Category Archives: social media marketing

Facebook, those are some crazy numbers!

Posted on May 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

This morning I came across some numbers about Facebook that made me stop and think.

  • Facebook is globally closing in on 700 million users
  • In 2010, 7.9 new account registrations occurred per second.
  • The average Facebook user clicks the “Like” button nine times, writes 25 comments, becomes a fan of two pages, is a member of 12 groups, and spends 55 minutes on Facebook a day.
  • In May 2011, Brazil had the largest growing Facebook registrations with more than 1.9 new users
  • The top 5 US States Using Facebook are California (19 million which is close to 52% of it’s population), Texas (11 million), NY(10 million), Florida(8.8 million), and Illinois(6.2 million)
  • The top 5 countries using Facebook are US (149+ million), Indonesia(37+ million), UK( 30+ million), Turkey( 29+ million), and India(25+million)

Interesting facts but what to do with them? Although Facebook is a social platform, it is also the forum for businesses to share their information and value.

The social science around how to best combine these two worlds and capture the benefit is just evolving. For example when looking on help on “when the best time to post?”, there is a variety of responses. It completely depends which blog or site you click on. It might have some data to support the answer or it might be completely the author’s best thoughts. One thing is certain, more money will be spent to dissect, define and fine tune how a post will best reach this mass audience. According to a CMO survey conducted by Duke University and the American Marketing Association, social media marketing budgets will grow from the existing 6% to more than 18% over the next 5 years.

I rather liked Facebook being a place where I could simply connect with old friends and family members. I realize that such large numbers of a captive member base are just too tempting not to target, but do you think our external analysis and targeting by these marketing groups will affect how or if we continue to use Facebook?

NPR looked at this subject from a political science point of view. It is an interesting post: Facebook Has Powerful Friends; Will Users Suffer?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, facebook, re-entering-the-workforce, social media marketing

You need to change how you describe you

Posted on May 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

Personal branding and using social media go hand in hand. The internet has become a great equalizer where each voice can sound as important as the one that wrote before it. There is usually a little spot for us as the author, blogger, poster, whatever-the-term to leave a mark and share a few words about who we are and why our comments or thoughts are important to the subject. It is in this space that we have an opportunity to create our brand, “the brand of me”.

When looking on how to fill in this space, I looked at many resources including LinkedIn profiles and “About Me” pages on different blogs. I also came across a list of words NEVER to use in this social media space that I thought I would share. They were referred to as empty or nothing words.

Innovative
Motivated
Results Oriented
Dynamic
Proven Track Record
Team Player
Fast Paced
Entrepreneurial
Extensive Experience

I think you get the idea. Basically the entire list of  suggested words that used to be listed in the back section of resume books.

One example was instead of using, “Problem Solver”, you should say, “As corporate efficiency expert turned around organization suffering losses of $1 billion.” Then you would briefly describe results produced in that role.

I say, why limit yourself to two words when you can use over ten, especially when talking about your own accomplishments?  Is this approach too self-serving? Or do you like the more descriptive way the social media allows us to share our information and share our own accomplishments? Finally, just what will become of that traditional list of resume words?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing

Quick Response Code, please…

Posted on May 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Those crazy square codes that appear everywhere we look are much less secret than I ever dreamed.  Quick Response codes or QR codes might look mysterious almost artistic but they simply hold information such as text, phone numbers, addresses, or anything needed for mobile tagging.  They are extremely useful when planning a comprehensive marketing strategy, identifying  parts in an inventory tracking process or as even acting as a business card.  The more information you want the code to hold or say the bigger or more complex the box gets.  It’s just that simple.

quick response demo

nexThought.net

They are really a two-dimensional bar code. The QR codes are often used for adding web links to a printed page. When you scan them using a web cam or mobile phone camera, the QR reader application takes you to a Web site, a YouTube video or some other web content. QR codes are an easy way of sending people to a site without having to type a URL.

They were developed in 1994 by a Japanese company as an open-standard.

Here is a site that lets you create your own CR code for non-business purpose. Try it out!  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, Quick-Response-Codes, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing

Just check Facebook, really?

Posted on May 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

In my quest to learn what is new in the workplace I have been attending classes here and there.  Tonight in one of these classes I came across a concept that really got me thinking.  Our instructor told us that Facebook has now surpassed Google as the number one method people find information.  So, does this mean that we as a culture are moving from SEARCH to SOCIAL to get our information?

Upon quick reflection I thought of a personal example of how I witnessed during Easter celebrations.  I had a friend post on her Facebook page asking if anyone knew of any florists in her area that had potted tulips.  Instead of  looking up the florists in her area on Google, she used her own social network to laser her search and make the experience easy and one that was almost certain to bring the results she wanted.  She knew her friends would know her taste and style and only point her to those spots that carried what she would like.  Thus, moving her from SEARCH to SOCIAL.  It just made sense.  She reported that she had the perfect potted tulips on her doorstep for the occasion.

I found the whole concept of SEARCH to SOCIAL very exciting but did have one main concern, as the information becomes shared almost like a written conversation, isn’t there be more of a chance that the facts become distorted or changed?  What keeps a fact a fact?  What becomes our new baseline for our source?  I’m curious what you think on this subject.  How far do you think this trend will continue?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, facebook, google, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing