Social Media 101
As a communicator, marketer, or brand manager, it’s simply impossible – and irresponsible – to ignore the social media universe. Marketing and public relations programs that fail to adapt to this shifting environment and incorporate new approaches are bound to miss opportunities and overlook key audiences, lack impact and honest engagement, or even backfire in the midst of a crisis.
Below you will find links to some of GroundFloor Media’s top resources with regard to social media news, emerging trends and digital issues impacting the PR and marketing industry. We encourage you to bookmark this page as it is updated regularly. Our GroundFloor Social Media (GFsM) team is always eager to hear from you, so if you know of another interesting resource we should share, please pass it along.
Blogs Worth Bookmarking—We advise subscribing to these influential websites/blogs by signing up for e-mail newsletters or activating an RSS feed that can be checked daily (e.g. Google Reader):
- ChrisBrogan.com: Explores the use of social media and social networking tools
- Mashable: The world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and social media news
- PR 2.0/Brian Solis: Top Technorati blog by one of the original thought leaders who paved the way for social media and PR 2.0
- Social Media B2B: Focuses on the impact of social media on B2B companies
- Social Media Examiner: Online magazine designed to help businesses discover how to best use social media tools to find leads, increase sales and generate more brand awareness
- For more blogs to explore, check out "Top 10 Social Media Blogs – The 2010 Winners," by SocialMediaExaminer.com
Articles We Love—Keeping up with the millions of blog posts and articles published daily on social media is a daunting task, so we’ve tried to make it easier by listing a handful of our favorites below:
- 5 Essential Apps for Your Business’ Facebook Fan Page – Mashable
- 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action – Mashable
- 3 Private Social Community Options for B2B Companies – Social Media B2B
- Social Media in Crisis Communications: Start with a Drill – PRSA
- Thinking About a B2B Social Media Crisis Plan – Social Media B2B Blog
- What Social Media Ad Types Works Best – Mashable
- How to Use Foursquare to Boost Sales at Your Retail Business – Business Insider
- Singing the Praises of the Twitter Hashtag – The Buzz Bin
- 100+ Ways Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn – LinkedIn Intelligence
- 30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook – Mashable
Getting Started—Knowing where to be begin is usually the hardest part of launching a social media program. First, start with a comprehensive “listening” phase to determine where your customers are “gathered” online and what they are talking about. Once you have this information, the tools below are the most popular for laying the tactical foundation of a successful campaign:
Facebook: Free-access social networking website that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school and region to connect and interact with other people. Follow GroundFloor Media on Facebook.
Twitter: A social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Follow GroundFloor Media on Twitter.
- Free Twitter Tools:
LinkedIn: The largest professional networking site in the world with more than 60 million members representing 200 countries and executives from every Fortune 500 company. Users can connect with colleagues and new business prospects, participate in industry-focused discussions, and recruit talent or search for jobs. Follow GroundFloor Media on LinkedIn.
Blog: A type of Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Check out GroundFloor Media’s blog. If you are interested in creating and maintaining your own blog, we suggest using eBlogger.
YouTube: YouTube is the world's most popular online video community, allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.
Flickr: Online photo sharing and management community that enables users to share and organize both photos and videos in a collaborative way.
Whether you are simply excited to get started, or you are ready to take a social media program to the next level, GFsM is here to help. Contact our team of social media junkies at gfsm@groundfloormedia.com for more information regarding our strategic social media capabilities and case studies.
