Social Media Niagara

Phoney Niagara websites are so 90s

Posted by Adam White on June 25th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Opinion

Not to get too critical of the work others are doing in Niagara, but websites like this should remain a thing of the past, particularly when all it takes is one online conversation to pull back the veil.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote at Railsconf

Posted by Adam White on June 12th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: News

Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV gave a keynote at Railsconf recently. Here’s the video. He comments on customer service via social media, his concept of “The Thank You Economy,” and unscrupulous self-promotion on Twitter and Facebook.

Social Media Club Niagara in the St. Catharines Standard

Posted by Adam White on May 25th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Articles

The St. Catharines Standard interviewed the founders of the Niagara chapter of the Social Media Club and and put together this write-up in their paper on Saturday.

The first Social Media Club Niagara meeting is this Thursday, May 27 at 5pm at Doms Pasta and Grill in St. Catharines. Doms is at King St. and Academy St. in St. Catharines across from the bus station. We hope to see you there and at future events! Remember: If you get it, share it!

Dale Carnegie Would Have Been A Social Media Rock Star

Posted by Adam White on May 14th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: News

My friend and fellow Social Media Club Niagara organizer Mitch Fanning recently blogged the four reasons why Dale Carnegie would have been a social media rock star. He comments:

In my humble opinion, it’s less about the “tools” you use and more about learning how to “be social”. “Being social” online entails taking an interest in others and perhaps even sharing information THEY might find relevant, informative, and entertaining (or all three!).

Check out the link for a full article. Of course since this is Niagara we can have no discussion of Dale Carnegie without mentioning our coach and mentor Mr. Neil Thornton of the Thornton Group. You should keep track of his blog.

What Value Are You Providing?

Posted by Adam White on May 11th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Articles

This was written before Facebook changed their terminology from “become a fan” to “like” as part of a wider strategy to spread the “Like” button across the web. It’s a change that’s also aimed at lessening the commitment implied, as one might “like” more things than they’re a passionate fan of. That said, this Business Link article was written before (and published after) that change. We didn’t have time to ammend it at the time, such is a downside of print, and for the sake of consistency it’s presented here in its original form. In fact, thinking in terms of fandom is still useful when putting together a content strategy, regardless of what the button’s called these days.

“Why would I want to be a fan of my accountant?” the voice on the phone asked with exasperation. It is an odd question, and one that I had a tough time answering. Of course musicians have fans, as do filmmakers, authors and other entertainers. Brands have fans as well, particularly when they inspire passion and loyalty in consumers. Look no further than Apple, Nike, BMW or Guinness for examples of this. Your accountant, as skilled as they may be, probably falls short of that category. Yet as a business their only choice when creating a Facebook presence is to embrace the language of fandom. A business profile’s updates are only truly effective if people opt-in to see them, and the button that each of those valuable connections must first press was labelled “Become a Fan.” It is time to take that call to action seriously.

Your first responsibility to your business on Facebook is to answer that question: Why should someone become a fan of your organization? What value do you provide them within the Facebook ecosystem? Great service in the real world does not cut it here. Your Facebook fans will be graciously allowing you the privilege to interrupt their conversations with friends and family. You can’t abuse that trust by only posting advertising copy as updates. You need engage, educate and entertain. Only after building that rapport can you promote the traditional way. The challenge of content creation is that business owners have to step outside their industry and start thinking like entertainers. What could your business, on a regular basis, create to engage people?

What an opportunity! Fill a room with your best and brightest. Bring your most passionate employees to the table, regardless of rank. They know what makes your company exciting. Your challenge is to convey that enthusiasm to the world. Content need not take a lot of time to prepare, it just needs to present a compelling narrative for your connections to latch on to. Take frequent snapshots of work in progress. Shoot quick instructional videos of what you do best. Write updates and insights from your corner of the world. Once you have engaged your fans they will grant you the occasional advertisement. Why should you become a fan of your accountant? Perhaps they are posting tips and advice that are useful at tax time. Maybe they are recording thoughtful videos that explain financial jargon on your level. It could be that they are using their expertise to select and share the best financial news links with you. They could be doing all three and more. If they are not, and they are simply interrupting you with tired old sales pitches, well I am not sure why you should become their fan.

…from a series of Social Media articles I’ve been contributing to the Business Link newspaper, with editions in Niagara, Hamilton-Halton and Brantford. This article ran in Volume 8, Issue 4, May 2010.

Adam White is a software developer at JMR SoftwareSystems. For tips and workshops visit SocialMediaNiagara.com or join the Niagara Social Media Club.

Chatting with blogger Graham Wing

Posted by Adam White on April 29th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: News

Adam White from JMR SoftwareSystems and SocialMediaNiagara.com recently sat down with Graham Wing of Access Niagara to chat about blogging in the Niagara region. We discuss content creation and how Niagara business are sharing (and not sharing) information online.

You Have To Do It Yourself

Posted by Adam White on April 9th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Articles

Two or three times a week the fax machine in our office spits out a flyer from yet another shady SEO consultant. As the website ranking methods used by search engines are closely guarded secrets, a closet industry of Search Engine Optimization experts has sprouted up to offer tips and shortcuts to frustrated business owners. Each page of junk mail screams “Get your site on the top of Google!” as if the task was as simple as flipping a light switch and handing over your credit card number. The truth, of course, is that while there are best practices to follow achieving that lofty goal takes a great deal of sustained effort in promotions and relationship building. The same can be said for success in social media. If the self-proclaimed experts, gurus and wizards have not yet started filling your inbox with snake oil then they’re certainly on their way. Be open to new ideas but be cautious of how you engage third party help. Only you can truly speak for you.

There are respectable consultants out there and they may indeed have great advice to offer, but it should be focused on training, strategy and metrics. Carefully check the portfolio of their past work if you do decide to engage one. However the moment someone offers to run your entire social media presence, run the other way. Businesses that succeed on social networks do so by providing interesting content while communicating with current and potential customers on a one-to-one level. The experts can’t do that for you simply because they are not you. Your business has a DNA all of its own. It is unique because the people who were passionate enough to create it are unique. Your brand online, particularly among the informal chatter of Twitter or Facebook, should reflect your distinct personality. A person who reaches out to converse with your business wants to build rapport with you, not a hired gun. In their writings true experts (and they’d probably bristle at the term) like Chris Brogan and Tara Hunt stress how essential community participation is. If you’re just getting started then get your feet wet and learn to communicate on your own before you open your wallet.

If a professional social media marketing campaign is in the cards, make sure it fits with the character of your existing conversations. A promotional campaign should complement your regular updates and further leverage the connections you’ve made. The effort you put in to building your reputation and engaging people does not go away just because a professional is involved. You don’t want to risk losing the humanizing qualities that social media gives your brand. There are few other mediums in which it is entirely appropriate and beneficial to embrace your quirks, interests and sense of humor; don’t give that up.

…from a series of Social Media articles I’ve been contributing to the Business Link newspaper, with editions in Niagara, Hamilton-Halton and Brantford. This article ran in Volume 8, Issue 3, April 2010.

Adam White is a software developer at JMR SoftwareSystems and an editor at Punknews.org. For info, tips and events visit socialmedianiagara.com.

Janice Arnoldi on Nestlé’s Facebook fiasco

Posted by Adam White on April 7th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Opinion

Janice Arnoldi from St. Catharines-based social media strategists arnoldi:mcpherson wrote an interesting analysis in late March of Nestlé’s recent Facebook troubles. A Greenpeace campaign against Nestlé’s use of palm oil from Indonesian rainforests exploded on the corporation’s Facebook fan page. Janice analyzes what businesses can learn from this situation:

One of the biggest concerns I hear from small business is that social media opens them up to criticism and negative publicity and that anyone and everyone will hear it. Our advice is that people will talk about you online, good and bad. Social media allows you to hear what people are saying, join the conversations, respond to the negatives and, most importantly, learn from them.

Check out the full article at the arnoldi:mcpherson blog.

Mitch Fanning on Location Based Marketing

Posted by Adam White on April 6th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Opinion

Niagara based new media professional Mitch Fanning had some thoughts on the emerging slate of location-based social networks and the potential they offer to businesses:

What make this news even more exciting is that location-based social networking has emerged as a valuable tool for driving foot traffic to brick-and-mortar businesses. Services like Foursquare, Loopt, Yelp, and Gowalla enable any business with a physical location to not only engage customers online, but actually get more of them to walk into the door and potentially spend money — and that’s the exciting part.

From the consumer’s point-of-view, location-based social networks also allows people to interact, share, meet up, and recommend places based on their physical coordinate. Therefore, the question business owners should be asking themselves is no longer “Should I use located-based social networks?” It’s “How do I strategically use these tools to achieve my business goals?”

You can read the entire article and check out the discussion that follows at Mitch’s blog.

Bryan Caporicci on social media and small business

Posted by Adam White on March 27th, 2010 ::: View Comments ::: Articles

Adam White from JMR SoftwareSystems and SocialMediaNiagara.com recently sat down with photographer Bryan Caporicci to chat about how he utilizes social media in his business. We discuss how open he is to sharing the content he creates, Twitter as a B2B tool, his Portraits of Pelham project and more.

My Writings. My Thoughts.