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Harnessing the Power of Social Media Tools

Written by: Wendy Marx

Article Overview: A few hour investment in social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can help grow your business

Free Download - What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight By Wendy Marx
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Harnessing the Power of Social Media Tools

Quick: Are You Twittering, LinkedIn... and Using Other Social Media to Grow Your Business

If you answered, "No," or a half-hearted "No," you're not alone. And if you answered, "Yes," our hats our off to you.

In today's Web 2.0, you're missing a thriving opportunity to grow your business if you're ignoring social media tools like LinkedIn and Facebook. Tools like these have democratized and flattened the marketing process thanks to the speed, reach and immediacy they offer.

Two recent examples bring this into start relief. When the horrific Mumbai attacks were underway in late November 2008, and as a US Airways pilot was safely landing his jetliner in New York's Hudson River last month, people on the scene were instantly sending "tweet" update messages and images all over the Internet via their Twitter accounts. In both instances, Twitter members got the news out in real-time, ahead of all news outlets.

In today’s Web 2.0, you’re missing a thriving opportunity to grow your business if you’re ignoring social media tools like LinkedIn and Facebook. Tools like these have democratized and flattened the marketing process thanks to the speed, reach and immediacy they offer.

Because social media tools have become so ubiquitous and so successful at spreading news and information instantly and virally, companies and executives must find ways to incorporate them into their everyday projects and campaigns.

By investing a few hours a week, businesses and organizations can leverage Twitter and other social media to create visibility and credibility for themselves, in some cases even leading to sales inquiries and sales conversions.

Here are few tips to get you started in Twitter, a free micro-blogging application that lets users share up-to-the-second news items, thoughts, ideas, observations, opinions, etc. with those in their extended “twitterverse.”

* Don't be too self-promotional.
* Use Twitter to engage others and participate in conversations. This will over time help build your brand.

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Home > Public-Relations > Wendy Marx > Harnessing the Power of Social Media Tools
Article Tags: campaigns, conversations, conversions, credibility, everyday projects, facebook, hudson river, immediacy, instances, jetliner, late november, linkedin, marketing process, media tools, mumbai, news items, sales inquiries, us airways, users share, visibility

About the Author: Wendy Marx
RSS for Wendy's articles - Visit Wendy's website

Wendy Marx is an award-winning public relations and marketing communications executive who helps B2B companies and executives become well-known brands. Wendy planned and executed the original public relations strategy that helped fuel the spectacular growth of Peppers and Rogers Group, the world's preeminent customer relationship firm. For the last 16 years, she has served as president of Marx Communications, which has helped numerous companies become well-known industry brands. Her firms� PR efforts have directly let to companies inking major partnership deals with Dow Jones, The NASDAQ and other major organizations. Her firm has recently developed an innovative PR 3.0 strategy for B2B companies that directly ties PR efforts to sales and generates trackable sales leads. The program is designed to increase online visibility and drive sales leads using PR as the sales engine. Wendy is a founding member of PR Boutiques International, www.prboutiquesinternational.com, a global network of select boutique PR agencies. Her technology and business articles have appeared in a number of publications, including The New York Times, Computerworld, InformationWeek, Brandweek and Advertising Age. She has also written advertorials for Fortune and Forbes on a variety of management topics. Her writing skills earned her a position teaching business writing at the University of Michigan Business School. She currently writes a blog on personal branding for Fast Company Before founding Marx Communications in 1993, Wendy worked for AT&T and GE Capital in marketing and public relations management positions and helped develop the communications strategy behind the highly successful AT&T Universal Card. She and her firm always handle at least one pro bono project as a way of giving back to the community. A pro bono project she did for the organization �Jane Doe No More,� www.janedoenomore.org, resulted in its founder being featured on Dateline NBC. Wendy serves on �Jane Do No More�s� advisory board. She is a cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a master�s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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More from Wendy Marx
What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight
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Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts - Hi Shri, Thanks for posting this. I also read it and I believe Social Media is here to stay, until the next best thing comes up. Social media proved to be useful for me many times and I think everyone should use it for their business.
Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance - [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl] I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it. There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input. As for Jennifer, You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook. The only way to know is to try it.


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