What’s wrong with Facebook? Facebook is bad for us. According to Araceli Cruz, it makes us feel envious and sad. It distracts us and facilitates only shallow connections. “Facebook is changing the human race,” Cruz argues. “People think, speak and live in status updates…. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to truly connect with a person, rather than just their online character.”… Read more »
In a world where social media has become commonplace, marketing campaigns need to do more than just grab your attention – they need to connect with the consumer. Social media allows companies to encourage dialogue with their consumers, engaging them and helping build a strong brand. In his article Brand Building: Connecting with Consumers Through Social Media, Jose Costa argues… Read more »
Social media metrics can connect social media marketing to sales and ROI, but what about social activity that can’t be measured? In May of this year, Buzzfeed posted an analysis of traffic to its network, noting an increase of 25 per cent from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and 52 per cent from sources described as “dark… Read more »
Social media has changed the way we look at networking. This has implications not only for how companies communicate internally with employees or externally with consumers, but also for how they communicate with each other. I work for a property and casualty insurance company that sells almost exclusively through an independent broker network. Brokers handle the majority of sales –… Read more »
Internet-savvy consumers have come to expect the opportunity to share their opinions, and companies are using this to their advantage. With the growing use of social media, product development is no longer reliant on traditional focus groups and customer surveys. Stephanie Gehman points out that companies “can use social media-based conversations, feedback, comments, complaints and more as a source of… Read more »
Buying Social media marketing isn’t always strictly about selling products. In fact, according to Lisa Mahapatra in her article Social Media Marketing: How Do Top Brands Use Social Platforms?, very few consumers are introduced to top brands through Facebook (only 0.25 per cent over the last four years). Jay Baer agrees. In his keynote speech for the 2013 MarketingSherpa Email… Read more »
Employees today are more concerned with empowerment than engagement. In the current landscape of Facebook and Twitter, we’re used to having our say, and we want to be heard. According to Meghan M. Biro’s article Employee Engagement: Every Leader’s Imperative, enterprise social media platforms like Yammer, Jive and IBM Connections “give people a voice, a way to share their ideas… Read more »