Writing by Brick Marketing Staff on Sunday, 30 of September , 2007 at 8:10 am
One often overlooked social marketing media site, and one which I highly recommend, is Flickr.
Flickr is a photo sharing site with a lot to offer. You can upload as many as 100MB of photos without any charge before having to upgrade and there are a lot of photos you can get online with that kind of space. You can share your Flickr photos publicly or you can keep them private, just between you and your friends. You can even select certain ones that no one can see but you. Total control.
Flickr will also allow you to assign certain rights to each photo. In other words, if you want to allow anyone and everyone the right to use your photos without charge or attribution then you can. Or if you want to offer them to the Creative Commons area, you can do that too. If you want to restrict your photos from public use altogether, that option is available as well. However you choose to use Flickr, I say use it because you make friends and add them to your network and expand your base of online people you know and do business with.
Category: Flickr
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Saturday, 29 of September , 2007 at 7:21 am
(the mash) Lets not also forget about bandwidth usage that could strain a company’s network. Within ScanSafe’s own clientèle, about 32% of its customers block access to social networks, with MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn being the networks that are being blocked the most.
Is your company blocking you from social networks? If so, you might want to consider doing your social networking from home. You really don’t need to spend more than an hour a day networking any way. Thirty minutes before you leave the house each day and thirty minutes in the evening should be enough to send messages and respond to others, add friends to your network, and browse for new and interesting items. Whether you prefer Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace, networking is a useful activity, but your company has legitimate security concerns. If networking is an absolutely essential activity for your position then maybe you can talk to your boss about having a dedicated workstation just for social networking.
If your company has several employees who need to network as a part of their duties, perhaps you could set up a workstation just for social networking and make it a shared workstation. Schedule the time for each employee who must use that network and protect that workstation with its own firewall, shutting off access to the rest of your company’s network and resources. Unless your employees need those while networking, that workstation doesn’t need to be tied in to everything else and by cutting it off from the network you maintain your security.
Category: Social Networking
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Friday, 28 of September , 2007 at 9:22 am
Reputation management is one of those things that everyone online needs to think about. Without a reputation management strategy, you may find yourself in the throes of a heated battle that gets out of hand. I’ve seen it happen to others and it could happen to you too.
When you do business online, you are bound to make enemies. In fact, even off line, enemies can hurt your business. The off line world has built-in protections, though, for slander and libel that may not be applicable online. That’s because it so easy for people to put up a website in a fake name and remain anonymous even while they slander you and ruin your good reputation.
Online, the battle over reputation management is to have more positive comments about you than negative comments. For that reason, I recommend being in as many places as you can, posting, making friends, and building your online reputation - one network, one click, and one relationship at a time. Here are some tools to help you do that:
- Social networks like LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook. Don’t just join one. Join as many as you can, and stay active.
- Social bookmarking. Again, use as many social bookmarking sites as you can and make sure that you bookmark other people’s web pages as well as a few choice ones of your own. Social bookmarking is another form of networking.
- Forums. Join a few forums and stay active in those as well.
- Blogging. You should own at least one blog, but don’t just rely on that. Visit a few other people’s blogs too and comment on them.
- Article marketing. Write articles and distribute them online to as many article directories as you can.
- Websites. Own some. Preferably more than one. Get your name on them so your reputation is positive.
To manage your reputation online you need to be in as many places as you can be. Often. Meet people, build relationships, and keep your commitments.
Category: Reputation Management
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Thursday, 27 of September , 2007 at 9:44 am
Another LinkedIn item of interest:
(Source) This Friday, professional social network LinkedIn will provide the ability to add a photo to your profile page. It’s clearly a move that aims to keep up with Facebook, which increasingly looks set to steal LinkedIn’s audience.
I don’t know that we should set this up as a competition between Facebook and LinkedIn, though. Studies have shown that networkers who include photos in their profiles, no matter which social network they are a part of, do better overall than networkers who don’t. That is, they get more friends requests, join more groups, and get more of their own requests answered. People like to see who they’re networked with. That’s just human nature.
