Out of the Fog Marketing

Cisco and Facebook? Yes, folks they have a relationship. B2B Marketing recently reported on Cisco's use of social networking and Web 2.0 tactics to launch their Aggregation Services Router 1000 series. Usually stoic Cisco even has a Second Life property.

Research firm Universal McCann has a detailed report out with social media statistics. One of the more interesting stats is 36% of survey respondents thought more positively about companies with blogs. It's interesting blogging is becoming part of branding and corporate validation.

So does your company have a Facebook group, Squidoo site or Twitter page? In this new landscape the daring companies which try it will come out ahead I believe. We already see fabulous search engine ranking pages for Squidoo sites on niche topics and Twitter tweet pickup. So dive in...the water's fine.

Labels: b2bmarketing, better marketing presentations, cisco, facebook, Internet marketing, social media, social networking, squidoo, twitter, universal mccann, web 2.0

Nielsen Online's October 2007 reports show that social networking sites and blogs are still expanding. Social networking giant MySpace drew 19% more unique users between October 2006 and October 2007, and Facebook grew 125% in the same period. Linked In - the business networking site - grew by 189%.

If someone in your company does not have time to blog, then at the very least make sure every employee has a LinkedIn profile that points back to your corporate website.

Labels: business social networking, facebook, LinkedIn, michigan, myspace, social media

I encourage all of our clients to get profiles on the big social networking sites: LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook. Invariably when I mention Facebook the CEO or owner of the client company will look at me with more than a little skepticism. "Isn't that the site my teenager is on?" is a typical next question.

While, yes your teenager might be on Facebook, more and more CEOs, thought leaders and technology gurus are posting profiles and joining groups on these networking sites. Facebook announced the details of its new advertising program in New York yesterday. Facebook now will give advertisers the ability to create their own profile pages on its system that will let users identify themselves as fans of a product. Each user's news feed will let others view the products she endorses such as "Shelley is a fan of Apple Computer".

So take notice small businesses. Can you afford not the have a profile on these sites? The word of mouth and validation marketing alone is worth the time and effort.

Labels: facebook, small business, social media, social networking, technology business