World Cup & Social Media

The most watched and arguably most important sporting event worldwide is the (soccer) World Cup, which occurs only once every four years, and features the best soccer players from each country teaming up in hopes of bringing perhaps the most coveted trophy in all of sports home to their respective nations. The World Cup this year was hosted by South Africa, and as always, featured hundreds of thousands of fans blowing loudly into vuvuvzela horns and cheering for their nation’s team with unbeatable passion.

After a month of tightly contested matches complete with penalty kicks, clutch saves, and incredible goals, the final match between Netherlands and Spain is set to take place on July 11th. The whole world will be watching to see which nation emerges from South Africa with soccer’s ultimate prize. Attending the world’s most anticipated event in such an exciting and passionate atmosphere is an experience that many dream about, but few get to live out. Did you have the chance to attend the World Cup this year? The chatter over popular social media sites regarding the world cup is amazing. Hundreds of thousands of entries and opinions. You can use social media to post your opinions, share photos and videos of your once-in-a-lifetime experience with your friends, and Social Mavens can help you.

NBA Free Agency & Social Media

This summer’s free agency sweepstakes has the potential to shake up the landscape of the league more than ever before, not only because of the unprecedented amount of talent in the NBA free agent class of 2010 (Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, and Paul Pierce, just to name a few, all became free agents on July 1st) but also because a number of teams (most notably the Knicks, Nets, Heat, and Bulls) have freed enough of their salary caps to sign one, two, or maybe even three of the aforementioned superstars. Several teams have held highly publicized meetings with new free agents over the past week with the hope of becoming an instant title contender with one stroke of a free agent’s pen. The Knicks were the first team to strike, signing Stoudemire to a five year deal worth nearly 100 million dollars. Stoudemire claims that he will contact James and the other big fish in the free agent pond with the hope of luring at least one of them to play with Stoudemire in the Big Apple next season. Just today, the Heat secured Wade & Bosch.

While NBA team representatives could not hold official meetings with free agents before last Thursday, NBA fans have been attempting to woo their favorite players to their favorite respective teams for quite some time. With so many suitors able to make attractive pitches to the this star-studded class of free agents, the imaginations of NBA fans all throughout the league are running rampant at the prospect of their favorite team having a revamped roster. Last Spring, Clippers fans held a city-wide “Bring us Lebron” rally in Los Angeles, which was followed by a similar city-wide rally in Miami held for their incumbent superstar Wade. The players themselves “tweet” about their movements. Now it’s your turn. Social media enables you, the NBA fan, to post blogs, photos, and videos about which potential free agent signings would make a good fit for your favorite team and why. As the free agents consider their options and make their highly anticipated decisions, let Social Mavens help you set up your best pitch to your favorite client (player): your very own free agent fan page.

NCAA Recruiting & Social Media

The NCAA has recently stated that… “The NCAA has developed rules regarding social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while fully recognizing the social media world is constantly changing and developing. Divisions I and II look at social networking less in terms of the technology being used and more in terms of its recruiting impact. NCAA rules do not allow comments about possible recruits on an institution’s social media page or a page belonging to someone affiliated with the institution. In addition, these pages cannot feature photos of prospects and messages cannot be sent to recruits using these social media technologies other than through their e-mail function.” Read more at http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA

There are very strict and certain guidelines that the institution should follow as well as all staff, trustees and student athletes. Institutions should take the time to understand how “social media” can impact recruiting, operations, and student athletes social life. At the same time, social media sites can be such a valuable tool to a sports team and its fans. Social media can allow for an institution to gain more fans / followers, share photos and videos as well as disseminating current messages from the coaching staff. Let Social Mavens (www.socialmavens.com) help interpret the rules and write the guidelines for you.

Contractors Get Help From Social Media

There are published studies stating that 82% of home remodeling and improvement decisions are made by the wife in a marriage.  Therefore, in my opinion, the construction industry should be trying to use the “gossip” potential of these house wives to communicate with each other.  What better way to get in touch with the decision maker then through social media! Let Social Mavens (www.socialmavens.com) help a contractor to take over a neighborhood, so to speak. There are a variety of ways for a construction company to use social media tools to increase sales.
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A second thought for contractors is “how would you like to show the progress of a home remodel or any construction project from the comfort of your own desk at work?” This is simply accomplished through the use of photographs, videos and some popular social media sites. I believe this is a huge selling tool.  The technology is out there and some of the contractors I see are doing it.  They can not say enough about the benefits it has produced. 

We can set up a page which will allow for instant and personal customer interaction – faster and easier than e-mail. We can also help you build an on-line video library. What about a photo page that is easy to update with real-time progress photos. Maybe a review page, where satisfied customers can upload feedback on jobs you’ve completed for them. Social Mavens can do all this for your company and more.

Social media isn’t just for teenagers or businesses with dedicated PR teams. It’s for every business, big and small. It will help you thrive in this era of connectivity. Let Social Mavens maintain these services for you, and watch your business grow.

Let us help you at www.socialmavens.com

Social Medial Tools for your Business

The world of Social Media offers so many options. One of the largest social media networks is Facebook and almost all companies see growth from a notable Facebook presence. Companies can advertise and promote themselves, represented either through business pages or business fan pages. Also, by developing a customer base through fan pages, companies have direct and immediate access to consumers for advertising sales, special deals, and new products. 

