54 Percent of CIOs ban Social Media At Work

An interesting new study shows that social media still can’t get no respect in the workplace. According to a study by Robert Half Technologies, 54 percent of CIOs prohibit any social media use in the office. That’s a serious number.

Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology (IT) professionals on a project and full-time basis, conducted phone surveys of more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States who employ at least 100 employees. CIOs were asked one question:

Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work?

Their responses:

Prohibited completely: 54%
Permitted for business purposes only: 19%
Permitted for limited personal use: 16%
Permitted for any type of personal use: 10%
Don’t know/no answer: 1%

I have to admit, in the age of Zappos, Comcast and Dell, I was a bit surprised to learn that more than half of CIOs have banned social media inhouse. Executive Director of Robert Half Technology Dave Willmer noted that the reason for the ban may be due to social media’s tendency to “divert employees’ attention” away from pressing work priorities in favor of communicating with friends. He’s right. It probably does to some degree. But it can also be an incredible customer retention and sales tool. And frankly, the folks misusing social media are probably the same ones checking email all day.  If that’s the reason you’re shying away from social media, you’re not competing in today’s world.

Something that also caught my eye was the division between using social media for business use vs using it for personal use. Because they’re pretty much the same thing. The goal behind social media is to make your business personal. And if you don’t understand that, you’re going about it the wrong way.

This sentiment was also noted in a post by Heidi Miller where she shows how social media isn’t about the companies. It’s about the people behind them. Comcast isn’t on Twitter. Frank Eliason is. All the Dell representatives you meet have actual names and faces. We get the tidbits of their lives right along with the company agenda. That’s what people fall in love with. It’s the people behind these companies that make them interesting and make customers engaged and want to do business with them. By trying to separate business from personal, you lose a lot of that sentiment. You take the heart out of it.

I think in the next few years, we’re going to see social media being more and more accepted into the workplace. Truth is, there’s no greater customer relations tool out there.

The survey also offered some tips for protecting your professional reputation while on social media, including:

• Know what’s allowed
• Use caution
• Keep it professional
• Stay positive
• Polish your image
• Monitor yourself

I think it’s about talking to employees, instilling responsibility in their words and tweets, educating them on how to use social media correctly, but then also giving them room to be human. No one is positive all the time. No one is that polished. I don’t think employers should be leashing every single one of their employees into the world of social media, but there is a solid place for it and simply banning it from the workplace is not the way to go about it. Educate; don’t lag behind.

From Small Business Trends

Blogger Clinic: Increasing Posts-Read-per-Visit

Posted by RobOusbey

Hi there – I’m a blogger. Could help me? I read that massive post about ‘lessons learned from three years of blogging‘ and I’ve been brimming with ideas ever since. However, I’d like to attract more views to each of my posts.

OK, I can help you with that, by using one equation and five quick techniques to get you thinking. Here’s the equation:

Number of Posts Read = Number of Visits * Number of Posts Read on Each Visit

Rather than just trying to get more people to your site, we should spend some time talking about the final part of that equation – the number of posts read by each visitor.

So you’re going to help me increase page views?

Not quite. There’s a whole bunch of techniques to increase page views without increasing the number of your posts which are read. As an example: you can publish each articles over a number of pages, and make people click ‘next’ buttons – each single read of a post now generates three page views. Great for a spike in CPM advertising revenue, bad for a long-term play of not irritating you visitors.

OK, I get it. So where do I start?

One technique to consider is that of linking to related posts or content.

Ah! But I already do that – there’s a WordPress plugin I have …

The links in the sidebar or at the end of the article appeal to users who have finished reading and ask ‘what do I do next?’ These might encourage some people to read another post, but users might just wander off through any other link. Whilst they are reading, you have the visitor’s undivided attention – so offer them a few ‘next step’ sign-posts during the article.

For example: You could open the post with a reference to another post, and use a compelling title which encourages them to open it in another tab, and ‘save for later’.

Wait – is that what you did at the top of this post?

Indeedy. I’d also suggest doing something similar near the end of the post, so that you can suggest to the reader a ‘next step’ before they finish reading. Don’t let their attention wander – if they’ve read to the end then they are likely to be happy to read other pages that you recommend. And don’t scroll down to the bottom just to check if I’ve done it here – the answer is yes.

Right, I’ll intelligently include a few ‘related posts’ in the text. What’s next?

A basic idea that is often overlooked is variety. Shake up your style of posting and try some different formats that aren’t just text. SEOMoz has done this quite well recently, with regular videos, downloadable PDF resources, list posts, slide shows, etc.

This allows visitors to read more of your posts without succumbing to the strain / snow-blindness of page after page of similarly formatted posts.

Is that why you published this post in a Q&A format?

It wasn’t intentional – I actually pinched the idea from a mathematics post about the P versus NP problem.

Right. Keep my blog varied to keep visitors interested. Do you have any recommendations about style?

Yes, two actually, and I hope you won’t feel like you are ‘selling out’ to follow them. The first is to stay upbeat – reading a blog with posts that are consistently negative or miserable is tiring. It’s like talking to that guy who always sees the worst and moans about everything – you can’t wait to get away.

If your posts make the reader smile a little, then they’ll be more likely to linger in the ‘happy place’ you have created for them.

The other style point?

I believe that visitors will spend longer on a site if their intelligence is taken for granted, and they are made to feel clever. Avoid long explanations of basic concepts and let your visitors do their own research on any topics you mention which they aren’t familiar with. Similarly, there’s no need to oversimplify the reading level of your text.

Fortunately, we’re lucky that the SEOMoz blog is read by knowledgeable, professional types who are more than capable of reading about advanced concepts and know how to do their own independent research if necessary.

Aw shucks, thanks!

OK, one final idea about structuring your blog: remember that the snippets you display on category pages etc will influence people’s decision on whether to visit a page. However, as these snippets target current users, they may have a different focus to a snippet you would use offsite – say in an RSS feed, on a social book marking site, etc.

For example, you may choose to use this text when persuading people to visit the site:
“A popular piece of traditional SEO advice is ripped apart by Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz. Of course we should just focus on the user – right? Find out why that might be wrong, and then join the debate!”

but on the site we should use:
“You’ve undoubtedly heard the old industry adage: ‘Do what’s right for users and engines will reward you with higher rankings.’ This is tragically misleading, and this post covers specific tactics you must consider, beyond the purely user-focused aspects.”

(By the way: if you’ve not yet had the opportunity, I do recommend reading Rand’s post about this topic and checking out the healthy debate it generated.)

Is this the bit where you hand over to the readers and ask for their suggestions in the comments?

Absolutely. Every post I’ve written for SEOMoz has been followed by some great additions, I’m keen to see what you come up with today.

Top 10 Publicity Tools for $1 or Less

Just like many of you, I like to save money.  That’s why I offer so many “Do-It-Yourself Public Relations” products. I’m also always on the lookout for other useful, inexpensive publicity tools.

Here’s a list of tools you can use to get publicity for $1 or less:

1. Help a Reporter:  Free leads from reporters who are looking for sources for stories.

2. Contact any Celebrity: One week’s trial for a $1.  Get contact information for celebrities, to get potential endorsements.

3. The Gift List: Free trial of a list of media contacts for consumer product companies.  This link will also give you a 15% discount should you decide to get a subscription.

4. Contacts on Tap: Free 15-day trial of a media contacts database.

5. Chases Calendar: Free listing of a holiday you can create. This annual calendar is used by media everywhere.

6. Ezinearticles.com: Free directory of articles. Submit yours with a resource box at the bottom to drive traffic to your Web site.

7. Write a guest post or get interviewed or mentioned by a top blogger, with a link to your Web site – free.

8. Win an award – Takes time to submit the award application, but usually no money.

9. Create profiles and use free social media tools including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

10. Set up and write posts on a free WordPress blog platform. These posts often get picked up in search engines, and may be found by reporters searching for sources on specific subjects.

