Social media is not a magic wand that will automatically send streams of customers to your door just because you set-up an account.  Rather it is a tool, that if used consistently and properly, can boost traffic and interest in your company.  There are countless pieces of information that attest to that fact.  But the key piece of information is that in order to see a benefit you need to consistently use it.

An excellent example of a Milwaukee company that uses social media consistently, and very well, is Street-za Pizza.  As their name eludes to, they bake pizza, using Wisconsin ingredients, and use a mobile pizza kitchen to serve their pizza.  The only way to find out where they will be on any given day is to follow them on social media - Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and MySpace (they make the caveat that they are on MySpace for people stuck in 2006).  Their business is driven primarily through social media.  If they were not dedicated to using social media, their business would not succeed.

Can this same type of dedication to social media (or marketing in general) work for your business.  Perhaps not in the same manner as Street-za Pizza, but the dedication can certainly pay off for your company in the long-run.

The number of Internet users who visited a social network or a blog increased by 24 percent from April 2009 to April 2010, while the average person spent 66 percent more time on those sites during that period, according to new numbers from the Nielsen Co. research firm.

About 75 percent of all Internet users visited a social network or blog in April 2010, and they spent 22 percent of their online time - more than 110 billion minutes - on those sites, Nielsen said.

Not only do Internet users visit social networks and blogs, but they spend a fair amount of time on those sites.  That is excellent information for businesses already using social media.  This is telling us, that there is an opportunity to connect with customers/prospects via social media.

But in order to connect with those customers/prospects, you’ll need to provide something to them - information, tips, advice, heck even a joke every once in awhile.  One of the best ways to use social media is to share knowledge - it’s a quick and easy way to do so and it also sets you up as a thought leader and someone who’s “in the know.”

As you look at your social media accounts (or are planning to kick them off), consider what information you will share with your customers/prospects.

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Everyday, Groupon features an unbeatable deal on stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in your city. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, they get discounts of usually 50% or more. They call it “collective buying power!” I admit I’m hooked on Groupon. I honestly get excited every morning anticipating what the next deal is going to be. I think collective buying power is a great platform for businesses to introduce their services and products in various markets.

According to Mashable, very soon Wildfire, makers of promotional tools for brands on Facebook, is releasing a new application called Group Deals, and it is designed to be like a do-it-yourself Groupon add-on to Facebook Pages and company websites via Facebook Connect. Wildfire users can create and define their own deal-a-day style promotions, which will allow interested brand fans to purchase the deals via their PayPal accounts.

During the setup process, application users can set the value of the deal, define the threshold needed to activate it and link it to their e-commerce system through their own pre-defined discount codes. Brands can also set deal terms and conditions and customize the appearance of the check-out page, as well as use their own images to tweak the application’s appearance. The final step is to the publish the deal to a Facebook Page or a company website.

Wildfire is using the PayPal API, which means PayPal will help them to track and manage the entire deal buying process, and automatically notify buyers if and when the deal is activated.

With social media integration of users being able sign up for deals and then being able to easily publish the activity to their newsfeed or invite their Facebook friends to join Group Deals I can only imagine this new application will be wildy successful within the 500 million members on Facebook.

1. Comment On Other Blogs - When you post comments on other blogs, you are typically able to include a link back to your blog or website.  This does two things - helps promote your blog and enables the other blogger to find your blog posts, which may lead to a conversation.

2. Start Typing - When you find yourself having bloggers-block, just start typing about something - anything!  Most of the time just starting to type will free your mind and will result in a blog post.  At the very least it will get you out of a blogging slump.

3. Focus - Once you have determined what you want to blog about, focus on that topic.  For example, Primum focuses on marketing topics and the majority of our posts revolve around marketing (we include a Milwaukee post every once in awhile). Keeping that focus helps ensure you stay on topic and helps your readers know what they can expect from your blog.

4. Give Away Information - Yep, give it away - for free!  Share knowledge, data, articles and anything else that may be of help to your readers.

5. It’s About The Readers - This ties in nicely with #4 - blog for your readers, not for yourself.  Your readers keep your blog going, so provide content that helps them and they will keep coming back.

If you have any other blogging best practices, please let us know.  And as always, happy blogging!

Although 70% of consumers want to interact with businesses using social media, less than one-third of companies have the strategies, policies, and processes in place to meet this demand, according to a report.

Fewer than one-third of companies have the systems in place to communicate with consumers in a form they would like to communicate in.  It’s pretty shocking information.  Does it apply to your company?

At Primum, we are firm believers that company’s should not jump into social media without going through the due diligence of researching the opportunities and developing a plan for social media.  And if your customers are asking “Are you on Facebook?” or “How come I can’t find you on Twitter?” this may be an excellent time to kick that due diligence into high gear.  Research what your competitors are doing, poll your customers and determine if your business will benefit from social media.