That isn’t to say there aren’t good reasons for not having a photo. Maybe you value your privacy. I know I certainly do. But when it comes to networking and growing a business through your social networks, it pays to include a photo. I think the folks at LinkedIn realize that and are ready to give that benefit to their users. At any rate, I think it’s a good move.
Category: Linkedin
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Wednesday, 26 of September , 2007 at 8:03 am
Care to get linked in to Jessica Biel? Well, now you can.
The star has set up a LinkedIn profile, a very popular social networking site for business leaders. I like LinkedIn. Here’s why:
As opposed to other social sites, LinkedIn tends to skew to a wealthier demographic, with executives from all 500 of the Fortune 500, an average annual household income of approximately $139,000, and more than 1,500 C-level business leaders.
If this is the segment of the market that you target your services to then you’d likely benefit from a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a lot better for traditional businesses and Web 2.0 businesses that follow the traditional model than either Facebook or MySpace, which tend to work better for high school and college students, musicians and other creative types, and the lower to middle socioeconomic classes.
It’s not that you can’t make business work at MySpace and Facebook. You can. But you have to know your market and if the market is right for you to be there then you should be. I like LinkedIn because the market there is right for me.
Category: Linkedin
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Tuesday, 25 of September , 2007 at 7:20 am
Rumors have it that Microsoft is trying to get a leg in at Facebook.
Facebook and Microsoft already have a relationship that allows Microsoft to advertise on Facebook.
Yesterday, Marketing Pilgrim reported:
Further rumors state that Google may also be looking to purchase a stake in the social network.
Could this be a set up to a tug of war between the two search engines? Can they both have stake in Facebook or would that pose a conflict of interest for Facebook? Would the quality of the site as a networking tool decline?
Personally, I think it Google is involved it can only be a plus. Microsoft, I’m not so sure about.
Category: Facebook
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Monday, 24 of September , 2007 at 7:53 am
(Source) Google knows a good thing when it’s sitting in front of its face. And that good thing is the openness of Facebook.
Google is trying to enter the social media arena. I’ve got to say that it won’t be nearly as difficult for Google to compete with Facebook and MySpace as it would be for Facebook or MySpace to compete with Google in search.
Further, with Google’s recently revealed plans to be more open than Facebook, the thought is that Google will be leveraging most if not all of its widely used applications for this initiative, including Google Maps and Earth.
This would be an interesting set up. It would make collaboration over long distances truly a powerful thing. The big issue would be anti-trust, I think. Would Google stoop to unfair practices to nudge MySpace and/or Facebook out of the market or could it compete evenly and fairly in this new arena? If Google could play fair, it would be a good thing for consumers. More competition means more choices and better service over all.
I hope the rumors are true and that Google does enter the social media market. That would give serious social marketers a new avenue for promoting their businesses. Are you in?
Category: Social Marketing
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Sunday, 23 of September , 2007 at 7:51 am
Over at Mashable they’re discussing whether to call this diagram a social network or a social graph. Dave Winer whined about it.
I don’t really care what you call it, but it’s a useful diagram. It shows how social networks work. There is no pyramid. There are just dots, representing people, and those dots develop relationships. You’ll be a lot more effective online if you build more relationships. That is, build your network.
Social Network Example
Social networks are built on common interests. Let’s take Mr. Dot. He’s a chemist who likes to play golf and writes poetry on weekends. His social network likely is made up of other chemists, but also other golfers, and perhaps some poets. Here’s what it might look like.
- Mr. Dot - chemist, golfer, poet
- Mrs. Tod - chemist, gardener, political activist
- Jane Doe - golfer, college student, pianist, rich girl
- John Silverstein - poet, grad student studying microbiology
- Rich Dude - entrepreneur, philanthropist, boating enthusiast
- Harry Cranium - biochemical engineer, golfer, boating enthusiast, Trombone player
Each one of these people are, of course, much more than a sum of interests. And they all have their own individual stories. But where there stories cross, that’s the network. Mr. Dot’s network will undoubtedly look quite different than Harry Cranium’s or Rich Dude’s. But they will each have a network and their own network is available to each of the others in the network.