Use these tools and watch your publicity efforts become more successful – for not a lot of money.

* * * * *

About the Author: Margie Zable Fisher is the President of Zable Fisher Public Relations, a small business public relations firm, and is the publisher of Women Business Owners Digest (www.wbodigest.com). To get free publicity opportunities in her weekly newsletter, visit www.zfpr.com.

From Small Business Trends

Tips To Get People To Join Your Facebook Fan Page

With its new tagging ability, Facebook has made its site a whole lot more appealing for small business owners. Small business owners have the ability to seek out the people talking about them and users can get their voices heard, knowing businesses can check to see who has tagged them. But before either party can take advantage of Facebook’s new feature, you first have to get your customers to opt into the relationship. You have to give them a reason to friend your Facebook Fan page, and that’s not always easy.

I’ve written in the past about how to create a Facebook Fan page – how to set it up, what to put on it, how to make it look and feel like your brand. But how do you get people to actually want to join the page? How do you combat brand fatigue and take them from a passive observer to a full-blown brand evangelist?

You have to create an incentive.

Make People Feel Part Of Something

Think back to high school. You joined cliques for survival and to help you feel liked, respected, wanted, etc. You joined because you were made to feel like you were missing out if you weren’t part of the group. Social networking works the same way.

It’s very easy to be passive on Facebook. If you want someone to take that step and openly associate themselves with your brand, you need to make them feel like they’re missing out by NOT being part of your community. That they’ll be losing out on a common experience or missing the joke if they stay on the outside. You create that by making your community sound and feel 100x times larger than it actually is (unless you’re purposely trying to seem small and elite). You fake it until you make it. You make tagging part of your fans daily interaction with you. You make a game out of it so that you’re always showing up on their wall (with a link to your Fan page) and they’re always showing up on your page. Doing this helps spread your brand, it keeps you in people’s top of mind, and it makes them curious as to why they’re seeing you all over the place. I mean, how else do you get people to become fans of tarantulas?

Appeal To Core Members

Every group has a core bunch. The handful of folks who are responsible for change, for leading things, for getting everyone excited and spreading the company message. Reach out to these folks and get them involved in talking about your Fan page.

Create your promotional army by hand selecting the major players, sending the messages thanking them for their support, and then telling them that you need their help. Make them feel important and like they’re on the cutting edge of whatever you’re doing. Get them to always be talking about you and tagging you places. These types of action increase your trust, build your credibility and give you social proof. These types of connectors are usually the ones with very large social networks on sites like Twitter or Facebook. Ask them to use Facebook’s Suggest feature to “suggest” that their friends fan your page. When the request comes from them, it’s harder for others to decline and it just reinforces that “inside joke”.

Offer Exclusive Content

Facebook is much more intimate than the other social media sites. Users are less likely to invite strangers into their networks and are wary of brands. If you want their attention, you have to give them something of value for their efforts. Something exclusive that they can’t get from your Web site, Twitter account or anywhere else on the Web.

The most popular way of doing these seems to be through Facebook-specific coupons or special offers. Friday’s is offering free hamburgers, Victoria Secrets gave away free undies, Sears gave away coupons and gift cards, etc. Other brands give away exclusive content via video, photos, applications, advanced notice of events, or even just real interaction with other members. Figure out what your customers crave and then give it to them.

Make Your Fan Page Their Forum

No one wants to join a group where they have no voice. They want to interact with the brands they love and feel like they’re being listened to. Once of the best ways to get people to fan your page is to use it as a forum where you ask and listen to your customers’ advice. Let your members lead by turning your Fan page into a place where users can express themselves, to talk about what they don’t like, and things like they’d like to see you do in the future. If you have an upcoming campaign or product you’re working on create a Facebook focus group that encourages people to offer their input. If word gets out that your Facebook Fan page is where you go to crowdsource your ideas, people are going to want to be a part of that. Make your Fan page the place where your customers can go to get heard.

