During Giving Back Month the folks at WebFuel have decided to use our Social Media for Social Good. We believe that Social Media is an incredible tool that can be used the change the world around us. It can help share a story. Increase awareness about an initiative. Influence the community around you. Raise money. Its reach, power, and versatility are incredible, and when used the right way, can make the world a better place.

We have invited a group of guest bloggers from local and national charities to tell us how they have used their Social Media for Social Good. Our first guest blogger in this series was Stacey Diffen-Lafleur who wrote about how The United Way Ottawa uses Social Media for Social Good. Next up Alexandra Reid tells us about how Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa is Using Social Media to make a difference.

Social Media for Social Good: Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa

Since its inception in 1970, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been an inherently social organization. Long before Social Media platforms began operating as virtual community centers, our locally focused and locally run programs were founded on the same principles that have now transferred into best practices in the Social Media space, namely community building and engagement.

There is nothing more fundamentally social than friendship, and while we believe that face-to-face interaction is vital to developing healthy bodies and minds in our young people today, technology can also play an important role in communication as well as initiating and maintaining healthy relationships.

As our organizational goals and those of Social Media align, it was only natural that we use these channels to develop the programs we’ve always provided on a deeper and wider scale. Our Ottawa chapter strives to be on the leading edge of the Big Brothers Big Sisters movement in Canada, and that includes adopting innovative technologies that allow our community to connect with us on their own terms.

Many of the young adults, youths and children suitable for our programs fall into the group widely known today as “Generation Y,” or the “Millennial generation.” The majority of the young people that fall into this category are so-called “digital natives,” which means they have never known a world without digital technology. Social Media has proven to be an excellent way of connecting with this tech-savvy demographic. They’re on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn sharing their experiences and asking questions about our organization, and so we’re on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn too, listening, answering and engaging.

Not to be boastful, but as a team of community-minded individuals, we do “get” what social really means. It does not mean aimlessly shouting press releases at our community, even if they are well disguised as tweets and status updates. It does mean listening and responding helpfully to our community’s inquiries and sharing appropriate and timely content that our community wants to hear about.

We’re also quite technologically savvy in our strategy, using Hootsuite to monitor Social Media streams for content shared by others, Google Reader to stay on top of blog posts and LinkedIn Answers relevant to our space and a wide range of analytics tools to track and measure our progress.

While staying on top of news in our space and finding appropriate opportunities to engage with our community isn’t exactly an easy job, Social Media has rewarded us in so many ways, we can’t imagine why anyone would be so silly as to ignore this valuable opportunity.

How, specifically, has Social Media helped us connect and build our community?

Social Media helps us establish relationships

Through monitoring Twitter streams, we find numerous people interested in learning more about our program and sharing their experiences. Even if these individuals aren’t in the Ottawa area, we reach out to them to answer their questions, start conversations and share their experiences on our channels. The simple act of listening bridges important relationships and gives confidence to those individuals that we truly believe in what we are advocating. Furthermore, sharing important stories demonstrates that we value and support their opinions and ideas as well. Listening and being supportive are virtues we encourage in our volunteers and so we must also practice them ourselves in the Social Media space.

But while our approach is genuine, it’s not entirely selfless. We are working to achieve specific goals by dedicating time to these platforms, and encouraging and then recruiting previously prospective volunteers is certainly a central goal if we are to continue moving our organization forward.

Social Media helps us maintain and develop relationships

Social Media has not only helped us recruit new volunteers, but also aided us in maintaining long lasting relationships that are vital to our success. In addition to volunteers, we also require consistent donations to continue running our programs. Social Media gives us the ability to open our doors completely and express our humanity online, while also allowing us to reach out to important financial supporters and develop those credible and trusting relationships that last.

Social Media helps us get our messages out

We also use Social Media to share our achievements, events and other news. To ensure a healthy balance, we follow the 80/20 rule, which suggests that just 20 percent of content shared by businesses and organizations is about themselves, while 80 percent is about others. Not only is this approach the most social, it’s also the most successful because it encourages reciprocal relationships whereby others feel encouraged to share our content, giving us the ability to tap into other communities and establish wider authority on our channels.

