We’d like to congratulate our friends across the hall, at Relaborate, for unveiling the new version of their product today. Way to go guys.
Relaborate actually spun out of Social3i a little more than a year ago. As an agency, we were looking for tools that could help us create blog posts, newsletters, and other long-form content more efficiently and with better results. We weren’t able to find a tool that we liked, so we raised little bit of money, hired a development team and spun out a new company which we called Relaborate.
Since the product has been in its infancy, Social3i has been using Relaborate for our clients, to create more interesting content, more often, and involving more people in the organization. It’s helped us transform from being a social media agency focused only on engagement, to a complete content marketing firm driving traffic and leads.
With this latest version of Relaborate, which we’ve been testing about the last month, we see even more opportunity for companies and brands to produce outstanding long-form content. Since we’ve been able to work so closely with Relaborate over the last year, we’ve really been able to see how the product has developed. The team has been incredibly responsive to customer feedback, and writing content has never been easier.
Now this doesn’t mean that any agency’s role is diminished. Not at all. In fact an agency can actually produce more blog posts and content, and provide better results for their clients using Relaborate. The questions and answers, workflow and collaboration tools, and especially the opportunity to use email to contribute to a blog post, are all super helpful and generating content from across the organization, and establishing a social culture.
By using Relaborate, agencies like us are able to provide you content marketing services at rates that may surprise you. Please give us a call or shoot us an email if you’d like us to give you a demo of how we can help you with your content marketing needs.
Congratulations again to the guys from Relaborate. Nice work.
Today I’m back to technology. I have my phone connected. I’m tweeting up a storm. I’m tired from a 30+ hour trip home. I have my 20oz Starbucks that is making me shake from caffeine overload. I’m surely not in Spain any longer.
The past three months, I spent living in Leon, Spain and working remotely with Social3i.
Yes, that is snow in Spain!
The months I spent in Spain were wonderful and are something I will look back upon with fond memories.
Why was this possible? Technology and Social Media.
Technology advancement in the past few years has been amazing. Not only can you email back and forth from anywhere in the world, but you can video chat, collaborate on documents, and make international phone calls for nearly nothing. Working from Spain felt almost as if I was working remotely from home, or as one of our clients put it “It’s like you were never gone.”
My time spent in Spain taught me many important lessons. Not only were there cultural differences to adapt to, but also many aspects of professional life.
What did I learn in my time spent there?
Relationships Are Key
Slowing down can be a good thing. From siestas to long meals, the Spanish know how to enjoy life and each other. In Spain, business relationships stem from long term relationships with one another. Trust is a key part of doing business and building the foundation for successful professional connections.
Learn Another Language – Pronto
In high school, I took my Spanish class for granted. Little did I know it would be a huge chapter of my life, allowing me to connect with people from all around the world. The world is quickly globalizing, thus making it important for business professionals to speak not only their language proficiently, but that of another country.
By 2050, 10 percent of the world population will be speaking Spanish, spurred mostly by its growth in the United States. For many companies, the Spanish speaking demographic is a huge part of their market.
Today we Skype with China, we import from Spain, we trade with Russia – learning a second language is become even more pertinent than ever before. Not only does being bilingual help our clients, but it has opened many doors both professionally and personally.
Jamon, Paella, and Sangria Are Delicious.
Also so is the beer, the tapas, and the pastries. Not that I ate these everyday or anything….
Spanish Markets Are Open For Business
Though right now the unemployment rate is nearly 25% in Spain, the country presents a plethora of business opportunities. Why? In the United States we have everything. From 52 flavors at the local ice cream parlor to 100 cereal boxes down the breakfast isle, we are clearly lucky. Though Spain has much to offer, there are many items that would do well not only in the United States, but overseas. From marketing services to exporting commodities, there is much opportunity for United States businesses to do very well in Spain.
Social Networking Is Great
Each time I have lived in a new place, I have used Twitter to help me connect to the marketing and technology scene. From London to San Francisco, Twitter is one of the best ways to easily connect with professionals and friends in your new zip code. Going to a new place? Use FollowerWonk.com to find people in your area. Next, follow them and start up a conversation.
Jamon, Paella, and Sangria Are Delicious.
Oh wait….. I already said that.
Though I already miss the delicious food and buena gente, I am happy to be back in the land of plentiful coffee. I am looking forward to seeing everyone around the marketing and social media events in Seattle.
Have you lived in a foreign country for an extended period of time? Would love to hear your thoughts on professional life in the comments below.
Next Tuesday, January 29 from 5:30-7:30, come join Alonso Chehade and myself for a discussion on Social Media for Start-ups hosted by the Northwest Entrepreneur Network.
We’ll talk about the importance of storytelling and content marketing in your social media strategy, show some reasons why your start-up should be dedicating taking some of your precious hours to building your brand online, and showing some examples of start-ups you can model. It should be a fun 2 hours and we’ll pack it with as much info as we can without overwhelming you.
Hope to see you there.
(Image sourced from Forbes.com)
With social media sites constantly changing, it can be hard to keep track of profile photo and headers sizes. Fortunately, the folks at Luna Metrics came out with this handy infographic.
From Facebook to Linkedin, this cheat sheet has all the current sizing information you need to start off your 2013 right!
The Ultimate Complete Final Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet
By : LunaMetrics
I like to receive requests from HARO (Help a Reporter Out). Now, I’ve never actually had any of my responses used in an article (to my knowledge) but it is an interesting way to see what is buzzing out in blog land. This question came through today, “For an audience of HR professionals who are themselves seeking new jobs, how can they improve their social media profiles to ensure that they are standing out from the crowd?”
I don’t think my content will be used, so here was my response. I’m interested to hear if you have additional advice?
My response:
An established LinkedIn profile is no longer something that sets you apart. Any serious company expects that HR professionals know how to leverage all of the power of LinkedIn. Thus, if you want to float to the top of the stack, you need to do more.
Companies are looking for experts in their field. Creating and maintaining a personal blog on WordPress or another hosting company is an easy way to show that you are technically competent and aware of existing trends in recruiting. It also provides an excellent way for you to passively show your expertise and thought leadership about the field you participate in.
By using the word “blog,” I am not suggesting that writing about your cats or kids will set you apart from other candidates. But if you were to reply and elaborate on other articles about your industry, refer events you are attending and provide tips and tricks for job seekers, you can quickly and easily give yourself a positive brand name before even walking into an interview. In fact, you may even become a stronger recruiter inside your current organization, and turn into an asset that is too valuable to let go.
Furthermore, combining your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts into your blog demonstrates that you understand the reality of the 21st century workforce. We are living in a world of greater transparency. No one expects you to stay in the same job forever, but they do expect you to be dedicated to it while you are there. Leveraging some public but personal online channels enables HR managers to demonstrate that they are connected to industry thought leaders, understand the needs of those they are recruiting, and that can be valuable brand ambassadors for the company they represent.
What are your thoughts? Can you help an HR person out?
The year 2012 has seen an array of digital trends, a number of successful social media campaigns, and various changes to the social media world.
Here is our look back on social media this year.
MySpace Makes A Comeback
In 2012, the once forgotten MySpace revamped with a new logo, new design, and a new outlook towards the future. In 2013, it will be interesting to see whether the social network can compete with the social media giants of 2012.
Facebook Hits 1 Billion Users During 2012 and IPOs
This massive number is the largest a social network has yet to experience. In the months to come, we’ll see whether more flock to the platform, or choose to abandon it.
Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors), and is multiple times the size of the next largest social site across each platform. The site is also the top U.S. web brand in terms of time spent, as some 17 percent of time spent online via personal computer is on Facebook. via Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012
The Facebook IPO was another key milestone in 2012 social media. On May 18th, the networking giant held its initial public offering.
In 2012, Pinterest Became The Fastest Site To Ever Reach The 10 Million Unique Visitor Mark.
As we enter 2013, Pinterest will be a platform that many marketers choose to utilize in their marketing mix. As digital platforms become more visual, marketers will need to adapt their marketing strategies to encompass these changes.
LinkedIn Launches Business Profile Pages
This year, LinkedIn pushed a number of updates to the platform making it even more valuable to employers and potential employees. One of the most important updates of 2012, was the launch of business page. Now businesses have the tools to make their profiles more appealing to prospects and new employees.
Instagram Is Sold To Facebook
This year one of 2012′s biggest acquisitions was Facebook buying Instagram for 1 billion dollars. This acquisition continues to help Facebook maintain it’s competitive edge as the web’s biggest social network.
Both smartphones and tablet sales rose above PC sales in 2011. In 2012, this trend continued to remained consistent blowing PC sales out of the water. Brands have will need to adapt to these changes by making their websites mobile and tablet compatible and releasing branded applications.
Twitter Adds Their Own Image Filters, Competing With Instagram
Twitter, in response to Facebook’s aquisition of Instragram, no longers posts the application to tweets. Twitter has added their own filters.
And one of our favorite’s : PSY’s Gangam Style, surpasses Justin Bieber as the #1 video on YouTube.
What do you think were the biggest social media moments of 2012? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Social3i has partnered with AT&T to bring you a series of digital marketing posts for gaining traction with your newly launched application.
You’ve spent your days, nights, and weekends working hard on an application. The day has come to share it with the world.
Sadly, the hard work has yet to begin. Now you must market your application in a variety of ways to gain exposure and downloads. In our post, we highlight three easy ways to create buzz and drive initial downloads.
Read our first post here : Your App is Published! 3 Tips for Getting it Into Market
As technology advances, social media is becoming an integral part of not only our lives, but also of the buying process. In all steps of the purchasing process, customers are turning to the web. Today, potential customers are not only just searching Google, but are also searching social media sites around the web like Facebook and Twitter.
Social search also proves true in the real estate market. From the initial question of “Where should I live?” to “Does this complex have a good reputation?”, customers are finding their answers online. In today’s competitive market, social media can serve as a customer service channel, a way to showcase property photos, and a way for potential tenants to interact with the company.
Why do real estate companies need social media?
Connect with customers to overcome barriers in the buying process.
Social media can serve as a great outlet to field inquiries from curious consumers and can help combat negative experiences. Since beginning its social media presence, our client, Pillar Properties has seen a number of inquiries about leasing and neighborhood information.
Actively outreach to customers looking to rent real estate in your city.
Often times, people post to social media channels that they are looking for an apartment or have questions regarding certain areas. A real estate company has the opportunity to jump in and engage with the customer before they reach their own door.
Reinforce top of mind placement for next move.
Social media can serve as way to generate low cost impressions for potential customers in your city.
What Social Channels Are Customers Looking To For Real Estate Information?
To follow are a few of the many platforms that potential tenants are actively searching.
- Zillow
- YouTube
- Quora
- Yahoo Answers
- Blogs
How Can My Company Get On Social Media? What Should We Talk About?
One way to start your social media outreach is to build and execute upon a structured editorial calendar that provides content that will resonate with you audience. To follow are a few suggestions to get you started.
•Customer testimonials
•Property updates
•Stories about customer experiences
•Company announcements
•Buying tips
Is your firm utilizing social media to increase rentals? What has worked well for your social media strategy?
