Search Twitter Keywords, Generate Leads, Start Conversations

In the Social Conversation Area of Squareberry, there are three main sections: Search, Social Feeds and Inbox. The Search section allows you to monitor keywords on Twitter. Any keywords you add will be on the left tabs and feed in public tweets using those keywords.

Search Tips

1. Use quotation marks to search for phrases. When you are inputting a search term, you can add quotation marks to search for the whole phrase. If you search for multiple words without quotation marks, your results will include Tweets with those keywords, though the words may be separate in the tweet.

2. Add Local Terms. Use your city name, neighborhoods, or local phrases to help bring in Tweets from people talking about your specific area. There are so many Tweeters out there, you want to do the best you can to bring in the best possible leads.

Reply to New Leads

Social conversation goes both ways. Not only will you monitor what is being said, but you can easily join the conversation. Hit "Reply" next to any of the Tweets in your search and you can instantly reply to that person. Recommend your business, answer their questions or even ask for feedback.

Think of these Tweeters as leads. Everyone out there Tweeting is a potential customer or new follower. The more you engage and be part of the conversation, the more traction your can gain, people you can influence and business you can generate.

New Year - New Followers

Another year is here. Amazing. 2014 is sure to be filled with more exciting technology and marketing opportunities. As your organization begins another year, take this opportunity to gain more followers and promote your various marketing/communications channels. You want to make sure that you have as many followers as possible for the upcoming year.

Your media should promote all of your other media.

Promote Other Channels

Many organizations are strong on a single social media channel, but fall short in other areas. You can use your strong social media channel to promote your weaker ones. For example, you may have thousands of Facebook "Likes" but only a few hundred Twitter followers. Post messages to Facebook promoting your Twitter presence. Encourage people to follow and connect with you on Twitter.

Exclusive Promotions & Contests

Another strategy for getting more followers on a certain channel is so offer exclusive content on that specific channel. Using the same example above, you could post on Facebook that you will be offering exclusive discounts and promotions on Twitter. This will help push some of your Facebook followers to also follow you on Twitter.

Don't Forget Your Website

Websites are still a main destination for web users. It is important to make sure your website sends people to your various social media channels. Beyond simply having social media buttons in your footer, make sure your pages feature social sharing buttons. Additionally, you can create larger graphics and pop-ups that encourage people to connect with you on social media.

Beyond providing information, your website's goal should be to help you gain real and relative connections on your various communication channels. This will lead to an increase in the reach of your events and promotions.

Recapping Our Understanding Series

For the past six weeks, we have been taking a closer look at various aspects of Squareberry. Our "Understanding" series has provided insightful looks into popular features and managing sections of your account.

Now, we are taking a look back. If you missed any of these articles we encourage you to take the time to read them. Understanding all aspects of your Squareberry account is important to getting the most out of the mobile & social marketing tools. The articles are listed below.

Understand Your Account Settings

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Event Views

Read the Full Article >

Understanding the Social Media Conversation Inbox

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Your Planner

Read the Full Article >

Understanding the Social Conversation Search Feature

Read the Full Article >

Understanding Listen & Count Polls

Read the Full Article >

We Love Hearing From our Users

If you have any ideas for articles or features you want to see blog posts about, let us know. You can tell us on the Forum or email us at squareberry@squareberry.com.

Understanding Listen & Count Polls

Listen & Count polls allow you to set-up interactive polls and track how many times people respond with certain keywords.

Setting Up a Poll

In the Listen & Count polls area you can add new polls and edit existing ones. Polls have names, response tracking options, a poll question, start & end dates, a response option and a list of keywords that will be tracked. For each keyword you add, you can add aliases. Aliases are other words that count as responses for that same keyword.

For more details on setting up a Listen & Count Poll, read this blog post.

How Keyword Tracking Works

Responses which include the keywords you dictate are tracked and counted for your polls. On Twitter, keyword in replies to your Twitter messages are counted. SMS works similarly, as keywords mentioned in replies to your SMS number are counted. Website and mobile pages have widgets which show your polls question and allow readers to type in text responses. Responses with keywords are counted for your polls.

Date Ranges

Date ranges determine when keywords are counted. Keyword mentions and submissions outside of your set date range are not counted towards your polls. If you select "No Date Range (ongoing)", all keyword responses are counted.

Displaying Stats

Stats for each poll can be added to websites as widgets, allowing you to share results publicly. There is a Calendar Count Widget which shows results by day. There is also the Poll Count Widget which shows overall stats of your poll which can be displayed as a pie chart or column chart.

