Archive for February 2012

10 Social Media Tools You should use

Social media is everywhere. It's in our homes, places of worship, schools and, of course, our businesses. Everywhere you look, people are using social media and are talking about it. And it seems that every week a new type of social site pops up.

And as the number of social networking sites grows, so does the number of services that are created to measure, track and monitor those services. What's a marketing professional to do?

To help you cut through the clutter, here are the 10 must-use social media tools that can not only help you make sense of your social media efforts but make them more effective.

1. EditFlow
EditFlow is a plugin from open source content management system WordPress that allows you to manage your editorial team seamlessly.

With it, you can get a snapshot of your month-to-month content with the calendar feature. It also offers improved content status beyond WordPress' default draft and pending review. And user groups can help you keep your team of writers organized by department or function.

Who should use it and why: Any business owner who manages a multi-author website should give EditFlow a look. This tool can keep all of the things that are important to a multi-author blog in one spot so management is easy, clean and documented.

2. TweetReach
This tool allows you to see how far your tweets travel. For example, with TweetReach I can search my blog and come up with these results. It breaks down how many people your messages reach and how many tweets it took to reach them. For instance, TweetReach can tell you how many times your tweets have been shared by retweets, replies and other standard tweets.

Who should use it and why: From a social media manager to a small-business owner, basically anybody who is interested in finding out how effective his or her tweets are based upon the number of people they touch should consider using TweetReach. It can also useful from a metric standpoint in terms of justifying the results of your social media campaigns with senior management or partners.

3. ArgyleSocial
This Durham, N.C.-based startup is a social media platform that aims to help marketers connect the business dots with the social media dots. ArgyleSocial offers a single dashboard to monitor Facebook and Twitter that allows you to delegate tasks to your team. It also offers easy reporting on the ROI of your social media efforts.

If you'd like to be an affiliate, you can use ArgyleSocial's white label brand and resell the social media platform to your clients. All of your accounts can be wrapped up into one bill and sent to you to distribute or absorb as an included service.

Who should use it and why: From the social media manager to the one-person business that needs to prove to management, clients or themselves that their social media campaign is paying off.

4. HootSuite for iPad
HootSuite users should be happy with this iPad application. It includes a stationary column in the sidebar that keeps track of all streams being tracked.

Among the other things HootSuite says you can do with this iPad app include checking in using a Foursquare account, scheduling messages to send at a later time, examine click-through statistics, add geo-location coordinates to messages and shorten URLs with a built-in Ow.ly tool.

Who should use it and why: HootSuite for iPad is for heavy iPad users who want to manage their social media content and engagement.

5. TweetLevel
You might be thinking you don't need another Tweet metric tool, but TweetLevel, allows you to specifically search for hashtags, which can lead you to insights on who to follow based upon conversation versus person.

Once you've found someone you'd like to follow, you can use TweetLevel to help measure his or her social influence. You can also evaluate the buzz around a certain topic to determine if it's a trend worth paying attention to. Then take a peek at related phrases around your topic to gauge the true scope of the trending idea.

Who should use it and why: Public relations managers and social media marketing professionals who want to analyze a campaign should give TweetLevel a try. This tool can help you identify the Twitter conversation, where it's going wrong and how to correct that mistake.

6. ReFollow
When it comes to Twitter, numbers might not be as important as the people you follow and who follows you. ReFollow is an application that allows you to lock in those followers that you've connected with and make sure they continue to follow you.

Other features include filtering a search on Twitter to uncover insights, such as what you have in common with certain followers. This can lead you to connecting with someone who maybe you're Twitter conversation has been close to zero, but with a simple direct message to that person you can make a connection and build a business relationship.

Who should use it and why: This can be the perfect tool for the person who wants to grow a list of highly-qualified, like-minded people. Consider using ReFollow if your concern is quality over quantity, which it should be.

7. TwitterSearch
You've probably heard of TwitterSearch but, more than likely, you aren't using it correctly.

New media expert Thomas Baekdal offers a number of little-known tips for using TwitterSearch. For instance, to see what people are saying about your competitors, search with to:competitor or from:competitor. Replace "Competitor" with that company's Twitter handle.

To uncover top trending topics search that topic plus –rt filter:links. For example, "digital marketing-rt filter:links". That code will remove all of the retweets from the search.

