Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

Because you have to it’s VLG.me

April 7 2011

If you fear social media but know it has to be done, we have the answer. By visiting this blog you’re a part of our own VLG.me efforts. Twitter, Facebook, microsites, vlgadvertising.com, and more are all tied into our solution that defines VLG as a thought leader in the interactive lead generation space. We want to do that for our customers, too.

How do you find out if VLG.me is right for you?

1. Visit your corporate website.
2. Count how many clicks it takes a user to reach specific product information.
3. If it’s more than two clicks, you need VLG.me.

Ready to learn more.

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Cut out the fat

December 8 2010

Nope, this is not a holiday article about avoiding my aunt’s peanut butter crunch, my mom’s pecan pie, or my wife’s cookies. I’m not skipping those. However, I am putting my social media network on a diet. I’m taking a long hard look at all those friends, colleagues, followers and follows.

There is a trend toward exclusivity and intimacy, toward smaller groups not larger. Early in the social media’s life cycle bigger was better. We could do online what most of us couldn’t do offline–ramp up our numbers. Do I have more friends on Facebook, colleagues on LinkedIn, or followers on Twitter than that guy, or that girl? You get a friend request from your step-mother’s second cousin twice removed and you accepted it? You bet! Rekindling old friendships is great, but some of those fires went out for a reason.

2010-12-08_09-28-30

Introducing Diaspora, a Facebook alternative meant to facilitate management of small groups. That inside joke about so-and-so’s crazy night in New Orleans won’t work on your Facebook wall. With Diaspora you select only those that will actually get that joke. It’s quality not quantity. (Not necessarily the jokes, just the network.)

This is not an endorsement of Diaspora–the name sounds like a disease you don’t want to catch to me–but it is not alone in bringing similar tools to market. Tell us, are you using Diaspora? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Where do the cool kids hang out?

November 11 2010

Social media is not far removed from the high school lunch room. You have the jocks sitting over there, the nerds there, the debate team, the tennis team, 4-H (we are in TX after all), and the loners. You get the point.

It stands to reason that those same self-selected groups would manifest themselves online. Set Facebook aside. It’s clear old high school and college chums congregate together. Where does that leave your business?

Are you one of the cool kids or are you a loner?

cool-kids

Chances are you are somewhere in between and in between is not always the best place to be. If you’re popular customers gravitate toward you, your products, your brand and more. If you’re a loner you know your place in the world and its not always a happy place.

What about everyone else in the middle?

You are overlooked.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking about how your company becomes the BMOC. Good products and services, a great story, and a great personality are the recipe for becoming the company others follow not a company that follows. Be bold! Go big or go home.

Hey, don’t be content with the middle or you’ll find yourself alone.

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Is social media useful to you, B2B marketer?

October 20 2010

Social media can be a difficult channel for some B2B companies to utilize. If they do have a presence on social media sites such as Facebook, companies tend to suffer from an overemphasis on selling or a failure to grasp the non-traditional way in which social media audiences communicate. While there is no silver-bullet approach, B2B companies can maximize positive recognition of their brand by following these simple steps:

  • The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is an interface through which you can engage directly with your customers. This can be a double-edged sword, but with inventive and diligent management social media users are a great resource. So, leverage the platforms to instantly and informally solicit customer feedback. “Feedback” on such sites as Facebook may consist of nothing mare than a “Like”, but it is a definite starting point.
  • Offer value to viewers. Share some industry expertise, incorporate a giveaway, post a product review. One question many B2B sellers forget to ask it, “What is the user’s incentive to view my content?”
  • Promote the personality of your business. Social media is a great place to differentiate yourself from the competition by adopting a clear and entertaining brand voice. Obviously at the end of the day the strength of the product is the most powerful influencer of brand loyalty, but think of a social media as an unconventional form of public relations.

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Bad Press

July 7 2010

Social media is quickly becoming the norm for peer-to-peer communication and information dissemination. Now companies will have to join the fray. If your company hasn’t, it’s time to jump in. Consumers can make noise and you’ll need to respond faster to complaints or questions.

Michael Bush from Ad Age states, “By rewarding complainers with lightning-fast responsiveness, are marketers training consumers to publicly flog them rather than take the discreet and often-frustrating route of calling customer service?” Interesting point. Put another way, will consumers cry wolf to get a refund, save a buck, or game the system?

Does it make sense to train consumers to think the best way to get a faster service is to bash your brand, to tell every one of their friends and connections about a terrible experience, and do it all in the public domain. With the power of social media how will companies respond? Sometimes meeting customers where they are, in the social media centered world, is not the best venue for solving all of your company’s problems. But then again, maybe it is.

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Taking stock

March 8 2010

My name is Michael, and I’m an addict. From social media to web-based and iPhone apps I am guilty of a leap-then-look mentality. If you tell me you found a smoking hot iPhone app for 80’s trivia I will download it without giving it a second thought. Tell me about a great new time management application online, I’m there. Yes, I’ll register for inclusion in the industry specific directory of advertising movers and shakers.

Now I find myself in the ugly position of having no earthly idea what I’ve signed up for, how, why or when. What good are all these time management, SEO friendly, networking savvy applications if I don’t use them?

So many apps, so little brand loyalty

So many apps, so little brand loyalty


This post would be really awesome if provided a link applications that keep track of everything. I know the apps are out there, but if I sign up it’s just another login ID and password and URL I have to remember. Yep, I have a problem. Admitting the problem is the first step.

