Steve Ennen

Steve Ennen has been featured in several Webinars and has spoken at many different social media related events like the Online Marketing Summit, IgniteDallas, Knowledge@Wharton, and the Milken Institute Global Conference.   He is a thought leader in this social world and has lots of great advice and information to offer anyone willing to listen.

Contact Steve Ennen (@EnnenSS1) or the Social Strategy1 Team to learn more about how social media monitoring and management can help grow your business online today!

The study confirms that social media can be an indispensable marketing tool if it is used properly. However, only one-third of marketers are measuring the business outcomes of their social media marketing strategy and tactics. Without these metrics it can be difficult to prove to management that these types of effort should continue to be funded.

Opinions on various practices in social media etiquette were also part of the study. There was no clear-cut standard for appropriate interaction on social media channels. Answers about whether certain types of interaction were appropriate were closely split in some instances, while others showed more consensus. For example, while there were essentially 50-50 splits on whether you should contact someone who you’ve interacted with on social media through email or telephone, and vice versa, there was near unanimity that you should invite business prospects to join your social media markets. It is natural, in a medium as young as social media, which established norms have not been developed yet.

While marketers appear somewhat undecided about contacting or interacting with prospects using social media, it is very clear that you shouldn’t use negative campaigns on Twitter or other social media. And you should definitely invite your prospects to come to your social media party and become a member of your group.

Finally, while LinkedIn was acknowledged to be the leader (at 32%) in generating leads from among a group that included Twitter, Facebook, blogging, YouTube and LinkedIn, Twitter was the most popular social media tool used out of that same group, coming in at a 91% rate of usage. The other tools scored at least 70% and above.

What is your reaction to this study?

Wednesday January 18^th, popular websites like Wikipedia and Reddit protested the bills by going “Dark” for 24 hours. Reddit went as far as to post a very thorugh analysis of both bills and what problems they possess.  Believe it or not the protests actually worked; PIPA co-sponsor Florida Senator Marco Rubio and SOPA co-sponsor Arizona Representative Ben Quayle had pulled their names from their respective bills. Marco Rubio even went as far as to post an article Wednesday on his Facebook Page entitled A Better Way to Fight the Online Theft of American Ideas and Jobs to share why this bill will not work.

“I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs. However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies.” – U.S. Senator, Marco Rubio

The debate continues to brew online, although it is very one-sided. On November 15^th major online players like Google, eBay, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn wrote this letter to members of congress. The letter claims that SOPA poses, “a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation’s cybersecurity.” If they did not sound serious enough, Yahoo! left the U.S. Chamber of Congress due to their support of the bills.

Obviously as a blogger and content creator I would hate to see these bills get passed just because of the major changes that would be made to the Internet in order to prevent Piracy. Piracy is a big issue but these bills will require major regulations and restrictions to the Internet and the way people do business over the web. Also how much money is a country in debt willing to put towards this almost impossible endeavor?

What do you think about PIPA and SOPA? Are people just protesting for fun or are there major issues within the context of these bills that we should worry about?

Post your comments below I would love to read how others feel about these bills.

This raises the important question of: How do you tap into this market or use certain pieces of it to grow your business?

Jason Jaynes (@jasoncjaynes), the Co-Founder of Apptive and Steve Ennen (@EnnenSS1), President of Social Strategy1 will answer this question and many others during their free hour long OfficeArrow.com Webinar entitled “How to Use Mobile Apps to Grow Your Business”.

Attendees will also learn:

• How small businesses are creating mobile apps and applying them to grow their business today.
• Insight and analysis on the latest statistics related to mobile applications.
• The key differences between mobile web sites and native mobile apps.

This presentation is sure to inform anyone who is looking to gain more knowledge in the realm of mobile apps. Register now before space runs out!

How to Use Mobile Apps to Grow Your Business will begin promptly Wednesday, January 18th at 2pm Eastern Standard Time. 

If you have started a blog and are not sure what to do after your first few enthusiastic posts, make sure you incorporate these critical factors:

• Time: Generating quality content takes time and effort. Not only do you need to do a little research every time you write a new post, you need to do this often. If you find it challenging to generate fresh content several times a week, consider outsourcing. Ongoing blog development also requires promotion. How do other people find your blog? Good search engine optimization is important, but it’s not enough to get your blog noticed. Take the time to comment on other blogs, develop social network profiles and develop relationships with other bloggers who post on topics that are complementary (but not competitive) to your business.

• Diligence: It is important to stay current in your industry if you want to keep readers engaged. What are other bloggers posting about? How is your spin different? Ongoing blog development is not as simple as just putting your thoughts in a post and clicking the “publish” button. Join the larger conversation to increase the profile for your business and to provide valuable information for your readers.

• Follow-up: If you are lucky enough to have readers write comments, always respond to them. Comments mean that your audience is engaged enough in your content (and your business) to participate. Nurturing these relationships is one of the keys to a successful blog. Follow-up can also include repurposing your blog material in other social media contexts. Read our blog post on ‘Re-energizing Your Blog’ to learn more tips on making your blog more powerful.

Ongoing blog development is just one small part of a successful social media strategy. The experts at Social Strategy1 can help you fill in any missing pieces and make calculated changes to help grow your brand online. Contact us today to learn more about growing your business through social media efforts.

Developing a social media strategy involves several different components:

• Outline your goals. This should be the first step for any business strategy  – a social media strategy is no different. Do you want to increase traffic to your website, or improve the perception of your products or services? Do you simply want to promote brand recognition, or develop relationships that may turn into business partnerships? You will have no way of measuring success unless you set benchmarks.
• Do some research. In fact, do a lot of research. Not every social media strategy works for every business. You may find that a platform such as Facebook allows you to interact with your customers much more effectively than Twitter, or vice versa. Don’t forget to look for forums or blogs where you can effectively reach your audience. Find out where your audience is and go there.
• Target key players (influencers). Every industry has at least a few mavens that dominate the conversation. Find out who they are and think of ways to reach them. Having your company mentioned by a few key people can catapult your business to a higher level.
• Engage your audience. Will you have contests? Do giveaways? Set up a rewards program for social media participation? Or will you come up with an even more creative idea?
• Measure success. This is also an important component of any business strategy. How will you measure success? For social media, it is not necessarily an increase in sales, but may be an increase in profile. Generating the analytical reports that show you changes in website visitors, an increase in blog comments or more social media contacts may be ways to measure results.

If you are new to social media, or simply don’t have the time to develop a social media strategy for your business, work with the experts at Social Strategy1. We’ll tailor a plan to help you meet your 2012 business goals.

Raj Chaudhary, a principal with Crowe Horwath LLP in Chicago, recommends the following steps to manage the risks involved for companies using social media:

• Assemble a team to oversee your risk management strategy. Include representatives from HR, IT, Marketing and Legal and assign someone to manage the team and its objectives.
• Create a plan for your business’ use of social media.
• Identify the risks that the use of social media poses to your company.
• Update your company handbook to include your social media policy.
• Develop safeguards to protect your company’s private information. This can mean limiting the employees who are allowed to post on social media sites or monitoring (PDF) all posts in real time to prevent leaks.
• Provide ongoing training for your employees about the use of social media and your company’s policies.

While there’s no way to eliminate all of the risks that come with the use of social media, your risk management program should focus on lessening those risks and finding ways to repair any damage caused by the misuse of social media.

Social Strategy1 provides the tools you need to develop your social media strategy and assess your risk management program. Our knowledgeable team is available to help you optimize your social media use to grow your company and stay ahead of the competition.

I hope you share these social media resources with at least one non-profit, whether it’s the director of the rehabilitation home where you volunteer or the college pal who organizes the local food bank.

• 10 Ways Non-Profits Can Benefit From Social Media –Jason Miller, on Social Media Examiner, shares actionable tips for taking advantage of the no- or low-cost entry point for social platforms. Tips range from finding tools for organizing and monitoring conversations to turning Facebook into a fundraising hub.
• Social Media Best Practices for Non-Profit & Public Sector Organizations – Wild Apricot’s Jay Moonah’s Slideshare presentation offers tips as well as case studies highlighting how groups have used social media to grow membership, boost event participation, and raise funds.
• 4 Ways Social Media is Changing the Non-Profit World – Beth Kanter, on Mashable, breaks down how social media changes non-profits and the relationships they build with constituents. This is a brief overview that might be useful for group officers or execs who are still trying to figure out if social media can work within their mission.
• Non-Profit LinkedIn Learning Center – This guide provides tips and how-to’s for leveraging LinkedIn to stay updated on non-profit news, connect with experts, and make connections.
• 26 Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter –This piece from Mashable’s Lon S. Cohen is a couple of years old, but it provides a good set of examples non-profits can look to for ideas and inspiration.

Go forth! Share these resources with a non-profit professional you know or love.

How does Facebook determine what goes into a user’s Top Story section? According to Facebook, a Top Story is determined by a number of factors, including how many comments and likes a post receives. As a result, a brand post might not be listed in a user’s Top Story feed when first posted, but it may become one after many fans start to comment on it.

So how can small businesses increase their Facebook engagement activity? Jeanne Hopkins on HubSpot Blog recently shared tips for boosting fan interactions on Facebook, including adding video to brand posts. Jeanne writes:

“The beauty of putting a video as a post is that it begs for people to click on it. But be sure to keep it short. People are willing to watch a short video to its end, but unless it’s riveting, they will stop watching after a couple minutes.”

Be sure to check out all 5 of Jeanne Hopkins’ tips at How to Become a Top Story on the New Facebook.