Who should use it and why: Anyone who wants to use and search Twitter more effectively should brush up on his or her TwitterSearch skills. And knowing what's trending on Twitter can be a useful way to generate ideas for your business blog. When you see trending topics, you can create a blog post with content relevant to that discussion.

8. Traackr
One simple way to find and follow people who are influential in your space is to use Traackr. It allows you to identify the "authorities" in your industry who can mean the most to your business or your client's.

What's also useful about Traackr is that you can watch how social media leaders are responding and contributing to content you are sharing. An ad agency, for example, can see who it should target to help social media campaigns get off the ground, build its engagement strategies based upon Traackr's unique intelligence and then see results of those campaigns.

Who should use it and why: Traackr can be a useful tool for either advertising agencies or brands that want to build social media campaigns that improve over time and show how they pay off in the end.

9. SocMetrics
The Topical Influencer platform by SocMetrics is a web-based tool that allows you to identify influencers, understand who these people are, interact with them and then monitor your campaign.

The "Competitive Influence" feature allows you to specify brands and drill down for detailed influencers. What's slick about this tool is that you can narrow your search to a long-tail keyword, seeing who is truly influential.

Who should use it and why: Any marketing professional who wants to build an effective social media campaign based upon influencers in a specific industry should give this a look. SocMetrics can help you harness the power of thought leaders, which in turn can help you build your brand and sell more.

10. Social Scope
For BlackBerry users who've longed for an app that combines Twitter and Facebook on one screen, such as TweetDeck for your desktop, consider trying Social Scope.

And on that same screen you'll see a thumbnail image if someone shares something from TwitPic. It also has a built in retweeting feature, hash tag search and will also let you see the entire URL to know where a truncated URL is pointing.

Who should use it and why: Anyone who owns a BlackBerry and has a Facebook and Twitter account is a prime target for this app. It's probably the closest you can get to a desktop-type app on a BlackBerry.

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The Next Big Thing in Social Media

Move over Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Another social media site is stepping up as a valuable marketing tool for businesses.

Pinterest, an online bulletin board for your favorite images, launched in 2010 and is already experiencing wild growth. The site registered more than 7 million unique visitors in December, up from 1.6 million in September. And it's driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined, according to a recent report from Cambridge, Mass.-based content-sharing site Shareaholic.

Why should small businesses care? To answer that, you first have to understand how consumers are using the site. Pinterest allows you to organize images -- maybe pretty sunrises or wines you've tasted -- into boards for specific categories. When you "pin" something new, your followers will see it. They can like, comment or re-pin it to their boards. Like Facebook content, your Pinterest pins can go viral.

Brides-to-be can pin pictures of different wedding dresses to review, and people shopping for a new car can pin images of their options. When I joined Pinterest I started a board to show the Major League Baseball stadiums I've visited. The possibilities are unlimited.

Here's a look at why some business owners -- particularly retailers -- might want to seriously consider starting a business profile on Pinterest now.

How It's Being Used
Perhaps the most powerful business application is the ability to post images of your company's products on your Pinterest board and link them back to your website. It works as a sort of virtual store catalog.

But remember that this is social media. If you simply display images of your products without contributing other content or sharing other users' pins, you'll likely find that people don't pay much attention. After all, no one likes a self-absorbed blowhard.

But savvy social media users know not to get too promotional. For example, Whole Foods Market pins pictures of delicious-looking food, food art and images of recycled or reused products to inspire customers to be environmentally responsible. Daniel Gordon, who runs Samuel Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City, pins pictures of his rings and watches, but he also has a board for images that make him laugh and other types of products he loves.

Driving Sales
Pinterest already is driving buyers to some websites. In the last six months, the retail deal site ideeli.com has seen a 446 percent increase in web traffic from Pinterest and sales resulting from those visits have increased five-fold.

"We continue the Pinterest conversation with [the] members by following their pins, and we love to give feedback outside of the shopping category -- whether that means commenting on a great recipe or [giving] a heart next to our favorite pet pics," says ideeli.com social media manager Sarah Conley. "We also see Pinterest as a growing resource to better understand our members and the larger retail landscape."

Is Pinterest Right for Your Business?
The site does have some drawbacks for businesses. If your product or service isn't particularly visual, your images may not tie directly back to your brand. Pinterest also doesn't offer business-oriented features, and its search function prioritizes pin and board subjects ahead of "people," the category that brands would fall into.

The best way to determine if Pinterest could attract buyers is simply to give it a shot. Set up an account and start pinning things that are relevant to your business but not too promotional.

