When it comes to social media, there is an ongoing focus on driving traffic to your digital home bases and outposts such as websites, blogs, and social networks. But how about using these channels to drive traffic to your physical store? In a recent post on Harvard Business Review, Alexandra Samuel presents a series of data-driven Pinterest tactics that drive sales to brick and mortar retail locations. These findings are part of larger study, From Social to Sale: 8 Questions to Ask Your Customers, that offers some great insight on the factors that impact consumer social purchasing decisions. This infographic is designed to summarize the … [Read more...]

This post was originally published on Social Media Explorer The goal of every content marketer is to have his/her information shared across digital channels by their audiences. This is often easier said than done. What factors contribute to people sharing the content they consume online? In researching the content for this infographic I came across a post in my Delicious archive that helps answer this question. Leo Widrich over on the Buffer Blog wrote a great post about what makes content spread. In it, he analyzes some of the elements that helped one particular blog post get over half a million likes. He also references an interesting … [Read more...]

This post was originally published on Social Media Explorer Although social media continues to thread its way into the fibre of more and more organizations, my experience is that many small to mid-sized companies are still lagging behind when it comes to the development and implementation of their social media strategy. A recent study by the Altimeter Group might suggest otherwise, stating that "most companies feel they have fairly coherent social strategies", but given the advanced nature of the sample i.e. social strategists, large organizations, etc. my sense is that the findings may not represent the experiences of the majority of … [Read more...]

Originally posted on Social Media Explorer The idea of business transparency is not a new one but social media dynamics may be forcing organizations to take another look at how openly they communicate with their audiences. Mass adoption of social tools and technology have created an information democracy. Stakeholders are beginning to expect open access to relevant content and the ability to participate in dialogue that will help them satisfy their information needs. All this for the purpose of building trust in a product, service or organization. Trust is the foundation of all relationships and relationships are what fuel business … [Read more...]

News flash – there are costs associated with social media. It's well established that social media technologies, the applications, networks and platforms that drive tactical implementation, are not considered by most to be a cost barrier. The fact is that many of the tools required to implement and manage an effective social media program are free or very affordable. But this doesn't mean that there are not real costs costs associated with social media – as my friend Jay Baer says, it's a "different kind of expensive". The general consensus is that companies need to dedicate resources to social media in the form of time and labor in … [Read more...]