Social Business Interaction

Given the scope of the online and brick-and-mortar companies , the question I wish to ask is "how do you make a company relevant and relatable to every single potential client on the planet?" This is a big question and a massive challenge to solve for.

     The good news is that the means by which we can support this challenge does exist, in part, with the smart use of social media and mobile technology applied with strategic partnerships, convincing content and purposeful engagement. There is no better way to engage a broad spectrum of audiences at a large scale (from one to one billion) than through social media and mobile technologies.

I’d like to offer a look into a few key areas that will help to guide efforts in addressing this challenge:

 Be Engaging!

     Working through answers to simple questions is simple, yet very important. You don't have to be a social media expert to develop intelligent and high-impacting strategies, as long as you work through this main question:

"What do you want people, potential or current clients, to know, feel and/or do as a result of interacting with your company and/or relevant online  content?"

Those working with Facebook may also use the following question:

"Why would someone care and why would they share your content?"

      Answering these questions is very important when we define our audiences, understand what they care about, and develop our content framework that relates to their personal interests, concerns and/or needs.

     It forces us to think about and appeal to the emotional drivers that inspire people to engage and take action on a daily basis. Every person will have a different entry point into the relationship with you and your company. Our challenge is to provide an environment that allows for each person to benefit and contribute in a meaningful way.

Build Partnerships

     It is important to have a strong and effective balance of strategic partnerships and relationships in place with companies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google and even with agencies (PR, media, creative). In other words, BE THERE. Your online presence is one of the main ways you as a company can build relationships.

     Developing a structure that brings together people from each partner with well defined roles and responsibilities to contribute to the success of your business strategy and objectives is crucial. Each partner brings with them an important lens on audience and engagement opportunities supported by great data, insight and expertise that when pulled together into a uniform view, have enormous impact.

Will OS X Mavericks be "Better Than Ever?"

   

 At first glance, Mavericks looks much like the previous version, but Apple's designers are clearly attempting to move away from the highly detailed UI ornamentation and are turning their focus more toward actual content. We've already seen this approach in the way Apple has gradually evolved apps like QuickTime, which started off with a heavily bordered window around the video that got thinner and thinner over time, to the point that now there are no more borders at all -- just the video you're watching and playback controls that appear on mouse-over, then disappear.

With that design minimalism in mind, all of the built-in apps in Mavericks -- everything from Safari, to Mail, to FaceTime, Messages, Calendar and Notes -- have adopted standard OS X interface elements, ditching of the leather/metal/paper backgrounds that users have grown accustomed to.

The move to less UI ornamentation isn't a surprise for most users, given Apple design chief Jony Ive's penchant for minimalism when it comes to hardware (and he's now in charge of software design). But Mavericks does offer some delights that users should appreciate.

Social Media in the Ministry

Today I was able to talk with Julie Williquette, a secretary working at Baptist World Mission. Baptist World Mission is a well-known mission agency serving over 300 missionaries worldwide. Julie's main job is to assist two field directors serving missionaries in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Europe. She uses Social Media everyday and enjoys getting to connect with people all over the world. I got to ask Julie a few questions about her uses of Social Media in the ministry.

Q: How do YOU use Social Media and technology for religious purposes?
A: "I use Facebook every day as a means of sharing prayer requests with missionaries around the world. The missionary friends share their requests with me and I write them down in my prayer journal and pray over the requests every week. I then Facebook message the missionaries for request updates from time to time. I also use Social Media for my administrator at work (who does not have his own Facebook, but desires to know missionaries’ “happenings). I am in the process of setting up a  Facebook account for my church’s young married Sunday school class, so that we can a means of communicating and keeping up with each other, activities, prayer requests, etc."

Q: How is Social Media a good thing when used for religious organizations?

A. "Religious organizations can definitely use Social Media for sharing prayer requests, organizational activities/projects, and other general information with one another. It’s fast and easy, rather than trying to look up phone numbers and taking the time to call each other."

Q: How could Social Media be a bad thing for an organization promoting the Gospel?

A: "Wrong things could be written and shared socially…things like unkind opinions, rudeness and lack of respect for other’s thoughts/posts, and plain gossip. These things can harm the testimony of Christ and His church."

Q: How Can Social Media potentially help a religious organization generate higher traffic on a website or blog?
A: "By allowing others in to see the website or blog, word can spread and others may want to share it as well. This may cause higher traffic (more popularity)."

