I want to share with you some new ways to use social media other than the traditional LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Have you ever heard of Flipboard?  This is a hot new way to consume social media news from your Facebook and Twitter connections.

Flipboard Enhances Social Media as we Now Know It!



Flipboard is a recent new app for the iPad.  With Flipboard you can mock up how a magazine looks, but do this while using social media content. The app helps you to collect and consume information from different sites by creating a customized dashboard on your iPad.
With your iPad Flipboard, you can visually display content from your Twitter contact lists and Facebook friend lists and easily share what you discover. Flipboard makes it easy to create a customized dashboard on your iPad and you can move things around to suit your visual style and preferences. This new Flipboard is going to be a force to be reckoned with!

Facebook’s Over 500 Million Users and How to Connect Your Business

Facebook now has over 500 million active users.  Active users is defined by people who have logged on in the last 30 days, so this number changes monthly for Facebook active users. That’s a lot of people to gain access to for your business.

Facebook recently announced a massive transformational piece of news at its Developers’ Conference this past April 2010.  Facebook came out with allowing you to install a social plugin on your blog, your website, and even your Facebook page.  You’ve probably seen one of these plug ins lately such as the new “Like” button.  Over One hundred million websites have installed the Like button already.  Here’s the link to get the code for those social plugins. 

Facebook is changing business thanks to these advanced social plugins.

Facebook is focused on business growth strategies and this topic was of many discussed at the Developer’s Conference.  Facebook’s ad techniques were created to leverage endorsements of your fans to share their likes with their friends. When this is done, your friend who liked your ad has their name linked and also includes their review and number of stars.  This was a smart move for Facebook as it makes ads less likely to appear as scams and emphasizes the core value proposition of Facebook ads which is to help multiply the love your fans already have for you-to pass this on to their friends and create viral marketing.

According to Facebook Director of Platform Product Bret Taylor, he states that “Once you put these 'like' buttons all around your site, the like buttons power a whole suite of social plugins."  He further shared that an "activity streams" plugin will show all activities from the Facebook user's friend list on that third-party site. A "recommendations" plugin will provide suggested content to users. "It's not just 10 most e-mailed articles, this is truly powerful recommendations," Taylor said.

There's also a "social bar," which can provide "an all-in-one social experience" with a "like" button, Facebook chat, and friends list information that seems to be very much in the league of Google Friend Connect or the Meebo chat toolbar.

Foursquare Means Business and Supports a “buy local-stay local” message.

Foursquare is one of several location-based services, which I have personally been using to promote Albuquerque’s Independent Business Alliance message for buy local. shop local.  Foursquare is similar to a game for consumers, but you can also use it from a supporting local businesses and creating awareness standpoint.

Here’s how Foursquare works.  Download the application and when people come into a certain venue:

•    Most likely they have their mobile phones with them
•    They “check in” with Foursquare on their phone
•    They say to all of their friends: “I am here. I am at this venue” and can even personalize a message about the business they are visiting.

If you own a local restaurant, a bookstore, a service organization, or any kind of brick-and-mortar business, let your visitors know you’re on Foursquare and encourage them to check in when visiting any of the businesses in town.

If you like this blog and what to share it with your friends in Facebook, your colleagues in LinkedIn or even better Tweet this, be sure to pass this blog on to others to read.

What does the word social have to do with media? First of all, social media is not the same as traditional media. The term media refers to various means of communication traditionally associated with newspapers, magazines, and television or radio broadcasts. Social media sites have become the platform to combine a wide range of digital spaces into a single package. 

Social media is a marketing tool designed to establish a presence and build relationships with your prospects in a timely and consistent manner. Social media has opened the door to social media marketing (what I also refer to as interactive media marketing), which is the method of using social media to draw traffic to your business. Rather than pushing your message into the prospective customer’s space (as traditional marketing does), social media marketing focuses on relationship development and attracting your target market to learn more about you.

Social media allows people to develop personal relationships with others around the world as needs to have the same mentality as “attending a cocktail party or social gathering.”  How would you talk to others in this environment?  Would you self promote or listen and build relationships?

First, social media can be a tool to see how to fit into the lives of targeted customers. Search both yourself and your company name and see if people are talking about you. Are they mentioning you in passing? It allows companies to get ahead of an angry blog, social media site, or e-mail and handle customer service issues. That little bit of communication can build a rapport online for others to see. It allows people to build personal relationships that may have nothing to do with a company, but that little bit of empathic communication can lead to more business referrals.

Social media opens the door for communication with almost anyone. You can reach out to complete strangers, can get advice, or even share your advice online. These conversations are often stored digitally and made available over time for others to read or participate in. Each of us has probably given or received advice but it may be forgotten after a week or so. Now you can connect with others online and save this information indefinitely. This switch to social media marketing allows us to communicate more effectively and efficiently.

Social media enables users to build relationships in an easier, faster manner. Social media can also be used to draw people to face-to-face events such as conferences and trade shows. Many conference attendees “tweet” or mini blog about the event during the presentation, creating   chatter and relationships that may be built upon long after the event is over. At EXHIB-IT! , we blog at shows and report how the show is going or deliver content that others may want to hear. You can upload a video, images at the show, or interview attendees and post the video and images online and blog about them.

