Social Media Case Study: Local Business Hits Gold

June 4th, 2009 by Janet Thaeler

Social media is not a pancea but can be an effective marketing tool for local businesses. If you’re already spending on traditonal marketing and seeing less results, a social media campaign can get better results for less. Notice I did not say for FREE or nothing. Social marketing still requires an investment—especially an investment in time. And unlike other campaigns, it’s often an ongoing investment (like other relationships - one or two good talks or experiences doesn’t mean you can just stop and expect the relationship to be worthwhile).

Overall social media is a tool for small businesses to reach a new audience and to build trust and participation with that audience. Notice I...

Learn How to Network in Real Life BEFORE Diving Into Social Media

October 30th, 2008 by Admin

Peter Shankman made a good point about social media:

“…if you don’t know how to network in the first place, all social media can do is give you the chance to screw up to a much larger group of people in a much shorter amount of time.”

This requires you to be more open-minded. If you approach social media as one-sided (it’s all about you or your business) your participation will come across as marketing, not networking. People won’t consider you a value to their network, but spam. Before you talk, start becoming more aware of your industry and the people in it. Listen to the conversations and become informed. If you don’t have time or dedication to this, perhaps social media isn’t the...

How Social Media Can Help your Business

October 9th, 2008 by Admin

I just read an email from Flyte Media with the title: Does Your Small Business Really Need a Social Media Strategy?

The answer, is YES! Especially in a slow economy. Getting involved before your competitors are gives you an advantage.

Rich Brooks goes on to detail how Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Skype, YouTube, and LinkedIn have helped his business. He also talks about why this trend to use social media in marketing a small business has so much attention. Social media does not a linear, predictable relationship but a hodgepodge of interactions that can and usually do result in ROI.

Here are some example of how social media has helped his small business (wish I were a graphic designer...

Social Networking Sites - How They Can Help your Business

September 29th, 2008 by Admin

People mistakenly think of social networking as a way to market - to quickly make an impact. They want to be on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other sites. They want to try every new technique they read about.

The way most people approach social networking sites is like hiring people to hand out business cards to as many people as possible. They want to advertise, not be social. Social networking sites are about being social - which means interacting - but rather than to one person at a time it’s to a group.

I recommend that you go deep rather than wide. Choose one social network or platform and do that well. Social networking is high touch - it takes time and expertise. If you go too...

Business Blogging Tips, Part 2

September 23rd, 2008 by Admin

Here are more tips on starting a blog, continued from Business Blogging Part 1:

1. Sign up for Google alerts and put one on your company name, products, or buzzwords so you can track what is being said about your company online. (Read what we’ve written about Google Alerts). Then you can comment back, get ideas for posts, and write about what people are saying.
2. Make your blog readable - it’s hard to read online. Avoid large blocks of text. Use shorter sentences, headers, and bullet points. Give some white space.
3. Use categories - categorize the post by a general theme. One post can have several categories.
4. Add links! New bloggers don’t often link to other sites which really hurts their...

Business Blogging Tips Part 1

September 23rd, 2008 by Admin

Blogging is a great tool for search engine optimization. They can build trust, increase traffic to your web site, and improve sales. Journalists or other bloggers may start writing about you. A blog has other benefits too - blogs can add a human face to your company.

So, here are my tips for anyone starting a new blog:

Business Blogging Tips

1. Post frequently - you won’t get recognition if you don’t post regularly. Most blog software (like Wordpress) allows you to  write several posts and schedule them ahead. So designate a few hours every Monday to write posts. [NOTE: I should take this advice! We spend more time helping clients blog than blogging sometimes!]
2. Find someone in your...

That’s What We Twittered

July 10th, 2008 by Admin

I found what I want for Christmas. Besides an OrangeSoda t-shirt with our hip new logo, I want a nerdy t-shirt that says: “That’s What She Twittered.” So if you want to give it to me, here’s where you can find it: https://www.cottyn.com/shirts/thats_what_she_twittered.

Here’s what it looks like:

When Twitter is not down, it’s a lot of fun. Twitter is a great tool for business - helping you build community, and quickly broadcast your news and blog posts. If you want to read what we’ve twittered, follow us at www.twitter.com/orangesoda 

The Mayo Clinic on Facebook

February 27th, 2008 by Admin

Facebook started out as a place for college students to connect with their classmates. Now it’s open to everyone. It’s become not only a social network, but an Internet marketing strategy. It’s easy to see how a person or small business can use Facebook but I’m interested in how a larger organization can participate.

Today I found the Mayo Clinic’s Facebook page (and an article on their online marketing strategy at 1to1 Media). And talk about a cool title - they have a “manager for syndications and social media.” Maybe I could trade in my “seo evangelist” title for something more like “social media marketing manager” here at OrangeSoda.

Here’s a quote from the 1to1 article on why the...