Category: Internet Marketing

Be Careful About Drawing Conclusions Based on Social Media

I use social media a lot these days for everything from connecting with friends and family to finding sources for articles I’m working on, to connecting with vendors and clients. As I do this, though, I often wonder if I’m really connecting with the masses, or if my connections are skewed somehow to reflect only a piece of the larger pie.

 

A recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project makes me lean more toward believing they’re skewed. Continue reading “Be Careful About Drawing Conclusions Based on Social Media”

Listening and Learning…From Social Media and Everywhere Else!

A recent study from PRWeek and communications agency MS&L, reported in BtoBonline.com, indicated that almost 70 percent of marketers say they’ve never made a change to their products or marketing campaigns based on consumer feedback on social media sites.

Now this number may be shocking, until you learn who the survey was distributed to. Continue reading “Listening and Learning…From Social Media and Everywhere Else!”

What’s a Journalist?

In an era where anybody with a keyboard can create a blog (akin to publishing a newspaper) can *anyone* be a journalist? What is the definition of journalist? The credentials? Is there a difference between a journalist and a writer? Between a journalist and a blogger? Does it matter? To who?

I’ve become interested in the topic recently because, while doing research Continue reading “What’s a Journalist?”

Banning Employees From Social Media

More than half of the companies surveyed recently by Robert Half Technology indicated that social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are “prohibited completely” at work. Only 19 percent of the responding CIO’s indicated that Continue reading “Banning Employees From Social Media”

No Web Site? No Customers?

We’re in the process of planning a trip to Florida and my husband has been researching restaurants. The other night he was sharing the results of his research and said: “I’ve found a few good ones – there were a couple of others I wanted to check out, but they don’t have a web site, so forget it.” Continue reading “No Web Site? No Customers?”

Should You Be Using Social Media?

This is a question that is on the minds of many these days. You can’t turn on the television or radio, open a newspaper or talk to a colleague, friend or family member without *someone* talking about “social media” – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Not surprisingly, these discussions lead to thoughts of: “Am I missing out?” “Is my business missing out? Well, maybe. But… Continue reading “Should You Be Using Social Media?”

Social Media as a Process Improvement Tool?

While Facebook can be fun and Twitter seems to have captured the interest of the masses who are all tweeting in 140-character mini-blogs about everything from what they had for breakfast to the emerging news event they just saw outside their window, many still point to these tools as more of a diversion than a legitimate business tool.

Until recently. Continue reading “Social Media as a Process Improvement Tool?”

Who Really Participates in Social Media?

As I join more and more LinkedIn groups I’ve been interested in exactly who participates in these groups and, more to the point of this blog, who doesn’t.

For instance, I recently joined the Health Care Executive Network which has 3421 members. I immediately started looking for some of the health care executives I’ve worked with – both as director of corporate communications within a large health care system, and as a consultant/journalist who has interviewed and interacted with many health care executives.

I didn’t find any of them among the members. So I began to search for health care professionals who were more at my level in the organization – directors. Nope, not there. My first reaction was: “Wow, I’m obviously more ‘with it’ than they are – I’m on social media and they’re not.” But, that thought was rapidly followed by a more realistic one: “Maybe these executives just don’t think social media matters Continue reading “Who Really Participates in Social Media?”

Social Media and Crisis Communications

(see my article on social media and crisis management pubished 6/1/09 on Human Resource Executive online)

Campus shootings and challenges faced by schools and universities in communicating immediately with students and staff have prompted these institutions to take a new look at crisis communication plans – and to incorporate social media into the mix.

At least one health care system – Innovis Health, a 21-location healthcare provider with sites in Minnesota and North Dakota – has used social media to Continue reading “Social Media and Crisis Communications”