The other day something interesting happened to me.  I was reading an on-line article and I really liked it.  So, when I got to the end of the article, I did the “natural” thing…I looked for the “like” button.  When the website didn’t have a “like” button, it really threw me off.  Then I realized, what does this say about me and the affect that Facebook has had on our everyday dealings on the Internet?

What does this mean about me?

First of all, it says that I spend a large amount of time on Facebook apparently.  I am so used to reading through posts that I like, pushing the “Like” button when I agree on the content and possibly commenting on the topic if it really moves me.  How “appalling’ to think that I might have to take the time to comment every time on a post if I like it, instead of getting a button to push!  How lazy have I gotten?

What does this mean for your business?

If I am that reliant on the Facebook button, that probably means that many other people are reliant on the “Like” button too.  Some of these people are probably your customers or consumers of your information.  To increase interaction on your blog or website, make sure that you include a Facebook Like widget or application.  750 Million people are used to how Facebook works, let this interaction translate into results for your business.

Hey, push the Facebook “Like” button on this post and share it if you like it!  Eh Em…..it’s over there ——–>

I think that some local businesses, especially those in rural areas, are not quite sure how to use social media to their full advantage.  We see this a lot from our work with Economic Development.  Sure there is Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, GoWalla, and other social networks and applications out there…but really how do business use those things to translate social media into sales?

I saw an interesting post today about how to turn local customers into raving on-line fans, here at Social Media Examiner.  In the example, a Dominos Pizza franchisee talks about what his company does to get local customers to willingly promote their pizza and business online.  He puts people’s Twitter messages about their business on their pizza boxes.  He pairs direct mail and paper advertising with an on-line message to support it.  Other great ideas from the story include:

-  Monitoring Twitter and responding to any mentions, even if they are negative
-  Put up a graphic that is a “photo opportunity” up on a wall in your store/business and encourage people to take a picture with it and share it online
-  If someone checks in via FourSquare, Twitter or Facebook – Thank them

These are just a few ways that local businesses, even rural businesses can get involved in the social media game.  If your business needs help, please contact JenRus Freelance your rural life marketing and Internet Marketing experts.

Recently, JenRus Freelance added a new division to our business.   In addition to our Internet Marketing duties, we added a Rural Life Marketing Division.  Upon first glance, you might think that Rural Marketing and Internet Marketing really aren’t related to each other.  But as one recent  Yahoo! article and Mashable article in which JenRus Freelance’s client, Republic County Economic Development, was featured will tell you -  many cities are now using social media to promote their economic development duties.

Here are some ways that Internet Marketing can be used in Economic Development:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) -  Search Engine Optimization benefits towns and cities much like it benefits businesses.  Having good website SEO helps people find your county over other counties.  SEO could be really beneficial if a county has something unique like the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, if a city has a industrial building for sale which they want to promote, or if a area is in a highly competitive metropolitan area.
2. Social Media Marketing (SMM) - It is becoming increasingly popular for cities to take advantage of social networks like Facebook to reach out to alumni and current residents.  Social media can help promote a positive view of a county, assist in public relations, and help fill needed employment positions.  YouTube shows viewers aspects of a community that words just can not accurately translate.  Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media are also used.
3. Websites – The tride-and-true website has not completely gone out of style.  A well-done, search engine optimized website is still a great way for people to learn about a community.  Coupled with social media, your community promotion can be more effective.

If you would like a free quote from JenRus Freelance for an Internet Marketing and/or a Rural Life Marketing project, please feel free to contact us today.

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Pac-Man, last month Google changed their home page to a working game of Pac-Man for the public to enjoy.  This week I read that this little change cost society $120,483,800 in lost productivity.  That is a crazy number to me that one little game placement can be that distracting or fun or time-consuming.

This little social experiment reminds me a lot of social media marketing.  Social media marketing can be a very effective means of promotion and advertising.  But, social media can also be a time-suck if you aren’t careful.  There are constantly new interesting tools coming out on the market.  There are interesting social media news sites to read about new trends.  There are social networks to interact with potential customers, but these social networks are the same social networks where your personal friends hang out.  If you are not careful, hours and hours can be spent attempting to do social media marketing.

For the previous reasons, it can make a lot of sense to hire an Internet Marketing firm to conduct social media for your business.  Good Internet Marketing companies know the tools that work, know the places to look for links, and can help you navigate through the “busy” world of social media.  If you need help with your companies social media marketing, please contact us.

Social Media is popular.  TV shows are popular.  So, I got to wondering, what commonalities can be gleaned from comparing social media to television.  According to the website By the Numbers the top rated TV shows so far for May 2010 are Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, Glee, NCIS, and the Mentalist.  Here’s how social media compares:

