When is the last time that you left your house or office without your cell phone? Or went throughout the entire day – leaving your cell phone behind on purpose? For me -my cell is my personal and business lifeline all wrapped up into one. It houses my contact list – the days of remembering a phone number are long gone, my calendar, my email, texts and the internet are all at my finger tips  – should I need to search something. My social media feeds are there too so I can Tweet and update Facbook as I move throughout my day. My alarm for the morning resides on the phone as well and yes it stays by my bed at night when I am asleep!

As your business navigates through the decision to engage in social media – you should be thinking about the ways that your customers will best engage. What are the tools that they use, where are they likely to best utilize your information to connect – not only with you – but to take the types of actions you want them to make. With so many people as connected to their cell phones as I am – it is vital for every business to be thinking about how they can best leverage mobile.

This post and video from Retails Big Blog by Ellen Davis VP and NRF spokesperson is brilliant. It focuses on one of social media’s most important tools – and substantiating the opening to this post – that this tool is becoming- not just for me – but for everyone  a conduit to engage your customers – in ways that have not yet been leveraged. Best Buy – is leading the way by – acknowledging through this video that they realize and see this as a tremendous business opportunity.

If mobile is not on your company’s radar – this video is sure to change your mind!
Best Nicole

Benson, senior director of interactive marketing at Best Buy, began her presentation at the Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference by asking people to swap cell phones with the person sitting next to them. There was a lot (and, I mean, a LOT) of hesitation, but most people followed directions. Then we were asked to trade phones with another person close by. More hesitation ensued, but most people obliged.

At my table, I ended up holding the BlackBerry of a guy I’d never met and he (gasp!) was cradling my iPhone. It made me cringe. This short exercise was a powerful reminder to me – and, likely, many other attendees – of the personal value we place on our mobile devices.

What does mobile mean to Best Buy? A tremendous business opportunity. Best Buy debuted a video during Benson’s presentation about the value of mobile – not only on Best Buy’s employees, but also on the company. Take four minutes to watch this and you’ll realize, this is a company that gets it.

For those that follow us on Twitter and Facebook - you know that yesterday I attended The Art of Marketing. It was a great event - but what I really enjoyed was the ability to SHARE with others – some of the many take-aways that I received from each speaker by Tweeting – better yet were the retweets I received from those that loved what I was SHARING. It adds a new dimension to be able to use your mobile device and be connected not just by email but in real-time to the social networks that are part of your day – to – day or I should re phrase that to say my day- to- day life.
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I got this link from Twitter via @thepowerofsmall author Lynda Thaler and CEO of  The Kaplan Thaler Group.

We are working on all sorts of digital projects these days—many of them are contests—with the plan to build a fan base, so they can begin to engage and connect with their clients one-on-one. As we continue to guide and educate our current clients with social media strategies and execution – we are always trying to sell new clients who have yet to really get engaged. As a women owned and run business – I always use the analogy that social media is a natural for women. It is focused on how we communicate. We like to tell stories and share our ideas. If we have a great experience we want the world to know and when we don’t we want the world to to know that too.
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In light of the Olympics taking place in Canada, I thought today’s post was definitely apropos! Virtual meet-ups and friendships are one of the great benefits of social media. Communities are being created in the online world and relationships are being extended into the real world. I know for myself—and many of my friends—that new friendships have begun on Facebook that have extended into the real world. Same goes for Twitter. Tweet-ups are popping up all over—where those on Twitter are getting together with their followers and fellow tweeters in real life. ING Direct Canada’s online bank has had a few “tweet-up” meet ups!
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The best way to show our readers that a serious, planned approach to social media as a key marketing channel can lead to success (when integrated with offline channels), is to provide case studies or corporate examples of triumph and prosperity.

Today’s post is going to do just that. In 2008, Starbucks (YES, I am one of their devotees ) found themselves in some serious hot water. Sales were down, there were major corporate management changes (which included Starbucks former CEO Howard Shultz returning and some management being let go), store closings, and some of the rapid rate expansion was slowed so that the company could go back to basics. The challenge? “How do they get back their relationship with their customer — the one they had when they first began?” Shultz claimed that, “Starbucks had lost its soul.”
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I think for many now jumping on the social media bandwagon, one area of measurement is based on the number of fans that one has. In some cases, it’s great to have hundreds of thousands of fans—IF you can lead them to click throughs on your site or directly track them to retweets of products and services or sharing via Facebook (from all of your friends to their friends and so on…). But many are, as in life, “fair-weather friends”: they come, look around, sign up…but don’t really engage or connect. Especially when you don’t have a strategy that is going to ensure that you connect with them for a direct call to action. Yes. You want a call to action. One that includes a mutual passion for the give and take that is going to be SHARED by your business and the friends/customers you are going to friend and follow.
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When we created SHARE, it was founded on a basic idea: that as successful, bright, creative women who are key influencers and decision makers for point of purchase (across so many categories and channels), we could really make a difference with our knowledge, based on who we are and the clients we work with. One of the reasons we focus on social media, is because of the ease in which we understand the parallel between social media and the way women naturally connect and engage with one another. Of course, we’re always clear that what is good for women is GREAT for men.
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Measurement has been at the epicenter of marketing for many, many years. Traditional marketing and advertising as well as public relations all have concise ways of measuring the success of a campaign. That success becomes  an ROI for the client – as is mandated by the goals and milestones created for their brand, products and or services.
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Much of the work we have been doing in our company, SHARE, has focused on social media and finding ways to leverage engagement for clients and their customers via Facebook and Twitter. Many want low cost ideas that will engage their potential friends and followers in ways that are meaningful to them. Of course, they want the ideas to be unique, out of the box and promise a gazillion friends. Many of these companies don’t plan for or strategize how they are going to keep those friends when the campaign or promotion is finished. How are YOU going to keep those friends—that collected their coupons for free offers of your products or services—from ending their relationship when your campaign ends?
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In all relationships there is give and take.  In the world of social media, many companies are now eager to leap into the world of social media networking—in particular Facebook and Twitter—to build their communities. There are many vehicles to do this and many businesses are giving away free coupons, for products and services, as a reward to those that join their fan page or tweet about their products and services. Others are making donations for charities that they support (e.g. we will donate $1.00 for each Facebook fan that signs up).
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