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Stop. You’re killing me

March 5 2010

There are a few marketing buzz words that make you cringe when you hear them. Here we are in March of 2010 and my gag reflex kicks in when I hear:

Social media expert: These are usually self-anointed and woefully under qualified. In fact, I have a blog, a facebook account, a linkedIn account, and twitter accounts (yes, multiple). When you add up all VLG’s followers, group members, friends and fans and mine, well heck, we’re social media experts.

Viral marketing: Can you compare a waterskiing squirrel to the more recent Old Spice “I’m a man, man” campaign. Viral marketing might be the pinnacle of web impressions and tough to measure. Isn’t WOM so much better? That’s what we used to call it in the days before YouTube.

Twitter: Actually anything that starts with “Tw-” triggers tinnitus. I applaud Twitter apps that come up with original names like HootSuite, Su.pr and Birdhouse. Tweety Bird tweeting on Twitter would probably send me over the edge, but if I were Warner Bros. I’d be all over that.
warnerbrothersrocks

I’m putting this post up on a Friday, because it’s a little risky and I need a slow news day to say things like “Tweety Bird tweeting” without wrecking my good name. Negativity is such a buzz kill. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

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25 in 5 Challenge

February 9 2010

rockpaperscissors

Inspired by Colin Alsheimer’s Social Media Challenge (follow @levelten_colin, #smschallenge) that encouraged all of us to stray from mainstream content and share a little more variety in our tweets, I have a somewhat related challenge to lay before you.

My wife uses Facebook and I’d guess spends at least and hour on the site spread throughout the course of a day. I don’t. Rarely do I use facebook to communicate with others. In fact I go days without even logging in. Despite having 302 Facebook friends, 261 LinkedIn connections and 177 followers on Twitter I probably communicate with no more than 10 people across all three media in a given week—so, not very social.

For the next five days I’ve decided to challenge myself and I encourage you to do the same. Whether you are a heavy user or passive participant in social media let’s put social media to the test.

The Challenge:

I challenge you to contact twenty-five people over the next five days that you’ve friended, connected or followed.

The Rules:

Only contact those you friended, connected or followed, but have not communicated with since that day.
Use only social media to make contact (e.g. post to a wall, send a LinkedIn message, direct message when you can).

Share:

We want feedback. Whether awkward or awesome please post comments here, on our Facebook page, or LinkedIn group. Tweet about it using #25in5 and suggest others you think we should follow. I’ll aggregate comments/thoughts on the blog next week and you can follow live action here:

http://twitter.com/mosimmons/twentyfiveinfive

If you’re a passive user of social media like me this will take you out of your social media comfort zone. Otherwise it’s just an excuse to check in with old friends, acquaintances or random people you friended on the Internet.

Ready, Go!

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Knowny

February 8 2010

For any of you that will or will not admit to answering email, tweeting, or texting while in the WC, might relate to this excerpt from The Colbert Report. Social media brings new meaning to the WORD ubiquity.

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14 blogs for 2 weeks

January 19 2010

VLG is signing up for the Social Media Challenge. We encourage you to do the same. Check out Colin Alsheimer’s blog post for the rules. We’ve gathered a list of blogs from the folks here at VLG. Below are the 14 blogs we’ll track and promote over the next couple of weeks. With any luck we’ll learn something original. Don’t forget to bookmark and read our humble opus, too.

1. Customer Experience Crossroads
Our favorite Canadian that has on several occasions bought our loyalty with profound words about our own Dialog Marketing. Susan Abbott makes it onto the VLG top 14.

2. Servant of Chaos
Gavin Heard represents marketers from down under in a sometimes disturbing, yet informative way. Don’t let the crazy eyes headshot on his blog fool you. Australians, as you know, are good people.

3. Church of the Customer
I’ve never seen Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba speak in public. I’ve never read one of their books, but they crank out a good blog post every now and again. (Any blog that posts a PSA staring the late governor of Texas, Ann Richards, deserves a nod.

4. The Big Fat Marketing Blog
Get in the heads marketers kind of like you as they post prose about our favorite topic, big fat marketing.

5. Gaspedal “The Blog”
Brought to you by the people that gave us tidy white papers, books and conference panels and speeches littered with word of mouth and social media that matters. This is a good blog for people that communicate.

6. Unleashed on Marketing
Gary Bembridge has two passions in life. Want to guess one of them? This Londoner mixes it up with commentary and links to EMEA marketing goodies.

7. Good Is
Collaboration is very Good. Go hear for an “Ah-ha!” moment everyday.

8. ILT
John really, really loves typography. It’s blog posts by a British expat in Japan, so it has to be interesting.

9. Just Stuff I Find
We all could start a blog like this, but we don’t. This blog will find stuff for you.

10. Kottke
Jason was named after Alexander the Great and has big shoes to fill, he says. Can’t believe he didn’t see the Empire Strikes Back on the big screen. Nice little posts on his blog.

11. 37signals Blog
This blog might not fit within the SMS Challenge rule book, but it’s pretty darn good at making you think strategically.

12. Design Mind
Three times a year you can get this content in print form. Frog design takes this blog stuff pretty seriously. Always harder to make anything look easy, simple and clean.

13. Dustin Curtis is a superhero.
Dustin takes it to another level. Hard to explain. You have to check it out on your own, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Tell him hi for us.

14. the tortoise initiative
This six person team pulls together interesting work, design, quotes, etc in one easy to read package, very simple package. Blogger template, “sacrilege!” they say. We say bully for you.

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