We also share our content creatively. Instead of simply tweeting the title of a press release, we engage response from our communities by asking questions and starting discussions around the content. Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Value of an Hour campaign, which exploded across Social Media channels nationwide, was proof that this approach works.

Social Media is also used to promote our upcoming events, such as Climb4KidsOttawa, a rock-climbing event to raise awareness and donations for Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa. Additionally, we start LinkedIn discussions, and ask questions through LinkedIn Answers and post our content as responses to relevant blog posts and news articles. There really is no end to how organizations can creatively share their content in ways that resonate with their audiences.

How do you use Social Media effectively and what are the benefits you have seen as a result of your efforts?

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada (BBBSC) is the leading child and youth serving organization providing mentoring programs across the country. Providing support to more than 1000 Canadian communities, our over 128 local agencies offer the service that the organization was founded on: One-to-One Matching. Men and women (age 18 or older) give of their time to become a mentor to a young person who can greatly benefit from having an adult role model to look up to.

Times change. Volunteers change. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada has also changed. In response to the different needs and demands of children, youth, and volunteers alike, we have created new programs to fit our changing society. Couples for Kids, Cross Gender Matching, In-School Mentoring, Big Bunch, and Kids ‘n’ Kops group programs (for those kids on the waiting lists), and the new Life Skills Program all provide a variety of opportunities for volunteering and support to children and youth.

Each local Big Brothers Big Sisters agency is responsible for responding to its own community’s needs, so please see what exciting and innovative programs are being offered at your local agency.

If you are thinking about becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister, contact your local agency.

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Social Media for Social Good: Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

During Giving Back Month the folks at WebFuel have decided to use our Social Media for Social Good. We believe that Social Media is an incredible tool that can be used the change the world around us. It can help share a story. Increase awareness about an initiative. Influence the community around you. Raise money. Its reach, power, and versatility are incredible, and when used the right way, can make the world a better place.

We have invited a group of guest bloggers from local and national charities to tell us how they have used their Social Media for Social Good.Our first guest blogger in this series is Stacey Diffen-Lafleur who shares with us how The United Way Ottawa is using their Social Media for Social Good.

Social Media for Social Good: United Way Ottawa

We are always looking for ways to engage new audiences, to spread our reach and get their help to make our community better for everyone. We do this by sharing stories, demonstrating impact and making it easy for people to talk with us. Social Media has made a difference in our outreach strategy and how we engage people from across our city to make change happen.

Why are we using it? It’s a community conversation that everyone can contribute to and build on.

We’ve found that Social Media opens new doors for us. Since 2009 the team at United Way Ottawa has been using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr to have a conversation.

Let me be clear, it’s not all about fundraising either. Our business is engagement. We use Social Media to demonstrate results, to share stories of the lives we’ve helped to change and to invite people to interact with us all with a goal of making our community stronger, healthier and safer for everyone.

Here are a couple of examples of where we’ve seen social media really make a difference.

Reaching out to up-and-coming leaders

Schmoozefest - an event run by our Next Generation Cabinet – recently celebrated six years with a complete sell-out. Money raised goes back into the community, again helping to make a difference in our community. How did we build a buzz about Schmoozefest? Via Twitter. And the people that came to schmooze got a lot more than they expected. Kelly Rusk, a member of Ottawa’s twitter community was there and shared her Schmoozefest experience through a post at Local Tourist Ottawa’s Blog.

And that’s just one aspect of social media supporting the work we do.

Bloggers are media too

We give bloggers the same access we give media, and we give them the same materials and same opportunities to meet and interview. And you know what? They like it. They write about us, they help us get the word out via the blogosphere about the work we are doing in and for our community.

QR Codes, offering more than just a quick read

QR (quick response) codes are another new way we are sharing stories of people who have had their lives changed through the help of United Way Ottawa. This year our print ads that feature people from our community contain a QR code that takes a reader directly to their story on our website, both written and in video format. What once was just a single view before the page is turned, is now generating traffic on our website and as a result, broadening our reach. Melissa’s story, a LiveWorkPlay program participant, has been scanned hundreds of times.