1. Dancing With the Stars – Social Media can make us feel like we are “Dancing With the Stars”.  Especially on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, these social realms can make us feel like we are interacting to some degree with our favorite stars and brands.  Young fans can hear what Justin Bieber is doing at any given moment.  We can see by Ashton Kutcher’s Tweets that he just went to the dentist.  Fans of Starbucks can be the first to get a notice about the latest coffee coming out.  It is a level of “interaction” that just a few years ago we could only get from reading the tabloids or favorite celebrity magazine.
2. American Idol – Twitter and Facebook can make us feel like an American Idol. Social networks give everyone the ability to be a publisher.  Control is now with each individual user as to how much information, content, and branding they want to put out for people to view.  Doing a good job of this can make you/your company into or at least make you feel like the next American Idol in your own right.  Social networking users can foster thousands of Twitter followers and hundreds of Facebook fans.  I once heard from someone, “Twitter makes you feel more popular than you really are”, which may be true, but don’t all of us need that little boost that makes us feel popular every day?  Just like American Idol, social media also gives people the ability to “vote” for products and people that they like the best.  Facebook Open Graph is a tool that Facebook just integrated so that users can “like” websites and products across the web and it will be documented in their Facebook profile.  It also personalizes the experience for the Facebook user showing the user results based upon what they have specified they like through their Facebook account.  Lastly, social media gives us the ability to literally become a star.  There have actually been new stars found through videos on YouTube.  This was the case for the above-mentioned Justin Bieber.  He was on Oprah yesterday with a girl named Charice who was discovered in part by YouTube and plucked out of the Philippines.  Charice‘s new album is currently number four on iTunes due to YouTube and a healthy dose of the “Oprah Effect”.
3. Glee – Besides the obvious comparison that Glee is a word for happy and social media can make you happy (hey, one blog author even said that social media is better than making love), social media is also like Glee because everyone can be a team player.  In the end, social media is all about building relationships and connecting with people.  You can form online communities around people who have similar interests to you.  Just like the Glee high school, you can form a group talking about cheerleading with all of your cheerleading friends.  You can follow a Twitter list of people talking about little league baseball, because your son plays and you are interested in what these people have to say about that topic.  Find people who are different than you and connect on shared topics of interest via Twitter.
4. NCIS and The Mentalist- Just like NCIS and The Mentalist, social media can be a great tool to investigate what customers and potential customers are saying about your product/service.  Use social media to listen to what people you have never met think and then tailor your business message to fit.  Use Facebook as a listening tool to see what customers and potential customers are saying about your product or business.  I saw Chris Brogan speak recently at Free State Social and as Chris would say, if you spend 2 hours a day on social media spend “30 minutes listening, 60 minutes connecting, and 30 minutes publishing.”  Answer their questions, solve their problems, and remedy any situations quickly and you will have loyal customers for life.

What are your favorite TV shows?  Do you have another parallel that wasn’t thought of above?

About the Author:  Jenny Russell is the owner of JenRus Freelance, Internet Marketing.  Jenny is available for speaking engagements and Internet Marketing questions.  Please feel free to contact JenRus Freelance, follow us on Twitter, or connect with us on Facebook.

Last week I went to a social media conference called Free State Social in Lawrence, Kansas. One of the people that I met there was Chandra Stauffer (@kmuw on Twitter) who works for National Public Radio out of Wichita, KS. Out of our conversation came some great points that apply to social media and also to business in general. So, I want to share with you three social media points that I learned from National Public Radio (NPR):

1. Promote Your Good Work- Many of my classical music-oriented friends (and some who aren’t so classical music-oriented) will comment every so often on Facebook that they heard something great on NPR on their way to work in the morning.  Meaning to offer Chandra a compliment, I told her this in our conversation.  What she said was a  good reminder to all of us.  She basically commented that yes, her NPR station offers great content like that every day, but some may not attribute that content to the station that she works for.  You see there is another NPR station close by with an overlapping territory and most people aren’t distinguishing that station from the Wichita NPR station that has different programming.  How is your company distinguishing itself?  What makes you different from your closest competitor?  Promote your strengths through social media.  Announce your new product on Facebook and give a discount to your Facebook followers.  Did your company sponsor a food drive in the community?  Let people know about it through traditional advertising and Twitter.  Make sure customers and potential customers know that the good work came from your business.  Some businesses might be afraid to “toot their own horn”, but it’s OK to do that every once in awhile.  If you don’t promote yourself, your competitor might get those potential customers or customers might confuse your product with another company’s.
2. Sponsorship Can be a Good Thing-  As you probably know, NPR gets much of it’s income from those who underwrite programming.  A business can sponsor a specific program in return for recognition around that programming.  That same name recognition can be obtained by sponsoring events and community benefits.  As Sarah Evans would say, “do something for a cause”.  Don’t only think about social media advertising for your business, think about sponsoring a cause as well.  Customer’s appreciate a business which cares about community and often will reward that business with their patronage.
3. Facebook’s new “Like” system is going to be powerful – Another lesson learned from NPR is that, a Facebook “Like” is going to be a powerful social media tool.  Even I took notice and mentioned NPR’s interesting content here, based upon my friends opinions.  Now not only are your Facebook fans more likely to buy your products, your customers can now “like” your business and basically recommend you to their friends.  To quote an interesting excerpt from WebPro News, because of Facebook’s new “Like” system:  “It’s not just about getting links anymore. Links will always be of use, but social interactions may equal them in importance, and in some cases may be of greater use to your visibility, and ultimately getting people to your site, your content, your store, or your shopping cart.”A study by the social networking site myYearbook showed that:

• 81 percent of respondents said they’d received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site
• 74 percent of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision. (Click Z, January 2010)
  
• 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know
• 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2009)

So, there you have it, the top 3 social media lessons that I learned from NPR.  Get out there and learn some more from things in every day life.

What is social media?  Why should you be on social media?  What is Facebook and why is it important for your marketing efforts?  How important will social media be in 2010 and 2011?

All of these questions are answered pretty well in the following video.  Enjoy!: