SMC of SLC

By Tim Haran, SMC of SLC member

At USANA Health Sciences we like to say that social media is tailor-made for direct sellers and the network marketing industry. As you know, direct selling first and foremost is about connecting, networking, and developing relationships with potential customers. Selling is secondary. It’s virtually impossible to build a successful business without first fostering relationships.

When USANA launched its social media efforts in 2008, one of the first tasks involved identifying social media platforms on which to focus. With dozens of social media sites out there we knew we couldn’t devote the time and resources necessary to create and maintain worthwhile communities on all of them.

We surveyed our field and learned two things: First, nearly 88% of respondents wanted USANA to create a social media training program. And second, the vast majority favored three platforms — Facebook, Twitter, and blogging. So we got rolling on a training system and concentrated our efforts in those three areas, aiming to build a strong following on each of them.

We surpassed the 20,000-fan mark on our corporate Facebook page this past month, and we have another 4,000 or so interacting on our two specialty pages — USANA Athletes and Rev3 Energy. Our page-view counts are also growing, signifying that they’re not fan-and-forget type pages. Our blog, What’s Up, USANA?, is a popular spot to read the latest USANA news, and it acts as a hub for distributor-driven information, which is then re-broadcast via Facebook and Twitter. It received more than 150,000 page views in its first year.

But how do we use these tools to help our associates? After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? Our goals as a direct selling company may be a bit different than those of individual direct sellers, but I think many of the key points are the same:

1.    Education: Through features such as our online video tutorial, Social Media 101, and our twice-monthly blog-based Social Media Tips, we try to offer examples showing how social media can work for our associates. For instance, we recently explained how to join and engage in Twitter conversations and how to utilize social media to generate and maintain excitement for business-building events. We believe that teaching our field to interact properly on social media — i.e. avoiding the sell-first mentality — not only helps their business succeed, but it also benefits our entire industry.

2.    Community: USANA distributors enjoy interacting with their peers, learning from leaders, and connecting with the corporate office. We’ve found Facebook to be the perfect platform for this. We manage three pages where distributors post comments or questions that are then acknowledged or answered by fellow associates or our social media team. It’s a great place to share knowledge, offer encouragement, and recognize successes.

3.    Resources: What’s Up, USANA? is updated several times a week with USANA-centric posts designed to educate the field, create talking points, and publicize the great things our company and its distributors are doing. It’s just over a year old, but we’re at the point where readers are submitting ideas for future posts. We notice our associates re-posting the content, as well as tweeting and sharing the information on Facebook. It’s truly becoming an interactive community, which is exactly what we wanted to have happen.

We understand social media is constantly evolving, but we believe that the basic principles of connecting and building relationships won’t change. By creating a solid foundation for utilizing these tools properly, we expect social media will help our company and our industry continue to grow.

Tim Haran is the Manager of Social Media Content at USANA Health Sciences, a manufacturer of high-quality nutritional supplements in Salt Lake City, Utah. A former journalist, Tim started as an all-purpose writer at USANA in 2007 before moving to the newly created social media/public relations department in late 2008. Since then, he’s overseen the company’s day-to-day social media initiatives and is the primary contributor to the award-winning What’s Up, USANA? blog.

By Larisa Arbashevskaya, SMCSLC member

Embracing social media and developing relevant content and strategy is what every hotel should strive toward, but don’t take our word for it. According to Travel Weekly’s April 2010 article on Social Media, “Social media use among travelers continues to grow faster than the travel industry itself. Unique monthly visitors to social travel sites rose 34% between the first half of 2008, and the last half of 2009 to 15.9 million.”

With the emergence of social media, the hotel industry worldwide has been trying to keep pace with this new medium and stay connected to their customers. Major hotel brands all over the world are Facebooking, Blogging, Tweeting and setting up their own YouTube channels in an effort to engage with their clientele, provide customer service and generate brand exposure. User generated content is now a valuable strategy for businesses big and small to attract customers. Hotels review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Expedia, ect.. play an important role in online engagement. Our hotels are able to track reviews, take note of relevant comments and make specific changes and responses directly to our guests online. More and more travelers are going strictly online to book their trip, and they often rely strictly on online reviews to choose the hotel for their destination.

