Ten Free Marketing White Papers

There’s a lot of information out there regarding social media marketing. So much so that half the battle of keeping up to date is just finding where they are hiding on the Web. And so, when I come across a compilation that looks promising I’m compelled to do that most basic social media action: share.

The below message was sent out by Mike Crosson a fellow member of the Social Media Marketing group on LinkedIn. He encouraged all to share, and so here it is (Thanks Mike!):

• Group: Social Media Marketing
• Subject: 10 complimentary White Papers… whaHOOO!

Hello, everyone -
Here are 10 free White Papers that are really helpful. Feel free to pass this email along to your colleagues and friends that you think might be interested as well.

1.) Pinterest – Learn how to increase traffic, leads and sales by reaching more than 11 million people
http://bit.ly/GGdZQe
The fastest-growing social media site ever has become a huge traffic referral (arguably, more powerful than Google+) for all businesses. An increasing number of companies are leveraging the platform to reach a new audience, increase visits to their websites, and generate leads or retail sales. And guess what? It’s working.

2.) Learning LinkedIn From the Experts: How to Build a Powerful Business Presence on LinkedIn
http://bit.ly/GElwgy
In Learning LinkedIn from the Experts, five LinkedIn specialists provide key insight into how you can use LinkedIn to successfully grow your network and business.

3.) How to Create Epic Facebook Ads
http://bit.ly/GExOvB
Placing ads on Facebook provides one of the most targeted advertising opportunities today. The social network knows the demographics and interests of more than 800 million people who are active online. Written by Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, this ebook will walk you step-by-step through the nuances of Facebook ads.

4.) How to Use Google+ For Business
http://bit.ly/GFqmPU
Google+ is the new social network on the block. With more than 90 million users and a growing influence on search, Google+ has definitely emerged as a key player in online marketing.

5.) The Ultimate How-to Marketing Guide 
http://bit.ly/GFAELr
How do you get a comprehensive view of the important ones and prioritize accordingly? To ensure your proficiency in Internet marketing, we’ve designed this multimedia ebook which, as David Meerman Scott says, “identifies nuggets of inspiration to drive success at your business.”

The next five after the jump: 

When to Say “No” to Your Social Media Marketers

More and more people are calling themselves social media marketers these days,  so how do you know the one you are working with is giving you good advice?

As always, my recommendation is to first hire a social media professional (someone employed in social media for at least five years) as your in-house guide, watchdog and subject matter expert. Until then, here are four red-flag warning signs that you’re getting bad advice from your social media marketer:

Live Tweeting: Social Media Week IABC

Last night (Feb. 8 ), as part of New York Social Media Week* I attended a panel discussion sponsored by the New York chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators at my old stomping grounds, the McGraw-Hill building, titled:

When Publicly-Held Companies’ Free-Wheeling Social Media
Collides with Disclosure Policies

When employees in a publicly-held company disclose “material information” via Social Media, the risks and ramifications are enormous.  It could even result in the Securities and Exchange Commission investigating your firm or imposing a fine – all because they found out through the wrong channel.

The panelists were:

• Standard & Poor’s, Alice Cherry, Senior Director of Social Media
• Pfizer, Kate Bird, Director, Corporate Internet Communications
• AT&T, Paul Dalessio, Vice President at Fleishman Hillard (agency)
• Definition 6, Gil Wolchock, Group Account Director [Moderator]

The spin on this discussion was it involved companies that operate under strict regulatory guidelines in addition to normal corporate concerns over social media use. Here are my tweets broadcast from the event (in chronological order):

Social Customer Service: The ROI of Social Media

Respected marketer Paul Dunay writes in his Buzz Marketing for Technology newsletter that the true ROI of Social Media for B2B marketers is found in what he terms Social Customer Service. I agree and take it one step further — it’s not just the secret sauce for B2B but B2C as well.

Simply put, social customer service is keeping your customers happy. Makes sense, right? And just as applicable to both business and consumer targeted customers. So why do some companies feel that listening to their customers, especially when they are talking about their products or services, is not worthy of serious budgetary (dollars or time) commitment?

The trap is when in-house (or agency) marketers see social media as primarily another distribution point to market the company’s wares. Turning social media ROI into a statistical analysis of views, clicks and conversions misses out on the most valuable aspect of this social science: deepening engagement between your brand and its customers resulting in less customer churn, more customer satisfaction and creation of a viral army of brand evangelists who will praise you among their peers

This is why companies need a social media professional on hand to champion the customer within its walls and represent the company wherever its customers gather online.

Dunay has it right:

“The downside of poor customer service has been well documented on the web more and more people are taking to the web to warn other would be customers of their dissatisfaction so don’t let that be your company! I never read a Social Media case study that started with “we completely ignored this customers issue they were blogging or tweeting about and everything worked out great” in fact it is always the opposite.”

Exactly.