There is a large amount of research available that indicates social media is effective for businesses - this most recent study is yet another indication.  Consider the possibilities of connecting with your customers on yet another level - how valuable is that connection for your business?

And if you need assistance in the research or implementation process, there are a number of agency’s that can help you out (yes, Primum is one of them).

Bottom line: now is a great time to look into social media and if it matches your business objectives, start communicating with your customers on another level.

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The folks at Yahoo and Nielsen have come out with a new study on media multitasking: They say three-fourths of American Internet users surf the Internet while they’re watching TV. That’s up 20% from a year ago.

54% of the multitaskers are “primarily focused” on the Internet rather than TV, and their online viewing is overwhelmingly unrelated to the TV programs or commercials they are watching, according to Yahoo.

Some other interesting factoids from the Yahoo-Nielsen study of 3,400 people, which was conducted in March/April and released today:

• The Big Three Internet sites — Google, Yahoo and Facebook — are the most frequently watched websites during simultaneous media consumption.

• Sports and news are most viewed programs.

• Women are more likely to multitask than men, 77% vs. 73%.

As social networking engagement grows I would not be surprised by the next year if the percentage is well over 85%. How often do you media multitask?

Here are a few ways to leverage your PR hits:

• Add links to the hits to your website
• Reference the PR hits in your eNewsletter - include a link to the hit if it is online
• Write a blog post about the hit - include a link to the hit if it is online
• Tweet about the hits on Twitter
• Post about the hits on Facebook (and other social media sites)
• Secure reprints and mail (along with a letter) to prospects (also good to send to your existing customers)
• Hand out those same reprints at speaking engagements
• Frame hits and hang them in your lobby
• Bring a copy of the publication with you to meetings and share

Have you leveraged your PR hits in other, interesting ways?  We’d love to hear about it.

According to HubSpot, companies that blog receive 55% more website visitors than companies that do not blog.  That is a huge amount of visitors.

What would 55% more website visitors mean to your company?  Would it mean additional sales, increased leads, great exposure?  It could mean any or all of those, which in turn could be an en excellent benefit to your company.

But before you jump on in, determine if blogging is right for your company.

1. Pull out the business and marketing objectives for your company, review them and determine if a blog is a good fit.

2. Review budgets and decide if you have the budget to start a blog or if you should plan a blog for next year.

3. Discuss who your bloggers will be - they will need to enjoy what they do and you’ll need to trust them because they will be the blogging face of your company.

4. Develop a blogging plan - overall strategy, what your company will blog about, how often blog posts should go up, policies, etc.

5. Check out blogging best practices and learn from others (Primum noted a few blogging best practices in a previous post)

After proper research, if blogging is a fit and there is a budget and personnel available, then jump in.  There are a number of free blogging tools out there (we like Wordpress) or work with an agency to design a custom blog for your company.

And once you are up and running with your blog, be sure to promote it to attract readers.  Add your blog to Technorati, use your company eNewsletter to announce your blog, let your Facebook and Twitter followers know about your blog and consider using PR as well.  Heck, consider adding your blog URL to your marketing materials.  And be sure to keep on blogging.

1. You are blogging to people. Blogging is great for SEO and you could pile tons of keywords into every single post, but you are blogging for people.  People want to read something interesting, heartfelt, informative - not something that is blatantly full of keywords.  So, write for a person and include keywords in your title, tags and SEO plug-ins.

2. Include pictures when possible.  Many people are visual people, so when possible include a relevant image or picture.  Not only does it grab attention, but it may help your blog post look like it is easier to read (a big block of text can be overwhelming).

3. Enable people to share your posts.  Include a share button (or something similar) on your blog that lets people send your blog to other contacts via email, on facebook, twitter, etc.

4. Ask questions.  If you are looking for responses, ask for them.  It’s a great way to start generating some conversation on your blog.

5. Promote your blog.  Anywhere and everywhere including: on your website, Twitter account, Facebook page, in your eNewsletter, on marketing materials, during presentations, in your email signature, on business cards, anywhere your customers or prospects might look

Interested in a few more blogging best practices?  Stay tuned because we’ll have more coming soon.

• Fact: The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
• Fact: People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

With the average user being connected to 60 pages, groups and events, there is some opportunity to connect with customers/prospects on a company/product Facebook page.  And knowing that people spend that much time on Facebook means that it will be important to post new, relevant content once your company has a Facebook page.

Do these stats surprise you?  If you are already using Facebook, then probably not.  Facebook has grown quite a bit and the interaction is amazing.  Has your company considered using it?  Have you started researching it yet?  If you’ve considered it, check out company’s that are doing a good job of using it, according to ABC News/Money. Research is always a good place to start when you are considering getting into social media.  It gives you just a bit more insight into the tool (in this case Facebook) and can even give you a few good ideas that you could incorporate if you decide to proceed with a Facebook page.

The rest of Danny’s blog post includes facts about Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging and YouTube.  Check it out when you have some time.

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