Facebook Fan pages have always been a valuable way to build a community and learn about your audience. However, now they’re also a great way to get your users to spread the word about your brand to their friends with the use of tags. Give them a reason to join your Fan page. Make it exciting and worth their time. And then encourage them to talk about you, to tag you and increase the eyeballs interacting with you online.

From Small Business Trends

Does Promotion Work on Twitter?

Does Promotion Work on Twitter?

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

So, if you’ve made it here from twitter you’ve probably concluded that this is either a brilliant ploy or I’m an idiot, but either way, there will be learning. If that’s not how you got here you should know that I tweeted this today [Please click my junk ->su.pr/linky< - and RT, *PLEASE* you know you want to] I couldn’t think of a more obnoxious promo tweet, but it did seem to get the desired effect.

Ah, but to my real point today – Can you use twitter to promote? To that I say absolutely, but only to the same extent you can use any platform to promote. Selling something in any environment is a function of trust and/or expectation – you can sell almost anywhere you have established trust and your efforts to sell are in line with the expectations of those who receive your message. While this varies depending upon what you are trying to sell, it’s essentially true of TV, radio, direct mail, in-person sales, email, and on twitter.

I have grown to trust many people on twitter and their attempts to directly promote their blog content, products, and events are often welcome reads for me. I’ve also found some folks that only use twitter to promote special prices and promotions and I follow them expecting to read about deals. I know that there are those in the twitterverse that cringe at the thought of using the platform for anything blatantly commercial, but that’s just silly – almost every business or person engaged in some business enterprise on twitter is using it for things blatantly commercial – it’s some are way better at the subtle art of building trust and setting expectations.

For illustration I’ll pick on the master of the trust building approach – Chris Brogan. Chris is amazing at engaging his following on twitter. Anyone could learn by watching how active and authentic he is and how willing he is to give. Throw on top of that the fact that writes an incredibly useful and thoughtful blog and you’ve got a dynamic duo. Chris has built an asset on twitter that creates direct commercial value for him, but he’s done it in a way that’s all about building trust. (It’s just a side benefit that the twitterverse is a better place because of him) Now, I don’t know that he thinks about it this way and I’m not quoting from his business plan, I’m merely observing reality – this is one rockin way to sell on twitter.

I call this approach the 3-step shimmy. It’s the ultimate in permission based marketing and very effective in social media settings. Back in the day, marketers learned to effectively use 2-step ads: step 1 – get them interested with the lure of valuable info and step 2 – deliver that valuable info along with a sales message. In the social media model it’s: step 1- build awareness and trust 140 characters at a time, step 2 – allow folks to find a treasure trove of content on your blog, and step 3 – overwhelm them with so much expertise and engagement that they simply can’t do anything but ask how they can employ you and your products and services at a premium price. That’s the 3-step shimmy.

So, what about direct selling by way of expectation? By now you’ve surely heard about @delloutlet. When you follow Dell Outlet you are signing on to receive ads, you expect to get great deals tweeted at you. Because that’s what you agreed to and expect, Dell has your permission to promote directly through twitter. (It, of course, doesn’t hurt that you may already trust Dell too.) What about pizza though – you may not be as aware of NakedPizza in New Orleans but they have over 5,000 twitter followers who anticipate their 2 for 1 tweets. In addition, you can always use filtered search to find people who are asking for specific solutions in their tweets and thereby kind of broadcasting for an expectation. All great ways to tap trust and expectation to promote on twitter.

And special shout out to AmberCadabra, from whom I borrowed the click my junk riff . Amber’s points and mine mesh nicely, just from a slightly different view.

Image credit: griffhome

What You Don’t Know About Marketing to Women

Don’t you hate it when you think you know something — and you don’t?

That’s what happened to me when I decided to skim “Why She Buys,” by Bridget Brennan, Crown Business, 2009. I’m a woman, a marketer, and a business owner. So, I should know why women buy, right?

