Happy Halloween Social Media Style

Models / Actors Needed for Product Demonstration Commercial Audtions this Tuesday Oct. 1, 2013

Models / Actors Needed

Seeking professional, attractive type, male or female for product demonstration commercial.

We are seeking individuals aged 20-40 years old who have had some experience in modeling, acting, or related fields.

Ideal candidate will have a great personality and have the ability to take direction or improvise as needed.

We are looking for that special look, so diverse applicants are encouraged to apply.

If selected for the audition candidate must come dressed in professional business attire.

Please send headshot photo with resume or bio for consideration to 

auditions@brw.mn or call 507.993.2847 for further information.

Auditions will be held October 1st 2013 at a location in downtown Rochester MN.

We will confirm an available time slot for your audition once picture resume is received and accepted.

 

                                     

How Twitter Conversations Might Improve Your Marketing

On August 28th, Twitter announced on their blog that they had updated their mobile apps and website with a new look and feel that would improve user interaction and make Twitter conversations easier.  I’ll be quite honest, trying to have an engaged conversation between more than two people on Twitter has been aggravating, if not down right annoying.  With all the anger from the Twitterverse over this latest update, the question we have to ask ourselves, is how can we take advantage of these new updates?

If you haven’t heard about this update yet, check out this video from Twitter:

TweetChats Will Be Easy to Manage

If you’re like me, the idea of a TweetChat event seems really interesting when you hear about it, but the second it starts happening it becomes a giant mess of “refresh, refresh, refresh.”  I can only imagine what it’s like for those hosting the chat.  However, with this latest Twitter update, I have a strong feeling that we’re going to start seeing TweetChats more often as it would appear things will be much more organized now.  It seems as if using Twitter conversations would make a TweetChat more like a Reddit AMA than a jumbled mess of too many people using the same hashtag.

Conversations on Twitter Will Finally Be a Reality

When I first started using Twitter, I noticed immediately that it was a world of self promotion and selfies from instagram, which was one of the main reasons I stopped using it for so long.  Why would I want to be part of a network where the only interaction was the occasional retweet.  Until now, it’s always seemed to me that nobody actually holds conversations on Twitter and if they do, it’s done via DM.  I had seen so many people complain about this new feature, yet I hadn’t come across it once on my desktop or my mobile.  Will Oremus appeared to have the same sentiment when he first came across Twitter Conversations:

I had to scroll down relentlessly to find the first instance of a blue-vertical-line festoon marring my otherwise neatly chronological timeline…. The reason the festoons are few and far between is because hardly anyone holds actual conversations on Twitter.”

Twitter has always been a great place to get your content shared and promoted, and over the last month has increased my website traffic by almost 1,000 visitors, but it has always seemed to lack the sort of interaction that I love so much about Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.  While conversations will still be limited to 140 characters, the ability to group your messages together should greatly improve interactions.  For those who do hold up a good, informative conversation over Twitter, this need grouping ability seems to encourage those on the outside viewing your conversation to join in and share their two cents.

Conversations Can Be Shared in New Ways

Want to expose your interactions via Twitter to non-Twitter users?  Now you can!  With this latest update, Twitter is making it easier to share conversations, and this includes the ability to email conversations to friends, whether they use Twitter or not.  So what does this mean for marketers?  Did you happen to have a great chat with Bill Gates?  Share it!  Embed Tweets from your conversation in a blog post or email them to your email subscribers, show people how incredible your Twitter account is.

While many people are complaining about these latest updates, it’s important to look past the internet users’ resistance to change and see the potential that this update can provide for your marketing efforts.

Authored by:

Taylor Clark

My name is Taylor Clark and I am a blogger, internet marketer and web designer living in Baton Rouge, LA.  I work as an independent contractor and consultant and have worked with businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies to develop consistent branding, improve their online image and expand their company presence online through social media and internet marketing.

How the Digital Age Has Shaped Communication Management

USC's Online Communications Degree for more information on the above infographic. 

The Developing Role of Social Media in the Modern Business World

Jessica Bosari, Contributor

Social media, although a relatively recent phenomenon, is becoming an increasingly important part of any business’s marketing and client base development platform. The perception of social media marketing has shifted quickly—no longer viewed as a trendy or passing fad, having a flexible and well-managed presence in each of the “big three” (Facebook, Twitter, andGoogle+) has become a must for any business seeking to secure a place in both the traditional and digital marketplace. What could once be accomplished by a traditional website now needs to be supplemented by a robust and responsive utilization of the tools social media offers. Navigating this strange, new world can be quite confusing at first, so here are some tips for those looking to bring their business up to speed.

Social Media Quick Facts

Here are some quick facts about the role social media is currently playing in the business world, courtesy of the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report:

1. 94% of all businesses with a marketing department used social media as part of their marketing platform
2. Almost 60% of marketers are devoting the equivalent of a full work day to social media marketing development and maintenance
3. 43% of people aged 20-29 spend more than 10 hours a week on social media sites
4. 85% of all businesses that have a dedicated social media platform as part of their marketing strategy reported an increase in their market exposure
5. 58% of businesses that have used social media marketing for over 3 years reported an increase in sales over that period

The “Big Three”

There are three primary social media outlets that businesses use. Here is a basic overview of each outlet:

1. Facebook: Facebook’s modest beginning, as a simple networking tool for college students (mainly designed to allow students to let their friends know where the parties were, and to look at the pictures from those parties afterward), belies its current status as a variable and integrated tool for business marketing. The primary method that businesses use to exploit Facebook’s marketing possibilities is by creating a “page” for their business (akin to having a website “on” Facebook itself—think of it as having an interactive yellow pages listing), which Facebook users can follow. Businesses can then use their page to market their products, offer deals, and build their brand.
2. Twitter: Like Facebook, Twitter began as a social networking tool—a way for friends to keep in touch—but has blossomed into a full-scale business marketing tool. Twitter uses 140 character “tweets” (short messages) that appear in the homepage of all users who “follow” the account. Businesses can use these to release news, market their products, and direct attention to special offers and new content. Hashtags (a word or phrase preceded by a pound sign) can also be searched for on twitter, meaning that followers or users looking for info on that topic can be directed to your account by simply attaching a hashtag to particular concepts or ideas in your business’s tweets.
3. Google+: Google+ is a relative newcomer but is quickly becoming an important tool for businesses looking to increase their presence in the world of social media marketing. Google+ has features that enable businesses to utilize its model in the ways Twitter and Facebook are used (product marketing, news release, the building of a “follower” base, etc.), but also has several facets these others do not. Google+’s “Promote” option allows you to customize your promotional content by creating different groupings of followers that you can then market differently to, and their “Measure” feature gives businesses an interactive measurement of how their Google+ page is being used. Google+ also offers a tutorial for businesses which gives advice on how best to use its features.

Know Your Business

One of the keys to a successful social media marketing platform is knowing your own business. A large corporation is going to have needs and attributes which require a very different approach to social media marketing than a small, local business will need to be successful. Play to your strengths—if you’re a larger company, focus on using social media to connect with a larger audience in order to get national exposure for your brand and products. If you’re a small, local business, use social media to build a dedicated, loyal customer base by offering the personal touch that only a local business can provide. If your business has a product or service that is primarily used or purchased by other businesses, use social media to network with other businesses in order to increase your visibility in the commercial marketplace. If your business offers a product or service which is primarily used or purchased by individual consumers, aim to use social media as a way to develop a pool of customers who see your brand as quality, hip, and available. No matter the size or nature of your business, a knowledge of your company’s strengths, target market, and product or service niche is an essential part of any successful social media marketing platform.

Consider Creating a Social Media Marketing Position

Lastly, if it is within your company’s financial position to do so, consider creating a position specially designed to create, develop, and maintain your company’s social media marketing presence. More and more colleges are offering degrees specifically tailored to social media marketing, and graduates of these programs are trained and ready to help utilize the powerful marketing tools social media offers to increase the exposure of your brand and the sales of your products. If your company is not able to afford a dedicated in house position for social media management, be sure to hire a third-party service provider that specializes in social media marketing. It is much easier and effective to hire a trained expert in this field instead of attempting to figure it out on your own or task one of your other employees—whose training and expertise are better used elsewhere—to try to manage your social media marketing

4 Simple Ways to Use LinkedIn to Generate Sales Leads

AUGUST 19, 2013 BY JOE SOTO

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you are aware LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, with over 238 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

I’ve shared how to dominate your sales competition on LinkedIn in previous articles, but you can also use it as a lead-generating machine for your business.

Part of the reason many sales and marketing professionals miss out on LinkedIn’s potential is that they don’t realize the breadth of information and networking opportunities available. LinkedIn goes beyond just a personal profile and status updates.

Here are 4 ways you can add additional value, stand out from the competition and earn the attention of your prospects:

1. Join (or start) groups to expand your circle of contacts and to increase your reach and connections. Find the top groups in your industry by searching for keywords and ranking by group activity. Then go find top groups where your prospects spend theirtime and join them as well. Participate in Q&A to position yourself and your company as thought leaders, experts in your field.
2. Post links to content so you become a source of business information and attract connections. Posting is important, but engaging is vital. Just as with any community, make sure to add value to each conversation.
3. Build your LinkedIn company page to position your organization as you’d like it to be seen. Perhaps the best way to make an impact in Linkedin is by growing your company page. This is critical for any business because it’s how you get into the person’s network updates, one of the most used features of the site.  Write the company description to include keyword rich text that resonates with product descriptions and contributes to network search visibility. Then identify a daily posting sequence in an effort to establish consistent brand messaging.
4. Follow other company pages of industry peers, partners, customers, and prospects. Commenting, liking, and sharing of updates from these sources can get your company immediately on the radar around the most relevant conversations that are already taking place.

Now you have 4 simple ways to generate leads on LinkedIn.  You’ll attract the prospects by standing out among your competitors who are either not using LinkedIn at all, or who are using it poorly to just promote themselves and their products and services.  You can be different not by saying you are different, but by behaving differently with how you engage online.

Mood & Music Can Social Media Help In Judging Mood?

AUGUST 18, 2013 |  BY J.P. BLACKARD  |  ENTERTAINMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL, MUSIC, RECREATIOn

Musical preference is unique to the listener. There are so many different cultures and personalities–which makes it quite difficult to decide what to listen to. In addition to different tastes in music, there are times and places where it may not be appropriate to play something.

A scene at the airport would be hard to imagine if one was able to hear hit rap songs over the PA system. A company like Toys’R'Us would not play rock music for their customers. Personally, some kind of rock is preferred. There is a science to song choices. Often our moods can determine what we might be listening to and where we might be listening to it.

According to the infographic, more people listen to rock music when they are upset. More people listen to pop music when they are happy. The study shows that people agree that music changes with mood. I cannot recall a time I saw a person who was really angry listening to jazz. Jazz just doesn’t cut it when you’re in a bad mood.

Letting people be themselves is one of the most important things you can do for them. We all have our own things going on too though. With close to half of people speaking up when they are displeased with the music around them, I’d say that there is a good balance of respecting others and advocating for ourselves. [via]