Understanding the Social Conversation Search Feature

The Social Conversation area in your Squareberry account allows you to monitor and manage social media conversation. Previously, we took a look at fully understanding the Social Media Inbox. The Inbox is your centralized location for your ongoing conversations. But what if you want to start new conversation or find new things to talk about. That's where the Search features come in.

Twitter Searches

The Search features are currently limited to Twitter. Twitter is generally much more open than other social media platforms. People's posts are public and can be seen by anyone. This allows organizations to find new individuals & leads who are talking about their industry or looking for a company just like them.

The left column of the search section features all of your current searches. Clicking on a search term will show the current search results for that term. You can add a new search term by clicking "Add a Search".

Starting a Conversation

Once your search results are shown, you can Reply to or Retweet any tweet that is shown. This allows you to start a dialogue with someone you may not know. Click "Reply" and a pop-up appears to compile your reply message. You can instantly send the message right from this same screen.

Using Quotes

Putting a multi-word search term in quotes does a search for the words in that order. For example: "miami restaurant" will look for tweets with those two words together, instead of just tweets using one or the other.

Understanding the Social Media Conversation Inbox

The Inbox in the Social Conversation Area allows you to manage ongoing conversations in various social media accounts from one centralized location. When someones comments on a Facebook post or replies to you on Twitter, it will show up here and you will be able to comment/reply instantly.

All of the people you are having conversations with are listed on the left side. Clicking a person brings up the conversation with them, showing you the full history of your conversation with that person.

Refreshing / Refresh Button

Your Social Inbox will refresh automatically throughout the day. New comments/replies you have received will show up in the Unanswered section. The total number of conversations that are "unanswered" are also displayed on the Welcome screen when you login to your account.

You can also manually refresh your Inbox at anytime by clicking the "Refresh" button.

Unanswered / Answered

Any conversation you contribute to with a comment or reply will be moved to the "Answered" section of the Inbox. You can completely remove a conversation by clicking the "Remove" link in the top right corner of that particular conversation. You can also move a conversation to 'Answered" or "Unanswered" by clicking the "Mark as" link at the top of the conversation.

Reply or Comment

You can easily and instantly write comments/replies on any social media conversation. You can also "Retweet" any message in a Twitter conversation. Click the "Comment" or "Reply" link to bring up the pop-up to compose and send your message.

Consider the Wording in Your Scheduled Social Messages

Scheduling Social Media Messages Far in Advance

Squareberry allows you to schedule messages far in advance to publish to Facebook Profiles, Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Profiles, LinkedIn Groups and Twitter accounts. Scheduling messages in advance allows you to plan your communications and takes care of the other parts of your organization, without worrying about updating social media accounts throughout each day.

Message Wording

Real Time Wording

When you are scheduling your messages days, or even weeks in advance, you still want it to sound like you are sending the message at that time, for that moment. A while back, we offered a blog post on wording your scheduled messages: http://squareberry.com/news/tuesday-tip-scheduled-real-time-messages/

Give Details

Even when scheduling messages in advance you can include details in your posts. For example if you are having a live music night, you can send out messages with details of the band. Instead of a generic tweet like "Live Music Night is going great." you can offer some details such as "John from 'Grey Cycle' is truly rocking it tonight! Get here soon to see the rest of their set!"

The second example is actually easy. Certainly you can know the name of the band and the name of one of the band members ahead of time. You can still offer details about what is going on at your location, even if this message is actually scheduled days in advance.

Search Friendly Words + #Hashtags on Twitter

Of course when we talk about wording, we need to consider the actual words. Twitter offers search features that allow users to see who is talking about certain topics, etc. Try to use words that people will search for, such as your neighborhood/city, type of business you are, services/products you offer, etc.

Using hashtags for Twitter posts is an obvious and essential strategy. You want to Tweet about things other people are also Tweeting about and you want to encourage your followers to use the same hashtags to help spread the news. Use hashtags (don't abuse them) for your Twitter posts and keep in touch with what hashtags people in your community are using.

Using Twitter Search to Find Leads

When using the Search section of Squareberry's Social Conversation Area, there are a variety of ways to find people relative to your business. Using these techniques can help you find new leads, generate conversation activity, spread the word about your brand and more.

Longer Strings of Words

The more detailed your searches are the better chance you have of finding the right Tweeters. Simply searching for "Miami Restaurants" will pull a lot of Tweets from a wide range of contexts. Instead, you can string together longer phrases like "Miami Lunch Spot" or "South Miami Sushi Lunch" to get refined results. Adding more detail about your type of food or the neighborhood you are in can help you find better potential customers.

