Twitter is fun but there are certain things about how people use this tool that drives me nuts.  Now there is research to confirm what makes a great Tweet. Here is a summary:

Check it the full article.

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A few weeks ago I attend a SEMPO AZ event where Phillip Rather from Facebook presented. Phillip is Facebooks agency partner. His presentation had some interesting nuggets from both a social engagement and media presence perspective:

I enjoy social networking. However, social networking the Facebook way is not as enjoyable as it used to be. I’m more concerned about who’s seeing my updates and as a result carefully watch what I say. As a result I post less frequently and when I do post I’m very selective about what I post. For me the megaphone broadcast method of the news feed on Facebook is a major negative.  But I’ve also made this decision to become less social because I want to be polite to those I follow and those that follow me. I don’t want to clutter my relatives news feed with boring Internet marketing related articles and I don’t want to clutter my associates news feed with pictures of my little children.

This problem bothered me from the very early days. Thinking that Facebook woudl one day take care of this I started grouping my contacts. When ever I make a connection I add them to a particular group. However, Facebook doesn’t allow me to easily leverage this work I’ve done (I know there is a very cumbersome way to accomplish this). Plus I’m one of the few doing this and I can’t expect the content I post to select groups to remain within that circle. So, even though I’ve done the work of grouping my contacts I’m frustrated that I can’t do anything with it.

It is for this exact reason that I like the circles offered by Google+. It solves the social noise problem and allows me to socialize online the way I socialize offline within distinct groups.  This is one of the reasons I like Google+ but in short order here are other benefits I see:

1. Cleans up the newsfeeds
2. Addresses privacy concerns
3. Consolidates social networking
4. Impressive ancillary features

Not all of Googles recent projects have been successful, however I do think that Google+ offers a series of improvements to social networking that will make it a strong com

Related articles

• Facebook to Google+: 10 Reasons to Make the Switch (smokesomething.wordpress.com)
• Why Google+ will succeed wildly. At first. (goodexperience.com)
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• Privacy Concerns Will Topple Facebook One Day (pcworld.com)

Many brands are now well into the social media world. It’s no longer a new thing for them and for some social media is an integral part of their overall marketing strategy.  Brands in the restaurant industry seem to be of the latter category and are  making some great strides in leveraging social media to impact the bottom line.

According to the National Restaurant News the nations largest restaurant brands are using social media very effectively. Their social media strategy is to engage prospects on social media as means to driving traffic to their local restaurants. Traffic in this sense is foot traffic and for a restaurant that is critical. The article also discusses the 25 most social restaurant brands. This ranking of brands is provided by a company called Virtue. It uses social media mentions, check-in’s, photo-sharing and inclusion on blogs to determine the most prominent brands on social media.

The main takeaway from this article is not that brands are active on social media but that they are using it to drive foot traffic and subsequently have a direct impact on their bottom-line (ROI anyone). And here is how they are doing it:

“These guys are figuring out how to harness this platform and drive content and communications consistent with what their fans are looking for,” he said. “In that news feed on Facebook and Twitter, brands need to ask their followers questions, create poll questions and basically give them an opportunity to give the restaurant relevant feedback.”

Vitrue has worked with several restaurant brands like McDonald’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Chick-fil-A to create plug-ins for their Facebook pages and offers that show up in followers’ news feeds through its Wall Apps and Social Relationship Management platforms.

Bradford said the next social-media move for major brands and their software providers is to increase the chains’ local-advertising capabilities with features meant to connect Facebook and Twitter followers to the nearest individual location of a restaurant brand.

Read more.

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Guest post by Frank Eybsen, see bio at end of the article.

Social media and online marketing are constantly evolving with new products launched and innovative ideas announced daily. Pinpointing the next big thing certainly isn’t a science, but five new social media platforms have already got people buzzing online.

Hashable

Hashable helps users to keep track of their relationships using an app, via Twitter, or by logging on their account on Hashable.com. Hashable allows users to exchange contact information, to see who their friends are networking with, and to privately or publicly track phone calls, meetings, and events.

It’s akin to an address book that allows you to keep notes of when and how you met contacts and to see which of your contacts are also connected to each other. You can also tag each of your contacts – with such labels as #thanks and #just met – to make it easy to remember who is who.

Click here to see what the buzz is about and to judge for yourself.

