Feel free to let down your guard—a post in Facebook’s help center confirms that the messages are part of a recent Call Tracking Study outreach to better understand how many phone calls local businesses receive as a result of their Facebook page.

Obviously, Facebook is serious about wanting participation. They are offering a $500 credit for Facebook advertising if you sign up for the month-long study—not too shabby of an incentive, right? Once you’ve confirmed your participation, you’ll receive a special phone number from Facebook that you’ll need to put on your business page for one month. That way, Facebook will be able to count calls that occur as a result of the page, while also ensuring that the calls reach their recipients.

Here’s a copy of the message, courtesy of All Facebook:

With Facebook spam and hacking so prevalent, it’s no wonder that even a legitimate message like the one above was tagged as possibly suspicious. Yet it’s a smart move on Facebook’s part to stay up-to-date on these issues and let users know of legitimate correspondence—especially when it comes to a potentially valuable offer for small business owners. After all, free advertising is a pretty powerful perk.

In the meantime, we hope that Facebook will publish results of the study. Tying Facebook exposure to phone calls received can provide yet another valuable metric of what Facebook marketing can do for a business or brand. It’s our bet that businesses might not actually receive many calls as a direct result of their Facebook pages, but the proof of that will, of course, be in the pudding.

There’s a lot to be said for a well-designed business brand page on Facebook, and offering relevant information, shopping, great, entertaining, informational or otherwise valuable content on Facebook. Obviously, if you’re a small business that has a brand page but isn’t doing that, you’re probably not getting many calls. And signing up for the promotion will be a great test of that and can perhaps set you on a path to making some modifications that might make a difference.

Bottom line – it’s all about the data. The more data you can collect about the effectiveness of various platforms, the more you validate your digital marketing strategy—and can help sell skeptical parties on your efforts, too.  If you’re a small business with a brand page on Facebook and decide to participate in the promotion, we’d love to know about your results after the test period is over.

Image via Stock.Xchng/otjep

Recent Facebook Emails To Small Businesses Are Research, Not A Scam is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

All too frequently, the presentation that you’ve worked so hard to complete sits in a file on your computer once it’s concluded. You might need to borrow content from it for another presentation, but other than that, the fruits of your labor don’t get any additional exposure.

Why SlideShare?

That’s where SlideShare comes in. Think of SlideShare as a way to diversify your content marketing strategy—after all, presentations are forms of content, too. Not all of the presentations you prepare may be suitable for public consumption, but for those that are, SlideShare is an ideal solution.
When you upload your presentation to a platform like SlideShare, you not only extend the life of that material, but also show the public how you think, work and present solutions. Think of it as a way to provide an ongoing demonstration of your expertise and skills, an ideal way with which to attract prospective clients and other professional growth opportunities.

SlideShare: Traffic and Tips

SlideShare is one of the fastest growing content marketing platforms and much of its audience is comprised of industry professionals and business owners. According to the Content Marketing Institute, SlideShare receives 60 million visitors a month—one-third of which come from organic search. That means your presentation—and, by extension, your expertise—can reach a whole new audience that you wouldn’t have otherwise found. This means big things not only for you, but your brand or business, too. Increasing your online visibility equates to higher brand awareness and recognition, and SlideShare can be an important part of enlarging that reach.

SlideShare Best Practices

Before you post a presentation to SlideShare, you may want to do some editing, especially if your slide deck is long. Here are some tips from CMI on creating the optimal SlideShare presentation, including:

• Keep your presentation between 10 and 30 slides
• Use an average of 19 pictures
• Use an average of 24 words per slide (we think this is high)

SEO Always Matters

And as you tag your presentation, remember that search engine optimization always matters. Be sure to label relevant topics, industries and subject matter while envisioning what your prospective audience may be searching for. Provide an overview on SlideShare as to what the presentation is about and tempt viewers with what kind of takeaways they might get from the presentation. Some tips for SEO:

• Use keywords in the title
• Use keywords in the summary
• Use tags in your description
• Use large text in your presentation. It may seem easy for you to view it, but for SlideShare, bigger is always better.

