Join the PRoactive Mastermind Group on Facebook

192142 Resource 81698 49412 49412 1197388666264 1197389521812 Controlled Actionable Social Media SES Chicago

Social Media step you can take right now

The complaint I hear most often at search and social media conferences is that while the content of the sessions is excellent, it's at a high-level and very general.  They want specifics. What can I do right now, how do I get started? is the question I often get asked.This session was perfect for folk who want the nitty-gritty, tactical view.Todd Parsons of BuzzLogic, one of the main players in the field of online reputation management, was the first speaker.He set the stage with these stats:<ul><li>65 million Americans read blogs every day</li><li>60 percent do it explicitly to  get an opinion</li><li>65 pecent of 'power shoppers' spend at least 10 minutes prior to purchase getting online opinions. </li><li>3.5 billion brand-related conversations take place online every day.</li></ul>First and foremost listen to the conversations and be aware of what is being said about you.Action:  Get an RSS reader and subscribe to searches on your brand name in Yahoo News and Google Blog SearchLinking is what connects all these conversations and you need to initiate and foster good linksAction:  Create good content with authentic stories - engage your audience. <a href="http://www.press-feed.com/">Syndicate this content</a> and add links that lead back to your website.Action:  Track the conversations and see who links to whom. <a title="buzz logic" href="http://www.buzzlogic.com/" target="_blank">Buzz Logic</a> does this very well. (I used BuzzLogic for the case study in the November <a title="PRoactive Report" href="http://www.falkowinc.com/inc/proactive_report.html" target="_blank">PRoactive Report</a>, which covers online reputation management. It gives you the exact picture of how the  conversation is developing and spreading and the best place to engage.)Next up was Adam Lavelle of iCrossing.We're living a connected lifestyle now and we have more and more devices at out fingertips to access content. And it's driven by content.. By 2010 70 percent of content will be user generated.Your users are shaping the perceptions about your brand. Action:  Listen.  Be usefulSome brands no longer own the conversation about their brands. He cites 3M and PostIt notes as one example.Action:  Join forums where people talk about your brand. Become an active member and answer their questions. Offer useful input and support. Use it to build links back to your website.  Do not be overtly commercial.  Be helpful.Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide spoke next.Jennifer's actionable tips focused on using Flickr. Images are very important online - they do get people engaged. And in Image Search Technorati pulls from Flickr and so does Yahoo, particularly for 'long tail' phrases (those with more than a few words in the phrase.)Action:  Add images to your site and set up an account at Flickr.  Tag all images with keywords and phrases.Flickr has a very active community.  Action: Get engaged in niche groups relative to your market.  Ask questions. Encourage any brand evangelists you find on Flickr.Flickr has feeds.  You can use the feeds from your Flickr images to drive traffic to your blog.Action:  Use your Flickr images in your blog posts  9 application/xml false chicago online reputation management ses social media Join the PRoactive Mastermind Group on Facebook Be a part of discussions about social media and online reputation management http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7183316090 The number one actionable item was listen first and then engage. Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 sally 24.205.81.148 false true false false true 177676 false false true false false false true 81698 blog blogsite/Falkow/web