Michael Rabinovici

Is having 600 million friends a good thing?

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Some of the greatest challenges our clients face today include managing their employees’ use of social networks and enacting social media policies that work in the real world.

Crossing the line between the personal and the professional happens in the click of a mouse and most often, in my opinion, on Facebook.  This largest, and Oscar bound, of social networks began primarily as a gathering of folks looking up, and connecting with, school and summer camp chums.  Businesses soon realized the potential and started to get in on the action with corporate Facebook pages.

The most important means of getting yourself noticed on Facebook is by having lots of friends and being “liked” by lots of people – just like in high school.  Natuarally, companies figured out that the best way to build their Facebook presence was by “friending” their employees – one big happy family, right?  Not quite.  Although Facebook is fairly easy to use, it also makes it easy to forget who all of these newfound friends are.  This can prove to be a challenge when one of these friends is your boss.  For one of the epic Facebook exchanges between an employer and an employee – click here (I would have replicated it in the post but this is a family blog).

Let me be clear. I believe that a corporate Facebook page can have a profoundly positive impact on your business.  The wrong approach, in my view, adopted by numerous companies, has been to block Facebook in the workplace.  This solution is both counterproductive and unworkable.   It takes most or all of your front line team (your employees) off the social media playing field, and they can all still use Facebook outside the office.  Sensible social media policies coupled with employee training are a better answer. For Social Media Training information click here.

For the latest and greatest in the world of Web and Social Media, follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/mikerabinovici

Michael Rabinovici

App, App and Away – Is your Company Ready for the Mobile Revolution?

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The mobile Web’s walk is quickly catching up with its talk.  In fact, according to Morgan Stanley (http://on.mash.to/morgan-stanley-mobile): “Based on the current rate of change and adoption, the mobile web will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015”.  This has profound implications for how companies will plan and execute their Web marketing strategies into the future.

Over the last few years, we have worked with numerous clients on developing different types of content that reach their existing customers  and prospects, wherever they are and on whatever device they choose to use.  We’ve been big advocates of developing podcasts (audio content) as we discovered that many decisions-makers (B2B) and consumers (B2C) prefer to have multiple options when consuming content.  This rationale  is even more powerful in the mobile Web.  Today, people use smart phones and devices to do much more than send and receive email. As these devices become more pervasive, they are actually assuming the same status as desktops and notebooks – enabling people to view videos, surf the Web, read e-books, listen to audio content and more. As this trend accelerates, you will increasingly need to make your content available on mobile devices – not just to be seen and heard, but to ensure that the fast-growing number of mobile surfers even bother visiting or searching your Web site at all.

Here’s a real life example from one of our clients. Marsden Group is a well-regarded legal recruiter with a number of offices around the world.  We recently helped them develop a Web-based search engine for their site that lists the current law jobs they have available.  Once this engine was completed and received great feedback from their audience, they decided to take the next step and make it available on the iPhone.  The decision was driven by two factors.  From a client perspective (firms that are seeking talented lawyers), creating a mobile app ensured that the job opportunity drew a greater pool of talent – namely, the explosive growing number of iPhone users, particularly among the ranks of legal professionals.  Second, from  a candidate’s perspective, a mobile app delivers the convenience of being able to search for the next step in their career, anytime, anywhere, without being tied to their computer or notebook.  You can find the free app here – http://bit.ly/recruiting-iPhone-app

Mobile apps are no longer simply a luxury; they are quickly becoming an essential tool for business.  If you want to make sure you reach your audience where it spends its time, the mobile Web can no longer be ignored.

Michael Rabinovici

Social influence – Do you have any? Does your company? Does your Boss?

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While many of our  clients are starting to leverage the power of social media for their companies, some are further down the path then others.  The ultimate test for effective use of social media is whether it influences opinion, propels action and engages the intended  audience.  The question then becomes: can you measure social influence? The answer is yes and it’s called the Klout Score (www.klout.com), defined as the “measurement of your online influence.  The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.  The final Klout Score is a representation of how successful a person is at engaging their audience and how big of an impact their messages have on people.”  When you go to klout.com, enter you organization’s name, your name,or your CEO’s name in the box provided and get your score.

Check out these “5 lessons from business leaders on social media marketing” –  http://on.mash.to/social-influence
Michael Rabinovici

Expected Changes in B2B Marketing Budgets for 2011

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An excellent survey from the smart folks at Marketing Sherpa.  Here is their summary and survey results:

SUMMARY: We asked more than 900 B2B marketers how they expected their marketing budgets to change for 2011. Learn which marketing tactics are receiving an increased level of investment, and which are not in this week’s chart, including social media, email marketing, direct mail and more. Click on the image for a better view.


Michael Rabinovici

It’s 11:00 in the Twitterverse. Do you know where your people are?

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One topic that we’ve been spending a lot of time discussing with clients is corporate social media policies.

Due the medium’s explosive growth (see Social Media Counter post) companies are having a real challenge managing employees’ use of social media and networks.  On the one hand, these tools make up the lingua franca of a fast growing market segment. On the other, using them without some forethought, knowledge, and structure can be a dicey proposition at best. The challenge is compounded when many of us use these tools at work for both business and fun.

What to do then?  First, train both executives and employees about the dos and don’ts of social media.  Second, develop a social media policy that prescribes what is permitted and what is not.

Drug giant Roche recently published guidelines for social media. They’re written for employees, but posted for all the world to see. The Social Media Principles, which incorporate elements from the company’s code of conduct, guide employees on both personal and professional social media use.  Here is the full article  – http://bit.ly/abrf4O.  To help you get going, here is a link to the Social Media Principles – http://bit.ly/social-media-guidelines.  These should give you a head start in crafting your own.

Does your company have a social media policy? We’d love to hear from you.  Post your comments, thoughts, and ideas below.

Michael Rabinovici

I feel the need…the need for speed

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Just when I thought the summer sun and mellow pace of afternoons by the lake has dulled my sense of how fast the Web is really moving, I came across a resource that snapped me back to reality.

To really appreciate what is happening, take a look at Gary Hayes Social Web Counter at http://bit.ly/socialmediacounter. Although I don’t think that as human beings we are wired to process so much information so quickly,  the Social Web Counter provides some perspective.It shows a variety of stats in real time, as well as daily and longer.

Hurry up and check it out at http://bit.ly/socialmediacounter.  You’ll be blown away.  Guaranteed.

Michael Rabinovici

Flip the Funnel – What if all of your company’s marketing is completely backwards?

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I often discuss books with our clients and business partners that I think can have a major positive impact on their businesses.  One title which has consistently been on the list for the last couple years is Joe Jaffe’s “Join the Conversation”.  His most recent book, “ Flip the Funnel”,  is equally powerful.    The assumption in this book is  that many traditional marketing approaches are getting it all wrong.  In other words,  the focus has been on customer Acquisition as opposed to customer Retention; on the fat side of the funnel, as opposed to the skinny one.

Jaffe passionately argues , and backs it  up with statistics, that investing in existing relationships is far more profitable than devoting the bulk of your budget to acquiring new customers.   “Retention is the new Acquisition”.

I know what you’re thinking – how can I possibly find the time to read another book?  Fear not,  we’ll do that for you, and more.  Below you will find a link to a video where Jaffe himself gives an overview of the book.

Length of the video – 4 minutes and 33 seconds.   The impact it will have on your bottom line – Priceless.

Here is the link to the video – http://bit.ly/beh1xP

Here is the link to the book – http://amzn.to/alaDJT

Michael Rabinovici

Your Company Sucks

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Just kidding. You know we love our clients. But someone, somewhere on the vast network we call the Internet, may be saying this about your company.  The better known your brand and your products, the greater the chance that someone is taking a pot shot at you.  The issue is not whether the criticism is justified but how quickly you find out about, and respond to, it.  The difference in finding out within hours as opposed to days or weeks can be measured in millions of dollars and, once in a while, can even become a matter of survival.

If your company was “slammed” for no good reason, you can set the record straight.  If the criticism is justified, you can fix it quickly and win points for your lightening-speed response and exemplary customer service — a perfect opportunity to make lemonade from the lemons you’ve been handed.

So how do we find out as soon as possible? By using a set of tools readily available online. We’ve covered some of these before, but they are worth mentioning again:

1. Google Alerts — http://www.google.com/alerts.  A content monitoring service, offered by the search engine company Google, that automatically notifies users when new content from news, web, blogs, video and/or discussion groups matches a set of search terms selected by the user.  The service is free with a Google account and is easy to set up.  The key is to set up alerts for numerous terms, including product names, as well as those of key executives.  I would even go as far as to suggest that one of your alert terms should be “your company name sucks”.  Most of our clients have been using Google Alerts for a while and we are working with them to gain even better leverage with this tool.

With Twitter growing by leaps and bounds on a daily basis, you absolutely have to monitor conversation in the Twitterverse.  Recent stats tell us that users currently generate 2 billion (that’s a “B”) per month.

I previously recommended in this space Tweet Beep (www.tweetbeep.com) which enables anyone to receive alerts by email whenever a specific word or phrase is tweeted on Twitter.  Here are a couple of other options for Twitter:

2.  Tweet Alarm – http://www.tweetalarm.com/

3.  Tweet Alerts – http://www.twitteralerts.net/.  With this service, you have a number of options when it comes to notifications, including SMS.

To see the effectiveness of Twitter as a customer response and service tool, Comcast is the classic example. Read the these stories and you’ll become a believer:

Savvy online service can win back customers – http://bit.ly/apZlyP

My @ComcastCares Customer Service Story – http://bit.ly/dqx3L7