Every single entrepreneur that Robert and I have spoken to is grappling with ‘social media’. Entrepreneurs just like you — across all industries — are asking the fundamental questions, such as:
- Should I use social media tools?
- What social media tools should I use?
- How should I use social media to get the most out of them?
- When should I be using these tools?
- How much time/money/effort should I invest in social media tools?
- How will I know that I’m using social media tools effectively?
Don’t be put off if you don’t have the answers. Because, in fact, many entrepreneurs just like you are still asking: “What are social media tools anyway?” Over the next few months, Robert and I are taking this fascinating and fast-moving topic head-on.
1) To get underway, in BusinessCast #101, we’ve just interviewed Charlene Li. Charlene is the engaging co-author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies — considered to be one of the landmark books on social media. And, no wonder. The resource accomplishes something that few other social media books, articles or websites do: it provides practical and actionable advice, clearly and concisely. The ‘heart’ of the book is a way to view your current/targeted markets based on how they actually use technology. And, then once you’ve got a handle on how your audience interacts with technology, Groundswell provides guidelines for how to reach them. Equally as practical is the overall Groundswell approach which recommends that you should focus on the type of relationship you want with your markets — rather than focusing on the social media tools (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Digg, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, etc. etc.) themselves.
2) We’re also attending a fascinating and highly-recommended series of social media webinars made available through Marketwire — which is one of the World leaders for press release distribution, public relations and investor relations. We will be bringing you updates on each of the monthly webinars. However, we recommend that if you want to remain on the leading-edge of this topic, sign-up for them now so that you can get a jump on your competitors by building a social media roadmap.
3) Whenever we see a resource that is particularly useful for entrepreneurs, we cherry-pick some of the most relevant social media news and insights. So, here are two BusinessCast blogposts that can help you quickly get up-and-running on social media:
4) You’re probably asking yourself how popular is social media? Here’s a resource that provides some social media usage stats.
5) Finally, when you’ve had a chance to review the above resources, check out Charlene Li’s blog where she tackles the future of social media.
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Filed under: Contest, Marketing, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Resources, Technology | Tagged: Charlene Li, Entrepreneur, Forrester, Groundswell, Marketing, Marketwire, Mobile Marketing, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Reputation, Resources, Revenues, Social Media, Social Networking, Success, Technology |
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Just came across your blog and podcast series. Have subscribed to them through iTunes. I’m doing an extensive review on Groundswell that may be useful for you and your listeners. http://budurl.com/blookreviewgs
Social media can seem a cheap way to do a great deal of marketing but it can come back to bite you. We have just created a social media policy for partners at our firm. Going through the process of talking about consequences was enlightening.