Social Business Process posts, articles, and infographics

8 Marketing Trends to Implement in Your 2012 Marketing Plan

February 2, 2012 by Yasmin Bendror
with 66 views

As I’ve said before, social media needs to be INTEGRATED into your overarching marketing plan. It’s not the magic pill. It’s not the hard sale, it’s the soft sell. It’s not going to blast your sales from $0 to $10,000 overnight. But social media is a powerful marketing tool that must be used in your marketing tactics today. And other important marketing tactics must not be ignored either. [read more]

Social Media ROI Depends on the “Maturity” of Your Approach

January 30, 2012 by Luke Brynley-Jones
with 50 views

In Marshall Sponder's view there are essentially 4 levels of maturity which dictate the degree of ROI that you should expect to get out of social media. [read more]

5 Free Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

January 26, 2012 by Benji Hyam
with 125 views

Benji Hyam is a Social Media Coordinator at Vistage International,an <a href="http://www.vistage.com/">executive coaching</a> organization that helps CEO members build better companies through unique <a href="http://www.vistage.com/programs-overview/small-business.aspx">business coaching</a> opportunities. [read more]

The Year of the Social Predator Has Arrived & The Social Mind

January 25, 2012 by Peter Auditore
with 185 views

The Year of the Social Predator Has Arrived [read more]

Creating Better Customer Experiences? BA Has An ‘App For That!

January 25, 2012 by Andy Hanselman
with 68 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Rather than use scrolls of papers with all the personal information about their customers, British Airways cabin crew members now have an ‘app which uploads up to the minute.information about their customers that allows them to create ‘personalised’ customer experiences. [read more]

The Social Analyst Manifesto

January 25, 2012 by Keith Paul
with 94 views

Image: Courtesy of Brian Solis

2012 seems to be the year of many things. Business are going to take social media engagement seriously, they’ll become more comfortable in the space, they’ll hire data analysts to measure all sort of stuff in new ways. They’ll slay the dragon known as social data. [read more]

You Don’t Want to Turn Your Business into a Social Business

January 24, 2012 by Francois Gossieaux
with 40 views

For someone who co-authored a book on how companies that succeed in leveraging this current wave of innovation, powered by the social, do so by turning their business processes into social processes, it may seem contradictory to now hear that you should not turn your business into a social business. [read more]

Birth of a Social Salesman

January 23, 2012 by ChristineCrandell
with 75 views

Photo: Getty Image4s via @daylife

Social is touching every corner of organizations as profoundly as it has changed how we conduct much of our personal lives. But there is one place where the benefits of embracing Social aren’t obvious, namely Sales. [read more]

Timing Your Social Media Marketing

January 21, 2012 by Pam Dyer
with 237 views

Social media marketers always wonder when the best time is to post on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and the myriad of other social platforms for optimum customer engagement. Is it in the morning, since many people check their Facebook page before they go to work? Is midday better because users look at their Twitter stream while they’re... [read more]

Brand-Jacking: Social Disaster or the Highest Form of Flattery?

January 20, 2012 by Brian Solis
with 30 views

Silvia Antunes / Shutterstock

The rise of social media has given customers unprecedented access to brands. This can be a double-edged sword: companies are able to communicate with customers in more ways than ever, but brand managers need to be aware that communication is a two-way process... [read more]

Come to Atlanta to Get Down to Social Biz…and for Some Biscuits

January 20, 2012 by Brent Leary
with 26 views

I have the opportunity to go to a lot of CRM/Social events during the course of the year, most of which are held in cool places like San Francisco, Boston and Orlando. And while I love going to those places, I’ve always wanted to have one of those events down here in Atlanta. And while I’ve threatened to do it, I would... [read more]

2012: The Year Social Marketing and Social Customer Service Get Cosy

January 16, 2012 by Joshua March
with 313 views

Image: Laura Berger/Flickr(creative commons)

Gartner has predicted that the marketing budget dedicated to customer loyalty and retention will double by 2015. Two-way conversation is new for this department, and to make an impact in social media it will be necessary to redefine its role – taking notice of many priorities that typically lie with Customer Service. [read more]

Do You Have The Pieces, Parts, Or A Working System?

January 15, 2012 by Dave Brock
with 33 views

Photo by RapidRepair.com via author's blog

Take a look at the two pictures below (courtesy of RapidRepair.com). In one sense they are exactly the same. Both are pictures of the Apple iPhone 4s. One shows the iPhone as a set of parts and pieces. The other shows an assembled iPhone 4S.. You know the next question, “What’t the difference... [read more]

The Confusing Truth About 'Share This' Buttons on Emails

January 13, 2012 by Luke Brynley-Jones
with 221 views

We’ve all seen social media “Share” buttons on emails and wondered if they really work. Well, a new infographic from GetResponse (below) tells us the answer: they don’t but, then again, they do. [read more]

The Social Customer: More Roots, and a Promise

January 11, 2012 by Adam Metz
with 30 views

While using social media and becoming a social customer is hardly an act of rebellion, at some point it was. My Yelp.com profile, which contains a few hundred restaurant and hotel reviews, is hardly controversial today, but when I launched it five years ago, in 2006—it was a pretty controversial platform, because it undercut Zagat and the local newspaper. [read more]

The Only Way to Become a Social Business in 2012

January 10, 2012 by Pam Moore
with 266 views

What would you do if I told you that the only way to become a social business in 2012 is to not do social media? There is a big difference between “doing social media” and “becoming a social business”. [read more]

The Social Customer: Early Efforts

January 9, 2012 by Adam Metz
with 49 views

Image: Diana House/Flickr(creative commons)

Companies have been engaging and selling their wares on the Internet since the pre-Web days, in the early ’90s, and this is no longer an immature discipline. The fresh-faced college graduates who launched the first consumer-brand Web sites are now 39 years old. Those days are two-thirds of a generation behind us. [read more]

The Social Customer: Born of Punk Rock

January 8, 2012 by Adam Metz
with 68 views

Photo by Ripton Scott via Flickr/Creative Commons

Ed. note: This is the first in a series of excerpts from The Social Customer, the new guide to modern marketing by Adam Metz. Here, Adam discusses the influences that shaped his view of business. It’s possible that many of the readers of this book will understand how I grew up, and how it has influenced my worldview, and how it can make... [read more]

Communities and the Value of Answering Unarticulated Needs

January 6, 2012 by Rachel Happe
with 46 views

Photo: Dennis Crowley/Flickr(creative commons)

We had an excellent member call late last year with John Stepper of Deustche Bank who is working on a training course to help employees manage their reputation inside the organization. [read more]

How Will the ‘Social Customer’ Change in 2012?

January 6, 2012 by Walter Van Norden
with 249 views

Image: Gavin Llewellyn/Flickr(creative commmons)

Social media is transforming the way brands interact with customers. Ten years ago, one-way communication through advertising was the norm. Now, a new breed of ‘social customer’ means that not only is two-way communication possible, but it’s expected. [read more]