Social media workshop Wednesday in Alexandria
The Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring a workshop with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center on "Getting Started with Social Media," from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Chamber Office, 1118 Third St. in Alexandria. The workshop will provide the basics on how to use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, as well as the latest must-have Pinterest, to promote your business or organization at no cost. Full article.
Twitter seeks to widen appeal
Twitter is taking steps to broaden its appeal by making it easier to navigate the service and help users find interesting content. To accomplish this, Twitter is highlighting tweets from people from geographic regions. Full article.
Ad.ly: The Art of Advertising on Twitter
In the 1980s she was Punky Brewster, the star of a comedy about an orphan. Today, Soleil Moon Frye is a 34-year-old mother of two and a power marketer for Ad.ly, an advertising agency that pays actors, athletes, and musicians to promote products through micromessaging service Twitter. Twitter is testing its own advertising service, which could compete with Ad.ly for the attention of sponsors. Full article.
8 Percent of American internet users go to Twitter
A new Pew Research Center study found that 8 percent of Americans who are active on the Internet are enthusiastic users of Twitter. The study found that Americans who regularly use Twitter are primarily “young adults, minorities, and those who live in cities.” Also, African-Americans and Latinos are twice as likely to use the service than whites. Full article.
Social media helps local businesses better engage customers and boost revenue
Listening to people talking on Twitter and Facebook about your products or company can help you grow relationships with them. There are several things to keep in mind, however, when using social media, including training your staff to remember that their actions could go public. It will cost you time and effort to embed a solid social media strategy in your business, but the effect it can have on customer relationships makes it all worthwhile. Full article.
Twitter has something to tweet about
Twitter expects to exceed 200 million users in the next two months. One-hundred 75 million people use Twitter right now, and the microblogging service has been growing at a rate of hundreds of thousands of users every day. Full article.
Now, Even McDonald’s tweets—do you?
Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald’s Corp., says social media avenues, such as Twitter, allow big corporations the opportunity to make the restaurant experience warmer and more intimate. “It’s really not about how many people are following you," Wion said. "It’s about the level of engagement, really the strong connections you are making with customers.” Full article.
Twitter turns to Ads
In the last two weeks, Twitter introduced several advertising plans and courted Madison Avenue at Advertising Week, the annual industry conference. Although Twitter has fewer than 20 of the company’s 300 employees work on advertising, that is in contrast to one just three months ago. Next year, Twitter plans to offer a self-serve tool for local businesses to buy Twitter ads. Full article.
Restaurants turning to Twitter to fix customer complaints
Conversations about food that once only happened between friends are now public thanks to the Internet, and sites like Twitter sped up the conversations. Whether it's reviews before the meal or the service afterward, opinions are voiced freely -- and restaurants are taking notice. Recently, however, restaurants -- locals and chains -- have started Twitter conversations with customers. Chains like Chipotle and Pei Wei even have full-time social media employees. Full Article.
Yahoo! now connected to all Toshiba 46” to 55” HD TV models
Yahoo! Recently announced that all of Toshiba's new 46" to 55" HD models now include Yahoo! connected TV. That means easy access to Twitter and Facebook feeds, movie streaming and news services. Full article.