If you run a lawn-care center, for instance, pin pictures of landscaping you find online or snap in your community. If you're a brick-and-mortar store, pin shots of the interesting sites and people around your neighborhood and photos you take at community events. You also can search through Pinterest's categories and add some inspirational, funny or beautiful images you find.

Then, follow interesting boards and individuals who post images that inspire you. Once you've done some pinning of other people's content for a week or so and attracted a few followers, create a new board of your products. Add descriptions and perhaps the price to the images. Make sure they link back to your website and start tracking pinterest.com as a referral source in your website analytics.

Next, try creating an image of a special deal or coupon just for your Pinterest followers. Upload it to a new board for Deals. Perhaps offer a prize to the person who gets the most likes or comments on a re-pin of the coupon, and then see who shares it the most. Don't fret about creating multiple boards. People who follow you will see them all.

In a month or two, see if you're getting referral traffic or sales. Depending on the results, you may need to tweak your boards with new images and words.

One thing is clear whether you're on Pinterest for personal or business reasons: the best images -- be they funny, beautiful or thought provoking -- attract the most attention and followers.

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Ethnic Diversity

In this assignment writing paper we explained the basic idea for influence of ethnic diversity on the development of public programs and services. In this assignment help, we used the APA referencing style. Please do let us know if you have any query in this paper.

Ethnic diversity is the idea of having people from different backgrounds or of a different ethnicity working together for one common cause (Dreachslin, Maldonado & Dansky, 2004). It should be also considered that ethnic diversity also affects thedevelopment of public programs and services directly or indirectly. Public relations will also be affected by the ethnic diversity (Menon, 2009). Ethnic diversity can also influence the relationship with the constituent groups in the public programs. Ethnic diversity has impact on leadership role in hiring, retaining, and counseling & building relationships with diverse public that can help to build more public relations domestically & internationally (Dreachslin, Maldonado & Dansky, 2004).

In addition, ethnic diversity negatively affects the development of public programs and services. For instance, when the public programs, rules, regulation & laws will be implemented in a particular nation/country, then ethnic diversity will definitely affect the policies of government. It means, the policies & regulation cannot be successfully implemented in the nation (Menon, 2009). Core values, beliefs, attitudes and culture of the people will also affect the public policy & services. There are some positive benefits of the ethnic diversity. For example, in China, to control the population, the central government of China has implemented a law such as: nobody can birth more than one child.

On the other hand, if the government of India will implement such kind of law, then the public policies & rules will be affected by the ethnic diversity. It is so, as in India, people need social security from their children, so they will protest this law. This will be a negative impact of the ethnic diversity (Menon, 2009). Hence, it can be stated that ethnic diversity also affects the development of public programs and services positively or negatively due to differences in values, rituals and norms of different nations.

References
Dreachslin, J. L., Maldonado, R. W., & Dansky, K. H. (2004). Racial and ethnic diversity and organizational behavior: a focused research agenda for health services management. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 961-971.
Menon, J. (2009). Macroeconomic management amid ethnic diversity: Fifty years of Malaysian experience. Journal of Asian Economics, 20, 25-33.

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Five Ways to inspire Innovation

In today's marketplace, product life cycles are shrinking, global trade is leading to growing competition and the internet has lowered barriers to entry in many industries. So the need for innovation is more vital than ever.

How can you kick innovation into high gear at your small company? Here are five ideas:

Swim upstream. Is everyone in your industry doing things the same way? Maybe there's an untapped need others are missing. For instance, one Midwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, recently began stocking a special checkout lane with only healthy snacks. It's a smash-hit with health-conscious moms who shop with young children, and the chain is reportedly mulling expanding the idea to 100 stores.
Face your fear of change. We crave exciting new things as consumers, but as business owners we often fear having to implement new ideas. Create a culture that integrates and celebrates change to spur more innovative initiatives.
Listen to customers. If you feel short of creative energy, do a focus group or take an online poll. This is a key to many of Procter & Gamble's newer products.
Add unusual services. You don't have to be an inventor to be innovative -- just add a service that isn't traditionally offered in your industry. An example is the new Duane Reade flagship store on New York City's Wall Street, which has such amenities as a nail bar, juice bar, sushi bar, no-appointment doctor, cell-phone charging station and electronic stock-exchange ticker.
Get behind your idea. Don't be like Kodak, sitting on your digital camera invention until competitors eat your lunch. Once you've got an innovative idea, put it out there and promote it with all you've got.

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Leadership - Style Approach

We have provided assignment help for all subjects. Recently we write the assignment related to leadership. In this assignment writing, we provided the detail of leadership explanation would you offer to show how the style approach works, situations do you think leaders need to be more task oriented . We also following discuss in this paper : Identify and discuss the three-skills approach and provide one workplace example where they can be very successful in a leadership process and also explain the Blake and Mouton's leadership Style in what situations are the different styles best.

According to the Style approach, leader works by managing team, complying authority, managing country club and impoverishing management. In other words, the approach would work, when the leaders apply their behavior as per the demands of the situation (Northouse, 2009). For example, in one classroom, a teacher comes, directly explains syllabus to the students and concludes the class. In another class, second teacher comes, first tries to develop understanding among the students about each other by knowing their names and then explains the topic to students.

In first situation, task oriented behavior is shown by the teachers and in another situation, relationship oriented behavior is exhibited by the teacher. After knowing the difference in the styles of teaching, both teachers can change their behavior to get better results. Leaders need to be task oriented, when there is requirement to explain the task related aspects to the followers. For example, to explain senior people, task oriented behavior should be shown by the leaders. On the other hand, leaders need to be relationship oriented, where relationship building with followers is needed. For example, to address the topics to newcomers or fresher, relationship oriented behavior should be followed by the leaders.

Three Skills-Approaches

There are three skills approach such as: technical, human and conceptual skills. These three skills approach are discussed as below:

Technical Skills: It means having the knowledge about and being proficient in specific type of work or activity. It also refers to capabilities to use appropriate tools and techniques (Rekabdar & Soleymani, 2010).
Human skills: It means having the capabilities and knowledge about and being able to work with other people.

Conceptual skills: These are the skills that leaders must have to think and to conceptualize about abstract and complex situations (Arkın, 2004).

For instance, to successfully implement the ERP system in a business organization, an individual/leader will need technical, human and conceptual skills. Without the knowledge of these skills, he/she cannot successfully implement the ERP system in the organization.
Basically, new skills-based model of organizational leadership involves competencies, individual attributes, leadership outcomes, career experiences and environmental influences. Individual attributes element deals with general cognitive abilities, motivation and personality (Dong & Naghdy, 2007). In contrast, Competencies includes problem solving skills and social judgment skills. Leadership outcomes include performance and effective problem solving skills. So, in this manner, the new skills-based model of organizational leadership extends the knowledge of the three-skill approach (Rekabdar & Soleymani, 2010).

Blake and Mouton's leadership Style

Country club leadership
This style of leadership is used to increase the work performance of the employees. Leader has a high concern for the people, but a low concern on the production. The leader probably supposes that the member of team will work hard if they feel happy & secure in the organization. Lack of direct supervision & control is problem with this style (Arvonen & Pettersson, 2002).

Middle of the Road Leadership
This leadership style has a high concern with both production and people. So, this style is used to increase the productivity of the employees. This creates an atmosphere of team spirit, where each team member is highly motivated and satisfied, which commits the worker to work hard. But, this style requires high effort of leaders (Fey, Adaeva, Vitkovskaia, 2001).

Middle of the Road Leadership
In this style of leadership, a leader tries to balance between the need of the workers and goals of the company. Balance attained by this style is its advantage. Disadvantage is that neither the production nor the people needs are fully met.

Impoverished Leadership
This is an ineffective style, because the leader does not create efficient system or rules to structure work process to the workers and not create motivated or satisfied work environment (Fey, Adaeva, Vitkovskaia, 2001).

References
Arkın, F. (2004). Programme evaluation: Skill-based language teaching approach in EFL. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 3339-3350
Arvonen, J. & Pettersson, P. (2002). Leadership behaviours as predictors of cost and change effectiveness. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 18, 101-112.
Dong, S. & Naghdy, F. (2007). Application of hidden Markov model to acquisition of manipulation skills from haptic rendered virtual environment. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 23, 351-360.
Fey, C. F., Adaeva, M., Vitkovskaia, A. (2001). Developing a model of leadership styles: what works best in Russia? International Business Review, 10, 615-643.
Northouse, P.G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. (5th edn). USA: SAGE.
Rekabdar, G. & Soleymani, B. (2010). Comparison of Basic Mathematic Skills between Students with Different Studying Approaches. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 213-218.