I have to give a shout out here to Al Bonner of Presentation Transformations. I used to think I crafted pretty decent presentations. That is until Al started being in charge of them. And I realized that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. When you put your work on display for the world to see, be sure that it’s pretty stellar. And if you need someone to help fine-tune or craft your presentations for you, Al is the guy I recommend. I bring the vision and the ideas and Al turns them into somethingfar better than I did on my own.

The Power of Content Marketing

Creating great content is one thing. Getting anyone to see it, that’s a whole different animal. And so, don’t just upload your presentation and hope people stumble across it. There are so many ways to use the presentation once it’s on SlideShare and that’s part of what makes the platform so attractive. Write a blog post and embed it, put it on your company website, embed it in an email newsletter, share it on LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook. That way, that one piece of work that you invested so much of yourself in live on in so many different iterations and really produce some bang for the buck. Oh, and when the day comes that a presentation you created is featured on the homepage of SlideShare … your smile will be pretty broad.

The Benefits of SlideShare’s Pro Account

The thing that I especially love – because I’m a geek – is the analytics that SlideShare provides. We have a pro account, which you need if you care about things like analytics, and that allows us some insights into what pieces of our content are the most compelling. It also shows us – as of today, anyway, that 36.6% of our views come directly from being embedded in another piece of content and 32.7% come SlideShare. Those are views (and opportunities to show other show we think) that those pieces of content would not have otherwise had, had we not uploaded them to SlideShare.

Another thing that’s particularly interesting, and which helps you know what kind of content is resonating with your audience, is seeing which pieces of SlideShare content are the most embedded, and which are the most active, as well as which countries your viewers are coming from. It also gives me insights not only from a content marketing strategy standpoint, but from a new business development standpoint as well. If you know me at all, you know that kind of stuff is my crack cocaine.

Are you using SlideShare as part of your content marketing strategy? If so, have you seen some benefits?

Content Marketing: Leveraging Your Presentations With Slideshare is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Because this generation of fitness loving overachievers has no intention of slowing down or letting a little thing like getting older get in the way of being active and doing what they love. Not without a fight, and not without turning to the best that health care has to offer to keep them in fighting shape. Boomers need things like knees, hip replacements, plastic surgery procedures (don’t judge until you’re there) and maybe even weight loss-focused procedures.

Add to that the Boomers’ disposable income — they collectively spend over $3 trillion annually — combined with their use of technology, participation in social media channels, and savvy hospitals, physicians and specialty health care clinics can make significant inroads when it comes to reaching this target audience.

But having a presence on Twitter, Facebook and the like isn’t enough. And that’s where the smart marketers will prevail. Hospitals and health care providers must first understand the value of content marketing and what an integral role content strategy will play in their integrated marketing efforts moving forward.

Consumers today find the service providers they seek in one of two ways: they search the web and they ask their friends. Boomers make up 32.5% of the US adult population and a pretty significant 36% of the total online adult population. Boomers account for about one-third of the Web traffic on a typical day. (Pew Internet & American Life Project).

Using the web to search for information about health is one of the most common things that people of all ages do, including Boomers. This chart from Pew Internet (pictured below) illustrates that quite nicely.

The key to success when it comes to reaching these searchers is to respect the web enough to understand the value of search engine optimization and develop a subsequent content marketing strategy. And the second, equally as important, step is to understand the value of social channels and how building a brand presence in those social networking arenas – places like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn — and participating in those channels on a regular basis is an integral part of the process. And one of the ways to establish credibility in those social media channels is to regularly share relevant, informative, educational and sometimes even entertaining content – your own original content, as well as that produced by others.

How to get there? That’s really pretty simple. Great content already exists. Consider this: hospitals produce a large amount of printed material on an annual basis, and they also are home to some of the smartest, most talented and innovative minds around. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel; instead, hospitals and health care providers just need to look at some of the things they’re already doing. They can then establish some specific goals, and begin the process of exploring how to repurpose some of their existing content to suit a wide variety of online channels. That …. well, that’s what you call creating a content marketing strategy.

Content marketing isn’t brain surgery. In fact, it’s really just brand storytelling. And when it comes to hospitals and health care providers, there are so very many stories to tell. Using content marketing as a way of showcasing talented physicians, specialties, clinical trials and patient success stories is one of the ways hospitals can show thought leadership, innovation, compassion, commitment to and excellence in patient care and the like in a really effective manner. And by demonstrating those traits, health care providers will not only continue to build relationships with their current patient base, but also position themselves to reach new patients—especially those in the Boomer generation—as a result of online visibility and a thoughtful approach to an integrated marketing strategy.

Hospitals Want Boomer Business? Focus On Content Marketing And Social Media is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

What’s the appeal? To start, tablets offer the best of both worlds for consumers. For those on the go, they can easily take the tablet around to handle a variety of daily tasks like email, social networking and content consumption. For those that prefer to sit on the couch, they can easily access information or shop without lugging a heavy computer around.

A mere year and a half after the iPad launched, 11 percent of consumers report to owning a tablet device of some kind. Of that 11 percent, 73 percent use the tablet daily, while 53 percent use it to get their news. Do yourself a favor and check out the complete infographic via Hubspot.

The iPad is no longer the only kid on the block, though. He’s been joined by his friends like the Kindle Fire and the Droid Tablet. These new products have not only expanded the tablet market, but they’ve also made tablets available in a wider price range. Consumers who may have found the iPad to be cost-prohibitive now have a less expensive yet still powerful alternative, especially when it comes to the Kindle Fire. And as a result, we’ll likely see a rapid increase in the tablet audience. Hello, new customers and prospects!

This holiday season, four in five consumers are asking for a tablet instead of a laptop. As consumers demonstrate a voracious craving for content consumption on the go, marketers must be prepared with how they can easily convey information about a brand.

But why should marketers even care if the tablet is rising steadily in its quest for consumer popularity?

Consumer content and creation, people. With more than 278 million mobile subscribers in the U.S., marketers see the potential in the mobile space as a way to connect with customers. Not only are consumers on the go, but they want to be able to process information while sitting on a bus, waiting for an appointment or even while eating lunch.

In this economy, consumers are budget-conscious, and they’re multi-tasking all facets of their personal and professional lives. The lightweight design of a tablet makes it convenient and easy to throw into a briefcase or handbag and cart it wherever you need to go. The content needs to be easily digestable, and access to content is key.

Consumers are focused not only on the cost, preferring free to low-cost apps, but on the type of content and its source. Networks like Pulse can aggregate content into one place for free, but the study finds that consumers prefer to go directly to the news site. Seems to be a flashback to simpler times, when marketers and PR professionals would only pitch traditional media outlets and focus on ad placements in primetime.

For those that access content through a browser, 81 percent accessed news headlines via a direct news website, while only 68 percent went through a search engine and 35 percent went through a social network.

Not only do consumers want a quick way to access content, but other studies have shown that those who own both a smartphone and tablet are more likely to spend money in the mobile space. Just think: if your brand is able to convey a message though content or advertising, wouldn’t that help push sales to an online or mobile store? If it’s ease of use and on-the-go mentality that the consumer wants, they won’t go to the store. Instead, they’ll seek out a mobile option—and your brand must be ready to deliver.

They will want to have it all at their fingertips.

With tablets on the rise, how do you think marketers can convey their message? Will tablets be a part of your mobile strategy in 2012? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

The Power Of Mobile Marketing: Tablet Usage On The Rise is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Some days the universe just surprises you. And when it comes to customer service, you never know what you’re going to get from day to day.

Yesterday, I experienced both: the best customer service ever – and an example of some of the worse customer service ever.

The best – it was awesome. I shattered the screen of my iPhone (dropped it whilst waving at my kid – who can be mad about that?) and had to get a new one. Couldn’t get my contacts to sync and Nicki at Apple spent an hour with me on the phone fixing a problem with my laptop that was getting in the way. She was nothing short of stupendous. Oh, and then there was the follow up call after she lost me, to make sure it had all worked as it should, then there was the follow up email with her direct dial number, just in case I had any more problems. Seriously? Nicki, you rocketh.

The worst – it was so astonishing it merited this blog post.

My Friends at Romanelli Dental

Yesterday, Dr. Jeffrey N. Brown of Romanelli Dental, a Kansas City metro area dentist, confirmed that his practice is not the place for me. Or maybe it was his Treatment Coordinator who did that. In any event, here’s the story.

