Whether it’s Tweeting local Twitter-only discounts or specials, implementing a social media contest or promotion using Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook Places, or taking advantage of Facebook‘s viral word of mouth features, our team of expert search and social media marketing experts can help you get your brand, message and products in front of your local customers using the latest social, local and geo targeting marketing strategies and tools.

Contact us today for a free 30 minute Twitter & social media marketing consultation.

Or call us now at 604-847-3447

We are offering an up-to-$500-off special for all new clients. Small campaigns = smaller discount. Larger campaigns = full $500 discount.

We would love to speak with you whether you’re a new small business, a seasoned medium or large business, or if you’ve already got or need a new Twitter account. Click here to email us your questions or project details or to schedule a free 30 minute Twitter & social media marketing phone consultation. Or go old school and pick up the phone and call us now in Vancouver Canada at 604-847-3447.

We can help you with all of your Twitter & Facebook communications needs. We offer full service social media monitoring & reporting to not only help you know exactly what everyone is saying about your and your business, but we also help you wade through the data and develop a strategic social media communications plan. Whether you have staff available to manage your social media presence, need us to manage some or all of your social media listening and engagement, or whether you simply need some training and consulting to do it all yourself in-house, our Twitter, Facebook & social media marketing consultants are on hand to discuss your needs. Contact us today for a free 30 minute Twitter & social media consultation.

Merchants such as Larrazolo are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online outlets to connect with customers, build relationships and save money. The sites also enable businesses to announce events, sales and specials and get instant feedback from patrons.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-digital-merchants-20100901,0,7694236.story

Twitter has a new section on their website offering information on how businesses are using twitter for marketing and customer service.

This Twitter & Social Media Marketing Guide includes recommended books, Twitter definitions, and case studies of businesses using Twitter for marketing:

When people working in the Empire State Building twittered that they were craving ice cream delivery, New York local chain Tasti D Lite was there to listen and meet their need. When electronics buyers look for good deals, the Dell Outlet Twitter account helps them save money with exclusive coupons. When Houston’s coffee drinkers decide where to get their daily dose, many choose Coffee Groundz, which lets them order via Twitter.

The guide addresses topics such as “So how do businesses use Twitter?” and “Twitter Best Practices”.

Read more of the Twitter Social Media Marketing Guide on Twitter here:

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Read Twitter Marketing Case Studies here: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_dell

Google Wave Marketing? Wait a Minute, What is Google Wave?

Coming late 2009, Google Wave is a mashup of communications tools provided by Google to make it easier for people to work and communicate online. (Read more about Google Wave)

What Could Google Wave Change for Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketers? 

• Google Wave could further fragment online audiences and limit the number and growth of today’s large social networks.
• Dave Coursey of PC World says “Google Wave as a mash-up of chat, e-mail, and document sharing, it’s really something else: Google Wave could be the Twitter that everyone really wants. Maybe it’s the Facebook, too.”
• Brands and social media marketers will need to dive deeper into authentic conversations in niches, to invite customers into personal and sometimes real-time conversations, collaborations, product testing & development.
• Along with Google Profiles, Google Search and Gmail, Google Wave will provide Google an even deeper look into our digital lives. Privacy advocates may not like it but marketers will love the ability to run very tightly focused Adwords campaigns in Wave.
• iPhone, Blackberry and Android mobile phone app developers and mobile marketers will likely concoct and use collaborative Wave-technology-based, multi-editor, real-time events in rich media and interactive apps as means to build customer loyalty and brand exposure, to get instant product testing feedback, to enable live user participation in webisodes and online reality, augmented reality events and products.

What do you think?

1. Rich Media: Faster downloads, greater memory and processing speed will enable increased use of rich media advertising to iPhone users. Since the new iPhone announcement in March, some agencies have already experienced a 20% increase in iPhone advertising inquiries.
2. Geo-targeted Ads: the new Safari browser will have location-based technology, allowing marketers to develop geo-targeted ads for iPhone users (assuming the user gives permission to the website to see his/her location). Marketers will be able to serve ads that offer promotions based on a user’s proximity to a store or event. Watch for interactivity that allows users to be led by their phone’s map and new digital compass feature directly to points of sale, events or special deals around town.
3. Mobile Video: A better camera (hooray!) plus new video editing and recording features will allow iPhone users to upload video clips directly to YouTube, share via sms or email. Watch for marketing ideas revolving around encouraging users to record a video of themselves or others and submitting it to enter a contest, to build relationship with a brand, to receive a discounts.
4. Auto Fill: The new auto-fill fuction will remember user’s passwords, name, email much like we are presently used to with desktop browsers. Auto-fill will potentially increase conversion rates and make it easier for iPhone users to sign on to membership areas, subscribe to email newsletters and enter contests.

What do you think? Will the new iPhone 3GS help usher in the new mobile video era and spark a revolution in iPhone advertising & marketing?

Growing numbers of individuals, small businesses, corporations and non profit organizations are jumping onto the Twitter bandwagon. Those who will find the most success will take the time to consider how they can use Twitter to their strategic advantage. Here’s a few suggestions how to make the most of Twitter for your marketing & PR:

Marketing & Advertising

Follow customers & future potential customers. Integrate your online and offline marketing &
advertising messages with your Tweets. Provide links to promotions, microsites, videos,
advertisements.

