Mitch Levinson - Internet Marketing and Social Media Expert, football fanatic » Social Media

Social Media Use by Companies

Mitch — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:18:41 +0000

MarketingSherpa is a great resource for information and weekly charts on several marketing topics. I particularly like when the topic is about social media or search engine optimization (SEO). This week’s chart summarizes how companies use social media as part of their marketing program. VERY interesting, but I have a slightly different view about marketing and communication in terms of priorities for companies.

Marketing vs. Communication

Most companies don’t differentiate marketing from communication. Corporate messaging, public relations, marketing, advertising, etc. all fall under the directive of ‘communication’ from a company strategy. Interaction with leads, prospects and customers is more sales, not necessarily communication – but it should be. Social media and the use of social networks enable direct and ‘instant’ communication to all groups and provide a forum (in the chosen medium of the lead, prospect or customer) for the company or stakeholder to interact. In other words, it is pretty easy for a customer and a marketer to interact quickly on Facebook.

Why then isn’t this ’social media’ thing then always corporate communication? It absolutely should be! Companies need to build a strategy surrounding their communication efforts that include goals, tactics and key performance indicators for a successful communication strategy.

Corporate Communication Strategy (i.e. the chart)

The MarketingSherpa chart demonstrates an online social media strategy and the amount of time/effort spent on each area. Social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are the top item, Micro-blogs (like Twitter) second and Multimedia (YouTube and Flickr) third…tactics used MOST by companies, not the effectiveness of each, nor the capability impact the others.

When I do a ‘non-scientific’ evaluation of our clients from a traffic-generation, content syndication, reputation management and search engine optimization standpoint, the most effective item on this chart is “blogging on company managed blogs”. Even when not looking at the fact that the blog can feed social networking sites, micro-blogs and email newsletters…can be the repository for online press releases and news stories…and can be the place you send traffic when you ‘tease’ your content on other industry blogs and blogger/wordpress…even when you take ALL these time management and integration components out of your blog, when build right, it still is a top 5 referring site to your main website and appears one the first page of Google and the other search engines for your targeted words (sometimes higher than your website.)

mRELEVANCE builds a LOT of effective blogs. We moderate many of them monthly for our clients to maintain top placements on search engines and track the traffic and effectiveness. If you want to increase your qualified traffic by 50-200% on a monthly basis, contact mRELEVANCE to see how.

NAHB Social Media for Multifamily Communities

Mitch — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:46:28 +0000

I was the moderator and presenter for a webinar presentation to NAHB’s Multifamily Council a couple of weeks back. It was a great time, I really enjoy giving back and teaching people to use social media and the internet to make their companies more effective.

The audience for this presentation is mutifamily developers – apartment communities, condos and townhomes developers, etc. – but the material will certainly cross into other companies and industries.

Click here to view the replay of the presentation and use the password Social. Let me know if you enjoy the material or if I can help teach you to be more effective.

I’m in the Chicago Tribune again!

Mitch — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:56:27 +0000

I have been quoted a second time in the past 6 weeks by authors of the Chicago Tribune! Both articles are about the Chicago real estate market, but differ only on the comparison topic. As a leading national expert on real estate, social media, Generation Y, Internet marketing and SEO, I am often published and quoted…there are really not many people in the country with a real estate background (Realtor and licensed Broker in two states), an MBA in Information Systems and eCommerce, a Masters in Residential Marketing and who build websites and focuses on SEO.

The first article, published on February 19, 2010 and titled “Using Social Media to find your dream home,” quoted me regarding builders and the use of social media. It is a good idea to buy a home from a builder that keeps current on home building techniques, communication techniques along with green environmentally efficient construction. The most recent article, published April 2, 2010 and titled “What Gen Y wants in housing,” speaks to the pent up demand and the technical capabilities of this HUGE new generation of home buyers.

Using Social Media in your Workload

Mitch — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:26:16 +0000

Using social media during the day for business purposes while making sure your efforts are both effective and efficient is a challenge. This week I wrote a post on mRELEVANCE that discusses how to keep focused on this challenge.

Effective social media means making sure you have the proper goals in mind when determining key performance indicators. Are you trying to become your industry’s most credible resource and trying to be found on multiple sites (listed on multiple Google SERPs)?

Efficient social media is using your time wisely and not getting sidetracked when posting or updating. for many people, going onto a social networking site requires more time than necessary, due to the social nature and the desire to interact with your ‘friends’. Remember, when working and trying to be efficient, that time spent ‘networking’ with your elementary school chums is not an efficient use of your time – they are generally not your target market. Be cognizant of the amount of time you spend working social media, as compared to the amount of time you spend playing on social networking sites.

For more tips, visit this Social Media Workload post.

DeVry and Illinois Worknet Seminar

Mitch — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:37:38 +0000

I was recently asked to be the subject matter expert for a seminar series on social media by DeVry University and Illinois WorkNet. I have led seminars for DeVry University in the past (and hope to in the future), along with their partnership with local Chamber of Commerce’s – but this was my first time speaking in a webinar format for the Illinois WorkNet program. This company helps associations and organizations with their workforce and helps people with the work related needs. Their tagline is “Training, Connecting and Developing Illinois’ Workforce.”

Such a great program and several great people working together for a good cause. Click this link to see the presentation and questions that came out of the two sessions.

Using Social Media in your Workload