Is There A Glitch In Your Social Media Marketing Strategy?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Social media websites provide another avenue for businesses to market themselves. Social media websites are a great platform for online business marketing, because the majority of internet users are on a social media website at some point or another during a day. Social media provides a great opportunity for businesses to interact with their customers, create brand awareness, and market to potential customers. However, if a business does not have a directed social media marketing campaign, then it is likely that the business is making mistakes along the way and missing out on opportunities.

Here are some common mistakes businesses make, when implementing a social media marketing strategy.

Setting Unrealistic Goals
There are several stories of social media marketing success. However, the success of others does not guarantee the social media marketing success of your business’s campaign. Social media marketing is one approach to internet marketing and SEO, and it should be treated as such. Although there have been overnight successes, social media marketing is a long term approach that involves the building of a social community. It can take time and daily attention to generate a large enough social fan base to allow your business to accomplish its social media marketing goals.Ramming Your Products Down Their Throats
When people go to a store or an eCommerce website, they expect to be sold to some degree, and so they are in the right mindset for buying. When people are interacting on social media sites, they are being social and buying your business’s products is oftentimes the last thing on their minds. If you overly sell and promote your products on social media sites, you will most likely drive people away, rather than building up a fan base of followers. Social media marketing is about a more subtle and long-term approach to selling, which includes building brand awareness, providing free information, announcing events, promoting links to your website through online contests and giveaways, and like activities. Social media marketing at its core is about creating a community of relationships surrounding your business and allowing your business to interact with customers.A Lack of Response
One of the main points of social media marketing is to allow your business to interact with its customers. If you do not respond to customer questions and comments, then your customers and followers will quickly lose interest. Responding to customer questions and posts not only allows your customers to interact with your business, but it also “humanizes” the business to some degree. It makes your followers feel like your business is approachable and trustworthy. If you intend on implementing a social media marketing strategy without interacting with your followers and customers, then you need to grab a dictionary right now and look up the definition of the word “social”.Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail
A social media marketing strategy does not simply consist of posting links to your website and videos you like that you found on YouTube. Your social media marketing strategy should include a list of goals and a plan for reaching those goals. Understand the “why” behind your approach, and it will help you post and interact with your followers and customers more purposefully.It’s a Long-Term Investment
Facebook is not going anywhere in your lifetime, and Twitter posts are archived in the Library of Congress for what might as well be an eternity. The long-term nature of social media has its positives and negatives. Social media is about interacting and building relationships with your followers and customers. Most of us will not “kiss on the first date” and your business should not try to do so either. Accept the fact that social media marketing is a long-term investment and that quality relationships are built and nurtured over time. The more interaction and socializing your business provides to your followers, the more likely they are to stay with you over the long-haul.

Do not make the same mistakes that so many businesses have made, when attempting to implement and execute a social media marketing strategy. Before you begin, set a plan with realistic goals. Commit to interact and be social with your followers. Take the proper approach and avoid over-selling to your followers. Use social media marketing for its intended purpose … to build, create, and sustain social relationships over the long-term, and you will see your efforts convert into revenue down the line.

Tags: social media marketing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 at 7:35 PM and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Social Media Strategy Crucial for Transit Agencies After Storm

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
“I have asked nicely several times about what’s going on with the 317 bus,” the rider, who identified herself as Mary Scandell, fumed on the Facebook page of New Jersey Transit a few days after Hurricane Sandy. “Now I’m gonna ask in a nasty way.”

Change the scene to New York. A commuter named Jim Temple posted a question on the Long Island Rail Road’s Facebook page, asking for a status update of the damaged Long Beach line. The railroad promptly replied. “Thank you for the info,” Mr. Temple answered.

If there is one lesson transit officials have learned from Hurricane Sandy, it is that in the Internet era, keeping riders up to date is just as important as tracks and rolling stock. Blow it, and they will let you know. As workers raced to bring washed-out tracks, flooded tunnels and swamped electrical equipment back online, they also faced the daunting task of keeping millions of riders informed of conditions and schedules that sometimes shifted by the minute, using tools that included Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

A look at how New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road communicated, as viewed through the prism of Facebook, showed how approaches to messaging could make the difference between shaping expectations or fueling the ire of customers forced to find new ways to get to work and home.

The Long Island Rail Road continually updated its Facebook page with photographs and videos of storm preparations before Hurricane Sandy hit. The dispatches continued as high winds and surge waters ripped down power lines and clogged rail lines with wayward boats and other debris. The agency frequently answered passengers’ questions and posted other helpful updates, like where to seek federal assistance for damaged homes.

