Social Episodes http://blog.socialepisodes.com Discussions on Social Media Marketing, Boston Sports and Random Thoughts Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 BostonMike’s Tweets for 2010-09-03 — #SocialEpisodes http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-09-03-socialepisodes/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-09-03-socialepisodes/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:00:00 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-09-03-socialepisodes/


]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-09-03-socialepisodes/feed/ 0 An Enterprise Marketer’s Guide to Foursquare http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-foursquare/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-foursquare/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:30:16 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/09/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-foursquare/


In the last year, the popularity of foursquare, and location-based services in general, has grown significantly.  Last weekend foursquare hit another milestone by passing the three million-user mark.  This is less than two months after they topped two million users. With the growing popularity among users, brands have been trying to figure how they can leverage foursquare as part of their marketing mix.  Several brands have run programs on foursquare featuring branded custom badges, unique check-in tips, and custom landing pages featuring lists of to-do items. While user adoption of foursquare is growing at a staggering pace, many brands are taking a “wait and see” approach before adding foursquare to the marketing mix.

Yesterday, Awareness launched the foursquare Social Marketing Toolkit, which is collection of five pieces designed to help enterprise marketers understand how to leverage foursquare as part of the marketing mix. It’s designed to help sophisticated and novice location-based marketers alike and contains some great sources of information. You can download the foursquare social marketing toolkit here.

For me personally the most informative piece is “foursquare for the Enterprise”, a 45-minute webinar featuring Jason Keath.  Jason weaves actionable advice with real case studies giving marketers an overview of how they can begin to use foursquare in their marketing efforts immediately.  Below is a list of the other pieces included in the toolkit.

  1. “Top 10 Ways Enterprise Marketers Can Leverage foursquare” – graphic eBook
    All the salient points of a 45-page eBook boiled down into an easy-to-consume PowerPoint-like document. Included in the eBook are not only the Top 10 Ways Enterprise Marketers Can Leverage foursquare, but also the top 4 challenges of marketing with foursquare.
  2. “The State of foursquare” eBook
    foursquare is a social network focused on connecting users and allowing them to broadcast their locations using mobile devices including the iPhone, Blackberry phones, and Android phones. In this eBook we will discuss foursquare and how brands can leverage the network as part of their marketing mix. The report features data gathered over the course of the last two months and observational analysis of key brands running marketing programs through the channel.
  3. “foursquare for the Enterprise, A Brave New World” webinar with Jason Keath
    foursquare and several other location-based services (LBS) are the new pretty girl at the party. This webinar breaks down how your business can leverage foursquare and other LBS platforms, reveals emerging foursquare marketing best practices, and how these LBS technologies can improve your other marketing efforts.
  4. “Chapter 21: The Social Marketing Compass, Creating a Social Media Plan” — complimentary download of an entire chapter from Brian Solis’ Engage!
    Brian Solis, author of Engage!, defines the Social Marketing Compass as pointing, “…a brand in a physical and experiential direction to genuinely and effectively connect with customers, peers, and influencers, where they interact and seek guidance online.” He goes on to state, “At the center of the compass is the brand; essentially, everything you do will revolve around it.” He details how the players, platform, channels and emotions all tie together with an enterprise brand to provide you, the Enterprise Marketer, with a Social Marketing Compass to lead you through the new web to help build, cultivate and measure success for your business.
  5. “Chapter 1: Word of Mouth Goes World of Mouth” — complimentary download of an entire chapter from Erik Qualman’s Socialnomics
    Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, describes the current social media movement as a time when, “It’s important to free your content from being trapped in a “walled garden” because people have quickly grown accustomed to the news finding them, and there is no turning back,” and, “Businesses don’t have a choice on whether or not to DO social media, their choice is how well they DO it.”
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]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-27-socialepisodes/feed/ 0 Catching up with Erik Qualman – Part Deux http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-part-deux/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-part-deux/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:35:19 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-part-deux/


Below is part 2 of my Q&A session with Erik Qualman – @equalman – author of Socialnomics.   If you missed part 1 of the interview you can check it out here.

If you would like to check out Socialnomics for yourself, Awareness, Inc. has partnered with Erik to offer you a free chapter download to get a sneak peak of the latest release of the book – download it here

 

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]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-20-socialepisodes/feed/ 0 An Enterprise Marketer’s Guide to Facebook http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-facebook/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-facebook/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:10:30 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-facebook/


Facebook has 500 Million users, spread across every continent, and the user base is growing by the hour. It has developed into an all-in-one solution for enterprise marketers looking to connect with audiences quickly and easily. With this tool brands can advertise, hold conversations, share content and present an organization in an easy-to-manage, structured environment.

Better still, companies say Facebook marketing works. “Facebook is the most effective social networking platform for brands to get their marketing messages across to consumers, say 80% of companies.” (Source: Sense Internet Study.)

This week Awareness launched the Facebook Social Marketing Toolkit which is the first in a series of toolkits designed to help enterprise marketers learn about specific social marketing channels.  The toolkit contains 5 educational pieces focused on Facebook marketing best practices and is intended to be a one-stop shop for inspiring you to do more with your Facebook presence and leverage the Facebook marketing opportunities that exist for you and your company. Regardless of whether you are a Facebook novice or an expert, we think you will take away some great tidbits of advice and next steps from these Facebook resources.

There is a ton of information included in the toolkit.  A highlight for me is Cappy Popp‘s webinar titled “How Enterprise Marketers Keep up with Facebook“.  In 60 minutes Cappy taught me more about Facebook than I thought existed.  Personally, one of the best (if not the best) webinars I have ever heard.  In additional to Cappy’s webinar, there is a bunch of additional content including great peices from Erik Qualman (Author of Socialnomics) and Paul Gillin (Author of the New Influencers and Secrets of Social Media Marketing).  Below is a full list of what is included:

  1. “Chapter 1: Getting Started with Facebook Fan Pages” eBook
    As an enterprise marketer, you have already decided Facebook is worth your time. You have established a presence for your brand and now you are looking to extend that presence and drive deeper engagement. A Facebook page (sometimes referred to as a “LIKE” or “fan” page) is the perfect place to start.

  2. “10 Tips for a Solid Facebook Fan Page” eBook
    This eBook will give you a quick-hit list of Facebook tactics and business process considerations for maintaining a solid Facebook fan page. For example, did you know that thinking multi-channel is the way to go? If you are only publishing content to your Facebook fan page, chances are, you are missing the boat.

  3. “How Enterprise Marketers Keep Up with Facebook – Understanding the Latest from the Most Powerful Platform on the Web,” with Cappy Popp, Founder of Thought Labs
    In this webinar recording, Cappy Popp covers an overview of the platform (where we have been/where we are going), a detailed chat about the “Like” feature (and whether or not it has been successful), privacy changes, the long tail of Facebook and how social plugins impact you.

  4. “Social Marketing Goes Multiplatform” — a whitepaper by Paul Gillin
    Businesses began dipping their toes into the social media pool as early as 2005, but the last two years saw them jump in with both feet. One development in the social media landscape was that marketers warmed to the idea that using multiple social media channels together, and coordinating messages between them, combination collectively achieved a greater impact than if the tools were used in isolation; this realization drove the rapid expansion of marketers’ activities in the social media space. This conclusion is only one of the preliminary results of a multi-client research study undertaken by Paul Gillin Communications in early 2010 that is included in this whitepaper.

  5. “Chapter 1: Word of Mouth Goes World of Mouth” — complimentary download of an entire chapter from Erik Qualman’s Socialnomics
    Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, describes the current social media movement as a time when, “It’s important to free your content from being trapped in a “walled garden” because people have quickly grown accustomed to the news finding them, and there is no turning back,” and, “Businesses don’t have a choice on whether or not to DO social media, their choice is how well they DO it.”

If you have some time and are interested in learning more about Facebook marketing, take a minute and download the toolkit.  Also, please let me know if there is any other content you would like to see us include in the toolkit or if you have ideas for future toolkits.

]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/an-enterprise-marketers-guide-to-facebook/feed/ 0 Catching up with Erik Qualman – Author of Socialnomics http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-author-of-socialnomics/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-author-of-socialnomics/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:09:27 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-author-of-socialnomics/


Last week I caught up with Erik Qualman – @equalman on Twitter – and author of Socialnomics and all around good guy.  We spent some time over lunch chatting about  his book as well getting some advice on social media marketing.  Check out the video below for the full discussion and pay special attention to the shirt Erik is wearing.  He has inspired a new line of clothing from Awareness (details coming soon!)

If you would like to check out Socialnomics for yourself, Awareness, Inc. has partnered with Erik to offer you a free chapter download to get a sneak peak of the latest release of the book – download it here

 

]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/catching-up-with-erik-qualman-author-of-socialnomics/feed/ 0 BostonMike’s Tweets for 2010-08-13 — #SocialEpisodes http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-13-socialepisodes/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-13-socialepisodes/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:00:00 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-13-socialepisodes/


]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-13-socialepisodes/feed/ 0 BostonMike’s Tweets for 2010-08-06 — #SocialEpisodes http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-06-socialepisodes/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-06-socialepisodes/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:00:00 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-06-socialepisodes/


]]> http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/08/bostonmikes-tweets-for-2010-08-06-socialepisodes/feed/ 0 Foursquare: Enterprise Challenges & Opportunities (presentation included) http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/07/foursquare-enterprise-challenges-opportunities-presentation-included/ http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/07/foursquare-enterprise-challenges-opportunities-presentation-included/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:38:49 +0000 Mike http://blog.socialepisodes.com/2010/07/foursquare-enterprise-challenges-opportunities-presentation-included/


foursquareA few weeks back our CTO Dave Carter released two eBooks on the State of Foursquare and the Top 10 Ways Enterprise Marketers can Leverage Foursquare.  If you haven’t had a chance to view them yet, check them out, they are both great reads.  During that same time Awareness released Foursquare Perspectives, a free tool that allows marketers to research announced new functionality that provide brands with valuable and useful insights about how Foursquare users are interacting with their physical locations. In addition, we announced that the Awareness Social Marketing Hub supports publishing tips to multiple Foursquare channels.  The message is we believe Foursquare is an underutilized tool in the enterprise and when used correctly it can be a powerful part of an enterprise social media strategy.

I have also been asked to put together a presentation that talks to the challenges and benefits of Foursquare which is below.  The presentation kind of took on a life of it’s own and has grown into an extended graphical version of Dave’s eBook. It uses some of the information included in Dave’s eBooks but goes deeper into case studies and tools utilizing other resources and references.

I’d love to hear from you with any feedback you have on the presentation.  Hope you enjoy it.

Top 10: Ways Enterprise Marketers Can Leverage foursquare

View more presentations from Mike Lewis.

Photo Credit: “Foursquare”.  Taken by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

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