Over the past decade, we’ve watched how the Christmas holidays have changed thanks to the popularity of the Internet and have seen cyberspace do some wonderful things to make Christmas come alive for kids of all ages in some pretty exciting ways. Now, companies are figuring out other ways to use the this far-reaching communication tactic in other unique ways.
• One SEO firm PeoplePond (www.peoplepond.com) is rallying fellow SEO and social media professionals to help increase the visibility of Santa Clause’s PeoplePond web profile in order to drive charitable giving for a group of selected charities. These include Toys for Tots, Angel Trees, Salvation Army, Trees for Troops, Make-A-Wish Foundation and American Lung Association’s Christmas Seals program. Those professionals who help give Old St. Nick a web hits boost receive a free one-year subscription to the SEO-driven, fee-based web profile site. To learn more, go to the SEO Santa 2009 homepage. (http://www.peoplepond.com/seosanta2009.php)
• The Gap has returned to form with a throwback to its popular song and dance holiday ads with a new number that outdoes the classics in the form of a vibrant holiday cheer. But they’ve outdone themselves further by creating some online buzz with a friendly cheer off competition taking place between its many stores all over the world who are creating, filming and uploading videos of their team’s cheers performed or all to see and vote on through YouTube. Check it out for yourself – but grab your pom-poms first. (http://www.youtube.com/user/GapStores)
• Samsung is using its presence on Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to its special holiday promotion in which it’s giving away a new BEHOLD II mobile phone every hour and an LED TV every day until December 23 with its The Samsung Mobile Be A Winner Giveaway campaign (http://game.beawinnergiveaway.com/?INT=us_home_subbanners_pos4_1201_behold).
It’s not the first time the electronics company has embraced social media willingly. Its Four Seasons of Hope essay contest has been garnering attention for collaborating with corporate partners such as Microsoft, Best Buy and DirectTV as well as top professional athletes like New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning to award over $1 million in electronics to K-12 schools in the U.S. (http://pages.samsung.com/us/4seasons_hope/education.jsp). Now that would be something wonderful for any school to find in its stocking this holiday season.
• Oh, and did you hear Jolly Old St. Nick himself – that’s right, Santa Claus – doesn’t just bellow and giggle. He tweets now, too. No longer content to allow his fans to follow him at his Santa’s Village website anymore, he’s joined the many voices of Twitter and offers up many more descriptive, up to the minute status reports about his journey. Well, technically it’s from one of his elves but we hear that he merely transcribes. In case you just wanted to make sure he can find your house. (http://twitter.com/noradsanta)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Four Fallacies of Social Media
Whenever a new medium is introduced and begins integrating into popular culture, it’s common for fallacies to begin forming, frequently spread either by those not using it or others who truly don’t understand the tactic’s full potential or reach. Don’t make the same mistake and assume any of the following, for you’ll be misjudging this robust and expansive tool for branding, positioning and two-way communication in the marketplace.
• Social media serves no purpose in business – it’s for recreational use only.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. What’s so special about social media networking is it allows you to be a little of both to your customers (or prospective customers). Why can’t you be their neighbor, their source for advice and answers and still be the place down the street where they like to get their hair styled? With social media, there’s nothing holding you back from developing genuine relationships with your customer base and using that connection to become better at what you do since you have a sincere, voluntary source for input and feedback.
• Social media will encroach on my personal privacy if I use it for my business.
Well, certainly if you use your web profile to represent both your work and personal life, this could be true and you may feel restricted with what information you share about what’s happening after hours. Easy solution. Develop a company web profile and a personal profile and don’t mix the two. It’s true that you may not want to combine your friends who’ve seen you at happy hour with those with whom you’re trying to develop a business relationship. So keep them separate. Promote the business web profiles wherever they may be – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – and only share your personal profiles with your closest friends and family.
• Social media is just for teenagers and college students.
Um, have you BEEN out on social media sites lately? Many of us have found our own grandparents exchanging links and sharing photo galleries with their friends! Social media continues to cross generations, cultures and industries, so what may have appeared to start with twentysomethings chit-chatting on MySpace has turned into a full-fledged community of many websites reaching a broad audience that’s diverse, global and quite eclectic!
• Social media is just a fad that will soon pass.
Like the Internet? Or rock and roll? Yeah, sure. It’s certain that like anything else social media sites will change in popularity, and this community’s purpose will no doubt grow and evolve as time goes on, but this tactic of using the internet to connect, communicate and reach people at a global level is here to stay. HOW this will be done five, ten or twenty years from now and through what kind of technology remains to be seen…
• Social media serves no purpose in business – it’s for recreational use only.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. What’s so special about social media networking is it allows you to be a little of both to your customers (or prospective customers). Why can’t you be their neighbor, their source for advice and answers and still be the place down the street where they like to get their hair styled? With social media, there’s nothing holding you back from developing genuine relationships with your customer base and using that connection to become better at what you do since you have a sincere, voluntary source for input and feedback.
• Social media will encroach on my personal privacy if I use it for my business.
Well, certainly if you use your web profile to represent both your work and personal life, this could be true and you may feel restricted with what information you share about what’s happening after hours. Easy solution. Develop a company web profile and a personal profile and don’t mix the two. It’s true that you may not want to combine your friends who’ve seen you at happy hour with those with whom you’re trying to develop a business relationship. So keep them separate. Promote the business web profiles wherever they may be – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – and only share your personal profiles with your closest friends and family.
• Social media is just for teenagers and college students.
Um, have you BEEN out on social media sites lately? Many of us have found our own grandparents exchanging links and sharing photo galleries with their friends! Social media continues to cross generations, cultures and industries, so what may have appeared to start with twentysomethings chit-chatting on MySpace has turned into a full-fledged community of many websites reaching a broad audience that’s diverse, global and quite eclectic!
• Social media is just a fad that will soon pass.
Like the Internet? Or rock and roll? Yeah, sure. It’s certain that like anything else social media sites will change in popularity, and this community’s purpose will no doubt grow and evolve as time goes on, but this tactic of using the internet to connect, communicate and reach people at a global level is here to stay. HOW this will be done five, ten or twenty years from now and through what kind of technology remains to be seen…
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