Social media usage is growing at an unbelievable rate every month and there seems to be no foreseeable end to that trend.  With that, comes ever growing opportunities to promote your business and “get the word out” in ways that haven’t been available to us in the past.  If done properly using these various sites can be an effective tool to promote, and grow, your business.  But, before you move too quickly, there are a few things you should know.  At the very foundation of Social Media, in general, is the understanding that people become a part of these sites with a purpose… and that purpose is NOT to buy anything.  The join to connect with old friends, meet new ones, find a lost love, keep up with family members and stay in touch with the people of their choosing. (more…)

by Roger G. Best

If you read much I’m sure you’ve heard things about how enterprise computing is rapidly heading in the direction of better collaboration and that social media will be a big part of that drive. We’re seeing an ever increasing trend to add social media to enterprise collaboration portals. The corporate need for better collaboration tools has been on the plates of many business professionals for years now.  Everything from things like the telephone (and even the telegraph), fax, telex, email, video conferencing, instant messaging, and on-line chat have all been a part of building a collaborative workplace. (more…)

By Roger G. Best

Twitter has proven to be a great tool for everything from simply keeping in touch through developing new clients and developing brand loyalty.  And the number of followers we have almost touches that place of pride (o.k., almost may be hedging this just a bit) as that number grows.  But it’s important to know your audience when you make your decisions about tweeting habits because what your friends want to know is quite different from those who are following your business tweets.  Regardless, there are some things that will cause your followers to unfollow you. (more…)

By Roger G. Best

In case I wasn’t perfectly clear on this in my last installment, I was (as in “past tense”) a BIG opponent of most social media until recent months.  There are lots of reason for that, but the big one is because of the enormous risk of losing a lot of productivity and getting sucked into the black hole that social media creates in the lives of some users.  I still believe that it’s important to draw some boundaries (time is the biggest one) and be completely inflexible when it comes to crossing those lines.  With that foundation, let’s move on. (more…)

Social media has transitioned over the past several months.  I’m in the technology business and I have to admit that my clients have routinely asked me to block access to many of the social media sites… the reasons being somewhat obvious.  Facebook, Twitter and other sites have quickly sucked up a lot of productivity in a great many work environments.  But, as I just mentioned, there has been a transition in this area and it is now to the point that a blanket “block” can be a far greater risk to the business than is the potential for lost time.  Simply put, the PR and marketing opportunities are too great to ignore! (more…)