Social Media “The Big 4”

Social Media has leveled the playing field for smaller companies to compete with larger companies. In the past whoever had the most money got the best exposure. Social Media has changed that.

The main reason for the competitive balance is “Voice.” Social Media allows anyone to get their message to a larger audience by providing information. The key is still content and providing value but at least the smaller companies can do that because in the past they didn’t even have that option.

So where to begin? Well that can be the intimidating part for some companies because of the wide range of social sites. Ray Wolf the CEO of NetSpray says don’t get overwhelmed just get started and begin with “The Big 4.”

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Twitter still confusing?

Twitter is growing at over 1300% per month and has over 68 million users then why are so many people still confused about it? A new research poll by Harris Interactive shows that 69% don’t know enough about Twitter to have an opinion about it.

Maybe we need a Twitter University. Here is a Top 10 list to educate you on some of the tools for Twitter.

1) Yellow pages for Twitter = Twellow & WeFollow

2) Find Conversations = TweetScan is a tool that you can search conversations by key words

3) TwitPic is a tool to take photos with your phone and put them on Twitter

4) LocalTweeps= filter tweets by zip code

5) TweetBeep= alerts you via email when keywords are tweeted

6) Friend or Follow=find out who is following you

7) TBuzz= when searching the web find out each site’s tweet history

8) Twibs= look up businesses who tweet

9) Twitterholic= find out who the most popular twitter folks are

10) Twitnight= means go to bed and stop tweeting (okay that is my weak joke for the night)

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Facebook Mobile applications

The Richards Group is the largest Ad Agency in Dallas with annualized billings of $1 Billion. Over the last three decades they’ve had some of the biggest brands in the world like Home Depot, Zales, and Chick-fil-A to name a few.

Their strategies vary from client to client but they do understand that most clients need to be involved with Social Media.  John Keehler director of interactive strategies at the Richards Group says they’ve been on Social Sites since 1995. Some of their first campaigns were on MySpace but the real explosion in this arena has been fairly recent.

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Business Plans waste of time?

Business Plans are crucial so why don’t companies make that priority #1? My excuse was always that  I needed to take care of more important items like sales, marketing. meetings and other items.

I missed the boat. I realized that without a plan you have no business. I hired an expert and here is her take on why you need a Business plan.

http://cynichols0226.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/is-writing-a-business-plan-a-waste-of-time/

So what do you think? Do you have a Business Plan? Has it helped? If you don’t have one why not?

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Do you own your Brand?

Creating a Brand used to be easy. Have a message, deliver it to your customers and over time that message became  your Brand. That’s no longer the case.

You don’t even have control of your Brand anymore.

Michael Griffith has been in digital media marketing for 20 years and has seen a new form of Branding taking place because of Social Media.

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Customers are talking are you listening?

Social Media is a way to find information about your company. Sometimes that can be positive or negative. The key is not to ignore it because you can improve as a company if you learn what people are saying about you. So don’t ignore Social Media because you are ignoring your customer base. Here is Nikhil Nilakantan CEO of 46 blocks inc. in our video interview “In the Huddle.”

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Social Media works but don’t SELL

If you Google Social Media expert the first name that pops up is Giovanni Gallucci. He’s been helping companies with marketing campaigns in Social Media for decades.  The most difficult part of the job is not the strategy but explaining that Social Media is effective if you don’t sell.

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Traditional Media vs. Social Media?

Traditional Media was always the powerhouse while Social Media was just considered a nice little hobby. Times are changing.

Social Media is now a household name, it breaks stories and is used by Fortune 500 companies.Cali Lewis was part of Social Media in 2005 when she created a podcast for geekbrief.tv. Cali is now doing interviews on Traditional Media talking about Social Media.

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Pizza Hut Twitter campaign gets NY Times coverage

Pizza Hut is finding great success with Social Media. They have over 970,000 Fans on Facebook and have created some buzz on Twitter.

The Twitter concept started with their campaign to hire a summer intern called “Twintern.” The job was to tweet about Pizza Hut. They got thousands of candidates and plenty of publicity. You would think stories about a Twitter intern would get some attention but articles in the New York Times?

Scott Lindsey the creative director of IMC2 helped their client Pizza Hut with Social Media.

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*The audio is not distorted that was the sound of an outside waterfall.

Corporate Videos

Social Media + Video

HuddleProductions.com is creating Social Media + Video strategies for companies and small business owners. We tell stories through video production that give business owners the tools to market their company through Social Media distribution channels.

1) VIDEO IS EFFECTIVE

• Video helps you tell a story that customers can understand
• Video follows the “pull” marketing strategy, meaning your customers are more receptive to your message
• Video allows you to explain interesting facts about your business
• Video allows you to showcase your A+ presentations every time

2) VIDEO IS EASY TO DISTRIBUTE

• Distribution on Social Sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook,  and Linkedin is fast and cost effective
• YouTube is the 2nd most visited site (Google #1)
• Videos can be easily emailed
• On average, people share video 2.5 times  and that means your audience has almost tripled

3) VIDEO HELPS SEO(Search Engine Optimization)

• Google recognizes Video for SEO
• Content in many places increases SEO
• YouTube controls 53% of online audience
• 78% of internet users watch videos

4) SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS

• Zappos increased sales increased from $4 Million to $2.4 Billion in 3 years & they attributed that to Social Media
• Humana Insurance estimates about $72 Million worth of free Public Relations using social media
• Dell revenue was $3 Million last year directly related to Twitter
• 2 Million read the Southwest Airlines Blog

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