Will Groupon Kill Gramma? Social Discounters and Small Business
September 8, 2010 by Jessica Ziegler · View Comments
Today I noticed a website that had enabled a social discount promotion (think Groupon, LivingSocial, Yolodeals, etc.) directly on its own website. An interesting switch, where the retailer owns the deal, eliminating the middle man and their take.
Social discount sites offer a product or service at a deep discount if enough people buy into the deal. A typical deal would be to allow consumers to pay $15 for $30 in food and beverages at a specific restaurant. It’s a pretty good deal for consumers if they are certain they will use the deal.
I LOVE these deals, I have several queued up in my inbox as I write this. But I worry.
Last week I had the opportunity to talk with a small tour company operator who had offered one of these social discount promotions. He said that they had no idea what to expect, but managed to sell over 1000 of their tours during their day-long promotion. This is a LOT for a small, local business, especially when you look at the numbers. They discounted their tour by 50% PLUS the discounter took another not-insignificant percentage of the discounted price. These promotions can be a great way to gain exposure for your business, especially since most of these sites are local-facing, BUT the deal can be a financial killer.
With deals such as this, the business owner is counting on a certain percentage of people not redeeming the deal, aka “breakage”. This particular business owner is looking at about 80% redemption. That is HIGH. In the end they will most likely lose money on this promotion, and only time will tell if they make it back in increased business at full price.
Businesses need to take a close look at their price point and costs before committing to this sort of promotion. Giving away $20 in food and drink to get $10 up-front cash-in-hand can work well, and consumers are more likely to blow off something they only paid $15 for if it’s inconvenient to redeem. If you’re giving away $75 of a $100 item to get $25 cash-in-hand, that might not work out as well AND your breakage is bound to be lower because the consumer would be out $50.
Even large retailers are getting in on the action. The now famous $25 for $50 to spend at The Gap Groupon from August resulted in $11 million in sales on Groupon during the one day promotion. The Gap has yet to figure out what the promotion will mean for their bottom line, but I anticipate a LOT of Gap products under the trees this year.
The question is, how long before businesses start getting killed and back away from these promotions? Or at least start to back away from paying the middle man to run the promotion? Where is the line between paying for exposure and taking a hit? What is the cost difference between running an ad with a coupon, with zero guaranteed revenue and running a social promotion with guaranteed revenue but higher per-customer costs?
I’d LOVE to hear from anyone else who has sponsored a social discount promotion, how have they worked out for you?
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Star Client: How Desert Perinatal is Doing Social Right
August 5, 2010 by Jessica Ziegler · View Comments
Several months ago we had the pleasure to work with Tina Senter at Desert Perinatal Associates in Las Vegas, NV. Tina runs the marketing department for this practice specializing in high-risk pregnancies.
Vestor Logic was responsible for redesigning their existing website and implementing a WordPress install. We set up accounts and built a Facebook fan page and a Twitter background to maintain a consistent look across their various marketing initiatives. All of these are pretty foundational elements when starting a social media marketing initiative.
Often a client will have big ideas about all the ways that they could use social media to reach out to their existing clients, but fall short when it comes time to take the reins back from us to DO something with it all. Then again, sometimes we get a client like Tina who is ready to run with social media…
Here are some of the things that Tina is doing right:
- Desert Perinatal runs a weekly contest looking for a super cute baby picture from their fans to use as their Facebook icon for the week.
- Tina uses Facebook to engage fans by posting common questions that most moms can’t help but answer in a forum like Facebook, such as: What is your biggest frustration as a parent right now? Or, how did you transition from a crib to toddler bed?
- She allows fans to post on the fan page wall. Parents will post pictures or questions of their own. She is allowing a community to form on her watch, without directly interfering or trying to guide that process.
- Tina creates a monthly newsletter featuring classes, products, recipes, letters from the doctors and Q&A with the nurses, always promoting the Facebook page and Twitter feed to build awareness.
- She also had Vestor Logic create a postcard-sized print version of the Facebook fan landing page as a take away at the front desk to build awareness.
- She uses tools to automatically post Facebook page updates to the Twitter feed.
- She runs a birthday cupcake promotion encouraging fans to post birthday baby pics and receive a cupcake certificate from a local bakery.
Most importantly, she is consistently DOING something in her social media space.
Tina certainly has some built-in advantages with her “product”, new moms are desperate to connect with other new moms and are frequently stuck at home for the first few weeks/months. Her population is all local to one city. She works within a field that people are passionate about: having babies. All those cute pictures don’t hurt, either.