A few years ago, I needed a new dentist. Someone referred me to Jeffrey Brown, whose practice is in my neighborhood. I made an appointment and went. My first visit was rocky. In an effort be at my 9am appointment on time, I forsook my morning coffee and rushed the kids to school and then dashed to be on time for the appointment. The reward for being on time – they let me sit in the waiting room for 25 minutes, without ever an acknowledgement that they were running late. I was cranky. Made more so by lack of caffeine. Not a good start.

They finally saw me, and I mentioned I was cranky. When asked why, I was honest. I told them that rushing to make an appointment on time and then waiting an inordinate amount of time to be seen was not a good start to a relationship. They nodded – but no apologies were forthcoming. Hmmmm.

Nevertheless, six months later, I gave Romanelli Dental a second chance and went back for yet another appointment. It was at that visit that I realized they weren’t for me. Nothing tangible, just a feeling. You know what I’m talking about – it’s probably happened to you, too. They were nice enough, but the juju there wasn’t what I was looking for. It wasn’t a huge deal – I just wasn’t that into them.

I don’t know about you, but when I pick service providers – doctors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc., I’m looking for a connection. I need to feel good about them. I’m looking to feel as though they value my business, I need to like them as people, and like the way they do business and serve my needs. And I need to have a good feeling when I visit their places of business. And if I don’t, I keep looking until I do. To my way of thinking, life is too short to do business with people – especially people who provide health care – that you’re not really that into.

After that second office visit, I decided to find another Kansas City dentist that I could patronize. And I did. That was three years ago.

And Here’s The Kicker – The Very Bad Customer Service

Today, I got a letter from that dentist’s office. You’ll love this. Here’s what it said:

Dr. Jeffrey N. Brown. D.M.D.
Family & Cosmetic Dentistry
ROMANELLI DENTAL
7110 Wornall
Kansas City, MO 64113

Dear Mrs. Shelley (sic) Kramer,

During a routine audit of our files, it has come to our attention that you have not been seen in our office since November of 2008. (no sh*t Sherlock). We have previously tried to contact you, with little success, regarding your inactive status.

For this reason, we are sending you this letter to notify you we are dismissing you from our practice. We believe routine cleanings and exams are important to maintaining excellent oral health and prevention of dental disease. (Really? That’s a coinky-dink, so do I!). Without your compliance, we can no longer to provide our services to you. (My ‘compliance’? Really??)

For the next 30 days, we will see you on an emergency only basis. (You guys are too good to me). After that, we will no longer be your dental provider. (shuckey darn).

If you would like to continue your relationship with our practice, please notify us at 816-363-9993 today. (What a call to action! Where’s the phone??)

Thank you,

Kara L. Thiele
Treatment Coordinator

Whaddya think? Is this an affirmation of my earlier decision that this practice wasn’t for me — or what?

Even When Ending Relationships, Customer Service Still Matters

So I’ll quit making fun for a minute and be serious. People change service providers all the time. And when someone chooses to quit working with you or patronizing your business, it’s sometimes personal – and sometimes not. In this instance, I didn’t hate Dr. Brown and his staff, but they just didn’t seem like a fit for me. So, I found another dentist that I liked – and that was that.

To receive a letter like this, three years after I made the decision to quit patronizing this dentist, seems more than a little passive aggressive. Clearly, I decided to do business elsewhere. Why in the world do you suppose that anyone felt it appropriate to send this “take your business and shove it” letter to me?

Had they not done that, I wouldn’t have ever had much negative to say about Dr. Brown and his practice. They just didn’t suit me. But now – now they are a business that I can point to as a classic example of what NOT to do when it comes to customer service and customer relations.

So here’s the lesson. When someone determines that you and your business aren’t the right fit for them, it’s not a personal affront. Be gracious. Be professional. Don’t send hate mail, snotty emails or other “I’m going to have the last word in this relationship” missives. Act like a grownup, be professional and understand that it’s not a personal insult. We can’t all be all things to all people. And not all customer relationships were meant to be.

I wish Dr. Brown and his staff had realized that three years ago. And I very much wish that they hadn’t felt it necessary to send me this letter. It has forever changed how I feel about them. And I won’t even mention how I feel about their Flash website that plays music. I’m too nice for that.

Your Brand – It’s In the Hands of Your Employees, Too

One other point, and a message to all business owners – be aware of the service delivered to your customers at the hands of your employees. It’s a stretch, but maybe, just maybe Dr. Brown didn’t know about this letter that his staffer wrote. But at the end of the day, he’s the business owner – and he’s the one who’s responsible. The buck always stops with the person whose name is one the door.

What about you? Am I being uber critical or can you see how I might be offended by receiving a note like this? I’d love to hear what you think.

How Not To Suck At Customer Service is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

This guest post is written by Kat Gordon, founder of The 3% Conference and Creative Director, Maternal Instinct.

Pinterest.

Just saying it makes me swoon. What is it about Pinterest, this amazingly beautiful new social site, that is so dizzyingly addictive?

Not just one thing, but five.

#1 It’s all dopamine, all the time.

War-torn countries. Freeway pile-ups. Hurricane aftermaths. We see so many disturbing images every day. What a relief to surrender ourselves to image upon image of delicious eye-candy.

#2 It’s silent.

Women – especially those with kids – have a lot of noise in their lives. Most social networks add to the cacophony – with video sharing, podcasts, and music sharing. Even sites without sound have chaos built in. Twitter moves at the clip of Class VI river rapids. Blink and you might miss something.

Yet Pinterest is soundless. Something about the sumptuousness of the imagery, combined with the hush of its presentation, creates a deeply zen experience. I feel younger after every visit.

#3 It allows every woman a fantasy life.

Now that Martha Stewart’s daughter has penned a tell-all, blowing the cover on domestic divahood, women everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief. We don’t have to be superwomen after all!

Odd as it may seem, being freed from the expectation that we will live a gracious life frees us to imagine what that unattainable life might have looked like. We pin castles in Scotland we’d like to inhabit, complex confections we’d like to bake, Hollywood leading men we’d like to seduce.  We know we won’t, but we like pretending that we could.

#4 It gets others to weigh in on stuff.

Here’s an experiment: Ask a man the following:

“Honey, what style of drapes do you want for the living room?”

Prepare for stumped silence.

Now try this instead: “Honey, which of these drapes do you prefer?” posed alongside page upon page of box pleats, swag, valance, roman shades — in every hue of the rainbow with every imaginable style of tie-back and trim.

Suddenly, it becomes a rapid-fire yes/no game that yields a winner quickly.

Now imagine substituting almost any word in for the noun there.

Halloween treat

Bathroom tile

Cape Cod bed and breakfast

Bridesmaid shoes

Suddenly you’re getting emphatic feedback from kids, contractors, mothers-in-law, clients – anyone.

Pinterest helps expand the field of choice visually, then narrow it methodically. For busy women, this decisiveness tool is a godsend.

#5 It champions the underdog.

Women care deeply about where their shopping dollars go. And we love to support women-owned businesses. Pinterest creates a level playing field where small-time Etsy shop owners go head-to-head with the Anthropologies of the world.  We discover beautiful one-of-a-kind items without polluting the world with glossy catalogs.  And if we’re unsure which scarf/earrings/blanket we like the most, see #4.

If you’ve not yet explored Pinterest, perhaps it’s time you do. If you’re a marketer and you market products to women, this site should definitely be on your radar screen.

I love Kat, and it’s my pleasure to introduce you to her here. An expert at marketing to women, Kat is Creative Director at Maternal Instinct and founder of The 3% Conference, a conference for female creative directors and brands and agencies who want to do a better job of marketing to women. You can, and should find her on Twitter @katgordon and her agency at Facebook.com/MaternalInstinct.~Shelly

5 Reasons Pinterest is Like Catnip to Women is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Graphic via MoonToast

According to eMarketer, more than seven out of 10 internet users are online buyers. By 2015, it is projected that nearly 30 million consumers will leave the mall for good in favor of becoming strictly online buyers. The online space is now a forum through which consumers consult with friends and family or read online reviews to determine which businesses and products are worthy of their hard-earned dollars.

Social media has also served as an outlet through which smart business owners can solicit feedback from consumers to make sure their products, prices and services are up to snuff. Bottom line: positive online reviews not only boost your company’s online visibility but also the increases the likelihood that you can convert more online browsers into buyers.