Twitter – a launch pad

Twitter remains one of my favourite ways to talk with people in Ottawa – and at the beginning I devoted a lot of time to building a following – both for my personal account and for @UnitedWayOttawa, our corporate account. Today the corporate account has its own momentum and has outpaced @TheStacey by several hundred followers. It is an instant channel to share daily campaign totals – which are retweeted regularly by news outlets and the general public. We use it to share lives changed too, these also get a lot of RTs. Everyone has a hand in helping us make change happen in our community.

Social Media helps us to educate our donors, partners and our community about how we are investing their gifts and the results we are working towards. Additionally, we use it to help other companies who are holding events, doing workplace campaigns, or soliciting other kinds of support like sponsorships, volunteers or gifts in kind.

Over the next few months we’ll be rolling out a new, fully-sponsored website, and building on a grant we’ve received from Google, we’re developing a Google AdWords campaign. I am certain that other channels will appear, and some may change, but one thing I know, the conversation about our community and the potential for everyone – no matter where they work or how they want to engage – to make it better will only grow. Social Media is where that conversation is happening, I invite everyone to join.

Stacey Diffin-Lafleur, Senior Director, Marketing at United Way Ottawa has more than 19 years of marketing experience and is one of Ottawa’s social media community pioneers. She gets the Internet, she gets communication and she gets the impact that conversations – online and off – can deliver for our community.

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Social Media for Social Good: United Way Ottawa is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

That’s why here at WebFuel, December is Giving Back Month.

“Giving Back” Month is all about using Social Media for Social Good. We believe that Social Media is an incredible tool that can be used for much more than sharing photos of last weekend’s party on Facebook or Tweeting about your lunch. It can be used to share a story. To increase awareness. To influence the community around you. To raise money. Its reach, power, and versatility are incredible, and when used the right way, can change the world.

So this December, we are going to use our Social Media for Social Good. What does this mean? We will be using our Social Media networks and influence to promote local and national charities. Are you involved with a charity that could use a boost this holiday season? Contact us to learn more about how we can help you recruit volunteers, promote an event, raise money or anything to support you this month.

Furthermore, we have invited a group of guest bloggers from local and national charities to tell us how they have used their Social Media for Social Good! Stay tuned, they will be posted throughout the month.

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Giving Back Month: Using Social Media for Social Good is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Delaney Turner, originally from the radio world, now works with IBM as their Social Business Strategist. He commences his presentation with an up-beat video celebrating IBM’s centennial. Delaney talks about how IBM is evolving into a Social business while keeping their core competencies of intelligence and the emphasis on thinking. He claims that they are much more dynamic and entrepreneurial than most people believe. He even references some mock acronym meanings that people have associated with IBM, such as “I Block Momentum”. Turner ensures us that this is definitely not the case. “Our world is becoming smarter – it is now instrumented, interconnected and intelligent” says Turner.

IBM began their internal social movement back in 2003 with a board called ValueJam which they crowd sourced behind the firewall. From there, they continued to grow socially. They understand that Social Media is like any other new technology. He gives the example of the phone. Don’t restrict it. Allow people to learn, discover and use it efficiently. If you treat people like adults and give them autonomy, they are more likely to use the tool responsibly.

Turner goes on to talk about the limitations of email, and how it is inefficient, and in a way, anti-social. “Email is where information goes to die” Turner says. It is a closed, limited and siloed was of storing and sharing information. Instead, IBM has integrated Social into everything they do. Every morning they have meetings with all of their brands and subject matter experts to strategize how to use Social more effectively.

Next, Turner explains the value of blogging. He says that through blogging, IBM employees have been able to create an enormous amount of buzz and awareness by increasing social interactions and ranking higher in search results for specified keywords. Given the tools and autonomy, IBM employees have been able to share their expertise and capitalize on the power of the Social space. Today, not a single campaign or event goes out the door without a huge social component.

