The Difference Between Subscribers, Fans and Followers
I receive daily emails from Brian Solis, who is an expert on defining the convergence of media and influence. His recent post on “The Difference Between Friends, Fans and Followers” was very interesting and I recommend you read it. One thing I learned from reading this post is that Twitter has a new website totally geared toward businesses that are trying to use Twitter for marketing.
Brian describes the various roles of the audiences or participants in social networks. His post reinforced for me how important it is for us (as marketers) to have goals in mind when we enter into a dialogue with our social networks. The technique of message mapping which we use at Nancy Marshall Communications provides an excellent foundation to guide our conversations in social networks and to keep us on message, and on strategy. Otherwise we may be wasting our time in social networks without having any idea of what we are trying to accomplish. Here is my template for Developing a Strategic Communications Plan for your organization which includes setting goals for all your communications as well as creating a message map.
F-Commerce and the Power of Social Media
by Anna McDermott, NMC Account Executive
Thanks to Anna for contributing this article to the Maine PR Maven Blog as well as “The NMC Report,” the bi-weekly e-newsletter published by Nancy Marshall Communications. To sign up for a free subscription to this e-news, filled with information on the intersection of social media and public relations, click here.
In case you thought Facebook was losing its staying power, think again. In a recent Brian Solis webinar called “Social Media in Small Business is Anything But Small,” he made it abundantly clear that social media platforms like Facebook are getting more and more influential, especially for small businesses. Continue reading
Is Facebook dying?
A client recently said she thinks Facebook is dying. As a result, she didn’t think we should use it in any of our marketing and brand-building efforts.
I asked my 18 year old son Craig (who has a new blog that he launched just today), and who is attuned to the Facebook habits of his peers across the country and around the world and he said, “no way is Facebook dying.” Continue reading
“You like me! You really like me!” … Five Tips for Building your Facebook Community
By Katie Greenlaw, Account Coordinator at Nancy Marshall Communications
(Katie is pictured at the computer, with NMC team members Juli Settlemire and Greg Glynn looking over her shoulder.)
Katie is a new member of the NMC team. She brings excellent credentials to her job, having worked as director of public relations at Thomas College where she also earned her M.B.A. with a 4.0 G.P.A. Welcome Katie!
Facebook is an important tool in today’s business world. Companies worldwide both large and small are increasingly seeing the relevance of having a Facebook page to share their news, special promotions and tips with current or potential customers. However, you can have a truly captivating, motivating, engaging and inspiring page, but what good does it do if no one is looking at it? Continue reading
Which Social Media Are Right for You?
Thanks to Rich Brooks of Flyte New Media and to Nicole Ouellette of Breaking Even Communications for this article that was published on Fast Company’s blog about making the social media choices that are right for you. Some of my clients have asked me recently which social media they should engage in. There is no one clear answer. You need to engage in the online communities where your targeted audience can be found (the expression is to ‘fish where the fsh are,’) and you shouldn’t over-extend yourself. Only get invovled with as many online networks as you can keep up with. If your goal is to drive traffic to your Web site, then you need to measure how many visitors are going to your site from each online community or network, then measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
Of course some people engage in social media because it’s fun! I love to go on to Facebook because it’s an extension of my normal socializing. I don’t really expect to achieve anything from it other than happiness. If happiness is your goal, that’s O.K.!
“The Way We Get By” Takes Maine By Storm
Last night I had the honor of attending the Maine premiere of a new documentary film called The Way We Get By. It was held at the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine in Orono. When I arrived, there were several TV crews with their live trucks set up for broadcast, a red carpet leading to the front door, and military troops lined up to welcome the guests to the premiere. The Governor and our congressional delegation was on hand. Little did I know this was the beginning of an experience that was going to have a deep impact on my life.
The film tells the story of the senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who have been going to the Bangor International Airport as “troop greeters” at all hours of day and night for years to meet and greet the members of the military as they arrive or depart from the U.S. to head to Iraq or Afghanistan. Continue reading
Talking about Social Media
Yesterday I was a presenter at a conference about Marketing and PR for a group of professionals in the marine trades, composites and boat building industry in Maine. The first session was about Traditional Public Relations methods and the second session was about Social Media.
One of the things we talked about is creating groups in MySpace and Facebook. I wanted to post an example of a MySpace group for owners of Hatteras Yachts. There are pros and cons to creating a group in MySpace or creating a group on your own Website. If it resides on your site, you have more control, however if it resides on MySpace, you can access a larger number of people who might not already be visiting your site, and you can drive traffic to your site with links.
I’d like you to weigh in here on the pros and cons of having a group on your own site or on FaceBook or MySpace. My PowerPoint is too large of a file to post here but let me know if you’d like me to email it to you.
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Oprah Winfrey’s Media Empire
I’m working on building my networks in Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. I haven’t done too much with Facebook and MySpace frankly but I am going to work on it this week. On LinkedIn, I have been building my network consistently for several months. I love being able to see how many degrees of separation there are between others and myself on LinkedIn.
Here is my Facebook page.
Today I purchased an ad on Facebook to promote this blog. We’ll see how we do with it. I am experimenting with all these communities so I can better counsel my clients on how to leverage the marketing value of being involved. As I continue to experiment with different aspects of each community, I will report back.
I’ve invited my son to ‘friend me’ on Facebook. We’ll see if he does. I don’t really think he wants his mother as his friend on his page, unfortunately. Jean Chatzky, the financial guru who has a radio show on the Oprah XM 156 Radio Station, was just complaining about the same issue on her show the other day. Jean, if you’re reading this blog, I feel your pain.
By the way, I love Oprah’s radio station on XM and I think that Oprah and her team have set the standard for multi-media exposure to build Oprah’s celebrity and expertise with the TV show, soon to be TV Network called OWN, the radio station on XM called Oprah and Friends, the Magazine, the website, numerous blogs and published books. In so many ways, Oprah inspires me. It’s not only her leadership and sheer success, but for her commitment to doing the right thing as well as how she stays true to herself and true to her friends. Her best friend is Gayle King who also has a radio show on XM 156. I enjoy listening to Gayle, too, as well as Dr. Oz, Dr. Robin Smith, Marianne Williamson and Bob Greene, Oprah’s personal trainer.
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