Tag: Social Media

ON24 Brings Social Media to Online Webcasting

by Shy Mukerjee

You can tell from the minute you sign into an ON24 webcast that something different is going on. For one, the interface looks like the Mac operating system, with a dock-like area of icons at the bottom of the screen. This is the interface to ON24’s widgets, programs that run inside the webcasting application, including Twitter and Facebook apps. Currently, there are about 20 widgets available with ON24, with more being added each week.

Picture of ON24 Webcasting Demo Page

I had the chance to sit down and try out some of ON24’s features recently, and came away impressed. Whereas other webcasting solutions are often dull, with a single video pane or slideshow available, ON24 seamlessly combines video, slides, Twitter feeds, sharing buttons, LinkedIn, presenter questions and even group chat into a single interface. You can move windows around, hide windows you’re not interested in seeing, and share links live all from their easy-to-use interface.

The ON24 webcasting platform brings a rich feature set together as well, with multi-presenter webcam options and desktop sharing. They bill it as a solution for “one or few to many,” meaning that a single person or a small team can manage the webcast stream (handling different tasks within the platform, like video or fielding questions) that goes out to a much wider audience.

Because the entire platform is built on Adobe Flash technology, mobile users are already able to access ON24 webcasts with their Android phones or BlackBerry tablets.  Although iOS support is not possible with the current version of the product, I’ve been told that h.264 video streams are being added and that iPad and iPhone users should expect to be able to join ON24 webcasts by next release of the software, coming this summer.

To learn more, be sure to check out the ON24 Webcasting Platform 10.  If you’re interested in seeing how the technology works first-hand, there are live demos coming up tonight, Friday and next Monday.

SocialCamera Allows Easy Tagging, Uploading, Sharing

by Justin Alcon

We all know that social media plays an increasingly important role in our small businesses, yet keeping up with it can be very time consuming.  Tools that make it easy to keep engaging, fresh content rolling into your company’s social presence are a must.  Visual analysis company Viewdle launched Android app SocialCamera last Wednesday, and it fits this description well. SocialCamera allows users to tag, caption and share photos on Flickr, Facebook, email or MMS immediately after capturing the image. Jump to the demo video below for full details.

SocialCamera is still in beta, and is not to be confused with Justin.TV’s Socialcam app. It’s free of charge, and should be available through Android Market now.

How does it work?  Simple.  The first time you use the app, you’ll have to identify your Facebook friends. After that the app will detect and tag your friends automatically, which I think is the most endearing feature of this app.

Protip: you’ll need a device running Android 2.x with a 1GHz or faster processor to run SocialCamera.

Viewdle SocialCamera – Beta from Viewdle on Vimeo.

Add a Schmap to a Tweet to Get Traffic to your Business or Event

by BrothaTech

If you’re a small business, you should be on at least ONE of the many social networking sites…It’s FREE MARKETING AND PROMOTION for Pete’s sake!

My favorite site is Twitter for social media business marketing – word spreads FAST, and there’s nothing like a little word of mouth wildfire to bring attention and traffic to your business or event. Many apps/services like Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, etc. cater to local businesses in hopes they will actually start to pay attention to their social media patrons.

A cool service I found is schmaps/schnaps and it enables you to add maps and pictures to Tweets to drive attention/traffic to your business or event. Instead of creating yet ANOTHER social media account, schmaps integrates with Twitter and immediately gives you options to add an address or venue name and one image (schmap), or import multiple images from your computer or via Flickr to a tweet (schnap).

So instead of tweeting “Doing BIG things over @ Big Things Bar & Grill on 3rd & Pratt St.” You can actually create a schmap by adding a map complete with an image/flyer of your location or event and a map indicating exactly where it’s located to your tweet. If you want show your Twitter followers what a good time folks are having at your event, you can add up to 8 images to a tweet to create a schnap.

In both cases, a schmap.it url is created and added to your tweet, so users can click (or tap if they are mobile) to see your additional information.

Additional features include:

  • Adding additional links, Hashtags, or your own ads
  • Preview your schmap/schnap before sending
  • Allow visitors to add comments or RSVP on your schmap.it site

Schmaps also offers a free iPhone app that lets you create, edit, and manage schmaps/schnaps from your mobile device.

As far as cost, All of the above is free to use. A $9.95 monthly upgrade to Schmaps PRO will add a TON of additional features, including metrics tracking, turning off schmaps ads in tweets, permanent tweet scheduling, and more.

Don’t be afraid, social media sites are safe to use for business marketing and promoting. With FREE services like Schmaps, you’re just being silly it would behoove you to get on board and take advantage of all the additional avenues to bring business to your doorsteps.

Examples of 5 social media policies from the ‘Big Guys’

by Jean Westcott

Previously I posted about the importance of having a social media policy.  I didn’t give you any advice on where to start, just warned you of the pitfalls.  One of the best ways to get started on your own policy is to look into the policies of some of the largest and most well-known brands.  Via Twitter I learned about this great article from Likeable Media on the social media policies of Best Buy, Coca-Cola, Intel, IBM and Kodak.

You see that each reflects its own traditions and cultures.  Are you surprised that IBM’s is traditional and formal and very business-like, while Best Buy keeps it friendly, simple and informal?  Each reflect their own understanding of their employees and how it communicates its brand internally so that their employees can reflect that to the public.