These are some of the things that are making IBM an Social Business. There is an important distinction between Social Media and Social Business. “It’s not just having a Facebook Page for your brand.” says Turner, “A Social Business embraces networks of people to create business value. It is engaged, transparent and nimble.” In order to encourage social integration into everyday business at IBM, they implemented education resources for employees interested in engaging with Social Media. Provide them with the tools to do the job and you will see results.

Despite their efforts, IBM still has some challenges when it comes to Social. Do these efforts lead to more sales? How do we effective measure the ROI of all this? As a global company, how do we approach Social across different languages? What is our strategy for dealing with negative feedback?

This morning’s talk was very interesting and thought provoking. I left the event with a flurry of thoughts and questions in my mind.

Thanks to Delaney Turner of IBM, the organizers, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Cara Rowlands for her incredible muffins and to all of the attendees a for making this another very successful Social Media Breakfast. Stay tuned for the next Social Media Breakfast Ottawa on November 23rd with Sean MacPhedran. I hope to see you there!

You can follow Delaney Turner on Twitter at @DTurnerBlogs and at @IBMSoftware.

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Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 25 Recap: Delaney Turner is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Are you credible? Do you have the knowledge and expertise on the topic for which you are trying to be influential? TSN Hockey analyst Bob McKenzie has an enormous influence on hockey fans through his Twitter account (with over 209,000 followers), blog and TV programs. Why? Because for the last 25 years, MacKenzie has lived and breathed hockey at every level in all corners of the earth. He is extremely credible on his topic of influence, hockey.

Trust

How much will you trust someone you’ve never met in person? Would you ever buy a product because someone online told you to? Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of someone who has used a transparency and honesty to develop a strong level of trust among his followers. Vaynerchuk is well known for his video podcast “Wine Library TV” which featured weekly episodes in which he would sit behind a table and reviews wines. Vaynerchuk’s honest and laid back style during these episodes gained him a large following and turned him into one of the most influential wine reviewers in the world.

Relevance

Are you giving your audience what they are looking for? A lot of people fail to achieve a great deal of influence becuase they miss the target here – their audience is misaligned and their message is all over the map. I am a reader Avinash Kaushik‘s blog – he is influential on me. Why? Becuase he blogs about analytics. That’s it. That’s why I follow him, and that’s what I expect to read when he writes a new post. If one day he decided to blog about horse racing, I would be confused and I would leave. Relevance is huge.

Timing

Timing is key. Can you deliver your message to your audience in a timely fashion? Sometimes being timely can make or break your influence with a certain audience. I rarely use the same example twice in one blog post, but this is an exeption. I’m going to use Bob MacKenzie again for this one. He is always the first one to report anything hockey – a trade, suspension, a healthy scratch, what Daniel Alfredsson is having for lunch…okay maybe not that much, but his ability to report detailed hockey news in an extremely timely fashion is staggering – and one of the main reasons I follow him religiously on Twitter.

Alignment

Are you in the right place? Aligning your message with your target audience is one of the most overlooked aspects of building influence.  Should you be using Twitter? LinkedIn? Google +? Take Justin Bieber for example. He went from a simple teenager in a small Canadian town to one of the World’s most famous and influential pop stars by using YouTube. His target audience (probably 95% teenage girls) are heavy users of the video sharing site. He is the perfect example of gaining influence through strategic alignment.

Measuring your Influence

So how much influence do you actually have? Who do you influence? What topics are you influencial on? Well there are a few free tools out there that help you determine your online influence. The most well known is probably Klout. If you haven’t heard of Klout, here is how they describe themselves:

The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage you influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure: True Reach (how many people you influence), Amplification (how much you influence them) and Network Impact (the influence of your network). 

So first of all, Klout will give you an overall score – mine is 54. Secondly, they provide you with a Klout Style – I am a specialist – meaning that I am “not necessarily a celebrity, but within my area of expertise my opinion is second to none. My content is likely focused around a specific topic or industry with a focused, highly-engaged audience.”