Use Quotations

Using quotations around words causes the search to pull results with that exact word sequence. So if you search "Live Music in Miami" you will pull results (when available) of Tweets with the phrase "Live Music in Miami".

This search practice is fairly common and can also be done on many search engines. Searching without quotations will pull results with the words you dictate, but not necessarily in that order and not necessarily all words.

Think About Your Customer

Always think about the person you are trying to reach. What would they post on Twitter? What kinds of questions would they ask, hoping for a response from friends? For example, if you own a restaurant, you may search for "grab lunch downtown". This will pick up Tweets by people asking "Where is a good place to grab lunch?" or "Any suggestions for where to grab lunch downtown?". If you are using Search as a means of bringing in new customers, your goal should be to find Tweeters who are searching for your type of company or in need of your services.

Then What...

After you find a potential customer or lead you just have on thing to do... TWEET them. Send a Reply to their Tweet right from inside Squareberry. When they respond to your Tweet, the conversation can be tracked and managed in your Social Inbox.

Monitor Twitter Keywords and Generate Leads

In the Social Conversation Area of Squareberry, there are three main sections: Search, Social Feeds and Inbox. The Search section allows you to monitor keywords on Twitter. Any keywords you add will be on the left tabs and feed in public tweets using those keywords.

Search Tips

1. Use quotation marks to search for phrases. When you are inputting a search term, you can add quotation marks to search for the whole phrase. If you search for multiple words without quotation marks, your results will include Tweets with those keywords, though the words may be separate in the tweet.

2. Add Local Terms. Use your city name, neighborhoods, or local phrases to help bring in Tweets from people talking about your specific area. There are so many Tweeters out there, you want to do the best you can to bring in the best possible leads.

Reply to New Leads

Social conversation goes both ways. Not only will you monitor what is being said, but you can easily join the conversation. Hit "Reply" next to any of the Tweets in your search and you can instantly reply to that person. Recommend your business, answer their questions or even ask for feedback.

Think of these Tweeters as leads. Everyone out there Tweeting is a potential customer or new follower. The more you engage and be part of the conversation, the more traction your can gain, people you can influence and business you can generate.

Tuesday Tip - Ask Questions + Get Feedback

Questions Get You Feedback...

...and feedback is good!

Social Media and other aspects of the web have given organizations a great opportunity for getting feedback, responses and more information from their customers than ever before. Organizations should take advantage of this to gain insight and optimize the way they do business, plan events, communicate and more.

Why is feedback so great? Well, it helps you modify and perfect the way you are doing things. It is important to constantly adjust your methods to fine tune them and create the ideal experience for your customers/visitors/etc. Questions can also help promote further conversation and discussion.

Ask Questions on Social Media

Social Media is the perfect outlet for getting feedback. You could post a simple question on Twitter or LinkedIn, or use the Question feature on Facebook. Your question is seen by the people following you, who can respond instantly. Before social media, gaining feedback so instantaneously was uncommon.

Respond to Comments/Mentions with Questions

You can instigate further conversation by asking questions to people who have already commented or mentioned you on social media. For instance, someone may mention you on Twitter, saying that they are at your restaurant. Responding with a question like "Have you tried the Salmon?" does two things: it recommends something to your guest and it carries the conversation on, encouraging them to respond further and keep the conversation going.

Squareberry Tally Feature

Squareberry allows you to place a single question on every event you make. Each question comes with 3 buttons allowing viewers to answer "Yes", "No" or "Maybe". This feature allows you to get quick feedback from your viewers while adding an interactive element to your event page.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/tuesday-tip-ask-questions-get-feedback/

Of Kutchers and Klouts

On March 21, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (@jack) sent the first tweet to invite others onto the service.

On November 10, 2011, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) wrote a controversial tweet that might have shut down the concept of personal branding.

Kutcher saw a headline about Penn State football coach Joe Paterno getting the boot and tweeted about the controversial issue and defended Paterno, saying "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste." Thing is, Kutcher didn't seem to read all the details because one of Paterno's assistants had 40 counts of sexual abuse of children and didn't report it to authorities.

Suddenly...Flash Mobs!

He deleted the tweet after 30 minutes and said, ": “As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case.”

Bad move, Ashton. Haven't you heard of people taking screenshots?



After that came a barrage of tweets calling the King of Twitterland an idiot amongst other insults (which are not related to his lousy acting). As with any other influencer on a social network, Kutcher's Twitter reach of 8 million will react to any tweet he releases. Flash mobs will surface and douse you with negative feedback if you made a tiny mistake about a tweet, especially when you're a celebrity. Worse, those 8 million users might have retweeted Kutcher's tweet to make a snowball into an avalanche.