From social media monitoring to online customer engagement, the Social Strategy1 team gives small businesses the online listening tools and business expertise to successfully and profitably navigate the social media world. Contact us anytime to learn more about what we can do for your brand online!

If this passing year is any indication, 2012 will be an exciting one as well. Developments that began in 2011, and even further back, will come to fruition. New innovative business methods will emerge. And small businesses will have greater access to all of this than ever before.  Many predictions are based on assumptions.  Many of these however, are based on the quantifiable data Social Strategy1 has accumulated and the resulting trends.

Here are a few of my predictions of what will come in 2012:

1.      Mobile apps will mature and have more practical uses

One of the biggest business stories of 2011 was the further proliferation of smartphones and the subsequent boom in mobile app usage. However, as evidenced by this data from mobiThinking, mobile apps are currently not being utilized to their full potential, both because of consumer habits, as well as the quality of the apps themselves. Expect business to put more resources into developing high-quality mobile apps that will become indispensable to smartphone users.

2.      SMB will have greater power to use social media tools to grow business

Small Business social network OfficeArrow’s own infographic on Social Media for Small Businesses shows the many SMBs currently don’t have an organized approach to social media, nor do they have a specific idea of what they want to achieve with it. But thirty percent of the small businesses surveyed are planning on investing more money into their social media presence in 2012, and that number will surely grow as more small businesses achieve success through social media with tools like Social Strategy1′s small business toolbox coming out next week.

3.      This will disintermediate many of the agencies that want to help small business (which will send them into highly SEO friendly content)

        Small businesses typically have had to go through centralized channels to get their products in the public eye, but developments heading into 2012 show that small businesses will now have the tools themselves to meet social media head-on, and will rely less on traditional advertising agencies.

4.      We’ll see a greater convergence of content and technology firms. New unconventional players will enter the content game; more content will show up on social media as the new distribution system

Although social media is already the de facto distribution system of content and media, 2012 will cement this status. Instead of content being produced on outside sources and shared via social networks, more and more content will be produced specifically with social media in mind. There will be a host of innovative new services to take advantage of this change.

5.      Traditional media will continue to falter under the weight of its cost structure and lose relevance as new competitors use social media for distribution

        You don’t have to live in the business world to see this one coming – newspapers, televisions networks, even traditional media websites, are all suffering in the new media economy, because no matter how fast CNN is to post a breaking news story, it will still hit slower than a Tweet or Facebook post. Consider the recent $315 million dollar sale of the Huffington Post, which functions more as a content aggregator than a traditional news outlet. These shifts will become more apparent as 2012 progresses.

6.      More and more companies – many you wouldn’t expect and many who shouldn’t – will offer “social media” functions or services 

        Social media can be extremely effective, but it’s not perfect for every business. There are many unlikely social media success stories, and there will be many more in 2012, but there will be even more businesses attempting to squeeze social media into a market segment that is not fit for it.

7.       Companies will continue to ‘step-in-it’ through social media because of lack of understanding of its full impact.

        One of the most common failures of business, both large and small, is that they approach social media without first understanding the medium. Social media cannot be approached with the same methods and expectations as traditional media outlets, and it will take more than another year for businesses to learn from their mistakes.

8.      Social Media will offer more ways to execute daily tasks – everything from picking airline seats to registering for class

        With internet-based services already finding traction everywhere, from high schools to libraries to mass transit, it is only a matter of time before social media becomes just as integrated with daily life. All it takes is one idea to completely transform the way we do seemingly mundane tasks.

9.       LBS (location based services) will be less about checking-in and more about rallying friends, getting deals, making recommendations, completing tasks

        Location based services have been around for a little while, but few businesses have utilized them in an effective way. Now that the technology is in place, businesses, politicians and advertising firms will look to use this powerful data source to provide their customers and voters a wide range of new services. Don’t underestimate the power of peer pressure.

10.   The cloud will become less mysterious, more mainstream

        2011 saw major developments in cloud computing and storage, such as Apple’s iCloud. Although there will surely be bumps along the way, cloud technology will gain wider acceptance among the both large and small businesses, as concerns about security as stability are assuaged.

11.   At least one more nation will shift its complexion because of social media

        The power of social media to affect the political system was, without a doubt, 2011’s most exciting development, and one that revealed the full extent of social media’s potential. This trend will undoubtedly continue through 2012, and well beyond.

12.  Sadly, non-profits will still be unable to use social media effectively because of a lack of guidance

While the business world is quickly adapting to the social media landscape, non-profit organizations are not developing as rapidly. It will naturally take longer for them to change their approach to utilize social media, and it may take longer than 2012 for most to do so.

Each of these predictions is promising, but the trends of 2012 that will be the most exciting will be the ones that we didn’t see coming. And the best way to ensure that you’ll be at the front lines when they happen is to stay abreast to the most promising ones now.