SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG Tips and Tools for Social Media and Social Networking en-US Mon, 4 Jan 2010 12:58:07 +0000 SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/index.php Not all social media websites can help your business. Or rather it is how you handle these websites that can make all the difference. Even a website such as www.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-networks.php Developing social networks for corporations and individuals alike has created new problems and challenges for how to manage this burgeoning communication form. One challenge for businesses, which needs to be involved in these networks to converse with customers, is to create social media guidelines so that conversations can proceed without giving away proprietary secrets but also without making customers feel used. For the general public, on the other hand, the big concern is managing their personal data on their own social network.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/news-about-social-media.php Business people may work with a social media consulting company like LiveWorld, attend breakfasts and conferences, or read major tech websites to learn the latest news about social media. It doesn't matter whether the media experts are buttoned-down types in suits and ties, or a throwback to the barefoot hippie sitting at a computer in the basement. Corporations want to hear from them, no matter who they are.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-marketing.php Big business social media plans are developing in a major way, and many of the large social networking websites are now in the sights of the big corporations. However, these companies should be mindful of the actual purpose and function of these websites as they make their social marketing plans. If they are not prepared to engage the customers as equals on these networks and have a genuine back-and-forth exchange with them, then their efforts to use social media will backfire and bring them the sort of publicity they do not want.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-media-for-social-good.php Corporations are now developing social media policies that allow them to give their customers what they want, and not just within the narrow confines of their business relationship. Using social media for social good has become something corporations and their customers can do in partnership, as they learn to recognize each other's values. As corporations work for good changes in the world, they can gain the respect of potential customers, and the two parties may discover that their relationship will become profitable in ways they had never imagined before.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-media-marketing.php The reason, of course, is the fear of losing control of their own brand. But social media marketing can ultimately be beneficial to the companies that integrate it with all their other marketing strategies. For one thing, customers will feel listened to, especially if they see their genuinely valuable suggestions being taken up by the company.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-media-tools.php These sorts of social media tools are likely to prove very beneficial for marketers. It used to be that they had to put money into ad campaigns that flung their information indiscriminately into the public arena, and then hope someone out there would take notice. Now, their business marketing dollars can be put into a much more explicitly focused campaign.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-media-websites.php As an example of bad tactics on social media websites, take a few instances of the behavior of some marketers on Twitter. They induce many people to "follow" them, and then reward followers with an endless barrage of self-promoting announcements, like Twitter is a forum for non-stop press releases. Not once do they actually engage their followers as people, but obviously regard them as a captive audience to preach about their company.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-network.php Flickr is very different from Twitter, which is a social network where members post real-time remarks in 140 characters or less. Yet many Twitter people post links to photos on Flickr, prompting contacts to comment about the photos in both sites. Some of those people may also be members of www.[...] SOCIALMEDIARESOURCES.ORG/social-networking.php Big business social media efforts may produce great results, yet never be fully measurable. How does one quantify good will? If customers enjoy their conversations with a company and begin to feel a certain brand loyalty, can the value of that be calculated? Social networking can produce those things and other positive results, without any accountant ever being able to measure them. It may be that businesses will just have to accept that "increased good will and loyalty," even if unquantifiable, are perfectly acceptable returns on their social media investment.[...]