Tips for Beginners

    Every social network site has a different way of getting people to your main database. For example, Twitter has people who physically follow your company by opting in to receive all your updates and news feeds about you and your company by selecting the "follow" option. Facebook allows people to “like” your business’ fan page, which opts them in to your updates and news feeds. Many of the other social networks work the same way when adding people generally interested in your brand.
      Going into to social media marketing without knowing how to find the key people you are looking for can be a massive waste of your time. It’s not about the quality or quantity of your page, but the quality of the people who follow you. You need to start by identifying the key influencers in the social media space who have a good reputation online and that people actually listen to when they recommend a product or service therefore generating a positive light on your company. These people can promote for you! Then you need to  start creating a "buzz" around your brand to attract visitors to your website. There is no other way around it social media marketing takes time and effort. From defining your core audience online to each and every comment, post, and conversation you have on social media, your social media activities play an active role in how your brand message comes across to other people. When you look at all your efforts in building brand awareness, it's apparent that the time you invest in social media takes up a great bit of your workweek and keeping you away from your normal, everyday role in your company. Look at the results to see how your business is growing online so you can track your development based on our social media marketing services. If needed, you may consider finding a quality web designer for any of your website needs outside of the Social Media Marketing.

When Facebook becomes a Book

Very cool way to show things in a different format such as this video on Facebook and Social Media.



When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.

Maximize your Facebook Posts - Mari Smith

Facebook has changed the way users interact with content on fan pages: any user, including non-fans, can now post on fan page walls and like/comment/share fan page content. In other words, a Facebook user does not have to first like your fan page before they can interact with your content. This is a good thing!
Since this change, the emphasis has shifted slightly from gaining more likes (fans) to increasing the number of shares on each piece of content. When you craft your fan page updates in a manner that naturally inspires fans and their friends and visitors to your page to share with their networks, you set in motion ripples of viral visibility. Basically, free exposure.

1. Use an eye-catching image.

Your photo should make people laugh, cry, or go “awww!”
Photos on Facebook have always gotten a slightly higher EdgeRank score, which means better visibility in the News Feed. But, don’t necessarily use an image on every single post; keep it interesting by mixing in links, videos, questions (app), and text only updates.

2. Keep the narrative short.

A study by Buddy Media showed that posts 80 characters or less in length receive 27% higher engagement rates. Considering how much content flies by fast in the new moving Ticker at the top right of your Facebook home page, and also in the News Feed, it makes sense that a shorter post will catch Facebook users’ attention quicker.

3. Keep first person to a minimum.

Even though I’m a big fan of writing in first person whenever possible, as it creates more warmth and connection with your audience, in order to increase your shares on Facebook, you might want to experiment with keeping the wording more generic. Write in a way that could sound like it was coming from others. As with Melonie’s example above “How adorable is this?!” could be said by anyone.
You can always use first person in your comments when responding to bring in the more personal touch.

4. Include a call to action.

Invite your friends, subscribers, fans and their friends along with visitors to your page to share your posts with their friends, subscribers and fans. Simple calls to action such as “Click like if you agree” often work well, so long as the preceding statement/question is relevant. Asking people to add their comments is good too. But, it’s the Share that will likely create the greatest exposure for your page/profile.
-Mari Smith via Jonathan Williquette

Social Blessings

   

     Social Media has been a part of every one's life for several years. Once you as an individual or business succeed in creating a brand of products and services in your  specific market, it has become normal in the Social Media environment to remain in connection with those markets and industries through your social networking sites. This is such a media which if used correctly, could be very beneficial in the short term and long for personal advertising as well as product branding. It's my personal belief that  everyone in today's digital world should be linked to a network via social networking websites and social media. 

     Social Media is an opportunity for not just individuals, but also businesses as well. I cannot say it has zero  drawbacks, but when compared to other forms of business communications and such, its benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Instead of spending another year and hundreds of hours longer re-building your personal or company website, it results better if you re-brand your website via social media. This can allow you to keep your website updated with new and additional content to provide value to your target audiences, also to keep them hooked to your website.

     What we need is proper strategic planning with goals of wonderful and definite outcomes in our social media marketing campaigns. Keep in mind how specific markets will participate in different social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn. Do not avoid your participation by feeling insecure about the mistakes that might happen. The blessing of this digitally-oriented world is the reassurance that anything and everything can be corrected.

-Jonathan Williquette

What happens in a day?

What happens in the world of Social Media in one day? Here's a video that gives some insight into what's going on everyday on the internet.

A Day in the Life of Social Media from DBA Worldwide on Vimeo.

Social Media 101

 

     Whether you're using Facebook, email, Twitter, or any other Internet marketing options, Social Media Quickstarter is the place to go to learn or get information about a specific marketing tool. If your are interested in using Facebook to advertise your business brand, this SMQ has twenty-one chapters of information teaching users how to utilize Facebook Pages, set your professional profile, and much more. How about Twitter? You bet! SMQ has fourteen chapters of useful content on using Twitter to grow your business and market your products and services. When it comes to even the smallest things, such as QR codes or location-based services, SMQ has the information available for Internet users and marketing gurus to take advantage of. Click HERE to watch a quick video about it!

Useful, but Powerful Media Tools

Here are just few great tools to use when advertising your company online!

FREE Consultation

Here at Most Things Techy, we want to provide you as a business owner or technology-lover the most current and helpful information on social media tools. Our goal is to give you the best tools to advertise your business brand. In order to provide the BEST possible service, Most Things Techy is now offering FREE consultation for you and business! Need to learn more about a certain advertising tool? We can tell you all you need to know. For more information on this new service, just email us HERE, or simply leave us a voicemail at (702) 758-3249 and we'll return your call as soon as possible. We are a 24/7 service, so feel free to call or email any time!

Listen to the Expert

      I was able to talk to Stephen Booth, a strategist and expert on social media and technology. He currently works for Blend IMC, a global marketing team helping companies reach their advertising goals. Stephen is constantly working with media for companies and is a fantastic worker with blogs and Twitter. I asked Stephen a few questions that would be beneficial to you and your company as you seek to utilize advertising via social media for your company.

Q: Why should your company use social media?

A: "Social media is a great tool to help a company become a thought leader in their field. As a company produces quality content on a particular topic, they gain respect and more people start to look to them for answers. The goal is for their name to become synonymous with that topic in the minds of any potential customer. A company should also use social because they can generate leads through social channels. Social should be an integral part of any inbound marketing strategy. A majority of almost any company’s potential customer pool is already active on social media. When a company publishes valuable content via social channels, they are attracting and qualifying potential customers. Companies can leverage the value of their content to gain contact information from prospects, turning them into leads. Finally, companies should use social to get feeback from and have genuine conversations with customers. Social is one of the most effective ways companies have ever had at their disposal to listen to their customers. Brands can use social media to learn more about customer sentiment, how customers use their products/ services, what frustrations customers have with their products services. Smart companies engage with their customers on social and, most importantly, are quick to acknowledge their own shortcomings, address customer complaints, and make changes to their products/ services."

Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media?

A: "There are so many advantages as listed in the answer above. It would be a disadvantage if a company tried investing in their social presence but didn’t have full organizational buy-in or a content team to support their social efforts because they would probably see a very low ROI."

Q: Does the company need to hire someone to run these operations?

A: "It really depends on many factors like the company’s industry, size of the company, current organizational talent, the company’s social goals, their budget, etc. It would probably be wise for most medium to large companies to hire employees to lead social efforts. Small companies can be extremely effective on social channels, but they can probably utilize existing internal talent to lead social efforts. While social training/ consulting can be helpful to get a company started with their social efforts, social is typically most effective when handled in house."

Q: What advice would you give to a company looking to use social media to advertise their brand?

A: "Think long-term. Don’t expect to see new customers walking in the door from social media tomorrow. Social works best when integrated with an inbound strategy and inbound marketing is slower to boil, but inversely, has a long tail. Do everything with the customer’s needs/ wants in mind. Think of it in terms of making friends in real life. If you’re always hitting people over the head with your product/ service, you’ll be all alone at the bar. Put yourself in the mind of your ideal customer. How can you get him/her exactly what they want when they want it? Have a community mindset. Help others, be social, provide relevant & valuable information to the conversation. It’s not about your company, it’s about helping people meet their needs. If you help people meet their needs, they’re gonna be loyal. Get specialized. Each social network is unique. Don’t expect your Twitter strategy to work for Facebook. It’s better to optimize your presence for results on one particular channel than throw content across a myriad of social channels with little results on any. Once you’re up and running on one network, branch out and spend a month learning the next one on your strategic agenda. Social networks are not created equal. Different social networks work well for different types of businesses. Facebook is generally effective for B2C/ local businesses, but linked in often works much better for national B2B companies. Have a strategy and know why you’re investing on the social networks your on. If a majority of your potential customers are on Tumblr, it would be pointless to put all your efforts into developing your Twitter profile. Content is king. Your engagement is only going to be as good as your content. If you’re putting out weak content, people aren’t going to engage."

Social Media Tools

Should I Use Internet Advertising?