Kutcherfication: Ashton Turns Over His Twitter Account

Kutcher turned over his Twitter account to his team at Katalyst Media. He says they can properly manage his Twitter account's content. On his blog he said:

"A collection of over 8 million followers is not to be taken for granted. I feel responsible for delivering an informed opinion and not spreading gossip or rumors through my twitter feed. While I feel that running this feed myself gives me a closer relationship to my friends and fans I've come to realize that it has grown into more that a fun tool to communicate with people. While I will continue to express myself through @Aplusk I'm going to turn the management of the feed over to my team at Katalyst Media to ensure the quality of it's content."



Clearly, Mr. Kutcher is chickening out and running away from his responsibility to his 8 million followers. It's a quick escape from a lemon-y mistake that he could've been turned into lemonade. After all, Kutcher's clout made some players in the Valley notice and took time to discuss business with him.

But now, he's turning away from the very people who made him king of the world's best micro-blogging service. He's turning away from the simple yet challenging responsibility of being a purveyor of substantial and genuine information. All of this because people are bashing him for his misinformed tweet. FYI, Kutcher is actually a mover of social good like #Malaria and movements to stop child trafficking.

Why your Klout Score Can't Save you from Lemons

Ok. We all know it's the not first time that Ashton Kutcher made social boo-boo using his Twitter account. While Kutcher has a "social responsibility" to his millions of followers, he's not a PR expert or anything for that matter. But Ashton Kutcher is a brand himself, and should be aware of that but he sees his Twitter as more of a communication tool than a podium for both substantial opinions or insipid tweets. It only shows a person's Klout is not commensurate to a brand or celebrity's ability to make lemonade out of lemons.

Personal branding junkies such as social media experts and digital marketers should learn from Dell Hell that lead Dell to put a premium on social monitoring. Personal branding through meticulous content management and apt user engagement makes a difference in your online PR. Always keep in mind that a mere Klout score of 90 is not enough to make your online PR always shimmering or squeaky-clean to your target niche. Come to think of it, Kutcher could have just apologized for the mess instead of instantly deleting his controversial tweet.

What do you think? Was it a good move for Ashton Kutcher to turn over his Twitter account to his Katalyst team for better Twitter management? Does your company have strategies for reputation management?

Original source: http://squareberry.com/news/of-kutchers-and-klouts/

Google+ Didn't Forget About Twitter

Google+ Pages for businesses were unveiled early this week and all the talk was about how the search giant's social network will fare against Facebook fan pages. A number of global brands and local businesses already have their Google+ Pages up. The most notable features to Google+ Pages for businesses is the Direct Connect function that enables businesses to be easily found using a [+] upon typing a brand's name. Social media pundits simply dismissed that Google+ Pages aren't replacing Facebook fan pages yet. Yes, 800 million users vs. 40 million users can really spark a heated debate regarding the value a social network gives to businesses.

So is Google just launching a social network for the sake of having one? A lot of talk about Google+ vs. Facebook really suggests that the latter is a direct competitor to Google's social network. But wait, Google+ didn't forget about Twitter as well. We all know that content fuels the Web and without user-generated content social networks will be a desolate place. Google being the content connoisseur that it is, will also try to grab some of Twitter's userbase comprised of brands and journalists.

Can Google+ be an Effective CRM Tool?

While Twitter has been a great CRM tool for businesses. The growth of the micro-blogging giant is either a good thing or a bad thing: millions of users equals a slow system. And oh, Twitter Fail Whale! Don't get me wrong, Twitter is an excellent tool for monitoring and user engagement which is why Dell's customer service is a success. Michael Dell actually thinks that the Hangouts feature is a great CRM tool!

Twitter might be a decent monitoring tool for customer complaints and suggestions, but seriously, 140 characters aren't enough to attend to a customer's complaint. This is where Google Apps come into play which can help businesses directly address an issue when someone complains about them on Google+. Customers always want a good conversation. It makes the CRM approach more personal yet professional. But in order to realize this, Google+ should consider opening their API for third-party apps.

Google+ for Enhanced Advertising?

Social platforms need to monetize their services through paid social ads. Social networks are free and they materialize from their biggest asset - user information. Twitter just launched Promoted Tweets a few weeks ago which inserts ads to the tweets of influencers and celebrities. I wrote in a previous post that trends are more influential than social ads. because trends are more viral. Would you rather advertise your brand or have people talk about it?