So, will social networks continue to change how online shoppers…um…shop? In our world and for our clients, social media is all about leads and sales — so we reply to that question with a resounding YES!!!

According to Gartner Research, by 2015 50% of a company’s sales will be generated through their social and mobile platforms. Social networkers are more likely to be spenders, and are more willing to follow brands – reaching this group where they live should key element of your online strategy. If you can win the hearts of your highly social consumers, they can help your brand gain more exposure,  be seen as trustworthy to other consumers and help you begin to build an online community. From there, research shows that the online commerce and the continued community growth go hand in hand.

How To Be Successful in the Digital Space

As a business, no matter whether you’re large or small, being successful in the digital space comes down to a few things:

• Offer great products and service to your consumers
• Develop relationships with your highly connected, social consumers
• Offer compelling rewards and offers to keep your social consumers interested and engaged
• Have impeccable customer service

Power Your Brand Sales Through Social Media is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

The Social Media Masters Conference made a stop in Kansas City last week and it was great to be a workshop presenter. The topic I tackled: Corporate Blogging: How to Use Blogging for Leads and Sales, is a perpetual favorite. I speak at conferences several times a month in cities all over the U.S., but it’s always a treat for me to be able to contribute to events taking place in Kansas City and the Social Media Masters Conference is one of my very favorite events.

For those of you unfamiliar with the conference, Social Media Masters is an advanced level workshop series designed for agency professionals or business owners, bringing advanced insights for enterprise level marketing and communications, with an emphasis on engagement and execution and with a view toward helping you deliver results.

Corporate Blogging: A Direct Route to Leads and Sales

I love talking about corporate blogging because it’s something all of us at V3 are passionate about – and something we not only work with our clients on daily, but something that we know, without question, works. The presentation is embedded in this post, but a few of the most important points follow.

Your corporate website (whether your company is large or small) should be the hub of all your business operations;

In today’s web-based world, people do one of two things when it comes to products or services they want to buy: they search the web or they ask their friends (and sometimes both!).

Feeding your website fresh, regular, content is a way to tell search engines who you are, what you do, what products and services you provide. And those search engines – they’re a bit like teenaged boys: they have a voracious appetite. The more content you “feed” search engines, the more often your site is indexed, the more links are created, and the more value your site has in the eyes of the search engine. It’s really that simple. More content really does equate to more leads.

And a corporate blog, with content that’s relevant, informative, educational, entertaining, establishes you and your company as experts in your field and which provides a resource for clients and prospective clients is one of the very best ways to integrate new content into your website.

Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

All of this – it’s called Inbound Marketing. Traditional marketing – things like direct mail, display advertising, TV, radio, outdoor is great – and still a necessary component of an integrated marketing strategy. And by the way, those things are called Outbound Marketing – because they push your message out to your collective audiences.

But in a web-based world (that world where people rely on search engines and friends to lead them to things they want to buy), in order to be successful, businesses really need to understand the value of Inbound Marketing – and they need to be doing it.

Inbound Marketing includes things like blogging, podcasts, webinars, case studies, white papers and using social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, photo sharing sites like Flickr or Instagram or blogging sites like Tumblr and Posterous. When your marketing efforts include a mix of the traditional (Outbound Marketing ) and strategic doses of Inbound Marketing, you’ll be well positioned to succeed – and grow – your marketshare.

Blogging: It’s Really All About Sales

Oh, and the really cool thing about Inbound Marketing? If you care about things like cost per lead, inbound marketing costs less than outbound marketing. And, in today’s world, it’s generally more effective.

The thing about Inbound Marketing that really gets people’s attention – especially when it comes to corporate blogging – the more pages of your site that are indexed by Google, the more valuable it’s viewed in the search engine’s eyes. The more indexed pages you have, the more web traffic you have. The more web traffic you have, the more leads you get. Leads. You know, those knocks on the door that say “Hey, I need someone to do such and such … you look (and sound) like you know what you’re talking about.”

Inbound Marketing in general, and corporate blogging in particular, are like new business development on steroids.  And if you’re any good at what you do, leads lead to sales, and sales lead to more revenue. And more revenue, for just about any business out there, is a good thing. A really, really good thing.

