Disqus - Latest Comments for MatthewRay

Re: 10 Ways to Expand Your Social Media Networks

MatthewRay — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:51:28 -0000

Most importantly... you need to have a GOAL! Know why you want to be active, why you are promoting yourself, and stick to it as your goals change.

If you don't have a goal, you won't see any value to being in social networks to start with. It may be the biggest reason why folks join networks and say they are bogus 3 days later; because they don't have a goal to expand on.

Re: 7 Ways To Prevent #FF from Jumping The Shark

Christy — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:28:59 -0000

Uh oh... I don't necessarily agree with you... http://christybrewer.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/c...

Re: 7 Ways To Prevent #FF from Jumping The Shark

emiltsch — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:56:51 -0000

Thanks...

If you're going to recommend someone, may as well sell it nice!

Re: 7 Ways To Prevent #FF from Jumping The Shark

MatthewRay — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:09:14 -0000

Nice Eric.

I started using #Follow instead of #FollowFriday. Takes up less characters... and it still falls under the concept of "giving kudos and recommendations on ppl to follow at the end of the week (Friday)"

I really agree with the @username followed by a reason why I should click on the profile to view them further in depth.

If they are all lumped together, I tend to ignore it and move on. A few clever people at least added a location to their recommendations. Of course I want to follow people in my home town; it tightens the community!

And I agree with Mark - Keep this post handy, or re-write it after a week pointing back to your original post - maybe you learned something from a comment ;)

Take care,
@MatthewRay

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/know-and-master-your-social-media-data.html

MatthewRay — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:44:41 -0000

I am really not a fan of Hellotxt and Ping.fm; a few sites that throw out the same msg to all your sites.

1) half the time, your core audience is following you across all platforms.. they don't want to see your msg more than once! (so stop spamming them)
2) the other half of the time, it is irrelevant to your audience. Facebook for instance. If I tweet something with @ and #, my FB audience won't know what I'm talking about and may eventually hide my updates from their stream.

The bad news there is that you are no longer reaching an audience that you eventually want to reach when you ask from for a poll, or review of a service/product, or try to sell them something (like a seminar or a book, or a push to read your latest blog post).

Know your audience across all platforms. Be respectful and thoughtful. Don't be a spammer (you might be and just don't know it).

Thanks for posting, Louis!
@MatthewRay

Re: Moving beyond social media metrics to business outcomes

dirkmshaw — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:28:23 -0000

Hey Matthew,

Thanks for the comment. Educating stakeholder is a key and many of them get educated quickly when they see positive business results.

Thanks for the comment..dirk

Re: Moving beyond social media metrics to business outcomes

MatthewRay — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:53:37 -0000

Good post, Dirk.

I engaged in a Twitter Chat on Sunday night, #BlogChat. The topic was "How would you convince your boss (company/sr. management) to start using social media?

Summary posted here: (http://www.theviralgarden.com)

I think the main conclusion that we all found out was that social media really needs to align to the goal of the business. What is the bottom line.. what are you trying to achieve? And you need to prove that to your boss; that is aligns with the new business strategy.

In measuring social media, I wouldn't measure JUST # of followers and retweets without knowing who they are. It's like signing up for an e-mail newsletter that I don't read.

But I feel you are spot on. What I would measure is WHO (company, position, type of engagement with others) is following and can I qualify them as leads or industry leaders that are truly interested in my postings after engaging in the conversation.

Numbers can only go so far.. you need to know that those numbers align to the overall business goals. Are they attainable? Are they sustainable and cost effective? What changes to strategy need to be made; is there a process in place for that paradigm shift once you realize your position and acceptance?

Also comes down to educating the shareholders (another conclusion from #blogchat). As you stated - we are in the trenches and understand SM.. but the shareholders are most likely not there, and don't' get it. They need to know where, who, and when people are talking about the business for the buy-in and acceptance of measurement.

Thanks for posting - first time I've visited.

Re: Shortening The Distance Between Us

MatthewRay — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:06:11 -0000

Absolutely! Ever sense joining twitter I have conversed with some really talented people not only in Rochester, NY, but also around the world. With the Rochester Crew, I was able to find out about @SMC_Rochester - and from there was able to strike up a quick conversation with people I haddn't met before, but knew them online.

I would have never connected with the people I met in Rochester in this short period of time since joining the @SMC_Rochester - and especially not without Twitter. It stream-lined my efforts to meet and talk with an innovative crowd!

Re: @finkd: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Joins Twitter

MatthewRay — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:03:08 -0000

He did say, "Fink Out". Never hearing that phrase before.. I looked it up:
Fink out: to decide not to cooperate with someone or something (after all)

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fink+out

Was it the actual phrase being used? Or was it the last name of the alleged person that set up the account?

@MatthewRay

Re: Mashable on Tumblr - Twestival - Scott Harrison, Founder of charity:...

Twittonary — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:28:53 -0000

Very cool 'cause! Looking forward to the event... and hey... new twittonary word.. haha.. will have to add that one ;)

Re: Mashable on Tumblr - Twestival - Scott Harrison, Founder of charity:...

MatthewRay — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:25:56 -0000

Rock on, Scott! And Pete, thanks for the post!

Looking to do some good in Rochester, NY.

Looking forward to the event - going to be a fast-paced 10-days of planning to go...

@RocTwestival
@MatthewRay

Re: Why so big?

WolfmanK — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:22:40 -0000

Thank You Mathew :)

Although, I have to admit there is one snag in my plan. Netbooks, don't normally have a resolution large enough to see the site properly, which is a shame. If they become more popular I may have to adjust something. :(

Re: Why so big?

MatthewRay — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:50:18 -0000

haha. I like your reasoning for the pictures being big.
Raise the status quo!

Re: When Your Staff Turns Against You with Social Media

MatthewRay — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:36:47 -0000

The good thing about posting such negative comments on Facebook and LinkedIn is that it's a liability to the employee that does write negatively about the company. I would think most companies have an ethics policy of some sort that states one cannot talk negatively or act in a nagative manner while representing the company (as an employee).

LinkedIn and Facebook tie you down to your name. If you talk negatively about one company, the next company that hires you may not hire you because of what you had stated. It's the web, just about everything is searchable.

Twitter, on the other hand, may be able to hide the face of the employee, for a bit. But if the username is using their account regularly and has any links or people that know them, then they'd be in trouble.

I bet a lot of companies are very hesitant to get into social media because of the negative, possiblly anonymous, content that could spawn from opening up.

But... it's a risk a company should be taking these days. They need to do it right, and as you stated, learn how to react to social negativity and reprimand when needed.

@MatthewRay

Re: Thank You Comcast and Why I Love Twiter

MatthewRay — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:54:41 -0000

Great success story!

Re: Personalization not Automation

jacobmorgan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:13:28 -0000

hey matthew, yep ive seen that. not using it though :) just havent seen the need yet. lots of new tools are coming out.

thanks for reading and commenting. interesting discussion you and danny have been having there.

Re: Personalization not Automation

MatthewRay — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:22:29 -0000

You guys see this yet? TweetLater: http://www.tweetlater.com

Interesting site with keyword alerts and scheduled tweets...and autotweet.

Re: Personalization not Automation

Danny Brown — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:52:09 -0000

I agree, Matthew, which is why I'll post individual comments when it suits the different mediums. :)

Re: Personalization not Automation

MatthewRay — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:20:22 -0000

But, Ping.fm and hellotxt ( www.hellotxt.com ) do take away from the reasons of being on specific social networks. You are there to talk to your audience - and each is different.

You should have different audiences in each of your social networks (some interlinking) and you should be posting specific messages to that specific audience.

Your LinkedIn people don't want to know that you you are going out with your crew all night at the bar and anyone around should meet up with us.

But, if don't post messages like that, then you are in the clear :)

Thats a big reason I wouldn't want to broadcast across all networks, my audience is different in each.

Re: Promoting Vs Relationship Building

jacobmorgan — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:17:23 -0000

hey mattew,

i agree, it's always good to explore and look outside of your own community and industry. if you spend to much time pigeon-holed you will out on a lot of opportunities. i think the key issue you touched upon is passion.

thanks for reading and commenting!

Re: Promoting Vs Relationship Building

MatthewRay — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:55:33 -0000

Kudos Jacob,
People like the idea, but don't understand the approach that is needed. It's not traditional marketing.

This is "Why You need a Social Media Marketing Team", described in one of your recent posts.

You can't jump in expecting to promote a product or business without first building some relationships.

You mentioned, industry relationships; this is great and you should do this, but don't ignore the other industries. You don't know who someone else knows. You could post a few catchy items that one industry sees but is not interested in. What you want to also do is get them to think about their network, and who in their network MIGHT be interested in your product.

People are generally happy to help other people out. Give tips, advice, tools, recommendations, etc. But they won't "help you out" without first building that relationship with them.

Bottom line, you cant JUST promote and expect winnings. You have to take the time, patience, and passion to build relationships with online users for them to turn around and help you out when you need it most (ie: promotion or a new product or service).

Re: Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Department

jacobmorgan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:29:16 -0000

excellent thanks for sharing, gonna tweet this out :)

Re: Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Department

MatthewRay — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:35:34 -0000

Here is that ARticle about CEOs using Twitter:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0908_mi...

Re: Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Department

jacobmorgan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:28:44 -0000

hey matthew,

im not sure i read the article. the last thing i read was that most ceos/cmos have no idea what twitter is :)

i think its great that execs are taking twitter into their own hands and are signing up and encouraging internal use (if that's actually going on). However, i dont know how many of these ceos are actually able to create social media strategies that actually align with their business/company goals. meaning, why is the ceo on twitter and how does that fit in with the business objectives?

i think ceos want to build relationships on their own level, but i dont think they have strategies to do so.

a smm department would need to teach the whole company how to use social media tools and how to benefit from them, there are always going to be some people that just don't get it though.

i agree with you, i don't think it would be too daunting at all, these people run companies for a living!

thanks for reading and commenting!

Re: Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Department

MatthewRay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:07:34 -0000

Nice Post.
There has been an article floating around about CEOs on Twitter. They are taking the SMM into their own hands.

Do you think they are being lead by a Social Media Department?

I would think that a SMM department would need to teach the CEO and other Senior Leadership Team Members how to use Twitter to benefit the company and display themselves as a real person. That, and how to expand on other social media platforms.

A few others mention that it would be a daunting task to create a SMM department. How much work is it really? Once you are up and running? You have to stay on top of the trend, but someone who really loves social media, the head of your team, would be doing that 24x7, with or without the benefit of the company.

Look forward to more,
Matt