WordPress, Typepad, Blogger and other web services.

Once your blog is up and running, you start blogging or writing smart, useful and fun articles that show the breadth and depth of your expertise. Of course, you’d include links on your articles back to your website—and that’s how online surfers get to visit your domain.

Yet, that’s still not enough to get the mega hits you’d like to end up prospecting with. So, you’ll want to join social groups such as Facebook and LinkedIn (the leading social site for professionals and businesses) and the new kid, Twitter, with its 140-character microblogging “tweets” or posts.

Once you start telling friends and followers on your social sites about your posts, and they find your suggestions extremely helpful and they’ll start referring your posts to friends in their other sub-groups. Before long, your snappy posts have garnered you followers, legions of whom are keen to hear what you have to say with your updates.

So there you are—star of your own blogging show. A “pro celebrity” in your own right, effortlessly sending scores of visitors to your website, based on writing your heart out in your blog posts (also called articles).

They say love of doing what you enjoy doing eventually pays for itself, and this is clearly where singing your songs of expertise and authority will gain praise for your main website, as well, and generating leads.

2) Ping! As you keep up writing your articles, keep in mind you’re building up an archive of relevant pieces you can repurpose later on. Such as seasonal fall and spring tips for home maintenance. Such as seasonal holiday goodies your catering service never fails to surprise—from golden orbs of chocolate persimmons to frosted amaretto snicker doodles.

Each time you submit an article for publication on WordPress, it’s automatically “pinged” to search engines. And less your articles get to the bottom of the slush pile, be sure to sprinkle them with a light dusting of SEO keywords.

For example, it’s important to use SEO primary keywords in the title and first paragraph. Sprinkle in a few longtail (lower-ranked keywords) SEOs in the body of your article. That’s how search spiders will locate and index your article. The more you write, the more you’ll be noticed.

3) Ding! Statistics reinforce how potent this form of viral communication and info-sharing is:

  • 79% of American adults used the Internet in 2009, up from 67% in Feb. 2005 (source: Pew Internet & American Life Project; October 8, 2009)
  • 300 million Facebook members use 300,000 servers, and Facebook is on tap to add another 300,000!

You get the idea. Small business marketing strategies jumping on this new wave of online social media because it’s low-cost, easy to control for out-going content and most of all fun to implement and are head and shoulders ahead of competition in generating leads.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Online Marketing and Advertising, go to http://www.gennextmedia.com today.

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The Reason Most Companies Will Fail With Social Media: 5 Phase Process To Get it Right

December 10, 2009 by Chris Marentis  
Filed under Blog

I have to get this off my chest.

Over the past few months we have encountered way too many great organizations implementing new websites and social media marketing programs without any clear objectives, strategy, measurement for success…nothing. Just and email from an executive demanding something get created that resembles social media so they look good in a press release, to the board or the CEO.

It reminds me of when I was running a major web 2.0 widget syndication platform company, and I got a call from the President of the digital division of a major entertainment company demanding that they need to get a Facebook application up asap!  It was when Facebook opened up the platform to third party developers for apps. When I asked why, it was just cuz…

We need to stop the madness or this social media marketing thing is going to hit a wall. Lots of time, money, and more importantly expectations, will be put into programs that will not work. Yes, it’s not that costly to build a Squidoo page, and you can build a Facebook Page in 45 minutes. But trust me, these efforts done in isolation, without being connected to all the other activity your business is doing, and without a strategy that builds on each piece, will not result in any meaningful impact on your business.

Seth Godin wrote about this issue in the context of businesses finding it easier to create events versus employ a process. It’s much easier to create a event (Seth uses the example of a trade show, but you could substitute a Facebook Page instead) because it has a specific focus and it’s temporal. It’s much easier to implement and get people rallied around a trade show booth…or get your 25 year old developer to do a Facebook Page! Social media marketing is a process that takes time, attention and a new kind of professionalism. Done right, it is a process and can be very effective and giving your business a real economic advantage.

Here is an outline of how we think about the process when we engage a client:

  • Understand The Client’s Business:
    • What does your sales and product funnel look like?
    • Who is your best prospect, what is the emotional connection and how can we improve engagement?
    • Who are the top competitors and what makes them successful?
    • How can we improve exposure and coverage?
    • How are we empowering the community to interact and expand?
    • How can we increase lifetime value of each member of the community?
    • How can we build a voice and a new stage for your licensees?
    • How do we bridge offline experiences with online presence?
    • How are we extending to the mobile environment?
    • Baseline metrics
  • Digital Forensics: Complete Analysis of the Marketplace
    • Reverse engineer digital footprint of target customers, key competitors and existing licensees
    • Uncover the most powerful, high volume keywords and phrases used that we can win
    • Step inside the dialogue going on in the target customers head while searching for related solutions
    • Partnership and linking strategy
    • Evaluate how competitors are implementing keyword/positioning and conversion mechanisms
  • Get The “Home Base” Right: Website and Blog Evaluation, Organization and Structure
    • SEO site structure including landing pages and site sculpting
    • Content planning for distributed web, blog and website
    • Blog strategy
    • Take advantage of content pumps and leverage
  • Build The Distributed Network: Social Media Content Build-Out And Distribution
    • Blog, Website and landing pages (plug-ins) as needed
    • Build and assemble content assets and other resources
    • Publish and distribute 10-12 SEO rich articles to start
    • Create 10-20 videos in the form of FAQ’s or mini-course. Distribute to over 80 sites using four different keywords
    • Create 4-5 Web 2.0 SEO optimized pages including Squidoo, Hub Pages, Facebook and Twitter (also vertical focused)
    • Establish Internal and External linking strategy
    • Blogging and forum participation strategy
    • Tools, dashboard and workflow
    • Integrate lead follow-up with autoresponders and/or sales people
  • Measurement: Monitor key metrics on dashboard
    • Identify what is working and do more of it
    • Identify what is not working and do less of it
    • Work the math model to reduce average cost per lead/customer over time

This is a four plus month process and it actually never ends because you should be continually optimizing. These phases build on each other and are all connected so they have huge impact on your business. Also, this new marketing paradigm is moving so quickly, new concepts are being introduced daily, you should be always integrating new ideas.

