Alberta Business Marketing

Our team at Ulistic coaches many small business folks and marketing teams across North America each day.  This is the part of the job that I truly enjoy, openly sharing concepts, tips and tricks and practical use of social media.    It is always such a delight when the light bulb goes off during a consulting session with one of our clients.  Business in my opinion are done with the fluff around social media, they want the hard facts, return on investment justifications, what are the opportunities and most importantly what do need to do.  Interested in learning more, just click here, drop me an email or phone call.

One Product that rocks my world – Hootsuite

One of the products we discuss at length during our Social Media Consulting engagements is Hootsuite.  Hootsuite is the cornerstone of our social media modules and it rightly deserves it place in the pecking order of must have social media management tools for any size of business or hobbyist.

I have personally tried a number of social media services out there (Tweetdeck is one).  Hootsuite is really the only true social media dashboard product out there that is easy to use and does almost anything you can imagine.  One the biggest stress factors with social media is managing the time to engage properly online and make important connections, Hootsuite solves this.  With Hootsuite, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pages, Foursquare accounts and so much more.  You can even invite members of your team and share certain online social media accounts.

It is a must have for any serious social media professional out there and it is also Canadian.

Hootsuite is based in Vancouver, BC.

Hootsuite runs online, it is a true cloud solution.  Leveraging the power of HTML5, Hootsuite requires no software to install and no widgets or browser add-ons, simply point your browser to http://www.hootsuite.com, create your account and you are off to the races.

Karim at Techvibes shared some recent news on Hootsuite the other day.  Hootsuite is cranking it up another step.  I love the fact that I can segment my Twitter account into lists, searches and much more but now I can filter these columns on keywords or Klout.  My Klout score sits at 29, it has taken a hit over the past little while since I haven’t been that active in the Twitter Universe lately.

Go and check out Hootsuite, it is awesome web-based solution that rocks!

Tags: awesome web-based solution, british columbia, cloud solution, Facebook Inc, foursquare, Hootsuite, LinkedIn Ltd, media accounts, media dashboard product, media management tools, media modules, media services, North America, Online social networking, Real-time web, social media, social media consulting, Technology/Internet, Tweetdeck Inc., Twitter, Twitter Inc, Vancouver, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Whenever you speak with a Calgary Social Media Consultant many of my peers in the industry will tell you about the importance of using Twitter in your business.  This is a true statement, however I look at tweeting in a very different way compared to what I once did.  One question you must ask yourself is this, are you tweeting with purpose or are you simply making or adding to the noise?

In my early days of using Twitter, I was simply about making the most noise out there.  I once thought if I made enough noise I could rise above the noise and in reality I simply added to the noise that was out there, and you know something – people will turn you off.  Picture the loud mouth at your business networking club who always boasts about how great their business is or how well his kids are doing in school, you know that person…what do you do?  Most of us avoid him or her.  You know the noise I am speaking of in the online world it could be mentioning that you are at the local Starbucks on Foursquare, tweeting useless bits of information and retweeting other people’s noise.

I do like the idea of retweeting other people’s useful information, however the question I have to ask is this.  Are my tweets enriching someone else’s life or business?  If the answer is no, I really need to think long and hard about sending out more noise into the Twitter universe.

Twitter is such a powerful tool but often abused by many small business owners because of the advice of some social media professionals out there.  How about this advice?  Instead of simply sharing a link to someone else’s article using Twitter that really has no value or broadcasting to the world something they really don’t care about.  Can you not write your opinions about what the other person’s article, blog post or link meant to you on your own blog.  Offer your own insight and opinion using your own platform.  Position yourself with your own thoughts instead of simply tweeting without any purpose.

Can you use Twitter effectively?

Tags: business networking club, Calgary social media consultant, foursquare, Human Interest, Noise, Online social networking, online world, Real-time web, social media, social media professionals, Starbucks Corporation, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Declaring Foursquare is officially removed from my iPhone!  But why?

I have officially pulled off Foursquare this week.   I am working hard and continuing to determine what social media services work best for business and of course those business who put their trust in Ulistic for online marketing recommendations.  Foursquare on the surface appears it can attract restaurants, hotel owners and retail stores who can jump all over it and offer some great specials and draw in visitors who check-in with close proximity to their business.  However, for me and for some others the novelty and quirkiness of the check-in process, points and badges is something that quickly became boring and really pointless.

What was it that killed the novelty of Foursquare with me?

Is it a simple lack of adoption in the business community or was it just a lack of value and results.  Was Foursquare just a few months or a year ahead of its time?  I still believe location aware services are the up and coming thing when it comes to online marketing.  Just look at Google’s initiatives around “click to call” with mobile browsers.  For business to adopt leveraging these services it needs to be able to draw in prospects who are looking for what you have to offer, not just visitors who perhaps don’t have the dollars to spend on your products and services.

Where I see location aware services really working is in making recommendations based on your location.  If I go to Toronto and want to get a listing of restaurants close to where I am and meet my budget I can easily open up Yelp and it knows where I am and what is close by.  This can easily work for Realtors with open houses, restaurants with specials, hotels looking to fill up some empty rooms or any other retail shop with specials or sales going on.  There are lots of opportunity but it has to show return for business to adopt it full on.

I think at the core this would have worked well with Foursquare but its major flaw is business relying on folks checking in.  I guess we still need some kind of opt in and as long as we rely on people to opt in, this will continue to be a flaw.

Foursquare you are out…my iphone Starbucks application stays.

Foursquare rating for small business = To early and needs to attract those with real dollars to spend, not just those of us who like to play a quirky game.

Tags: Apple Inc., Business/Finance, foursquare, Google Inc., Internet Marketing, iphone, location aware services, Online social networking, retail shop, Social Issues, social media, starbucks, Starbucks Corporation, toronto
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Are you attending an event?  Putting on a show?  Twitter now has a feature which enables your posts to be identified with your location.  Not your exact location unless the third-party application like Foursquare or Yelp.  Twitter’s location service will identify the community or public building you just tweeted from.

In order to use this feature when it comes to Canada, you must turn “Add a location to your tweets” on within your profile settings.

So far this feature is only available in the United States.

What do you think about all this location aware stuff happening with social media services?

For more information on how this service effects Twitter for business in Calgary or even your hobby tweets visit http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26810/entries/78525

Tags: Blog hosting services, Calgary, canada, Entertainment/Culture, foursquare, Online social networking, Real-time web, Social Issues, social media, social media services, Twitter, Twitter Inc, United States, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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