Moral of the story: Build your network. When you can, tap into someone else’s network. That’s how you succeed online.
Category: Social Networking
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Saturday, 22 of September , 2007 at 7:44 am
I wasn’t going to blog on Facebook today, but I couldn’t pass this up. Bob Dylan has his own Facebook App. How cool is that?
Even if you’re not a Bob Dylan fan (and who isn’t?), you’ll love this App. You can type in up to ten personalized messages and a sign in Dylan’s hand will display the message for you. At the end of the presentation, a promotion of Dylan’s upcoming greatest hits album will be advertised. That’s pretty groovy.
See? There’s one more reason to like Facebook, and one more reason to love Bob Dylan.
Category: Facebook
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Friday, 21 of September , 2007 at 9:34 am
A great feature of Facebook is its applications feature. You can browse Facebook applications and add them to your profile as enhancements. This is a great way to attract new friends and build your network.
Facebook already comes with the following applications installed:
- Photos
- Groups
- Events
- Marketplace
- Posted Items
- Notes
When you set up your Facebook profile, those applications are automatically added to your profile page. Unless you intend to use all of those applications, I recommend that you delete some of them. Don’t delete photos and groups. You will probably use those. But if you don’t have items to sell then you won’t need Marketplace - unless you just want to browse the marketplace for things to buy. The same thing goes for Events. If you don’t plan on using these applications, delete them and add the applications you want to use.
How To Add New Facebook Applications To Your Facebook Profile
On the left side of your screen you’ll see a list of your applications. Click “Edit.” A screen will pop up with a list of your applications. You can remove and edit settings of any of your applications right there. You can also browse other applications to add to your profile. Click the “Browse Applications” button and you’ll get a screen that looks like this:
When you you see a Facebook Application that you like and want to add to your profile, just click the link next to it and a page will pop up showing you the features of that Application. You can share the Application, but what you really want to do is click the “Add Application” button on the right side of your page. This will add that Application to your Facebook profile. Examples of cool Facebook Applications you can add to your profile include:
- Videos
- Slideshows
- Send SMS - Free Text Messaging
- Holiday Gifts
- Checklist of the Day
- StumbleUpon
- My Signatures
- MySpace Link
- YouTube Downloader
- Book Tag
These are just a few of the cool Facebook Applications that you can download and use for business with your Facebook profile. There are hundreds more. Future blog posts will show you how you can make the best use from some of the Applications. Do you have a favorite Facebook Application? I’d like to hear what it is.
Category: Facebook
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Thursday, 20 of September , 2007 at 9:08 am
Social networking sites like Facebook have been popular for some time now. Facebook itself is on the rise while MySpace seems to be slowing down. I really like Facebook for several reasons, but one thing I really like about it is its local networking feature. Here’s how it works:
- Sign into your account
- Go to the Networks tab
- You can jump to Canada, Great Britain, or other regions if you don’t live in the U.S.
- If you live in the U.S. you’ll see a list of states down the page in three columns
- Find your state and click on the link for the city that is closest to where you live
Local Facebook Features You’ll Love
You’ll see, once you find the page for your local network, on the top left of the screen, how many members are a part of that network. It also shows you how many friends you have, if you have any. On the right side of the screen you’ll see some photos of people in the network. You can browse those photos or search for someone you believe may already be a member.
Just below the photos you’ll see a list of upcoming events in your area. This is a really useful feature. Below that you can see what is popular in your area, a list of groups, and, on the right side of the page, a “Marketplace” where members of the network can list products for sell.
Further down the page you’ll also see statistics on members of the network - how many are single, married, male, female, etc. There is also a discussion board and links to nearby networks. At the bottom of the page is The Wall, which looks like the comment section of a blog and allows members of the network to leave messages for public view.
If you browse the members of your local network you can see their profiles, send them a message, or even “poke ‘em” and see how many friends they have.
If you have a small business and you do a lot of business locally, you might consider looking into Facebook’s local networking feature.
