Social Marketing Revolution

Weekly Cool Tools from The Tool Guy
If you've never followed or read Robin Good's tool reviews they are works of art. Robin is the best "tool guy" on the planet. Robin has started sending out a weekly Tools of the Week email. Here are his selections for this week:

5) Cloud Storage Cost Comparisons
https://cloudvertical.com/

Foll @Robin Goodand subscribe to his Tech Tool Roundup (couldn't find the link to encourage subscription, so Robin if you read this ping the link to subscribe and will include).

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Social Media It's The Conversation, Stupid is about the new rules of branding being created by a social world.

Social Media It's The Conversation, Stupid is about the new rules of branding being created by a social world. If you aren't creating LOVE and winning hearts and minds online this Haiku Deck may help you join the revolution (in a good way). 

HUGE NEWS
Scoop.it adding authorship and the ability to post directly to a GooglePlus brand page is HUGE. I love BOTH tools for different things:

* GooglePlus rocks longform content and conversations.
* Scoop.it helps curate the REACH needed to do effective content marketing in today's Content Shock world.

By adding Google authorship Scoop.it creates benefits for the commons as the rising tide of all those well ranked authors tag up AND they give credit back to individual curators. Brilliant and a BIG vote FOR author rank. I believe Scoop.it is the FIRST major "commons" play to take this significant action.

The action is significant because it shares BACK benefit we, the curators who use Scoop.it, create. There are many "commons" around such as Facebook, Twitter and Kickstarter. Most "commons" feed off the power a user brings and multiplies it by the thousands or even millions using their platform.

This is why the "commons" forms the new math, the new "thank you" economy. Problem is most commons are all TAKE and rarely give back or they don't give back anywhere close to the value they've received. Today Scoop.it said they are willing to collaborate with their curators. BRAVO!

The other new feature, the ability to curate directly into Google brand pages, may make those pages actually work. I find it hard to remember to post beyond my personal page. This new Scoop.it feature will make it easy to curate content to CrowdFunde and Scenttrail.

My friend @Bill Gassettchallenged his GPlus army to use Scoop.it the other day. The reaction wasn't as enthusiastic as he or I would have liked (lol). Now there is NO QUESTION that the combination of G+ and Scoop.it makes a more powerful tool set than either alone. So I would challenge my big time G+ friends to add in Scoop.it since that rising tide will lift OUR BOATS :). M

Ten Benefits of Social Media Marketing

1. Increased Brand Recognition.

2. Improved brand loyalty.

3. More Opportunities to Convert.

4. Higher conversion rates.

5. Higher Brand Authority.

6. Increased Inbound Traffic.

7. Decreased Marketing Costs

8. Better Search Engine Rankings

9. Richer Customer Experiences.

10. Improved Customer Insights

Klout has become a valuable resource for major brands and businesses looking to maximize their influence through social platforms. Here are some reasons your business should consider using this free online service.

As social media changes the web marketers need to inspire the kind of commitment, support and contribution made popular by Wiki-pedia - the Wiki-ization of Marketing is happening. You in?

Social Media Snob Test
The purpose of social media is to connect, to BE SOCIAL. Better to NOT be on social media than to be on social and look like an arrogant snob. Not being on social can be forgiven. Being a snob in this day an age is difficult to forgie.

You Know Your Company Is A Social Media Snob If...

* You follow less than 50% of your Twitter followers.
- Following a tiny % of your followers is the ultimate snobbery because it limits communication (you can't DM unless you follow) and you can't REWARD unless you follow. 
- When an expert in your area with 10x the following as your company has (at the moment) follows you FOLLOW THEM BACK!!

* You company doesn't Retweet.
- When you Retweet you share someone's take. You are saying, "this is good enough to share" and that statement is a reward and and a way to "mentor" your space.

* Your company doesn't respond to @yourcompany notes.
- Not responding in a timely way to @yourcompany notes is an EPIC customer service fail.

* Your company isn't on GPlus.
- Time to come in for the big win AND Gplus is the most disruptive social net because of its proximity to high yield SEO (duy its GOOGLE) and most business verticals are nascent on GPlus because there is a learning curve.

* Your company isn't having conversations.
- If you are still using social media to push messages without listening and responding you look either clueless or a snob (and neither of those are good).

* Your Company isn't on Instagram or Pinterest.
- Marketing communication is becoming highly visual so to not be on either Instragram or Pinterest is snobby since it feels like insisting we continue to do things the old "talk about ourselves to ourselves" way. 

* Your company isn't creating video.
- Video is highly widget-ized and so easy to share content. Video is also a more universal language. I may not speak english but video, done right, can be a cross cultural tool.  

* Your company[s SMM is highly scripted.
- Days of scripting every interaction with customers is long gone.  

Don't be a social media snob either by intention or ignorance because being a SNOB on social media is the wrong signal to send...always.  

Crowdfunding As New Marketing Channel
Entrepreneurs are excited about being able to crowdfund stocks based on the late October SEC ruling, but crowdfunding can help Small to Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) and Fortune 1000 companies too. Entrepreneurs and large brands share similar Internet marketing needs for:

* Cash.
* Customer Segmentation.
* Social Media Marketing suppoort.
* Media buzz.

Crowdfunding helps with each of these critical marketing needs albeit in different percentages for SMBs and Fortune 1000 companies as this post explains.