Tweets from D.C.’s Earthquake

I thought I’d provide some news coverage from the D.C. earthquake brought to you by the citizen journalists of Twitter. Enjoy

DC Earthquake Devastation — D.C. Earthquake Devastation

Earthquake made me spill my tea.. I’m available for interviews
don’t let that earthquake stop you from reading my funny blog post that went up just before the earthquake. Don’t compound the tragedy.
I know my mother will be very hurt that I didn’t check on her after the earthquake that I know she survived.
It appears as though the earthquake may have taken out Farmville.
Is standing below buildings a preferred method of earthquake safety?
EVERYBODY CALM DOWN and each time you encounter the word “earthquake” replace it with “milkshake” until further notice.
Sarah Palin says she could see the earthquake from her house.
Tweets about the earthquake travel faster than the actual seismic waves
Hey, remember when that earth quake happened and we all Twittered about it?
Wolf Blitzer is on the phone with the earthquake
I survived the earthquake. I am also now warlord of post-earthquakeNYC
You guys. Earthquake tweet jokes are sooo 20 minutes ago
After the #earthquake, now is the time to put partisanship aside, come together as one, and go shopping
Ducks are taking over the world now? Ruunnnn!!! #earthquake RT @DeenaNicoleMTV: Omgggg we just had a frickn earth quack! I’m freakinggg out!
Local TV station talks to #earthquake victims, who were forced to stand outside in sunny, 80-degree weather
GOP press release questioning #earthquake science: “Scientists don’t agree on why the ground shakes. Could be plates. Could be the devil.”
What I love about the Internet: it took us less time to learn the magnitude than to exit the building. #earthquake
Earthquake strikes United States. Why hasn’t President Obama responded? 44 minutes ago
Aren’t animals supposed to do pre-earthquake tricks like run around on their hind legs & smoke cigarettes? My dog did NOTHING
New Yorkers forced to meet their annoying neighbors thanks to earthquake.
My dog Sasha slept soundly through the earthquake. So much for that whole “animals will warn you!” thing..
Co-workers now awkwardly resuming their days after blurting out honest opinions in face of death. #earthquake
Maybe the debt ceiling finally collapsed
Text “I Spilled My Iced Latte” to 90999 to donate $1 to the victims of the NYC earthquake
i hope the world doesn’t end before i use all these groupons

July 25, 2011September 10, 2012

What Does Google+ Mean for Your Business

The quick answer is we don’t know yet but the popular belief is that Google+ will play a significant role in your search engine optimization efforts (SEO) in near future. Most people I run into are rolling their eyes at yet another social network but there may be something to Googe+ that businesses need to pay attention to.

Google is attempting differentiate itself from Facebook by allowing people to divide their friends, colleagues, acquaintances into groups and share individually targeted content. And it’ll most likely be the case when it comes to brands. My guess is that Google will attempt to capitalize on this functionality and apply the notion of building individual audiences to its version of business pages. This will allow page owners to communicate with different groups through one main page.

I wouldn’t concern myself too much with the hype right now (fastest to 10 millions users) but I would suggest you start preparing for the eventual launch of business pages. Note: DO NOT start a profile for your brand yet as Google has been aggressively deleting branded profiles. The functionality will be coming soon so here are some ideas on how you can prepare your business:

Explore – Make sure everyone on the marketing/communications team has a profile and start exploring its functionality. While it may not be necessary for everyone to be an expert, it will be important for them to know how to use Circles, Hangouts, Huddle and Sparks.
Collaborate – Bring together your web developers, search specialists, mobile guy, analysts and brand team and start talking about what you’re leaning and the potential impact of Google+ to the business/brand.
Compare – Assess how you’re currently using your Facebook Page and how that strategy may differ from a Google+1 Page.
Prepare – Have all the necessary players on your team ready to implement a business Page when the functionality eventually comes online. It may bode well for your brand to be a first mover in this space.

Here are a few insightful articles on Google+:

Here Come Google+ Pages for Brands: What You Need to Know

Google+ business profiles to include analytics & more

4 Reasons Google+ Brand Pages Will Be Better Than Facebook’s

7 Ways for Marketers to Maximize Google+ Now

April 10, 2011September 10, 2012

7 Keys to Choosing the Right Social Media Monitoring Tool

Social media monitoring tools are essential for companies trying to gauge online conversations pertaining to their brand(s). There are numerous platforms to choose from; with almost 200 in the market place, it’s getting difficult to select the right one.

