Intro to Social Media and Location Based Social Media Platforms
What an amazing and eye opening first class. As per usual, Boyd Neil has done a terrific job at presenting tons of great information and made me realise how little I know about the use of social media as a PR tool, let alone a small business owner! After reading articles on location based tools, I wanted to investigate more about how I could incorporate these tools for my clinic based acupuncture practise. I realised there was some valuable insights. There are so many fantastic blogs for incorporating digital platforms for small business. Here is one such article with a focus on Foursqare:
How engaged are we?
All this talk of social media and location based marketing started ringing true to me. From what we have been learning in class so far, people (especially Canadians), are more connected and engaged than ever. It's suprising that Canadians are that engaged. We have some of the worst and highest smart phone rates out of any country, yet we still LOVE bragging and telling others about where we are and what we like.
Source http://www.thomaspurves.com/2007/04/09/canada-worse-than-3rd-world-countries-when-it-comes-to-mobile-data-access/
Are you on Foursquare?
After last class, I have been doing some casual research to gauge if my own clientele base is on Foursquare. So far, not too many are. But, I am now convinced. I HAVE to get me business on Foursquare.
I completely agree that getting fans or customers using programs such as Yelp or Foursquare is an amazing way to keep Canadians engaged and to start a domino effect of influencing others. No matter what the objective is. It's this kind of recognition that builds credibility. In my case, I have quickly started realising that referrals through traditional methods and the old fashioned hard copy brochures simply doesn't produce far reaching results. Acquiring more business, especially in a service industry can really benefit from Foursquare. Mayor's anyone? I am already looking into putting Lotus Shiatsu & Acupuncture on Foursquare. But it is surprisingly not as interactive as it's platform.
Here is the dry form one needs to fill out. It's been over 48 hours with no reply from the sales team. I'm still waiting....
Presenting ideas has switched from wordy monologues to use of high impact visuals. Although not purely social media related, Garr Reynolds, the author of the textbook for the Business Presentations course, always has inspiring ways to convey messages through use of dynamic imagery. Here are some simple basic tips to keep in mind from Reynolds' website.
Face to face/word of mouth is still in style
This video goes against everything we have learnt so far. But it is important to keep in mind that old fashioned word of mouth should not be completely forgotten. It has all kinds of facts stating that on-line "word of mouth" marketing is less valuable as we spend more time doing other things.
source- http://www.brandautopsy.com/blog
Hey Sarah,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog posts so far - keep up the great job! You've got some interesting points here, especially the one on physical word-of-mouth being still one very important form of communication. With social media taking over the world, it's important to remember that face-to-face conversations and over-the-phone conversations with family and friends are still vital and valuable in spreading information. I may be influenced by what my peers tweet or post on facebook about a certain brand, but when a close friend or family member tells me something directly, it definitely sticks in my mind more. Social media is a great tool on its own but perhaps even more powerful when it is used in conjunction with traditional word-of-mouth information sharing to further reiterate and strengthen the message. Marketers and PR professionals need not forget about good old verbal communication and its important role in our society!
Hi Ilona. Thanks for checking out my blog. I felt a bit reluctant to post the video on the value of old fahioned word of mouth. I think you raise a good point of creating a balance of utilizing social media tools with old fashioned networking. Just like any mastering any other skill, it's always best to use many approaches especially depending on the organization and who your client target stakeholders are. Thanks again for checking out the blog. Can't wait to read yours!
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