Microblogging has come to the office

Twitter has become successful offering its users microblogging as a way to post short messages about their interests, opinions and anything else under the sun. This has allowed people to connect with each other for business and social reasons where they would not have met otherwise. There are many success stories socially and professionaly on Twitter as it continues to increase its audience everyday. I read an interesting article in The New York Times today on the topic.

Microblogging has been going on for quite some time in the social media world, now it has come to the office where coworkers are sharing information, commenting on their industry, connecting with their customers, communicating with each other where they can read postings at their leisure, making everything more cohesive, efficient and away from their crowded email inboxes. This is a whole new way of doing business, where things might not fall through the cracks as they once did. It gives people a feeling of really being on a team and being able to find out answers to questions more quickly, access pertinent information which helps them be more effective with their customers.

Leveraging tools from social media to tighten up your workforce as well as creating the right relationships with potential customers, supply chains, outsourcing talent and being able to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry as well as many other benefits can keep your business ahead of your competition.

The New Wave In Internet Marketing

I came across an article on social media that really explains the basics of it:
“Social Media Optimization is a New Way to Promote Your Website, Product or Service Online”
She talks about it being in its infancy, and this is basically true in that many people (business people, in particular) are not aware of how to utilize this media in business marketing. Yet it is more simple to utilize than people realize, and they just need to find creative ways to communicate. She says:

Social media optimization is similar to viral marketing where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites.

Social media optimization is all about creativity, finding creative ways to get your message out there and using creative tools to have your content easily found, distributed and shared online. It is about improving the linking structure of your website to make it highly visible in social media searches.

In a social setting, people talk and people spread the word about something. As she says, this is known as “viral” marketing because it filters down the people pipeline. This is the most powerful type of marketing there is today in my opinion because people tend to trust what others says as opposed to seeing an ad or promotion about something.

Viral or social media marketing generates a “buzz” or brings attention to something you are communicating about, especially if it is interesting.

I know there’s a lot of data on social media and that is because … guess why? It works to get people to see and hear and pay attention to what you have to say!

With Utube for example, you will find that posting a good video that others like will be shared with their friends, that’s a good example of viral marketing.

Obama and the ‘Facebook Effect’

“This election was the first time that all candidates — presidential and congressional — attempted to connect directly with American voters via online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. It has even been called the “Facebook election.” It is no coincidence that one of Obama’s key strategists was 24-year-old Chris Hughes, a Facebook co-founder. It was Hughes who masterminded the Obama campaign’s highly effective Web blitzkrieg — everything from social networking sites to podcasting and mobile messaging.”

From the article Obama And The ‘Facebook Effect’ by Matthew Fraser and Soumitra Dutta, Monday, Nov 17, 2008.

Read the full article here on MediaPost’s Online Media Daily.

Web 2.0: Make Sure You Know Your Audience

Interesting post by Peter Kafka that talks about all the buzz on Twitter, after Motrin ran an advertisement that was so offensive that so many people complained that Motrin finally took their ad off their site and made a public apology.

The Case For Social Media

I think we should all take a close look at this article to see how skillfully Obama’s campaign used social media to build a following and eventually enlist new voters.

Branding

branding article goes here

Fast Company Video: New Social Networking Tool: Semantinet

The Case for Social Networks

Many people are asking this question lately: “Why should I use online social networks?” and many people see tools like Twitter, Facebook and My Space as purely tools for the younger generation. While this is true to some effect, business owners, marketers and corporate executives are now seeing how both microblogging and online social networks can be a wonderful tool for conducting research, recruiting and for building strong brand equity.

The following includes a list of articles and reports which we believe may help to build a strong case for using social networks.

According to a Pew Research Study, 55% of online teens use social networks and 55% have created online profiles; older girls predominate.

Why Twitter Matters: Can the fledgling microblogging service become a social media powerhouse to rival giants like Facebook—or will it be gobbled up?

How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands: Microblogging lets an airline, for instance, monitor customers’ gripes—and tweet back. Is this a creepy trend?

Getting Intimate (with Customers) on Twitter: Businesses should lose their inhibitions over using the microblogging tool to get closer to their customers

Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business? To get the most out of social networking sites, small companies should look past the hype, set concrete business goals, then start experimenting

The Business Value of Social Networking