social media – Jeff Marmins

Whitepaper: Seven Social Media Mishaps and How To Avoid Them

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Opps Caution sign for social media mishaps

We’re excited to release an end of year white paper that provides some real tips on doing social better in 2014. Read these seven cautionary tales and the corresponding lessons. We’re confident that you’ll take-away something useful.

[button url=”http://c7group.com/whitepaper-seven-social-media-mishaps-and-how-to-avoid-them/” style=”red” size=”large” type=”rounded” target=”_self”]Get More Info[/button]

[freebiesub download=”http://www.jeffmarmins.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/7-Social-Media-Mishaps-and-How-to-Avoid-Them-2013.pdf”]

Blog, Sacramento Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Mix it Up – Combine Digital and In-Person Networking

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Last night, countless groups assembled in hotels, offices, restaurants, bars and coffee shops for fun and business reasons. They called or emailed each other to get together after work to discuss business growth, plan a business project or just “hang-out”. Some may have considered it as part of a membership obligation. Others were sales prospect hunting. They met, had a great time, exchanged business cards and went home. Two groups in the Sacramento area had “Socials,” last night that view connecting in a whole different way.

It was once thought that our digital lives would keep us within the confines of our homes and cubicles. The age of food delivery, on-demand entertainment and digital networking and communication tools would decrease our desire and ability to connect IRL (In Real Life). The opposite has proven true. Networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow us to connect with like-minded people and know more in advance about who we want to be sure to shake hands with at the Tweetup or Mixer. They allow us to continue the conversation online that started in the room. In fact, more people are getting together and connecting in more meaningful ways as a result of social technology.

Social Media Club Sacramento hosted #TheSocial at LowBrau in downtown Sacramento and Windfarm Marketing and Razorsharp Public Relations organized the Placer Business Tweetup at the Dono dal Cielo Winery in Newcastle. Both of these groups invited their guests to join online through an online event management program, encouraged others to participate via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and email and still picked up the phone to encourage less “digital” friends to join them. Just in the invitation process alone, their opportunities to meet new people was exponentially extended. Attendees checked-in on Foursquare and uploaded photos to Instagram and Facebook. Today, post-event, Facebook and Twitter are where the conversation continues.

There is tremendous (and FREE!) opportunity to intentionally grow your network by combining your interests, social networking online and getting yourself out the door. You and your business are missing out if you don’t combine your digital and analog activity.

Are you in Sacramento? Check out the Sacramento Social Media Club Sacramento, Sacramento Tweetup, Placer Business Tweetup and Folsom Tweetup Calendars! If you’re not in Sacramento, let Google introduce you to groups in your area.

[tweetherder]Combine digital and in-person networking for more intentional connections.[/tweetherder]

Do you have a networking success story? Please share it with us!

Blog, Business Thought Leadership Series, Social Media Marketing

Moving the Needle. Using Social Media to Advance Your Business by Jason Falls

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Did you get to participate in the live session of Moving the Needle. Using Social Media to Advance Your Business by Jason Falls? We’ve uploaded the video and the slide deck and opened the comments for discussion.

In this webcast you will learn about:

Developing a strategic plan for social media
Case studies of businesses using social media for business purposes
Tying the “conversation” with the “conversion”

Blog, Featured, Social Business, Social Business Strategy, Social Media Marketing

Become A Business Change Agent: Thought Leadership Webcast Series

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Social business requires change in more than your marketing department, are you ready?

There is a fundamental change in how we do business. Driven by the networked communication tools flourishing on the web, tools like YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn, how we communicate with those who benefit from our services and how we organize ourselves productively are changing.

Being aware of these technologies is a very different thing from understanding them, actually using them, and knowing how to get the best out of them. This is before we even begin to touch on the subject of how to use them in a business context and how to “manage them”.

There is a genie that has been let out of the bottle and, just as with the invent of the wheel, the printing press or eight-track tape, there is little doubt that things will ever be the same again.

So given that this change is happening, and is almost certainly already beginning to happen inside and around your organization, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to revert to “business as usual” and continue to run your business in a conventional command and control way and talk to those you serve as passive consumers? Or are you going to embrace this new networked world, learn the ropes, and get ahead of your competition by getting those conversations with your staff and your customers started as soon as you can?

C7group is proud to present the 2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series featuring foremost experts with leading perspectives about the social tools, technology and changing workflow in business today.

Registration is FREE.

2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series featured presenters (As of Jan 20, 2012):

Jason Falls, Founder, Social Media Explorer
February 7, 2012 – 10:00 a.m. PST
Moving the Needle: Using Social Media to Advance Your Business
Jason Falls will discuss developing a strategic plan for social media, case studies of companies using social media for business purposes and tying the “conversation” with the “conversion”.

Euan Semple, Director, Voice and euansemple.com
Thursday, February 23 – 3:00 p.m. PST
The New “Business as Usual”
Euan Semple will talk about about driving business by leveraging social media to change culture, re-design workflow and grow profit.

Halelly Azulay, CEO, TalentGrow
Tuesday, March 6 – 9:00 a.m. PST
Social Learning and Employee Development
Halelly Azulay will discuss the realities of employee development, leveraging social networking and media for learner-driven, learner-generated learning

Jon Ferrara, CEO, Nimble
Wednesday, March 21 – 10:00 a.m. PST
Social Media and Sales Relationships
Jon Ferrara will offer tips about how to work as an effective team by tracking and managing contacts, prospects, and activities. Specifically, how to maximize marketing impact, make more revenue in less time and the benefits of unified communication.

You can Register Here. or Learn more about C7group Services.

Do you have thoughts on questions you’d like a featured presenters to answer? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

You can also email learn@c7group.com if you have a request or recommendation for thought leaders that should be a part of the 2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series .

Blog, Sacramento Social Media, Social Media Marketing

Sacramento Social Media and the end of SEO

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It’s our opinion that the practice of SEO continues to evolve just as it has since attempting to gain high search results for keyphrases in the 1990’s on sites such as Alta Vista, Excite and Lycos. Unfortunately for SEO practitioners, especially those in small to mid sized markets like Sacramento, SEO is becoming SEM or Search Engine Marketing. This means that getting a high serch return on your keyword or phrase will have to be based on content of relevance and value to the subject matter. It’s already happened to some degree with, for example, the change in Google’s search algorithm in 2009 to not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking.

Organic search results are becoming more driven by relevant content, sharing, social media interaction and the credibility and influence of the author.

Blog, Sacramento Social Media, Social Business, Social Media Marketing

Sacramento Seminar – Why Marketing Is Not Enough: Social Media 3.0

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We’ve announced a new social media and social business education opportunity for small and mid sized business in Sacramento. We’re changing the conversation about what social networking technology means for business. We hope you’ll join us.

Blog, Community Platforms, Employee Community, Social Business, Social Business Strategy, Social Integration for Small Business

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Crowdsourced Logo and Graphic Design by crowdSPRING

This infographic tells an interesting story about social media adoption by small businesses; perhaps most interesting are the stats near the bottom of the graphic. Namely, it’s the ability to marry social media activities to business metrics like customer engagement, intelligence gathering, external and internal collaboration, and lead generation that really matters. If a business can’t point to tangible results from their social strategy, it might be time for a fresh look.

“Taming the social beast can be a real challenge for business owners who are already spreading themselves thin,” says C7group VP of Communications, Shelly King. “The need for a clear strategy and roadmap, and the right tools to execute it, is more pressing than ever.”

C7group has created a Small Business Social Integration service that is designed to help small businesses take their social presence beyond marketing and create a truly social business, from customer service and retention to employee collaboration and workflow improvement. If you’d like to know more about how we do that, click the link above to request more information or give us a call today.

Blog

The History of Social Media

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Social Media is not new. Have you heard this before? As a follow-up to our last post by Jerry Kennedy, Social Media Amateur Hour – When Does it End? I thought this was a great graphic to share from our friends at One Lily. The reality is that the web is RETURNING to social (from whence it came.) I think business is beginning to realize this.

There is a lot of mature thinking out there as it applies to social concepts and their applications in web technology practices and tools. While there is great, valuable thinking across the generations (and this is important because social platform success requires multi-generational friendly user experiences), perspective is gained from the experience of participating in the evolution over time. This perspective is what allows us, as consultants and practitioners, to see how the social web is changing communication and collaboration. This perspective allows us to better plan for the future and make the most of the technology shift now that it has reached critical mass.

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Blog, Social Media Policy

Social Media Amateur Hour – When Does it End?

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At some point in the future, every business will hire one (if they haven’t already): A social media “expert”. Whether it’s on a contract basis or as a full-time employee, the pressure to jump in the fray is going to build to the point that it’s unavoidable. Participation in the social web is already a business imperative. Right?

When they do finally make the decision to hire, business leaders are going to face the question of who to trust with this piece of their business, and most will get it wrong at least once. Why? Because the barrier to entry for becoming a social media expert is ridiculously low, so low, in fact, that it might as well not exist.

Blog

Social Media ROI Measurement: Notes and Resources

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Social media can be a powerful tool for communicating with your customers and reaching new prospects. A survey by Mashable found that 84 percent of social media programs don’t measure return on investment (ROI). It also found that many individuals and businesses don’t know how to measure the ROI of their social media strategies and campaigns.

Social Media ROI: The Conversation

I was fortunate to be included in a panel discussion on the subject of ROI. The event was produced by the Sacramento Chapter of the Social Media Club with the intention of covering the topics:

Best practices in social media measurement
How to calculate ROI with social media campaigns
When social media should be a part of a comprehensive communication strategy

Innovative marketing pro, Gordon Fowler, President & CEO, 3Fold Communications (@Gordon3Fold) and Josh Hilliker, Director of Social Media, Intel-GE Care Innovations (@JoshProStar) were co-panelists. Josh is the Director of Social Media at Care Innovations, an Intel-GE Company. He is responsible for the company’s Social Media strategy, online communities and product evangelism. Gordon is CEO of one of the few growing interactive marketing and public relations firms in Sacramento. He is a thought leader in brand strategy and generational marketing.

With well over a hundred attendees the conversation de-railed a bit into tools and tactics. It proved to be somewhat of a frustrating experience for some, considering the need for strategic thinking. The audience did get what they wanted. I’m just not sure it’s the information that was (is) really needed. There were plenty of salient points covered and I encourage you to view the Social Media ROI panel discussion in its entirety here.

Hopefully, we see these events as only the beginning of the dialogue. Continuing the conversation is the first step toward collaboration, real results and real answers. I’ve curated some resources and will provide some perspective with the hope that it will be discussed and augmented by those of you that want to know where and how you should be spending your time online in social media.

You can view see the conversation on twitter from the event by searching #smcsac on Twitter.

Much of our thinking applies first to larger companies. The notes I prepared for the panel discussion apply to any size organization, as the membership of the Sacramento Social Media Club skews toward smaller businesses.