Klout then breaks down individual scores for the three aforementioned elements: True Reach, Amplification and Network Impact. They also provide a list of topics for which you are influential. Apparently, within my network, I am influential about Small Business, Media, Beer, Ottawa, Facebook and SmartPhones. I can then break it down even further. I can see which specific people I influence the most, and on which topics. Similarly, I can see who influences me the most, and on which topics. For example, my biggest influencer is Chris Brogan, and he influences me on Blogging, Social Media and Marketing.

Understanding your influence is key to Social Media success. Are you in the right place? Are you influencing who you want to be? Are you missing the mark? Tracking my Klout score has personally helped me fill in the gaps where I am missing out, and realign my Social Media strategy.

How will you become influential using Social Media?

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The Importance of Social Media Influence is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Not only does Facebook now have over 800 million users worldwide, but earlier this month half a billion people used Facebook in a single day. Now that’s a lot of traffic. Not only have sign ups and visits increased for Facebook, but so has engagement. Social Networking has become a ubiquitous tool used by millions of people around the world to stay connected. Now that all of these connections are in place, we are entering a new era of Social Apps and engagement.

A noticeably excited Zuckerberg takes the stage and begins to describe the new updates to Facebook.

Timeline

Zuckerberg begins by explaining that the Profile is the heart of Facebook and that people have a very strong ownership over it. All of the changes to Facebook over the years have been centered around the Profile and as it evolved, people shared more than just their basic information – who you are, where are you from, where did you go to school. Now people are sharing many more tidbits about their lives – photos, stories, experiences etc. The problem is that as more sharing occurred, those stories vanished at a faster rate. Up until now, you would have to go back and search for those updates. All of the most important moments that you have shared were buried away somewhere.

Introducing Timeline.

Timeline is the story of your life, and it had 3 main components. All your stories, all your apps, and a new way to express who you are. Zuckerberg claims that with Timeline, you can tell the whole story of your life on a single page in a very intuitive and visual manner. You now have the ability to jump to any moment in your life and see what was most important to you then. For example, you can quickly and easily go back to the summer of 2007 and see updates, photos, comments, links, etc. that tell the story of what you were up to in that period of time. Furthermore, you can also add content into the past. If you recently came across a photo from a wedding a few year back, you can scroll to that moment in time and add it to your personal Timeline.

With Timeline came a new type of content: Major Life Events. With this, you can add just that – major events in your life. Marriage, baby, graduation, new pet, bought a house, etc. Another new feature rolled out with Timeline is Map. This allows you to show on a map where you have been and when. For instance I can show that I have spend a lot of my life in Ottawa – but also that I made a lot of trips to Vermont to ski, went to Chicago and Boston last summer, spent 3 weeks in California when I was a teenager, lived in New Jersey as a kid and spent four years in school in Lennoxville.

Social Apps

In order to help Timeline reach it’s full potential, Facebook has also introduced a whole new class of Social Apps. Now this is really cool. Zuckerberg explains that people love using apps to express themselves. With this new series of apps, you can easily share what you’re doing. In the past you could “Like” things. Well now there is a whole series of verbs you can use to share what you are doing with your friends on these Social Apps. For example there will be Social Apps to share what you are watching on Netflix, what you are listening to on Spotify and what you are cooking using Foodily. Zuckerberg believes that Facebook is no longer a Social Network, but rather a platform for story telling. The integration of Timeline and Social Apps will better allow users to share the story of their lives – and give them the power to be the curator.

Ticker

With the introduction of sharing via Social Apps comes some problems. People don’t want to overshare with their friends. They don’t want to annoy them by flooding their News Feed. This is where Ticker comes in. Ticker is a lightweight stream. It is a smaller, live rolling feed of lighter, maybe less important items that your friends are sharing and it will show up on the upper right hand side of your News Feed. The idea is that maybe an item in the Ticker will catch someone’s attention, but since it is constantly streaming, that information won’t overload or annoy your friends.

So what kind of Social Apps will their be? Zuckerberg defines 4 types of apps. The first two naturally appear on the more social end of the spectrum: Communication and Games. But now, Facebook hopes to introduce two more types of apps that are also social by nature: Media and Lifestyle. These apps will accomplish two things. First, it will help you fill out your timeline and secondly, it will help you discover new things through your friends. This will be accomplished in three ways:

1. Frictionless Experience – When using new Open Graph apps you will be able to add your activity to your Timeline without being prompted to do so every single time. This falls into your lightweight activity. The whole idea is that if you adding a Social App, you inherently want to be sharing that activity. That is why the middle step (the prompt to share) will be eliminated. For example, if you add the Spotify App to your Timeline, every time you listen to a song it will be shared on your Timeline automatically. And, of course, you have the ability to set your privacy settings. Frictionless Experience.
2. Real Time Serendipity – This is where the discovery comes in. If your friend is listening to a song, you can hover over that item on your Ticker and join in and listen to that same song with them. This will be added your Ticker so that your friends can see what you are listening to.
3. Finding Patterns – So let’s say you are interested in a particular friend’s music taste. You probably don’t want to spend the time searching through every song they have ever listened to – you want to see a summary of the songs, bands, albums, and genres of music they listen to. By looking at patterns in your friends activity, you can discover a lot of cool new things.

As you listen to a song with a friend, you can live chat with them about that item. It’s very intuitive, and very cool. This is a great way to learn new things about your friends – their likes and interests, and things you have in common. Zuckerberg believes that developers are not only using Open Graph to rethink music, but to rethink the whole music industry. They are beginning to move away from blocking you from listening to songs that you havent bought yet, and towards allowing you to discover so much more new music that you will eventually buy. And who better to give you a recommendation on a song or new band than a friend who you trust.

But it goes beyond music. Open Graph can even be used to discover other new content like TV shows, books, movies, recipes, etc.

Zuckerberg finishes by stating that “We exist at the intersection between technology and social issues. The next five years will be defined by apps and the depth of social engagement.”

It will be interesting to see these new features rolled out and the reaction from users. Will people get overwhelmed by these changes? Or will they take the time to learn how they can improve their overall social experience on Facebook?

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Facebook f8: Zuckerberg Announces Updates is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Guest Post by Stephen McGill

First of all by way of full disclosure, when I started my career in marketing and branding there was no world wide web. In fact there was no email, fax machines or mobile phones either. Yes there was electricity. And mass media – plenty of them.

As much as things have changed dramatically since the late 70s when I started out, the tenets of brand building have (in my opinion) remained remarkably similar. Branding has never simply been about beautiful logos, catchy slogans, award-winning television ads, welcoming storefronts, and glossy brochures or (these days) cutting edge websites and Search enhanced Social Media properties.

Instead branding has always been about delivering great products or services all wrapped up in the kind of positive and consistent experience where customers are driven to say – “Why would I go anywhere else?” It’s about making people prefer your offerings to all others available.

What the last twenty or so years have delivered to us as branders is an explosion of ways to create, build and sustain brands within a completely different landscape. I speak of course of the wonderful wide world of the web and the absolute avalanche of technologies and brand delivery options that have come along with it.  These are exciting times indeed for people who work with brands.

In my work as a brand development consultant I always state at the outset of working with clients that a brand should accurately reflect the true culture, personality and attitudes of a company or organization. It must also deliver a positive experience across all the points at which it connects with its customers and potential customers.

For brands of all sizes these days the most important (and sometimes only) point of connection with customers comes on the web. Quite often the web is now a crucial first point of contact. It is where consumers are getting their first brand impressions. Simply put the web is an incredibly powerful tool for connecting with customers, delivering a brand personality, building brand loyalty and enhancing brand experiences.

But here’s the thing I believe – you need to have a strong brand period before you can have a strong brand on the web. It used to be thought (just a few short years ago) that brick and mortar brands and online brands were somehow different. That is no longer the case. They are one and the same in the minds of consumers and – so they should be.

Amazon has become an almost ubiquitous shoppers brand because it consistently delivers what its customers want – great selection, competitive pricing, shopping convenience, copious amounts of product information and always-dependable service. All these things are hallmarks of a strong brand. The fact that Amazon does all that almost entirely over the web is irrelevant to most people. What Amazon has done better than most from early on is both understand the web and what it takes to build a powerful brand. That is a powerful combination.

So, which brands on the web do you think are getting it right like Amazon?

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Branding on the Web – How is it different? Or, is it? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

As the mobile platform continues to evolve and grow in popularity we are faced with the question “What is the impact of smartphone use on the work/life balance?” In her research, Ladner found that not only are people bringing their work life home with them, but they are also bringing their domestic lives to work. Ladner not only examined what this shift means to marketers, but also how smartphone use is changing social interactions.

Over the years technology has changed. Ladner reminises to the days when her family was the only one on the block with an answering machine – now virtually everyone owns a cell phone, the majority of which are smartphones. This technological shift is changing the way we communicate. With mobile, you are no longer contacting a place, you are contacting a person. Twenty years ago you would pick up the phone and call someone’s house – or send a letter to their physical mailbox. Today, we call people. We text people. We email people. We send calendar invites to people. We Facebook and Tweet people. All of these channels of communication are going right to the individual – right to the smartphone in their pocket.

While we now have more channels to contact others, the social context in which we do so is also becoming more complex. There is no longer a distinct barrier between home life, work life, liesure life, etc. They now overlap each other. Yes there are people who check their work email after dinner, or call their coworkers for last minute changes to the morning presentation before bed. But at the same time, we are responding to personal text messages and checking our fantasy sports team, for example, at the workplace. But it doesn’t end there. We now have our time between work life and home life – called “interspace”. Sitting in traffic, during our lunch break, etc. This is where much of the overlap happens.

So what impact does this have on our social interactions? The problem with this shift is that most of us are now sending information to others without understanding the social context on the other end. Is that other party at work? In a meeting? Eating dinner with their family? At a hockey game? On vacation? We don’t know. And most of the time, due to the aforementioned overlap, it doesn’t matter. They will respond regardless.

But with this, other problems arise. You are now expected to always be available for communication with your various social groups. Family. Friends. Work. They all feel entitled to be able to communicate with you at all times. And because of this, many people are finding themselves “slaves” to their smartphones. Does your smartphone sit next to your bed? Do you check your texts or emails in the middle of the night? While some think this is normal, others suggest “parking” you smartphone in a specific location overnight, outside the bedroom.

However, we cannot put all the blame on the technology. Sure, the smartphone’s capabilities is what allows this to happen. But it’s our changing culture – the “panic culture” as Ladner puts it. We have this sense of urgency that we must always be available and respond in the most timely manner possible. While some people may view this as productive, Ladner argues that organizations tend to have more speed than sense. Most people will respond to an email right away rather than sitting back and thinking about it. “Your organization cannot innovate if you don’t give it time to reflect” says Ladner.

Ladner undoubtedly hit home with the majority of the audience this morning. I observed many people, including myself, nodding along to the points she was making. Are you ever just sitting around, waiting for something – the bus let’s say – and you pull out your smartphone for no reason. Unprompted. Just to look around? I do that all the time.

As the technology continues to evolve, and mobile becomes more of our every day life, how will we adapt? What impact will this continue to have on our work/life balance?

Thanks to everyone who came as well as the organizers for making this another very successful Social Media Breakfast. Stay tuned for the next Social Media Breakfast Ottawa on October 19, 2011: Social Business Strategies with IBM. I hope to see you there!

Follow Sam Ladner on Twitter @sladner and her project Mobile Work Life @mobileworklife

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Social Media Breakfast Ottawa 24 Recap: Sam Ladner is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Last week, Foursquare announced that they are making their business pages self-serve. Not only is this great news for the Foursquare developers, but also for thousands of small businesses around the world. Now any business can create and manage their own Page, accumulate followers, provide tips, check in and communicate with their audience. Furthermore, the new Pages also allow entire teams of people to manage a Page, instead of only one individual.

Why Should My Business Use Foursquare?

Some people out there will say “Who cares? Does anyone even use Foursquare? Why does this matter to me?” Okay, Foursquare is no Facebook. They don’t have 750 million active users. Every customer that walks through your door won’t check-in, read tips and make recommendations. But just because you wouldn’t use Foursquare, doesn’t mean that others won’t. Trust me, as a Foursquare user I check-in and leave tips all the time. Before visiting a new restaurant, for example, I will read the tips. It helps me know whether I want to go or not, or what to order (or not to order) when I get there.

Here’s an example. I love finding new restaurants and trying new foods. So when I saw a Groupon for $13 for $25 worth of food and drink at Pelican Fishery and Grill on Bank Street, I bought it with the intention of going and trying a variety of appetizers. Last week a friend and I hopped in the car with my Groupon and drove out to the restaurant. On the drive over I decided to read some tips on Foursquare. The very first tip I read was from Metro News, a free local newspaper.

I found this interesting. I was going there to visit the grill for food, not to pick up fresh fish in the market. I was put off a bit – suddenly I was not looking forward to eating at the Pelican as much as I was before. But then I read the response from Pelican Fishery and Grill’s Fishmonger, Jim.

Jim’s response was real and human. He understands that they are not always perfect and that everyone has an off day. He addressed the negative review head on and invited the unsatisfied customer back for a free lunch to prove his worth. This response totally restored my confidence in the restaurant. When I arrived we got a bottle of wine and a few appetizers. They were so delicious that we both ended up ordering a meal. By the end of it all we ended up spending $75 on top of the $25 Groupon. And I left a tip on Foursquare.

The Pelican Fishery and Grill used Groupon to get me into their restaurant and used Foursquare to manage my expectations and give me recommendations on how to spend my money. Well done guys – I will be coming back.

When it is all said and done, everything comes down to customer service. If every customer matters to you, then you won’t care if only 5% of your customers check-in or leave tips on Foursquare. That 5% still matters. And maybe it is more than that. But if you are not there, you will never know. Out of sight out of mind is not a good strategy when it comes to Social Media. Start monitoring your brand, and listening to your customers. It makes a huge difference.

Do you use Foursquare to promote and manage your business online?

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Foursquare for Business is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Our Social Media Strategist Jason focuses in on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn. The new player on the block is Google+ (Google Plus). Jason wrote an interesting post on Google’s newest child just last week. Google+ offers the possibility of being a game changer. Why you ask? Simply because it will have the ability to be deeply integrated into Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools. Probably more than any of its competitors will ever be.

I implemented Google+ buttons on our website last week (and StumbleUpon). At first I was undecided on whether to do it or not.

Probably because Google has only recently rolled out Google+ to Google.ca. So far interaction has been minimal as compared to the likes of Twitter & Facebook. I am hoping that this will change as more people sign up for and use Google+.

Note: Every indexed page of your website should now have a Google+ button beside it. Have a look.

A really cool thing about Google+ is that a web property owner can receive instant feedback on any page of their website that has been crawled by Google.

This is truly amazing as Twitter et al will never be able to do this as they do not have their very own Search Engine. Rather they depend heavily on the likes of Google (okay Bing, Yahoo, etc…) for visibility.

Back to Analytics. As it stands now, one can track user interaction with one’s Social Media profiles via Google Analytics’ Campaign Tracking tools. Very nifty. But a bit time consuming to implement.

Note: At WebFuel, we track every one of our Social Media profiles and associated interactions via Google Analytics.

Google+ promise more – much more. As of this writing, data on Google+ interaction with one’s web property can be viewed in Google Webmaster Tools.

And… Google Analytics! This is just the tip of the iceberg. Google is also adding some cool tools to measure Social Engagement across all of your Social Media properties. The “Social Engagement” reports allow you to see how people shared content on your site via social actions. Examples of social actions on your site that can be tracked include Google +1 button clicks, Facebook “Like” and “Send” interactions, and Del.icio.us bookmarks. You can compare the number of Facebook Like’s versus Facebook Send’s on your site, or compare the total number of Facebook interactions with the total number of Twitter interactions. And on and on.

All this to say that Social Media is hot. Very hot. Google is sinking big bucks into the Google Plus play. I like it. I hope others do as well as a great tool is only as good as the volume of people who use it.

Have you implemented Google+ on your website? Are you measuring your successes?

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Google Plus Measuring Social Media Success is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel