Study: Social Media Audiences are Active Consumers

The big lure of social
media: Its users

They are young and affluent and active consumers

By Diego Vasquez
Aug 20, 2009

No wonder social networks are feeling such urgency to figure out how to monetize their audiences. According to a new study from BIGresearch, the Worthington, Ohio-based research company, social media users represent a hugely desirable audience. They are younger than the average American, more affluent, and more apt to buy certain big-ticket items, such as furniture, computers and televisions. Social media users tend to use multiple platforms. A Facebook user, for example, is far more likely to use Twitter or LinkedIn than the general population is. Social networkers have a median income of $68,311, and they’re more likely to be female (nearly 58 percent). Gary Drenik, president and chief executive officer at BIGresearch, talks to Media Life about why social media users represent a desirable audience for buyers and planners, why they’re more likely to be female, and why MySpace is losing users to Facebook.

What did you find most surprising or most interesting about this report?

The high level of usage and interactions among social media options. It demonstrates a new way for marketers to communicate with their customers. It’s interesting to see where the crossover is. For example, Facebook tends to be popular for LinkedIn and MySpace users, but Facebook users aren’t as apt to use LinkedIn or MySpace.

What's the most important thing media buyers and planners can learn from it?

Not only is social media widely used, but the users are active consumers. They are planning on buying at a higher rate than the general population.

For example, 30 percent are planning to purchase a vacation (versus 26 percent of adults 18-plus), 18 percent are planning to buy furniture (versus 13 percent) and 17 percent are going to buy a computer (versus 13 percent).

With a higher propensity to spend, social media users need to be targeted by marketers.

Why are social media users likely to use more than one platform?

Social media users tend to be more tech-savvy than the general population. They are more likely to purchase products online (35 percent versus 27 percent of adults 18-plus). They are more likely to regularly use new media forms, including downloading video (23 percent versus 14 percent) and text messaging (57 percent versus 27 percent).

Being early adopters of digital media, they are highly aware of different applications available to them and tend to be more engaged.

Social media users also like to give their opinion. Forty percent regularly give their opinion about products/services they’ve purchased (versus 30 percent of adults 18-plus). Social media gives them a chance to express their views.

Why are regular MySpace users apt to regularly use Facebook but not vice versa?

If you look at adults 18-plus, you’ll see that over a quarter (28 percent) regularly use Facebook, compared to 12 percent who regularly use MySpace. Just six months ago (in our last SIMM Survey), 17 percent regularly used Facebook and 18 percent regularly used MySpace.

So it appears that MySpace users are migrating towards Facebook. These things are viral and people tend to go where their friends are. It’s kind of like a bar – people want to go hang out with their friends.

One reason we may be seeing a migration is that MySpace started as a user-generated company which News Corp. acquired in 2005. When they bought them, they turned on the advertising spigot. About a year later, Facebook (which was limited to college students) opened to everyone, giving MySpace users an alternative without all the advertising.

How do social media users differ from the rest of the population in terms of demographics?

Social media users tend to be younger than the rest of the population, with an average age of 38 (versus 45). More tend to be female (58 percent versus 51 percent) and they have higher incomes ($68,311 versus $66,942).

Why do women make up such a large percentage of social media users?

One-third of women say they regularly view photos from friends (versus 22 percent of men) online for fun and entertainment. Sixteen percent (versus 9 percent of men) share stories and 15 percent (versus 13 percent) look for old classmates and friends.

Therefore, women tend to do more of the activities social media platforms are used for than men.

Which social media site surveyed had the lowest median age and why?

MySpace has the youngest user of those platforms profiled with an average age of 33. MySpace’s origins are in music, which could be why their users are a younger MTV-type of crowd. Thousands of bands use MySpace to promote their music, and fans support them by using the platform.

Which social media outlets do blacks, Asians and Hispanics favor more heavily than whites? Why?

Social media is a good place to find ethnic groups because they index high across all social media platforms. Ethnic groups tend to be big media users across the board from traditional media forms to new media and have a higher propensity than whites to regularly use Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter.

(Click here) for link to the article

Maximizing The Use Of Social Media For Your Online Marketing

There are so many types of social media that businesses can take advantage of for their marketing efforts Published on June 23, 2009 by Lawrence Perry (OfficialWire) LONDON, ENGLAND

A lot has been written about the wonders of Facebook and Twitter to reach a very wide audience on the internet. But experienced and effective online marketers know that there are so many more websites and applications that can help enhance the online marketing efforts of a company. Although there are millions of users on Twitter and on Facebook there are many more users online that are not part of these 2 networks. Twitter and Facebook do not comprise social media- there are so many more services out there that can help you make the right connections and build a good reputation online. There are so many channels online that you can use to develop business and personal connections with people. It is best to get on as much networks as you can because while there are millions of people on Twitter, there are still millions more that have not caught on. There are still millions of people who do not see the value of Facebook and Twitter and simply get information and connect with people through blogs and other websites. If you do not engage these other people that are on the other networks then you are not maximizing the benefits that you can gain from social media marketing. Aside from Twitter and Facebook, companies can also use the following channels to engage prospective clients: LinkedIn, Plurk, MySpace, Forums and so much more. The world of Internet Marketing is a big -and dynamic world. A company must really be fully-committed to building strong networks in several of these networks so that they can fully take advantage of social media. One of the best ways to reach people online is through blogging. Blogging can definitely help companies generate and ‘broadcast’ meaningful content to users. What’s good about blogging is that it can have a more informal tone than a company website. The blog can be more personal and help appeal to the emotional side of the audience. Developing blogs with good content can also help attract traffic to a company’s main website. Another way companies can connect to more people online is through photo-sharing websites. Photos are fantastic ways of transmitting ideas and messages. Companies should also consider sharing videos online. There are so many companies that receive free publicity through videos that they produced that have become viral. When people like a video, a photo or an article they usually share them with their friends and family. This means that a single video or photo you upload can reach millions of people. Companies can also utilize forums to communicate with people online. Companies should remember that the more communication channels they use, the more people they can reach and influence. Follow me on Twitter: @CatchFriday

100 Tips to Be a Smarter, Better Twitterer

Click here for the original article

100 Tips to Be a Smarter, Better Twitterer

May 12th, 2009

Twitter is a fun and useful tool, but there are a lot of quirks, rules, and standards that come along with it. To be effective on Twitter, you’ll need to learn the lingo, mechanics, and the ins and outs of interacting with followers. Here, we’ll take a look at 100 tips that can help you do just that.

For Beginners

If you’re just getting started, be sure to follow these tips.

1. Set up your profile: Give people a glimpse beyond what your tweets reveal.
2. Include a picture: Make sure you add a photo of yourself so that your tweets will be more personal.
3. Create a simple and short Twitter name: The longer your Twitter ID, the more space it takes up, and having a complicated name can make it hard for people to respond to or mention you.
4. Just do it: Don’t just lurk-jump into the conversation.
5. Make your profile link something that tells more about you: Share your blog, an about me page, or any other page that offers more information about the person behind the tweets.
6. Share photos: Post your photos on Twitter to shake things up a bit and add some interest to your stream.
7. Use proper grammar: Occasional abbreviations are passable, but make sure that your tweets are readable.
8. Use your real name: Build your personal brand by choosing your real name as your Twitter ID.
9. List your location: Many people use Twitter for local networking, so they’ll be more likely to follow you if they know where you are.
10. Learn the lingo: If you don’t know what DM, @, RT, and other Twitter symbols and words are, look them up or ask.
11. Don’t rush to build your network: Don’t follow hundreds of people right away-allow your following to grow organically.
12. Reply to someone with @: Place an @ sign in front of someone’s name on Twitter to write to them specifically, or simply just mention them-they will be notified that you did so.
13. Shrink your URLs: Use a URL shortener like TinyURL or is.gd to make it easier to fit into 140 characters.
14. Use your mobile device: Tweet from your phone, iPod, or other mobile device to keep your Twitter updated on the go, using the mobile web or text.
15. Find your friends: Use Twitter’s search in order to find your friends, organizations, and others that you may want to follow on Twitter.
16. Go public: Keep your tweet public so that people can get to know you before deciding to blindly follow.
17. Make it easy for others to find your tweets: Use a hashtag (#) in order to be more a part of a popular conversation.
18. Use abbreviations: Make use of codes like LOL, BRB, and NSFW to save space and reading effort.
19. Remove and/or block problem followers: If you don’t want to follow someone anymore, you can remove them, and if you don’t want your tweets to appear in their timeline, you can block them.
20. Remove irrelevant words: Use only the words that are completely necessary to get your message across.
21. Go private: Make your account private if you don’t want to share your updates with the world.

Finding Friends

In order to really use Twitter, you’ll need to build your own community and find people to follow.

22. Find people with similar interests: Check out Twitter directories to find people in your niche and interests, as well as those in your location.
23. Don’t sweat finding followers: Twitter isn’t about quantity, but quality-focus on building good relationships with those you follow.
24. Follow genuine people: Avoid only following people that want to game the system-build relationships with people.
25. Keep an eye on Facebook statuses: Many Facebook users tie their status to Twitter-if you see any @ signs in there, chances are they are on Twitter.
26. Share your passions in life: Discuss your hobbies and interests, and hash tag them so others can find you-and find others this way as well.
27. List yourself in directories: Make sure you’re easy to find by putting your Twitter name in relevant directories.
28. Get out from behind the curtain: Participate in meetups to meet your followers face to face, and get connected with others.
29. Be informative: Share links, video, and more in order to be interesting and valuable to the Twitter conversation.
30. Follow influencers: Follow important people on Twitter and interact with them to get lots of value.
31. Follow the people that you think are interesting: Listen to people that say things you’re interested in hearing.
32. Be funny and interesting: Make your timeline entertaining so that others will want to follow you.
33. Make yourself an authority: Share invaluable knowledge that would be missed if you stopped tweeting.

Keeping Followers

Once you’ve got followers, be sure to keep them by following these guidelines.

34. Don’t spam: Just don’t. Excessive DMs, repeated messages, and constant annoying information will get you unfollowed quickly.
35. Follow back: For goodness sakes, reciprocate. If someone is following you, and they offer some value, go ahead and follow them back-you can always take it back later.
36. Don’t make Twitter an extension of your blog: Twitter about your blog, but go beyond it as well-Twitter isn’t RSS.
37. Take it easy: Don’t tweet incessantly-or you’ll flood the windows of others so much that they’ll want to stop listening.

Tweeting

These are some of the ideas and things you can tweet about.

38. Share your announcements: Let people know about your achievements-shows, interviews, big trips.
39. Tweet useful links: Found something interesting, useful, or funny? Share it with your Twitter network.
40. Have fun: Be social, make connections, and use Twitter for good.
41. Share multimedia: Twitter loves photos, videos, and more, so share good multimedia.
42. Update daily: Update at least once a day so your followers have something to follow along with.

Developing Relationships

These tips explain how to develop good relationships with your Twitter followers.

43. Ask questions, give answers: Help others out, and ask for their opinions to improve relationships.
44. Check your @ replies: Make sure you know who is mentioning you by looking at your @ replies, and responding to them.
45. Collaborate with others: Share information and work closely with others in your niche on Twitter.
46. Show gratitude: If someone’s helped you out, be sure to thank them publicly.
47. Be a human being: Share personal information and show people that you’re a human being.
48. Provide value: Share your knowledge and give people a reason to listen when you tweet.
49. Give shout outs: Mention your Twitter friends and give them the spotlight.
50. Meet off of Twitter: Go to Tweetups and meet other users, or organize your own.
51. Retweet: If someone you’re following offers valuable information, retweet it, and you can simultaneously share it with more people and show the person you retweeted that you appreciate them.
52. Respond to every reply: If someone writes directly to you, be sure to acknowledge them by responding to their tweet.
53. Be genuine: Avoid being false-stay honest and let people see yourself.
54. Keep an eye on your reply ratio: You should keep your ratio or normal tweets to reply tweets in balance in order to stay original while still actively engaging others.
55. Take extended or private conversations to DM: If there’s too much quantity, or a privacy issue involved, don’t Tweet in public-share via DM.

Getting Value

Here we’ll take a look at how you can best get value out of Twitter.

56. Join the conversation: Read what others are doing and reply to what you’re interested in.
57. Ask for help: Use Twitter to get your questions answered and find a lending hand.
58. Keep your tweets short enough to retweet: If you want to be retweeted, make sure to leave extra space for at least "RT @yourname" to be added.
59. Keep up with the Twitter blog: Find out about technical problems, community issues, and more from the Twitter blog.
60. Stay active: Don’t use Twitter passively-be an active user to get the most value from it.
61. Follow the news: Twitter is a great source for breaking news-often beating mainstream media to the punch by hours.
62. Tweet during peak times: People are most likely to see your tweets during US business hours, so time your usage accordingly.
63. Stay on top of your friends: Use Twitter as a service to stay well connected with your real-life friends.
64. Connect with companies for better service: Use connections on Twitter to address your customer complaints.
65. Meet celebrities: You can often have a conversation with celebrities on Twitter, even if it’s one sided.
66. Track mentions of keywords: Set up a service to notify you whenever certain keywords are used on Twitter.

Snafus

These are actions that are best avoided on Twitter.

67. Remember to tweet like your grandma’s listening: Twitter is public, and even if you keep things private, you can never be too careful.
68. Give information about links: Don’t just share links without any explanation-tell your followers why they need to visit.
69. Keep it all to one tweet: You’re limited to 140 characters-keep it that way unless it’s absolutely necessary.
70. Don’t share EVERYTHING you do: Don’t share useless details about your cat or grilled cheese sandwich for lunch-make things a little more interesting.
71. Stop arguing: Debate is fine, but too much tense back and forth will turn followers off.
72. Avoid automatic DMs: Don’t set up your account to send welcome DMs to new followers-it’s considered impersonal and bad form.
73. Make sure your background doesn’t look like an advertisement: Many users choose to customize their background-just be careful not to take it too far.
74. Keep your follow to following ratio fairly even: You should be following about the same amount of people who follow you-too far either way makes you look like a spammer or a snob.
75. Don’t expect unrelated people to follow you back: If your Twitter is all about how you sell real estate in California, someone in Texas with no unifying interests to you is just not likely to want to reciprocate.
76. Don’t be an island: Engage your followers, and show that you’re a part of the community.
77. Don’t make it a following contest: If your main goal on Twitter is to amass as many Twitter followers as possible, you’ll end up turning a lot of followers off.
78. Do not autorespond: Autoresponders take the personality out of Twitter-individually connect instead.
79. Don’t always push your agenda: Twitter is a great marketing tool, but it will backfire on you if you abuse it.

For Business

Follow these tips if you’re a business on Twitter.

80. Don’t automate: Impersonality is the bane of Twitter-you’ll get more attention by engaging others and being genuine.
81. Use a photo instead of a logo: Make your Twitter account more personal with a photo.
82. Share your events: Make things interesting and possibly meet your followers through events.
83. Be personal: Show character and enforce a friendly brand for your company.
84. Share contests: Get followers more interested in what you tweet by holding contests.
85. Create multiple accounts if necessary: Set up an official account and others for individual employees if you’d like.
86. Follow relevant people: Connect with colleagues, journalists, competitors, and people who love your brand.
87. Share your business culture with OHs (overheards): Let people listen in to what’s happening in your office by repeating fun moments and comments.
88. Gather information: Ask Twitter followers what they’d like to see from you, and how you can improve.
89. Monitor your brand: Use alerts to find out what people are saying about your business, and respond to them.
90. Share your media: Link to videos, interviews, and more so followers can learn more about you and your business.
91. Talk back: Engage with those who engage you-and don’t be afraid to start conversations.

Productivity & Organization

These tips will help you keep it all together.

92. Use a client: Whether you’re on a mobile device or your desktop, get some help from clients like TwitterFon, Twirl, or TweetDeck.
93. Don’t feel like you have to read every tweet: You will miss some tweets, and that’s OK.
94. Limit your Twitter time: Check in occasionally, but don’t let Twitter keep you from more important things.
95. Don’t feel pressured to follow everyone back: While you generally should follow those who follow you, if someone offers no value to you, don’t feel guilty about not following them back.

Beyond Twitter

Take things a step further with these tips.

96. Link your Twitter and Facebook: Use the Twitter app on Facebook to automatically update your status whenever you update Twitter.
97. Put your blog posts on Twitter: Share blog post links on Twitter to reach a greater audience.
98. Share your Twitter ID: Put your Twitter ID on your email, business cards, and other social media networks so others will know you’re on the service.
99. Tell others about Twitter: Get people in your real life on Twitter, and you’ll have a great new way to communicate with them.
100. Include a link to tweet blog posts: On your blog, place a link that allows readers to send out a tweet about your post.

Microsoft's Channel 9 Social Media Policy

Channel 9 Doctrine

1. Channel 9 is all about the conversation. Channel 9 should inspire Microsoft and our customers to talk in an honest and human voice. Channel 9 is not a marketing tool, not a PR tool, not a lead generation tool.
2. Be a human being. Channel 9 is a place for us to be ourselves, to share who we are, and for us to learn who our customers are.
3. Learn by listening. When our customers speak, learn from them. Don't get defensive, don't argue for the sake of argument. Listen and take what benefits you to heart.
4. Be smart. Think before you speak, there are some conversations which have no benefit other than to reinforce stereotypes or create negative situations.
5. Marketing has no place on Channel 9. When we spend money on Channel 9 the goal is to surprise and delight, not to promote or preach.
6. Don't shock the system. Lasting change only happens in baby steps.
7. Know when to turn the mic off. There are some topics which will only result in problems when you discuss them. This has nothing to do with censorship, but with working within the reality of the system that exists in our world today. You will not change anything by taking on legal or financial issues, you will only shock the system, spook the passengers, and create a negative situation.
8. Don't be a jerk. Nobody likes mean people.
9. Commit to the conversation. Don't stop listening just because you are busy. Don't stop participating because you don't agree with someone. Relationships are not built in a day, be in it for the long haul and we will all reap the benefits as an industry.

Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs

I found this great article with new social media sites for entrepreneurs.

See the original article at: http://mashable.com/2009/03/12/entrepreneur-networks/

Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.

Looking for a job? Consider creating your own. There are a number of social resources to help you connect with other entrepreneurs and get your business ideas off the ground.

Here are the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs. Each helps entrepreneurs succeed by providing them with the guidance, tools and resources they need to setup their company and gain exposure.

Have another social site to add to this list? Tell us about it in the comments.

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1. Entrepreneur Connect

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Entrepreneur Media, the company that produces Entrepreneur Magazine, started a social network over a year ago specifically for entrepreneurs and small business owners called Entrepreneur Connect. Like all social networks, you have the opportunity to create your own profile, explore the community, share ideas with other entrepreneurs and network. Unlike most social networks, this one frowns upon too much self-promotion and applauds idea sharing.

You can use this network to connect to service providers, suppliers, advisers and colleagues. Just like LinkedIn and Facebook (), there are professional groups that you can join or create. Another cool feature is that you’re able to start your own blog and possibly have it appear on the main page. This is similar to what Fast Company has done with their website.

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2. PartnerUp

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PartnerUp is a social network for entrepreneurs who are searching for people and resources for business opportunities. Anyone can join, but business partners, co-founders, executives and board members will get the most out of this one. In this network, you can ask or offer advice, find commercial real estate and find service providers like accountants and marketers for your business.

The big differentiator with this social network is the commercial real estate “MoveUpSM” program that serves entrepreneurs who have experienced a hard time trying to find office space for their business. They also have a Resource Directory that allows small and mid-sized businesses to advertise their services.

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3. StartupNation

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Most social networks neglect the content aspect that makes StartupNation so useful. With articles, forums, blogs, on-demand seminars, and podcasts, entrepreneurs will be better prepared for their ventures and have the resources required to make better business decisions.

There are a wide range of topics being discussed on StartupNation right now, including business planning, marketing and web-based business. The site also offers a series of competitions, such as a dorm-based 20 contest and an elevator pitch competition. If you’re an entrepreneur or hope to become one, this site is definitely one you can’t miss out on.

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4. LinkedIn

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It’s difficult to leave LinkedIn () off of any social networking list because it’s so useful for anyone who’s either searching for a job, is trying to network with like-minded individuals, or building a company. LinkedIn offers many resources for entrepreneurs, such as groups, including the very popular “On Startups” group that has over 54,000 members.

Entrepreneurs on LinkedIn should brand themselves properly so they can attract the right kind of business opportunities, and perform searches to find service providers or partners. As an entrepreneur, you should also be looking to participate in LinkedIn Answers, events and applications to spruce up your profile and become a valuable member to your community.

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5. Biznik

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This isn’t another LinkedIn clone. Instead, Biznik brands itself as a social network that “doesn’t suck.” The Biznik community is composed of freelancers, CEOs, and the self-employed. Like the other networks, this is a place for you to share ideas, instead of posting your resume. It is mandatory for all members to use their real names and provide real data, and Biznik editors actually review all profiles to ensure compliance with that policy. There are three levels of membership, including basic, active ($10 a month for an enhanced profile) and supporting ($24 a month for increased visibility).

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6. Perfect Business

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If you want to meet thousands of serious entrepreneurs, experts and investors from a variety of industries, then Perfect Business might be the perfect social network for you. The type of people you’ll find are potential business partners, potential clients and advisers. Additionally, the site has leading business partners like Entrepreneur and Virgin Money.

From business networking to a video center where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, a business plan builder and even an investor center, you’ll have most of the resources you need to create or regenerate your business. There is a free basic membership and a gold membership that costs $29.99 per month.

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7. Go BIG Network

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The Go BIG Network embraces job seekers, in addition to funding sources, service providers and entrepreneurs. In this social network, you post requests for help, which are then routed to other people in the network that can answer your questions or support you. Members of this social network can search through profiles of other members, contact them or post a request (a classified ad) to talk about what they are looking for (such as a business partner). The profiles on this network are targeted and specific so it’s easy to find an investor in a particular region.

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8. Cofoundr

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The Cofoundr network is made up of idea makers, entrepreneurs, programmers, web designers, investors, freelancers and executives. The primary purpose of joining this network is to start a new web venture. Unlike most of the social networks already listed here, Cofoundr is a strictly private network, which means that you can’t view member profiles before you register for an account.

Membership requires having a valid university or work email address, which means high schools students and younger aren’t allowed. The first thing you have to do is sign up, then specify your abilities and the people you are trying to network with and finally, post your idea on the bulletin board or in the forum.

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9. The Funded

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The Funded is an online community of entrepreneurs who research, rate and review funding sources. Entrepreneurs can view and share terms sheets to assist each other in finding good investors, as well as discuss the inner workings of operating a business. General benefits of this site include viewing facts, reviews and commentary on funding resources, and accessing RSS feeds of the most recent public comments by members.

By joining the site, you have access to detailed fund profiles with specialty, reference investments, and investment criteria, in addition to accessing partner vCards that have full contact information of all partners at venture funds. In order to get any value out of this social network, you pretty much have to become a member.

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10. Young Entrepreneur

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If you’re young, entrepreneurial and socially active or just curious, then Young Entrepreneur is a great starting point for you. This community appears as a discussion forum, with topics such as e-commerce, search engine optimization, marketing, IT & Internet, and franchising. Aside from their main forum and threads, there is a popular blog and some great videos.

How the Library of Congress Uses Social Media

I found this great example of how the Library of Congress uses Social Media. There are some great lessons here.

Social Media Marketing Example #12: Library of Congress

Lisa Braziel | April 17, 2009 | 0 Comments

Continuing with the series, 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail , I will cover The Library of Congress. Perhaps you may think that this isn’t the most exciting example to showcase on a Friday, but hopefully you will be just as pleasantly surprised as I was to see the neat ways the largest library in the world is sharing some of its unique content. And if you are a library geek like me, you’ll find yourself subscribing to some of these tactics by the time you are finished discovering them.

Here is what they are doing:

Blogging

Apparently the Library of Congress has been blogging for more than 2 years now, and while they don’t post very frequently, the manner in which they write content is fun, engaging, and puts some personality and humor back into the Library. Most of the posts are made by Matt Raymond, whose humor and relevancy keeps audiences engaged (with most posts experiencing double digit comments). Who knew that library’s could have a sense of humor?

Flickr

The Library of Congress just started this Flickr page in January to upload historical pictures from their collections. At first, I thought that it wasn’t as populated as I thought it would be, but then I realized that for many of the pictures uploaded, this is the first time they have been available in digital format (which is really cool!). Interestingly, because the staff uploading these pictures are relying on information that came with the photos (that can sometimes be incomplete/inaccurate), they “welcome your contribution of names, descriptions, locations, tags, and also your general reactions.” I’m completely in love with these collections already, and from the 80+ comments from other Flickr members on just one album, I think this is a crowd favorite and a huge success.

You Tube

To provide users with its historical video content, the Library of Congress also has a You Tube channel, LibraryofCongress . Within this channel, users can currently watch around 75 videos ranging from historical videos from Thomas Edison to speeches from the National Book Festival. The blog announced the reason why the Library started this channel by stating, “When you’re the stewards of the world’s largest collection of audiovisual materials (some 6 million films, broadcasts and sound recordings), nothing less would be expected of you”. They also noted on their blog that, “We have made a conscious decision that we’re not just going to upload a bunch of videos and then walk away.” I love that :-)

Social Networking

Facebook: It appears most efforts on Facebook are made from the fans of the Library of Congress, because I couldn’t seem to find an official page. It seems I’m not alone, as one user within one of the fan pages I reviewed noted, “Is there an official Library of Congress fan page?”. While I don’t think it is a mandatory that they have one, I think there are plenty of patrons who would be happy to join.

iTunes

So far, the Library of Congress is offering podcasts from the National Book Festival for 2008 and 2009 through its website and its iTunes account. I expect that this may expand to offer more content, but for now it is great that it is an option.

Twitter

In case you are wondering if the Library has explored Twitter,they are also there as well! They seem to use this account to share events happening at the Library of Congress, and to update users on fresh and relevant content. Currently they have a following of more than 5k followers, so it seems as if people are responding well to the effort.

Do you have any reactions to the Library’s initiatives in social media marketing? I think that they are doing a great job using the social media tools to share content in a new way. It’s likely that other library’s will begin to follow in their footsteps.

Join the Online Revolution - Engage in Radical Self Promotion

The Goal of Social Media is to Increase Sales. Really?
Social media provides the tools that enable us to have online conversations. I know, the big advice out there today about social media is don’t try to sell anything to anyone. The idea of social media is to be part of the conversation to build relationships over time. Of course, our goal in business is to sell more stuff to more people. The new revolution in business is social media marketing. If done right, it can be your key to radically improving sales. The question is how do you increase sales by using social media? Sun Tzu in the Art of War explains that strategy is determined by the terrain. Here is an overview of the social media terrain.

