In October 2008 I launched my firm Strategic Communications, LLC. Not the best timing for such a move given the bad economy at the time, but it’s all worked out for the best; 12 years later and still going strong! One big benefit of starting a communication firm during a recession is that I had plenty of time to learn about social media which was rapidly emerging as an important channel for marketing communications. I jumped on board early, primarily with LinkedIn and Twitter, and since that time I have managed social media accounts to help my company and my clients’ companies drive awareness, website traffic—and business. I have a good following on my social channels and people often ask me to share my tips for building a solid following. I’m happy to share! Here I share “7 Steps to Social Success.” (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’
6 Tips for Using Social Media as a Lead Generation Tool
Tuesday, August 4th, 2020
We launched Strategic Communications in 2008, at a time when the country was plunging into a deep recession. It wasn’t a great time to land new clients. But it was a great time to take a deep dive into something that was relatively new at the time, at least from a business perspective–social media. At the time there was an interesting talent gap that represented an opportunity for us. Most businesspeople didn’t have experience in using social media channels for marketing purposes and colleges weren’t yet educating students about these new marketing tools. So we were early adopters and spent quite a bit of time learning about and experimenting with the tools that were best positioned in the business-to-business (B2B) space: LinkedIn and Twitter.
Since that time we’ve built our social channels organically and have helped a number of clients do the same. There’s no real magic to this. In fact, the basic tenets of effective marketing via social channels are really the same as they are for using any marketing tools. We recently responded to a reporter’s inquiry about our top tips for marketers using social media as a lead generation tool. We pointed to six:
Social Media and Your 2020 Marketing Strategy
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020
There have been plenty of notable changes in the social media landscape as of late. New channels (like TikTok) are popping up. Legacy channels (like Facebook and Twitter) are cracking down on users and APIs whose approaches have been more spammy than strategic. (more…)
Communication Channels Don’t Work in Isolation: Be Strategic!
Wednesday, January 29th, 2020
A lot of questions I see related to digital marketing tend to compartmentalize, or silo, various types of communications. For instance, questions about social media or even about specific social media channels. Or questions about blogging. Or questions about website performance. (more…)
Best Practices for Business Building on LinkedIn
Saturday, October 19th, 2019
17877227 – social media
I’ve had a profile on LinkedIn for a number of years now. LinkedIn and Twitter are two of my favorite social media platforms. Most business people would agree with me that LinkedIn is a great tool for building a strong network and engaging with others. Most would likely not agree with me that Twitter can also be a great business-to-business (B2B) business-building tool. We have, though, definitely found that to be the case for ourselves and for our clients. (More on that another day.) Here we want to focus on LinkedIn. (more…)
What Social Media Outages Should Tell Content Marketers
Thursday, June 13th, 2019by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
Earlier this year, an outage on Facebook, as well as its subsidiary services Instagram and WhatsApp, demonstrated that even the most sophisticated tech companies and social media platforms are not immune to technical challenges. In an article for Entrepreneur, Kimanzi Constable argues that the outage could hold some important lessons for content marketers and online advertisers. It wasn’t an isolated incident. Lately it seems that every week brings another outage—most minor, but all troubling.
“There is no doubt businesses lost revenue with this outage,” he writes. “For those who pay for advertising, their ads weren’t reaching potential customers. For those that rely on posting in their Facebook groups, on their personal pages and on Instagram, they lost revenue because they couldn’t use the strategy that they’ve always used.” So what should companies do from a strategic standpoint to prevent this kind of negative impact in the future? (more…)
Daimler Learns About Viral Customer Service Stories the Hard Way
Thursday, May 30th, 2019
There’s an old saying in customer service that a customer who has a good experience with your business might tell a single friend while a customer who has a bad experience will tell ten. Unfortunately, those numbers might be drastically out of date in the age of social media. In an era where any individual has the chance to communicate with millions of people around the world, even a single incidence of poor customer service can have significant impacts for businesses of any kind. (more…)
Three Big Buckets of Effective Social Media Strategy
Friday, March 29th, 2019
It’s hard to succeed at anything if you’re not focused. Whether you’re golfing, driving, taking an exam or giving a presentation, losing focus on your objective can be disastrous. The same is true of your social media activity. Granted social media marketing is a longer-term activity than golfing or giving a presentation, but the importance of focus is no less important. In particular, we’ve selected three key elements marketers should keep their focus on when engaging in social media. (more…)
Influencer Marketing: Avoiding the Potential Pitfalls
Tuesday, December 4th, 2018
(excerpted from Best Practices in Influencer Marketing)
While influencer marketing can yield big benefits, there are some potential pitfalls. Primary among them, is that it can be a lot of work, and results are not guaranteed. As Natarelli notes, “The nature of the media landscape today requires constant optimization and tinkering. You have to see audiences as fluid and fickle. Therefore, it is hard to sometimes identify and hold on to success. Clients looking for sure bets and silver bullets will be disappointed.” (more…)
How Social Media is Changing Advertising and PR
Wednesday, November 21st, 2018(excerpted from 21st Century Secrets to Effective PR: Tips and Best Practices for Gaining Media Exposure)
In the “old days,” there was advertising and there was PR. Advertising was paid communication that we created about ourselves. PR was communication that we earned through creating relationships and clever pitches to the media gatekeepers who would then share information about us on our behalf. Social media represents a new communication option that has had, and will continue to have, a marked impact on both advertising and PR. (more…)
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