While Twitter wants to make money out of its service, Google wants its users to make money for themselves. As businesses embrace a more social approach to increase brand awareness and increase ROI, so aside from Google+ Pages for businesses, Google launched "Why These Ads" to improve a local business' visibility in the SERPs. if you’ re having a vacation in Italy and then you searching for pizza, don’t expect Papa John’s or Pizza Hut to appear on the results. The best pizza resto within the area will be likely to appear.

Photo via Google

Coupled with enhanced regionalized ad targeting, Google+ Pages for businesses will not only increase SEO for local businesses but improve user engagement as well. A business' Google+ Page can be link to their website URLs and AdWords account. When those URLs receive +1s, it will accrue to the business which will increase the numbers.

A Big Boost for News Publishers

There's a reason why Google launched hashtag support and real-time analytics. The search giant also released the Stand-Out tag for news organizations and blogs to highlight their best feature stories. Google wants Google+ Pages to be integrated with websites. This will make content more relevant and fresh especially for news publishers and journalists.



Twitter only shows the last 5 days of tweets and won't pinpoint where the article originated. Google+ makes convenient for news organization to spread a news feature using "What's Hot" feature. Aside from that, the Ripple feature enables users to view where a content originated from and how it has been shared. It can be a great addition to Google Real-Time Analytics in order to measure a particular content's virality. Google knows the value of making the latest content available to everyone and organizing content is what Google does best.

What's in Store For The Ordinary User?

People join social networks because they want to share content. Businesses establish their presence on a social network to feed content and merit user-generated content. Both merchants and customers will benefit from what Google+ can offer in terms of content-sharing. For instance, that bakeshop downtown shares a photo of a freshly-baked apple pie, I bet followers of their Google+ Page will +1 and share the pic to their network. A simple pic may not instantly drive flash mobs to the bakeshop to get a piece of that pie but the bakeshop makes people aware about their pastries. Google+ improves businesses' brand awareness and online presence.

Speaking of pies, what does Google own? Gmail, Picasa, and YouTube. It's a cross-platform that businesses can leverage from. Google is a buffet where you can mix and match a service to improve your business. Twitter just sealed a deal with Mozilla that makes Twitter one of the default search options on the new Firefox 8 browser. Twitter is doing a Facebook here, remember when Facebook wanted users to have FB mail as their email? Twitter is not search engine and should stick with what it does best.

For Google+, it has a long way to go before people realize the great function it offers. Some experts say that it doesn't have enough users to create value for brands and businesses. It doesn't have 800 million users like Facebook does nor it has a 300 million userbase like Twitter's, but Google is a search engine. And Facebook and Twitter are mere sites. The Web runs on content. Google+ ensures that social search will takes its place but it should continue to grow. With each new feature, Google+ hopes it will add more to its current 40 million userbase.

Original Source: http://squareberry.com/news/google-didnt-forget-about-twitter/

Klout Standards: Do Customers Even Care?

Klout has been the reigning industry standard in the ever-sporadic social media sphere for 3 years already. It has become a standard for measuring social influence and reach. And just like any social analytics platform, Klout has rolled out changes last month in order to determine new categories in measuring social media influence. For web-savvy netizens, a person's Klout score is a validation of how his social media accounts are reaching people and how they influence the users that they reach, but for customers who don't really care about how many followers they have on Twitter or fans on Facebook, your Klout grade is a mere number. Why? Because most people don't really have a firm idea about social influence measurement and scoring.

Like any social media tool, Klout thinks their recent changes will improve the service amidst the violent uproar by users who saw their scores plummet. It's understood when people get upset whenever their numbers are reduced, but with Klout it's a bit irrational. Last week, people were dousing Klout with a gamut of complaints regarding their scores when in fact they don't really know what goes into their Klout score. How can you be seriously disappointed when your Klout score is reduced but you don't even know how your score is really computed? The same goes with how Google doesn't really divulge how it's algorithm works. That is why SEO specialists keep trying to nail the search giant's algorithm.



Some of you might agree that a Klout score is simply feeding a person's ego online. A mere validation that you belong to the "who's who" in social media circles if your Klout score is high. No wonder Klout has been answering tons of queries and complaints regarding scores. So are the changes in Klout scoring crucial in reaching your target niche and turning users into potential customers?

