Monthly Archives: August 2009

Using Monitoring to Achieve Richer Customer Insights

…few people will argue that social media doesn’t have clear, distillable value to companies. Social media monitoring, in my opinion, is one of the most easily translatable value-driven elements of corporate social media, especially when viewed as an add-on to existing brand research efforts.

PR is Dead! Long Live PR!

Books, blogs, industry journals and business publications have vacillated for years on the role that public relations plays in the overall marketing communications mix. Some authors would have you believe that PR, in its many forms, is replacing big-dollar advertising. It is often cheaper and can be highly effective.

Some practitioners of on-line social media methodologies, [...]

Why Social Media Needs More Process Than Personality

First of all, I want to say thanks to the people who’ve checked out this blog since we launched it “officially” last week. Our intent here with The Social Enthusiast is to focus on process over personality. It reminds me of the difference between wild west frontiersmen, tour guides, and commercial real estate agents.

How to Develop an Editorial Calendar

The most important thing on any blog is it’s content. Without valuable content your blog will never accomplish its goals. One of the ways to make sure that you’re creating high value content is by developing and following an editorial calendar.

How to Drive Traffic to Your Corporate Blog

Gone are the days of the mentality, “if you build it they will come.” It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and patience to build a blog that generates a high volume of traffic. However, with a little strategy and consistency you’ll begin to see measureable results.
Here are a few recommended strategies.
Set a Goal
If [...]

Encouraging comments on your corporate blog

There’s nothing more disappointing than pouring your heart into a blog post, anxiously awaiting the response from your audience… and getting no response in the comments.
As disappointing as that can be, bear in mind the 90-9-1 rule of social media:

90% of people in social media will be consumers-only (meaning they’ll never post or comment)
9% will [...]

Five Great Resources for Starting a Corporate Blog

A corporate blog is often the first step in adding social media to your marketing communications plan.  It’s a good choice–there’s a relatively high level of control, a relatively low level of risk, and there are plenty of low-cost or free options from a technology perspective.
Even so, it can be pretty nerve-wracking when you’re just [...]

Choosing the right model for your online community

When you hear the words “online community” do you immediately think of a branded social network? A Ning network? A Facebook Fan Page? What about a discussion forum or message board? Or a corporate blog? Many times, businesses get locked into a certain model or mindset when it comes to thinking about online community sites. The truth is, there are many different models for adding a collaborative, community-building element to your brand’s web presence. It’s important to consider several different factors when deciding how to begin building your brand’s online community.

Don't Feed the Trolls–Dealing with detractors

It’d be nice if companies approached online communities with a sense of excitement and possibility.  More often, the dominant emotion that comes across when first talking with decision-makers about engaging consumers online is fear.
It’s not that they don’t recognize the tremendous value of cultivating their brand enthusiasts into a thriving community of brand ambassadors.
It’s just [...]

Making the best use of your time in social media

Adding social media as a communications channel begins with the efforts of internal social media evangelists for many companies. If you’ve added social media activity to your work responsibilities, it’s important to make the best possible use of your available time. For one thing, it’ll help you keep your sanity, for another, it makes it easier to combat the almost-universal “are you wasting time on the internet?” question. Here are a few tips to help.