BUT, she easily could have set up these accounts and wandered back to the textbook marketing approaches. She chose to move forward, stay engaged and experiment and it is truly paying off.
So. What can you do to create a community within your client base? How can you engage with your clients on a more meaningful level?
Update: We know, it’s not that easy for everyone. Maybe you don’t have the bandwidth, the staff, the understanding to make it happen for your organization. Soon we will be releasing a set of social media launch products: labs and engagement packages, to help get over that initial hump between set up and social stardom. Stay tuned…
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How Steve Jobs Does It
June 16, 2010 by Jessica Ziegler · View Comments
A few days ago I was reading through the responses to the Wired Magazine iPad story: How the Tablet Will Change the World, they reprinted in their mail section and it got me thinking about the importance of the right tool for a given job.
In relation to the iPad, many of the critics bemoaned the small size, lack of tools, small keyboard, etc. Mention is made of gamers, CAD artists, designers, video editors, writers, etc. and how the tablet will not be able to replace a laptop or desktop. The assumption is that the iPad will attempt to replace your PC. I don’t think this was ever the intention.
As I sit back and listen to the pros and cons relating to the iPad I wonder, do users really think that the iPad is meant to replace a workhorse laptop or desktop? As a marketer that seems unlikely. The reality is that there are an enormous amount of people who use a computer for a very few tasks. Some assume that the iPad will never take off. I think it will because it falls into a specific-use sweet spot. It’s too small to replace a laptop, it’s too big to replace an iPod. It probably will kill Kindles and Sony readers, but that’s about it. Maybe the iTouch, I guess it depends on how badly you want those tools in your pocket. For some users it will be all they need. For many more, it will supplement what they already use.
My husband wants an iPad, he wants it bad. I asked what void this $500 bit of technology would fill in his life. He said that many of his coworkers at EffectiveUI in Denver leave the laptop on their desk at home and bring the iPad to the couch to watch movies, surf, etc. It’s more lightweight than trying to get comfortable under a 5-8 lb laptop. My husband also plays in a band. He wants to sit it on a music stand during his band practices/appearances to access and display set lists. As opposed to shuffling thru pieces of paper, which is apparently unacceptable. Of course I think this is absurd but I’m one of those “reluctant adopters”, don’t need it, not getting it. I didn’t even get a cellphone until my employer paid for and insisted I carry one. In 2002. I know.
However, this is a good example of how this particular tool can be the right tool for a given job. I can see the advantages to being able to quickly scroll through a set list and click over to individual songs, I get it. You’re not going to want to try to prop a laptop on a music stand and anything pocket-sized is probably going to be harder to navigate with a guitar strapped to you than a sheaf of paper. It’s big enough, it’s bright enough, and gosh darn it, he may have a point.
As I write this I consider how this comes back to social media. Social media is never going to solve every marketing problem in every instance, but there are some really “right” tools in the mix. Is the ice cream shop down the street going to benefit from, or be able to keep up with Twitter? Maybe not, but I bet Foursquare could be powerful for them (or do I speak too soon?). Does your community garage sale need a Facebook fan page? Unlikely, but Craigslist would be hugely valuable. The right tool for a given job.
I think the iPad will find its place and become indispensible to the adopters, Apple has customer evangelism on its side. My husband wants the iPad and he will actively find jobs that it can be the right tool for, the price point insists upon it. For $500, by god, you will give serious thought to the niches in your life where this tool will fit before you plunk down the Benjamins. I think Steve Jobs knows a bit more about consumer motivation than we do.
The fact that most social media is free or almost free may actually be working against it. Companies are jumping in, flailing around a bit and then sharing their sorry stories of failure. It’s easy to jump in, it’s harder to sit down and really think about how you are going to use these tools and which are the right tools for the job, especially if you’re not even sure what the job IS, which is the crux of the problem.
Before you jump in, identify the job: What results are you hoping to achieve with social media? Be specific, “more sales” or “more traffic” is not specific. Who is the intented target of your campaign? Where are you going to find them? How exactly do you intent to engage them (because it’s more than just delivering a message)? Answer these questions FIRST, then decide which tool/s to use, and you’ll be on your way to developing a successful social media campaign.
Define the job, find the tool. That’s how Steve Jobs does it.
