This month, I’ll be hosting free seminars on using social media to promote your small business at the Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce, located at One Chamber Way in Westerly, RI.  Call (401) 596-7761 for more information. Facebook for Small Businesses: Beginning Tuesday, October 13th: 2:00 – 4:00 pm What is social media? How is it different from traditional media? What is Facebook?  Who is using Facebook? What are the privacy concerns with Facebook? How do I set up a personal profile on Facebook? How do I create events on Facebook? How do I upload... [Read more]

I often talk about the fact that social media is fundamentally different from traditional media because it allows you to build relationships by engaging in two-way conversations with your customers.  Having an engaging conversation involves listening.  Otherwise, you just have two people talking at each other, which doesn’t do much to further the relationship.  The advantage of social media is not that it lets you talk at more people, its that it lets you talk with more people. If you are listening carefully, you can also find more potential customers with whom... [Read more]

Every form of media has a noun used to describe the people it claims to reach. Radio has “listeners,” newspaper has “readers,” television has “viewers,” and so forth. New media follows the same linguistic rules. On Facebook, you have “fans” and on Twitter you have “followers.” Given the linguistic similarities, it’s easy to assume that having a follower on your Twitter account is the equivalent of having a viewer of your television station, and that a page with 100,000 fans has the same power to reach... [Read more]

A very thought-provoking post by Social Media Explorer prompted an interesting discussion yesterday about social media and public relations agencies.  An executive from Chicago sought me out to ask, “When I submit social media RFPs to PR agencies, how can I tell if they actually know what they’re doing?”  As Facebook reaches new heights and Twitter continues to see explosive growth, reputable PR agencies are increasingly stepping into the social media game.  Of course, there are no college degrees offered in social media, there are no certification... [Read more]

I wrote this article which appeared in The Sands Report, a weekly email for alternative rock radio professionals: Using Twitter to Connect With Your Audience Alan Burns & Associates recently conducted a study in which they found that most music radio stations don’t use their airtime to talk about the things that are on listeners’ minds.   Rather, “radio stations dominantly talk to their audiences about the radio station.”  The study went on to find: The typical music radio station in the U.S. has 14 breaks an hour (think of it as 12 songs, 2 stopsets, and... [Read more]

I have become a big proponent of Facebook for businesses – especially small businesses – over the course of the last year as the social networking site has continually improved the features of their Facebook Pages.  For the uninitiated, Facebook offers Facebook pages for companies and organizations, which essentially do all the same things that Facebook profiles do for people.  Originally, these pages were very restrictive, causing a lot of companies (mine included) to cheat and create a Profile, even though these are strictly for individuals. However, Facebook... [Read more]

As a general rule, I don’t recommend a lot of social media reading because a lot of it is so theoretical and while understanding the abstract concepts behind social media is important, a lot of us are too busy running our businesses.  However, I have found past editions of Inside Facebook’s Facebook Bible to be very useful – despite the hefty price tag – because it walks you through specific features of the social networking site in a thorough and practical manner.  The new edition has just been released.  You can learn more about it here: The... [Read more]

Recently I came across a blog comment complaining that Facebook pages were only effective for companies that were already well-known, and that Facebook did not allow small businesses access to people who did not know them. The author suggested that Facebook give small businesses the opportunity to solicit strangers. In my opinion, this represents a fundamental misconception about social media sites like Facebook. Facebook is a tool that facilitates relationships; however, it it not a substitute for relationships.  If you don’t have a relationship with a customer... [Read more]

The social networking site Twitter is clamping down on fake celebrity accounts after being sued in America. Thousands of famous names have fallen victim to impostors, including Britney Spears, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the Dalai Lama and even the Queen. This summer, Mr Miliband was forced to deny quotes widely attributed to him after the death of Michael Jackson. The comments had been written on a seemingly plausible Twitter account under his name. Enlarge Graphic Twitter has decided to act after Tony La Russa, the coach of an obscure American baseball team, launched... [Read more]

In a fascinating survey, it looks like social media is finally getting the resect it deserves from marketers, over half of whom plan to use it in their marketing mix for 2010: While email remained the most popular media among marketers for use next year 56.8% “realistically” plan to use it, social media isn’t far behind. Over half 56.3% “realistically” plan to include it in future marketing plans, found the Center for Media Research. “We expect that the data and insights in the study can assist agencies and other media planners and buyers... [Read more]