Think of how your employees are already using social media, even if your only employee is yourself.  Work from your understanding of your company and move that message outward.  Social media is about sharing your vision about your goals to the world at large and connecting with the visions of those you meet in the social media space

Must-Read List of Free Social Media White Papers

by Song

12 Essential Tips for Success in Social Media – BuzzLogic BuzzLogic is a digital media company with a data-driven ad platform built to optimize advertising across the largest pool of trusted blog content on the web. We combine proprietary conversational analytics with industry-leading audience targeting data to maximize performance – and provide contextual insight to boost results.

The Social Media Playbook – 360i Marketing used to be different – a lot different. Today, brands are faced with a myriad of opportunities for reaching customers online; and, while the social landscape can be daunting, it holds a world of opportunities for connecting with consumers in deeper and more meaningful ways.

The goals of the Playbook are to:

  • Provide a framework for establishing a set of clear objectives and strategy when approaching social marketing
  • Move beyond the checklist approach and offer a filter for evaluating the myriad opportunities and platforms
  • Encourage thinking of social marketing as an opportunity to have a continuous, valuable exchange with customers
  • Advance discussions on amplifying marketing results through the integration of social marketing and offline campaigns

Oh My God What Happened and What Should I Do? – Innovative Thunder This book helps traditional advertising and marketing people master the step into the digital era, providing tools to create campaigns that reach the people of today. It was not written by a CMO giving expensive seminars and presenting big theories with no solutions, but by a creative team dealing with and living the changes in media every day.

The Science of Retweets – Dan Zarrella a 22 page report full of scientifically proven ways to get more retweets from Hubspot viral marketing scientist and author of the Social Media Marketing Book.

Nimble – Razorfish It’s aimed at content producers that are moving from traditional media distribution to digital, and finding themselves facing new challenges. Most magazines, newspapers, TV shows, etc. have a website at this point, but it doesn’t mean that they’re making the most of the digital experiences that they’re creating for their audience. The report looks at three major areas of interest to content companies – how they attact and retain their audience, how they deliver content across new channels, platforms, and devices, and how they remain profitable in the new digital economy…

The report discusses the types of structure that can set content free, and how this approach will change the role of the editor, the way content companies make money, the way they deliver content, and the way they attract an audience. It also includes information about emerging technologies and tools that can help digital content publishers move into this nimble world.

If you have an iPad, I recommend using the killer combination of DropBox and GoodReader to read these PDFs. Dropbox lets you automatically sync files from your computer to the cloud to be accessed through the website or on your iPad, iPhone, or Android smartphone. Good Reader (iPad and iPhone only) functions as a really slick document reader.

For comprehensive reading, I recommend the following books about social media community management and marketing:

Engage! By Brian Solis

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

The New Community Rules: Marketing On The Social Web by Tamar Weinberg

Trust Agent by Chris Brogran

Let us know what you recommend in the comments section.

Have a social media policy in place before your employees start sharing

by Jean Westcott

Right now your small business may be so small that you are the only employee.  You have the good sense to use your company’s name responsibly and protect its image.  You would not disparage your business online or make off-color jokes.  But what about when you start to grow?

The new part-timer you hire to do some bookkeeping, does she know that her Facebook posts might show up in a search of your business name if she mentions it?  Did your teenage intern’s Twitter followers get updated about private customer information?

Idle gossip or phone conversations never were searchable by your potential customers and competitors, but with modern search engines everything posted on the Internet can pop-up in search results.  The consequence could be embarassing at the least or in a worse-case scenario lead to legal liability for defamation.

Take the time to formulate your business’ social media policy.  Let your employees know your expectations and the consequences for violating that policy.  What may have seemed like idle chatter of a harmless nature shouldn’t come as a surprise with real-world negative results.

Finding your social media ‘voice’

by Jean Westcott

Social media has changed the way that small businesses connect with customers.  Whether on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or any of the other social media platforms businesses can share news about their products and promotions, seek feedback on their service or product, raise their visibility, address complaints and share compliments.    It has allowed small businesses to compete on a level playing field with the largest of organizations–something that would previously be unheard of.  But before you jump in some basics on finding your business’s voice:

1.  Know your voice.  As part of your business’s start-up you probably had a mission statement: a clear statement of your company’s aim and your approach in meeting that goal.  Having a confident grasp of your company’s ‘personality’ will help you form your voice on your communication strategy whether through paid advertising or with social media.  Really take the time to think about how humorous/ serious you want to be; how formal or casual; how chatty/reserved you want to be.  Why did you start this company?  Your communication strategy should get that message across with all of the messages you send out.

2.  Keep your professional / personal on-line lives separate.  While your business should reflect your talents, your values and your  personality–remember to keep some separation between your business and your personal lives.  Both your customers and your friends/ family will appreciate it!

3.  Social media isn’t just marketing.  It is about opening up a new line of communication:  one that is fast, reactive and informative.  Share news and insights but also listen to your customers.

4.  Be persistent.  Don’t jump in and out of the fast lane of social media.  Schedule it into your daily routine.  Don’t get discouraged and keep on connecting.

5.  Let your old school methods of communicating help you connect in the new school world of social media.  Add the magic words “Follow us on Twitter” and “Find us on Facebook” to all of your print advertising, on your website and in your emails.

Be willing to do more of what works and less of what falls flat.  Think of what intrigues you when you follow others and learn as you go.  Your voice will evolve as you get more confident, and your customers will be glad you spoke up!