Daily Booth

Let’s call it Twitter with photos, only instead of Tweets, users snap – directly from their computer or their cell phones – photos of themselves, which are posted automatically to their accounts. Originally marketed toward the teenage crowd, Daily Booth is starting to garner interest among small businesses and online marketers.

Entrepreneurs might want to snap photos of themselves, any employees they may have, their latest products, and even projects in progress. A construction firm, for example, may want to snap photos of the stages of their latest buildings to keep their clients up-to-date on what’s going on and perhaps even getting consumers excited about purchasing when building is complete.

Snap photos, start an account for free (no photo required), or check out Daily Booth and see what you think.

Quora

Launched in 2009, Quora has been called social media’s version of Yahoo Answers and is growing in popularity with entrepreneurs, journalists, and others who want to share their expertise while subtly marketing themselves.

Users have their own profile pages, which they can also link to Facebook, that includes all the questions they have answered. As with Twitter, Quora members can follow other members and vice-versa.

The key to success with Quora is to answer questions in which you have expertise and to illustrate your knowledge rather than outright promoting your business. It is important, of course, to mention your business name and experience in your profile. However, avoid self-promotion in your answers.

See if Quora is the next big thing with your business.

Qwiki

Qwiki provides an “information experience” for its users, making research an interactive experience.

Here’s how it works:  Users simply type in define: followed by the topic of their research, such as San Francisco, a restaurant review, or a businessperson’s biography, and Qwiki answers the query with a combination of photos, graphs, and videos that are narrated for viewers.

You can use Qwiki with both computers and smart phones, making it easy to access wherever you are. The company aims to one day allow all users to create their own Qwik page, which could prove to be an invaluable marketing tool.

See Qwiki in action.

Hearsay Social

Branding itself, “the first social media platform for businesses with many local branches or reps,” Hearsay Social allows businesses to effectively manage their social media campaigns, keep track of new posts, and analyze the results of their social media campaigns.

Users can download content and immediately send it to local branches or representatives for use, can make sure that the business brand is consistent across the branches, and can measure the social media campaign success.

Hearsay Social also ensures that all of your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media posts are in compliance with federal regulations, if applicable. For example, if your industry is governed by the Federal Trade Commission, Hearsay Social will ensure that your posts are all within laws and regulations which, it asserts, will protect your reputation and your business legally.

You can learn more about Hearsay Social here.

photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

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• Not Perfect Yet – 5 Issues That Quora Should Address (socialtimes.com)

When work gets going it really gets going and my week just breezes by for the most part. I’m not unique by any means, and am pretty sure a great number of you can relate. A lot of things get squeezed out when life gets this busy. Over the past few months its been my social media engagements that has fallen by the way side.  That includes this blog. It also includes Twitter, which I enjoy quite a bit.

Half the time, all I do is watch the Twitter stream and feel pretty tongue tied since my mind is so occupied. I’m finding myself not sure what what I should say and what I should share. After feeling this way for a while I started making a list of things I could Tweet about. Before I knew it I had pretty decent list of things I could talk about. I hope to start following this list in order to keep myself more disciplined with my social interactions and get to know some more folks on Twitter.

So, here is my twenty Twitter tips for happy tweeting, to help you get over this “engagement hump”:

1. Comment on local events
2. Comment on local news stories (stay away from highly charged political stories)
3. Comment on local sports teams and the Green Bay Packers
4. Comment on fund raisers and good causes
5. Comment on industry related news
6. Comment on funny ads
7. Comment on how good life is
8. Comment on relevant historical markers (for example today (March4th) is National Grammar Day)
9. Respond to interesting Tweets from followers
10. Re-tweet interesting Tweets from followers
11. Recommend some of your followers to others on Fridays
12. Discuss your likes/dislikes on any given topic – (I loved “The Social Network”)
13. Comment on the weather
14. Talk about special events and promotions (10% off at Best Buy was awesome etc.)
15. Share a link to an inspiring story, funny video, great picture etc.
16. Make a bold statement every once in a while
17. Attend some local Tweet-ups to meet the community – and Tweet from the event.
18. Tweet about personal achievements, goals, ideas etc.
19. Post pictures of fun stuff seen here and there.
20. Have fun connecting with new people, and remember, you can’t plan a conversation, so you’ll find plenty to talk about once you connect with others.

I hope to up the ante in the next few weeks. Keep me accountable people, keep me accountable.

photo credit: leyla.a

Related articles

• Who cares about National Grammar Day? Or is it whom? (oup.com)
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