Their are many terrific people and firms that can help implement a similar process. But as a businesses owner or manager, you can no longer abdicate the knowledge of what should be done, and how to do it right. Don’t let the “event planners” ruin your opportunity!



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How to Make Time for Social Media Marketing? 3 Ways to Get Back Time For The Social Web

November 30, 2009 by Chris Marentis  
Filed under Blog

The Thanksgiving break was a great time of reflection. We have learned a lot the past year in our GenNext Media social media marketing lab. As I sat around with my family and friends digesting my Thanksgiving feast and watching football, I scanned some of my favorite business marketing blogs (tip #2) for an answer to this daunting question , “What is it about social media marketing that makes business owners so scared?”

Internet marketing helps businesses build relationships with customers, generate new leads, and increase profits and visibility of their business. However, the one area that left them asking for more was: time.  

It’s an issue we all face as we get deeper into the execution of our social marketing programs. How do I make time for social media marketing? The Social Media Examiner had a terrific post about this subject about a week ago.

Being a small business owner myself, I can commiserate. There simply is just not enough time in the day to run your business effectively.  However, it is important to remind yourself of your businesses overall goal: to increase customer leads and produce more profits.  Social media marketing is, or will become a key part of running your business and a means to an end goal.

Here are three ways to organize your social media marketing efforts and make the most of your time online:

1.  Time is Money: Social media marketing has the capability to sky-rocket your business, however, it also has the ability to be a immense waste of time.  Many businesses set aside time each day for “marketing and networking.”  By making a structured schedule for marketing efforts, there will be less room for procrastination and wasting time. Set aside 1-3 hours for browsing industry blogs, updating your Facebook page and participating in forums within your niche market.  This will ensure that you remain visible within the distributed web and keep your efforts focused, for a specific amount of time, each day.

2.  Spend Your Time Constructively: Whether you are going on a business trip, sitting in front of the TV, or waiting for a meeting to start, you have time for social media.  Check your messages, send out a “Tweet”, reply to posts, etc.  Any extra effort that you put in will benefit your business, increase your visibility and attract more leads.

3.   Allow Yourself to Have Fun: Social marketing should not be a burden to your life or schedule.  It is there for your convenience and to help your business increase its customer base.  If you forgot to reply to a comment, distribute an article or update your blog today, IT’S OK.  If you treat social media marketing as a helpful and valuable way to market your business and foster relationships, then you will be less stressed and have much more success.

Social media marketing takes time, organization, and dedication, but it almost always pays off in the end.  That being said, embrace the distributed web and put yourself out there for other people to see and communicate with.  So stop reading, and start doing!

What are some of the ways your business finds time for social media? I would love to hear your insights…

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CDC Uses Social Media To Tackle The Swine Flu

November 14, 2009 by Chris Marentis  
Filed under Blog

If you ever wondered whether social media is becoming a mainstream communications platform this may be your tipping point. Fact is that to help educate and inform the public about this nasty virus (and many other communications needs), the CDC turned to social media and Web 2.0 applications.

Why? The same reason your business should.  It is a very efficient and effective means to engage with customers, and through education and information, move them to take action.  Let’s look at what they did:

CDC in Social Networking Sites

The CDC made social networking sites a centerpiece of their outreach and education to effectively and inexpensively reach individuals with personalized and targeted health information. CDC currently participates in four social networking sites:

Facebook

CDC launched the official CDC Facebook profile in May 2009 to communicate up-to-date information about novel H1N1 flu. This profile communicates featured health information daily and also highlights new social media information.

MySpace

In November 2007, CDC launched the official CDC MySpace page. The CDC MySpace profile includes blog posts, quick access health information and much more. CDC is using MySpace as a channel to direct users to consumer health information on CDC.gov, In addition, CDC badges are available through the CDC MySpace page, and users can get information on incorporating CDC health messages and graphics into their own pages, empowering our friends to become our advocates.

Daily Strength

DailyStrength is a collection of safe, anonymous, online support groups focused on specific health topics to help people overcome their personal challenge or support a loved one through theirs. CDC hosts a  group page on DailyStrength that provides access to CDC’s featured health information to empower individuals to lead healthier, safer lives.

CaringBridge

CaringBridge connects family and friends during a critical illness, treatment or recovery. CDC provides access to the CDC A-Z Index via content syndication automatically to every single CaringBridge profile.

Twitter/Microblogs Updates

The CDC uses Twitter to update people on new content that is released on their webiste, keep in contact with professionals and ping any significant updates to the general population.

Online Videos

The CDC releases on-line videos that are educational (how to make sure you wash your hands properly) to educational (how to use disposable respirators). These become viral and also get indexed by search engines for people who are searching for solutions on these topics.

The CDC also uses RSS, Widgets, Text Messaging, website badges and other applications to complete the social media platform. You can learn more about what they are doing at http://www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Campaigns/H1N1/index.html.

The key here is the CDC has created a consumer and professional communications platform with all these a various tools.  They do not cost a ton of money to maintain, and they can activate people very quickly.  Wouldn’t that be nice to be able to do that for your business?  I also like the idea that the government is finding powerful but inexpensive ways to communicate to us!


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