Before you go into the social media environment and start blasting away with information about you, your business and promote a product or service, listen first.  Get involved in groups and community areas so you can hear what is being said and respond to build your confidence.

DJ Heckes, Author & CEO
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com 

Instant association, also known as pre-emptive persuasion, is a process of establishing a link in the customer’s mind between your product or service and the emotional gratification they are seeking. When the need or desire surfaces with a potential customer, your company name is the link in their mind.

A successful brand is the most valuable resource a company has. In fact, many brand authorities speculate that brands are so valuable that companies will include a “statement of value” addendum to their balance sheets to include intangibles such as the value of their brands. 

Brands are used as external cues to qualify for prestige, taste, design, value and so forth. In other words, consumers associate the value of a product with the brand. For example, the value of Coca-cola, Kodak, Nike, Sony, and Toyota is indisputable. One estimate of the value of Coca-cola, the world’s most valuable brand, places it at over $68.7 Million. (See video chart below and video for resources.) In doing some research online, I came across Bloomberg Businessweek “The 100 Best Global Brands 2009” (http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=d848bd8c8fdfad532b8b4e43e4c5781f7acd5ce8) and Interbrand that published the 100 Best Global Brands. (http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx) 


Both web sites state that the top brands endured, even though 2009 was a tough year. They managed to weather the storm admirably. Coca-cola managed to rank #1. The companies that made the list all had one thing in common-trust. Consumers took issues with companies online and the top companies handled negative publicity instantly and responded online quickly to complaints, issues, etc. 

 


Here is The Top 10 out of the 100 Best Global Brands listed. To view all 100, visit:
 http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx). 

Brand Origin ($m)Value Change (+/-)

1. Coca Cola United States $68, 734 +3%
2. IBM United States $60,211 +2%
3. Microsoft United States $56, 647 -4%
4. GE United States $47,777 -10%
5. Nokia Finland $34,864 -3%
6. McDonald's United States $32,275 +4%
7. Google United States $31,980 +25%
8. Toyota Japan $31,330 -8%
9. Intel United States $30,636 -2%
10. Disney United States $28,447 -3%

Trust is now at the center of every company’s marketing strategy. How does your brand create value to a customer? Why do certain brands have more value than others? Naturally, companies with such strong brands strive to use those brands globally. Leverage your personal brand: What's the least expensive, yet most effective form of marketing? Word-of-mouth referrals from friends, family, customers, of course! 

We're all busy and are working faster and harder for the instant recognition. Honestly, we forget to recommend even those companies we know, like and trust. So, to get more referrals, you need to get those you know to remember you and keep talking about you-despite & during their hectic day-to-day busy schedules. 

So what do you do to try to achieve your brand recognition and instant association? First - a consistency of ad copy will go a long way. It is a proven fact that it takes 5 to 7 exposures to a print or online ad before someone may look further. If you change your ad copy every time you post it, people will not identify with your ad. 

If you use the same ad in many different places, people will start to identify with it, and may ultimately take a further look. But that of course raises a dilemma. How do you know if you have a good ad that will draw, or one that needs to be changed? 

Some great instant brand association examples would be:

 • When we need a soft tissue, we think Kleenex®, and the emotional gratification would be a soft tissue that will help us with a runny nose. 
• When we are looking for an action sport name and hear the saying, “Just Do It,” we recall Nike, and the emotional gratification may be that we take action and get it done. 
• When we hear the saying, “You’re in Good Hands with Allstate,” we recall Allstate Insurance Company, and the emotional gratification may be feeling safe with this insurance. 
• When we need to use bleach, we recall Clorox®, and the emotional gratification would be that we know it is a great disinfectant and will get the area clean. 
• If we need a good window cleaner, we recall Windex®, and the emotional gratification is that we know it cleans the windows effectively and we will have clean windows. 
• If we need an aspirin, we think “Bayer® Works Wonders” – Bayer® Aspirin, and the emotional gratification may be that we remember hearing that aspirin also keeps the doctor away as a reducer to heart attacks. 
• If we hear, “How do you Spell Relief?” we think ROLAIDS®, and the emotional gratification is relief of stomach pain and aches. The customer can read any emotional gratification through a perceived message. In each of the seven examples above, there is a direct link with the emotional gratification sought by the customer. They can rely on the product in their perceived mind. 

When customers identify your product or company name with an emotional gratification response, the brand name becomes the name of the product type in the minds of customers. Think of FedEx®, UPS®, Kleenex®, Xerox®, and Jell-O®. All these names are brands, but the names are interchangeable with the product. 

In order to establish an instant association or pre-emptive persuasion, my company has branded one of our services as being the resource center for marketing seminars. We provide free monthly seminars on a consistent and systematic basis. When our local customers hear marketing strategy seminars, they think of EXHIB-IT! Their emotional gratification is that they have a professional development seminar they can attend on a consistent basis to help grow their business without the hassle of being sold to while here. We have marketed and provided a systematic delivery of free monthly seminars and have speakers booked well into late spring 2012. 

DJ Heckes
Author & CEO 
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts 
www.exhib-it.com 
Full BRAIN Marketing 
www.fullbrainmarketing.com