Facebook recently introduced a new feature whereby it allows users to share links to articles, blog posts and other web content under the title of “sponsored stories”. While this seems like a way for many companies to try to syndicate and socially share its content, the authenticity of voice seems very contrived when the stories being promoted are about new innovations in home roofing. There lies a tremendous opportunity for Non Profits and Charities to utilize this feature however. Non profits and charities have a unique ability to use social media to share their voice.

Due to the very nature of the work that they they do, Non Profits inevitably have tremendous stories to share but often not enough avenues or channels in which to find a wide enough audience that those stories have impact. There have been no shortage of social media success stories for Non Profits so I want to focus on how I think that Facebook’s Sponsored Stories can specifically be used. Continue Reading…

When Twitter decided to get serious about business they did what one would expect of a company that wanted to make it easy to do business with them, they published a guide to doing business on Twitter. To that point the most definitive publication was from Mashable. So you would think that with Facebook crossing 600 million users and already doing serious commerce (but looking to do more) would have published something quite similar. If it is there, I have yet to find it, so I ask…Where is the Facebook Guide for Business? Continue Reading…

Social CRM (CRM and Social networks mashed together) is now being offered by many different companies each with their own version of what they really consider it to be. While companies like Hearsay and Lithitum are building some terrific pieces of Social CRM, for Social and CRM to truly reach their married potential there needs to be a deeper level of integration between social and existing enterprise CRM systems.

I make the jump directly to the enterprise because while small businesses may be able to nimbly move between CRM systems until they land on the correct SASS solution, enterprise companies have legacy systems with possibly millions of customer records. There is no desire, nor ability to move to a platform built for small business. Thus they are left with silos of information and can not have a full view of their customers. How then can companies begin to integrate social with their current CRM systems?

I believe that the absolute vital first step in integrating social and enterprise CRM, the lynchpin if you will, is contact profile matching. Continue Reading…

Brent Leary recently wrote a post on the launch of Hearsay, the new social media company from former Facebooker Clara Shih (also author of The Facebook Era) and I thought it was most interesting to note that companies like State Farm and Farmer’s Insurance Group have already begun using the service. I’ll give a little upfront on Hearsay and then explain why I think it has found a real sweet spot that is missing in the Social CRM, Social Dashboard arena and why it makes for a perfect for tool for franchises and other similar business that have a head office and distributed local establishments. Continue Reading…