Reputation Management

Follow experts, industry leaders, news & media. Develop a reputation as an authority in your industry or niche. Open dialogue with others in your or related industries.

Events

Follow individuals or groups interested in your events. Provide event notifications, reminders,
twitter-based event discounts, updates, photos, videos, articles. Tweet live from events. Encourage attendees to tweet during and after about the event. Dialogue live with attendees.

Promotions

Follow customers & future potential customers, offering twitter-user-only deals and promotions as incentives to follow you on Twitter. Provide links to online deals or twitter coupons, discount codes
time-based promotions. Interact with your followers & aim reach a large audience through word of mouth & viral retweeting.

Crisis & Issues Management

Monitor your brand, products, name(s), and issues related to your business or organization. Provide relevant information to address customer needs such as company info, tips, frequently asked questions. Dialogue with followers about the issues, encourage them to get involved and to retweet your posts.

PR & Customer Relations

Follow customers, future potential customers. Create content directly related and relevant to your target audience. Engage customers by asking them questions. Answer questions. Build positive sentiment about your brand.

What do you think?: How have you used or seen Twitter used to help achieve (or hinder) an organizations marketing & PR goals?

photo: kimba

Twitter Marketing 101: Ten Ways to use Twitter for Marketing & PR for your Company or Personal Brand

1. Get a Twitter Account. If you don’t have one already, visit Twitter.com and sign up for a free account. Think carefully about what your twitter account will be called as you can’t change it later and it should clearly represent your company or brand. 
2. Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy.  While most people just start randomly posting whatever comes to mind, you’ll be much more successful if you first sit down and write out your Twitter marketing plan including what types of things you’ll try to post about, how often you’ll post, how many followers you’ll try to reach, how your twittering will help you achieve your marketing goals, how your twittering fits into and compliments your overall offline and online marketing strategy, who you can get to help write/submit posts, etc.  Once you’ve got your Twitter marketing strategy nailed down then start posting to your twitter account. If you’re not sure where to start then consider hiring a Twitter Marketing Agency to help you create and /or implement your Twitter strategy.
3. Automate Blog Posting to Twitter. There are many great apps out there that enable you to automatically post your blog posts to your twitter account – so if you’re a blogger, consider feeding your Twitter account directly from your blog so you can hit two birds with one stone every time you create a new blog post. Your Twitter posts in this instance would then just link back to your full blog post, driving your followers into your blog, which is a good thing.  If you don’t have a blog, get one. If you don’t know where to start, consider creating your blog with  WordPress, as there are many great free Twitter WordPress plugins.
4. Make & Follow Twitter Friends . Don’t  only broadcast about yourself or your company, but take the social aspect of social media to heart and engage with others.  In your travels on the web you’ll find interesting websites that have links to personal or company twitter accounts. If you like what you see, follow them on twitter. To do this, visit a Twitter profile page then click the “follow” button.  Follow  influential bloggers and media and other noteworthy individuals in your industry. Often they’ll follow you back and you’ll have more success communicating with them via twitter than phone or email. 
5. Get your CEO Twittering.  Twitter offers CEO’s a great way to manage connections, share industry insights and network. Since Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters even busy CEOs can find time to post to their Twitter account from their iPhone or Blackberry while waiting at the airport. 
6. Offer Twitter Discounts. Consider broadcasting specials on your products or services to your Twitter followers. Take advantage of the viral nature of Twitter where valuable posts often become retweeted many times by many different users. Consider using a Twitter coupon service.
7. Provide Live Event Updates. If you’re holding a conference or seminar or any kind of event, Twitter live about it to generate interest, to post any last minute updates, etc. 
8. Get Involved and be a Contributor. Retweet  (repost) relevant posts made by those you’re following. Post links to great articles you or others have written.  Sometimes people will  follow you in return. To get started you can follow us on Twitter. 
9. Use URL shorteners. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, so using a url shortener like bit.ly or tinyurl.com or others will enable you to write more in each post and have fewer characters used up by any URLs you link to in your post. Consider using a short URL service such as bit.ly that includes statistics tracking if you’re interested in seeing how many people click on the links you post.  Also consider using Hootsuite, an online Twitter Marketing software that enables you to post to multiple twitter accounts at once while also tracking your stats using their in-house short url ow.ly.
10. Pay Attention. Don’t just click the “follow” button on hundreds of other Twitter accounts, but actually read what others are saying. Do searches using Twitter Search for your own brand or product name to see what others are saying about you or your products or services and  interact when appropriate.

 Get your own custom twitter coffee cup at twitter mosaic by sxoop

 photo: abooth202

• Rafe Needleman: Newbies Guide to Twitter
• Caroline Middlebrook: The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
• Jeremiah Owyang – What The Web Strategist Should Know About Twitter
• B.L. Ochman’s What’s Next Blog: How to Write Kickass Twitter Posts
• PR Squared: Using Twitter To Create & Inform Communities
• WebProNews: Microblogging What’s it Good For?
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities
• Red66 – Using Twitter as a Marketing Tool
• Eleven Marketing- Add Twitter to Your Internet Marketing Toolbox
• Twitter Marketing Agency – Full service Twitter Marketing Agency – Consultation, Solutions, Tools