Category: Facebook
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 19 of September , 2007 at 6:57 am
In the old days, I mean the Really Old Days, men used to walk down to the community barber shop and talk business, politics, and farming. They were networking. It was nothing more than a conversation that took place in someone’s - the barber’s - office. A public meeting, if you will.
Networking hasn’t changed much. You don’t have to get your hair cut any more to talk business with strangers. Or with men in your community. It seems, though, that the definition of community has changed.
No longer are men gathered together in one place to hold a conversation so that the barber can earn his keep. Rather, conversations now take place over long distances, many times by people who have never - and never will - met. Due to the Internet, a man in Kansas, a woman in Europe, and a 15-year-old set of twins in Bangkok can meet in a chat room and discuss fabrics. They are networking.
Whether you do your networking through Facebook or MySpace, YouTube or Xanga, LinkedIn or Ryze, you are still networking. The rules haven’t changed. The etiquette is still the same. Maybe the conversation is different, and the people are certainly different. Still, it’s all about relationships. What are you doing today to build better relationships online?
Category: Social Networking
Writing by Brick Marketing Admin on Tuesday, 18 of September , 2007 at 7:07 am
Which social media site is best for marketing? The short answer: All of them.
If you are marketing a business online using social media websites then you should be using more than one. You are a member of more than one club, aren’t you? Social media sites all have different modes of operation and there is a different strategy for each one, but they are all valid. I would recommend using at a minimum three different social media websites for your business.
Some social media sites will yield better results than others depending on your industry or type of business. For instance, if you are a real estate agent you will likely find Zillow helpful. If you are a musician of any kind then MySpace is an obvious one to try. Other professions might do better somewhere else. The trick to social media marketing is to find the right places for you. Where are your potential customers likely to hang out? Well, there you should be also.
Category: Social Marketing
Writing by Brick Marketing Staff on Monday, 17 of September , 2007 at 7:08 am
How many friends do you have?
People who are successful at social marketing understand that it’s all about relationships. They are proactive in meeting new people, building successful relationships, and maintaining them over the distance. The Internet by nature is a social medium. To succeed online you must have a strategy for social media marketing and that strategy should incorporate the human element of relationship building. In a word, you’ve got to make friends. Lots of them.
Every social networking site online is based on this concept. They all may approach the relationship building part of social media marketing a little differently. Some have more strictures on who you can invite into your network and how they are approved, but all social media involve some aspect of meeting people and making friends. Even many of the social bookmarking websites allow you to add people to your network of friends.
The more people you add to your friends list, even if you never get past the initial stage of - “Hello, how are you?” - the more likely you are to be successful at this form of marketing. You’ve got to be a butterfly, flitting from one social profile to another, meeting people with like interests, and sharing the things that are important to you. As you do this, they will reciprocate with their own lists of favorite things. Where your favorites meet their favorites is where your relationship begins. Nurture that and in the end it will become your bread and butter. It all starts in one little cocoon.
Be a butterfly. A social media butterfly.
Category: Social Marketing
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 16 of September , 2007 at 7:55 am
If you’re new to social media or to Internet marketing then you might be wondering what is social media marketing. First, let’s define social media.
Social media consists of websites that emphasize relationships over content, or at least place the value of relationships between participants equal to that of content. Social media can be broken down into several categories, including:
- Bookmarking websites
- Social networking
- Viral marketing
- Digital file sharing
- User-generated websites
- Gaming sites like World of Warcraft and Second Life
So what is social media marketing?
Social media marketing consists of using social media websites to build relationships in order to sell products and services for your company or affiliates. While some companies have found social media marketing to be quite effective, there are some drawbacks. Efforts can backfire and people do talk about the companies they encounter. Sometimes that talk is negative rather than positive.
In this blog we will share our insights with you regarding how to most effectively use social media to build your company brand, manage your reputation online, and develop lasting relationships that benefit you and your company. It’s not all about closing the sale right now. Social media marketing is about building relationships with your target market so that you can better meet their needs and they can get the products and services they want.
Category: Social Marketing
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