Your Word-of-Mouth Marketing Just Got a Megaphone
There are three ways your customers eventually find you online:
1) Search engines
2) Browsing
3) Recommendation

Susan Boyle, chances are you have heard of her, the Britain’s Got Talent superstar already has just under 40,000,000 views on one YouTube video in just 11 days. She is listed on the second page of most viewed videos of all time for YouTube. Most of us heard about Susan because her performance was recommended to us. The idea is you want your business, your products and your services to be recommended as well.

Social media gives your word-of-mouth marketing a megaphone. You have a good business, your customers love you. You just need more customers. Here is an important rule of social media marketing . . .

You Must Be Present to Win
Out of sight is out of mind. There is a saying in business, “You must win mind share before you can win market share.” Social media is where conversations and recommendations are happening. By joining the conversation you become visible and good things can happen from there.
Here are some ways to be present to win:
1) Listening to the conversations you are interested in
2) Participating in those conversations
3) Publishing information
4) Facilitating a conversation

Listening
Ask your customers which social media they use. Twitter, Facebook, forums, YouTube, Yelp, others? You can also search topics that relate to your business to find where relevant conversations are occurring online. You can use Google alerts and www.search.twitter.com to find articles, blogs, newsletters, and other online content that will help you gain insights into your customers, your industry, and discover a whole new world of ideas.

Participating
By participating on social media websites like Biznik.com, Linkedin.com, Twitter.com and hundreds more just like them you can create a profile that will show up on the front page of search engines. (I was surprised today to find I was on the front page of Google when I searched my name.) Participating in social media increases the likelihood that you will show up on the front page of search engines when customers are looking for you.

Here are some interesting ways to participate. You can start a blog, comment on other people’s blogs, comment on relevant news articles, comment on published online articles, and link to interesting information on your website and other people’s websites on Twitter.

Publishing
You can publish (for free) pictures, videos, articles and announcements. Your new customers will find your published materials and those materials will link back to your website. There are hundreds of places to publish your information.

Facilitating
Websites like Biznik.com, Linkedin.com, Facebook, Ning.com, and others like them allow you to create social networking groups for free, for your customers. You can facilitate your own conversations that will meet the specific needs of your existing and new customers.

Social Media is More like Customer Service than Sales and Marketing
There is a buying process customers go through when they are deciding to do business with you:

1) Awareness
2) Consideration
3) Purchase
4) Loyalty

Social media helps with the awareness, consideration, and loyalty aspects of the buying process. Think of social media marketing as a customer service outreach. Chances are, you are already good at customer service and social media gives you exposure to new people very quickly.

“Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About”
You know what I mean. Believe me; we are all learning how to use and how to win customers with social media. I’ve talked to several social media experts and they admit they are stilling learning and discovering. No one has all of the answers. So don’t feel bad as you feel your way through this new terrain. The best advice I have heard about social media marketing is to spend no more than one hour per day working on it. You are already busy enough. What you put online stays online and works for you 24/7. So giving it an hour a day allows you to build slowly and get better as you go.

You may not get results over night; however momentum will build as you give them something to talk about.

Radical Self-Promotion - Crawl, Walk, Run
People do business with people they know, trust, and like. Social media gets you out there. You are the face of the company. As you participate and publish you build credibility and trust. That’s why we call it “radical self-promotion.” We want to get know you. Start small. Crawl, then walk, and then run. Do one social networking site at time and then add more as you go. The good news is, you become visible, your search engine ranking improves, you encourage raving fans, you get recommendations, you get to know your customers better, you get to meet new people, and yes social media will result in more sales. I highly recommend it.

Social Media Action Plan:
1) Search online for information about your industry or line of business
2) Join and check out several online communities as you have time
3) Pick one social media website at a time and learn how to use it
4) Spend one hour a day listening, participating, publishing, and/or facilitating
5) Track website traffic, search page rank, and increased sales for effectiveness

Kirk Davis is a SBDC Certified Business Advisor at Green River Community College (GRCC). GRCC offers no-cost guidance, bringing big business advantages to small businesses. Kirk can be reached at 253.856.9595 ext. 5041 or at kdavis@greenriver.edu. Check out his blog at www.grccnxlevel.blogspot.com.