Below are some things to consider when choosing your platform along with a list of the most-used platforms out there.

Cost
Understandably, price is usually one of the top concerns, but be sure you’re getting all that you can out of the platform. Missing important conversations because your monitoring tool doesn’t pick up a specific channel can mean lost opportunities. It doesn’t bode well to be penny wise and a pound foolish with these tools.

Range of Coverage
All platforms cover the large social channels (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn) but not all cover bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit or specific forums and chat rooms. Be sure to find out all sites covered in a platform. Here’s a list of the most important social sites out there today.

Workflow Capabilities
If you have a multitude of departments needing to monitor and engage, you better figure out how you’re going to manage all these people and sites. Marketing needs to understand what customer service is doing along with HR, public relations, c-suite, sales, etc.

Integration with Other Applications
This is a big concern for companies with more complex social programs and highly matrixed structures. Be sure you know ahead of time what other applications you’ll be using before you select a monitoring tool.

Global Coverage
If you’re doing business on a global scale make sure you’re picking up conversations on such sites as Orkut, Renren, StudiVZ, Bebo and Kontakte, just to name a few. This capability isn’t cheep so don’t buy it if you don’t need it. Click here for a comprehensive list of global social networking websites.

Support and Training
Many of these tools are becoming quite sophisticated and are ever-changing to meet the newest platforms; thus, it’s important that the account team is keeping you up-to-speed on what is relevant to you.

Metrics and Reporting
You better be able to measure what you’re doing with social media or you’ll be out of a job fast. The big question always revolves around ROI so you better come prepared with numbers and killer graphs to impress the CEO.

Platforms
This certainly isn’t a comprehensive list but this should get you started in the right direction. For a comprehensive list with platform description, pricing and links check out Seamless Social’s list.

For a quick comparison of some of these tools click here.

For those looking for lower cost solutions, check out “10 lower-priced monitoring services for nonprofits & organizations“

April 3, 2011September 17, 2012

Can Google’s +1 Rival Facebook’s “Like”

Looks like Google is attempting to match Facebook’s “like” with their own version called +1. I can’t think of a more confusing name but I’ll wait to see it before passing judgment. Google has yet to release it so here’s a brief preview of what +1 will do and what it looks like:

[facebook_ilike]

July 19, 2010July 19, 2010

Social Media for Entertainers

I’ve been having a great time recently conducting research social media for the entertainment community. But what I realized is there isn’t a great deal of information out there pertaining to this industry, especially as it relates to smaller local entertainers.

I thought that odd as its obviously this is an industry perfectly suited for social networking since entertainment is inherently social. When you see some fantastic performance you automatically want to share it with someone by sharing a picture, website, video, quote, etc. That can’t be said for many industries.

The reason I’ve been researching this is I recently was given the opportunity to speak to a group of local Minnesota artists about social media. The group consisted of a juggler, jazz musician, comedian, hypnotist, magician, Latin band, ventriloquist and a singer. What a diverse and interesting group. I had a blast talking with them. Special thanks to G.L. Berg for inviting me to speak. If ever you need to book an entertainer, they’re the ones to talk to.

Here is the presentation I gave:

Social Media for Entertainers

View more presentations from Jbsem.

In case you’re interested, here are a few resources I found on this subject:

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/social-media-starter-moves-for-entertainers/
http://www.devonvsmith.com/2010/06/the-social-media-bubble/
http://mashable.com/2010/03/12/musicians-social-media/
http://redcubemarketing-blog.com/2010/06/08/case-study-crunch-entertainment-tv-film-music-more/
http://mashable.com/2009/05/26/twitter-comedians/

Social Media for Entertainers

Here is the presentation I gave:

In case you’re interested, here are a few resources I found on this subject:

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/social-media-starter-moves-for-entertainers/

http://www.devonvsmith.com/2010/06/the-social-media-bubble/

http://mashable.com/2010/03/12/musicians-social-media/

http://redcubemarketing-blog.com/2010/06/08/case-study-crunch-entertainment-tv-film-music-more/

May 4, 2010September 17, 2012

So You’re On Twitter & LinkedIn – Now What?