If I’ve got your attention, that’s good. Because this isn’t something I think is true – it really is a fact. This is the basic premise behind good business practices today and if you’re trying to figure out your strategy and budget allocations for the coming year, turning your focus on Inbound Marketing makes good sense.

The presentation is below. The latter part of the presentation covers some of our favorite tools and things that help us not only deliver good value to our clients, but help us report progress along the way and measure growth and influence.

Watch for another post or two about some of the great presentations I got to see while at the Social Media Masters Conference and the next time the conference is in your area, make it a point to go.

For those of you unfamiliar with Social Media Masters, it’s the brainchild of the Social Media Club, the world’s largest organization of Social Media Professionals and Toronto-based Sensei Marketing. Kristie Wells, Chris Heuer of SMC and Sam Fiorella, Brandie McCallum from Sensi and all the other folks who make these events happen are terrific. And being a part of an event that they produce will not disappoint.

Kansas City Social Media Masters: Focus on Corporate Blogging is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Maybe you’ve heard a less enlightened person say things like “Facebook is a fad” or “Social media isn’t going to last.” Instead of hysterically laughing at them and walking away, try presenting some compelling statistics courtesy of one of our favorite methods of gathering data: the infographic.

The brilliant minds at Search Engine Journal are at it again with a comprehensive infographic that details “The Growth of Social Media.” The amount of data included in the infographic is impressive, if not a little intimidating, but it’s worth a thorough examination.

Some of our favorite stats?

• If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 3^rd largest, preceded by China and India.
• Need some persuading when it comes to the power of social networking and your job search? Fifty-three percent of employers research potential candidates using social networks. We’ve said it once, we’ll say it again: be careful about what you put on Facebook (and everywhere else!)
• Between 2010 and 2011, Twitter’s tweets per day have grown 252 percent – from 27 million per day to 95 million per day.
• If you need help convincing your company or brand to jump on the social networking bandwagon, consider these company usage statistics: 71 percent of companies use Facebook, 59 percent use Twitter and 33 percent use YouTube. Only 6 percent use MySpace. Sorry, Tom.
• The number of companies that have launched corporate blogs has steadily increased from 16 percent in 2007 to 43 percent in 2012.
• Flickr members upload 3,500 images per minute.

The bottom line? Since 2005, social media has demonstrated phenomenal growth, a trend that’s expected to continue at a similar pace in the coming years. Did any of the statistics presented in the infographic surprise or fascinate you? We’d love to hear your input!

How Fast Is Social Media Growing? is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Our clients expect us to know about all things web, technology and social media related so that they can focus their energies on what they do best. They rely on us and we take that pretty seriously. So, we play, beta test, obsess over data and stats, recommend for, recommend against, and experiment. A lot.

We also really like research. Yup, it’s true. The bookworms in high school often grow up to be people who continue to like nerdy things like facts, studies, white papers and the like.

The folks at Pew Internet regularly delight us with their research, and the infographic they created examining Internet use in 2010 is pretty awesome, too.

The infographic is broken down by generation, a classification that results in some handy data if you’re interested in learning the Internet habits of a particular age group.

Pew Internet identified a number of online activities that are becoming widespread regardless of an Internet user’s age. They include:

• Getting news
• Buying products
• Making travel reservations or purchases
• Online banking
• Seeking religious information
• Rating products, services or people
• Making online charitable donations
• Downloading podcasts

Of course, email and search engine use remain the two most popular online activities across all generations, yet it’s fascinating to see the increase of other uses, which speaks to the ever-increasing pervasiveness of the Internet as a daily tool.

One other interesting find from Pew’s research? Blogging is declining among those in younger generations, including teenagers and Millennials (ages 18-33), yet is increasing in most older generations. Additionally, the fastest growth of social network users can be found in Internet users ages 74 and older, meaning social networks aren’t just youth-centric platforms; instead, their appeal stretches across nearly all generations.

So how about we conduct our own mini research sample? What do you use the Internet for, besides email, search and social networking? Do you see Pew Internet’s research results mimicked in your own online behavior? I’ll go first: I use the Internet for email, search, social networking, research, shopping, reviews (pre-buying behavior), maps/directions, travel, banking … oh snap, I guess it’s true. I use the Internet for just about everything. You?

How People Use The Internet is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency