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‘Social Media’ Category

  1. Facebook and Why It Won’t Go Public

    June 16, 2011 by Blair Stover

    When a company is worth near 50 billion dollars you would think people would want to have their hands in all that wealth, and they do.  But Facebook is yet to go public and people looking to invest in the ever-growing corporation are being left out of one of the most successful businesses of the decade.  The question is why, why hasn’t Mark Zuckerberg gone public with Facebook?

    The truth is that Zuckerberg is very likely to fight going public for as long as he can.  This may be telling us something about the financial situation Facebook is in at the moment.  While the corporation doesn’t have to disclose financial information, as they currently are not over the 500 shareholders mark, many believe that Facebook should be ordered to disclose their financial information now.

    Zuckerberg is simply waiting for the right time.  There will come a time when Zuckerberg wants to cash in on the billions waiting for him.  Should we take into consideration that in a very successful film release this year, The Social Network, audiences were led to believe that Zuckerberg doesn’t care too much about money?  If anything truthful can be taken from the movie as truth it may be that Zuckerberg likes having control of his company.  Once Facebook goes public he will have to relinquish some of that control.

    We know that Facebook is growing into a money-making powerhouse simply because of the latest deal that the company has been involved in.  Goldman Sachs has apparently paid Facebook roughly 450 million dollars and has promised to invest a billion dollars in the company in the future.  That is a lot of money.  Now think about if Facebook gets ten offers this year to do the same thing.  That’s over 10 billion dollars in growth over the next year.  If Facebook is currently worth 50 billion dollars then that equates to a 20% growth in one year, which is mind blowing in the business community.

    To Mark Zuckerberg’s credit there are some problems within the stock exchange.  The regulation system was set up in the 1930′s so we can’t expect it to be prepared to handle a company as large as Facebook has become very smoothly.  Facebook may also be worried by the fact the stock market isn’t necessarily run by investors but computers looking for patterns.  The bottom line is that Zuckerberg is resisting the pull to go public; so we know that Facebook won’t be going public until the man behind the Facebook curtain is ready to.

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  2. Twitter Tips for Small Businesses

    May 24, 2011 by Blair Stover

    Every year Merriam-Webster issues a list of new words they are adding to the English dictionary. One of the words they included on that list for 2010 was the word tweet. Despite the reality that many small business owners want to hide under a rock when it comes to technology, its clear that Twitter is here to stay for awhile. That reality has proven that small business simply cannot afford to be without a Twitter account. By being on Twitter, you are where your consumers are, which helps to increase name recognition within a business and helps open a dialog with you and your customer.

    However what many small businesses have found is that Twitter can be confusing, and having one done wrong could be catastrophic to a company’s future. So to save you a headache, we’ve created the top five tips any small business can – and should – take to reap the benefits of the digital age.

    1. Get a Twitter Yourself

    The first, and probably, most important thing is to have a personal Twitter account where you can build relationships, get followers, and learn how to use the program, all before you put your small business  – and possibly your very livelihood – on the cutting block. Find not only friends you know personally, but those who might be interested in you and eventually your small business.

    2. Set Up Account, Get Followers (Employees Are A Great Start)

    Once your account is set up, the next task, and probably the most important, is building a community who reads your tweets. This means you need to get followers. Those following you as a person can only go so far, so encourage your employees to follow your as well, and to re-tweet your postings so their friends can join too. It’s all about networking here, and building that network cannot be left on your shoulder alone. (Bonus tip: Eye your competitors followers and invite those who have expressed they aren’t satisfied as consumers to also follow you).

    3. Be Complete

    Not filling out a complete profile is just creepy. You’re a business and in order for people to want to follow you, you need their trust, so you must completely fill out profile.  This includes a profile picture!

    4. Add the Twitter Account
    No point in having an account to get more people interested in your small business if you aren’t going to promote it with those who are already interested. This means add the twitter account to business cards and websites.

    5. Use It

    Having an account that isn’t updated at least 3-5 times a week, if not everyday, is a waste. Be sure to update often enough to keep your name and logo easily out there. But not too often. Find a balance, and use it wisely – this should come naturally. (Another bonus tip: Don’t be boring while updating, be human. Technology has already decreased face-to-face human interaction, your consumers need to know you’ve got a heart.)

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  3. Five Alternatives to Hootsuite

    April 18, 2011 by Blair Stover

    HootsuiteIn today’s society, social networking has become a staple as a normal means of communication.  People want other people to know where they are and what they are doing.  Then along came HootSuite, a social media dashboard that allows you to update several of you networking sites all at once.  But now that HootSuite is becoming a paid luxury, what are some new alternatives for your new social media dashboard?

    The first we are going to look at is Buzzom.  Buzzom is almost identical to HootSuite in reference to the features that it offers its members.  Buzzom chooses to mostly focus on the feed and stream aspect of social networking and has a fairly good filtering system and easy account management.

    If you are a fan of the Facebook interface then you will be a fan of this next option.  Brizzly offers an experience much like the king of social networks.  You have options to check your inbox and view replies that have been sent to you.  They have recently released a new concept called Picnic which focuses on your Twitter activity.

    Cotweet is very similar to HootSuite and was the first social media dashboard to become a paid site.  It does offer a free version, but it is nothing compared to what you can do with its paid service.

    One of the first media dashboards on the market was Seesmic.  It shares many of the same features as HootSuite.  Its account management features are very easy to use and it also partnered with Microsoft to develop a desktop application, but the application has failed to pick up any steam in the social networking world.

    The number one alternative to HootSuite is a desktop application known as Tweetdeck.  The application allows you to connect all your social networking sites together and was the first to introduce the popular column view to social media dashboards.  It is currently viewed as the pioneer in the social media dashboard scene.

    So do not fret about HootSuite becoming a paid site because there are plenty of great alternatives at your disposal.  Your choice will come down to what features you want in your social media dashboard and which one will fit those personal preferences.

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  4. How to Make Your Company Facebook Fan Page Better

    March 17, 2011 by Blair Stover

    For small business owners, the popular social networking site Facebook is a good way to create a social media and brand presence, promote your business, and learn more about your customers. By using Facebook, you can communicate with your customers, know what they want, and use them to help promote your business. This is done when people add themselves as a fan, write on your Wall, upload photos, and interact with other fans.

    To make your company fan page better, start by checking out other fan pages on Facebook. See how the page is structured, take note of the photos, read the articles and other bits of information you find there. This will give you a good idea of what to put in your fan page. In creating your own fan page, don’t forget to add basic information like a website, company profile, mission/vision and products. Add your unique logo or a picture that represents your business as your profile picture.

    Next, see if your existing customers are already on Facebook and become friends with them. Then invite them to become fans. You can also tell your customers about your fan page and ask them to show their support by joining Facebook and becoming fans. The moment you have some fans, it’s a cinch to get more.

    Keep your fans engaged by giving them useful and relevant info. Share quality content with them to incite comments and send updates at least twice a month. The more users interact with your page, the more publicity you get that helps increase awareness about your products and services.

    For more helpful advice, consult the Facebook guidelines on promoting your page both inside and outside of Facebook. You can also download a Facebook Page Badge graphic that you can use on your own site that says “Find Us on Facebook.”

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  5. Mashable 2010 Awards Winners

    February 15, 2011 by Blair Stover

    Over a million people voted on the 2010 Mashable awards this year, and now it’s time to take a look at some of the top winners. Most of these are brands or products, etc. that you already know about Blair Stover on Social Media: Mashablesand perhaps are even using.

    1. Android took best platform – No big surprise there, as it’s the most innovative OS to-date.

    2. Eurail.com was awarded best customer service for its versatile and social media fed customer service platform.

    3. Fizy, a music site from Turkey, was awarded best music site for its easy to use software and vast library of 75 million songs.

    4. The iPad was awarded for being the best new gadget, and that’s no surprise. It’s easy to ask: What doesn’t the iPad do?

    5. Twitter was awarded for being the most breakthrough website, seeing as its features have vastly grown and that it’s also one of the most used sites on the web.

    6. Apple took home an award for having the best mobile device thanks to the iPhone.

    7. Ebuddy was awarded for offering the best mobile user experience, namely for its amazing instant messaging service.

    8. DriveSafe.ly got an award for best mobile application.  It audibly reads you text messages from your phone and replies to them while you are driving, hands-free.

    9. Angry Birds, one of the most downloaded mobile games, was awarded for being the best and most popular mobile game.

    These are some of the more notable winners that come to mind from this year’s awards. Seemingly, Apple did the best out of the bunch by winning an award for two of its innovative devices.

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  6. The Power of YouTube for Small Businesses

    January 15, 2011 by Blair Stover

    Youtube is, in fact, not just the world’s largest online video search engine but also a search engine as well. Not surprisingly, the world’s largest search engine – Google – happens to own and operate Youtube.com. And in today’s day and age of search engine optimization and search engine marketing, ensuring that you have a solidified presence in both worlds is absolutely incremental in gaining the web exposure and presence that you desire.

    Millions of people search Youtube daily to find videos and share their own videos as well.  So the importance of harnessing the power of Youtube for small businesses is paramount.

    Since video syndication is very important in the ever expanding social media world of the present day, many small businesses can benefit from creating videos on Youtube. Often, a good strategy is to shoot a video in a professional manner that offers what is called education-based marketing.

    Education-based marketing videos are usually short videos that have a keyword-rich description on them as well as a keyword sensitive title. They often will educate consumers and incorporate a call-to-action.  Many times they will have URLs in them as well that encourage viewers to click through to a website, specifically your small business website.

    The power is easily realized. With a properly tagged video up you can get double the search engine results. People will find your video, based upon the keywords and description that you used, and will also find your website.

    Another good idea is to add the video to your website.  This way you get indexed on Youtube for the video and on your website for the video, driving even more consumer interest in your direction.

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  7. Using Flickr to Market Company Photos

    January 4, 2011 by Blair Stover

    There are some very effective and streamlined approaches that you can use to legitimately harness the power of Flickr (Yahoo’s free photo-sharing community) in order to advertise and promote your company photos.

    One important rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the terms of usage of Flickr specifically prohibit anyone from using the site to exploit their products or services in the photos that they upload. However, there are some good tricks that you can put into practice that can get you safely around these rules, and allow you to use the service to market efficiently without risking having your account axed in the process.

    A good first start is found with choosing a username on Flickr that is the same as your company’s name or the name of your website. This way, whenever you post photos, your company name or website name will show up as well.

    Don’t oversell in the photo descriptions.  Use simple and to the point descriptions that don’t brandish a product or service. Make sure that you add solid keywords into your photo descriptions so that you can get good search engine ranking results from your efforts.

    If you have a blog on your website make certain that you anchor link any relevant keywords to your Flickr photos.  This increases the amount of Flickr photos that are indexed on the major search engines.

    Lastly, continuously update your Flickr account with new photos so that they are constantly being crawled by the search engine bots for indexing.

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  8. Are You Using Twitter Search to Find Potential Customers and Clients?

    December 15, 2010 by Blair Stover

    Twitter happens to be one of the most popular social media engines of the modern day, even comparable to that of the envious might of Facebook, the world’s largest social media website. Funny how something as simple as 140 character status update profile could become such a gargantuan social media juggernaut, but such is indeed the case.

    One thing that many self employed persons as well as businesses are quickly realizing is that they can take advantage of the power of Twitter to find potential customers and clients. You can do this as well – and for that matter really anyone who has the time and the patience to do so can – and it not difficult at all.

    The following is a really easy and streamlined approach to targeting potential buyer or clients by using the search prowess of Twitter.

    Use the Twitter search bar and use quotation marks so you can directly search for relevant keyword matches. For example, a person selling a product could use quotes such as the following to find buyers: “I’m Buying X,” or “I’m thinking about buying,” or even, “I will be buying.”

    From there you can further expand on that train of thought. A well worded and informative blog on your website about your products or services can further entice the potential clients or buyers that you attract from your Twitter marketing endeavors.

    Of course, conducting the searches and contacting prospective buyers will take you time. But if you can convert a small percentage of them to sales, you may be on to something sweet!

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  9. Social Media Resources for Teachers

    December 1, 2010 by Blair Stover

    Today’s teacher has many options when deciding on a social media resource. Students become excited to take part in the social media aspect of the class and such resources can allow for the collaboration which a teacher may not have time for during school hours.

    Edmodo is a restricted atmosphere that teachers can encourage class engagement in. In this platform, teachers and students can share their ideas and assignments on a communal wall and files. Teachers are able to create groups of students while monitoring them at the same dashboard. After classes are organized, teachers can post and then grade assignments on the wall. To begin new class groups, the teacher would archive the old groups.

    Calloborize Classroom is an application that allows teachers choices of discussion format. Examples include students ability to either agree or disagree with statements made, respond to a multiple choice question, write responses or simply vote for another student’s response. Photos or videos can be added by teachers to their prompts and one class page holds all of the online discussions.

    Symbaloo is another teacher social media resource and a great number of teachers are already using Symbaloo as a classroom resources organizational tool. Academic subject-specific pages make fabulous resources and a school logo can be added to a teacher’s account. Links can be modified by the teacher, the site is user friendly for the student, and atudents are able to access the site and share information or projects with other students.

    EDU 2.0 enables teachers to share videos, experiments, lesson plans, quizzes, etc. in a shared library. In addition, a community section for teachers and students allocates collaboration with classmates.

    Category education, Social Media | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  10. Top YouTube Videos of 2010

    November 16, 2010 by Blair Stover

    Funny cats, RickRolling, laughing babies, dramatic gerbils and “don’t tase me bro” are some of the all time classic You Tube videos.  The past is past, but YouTube continues to make stars out of ordinary people, both in good and bad ways.  So what are the top You Tube videos so far for 2010?

    This year’s videos vary in content, from the beauty of the “Double Rainbow” video to the downright evil “McNugget Rampage“.  These two videos could not be more opposite, yet they have attracted the attention of video voyeurs everywhere looking for a little relief from their day.

    Goofy commercials have always been a staple of YouTube.  Nike’s “Write the Future” and a brand changing video for Old Spice Cologne entitled “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” have the potential to take top honors for 2010.

    The advent of TV shows like American Idol have spawned videos of people who don’t “fit the mold” of a star, yet possess amazing talent.  The sixth-grader Greyson Chance showed us his version of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi“, generating over 33 million views.  Close your eyes and you would swear you were listening to Lady Gaga!

    Apple inadvertently had a top video this year as well.  This is one of the few videos of YouTube fame that did not feature comedy, cuteness or talent.  Apparently an Apple developer lost an iPhone 5 prototype after having a few beers at the local Beer-garden.  When the phone reached a reporter from the popular tech website Gizmodo and he showed the world, the video took off to the tune of 1.6 million views.

    There is still more time for you to be a YouTube star of 2010, so get your videos uploaded today!

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