If you have great content on your Tumblr blog which are being reblogged by other Tumblr bloggers but you don't even share your posts on Twitter or Facebook, then you reach people through Tumblr alone even if you don't have enough retweets or shares. Should your Klout score be as high with those who tweet their blog post instead? Or for instance, you tweet your blog post which is retweeted by 10 followers that have at least 20 followers each. On the other hand, you share the blog post on Facebook as well and is shared by 5 of your friends that has at least 4k friends to share it with. Can you easily pinpoint which social account is better in terms reaching potential customers whenever you share your content? The idea here is that not every social media account is really significant to one's Klout score. If your reach isn’t as influential as your other social media account then a drop in your Klout score shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Social influence measurement is a bit tricky, it's like acupuncture or astrology which doesn't have any firm scientific claims to prove it's validity and feasibility. You can't turn people into instant customers if they are clueless about something. And it doesn't really help educating people about something that keeps on changing. Even if it's the most widely-used social analytics tool in the planet today.

Essential Points in Improving Community Management

As brands enter the world of social business, community management is becoming one of the most used buzzwords. Marketers now view the Internet as a market where they can increase brand awareness and promote products by leveraging social media networks. Facebook has become a destination-location for both merchants and consumers as well. In fact, some business owners think that Facebook pages are the new websites (SEO specialists will disagree!), but the way Facebook has paved the way for enhanced communication and portable medium for brand information made it more than a website. Facebook fan pages offer more than what a regular website can do to establish a business' online presence.

A brand's Facebook page puts a premium on user engagement and community management. Both are essential aspects when it comes to marketing. Community management is one of the essentials in today’s public relations. It elegantly combines customer relations management and brand development in many ways. Veteran community managers know that every comment, suggestion, or rant of a customer is valuable and can help a brand improve in a significant way. Multi-national brands like Dell and Gatorade are two companies that augmented their social media outreach. Dell launched the IdeaStorm blog after the controversial Dell Hell, and then came up with its Social Media Listening Command Center to serve its billions of customers who talk about Dell online.


Photo via Brian Solis

Today, more organizations and local businesses are realizing the sheer importance of enhanced community management using their social media accounts. Obviously, Facebook consumes most of the time of users who go online. One of my colleagues at Squareberry even mentioned that for most people - Facebook is the Internet. I bet most of you will agree. Without a doubt, people are flocking the Web to log in on their Facebook accounts. And whenever a user logs in on his Facebook, it's always an opportunity for every brand to catch a potential customer's attention. Community managers are the bridge of between brands and customers. It's not enough that you use a monitoring tool like Radian6 or Squareberry. The community manager is the linchpin in improving Facebook Page Management.

Here are some essential points in supercharging your social media account whether it's your Facebook page or Twitter account:

Encourage Thought-Sharing

Content has always been the fuel of the Internet. Without content, the Web will be a desolate place. As user-generated content or UGC becomes valuable to brands, community managers should entice fans and followers to increase brand mentions by sharing photos, videos, and most importantly, thoughts.

Humanize your Page

People always want something to discuss about. Feed them relevant content and they will easily respond with substantial feedbacks. The more they feel that a brand interacts with them, the more user engagement is increased.

Think like a Publisher

Feed your followers with "branded content", this will pave the way for their contacts to notice what they're Liking or Sharing. Thus, extending brand awareness outside of your followers' network. Branded content begets user-generated content as well!

Offer your Fans "Control"

Restrictions on Facebook pages is censoring user-generated content. You have to understand that your Facebook page is like a customer service center where every suggestion or rant should be attended to and approached in an objective manner.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Will It Work for BlackBerry?

Earlier this month, BlackBerry users were stunned by the massive service outage. RIM customers particularly in Europe and South America have experience difficulties in accessing messages and some email delays as well. Canadian-based RIM said that the huge outage was caused by a certain bug, most pundits speculate that RIM's saturated email system is the culprit for the system to collapse. After RIM fixed the issue, they tried to make amends with their customers by offering them a wide-array of premium apps for free. Aside from that, customers will get a month's trial of technical support service and current customers will get one month extension.

Free apps? Is this enough to easen the pains of the giant lemon that RIM threw at its billions of customers? Reality checked, damage has been done. While BlackBerry has been the only reliable and instrumental communications tool during the Virginia quake back in August, customers are an unforgiving lot, customers are to be pleased and not to be asked for sympathy. Remember Dell Hell? A couple of years ago, digital journalist Jeff Jarvis blogged about the lemon he encountered with a Dell laptop. Dell's customer service was poor at that time, they ignored Jarvis. Little that they know that Jarvis' snowball started rolling which eventually turned into an avalanche of online rants. And before Dell knew it, Dell's blog post sparked a movement dubbed as "Dell Hell" which has every customer throwing their complaints about their Dell gadgets. Twitter was still an "infant" at that time, and Dell had no practical medium to use to address every complaint there is on the Web.

