Frankly we're tired of "Social Media."  At this point, that term has lost all real meaning and importance.

All forms of Media have become Social, period.  When you see Twitter handles scrolling across the ESPN ticker and major websites hosted on blogging platforms, etc...calling something "Social Media" is akin to talking about turning on the "Electronic Television."

More importantly as a Small Business what's really important is Social Marketing...not Media.  What's the difference?

Social Media is a pastime.

  • It's entertainment.  It's consumption of content distributed across the Social Web for entertainment and information

Social Marketing is about ROI.

  • It's a way to generate business by approaching the Social Web as a marketing vehicle unlike any other
  • It's a strategic approach to marketing that leverages your networks and the people around you
  • It's an intelligent approach to building community and loyalty around your company or personal brand
  • It's a productivity strategy for maximizing results while being efficient with your time

In a recent Network Solutions Study, two very interesting facts emerged about how SMB's view their social efforts.  First, 66% of Small Business owners felt that their efforts with Social have improved the loyalty of their customers!  That's terrific and powerful.  But at the same time 56% of these folks felt that it took more time than they expected.

Now imagine if those Small Businesses had figured out a way to generate that increase in loyalty...and saved time doing it...

That's really the point, done right (strategically, efficiently, with metrics) -  Social Marketing means Business.  Done wrong...it's just Social Media.

PS - if you hadn't guessed already...Roost is a terrific and free Social Marketing tool for Small Business.  Give it a try!

 

What exactly is a Social Marketing "Campaign? "
04/06/2011
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One of the things we're most excited about with our latest update to Roost. com is our new "Campaign Creator. " And when we take people through it, you can almost see the lightbulb go off about how this awesome feature can help a small business… more
A REALTOR's traffic story - Facebook up 300+%, Search Engines down 20%
03/11/2011
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We were honored when Heather Elias (of Locomusings) fame recently let us take a peek under the covers at her Google Analytics data for her website - and guess what we found? Facebook grew head and shoulders more than any other source of… more
Forecast about Facebook/Social vs Google/SEO - How did I do?
02/28/2011
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A little less than a year ago I wrote a series of posts on ActiveRain trying to raise awareness (admittedly somewhat aggressively) about the emergence of Facebook and the Social Web and the erosion of a Google dominated SEO strategy… more
Share your favorite Social Marketing Tools
02/21/2011
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What tools do you use to manage your Social Marketing efforts? Updates to Facebook & LinkedIn, etc. Tell us what you love, what you hate, and what you wish you had! Here's my top three list (excluding a tool that is very close to my… more
Facebook changes Pages. What does that mean for you?
02/18/2011
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As many of you know, Facebook recently announced some significant changes to Pages. Some of these we expected, some are pleasant surprises. So, as social marketers should we be happy, sad, or indifferent? Pretty happy methinks. Some of these… more
Another great way to get "Likes" for your Facebook Biz Page
12/28/2010
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We originally announced this free tool on the Roost blog a couple weeks ago. Great new way to help you get Likes as part of your normal Social Media activities. You can actually use it through Twitter as well. -------------- We’re very… more
RoostBar is an easy way to increase Fans ("Likes") of your Facebook…
12/20/2010
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We’re very excited to announce the launch of RoostBar RoostBar is an incredible new tool for your Facebook marketing kit to help you build audience (“Likes”) – simply by giving you more leverage from the great… more
Wondering how your Facebook Profile and Pages should work together?…
12/20/2010
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Should you spend your time developing a Facebook business Page (getting fans) or developing your Personal Profile (getting friends)? It's a question we hear from Realtors a lot, and the answer isn't "either/or. " Your Page and Profile can… more
3 things you need to know about the likely changes to Facebook Pages
12/20/2010
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Last week we noticed ( along with a lot of other folks ) that for a short period of time Facebook had rolled out a significantly updated layout for Pages. While that update appears to have been accidental or temporary (it was rolled back), it does… more
 


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