Twitter is a social media site that allows users to “tweet” short updates, it is an incredibly valuable site for marketing. Businesses that have a Twitter account can be “followed” by their fan and customer bases so that anything your business has to say is sent directly to them. Twitter provides a quick and easy way to inform the public of any business developments, from promoting new products to offering special deals for Twitter followers, encouraging potential customers to follow your company. 

A company blog can give your business its own distinctive voice and additionally allows your customers and fans to interact with you and your products. Through a blog, companies can share anything, ranging from press releases to videos. An incredible and virtually free advertising outlet, blogs can be used to share all media. 

LinkedIn is an essential site for all companies since it is a business-oriented social networking outlet. Providing a complete profile for your company, you can link to all employees and build a network of existing customers and potential customers. Through its system of “recommendations,” LinkedIn can provide your company with credibility and increase your appeal to new customers. 

Your company’s participation in social media should not be limited by these sites—it is important to build a strong online presence by participating in industry blogs, joining local networks, and interacting with customers. Let us help you with your Social Media strategy at www.socialmavens.com.

Social Media ABC’s & Philanthropy

When you look for a social media agency to help your business, keep in mind the basics. The first step is to accumulate followers. There are many ways to do this, Facebook being a very popular method. Along the way, make sure that you capture their email addresses. After that, please start writing a blog. In addition to a blog, you should have a microblog such as Twitter. Please, only relevant information in your blogs. Now you have a substantial base of followers who are receiving quality information from you. A strategy that incorporates photos and videos is a recommended complement. Finally, wouldn’t it be nice if the agency you selected to help you do this was philanthropic? At Social Mavens, we donate all of our net profit to charity. Please contact us to learn more. . www.socialmavens.com

College Sports Need Social Media Platform

With social media usage dominating Internet activities, it is only natural for companies to utilize these sites to increase their exposure on the World Wide Web. Though all industries can benefit from integrating a social media marketing plan into their advertising endeavors, the impact on professional and collegiate sports has been particularly noticeable. As regular Internet usage becomes the norm, sports fans from all over the world can receive up-to-the-minute news on their favorite sports teams or athletes through a wide range of social media websites. Fans who already retain a passion for their favorite sports teams can unite on the teams’ blogs, Facebook fan pages, Twitter streams, and more. 

The most effective way to boost a brand online is to establish a social media hub (such as the New York Knicks’ wildly popular knicksnet.com) and subsequently channel content into online spaces such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and MySpace. Additionally, creating or utilizing applications for smartphones such as the iPhone and Blackberry can heighten fan awareness. Moreover, a sports agency can supplement and support its social media marketing endeavors with more traditional methods, such as radio ads, banners, arena signs, and television endorsements. 

One of the most important reasons to utilize social media is for the invaluable market research. Through social media networking, sports agencies can explore a number of variables to improve their brand, escalate website traffic, and attract more consumers.

Are You Using Your Facebook Fan Page?

Social media marketing is a cost-effective solution to maximizing brand exposure on a worldwide basis. In fact, more and more companies, brands, and individuals are turning to social media marketing to get the word out about their products, projects, and more. 

In particular, the microblogging site Twitter has taken the online world by storm. Some of the biggest names in the world have taken to tweeting about industry news, personal news, and other useful (or not so useful) information. Though famed for its celebrity users, Twitter has become a uniquely valuable source of information for millions of users. Banks, businesses, airlines, and many other companies utilize Twitter to share up-to-the-minute information with a large target audience. 

In a similar vein, companies and individuals can set up Facebook fan pages. Slightly more comprehensive than Twitter, Facebook fan pages include a “wall” for fans to post messages on, a discussion forum, and numerous other venues for communicating information. Facebook fan pages can be a helpful tool to drive customer awareness. Fan pages appear in a user’s profile, where they can be viewed by the user’s friends, ensuring that word about the company reaches an ever-widening audience. 

In addition to participating in the social networks themselves, companies also have the option of creating unique advertising on the sites. Since social networks collect information from their users such as age, interests, career, education, and more, companies can target specific demographics with tailored ads designed to maximize appeal.

Social Media Web Designer “Daddy Design”

As a Social Media agency, I am familiar with many design firms that work in our space. I am sure that there are many good ones but I found Daddy Design to be outstanding. They really understand the world of social media and were really easy to work with. Cool people, cool agency, really smart, really creative. They get it! Check them out at www.daddydesign.com

All Companies Should Blog!

With social media marketing, companies relinquish a degree of control to online users, which generates some of the most honest feedback possible. 

One of the most popular ways for a company to reach out to its customers online is through a company blog. Company blogs function as more than just news outlets – they can provide valuable insight into industry trends and product effectiveness, or they can just serve as a way to highlight a company’s culture. Companies that blog also possess access to various analytics and metrics that can help measure the success of certain topics, brands, and more. 

Another way for companies to interact with Internet users is through Twitter, a microblogging platform that has attracted hundreds of businesses, celebrities, and politicians. Companies that use Twitter can easily network with thousands of industry professionals, fans, and more. Twitter can also be used to direct followers to the company’s website, viral campaigns, and other social media networking sites. 

The ultimate social media networking package would involve the company closely monitoring various types of social media and tying the sites together into a unified campaign. In this way, companies can increase web traffic to their sites in addition to boosting brand exposure on a number of different third-party sites.