After months of enduring Dell Hell, the computer giant came up with Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm blog both of which aims to empower the customer while enhancing customer service. Arguably, Dell is the pioneer of social media command centers which puts a premium in customer-company collaboration. Even CEO Michael Dell started a blog so he can interact with customers by using his blog as a podium for his personal insights. Dell has redefined customer relations management by turning a lemon into a lemonade stand. So what can RIM learn from the Dell Hell ordeal? Check out the list below:

Admit your Fault

Customers don't care if you're the best mobile service provide in the planet. They always expect you to deliver, but most importantly, you have to admit if a flaw like a service outage happens. Ignore a customer's rant and tons will walk away.

Offer a Consolation

People appreciate free stuff, but if you're offering free stuff as a consolation, always assure that the freebie is useful enough to make them forget your mistake. Also, a consolation means that your apology is really sincere, and that makes a customer special.

Assess Consumer Behavior After A Lemony Event

Always remember your customer is either your bestfriend or worst enemy. But most importantly, customers are your walking ads so better to monitor what your customers are saying about your brand on social media networks.

Improve your Command Center

Establishing your accounts across social media platforms is very crucial. Let an experienced community manager handle your Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, a community manager that knows how to calm flashmobs knows how his social media tactics very well.

Make Sure It Won't Happen Again

The title says it all, always evaluate what caused the error whether it's on the technical area or a CRM issue. If you make the same mistake twice, then you are your own problem.

Do Changes Help Sustain Social Media Networks?

For the past few months we've seen a plethora of product changes from Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. From Facebook's new user timeline profile to Google+'s hashtag support that has a tie-in with search results, it seems that social media platforms continue to be spontaneous and relentlessly throwing changes at users. Social networks continue to come up with innovations that enhance their sharing functions, but most of the time users get lost when they can’t comprehend to these changes that sometimes lead to a lack of interest in increasing social activity in networks.

Unless you're a social media manager for digital marketing agency, working for a dotcom, or still hanging out at your folks' basement, a person who's pre-occupied with his day job doesn't log in every minute on his Facebook or Twitter account. How frequent a social network rolls out such changes that we don't know, but one thing's for sure - social networks think changes help sustain their existence on the Web.

Instant Access Increases Usage

Arguably, Facebook is a success because of changes that present itself as improvements of their functionality. Just think of it, MySpace and Friendster were stagnant in terms of functionality and accessiblity. And when I mean accessibility, there weren't enough smartphone users when those social networks were riding the waves of momentum. It's not a secret that a glut of social media activities are being done by using a mobile phone.

Today, anyone can log in on their social media accounts through their mobile phones. Thus, instant and spontaneous access keeps social giants like Facebook and Twitter alive and sporadic in terms of use. Friendster and the old MySpace bit the dust because they were complacent in making innovations to improve functionality, but the lack of exposure on mobile gadgets failed to increase usability through instant access.

"New and Improved" Doesn't Always Bring Improvements

The sub-title says it all, some changes are only good on paper. Social networks couldn’t ascertain if a new function or feature is useful or not, users determine if a new function even makes sense for their daily use. Just look at Facebook Deals, Questions, and Places, those sounded good before they were launched but were ditched after users discontinued use because interest was slowly fading.

It simply suggests that users opt to ignore every function when it's eventually not used by a majority of users. And when people don't use a certain function anymore, it doesn't present any value at all. Recently, a survey from Mashable reports that about 56% of Facebook users who know about its recent changes actually dislike them. Facebook's much ballyhooed Timeline feature that gives a user’s contacts a glimpse of their "history" which poses some privacy issues for a number of users. Perhaps this is the reason why a definite date for Timeline's worldwide launch has yet to surface.

Enhanced Content-Sharing

The notable features on Facebook and Google+ are functions that urge marketers to think like publishers. Google+ rolled out its hashtag support and real-time search while Facebook launched its People Talking About metric. The former's function is very helpful because of its direct tie-in to Google search results, while the latter has given page admins and marketers something to look forward to, though has yet to present its value to ordinary users. The common denominator of these new functions is to increase user engagement through content-sharing.

The only thing that Facebook's People Talking About metric has yet to show is the value of knowing who's talking about a particular brand or product in order to determine substantial demographics. User-generated content fuels a brand's Facebook page, marketers and page admins should not only urge fans to click the Like button beside a post, they should promote thought-sharing to generate UGC which increases SEO as well. User-generated content is essential to all social platforms, it's the fuel of every brand's Facebook page or Twitter account that helps sustain user engagement.