Wrong.

I have learned so much from this book. It offers terrific information, and many real-life examples. I have referred to it over and over again (and it just came out in July!).

In addition to explaining how to market to women, the book discusses the five global trends driving female consumers, how to create products with a female focus, the fundamentals of selling to women, and more.

One of my favorite parts was how to market to women. Here are some key points:

1. Women are females first and consumers second. So, to market to the female consumer, you need to understand gender differences.

2. The female economy is enormous. Here are some statistics:

• 80% of apparel purchases (for men, women and children) are made by women
• 52% of all new vehicle purchases are made by women (and 85% are influenced by women)
• 40% of consumer electronics purchases are made by women (and 61% of purchases are influenced by women)
• 70% of health care decisions are made by women
• 70% of travel decisions are made by women
• 90% of women participate in decisions that affect their household retirement and investment accounts
• 20% of home purchases are made by single women (and 91% of all purchases are influenced by women)
• 55% of all wine purchases are made by women

Understanding Gender Differences

Brennan offers five gender differences that affect how to market to women.

1. Women and men define achievement in different ways. Men strive to be independent; women strive to be indispensable.

• Men think help is a four-letter word; women love to ask for and get help.
• Men compete with others; women compete with themselves.

2. Women connect with each other by talking about their feelings and revealing their vulnerabilities. Men connect with each other by engaging in activities and hiding their vulnerabilities.

• Women talk about feelings and like to give and receive compliments.
• Being a shrewd buyer is a form of status for women.

3. Women have a higher verbal fluency than men. They focus on the details and will talk about their love of a product or service to their friends.

• Men are more interested in how things work; women are more interested in what something will do for them.
• Women respond to stories more than they do to just product information.

4. Women have better memories for the details of both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

5. Women avoid conflict situations; men avoid emotional scenes.

Applying This Information for Marketing to Women

When you take all of this information into account, here is what you can do to be more successful in your marketing efforts towards women:

• Highlight great service, and provide human help (a real person, not a recording)
• Leverage your female customers; they love to tell others if they have found or experienced something great. Include them in testimonials, loyalty and referral programs
• Display empathy
• Validate that you are offering a good deal
• Demonstrate appreciation, with frequent thanks
• Lead with the practical benefits, not how something works
• Use stories in your marketing
• Leverage third-party endorsements and testimonials
• Sweat the details
• Ask for feedback
• Avoid violent images and language when selling to women
• Emphasize positive qualities without being overly negative about your competitors

If women are included in your target market, consider using these techniques. Your marketing will be more successful, and your sales will increase.

* * * * *

About the Author: Margie Zable Fisher is the President of Zable Fisher Public Relations, a small business public relations firm, and is the publisher of Women Business Owners Digest (www.wbodigest.com). She offers free award-winning Public Relations tips at www.zfpr.com.

From Small Business Trends

What’s Your Free Soup To Go Strategy?

What’s Your Free Soup To Go Strategy?
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

I write about exceeding expectations in business quite often. I happen to think it’s one of the secrets to success in business and life.

The thing is, it’s not really that hard sometimes because people have grown to expect so little. Just giving a little something extra, after the deal has been agreed to, can go a long way towards creating good will and word of mouth.

For example, my wife and I tried out this new restaurant in town – . Meal was great, service very cheery, atmosphere appropriate, price in line. All of these things added up to a nice experience that had us agreeing to come back some time. But, when our server brought the check she also brought a pint of soup in a go container and told us to let them know what we thought of it.

Now I’m not just going back, I’m sitting here at my computer telling your about Cafe Augusta. As I said, that soup didn’t set them back much, but I had found memories of my visit the next day over a bowl of warmed up soup.

So, what your soup to go strategy? Can you add something to the box, repair something for no charge, provide a free analysis of other systems, or give free stuff from your strategic partners?

I would love to hear your stories and examples of this concept.

Image credit: avlxyz