New Jersey Transit also regularly updated its page — but did not start posting photographs until after noon on Oct. 30, after the storm had barreled through. It answered riders’ questions sporadically, sometimes referring them to incorrect information on its Web site, even as commuters grew more confused trying to figure out shifting schedules.

The result: the Long Island Rail Road conveyed a narrative of shared pain, of workers fighting back against unprecedented damage that was beyond their control. Passengers frequently and vociferously critical of the railroad suddenly sympathized and even praised communication efforts that, if not perfect, were viewed as improved.

New Jersey Transit’s communications, on the other hand, became for many commuters yet another source of misery.

“Long Island Rail Road learned the lesson of telling their riders what’s going on,” said Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation at the New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “And it turns out that is as important as the level of service you are providing.”

The Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit also used Twitter extensively. But The New York Times examined the Facebook pages of each agency because they allow for more detailed comments — providing a deeper look at how passengers were viewing communications — and more of a back-and-forth discussion. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which was also criticized for its communications, used Twitter but does not have a Facebook page.

New Jersey Transit has come under scrutiny after the storm damaged more than 300 train cars and locomotives parked in rail yards in Hoboken and the Meadowlands that prestorm warnings indicated would flood.

But even before that decision became widely known, passenger tensions were spiking.

New Jersey Transit officials defended their communications throughout and after the storm.

“We were tweeting information practically 24 hours a day,” said John Durso Jr., the agency’s spokesman. He said the agency also continually updated its Web site; sent out e-mail alerts; placed advertisements in newspapers on emergency shuttle, bus and ferry service; and made frequent appearances on television and radio broadcasts.

View the original article here

Disease Tolerance as a Defense Strategy

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota

Abstract
The immune system protects from infections primarily by detecting and eliminating the invading pathogens; however, the host organism can also protect itself from infectious diseases by reducing the negative impact of infections on host fitness. This ability to tolerate a pathogen’s presence is a distinct host defense strategy, which has been largely overlooked in animal and human studies. Introduction of the notion of “disease tolerance” into the conceptual tool kit of immunology will expand our understanding of infectious diseases and host pathogen interactions. Analysis of disease tolerance mechanisms should provide new approaches for the treatment of infections and other diseases.

Posted in Autoimmune disease, evolutionary medicine

 

Disease Tolerance as a Defense Strategy

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota

Abstract
The immune system protects from infections primarily by detecting and eliminating the invading pathogens; however, the host organism can also protect itself from infectious diseases by reducing the negative impact of infections on host fitness. This ability to tolerate a pathogen’s presence is a distinct host defense strategy, which has been largely overlooked in animal and human studies. Introduction of the notion of “disease tolerance” into the conceptual tool kit of immunology will expand our understanding of infectious diseases and host pathogen interactions. Analysis of disease tolerance mechanisms should provide new approaches for the treatment of infections and other diseases.

Posted in Autoimmune disease, evolutionary medicine

 

Disease Tolerance as a Defense Strategy

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota

Abstract
The immune system protects from infections primarily by detecting and eliminating the invading pathogens; however, the host organism can also protect itself from infectious diseases by reducing the negative impact of infections on host fitness. This ability to tolerate a pathogen’s presence is a distinct host defense strategy, which has been largely overlooked in animal and human studies. Introduction of the notion of “disease tolerance” into the conceptual tool kit of immunology will expand our understanding of infectious diseases and host pathogen interactions. Analysis of disease tolerance mechanisms should provide new approaches for the treatment of infections and other diseases.

Posted in Autoimmune disease, evolutionary medicine

 

Building a Social Media Travel & Tourism Strategy

However, since the buzz about social media optimization continues, I find many digital marketers in the travel and tourism sector (not to mention generally) are still struggling with how to apply the latest and greatest tactics to drive real value from social media.

Many of the marketing people I speak working within the various hotel chains often claim to be undertaking a social marketing campaign. However, I meet very few who are doing this within a broader integrated campaign and at best is often a simply fan page on Kaixin, renren or Facebook. This is a very one dimensional understanding of the use of social media marketing and misses a huge opportunity to develop a dialog with communities of travelers (and potentially reach new clients).

