Robert Blaise

Social Media Marketing Good For eCommerce

Article by Doug Caverly

Online retailers who haven’t embraced Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media sites had better get a move on if they don’t want to be left behind.  New stats indicate that a whole lot of people have turned to these resources to satisfy some marketing needs.

WhitePaperSource surveyed about 900 marketers and found, “The overwhelming majority (88%) indicated they were employing social media for marketing purposes.”  Which is impressive enough.  What’s more, these marketers aren’t coming up empty-handed.

A report states, “The number-one benefit of social media marketing is gaining the all-important eyeball.  A significant 81% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses.  Improving traffic and growing lists was the second major benefit, followed by building new partnerships.  An unexpected benefit was a rise in search engine rankings reported by more than half of participants.”

So there are really all sorts of ways in which social media marketing can work for online businesses.

It might be best to approach this matter with low expectations - don’t assume every person who follows you on Twitter to order 500 products - but considering that social media marketing is free by definition, eCommerce professionals should go for it.

Tags: Social Media

NightTline: Twitter and ABC Launch a Tweetable News Show

Article by Ben Parr

Twitter has rapidly become an invaluable tool for news outlets: news anchors are using Twitter constantly to ask questions and gather feedback from their audience, while CNN’s Breaking News account is the #2 most followed user on Twitter. But what ABC and Twitter are about to do tops our list for the boldest use of Twitter within traditional media.

So what’s ABC conjouring up? Well, its popular Nightline news program and anchors are going to host a weekly online news program that uses Twitter for debate and questions. It’s called NightTline. Yes, that’s Nightline with two Ts. The show airs its first episode this Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EST.

According to ABC, the show will take on Nightline’s Face-Off model, which pits two opposing sides on an issue that an ABCNEWS anchor provides and moderates. It’s a model that causes a lot of heated debate and verbal exchanges, perfect for an easily-distracted online audience. The first question on NightTline? “Is torture ever acceptable?”

Twitter will be integral to the entire show. There will be a Twitter widget that allows viewers to chime in on the discussion or ask questions during the debate. The Nightline anchors will also use Pixel touchscreen technology to display and interact with the debate occurring on Twitter.

The show will air digitally on the Nightline website as well as ABC News Now, ABC’s digital distribution network. We’re very interested to see how much the show will rely on user participation via Twitter () for questions or responses to the debaters. This could a be very cool concept or this could fall flat on its face. We’ll just have to watch to find out.

Tags: Social Media

Use Social Media to Bond With Consumers

Do you tweet on Twitter? Or network on Ning?

A new and growing array of tongue-twisting tools and technologies is available to help people easily interact and share information online.

While it may be tempting to avoid these obscurely named technologies, there’s good reason for small businesses to learn what they are and how to use them: So-called social media can help small firms to better connect with and market themselves to consumers and others in their industries. And they’re often free.

Here are some tips to making social media work for your business:

Experiment

The best way to figure out what value social-media tools can have for your business is to try them out. You usually just go to a site and sign up for a free account. And most offer quick tutorials.

Experiment with a few to determine which site or technology helps you best connect with your customers or generate the most traffic. Analytics tools provided by the programs can show how many visitors you’re getting daily and where they’re coming from.

Twitter.com allows users to post on a profile page updates on their whereabouts or activities from either a computer or mobile phone. “Followers” then subscribe to your Twitter updates, or tweets, and even have them scroll across the bottom of their Web browser.

More

Tags: Social Media