It’s official: I’m a twit. I avoided this self realization for a few days now but I’ve finally come to terms with it. I can openly admit now, with the support of my fellow DragonSearch employees, that I am indefinitely and wholeheartedly addicted to Twitter. Ever since I picked up the book Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel, I’ve been obsessing. My mission has been to utilize it as much as possible and to educate those who have not had the opportunity to get to know Twitter. The thing that still surprises me is not the number of people using Twitter, which is in the millions now, but the few who don’t use it. What surprises me even more are the businesses that choose not to use it. Now it might seem like I’m late in the game but there are still businesses out there that don’t understand the benefits of Twitter.
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Archive for the ‘Social Networking Training & Consulting Related’ Category
Upcoming social media workshop in the Hudson Valley
May 22nd, 2010 by Ric DragonUsing Social Media to Transform Business
A Social Media Master Chef’s Guide to Consumer Engagement and Marketing Success
at Hudson Valley Business Edge, June 17th, 2010,
In this era of online experience marketing, you owe it to yourself and to the success of your business to take advantage of Ric Dragon’s workshop – virtually a social-media cooking class! Today, a brand needs to know which social media channels its customers are using and how to engage them. In this workshop you will learn how to combine online apps into a secret sauce – one that will transform your business into a living, breathing hub your customers come back to again and again. You’ll learn the interactive digital techniques that align the way you have been marketing with the way consumers like to shop today. And BTW, “fresh today” cannot be overemphasized. If you think collecting customer e-mails is enough or if you’re using last week’s digital marketing recipe, there’s a good chance your marketing is already stale!
What you will learn:
- How to connect social media with your tried and true marketing
- Do it yourself techniques that energize small business social-media marketing power
- How to put your Web site, your blog and social media apps to work in the social sphere
- How to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn in marketing
- What are the “must” ingredients you absolutely need to win in the new world of social marketing?
- The top mistakes that businesses make and how to avoid them
Let us know if you’re thinking of attending!
Developing a Personal Social Media Policy
May 21st, 2010 by Claudia D'ArcySocial Media Policies; not just for Businesses Anymore
As social media consultants, one of the things we do at DragonSearch is to help our clients develop a social media policy for the company and their employees. We have created a seven plus page document that discusses as many of the needed concerns, issues, and possibilities that are relevant for a business social media policy and their employees. After all, social media networking is social.. so the more people involved, the more social it will be. However, every business, whether they are active in marketing on the social level or not, should at least be discussing what they find acceptable for their employees. No one wants to find out they need a policy after an employee tweets all the company secrets or some other social blunder.
What About Those Social Media Blunders?
There was a really great article in Social Times this week by Andrew Rosen about protecting one’s self from social media remorse. I thought it was a really needed article because I have had many of the same conversations with people about the very issue and other related things like integration of our public selves through social media. As more and more of our lives, or history and our personalities gets online though social media interactions, the number of blunders or awkward situations will continue to grow. Of course, we are all human and mistakes will be made , but now it’s really really public and often, once you hit send, you can’t get it all back! But the article talks about what to do after you have blunder, not how to avoid the blunder in the first place.
So I started thinking about my almost 10 years of being all over the place online and honestly there is only one major blunder that I wish did not happen. In the same span of years, I have taken down one blog post, edited one cousin on FB, and back down from one discussion. Not a bad track record, I think. So I started thinking about why I don’t have a major issue with so much of this stuff… (more…)
Using Social Media in and for Ulster County
May 14th, 2010 by Claudia D'ArcyLocal Solutions for Ulster Country Tourism
In my last blog post, How Ulster County Can Use Social Media to Promote Tourism, I expressed my feelings after attending the Ulster Tourism Conference. Based on almost half of the topics that were promoted for the event (Viral marketing via YouTube and other social media, Effective public relations in a digital age, Influencing travelers’ decision through online media) , and the presentation, I did feel that it was a missed opportunity to bring the industry players together and teach them how to work together with social media to benefit Ulster County Tourism and our economy overall.
So, until the Tourism Advisory Committee sends me my engraved invitation to join with promises to listen with baited breath to every word I utter, I’m going to present some of the social media tactics that we encourage our clients to use her at DragonSearch. Of course, I have personalized it for Ulster Country Tourism, but really any small business of struggling industry can apply to their own marketing. (more…)
How Ulster County Can Use Social Media to Promote Tourism
May 11th, 2010 by Claudia D'Arcy
I attended the Ulster County Development Corporation & Ulster County Tourism‘s Ulster Tourism Conference held at the Kingston Holiday Inn on May 4th. As part of the local community and also because we serve clients who need to promote their own local tourism destinations, I signed up months ago to hear more ideas about what people are doing in our area.
The conference was well attended, clearly showing that many local people cared enough about this subject to spend the time and money to learn about how to drive tourism in our area. It makes sense, after all, many of them are small business owners who count on out of town business to make their living and keep their employees paid.
Ulster Country Tourism: Working Together
The conference started with a common theme I have heard lately: working together as a community. The first speakers spoke of the Ulster Tourism Industry not fighting over the same slice of pie anymore, but collectively joining forces to better not only individual establishments, but our whole community; our economy, our employment base, our tax roles. Increased tourism benefits all who live here. So, as a firm believer in community and reaching out, sharing information, etc. I thought it was off to a great start. (more…)
Social Media Fail Equals Success
December 23rd, 2009 by Claudia D'ArcySara Lee and the Perfect Cake Story
I’m going to completely contradict myself.
I am not at all a violent person and don’t ever really intend on pushing ill will towards anyone, but I do believe in venting as a healthy release of emotions. Maybe you have noticed that when I get annoyed with particular brands that fail to live up to my expectations, I do what I do best which is research them online, abet sometimes in a stalking kind of way, and demand that they right their current injustices.
Social Media Flaws
Yes, I do tend to be more critical of companies that are trying their hand at various social media outreaches and fail (cough:cough:best:buy:fail:twelp:force:cough), but I also use that research to look at them from both the perspectives of a SMM consultant and specialist and then also, from a user experience, since I am both. Usually, it is an attempt by a brand to approach social media in a way that shows huge fault lines and mistakes, which I like to learn from. Better their mistakes than mine!
The Long Tail Value of Social Media
December 10th, 2009 by Claudia D'ArcyROI & Social Insecurity
Measuring the worth of social media continues to be a quandary. I’m not a super analytical person by nature, so the concept is not something I find fascinating. In general, I tend to value things that cannot have price tags placed upon them. I like the fluidity of social media; how one can follow a media trail and get lost or when the connections one makes today become even more valuable, suddenly, within the breath of a week. I don’t really want to put a monetary price tag on the value of a re-tweet, but sometimes, we must.
Measuring and Quantifying
What I do is hard to measure. (more…)