Further, many hoteliers and other travel suppliers are not aware of their standing on travel review and social sites. They don't take advantage of the review sites, either as a way to gauge the competition or have a better understanding of the sentiment related to their brand. You should realize that when someone searches in a search engine, these review sites will be shown in the search results. Therefore it's critical to seed the basic listing info necessary to draw users into learning more about your service. In the travel planning and research cycle, exposure to your brand constantly reinforces the idea that you may just have something to suit a particular type of traveler. Be sure all of your information is up to date, including rates, URL, phone numbers, office hours, etc., and provide an accurate and unique description of the business to each site whenever possible. You'd be amazed how much of the information out there is out of date or duplicated across multiple sites based on outdated information. Test it out.. if you have not done so, pop your brand into Baidu or Google and look at the results.. also don't stop at page three.. I like to continuing looking at the search results on the 4th and 5th pages.. often this is where I find either the most positive or most negative feedback.

So a of couple of take always for those in the travel sector wanting to get more from social media marketing (smm). Understand your objectives of a social media campaign, understand the time-frame and what you are using to measure success, leverage review sites, use tools to measure your brands sentiment and also know where people are talking about you online.

Just as an online branding campaign is unique so is a SMM campaign. However, the tips above are universal and may help you in securing better outcomes for your campaign and ultimately your brand. If you have some more take aways of have suggestions on other key points please add them here.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Wiki Strategy: Promoting your Travel, Tourism or Lodging Website

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Wiki Strategy: Promoting your Travel, Tourism or Lodging Website

A wiki is a website which allows users to add and edit content collectively. "Wiki wiki" means "rapidly" in the Hawaiian language.cnn.com

A public wiki can be visited and edited by anyone using a browser. This creates a powerful online collaboration environment that is self-managed by its users. Wikis are considered part of the social internet, and a category of Web 2.0. There are many wikis that provide opportunities for hotels, inns, resorts and other tourism and hospitality businesses to post their own listings.
How big are Wikis? The most famous and, frankly, awe-inspiring wiki is Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). According to Alexa, it is the 9th most popular website in the United states.
A private wiki can be password protected so only users can view and edit the information. This makes an excellent collaboration tool for your hotel's work-team. We have tested over a dozen wikis for this purpose, and currently use several within our offices and manage hundreds of pages of collaboratively edited information.
From a hospitality and tourism marketing strategy perspective, a Wiki offers you the opportunity to copywrite about your own area and business. The results will send your website qualified traffic, let you manage your hospitality brand, and most likely send you qualified traffic and online revenue. These are entirely free marketing resources, but you must make the time to utilize them.
Before you start exploring and entering your own copy, take 20 or 30 minutes and learn how to edit a page.
Etiquette: many wikis let you make updates anonymously. Ideally, you should log-in and create an identity. Don't be self-serving or self-promoting -- while you want your business added, it is better to build out complementary and appropriate information as part of adding your business (depends on the wiki what that info is. It is OK to correct mistakes, it is not OK to remove competitors. When you add a new page, make sure you start with the template that is appropriate. If you make mistakes, other people will fix them, and if you "spam" with inappropriate content, other people will remove you.
Wikipedia is a powerful resource that many hospitality businesses should be added to. Also check out its sister site, Wikitravel (www.wikitravel.org) for a website that is definitely appropriate for any hotel, inn, resort, hospitality or tourism website. Taking a few hours to create an information rich page about your area, your niche and/or your business is worth your time.
Wikicompany is a business focused resource that lets you add your company for free in just a few moments. See the listing I made for a hotel website marketing company.
There is a growing number of niche wikis, an example being SingleTrackwiki for mountain bikers. Keep your eye out for these and add to them if appropriate. They always appreciate quality content.
RoaringForkWiki. is an example of a wiki about an geographic area, the Roaring Fork Valley. That is the home of Blizzard Internet Marketing, and is a wiki produced and managed by Blizzard.
Many people want to set up their own wikis about topics they are passsionate about, or about their area. Mediawiki is a professional level version for real geeks. I would generally recommend you try an easy online versions try wetpaint, seedwiki, jotspot or stikipad which are easy to setup and get going.
We recommend you take a few hours and implement an online marketing strategy to promote your Travel, Tourism or Hotel website in wikis.
Resources:
Qwika is a wiki search engine if you want to search over 1000 wikis at once. Its results are dominated by wikipedia.
Check out the html to wiki tool if you plan on migrating web-based content to a wiki.
Mashable Blog on Stikipad
More about WikiCompany
New York Times on wikis in businessgoogle.com