The Rise of Social Advertising

If Twitter wants to put hair conditioner ads on Justin Bieber's tweets, they can do it. Why? Social media platforms are free, but they have to monetize their service and generate revenues in order to exist. Just picture out how TV began, TV networks needed ad placements to produce shows. Nowadays, most people are not watching TV, they are watching TV on the Web. This is why the Internet has become a destination-location for advertisers and consumers.

The use of social networks tend to consume people's time, for some it's been a routine already! And that's a clear opportunity for social platforms to monetize their service through paid social ads. It's a win-win situation, users get to use the social network for free and marketers can leverage social ads to increase ROI.

Tuesday Tip - Promote Your Complete Online Presence

It is important to promote all of the various places your organization is mentioned, listed, referenced or promoted online. You never know how someone interested in your organization will find you or where they will come from. Having a consistent and well kept complete online presence can help drive real world traffic from all corners of the internet.

These online locations may include:

• Review Sites: Yelp / TripAdvisor
• Search Engines: Google Places / Bing Maps
• Professional Listing Sites: Manta / Angie's List
• Social Media Sites: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla

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Links Back to Your Website

External links back to your website are an essential aspect of ranking higher in search engines. Having your organization listed across various websites and online areas gives you more links back to your website.

Get More Followers in More Places

Have more Facebook "Likes" and less Twitter followers? Have a bunch of Twitter followers but nobody "Liking" your Facebook Fan Page? It is fairly common to have a lopsided presence one way or the other. It is important to leverage your followers to gain more followers across social media sites.

If you have a strong Twitter following, send a message encouraging people to connect on Facebook. If you have a lot of fans on Facebook but a small number of Twitter followers, encourage your Facebook fans to get on Twitter. Rather than just asking, it is a good idea to offer exclusive content or promotions to people on certain networks.

For instance, you could post an update on Facebook which says: "We will be giving away a free gift card on Twitter this weekend! Follow us on Twitter to be part of the contest!". Special promotions or offerings like this can help drive followers from one social network to another.

Encourage Reviews

Reviews are a very important aspect of your online presence. They can help with SEO, drive new customers in and keep your reputation clean. Numerous bad reviews can turn away new people and hurt your online image. It is important to encourage people to write positive reviews about your organization online.

Rather than just sending a message asking people to review you, you should make it easy. Find your listing on a review site and send the direct link out to your followers on social media. Make it so easy that all they have to do is click and write a short review. Not everyone will do this, but the more you try the more results you will get to improve your online presence.

Why Trends Are More Powerful Than Ads

After the launch of promoted tweets, Twitter intends to leverage one of its primary assets - celebrity accounts.

Before, advertising was limited to media such as TV, radio, and print. Today, social media platforms are making the Internet a destination-location for advertisers and consumers alike. Social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are the reason why a person who doesn't even have an email account still goes online. Indeed, Twitter is one of the most-used media of communication nowadays, so it's a no-brainer if a free service like this will monetize its service through ads. After all, free television moved in a similar way through TV commercials.

In a recent interview with NYmag , Twitter CEO Dick Costolo explains how the social platform will monetize its service. Twitter's promoted tweets were launched recently and users didn't seem to mind if these ads were somewhat disguised as ordinary tweets. It only shows that Twitter's recent foray to monetize the service is paying up as long as they don't overdo it. Costolo aims to use celebrities who are considered influencers to catapult ads to their followers without alienating followers of a celebrity such as Charlie Sheen or Justin Bieber. If Twitter wants to put hair conditioner ads on Justin Bieber's tweets than they can. Twitter intends to use a frictionless approach, which means that they might try inserting organic ads on every celebrity's tweet. Essentially, "frictionless" in this sense means presenting ads in a discreet manner. Arguably, the most discreet way of promoting a product or a service on Twitter would be using hashtags. Wouldn’t you agree?


While this might be a good thing to Twitter in order to maintain its service, the essence of viral marketing might be a goner here. We all know that if a trend is all over the Twittersphere, it spreads like wildfire on other media whether it's social or traditional. The notion of social media being a two-way communication between a consumer and a brand is not yet passe. The concern here however is that when you start shoving a product or an ad down people's throats or smartphones, it becomes invasive due to the interruption. Reality check: trends influence people and ads interrupt them.

Nonetheless, people won’t quit using Twitter, people still watch free TV, right? People won't mind the promoted tweets and ad-glazed celebrity tweets. Social platforms run on user-generated content to make something viral, and there's a reason why Twitter has a Trending List on the user interface - trends are more powerful than ads.