     Can the internet help my company? What would it take to get my name/brand in the top lists on a search engine? How effective is an internet or social media ad? Is it expensive? SHOULD MY BUSINESS USE THE INTERNET?
      These are common questions that any businessman would ask when considering using the power of the internet to advertise his business. As long as your business involves finding new customers, pleasing current customers, and spreading brand awareness, then the internet will most definitely be what you need to get your name out to the public. The internet is a big place, you don't need me to tell you that. There is all sorts of competition out there trying to get their brand above yours, and here is the sad part, it's working. An estimated increase of $35 billion was spent on internet ads last year, and that number is still rapidly rising. The Yellow Pages and random newspapers are not the #1 way to advertise anymore. So, if you're still investing in your black-and-white ad in the local newspaper, it's time to move on.
     Think of it this way; the internet is the Jumbotron in a sports dome and your newspaper or Yellow Pages ad is the sports ticket on the ground under your seat. Maybe someone will notice it, maybe not. Then the janitor comes along later and scoops it up in the trash. Everyone in the sports dome will see that massive screen show off their favorite superstar as he makes the final superbowl touchdown or slam-dunks the ball just before the buzzer. An average 7,017,846,922 access the internet everyday, but only 1.3-1.5 million people even pick up a newspaper.
     I'm not a Rocket Scientist, but I'd say you're catering to much larger audience on the internet than with your newspaper ad. Is the internet an excellent place to advertise your brand? That is a most definite and absolute YES. I'll share with you a few great tools to do this in the next post, so keep coming back.
-Jonathan Williquette

Keep track of business people

     Evernote Hello is an excellent way to keep track of people you meet, business clients you work with, and even meetings you had or are about to make. This application makes it easy by creating a rich, browsable history of individuals, encounters, and shared experiences. To use the app, it's as easy as 1, 2, 3.
     1. All you need to start is an email address, and the app uses LinkedIn and Facebook to get contact information and build a profile.
     2. Scan a business card and Evernote Hello imports all of the necessary information to the new profile.
     3. To schedule a meeting, all you have to do is pull in names from your contact list and the app will create a custom meeting just for you!
     Evernote Hello Connect uses the amazing power of other people's audio tones to remember a whole group of people. Remembering people has never been easier with this new app. Scan business cards to remember people and make connections! Click HERE to get more information on Evernote Hello.
-Jonathan Williquette

Advanced Facebook Marketing

Engage your fans, qualify them, and measure your performance. 

    Agora Pulse Facebook Page Advertising and CRM is the thing to have when it comes to getting your business page out the masses. The application features a wide array of options to help you get a hold of your advertising.

     This new platform offers powerful tools like Facebook Page Analytics. This allows you to follow the progression of your fanbase over time. You have the ability to see your number of fans, visibility of posts, and even the friends of your fans. Agora is also set up with something called Facebook Post Performance. This lets you measure the impact of your posts (in detail) to figure out which ones generate the most positive reactions and also lets you see the negative reactions. Have you ever wondered what to post and when to post it? Agora Pulse tells you! It can show you what type of content is reaching your fans and when, which helps you to post more effectively in the future.
     All these things seem great, and you'd better believe they are! There's one things you may have noticed that may have been overlooked. "Who's my competitor?" This is the big question that so many businesses today are asking. Makes perfect sense right? If you know who's trying to get the top spot on the market and what they're doing to get there, you can combat them in the race to succeed. What would be one of the best tools out there to help you with this? Well, you've probably already guessed it. Yup, it's Agora Pulse. Facebook Competitor Analysis helps you compare your page performance and stats to that of your competition. You can track what works and what doesn’t.
Find out who has the most audience engagement, the highest interaction rate with customers, and the most regular activity. You can also generate detailed comparisons with specific competitors via charts or graphs that allow you to see your page alongside 5 others. Who doesn't want to use that?
     This platform is a powerful tool to help you get your business page running the way it should, and to keep you up-to-date on the effectiveness of that page, while still tracking your competitors at the same time. Click HERE to see about a free trial and also check out pricing.
-Jonathan Williquette

Idea Flight

Get Your Ideas Off the Ground

     Idea Flight is an iPad application design specifically for sharing your ideas and presentations with everyone in your next business meeting. The app allows for one person(the Pilot) to control the main presentation with a group of other people (the Passengers) via bluetooth or Wi-Fi. You can kiss all those annoying extra cables goodbye.
     Everything in the presentation can be sent through the space of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to each individual iPad in the audience. No more conference cameras and mics, other bulky equipment, or random wires.
     Another great option built into the app is the ability for the presenter to go at his or her own speed and even allow the files and such to be shared directly with their audience. Special files can be sent to evey member of the audience via Dropbox, email, or iTunes file sharing. Everything is so easy to set up and here's the awesome part: it's free.
     Idea Flight has been made by partnering with Dropbox and LinkedIn to provide you with the best business solutions for your next presentation.
-Jonathan Williquette

The Power of Social Media

LinkedIn - Promote your business

     LinkedIn provides people with the means to get their name out to the public, whether you're an individual or a large corporation. It is a social network for businesspeople. It allows users to create a professional profile, list their present and past employment, and link up with former and current colleagues. It also allows users to stay in touch with clients, vendors, suppliers and other business contacts.
Many professionals now regard it as a modern-day alternative to business networking by attending actual events.