Backpacker Magazine gets even more social
April 21, 2010 by Tim Miner · View Comments
Anyone close to me knows how much I love to hike, camp, and go fly fishing. One of my favorite sources of information and inspiration is Backpacker Magazine. I recently renewed my subscription and received the current issue packed full of maps on the National Parks, local hikes, and life list trips.
I’ve never really adopted the use of GPS devices as most of my trips have been day hikes in areas that I am very familiar with, namely Red Rock and Mt. Charleston. But lately, I have begun to expand my horizons. I have been forced to gear up for a three day backpacking trip to Havasu Falls in June and I am planning a few overnight trips in the Mt. Charleston wilderness this summer. These types of trips allow you to cover more ground and the need for navigational help is more pressing.
So like I usually do, I turn to Backpacker Magazine and their website to start my research. Do I want a watch with the basic functions? Should I suck it up and buy a handheld GPS? Is there anything I can use on my Blackberry that would do the job equally well?
Page 9 of the current issue (May 2010) of Backpacker Magazine seems to hold an answer…if I owned an iPhone or Android!
The magazine has released an Android app (iPhone version to release May 1) called Backpacker’s GPS Trails, which allows users to do a number of cool things including:
- Locate trips
- Research trips
- Plan trips
- Save and share trips
- Geotag photos, videos, and sound clips
- Turn your phone into a GPS
- Save maps
- View stats
This leaves me with a simple choice: either switch phones or buy a handheld GPS. I have been a devoted Blackberry user for too long to switch for this one app. Maybe Backpacker Magazine will build something for us someday too.
The other thing I noticed on this page is that they are promoting the app with a Facebook Contest starting May 15th. They plan to give away one app a day for an entire month to the first person that can answer the daily map trivia question which will be posted at backpacker.com/facebook which currently redirects to their Facebook Page.
Our Take
Backpacker seems to be getting more social. The May issue included three instances of social marketing. The app contest on the Facebook Page (page 9), a one page write up of “Yosemite’s Buzz” covering social media and the park, and an ad by the State of Arkansas which included a QR code that directs the user to this page.
It’s great to see my favorite magazine getting out there and trying something new, like social media mentions in the magazine. Of course, the entire culture of their magazine and its readership is dedicated to trying something new. Exploring new territory. Testing gear. That’s the exact reason that I read it! I guess, it doesn’t surprise me that Backpacker Magazine would be one of the first magazines (at least of the ones that make my short list of those worth reading) that would try these new marketing tactics. Good for you! And good for the readers.
I’m not sure who is steering the social media adoption at Backpacker Magazine, but I hope to see more of this interactive nature in the pages of the future issues. The website already plays host to a very active forum on all things outdoors and the community that participates in the conversations there are most willing to share their experiences. Backpacker Magazine has much to gain from doing social media well, and by our account is off to a great start.
You can follow Backpacker Magazine on Twitter and join the conversation on their Facebook Page.
Getting Started: World Series of Barbecue & Charity Poker Tournament
March 31, 2010 by Tim Miner · View Comments
It is often the first step that is the most difficult. Whether you’re an individual or a large organization trying to define your social media footprint, taking the first step can seem a bit overwhelming.
There are a seemingly endless list of elements to consider in the formulation of a viable social strategy: objectives, measurable goals, ROI, messaging strategy, content strategy, delegation of responsibilities, identification of participants, means for measurement, monitoring, and analysis. The list goes on and on.
But perhaps one of the most important considerations is the design and deployment of social assets like a website, Facebook Fan Page, or Twitter account. It should reflect the image and message that you are trying to convey in your content strategy. You want your visitors, fans, and followers to get a real sense of what your brand and message are all about.
Here is how we helped our clients, Howard & Suzie Lederer, express their message in the design of their social assets for their annual charity event.
World Series of Barbecue & Charity Poker Tournament
Howard & Suzie Lederer began this annual charity event in their backyard several years ago. Each year it grew, both in terms of the number of attendees and the amount it raised for the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas. In the past, the marketing effort focused primarily on the enormous reach that Howard & Suzie have in their network of friends. This year, Suzie decided to raise the bar yet again and find ways to utilize social media to expand her reach in hopes of raising more money for the BGCLV.
We had been working with Suzie on another project and eventually the conversation about social media shifted to the WSOB Charity Poker event. We began discussing the possibilities for charities and non-profit organizations and ultimately decided to give it a go. Because the event had no social footprint, we basically had to start from scratch.
Defined Objectives
Though it may seem obvious, we wanted to utilize social marketing to raise more money for the BGCLV. But as we drilled deeper during the initial brainstorming session we realized that we had more than just that one objective. Here is the list of objectives that we developed:
- Use social marketing to raise more money for the BGCLV than in previous years
- Build a centralized database of donors to serve as a base for future events
- Offer supporters a way to officially register for the event in advance
- Provide a secure way to accept donations online from supporters that cannot attend the event
- Share the experience with videos and photos from past events
Here are the social assets that we decided to create to support our defined objectives.
Facebook Fan Page
For now, the Facebook Fan Page for the World Series of Barbecue & Charity Poker Tournament is the central hub for all of the activity around the event. Visitors to the page can become a Fan of the event, make a donation, and even register in advance for Karaoke, a highlight of years past.
We created a Charity Registry on JustGive.org that allows us to embed a link on the Fan Page that opens the registry in a new window and allows visitors and Fans to make secure online donations with a credit card. Those donations are then disbursed to the BGCLV each month minus the minimal administrative fees that are assessed by JustGive.org on each transaction.
Visitors can also register for the event on the Fan Page. The registration function is simply a form that opens in a new window and integrates with VerticalResponse, an email management system. We created an account for our client with VerticalResponse that provides us with the ability to dump all registrants into a dedicated list so that we can communicate with them as the event nears and provide them with specific instructions on how to make their donations the day of the event.
Nevada Gaming Law prohibits us from collecting the buy-in for the poker event. That function must be provided by the Golden Nugget, the licensed gaming venue for the poker event and will be done the day of the event. For that reason, we decided to simply accept registrations using the Vertical Response form integration with a dedicated list.
Twitter Account
The Twitter account for the event was created to serve as both a marketing tool and an information channel. We were able to identify other Twitter members that have an interest in poker and follow them. Many follow us back creating an opportunity to share the vision for the event as well as educate them about the role that the Boys & Girls Club plays in the Las Vegas community.
The addition of a Twitter account to the marketing mix also gives us a very efficient way to put out event updates as it draws closer and reach more possible donors that may not be able to attend in person. Twitter will play a critical role in the fund raising effort made possible by the Donate button on the Fan Page.
Additional Outposts
There are a few other social outposts that we have leveraged for the marketing effort. We have uploaded hundreds of images from past events to a Flickr Stream dedicated to the annual event. Our hope is that attendees will turn to this stream to reminisce about past events and even contribute to the stream this year.
What’s coming next for the WSOB Charity Poker event?
Vestor Logic began work on this project about 30 days ago many of the moving parts are just now falling into place. This year’s event is on July 2, 2010 at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas. Our marketing effort is beginning in earnest at the time of this post and we expect to exceed all expectations for both the effectiveness of the social media initiatives and the fundraising results that will benefit the BGCLV.
We have begun the initial web design process on a website dedicated to this annual charity event and should be able to launch in the next few months. This website will serve as the content hub for the event and will provide a base for donors and supporters moving forward. The site will host the photos and videos for all past events and will offer a mechanism for anyone to participate in the ongoing conversation about the involvement that the BGCLV has in the Las Vegas community.
How We Use Social Media
February 19, 2010 by Tim Miner · View Comments
At Vestor Logic, we use social media apps and platforms in a number of different ways. Some create efficiencies for us in the daily work flow. Many help us accelerate our learning curve about new technologies and tactics. Others give us insights into trends and breaking news that we would be hard pressed to discover without the help of social apps. And some of the things we do/use are for pure enjoyment.
The following is an inventory or sorts. It is a list of the tools that we use everyday and a description of how we use them. We are sharing this to give you a better idea of how we are embracing social media to make our business better but is not intended to be a blueprint for your business. Your needs and goals may require that you rework this mix of tools and maybe even how you use them.
Tell us how you are using social media to benefit your business by commenting below. We want to learn from you and your experiences as well.
The Vestor Logic Blog
Certainly the hub in our business model
The Vestor Logic blog serves up our original content and allows us to share our insights into the ever-developing social media landscape. We post weekly and will increase our frequency now that we have finished the development of a few other internal projects that have been huge time-sucks as of late. Our model is simple: create content on the VL blog and syndicate it through the various social outposts that we have created. Though our team has been at the forefront of social media for a number of years (we launched the first social network dedicated to real estate investors in Feb 2004: see The Investor Nexus), our Vestor Logic brand is relatively new having just launched in August 2009. We are still building out our foundation and further defining our marketing strategy just like many other companies.
The Vestor Logic site and blog are powered by a Content Management System (CMS) called WordPress. We host the site on our own servers and recognize the effort as one that will never truly be complete. We constantly tweak pages, add new widgets, and refine the message for our visitors. WordPress as a CMS makes this process easy. The learning curve is short and almost anyone can master the basics in a short time. The other big benefit of WordPress for us is the collection of plugins that offer social functions like Sociable, Tweetmeme and WWSGD. These plugins provide great functions to our site and cost nothing to use.
Facebook Profiles
We post to our personal profiles several times a day
Jessica (Jessica’s profile) and I (Tim’s profile) both have Facebook profiles that we use primarily to stay in touch with our friends. Of course, this counts for business too as many of our clients are friends or are referred to us by our friends. We post multiple times throughout the day on a variety of topics but try to keep the business talk to a minimum. Of course, we do share cool tips and tricks with our friends for some of the more popular social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Both of us are passionate about other things. For me it’s hiking and I share pics and accounts of my trips on my profile page. Jessica has artistic roots. Her posts cover the spectrum of cool and unusual topics. She is a great follow for anyone looking for a laugh or smile during your workday!
Facebook Fan Page
We update the Fan Page a few times each day
The Vestor Logic Fan Page is a testing ground for us. We test different tactics relating to design and functionality in an ongoing effort to stay ahead of the curve and provide the best advice for our clients. We regularly post links to interesting articles from our favorite blogs, thought leaders and news aggregators. We post links to our new blog entries and maintain an active stream from www.TimMiner.com covering my ramblings on everything from social media to hiking to kids and family.
I use Seesmic on my desktop and my Blackberry to check the Twitter stream multiple times each day
Our Twitter account is used primarily to research the current trends in social media and uncover the news sources (i.e. blog posts) that are covering those trends. We use Twitter to test drive concepts with other social media pros and to syndicate our own content from the Vestor Logic blog. We see Twitter as a news source and a testing ground for ideas. Our experience suggests that the value is far greater for those activities than it is for generating sales. But to be fair, we mostly follow social media people and do not focus on building a following for potential customers. Your experiences may bear more fruit from sales initiatives if you target more individuals that could be potential customers. Our Facebook page also posts to our Twitter stream.
I visit the site several times a day and try to post at least one update each day
We have a company listing on LinkedIn for Vestor Logic and I also maintain my own profile. We connect with other social media folks, each of our clients and prospects, the members of our past projects like Investment Riches and all of our referral sources. I participate in various groups and maintain close ties to many of my classmates from college on LinkedIn. We have had a fair number of referrals come from our relationships on LinkedIn, most coming from connections made years ago that now see what we are doing in social media thanks to the updates that we publish regularly.
YouTube
Our YouTube activity is just beginning – look for our new video series “Social 60″
There really isn’t any excuse for not posting video on a regular basis. I wish had some great reason for not doing it. But I don’t! We have been busy building our Vestor Logic outposts and YouTube fell to the bottom half of the list. But we are working on it now. We are launching a video series called “Social 60″ which is a video format that will allow me to rant on the top social media issues for 60 second clips and encourage responses and feedback. I don’t expect these videos to provide clearly defined answers up front but rather to create a place for us to discuss the hot topics of the day and encourage others to share their opinions. Together we will reach more of a consensus and perhaps all learn something. Look for a few new videos each week.
Micro-blog: www.TimMiner.com
This is my safe place to test ideas
It usually takes Jessica and I a few days to work through a new idea or concept or to reach an opinion on a new platform (like Google Buzz) that just launched. The micro-blog allows us to do two things: explore the value of Posterous (which is the backbone of the micro-blog) and test ideas that are not yet ready for the Vestor Logic blog. I also post pics from my hikes and backpacking trips, share interesting links to stories I find, and share my joy as a father of a 19 month old little boy.
Yammer
Yammer is our own private Twitter platform
I jumped on Yammer the middle of 2009 and have found that its value to Vestor Logic is really that of a link repository. I use a bookmarklet labeled “Yam It!” to archive links to interesting blog posts or articles or web pages and then check back later to review them in more detail. The most effective practice however is to use hashtags to organize my link submissions by topic and most importantly by client. I am working on the structure of a one day Discovery Workshop for a client right now. I have more than 25 archived links that point to blog posts and articles that are relevant to their event. I will go back about a week before the event and revisit each one turning many into slides for the event. I have found this practice to be very effective and it allows me to share all of it with my team.
Picasa + Flickr
I love photos!
I have nearly 15,000 images on my laptop (and a backup copy on Google using web albums in Picasa for just $20 a year!). I take pictures at each event we are part of, all presentations, every hike I embark on, all family events, and just about anything else I can think of. Up to this point, I have been storing all the personal stuff on my laptop install of Picasa. But recently, I changed my strategy to incorporate Flickr. Moving forward, I will use Picasa for personal images mostly and Flickr for the business stuff. Of course, there will be some spill over as I find it very difficult to delineate between work and personal.
Google Docs
A great way to share and collaborate on documents
Jessica and I have been using Google Docs for a long time. We collaborate on project specs, new page content for the website, new blog posts, just about anything you can do in Word or Excel. We use the Form tool to create presentation evaluations. Now that Google Docs allows you to upload ANY file to Docs and the storage is so cheap it makes it very easy to aggregate most of our docs on the Google platform.
Google Analytics
The best free tool for website owners in my opinion
We have a Google Analytics account that monitors all three of our web properties which provides priceless insights into visitor behavior. This application allows us to make changes and modifications to our websites to improve on the experience for all of our visitors. It also provides feedback on which social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Email Campaigns, AdWords) are referring the most traffic. We look at Analytics every week.
Google Reader
RSS feeds are our lifeline!
I currently have 138 subscriptions in my reader. They produce somewhere between 400-500 new articles a day and cover social media, real estate, general interest, business, hiking, and even our ECHO. Our ECHO folder is a collection of RSS feeds that monitor platforms like Google Blog Search, Google keyword alerts, Twitter Search, Icerocket Blog Search, and each of our own RSS feeds for mentions of our brand. This is a great way to establish a basic listening channel for monitoring the chatter about your company. I spend about 90 minutes a day scanning the feeds, starring items, and reading about the topics that matter to me. This may be one of the most important functions I perform each day.
SlideRocket
SlideRocket is PowerPoint on steroids!
We use SlideRocket for all of our presentations and also for the image galleries on our site like the Portfolio page. They just recently released some social plugins including a live Twitter stream that can be integrated into live presentations. The best feature for us is the portability of the presentations and the fact that they are housed online accessible from any web browser. Of course, there is also the choice of linking to your presentations online using a link or simply embedding it into any blog post or web page. Very cool application!
Seesmic
Our desktop and mobile Twitter and Facebook interface
We have used many of the popular Twitter clients including HootSuite and Tweetdeck but have found Seesmic to be the most comfortable. They all do most of the same things and there are tons of reviews out there already for each, but I think it is a personal preference. Bottom line – I like Seesmic!
Feedburner
RSS management and promotion made easy
Each of our three web properties is armed with a Feedburner feed to manage the subscriptions and promotion of the site RSS feeds for posts and comments. If you want to step up the value of your feeds you need to take a close look at Feedburner which is another Google product.
Mobile Apps on the Blackberry
I use mobile a great deal but I expect that usage to increase
I find that I am using my Blackberry Bold more and more to connect to my social outposts. There are apps for almost everything. It will only get better (for Blackberry users specifically) as the development of apps continue to provide a functional experience similar to what we get on our laptops or desktops. Currently, I use mobile apps for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google (which includes Picasa, Docs, Maps) and WordPress. I access a least half of these everyday if not more.
bit.ly
Keep it short!
Bit.ly is a URL shortening service that allows you to take those really long URLs and shorten them into something manageable. The service also tracks the metrics for each of your links showing you which content has the best reach or was most effective at reaching an audience. We see this as a nice compliment to the data we track using Google Analytics. I don’t visit our Bit.ly account as much as I should but will certainly do so more often now that we are running at full steam.
In testing…
Both of us are constantly testing new apps and programs. Currently, I have a list of about 25 that I am getting to know better and the following three have excited me the most in recent days. Feel free to check these out too and see if they fit for your business strategy.
- Swix – a social metrics dashboard of sorts
- Social Network Integration in Outlook – a cool way to connect Outlook to LinkedIn (and Facebook soon!)
- SpredFast – a cradle to grave social marketing platform created by friend Scott with robust management and analysis capabilities
So what are you doing?
How are you managing your social marketing efforts? Are you doing the same things we are? What are you doing differently? We want to know…besides, I showed you mine so now you need to show me yours!