[facebook_ilike]

Presentation for James J. Hill Library

You hear the hubbub about how social media is revolutionizing marketing, sales, retail, healthcare, journalism, etc., and you’ve been receiving an uncomfortable amount of needling from your friends and colleagues to connect with them online. So, hesitantly, and ever-so-cautiously, you dip your toe in the water; you succumb to the professional pressure and create a LinkedIn profile. And perhaps – just to prove that you’re not afraid of technology – you even go so far as to register a Twitter handle.

So why, then, having taken such bold steps in the direction of full web disclosure, do you still feel invisible? Your profiles have yet to generate any new business and you’re not even engaging with your existing clients (that is, if they’ve managed to find you out there). At this point you’re wondering with a good deal of frustration, “what am I missing? how does this social media thing work?”

Social media is a fairly easy concept to grasp if you think about it in terms of a social gathering like a cocktail party. The etiquette you adhere to at a cocktail party is the same etiquette you abide by within social media channels: be yourself (casual, witty, interesting) and above all show interest in who you’re talking to (in other words, don’t talk about yourself too much; ask questions instead!). The difference is that your cocktail party is offline.

The truth is social media isn’t a replacement for the marketing and communication efforts you already have going with your company or yourself. People still do business with people and not with profiles. However, Twitter and LinkedIn are two valuable tools you can use to identify and connect with potential partners, customers and vendors, and get you to that ever-important first meeting. You just have to know how to effectively engage your targeted audience using these social media networks.

As highlighted in the following presentation, one must first understand how to engage people on social channels and then the rest is fairly easy.

So You’re On Twitter & LinkedIn – Now What?

View more presentations from Jason Sem.

April 22, 2010September 17, 2012

Facebook Launches Us Into the Era of Social Colonization

Facebook just announced a very significant development in the world of social media yesterday called the Open Graph. It allows for any and all websites to become social through a simple “Like” button which companies can include on their individual websites. Users will now be able to click on a page, comment, picture or other content to signal their interest in that item and share it with their friends on Facebook.

We are definitely now into the Era of Social Colonization as laid out by Jeremiah Owyang and Forrester Research that predicted that every experience on the web will be social. Even if companies or organization aren’t on any social channels they can still be social using this new functionality. There are now more than 400 million people on Facebook so this move is quite significant in terms of leading the way for other social channels to adopt this mode of sharing.

This bold move by Facebook is also putting it in direct competition with Google in terms of aggregating information on people’s online preferences and behaviors. Facebook will map out connections between people and their interests, gathering more explicit information about users’ favorites in order to deliver personalized experiences as well as provide for better targeting for ads.

It should be very interesting to see how many websites will start including this function on their web pages and content. Facebook said more than 70 partners have signed up to embed “Like” buttons or other customization widgets on their sites, including ticketing site NYTimes.com and CNN.com.

“The Web is at a really important turning point right now,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Up until recently, the default on the Web has been that most things aren’t social and most things don’t use your real identity.” Facebook, has now launched us over the deep end into this Era of Social Colonization and is driving the increasing relevance of social media for companies and brands.

Articles:

For Developers:

Facebook Plugins

April 13, 2010September 17, 2012

Selling with Social Media

TMA I’ve been honored to speak at the Tour Minnesota Association this spring at the Science Museum of Minnesota on the subject of utilizing social media for the purposes of sales and networking. The event’s theme is “Go for the Gold!” Sell, Sell, Sell!” in response to the recent economic recession. The goal is to help participants improve their networking skills and find new ways to leverage personal contacts to enhance sales efforts.

Social media has definitely become a huge component in helping people network but it should not be seen as a substitute for actual face-to-face networking. There still is no better way to build trust and make sales than a good ‘ol fashion meeting. However, social networking channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook can help initiate conversations and get you to that first meeting by replacing a “cold call” with a “warm call.”

Selling with Social Media

View more presentations from Jbsem.

Here are some good resources to better understand social media and networking:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

Tools

Facebook and Professional Networking