     LinkedIn provides its users with instance access to a virtual network that spans over 200 countries. Their goal? To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. How can this be accomplished? By allowing business owners and employees, as well as simple individuals looking to create a name for themselves, fast and free access to LinkedIn's global network. In about 2 minutes, you can be connected to some of the top business owners in America, as well as around the world.

     How helpful can this be for your business? By clicking HERE and signing up for free, you can create connections with other business owners like yourself to promote your products and/or services!
-Jonathan Williquette

What's YOUR Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Using Facebook for my business

     Over 1 billion people log on to Facebook every day. If you have a strong presence on Facebook, your business can be a part of every conversation and has access to the most powerful kind of word-of-mouth marketing on the internet today. Facebook has provided a number of tools that make it a great application not just for individuals, but for businesses as well. It’s no secret that Facebook has many very powerful tools that will help propel your business into the forefront of existing and potential customers’ minds.

     One of the great ways that Facebook can help promote your business is through their Facebook Pages. Pages give your business an identity on Facebook. With a Page, those interested and following your brand can become “fans”, and in doing this, promotes your page to all their friends. This will create an even bigger audience, and so forth. You can store photos and videos, as well as information about your company, and even your own applications on your Page. All activity on Pages gets posted back to your Mini Feed for all your friends to see.

     The most well known and probably the most effective way to using Facebook to promote your business is Facebook Advertising.  Facebook Advertising enables businesses to specify a specific demographic target, see how many people that demographic will hit, and advertise to that demographic. It uses powerful technology to reach the most amount of people around the globe. Facebook has also provided even more customized options for other areas of the site in which big-budget businesses can advertise through. I know from personal experience that Facebook Advertising is a very powerful and effective tool to advertise your business. Plus, you don't have to be a big-budget operation to use the advertising! Facebook allows you to customise your ads to fit your personal budget and fit your business needs.
-Jonathan Williquette

What is social technology and what's the reason for this blog?

     In the past year, a huge number of people have written about (and blogged about, tweeted about…) the mechanics of using Facebook, Twitter, email and YouTube, yet few address how to use the incredible power of new social technology to effectively create social good.

     “What is social good?” Some believe it’s a good or service that benefits the largest number of people in the largest possible way. Classic domains for social goods are often seen in education, environment, health, arts and culture. However, the concept of social good used in social technology is broader to catch the industries you’re familiar with.

     The goal of this blog is simple: to help you in the understanding of social technology in support of creating a clear, single, and focused goal in the use of social media. In the long run, through the use of great applications, software, and quite a lot of internet technology, we will help you to give you that boost of information needed to better your business and even yourself with the use of internet technology. We’ll gain insight from leaders from Facebook, Twitter, and Google, while pulling things down to your level to help you better understand how to use these applications to their fullest capacity.
-Jonathan Williquette

Android to Run on Windows Platform?

     It’s already possible to run Android apps on Windows PCs thanks to a clever little app called BlueStacks. But now a group of Chinese developers are looking to take it a step further by actually allowing you to run the entire Android 4.0.3 “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system, complete with Google Play support, as a native application on your on Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 machine.
    
     For now the project is still very much in development and as such it still requires a lot of tweaking to get things working properly. For instance, the Google Play Store needs to be side-loaded separately, and once you get that running most apps will still show up as incompatible since they don’t recognize your computer as a valid Android device. A thread on Reddit offers some guidance on how to get around this problem.
    
     WindowsAndroid provides users with a stock Android user interface and leverages the Dalvik virtual machine to run Android apps. Since there’s no need for emulation apps can reportedly take advantage of your system’s hardware and graphics card for hardware acceleration. The program will support most screen resolutions and those that don’t have a touch screen can use their mouse and keyboard to navigate the interface.
Running Android on a desktop will have little to no practical use for most people, but the project itself seems interesting nonetheless and it’s worth a look if you haven’t had a chance to play with the platform yet. To try it out you’ll need to fill out a form on the developer’s site to get a download link on your inbox.
-By Jose Vilches