This is exactly the reason why The Grand America Hotels & Resorts started using social media in May of 2009. Our company has always viewed personalized customer service as a standard and we greatly value these new free and innovative platforms available to connect us with our customers. Getting involved with the local community is also a priority for us. Social media has made it easier for The Grand America Hotels & Resorts to get the word out about our events and promotions, such as. . complimentary events open to the public like our First Annual Grand Holiday Festival , which we will hold again this year, http://www.grandamerica.com/promotions/holiday-events/ and our Spa Open House http://www.grandamerica.com/promotions/spa-open-house/ . These events are designed to welcome Utah residents to our hotels and showcase our efforts to contribute to the great city we live in.

Here are a few examples of how The Grand America Hotel is taking advantage of both Twitter and Facebook in order to connect, engage and learn from our current and prospective guests:

• Growing a relevant fan base. With Twitter in particular, we spend a lot of time staying involved with local residents and meeting planners.
• Listening to what folks are saying. You would not believe how much you will learn about your audience and their needs by listening to what they have to say. If you are listening to and noticing common complaints, take that information back to the source and fix it. That is good customer service.
• Participate in a genuine manner. Everyone can see right through marketing jargon. Social media as a platform for customer service and engagement will fail if you aren’t authentically engaging your audience. We take time to maintain a true dialogue with our fans and followers.
• Offer incentive and value. We regularly reward our faithful fans and followers by offering specials, promotions, contests and giveaways.
• Help current and prospective guests. During a recent Omniture(link) conference at The Grand America Hotel, with roughly 1700 guests in attendance, I was able to provide attendees with information about our facilities and amenities and to offer assistance with reservations via Twitter.

As we all know, social media is not going away any time soon. At our hotels, we look forward to taking advantage of its tools and finding new ways to use its capabilities to add our personal touch to every guest’s experience!

By Erica Brown, SMC of SLC member

The summer vacation is a staple of many people’s annual calendars. An entire industry is dedicated to this time-honored tradition and all travel. Related industries including publishing (travel guides, maps, magazines), government and nonprofits (convention and visitor bureaus, visitor centers), business (airlines, hotels, restaurants, attractions) and countless other affiliated groups. It was only a matter of time before this began transitioning to a web 2.0 platform.

Today, a central player in travel planning, TripAdvisor, announced plans to integrate its content with Facebook, providing instant interactivity to its offerings. According to Adam Medros, vice president for global product at TripAdvisor, “the collective wisdom of the crowds is enhanced by the wisdom of friends, allowing travelers to get incredibly relevant and personalized travel advice from the people they know best and trust most—their friends.”

Many people already search online reviews before traveling, but a review from a trusted friend is immediately more credible and useful. The travel industry will doubtless continue to find ways to encourage travelers to share the good and the bad things we learn while visiting new places.

Erica Brown is the Director of Communications for Thanksgiving Point, a nonprofit destination in Lehi, Utah which includes the Museum of Ancient Life, Thanksgiving Point Gardens, Farm Country, Emporium shopping and Harvest Restaurant. Follow Erica on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.com.

By Becky Wickstrom, SMC of SLC member

Construction information and Facebook – not exactly the likely pair. But the Utah Department of Transportation is successfully using social media to keep drivers updated on the I-15 CORE project, which will reconstruct 24 miles of I-15 from Lehi to Spanish Fork over the next two-and-a-half years.

UDOT’s communication strategy is a far cry from the first I- 15 reconstruction in Salt Lake County, just prior to the 2002 Olympics. During that project, the communications team relied on monthly meetings with committees and in-person discussions with local groups to provide project information. Meetings are still in the mix on I-15 CORE, but now citizens can get immediate answers to questions and provide instant feedback online.

I-15 CORE, which is the largest transportation project in state history, is engaging drivers online through Facebook, Twitter and even SMS updates. Each medium has a specific and independent strategy to meet the needs and interests of the various audiences. Twitter, for example, provides real-time updates on road work, while Facebook is used for general construction information, sharing news stories and posting pictures and maps. Both mediums allow users to ask questions, provide comments and interact with both UDOT and other drivers.

The I-15 CORE communications team is using the experts to reach students from UVU and BYU online. BYU’s BradleyPR, a student PR agency, is developing a creative social media communication plan to inform students who will be impacted by construction but may be difficult to reach through traditional mediums of TV, print and radio.

Response to I-15 CORE social media outreach has been positive across the board, with one Facebook user even commenting “Thank you UDOT – WE LOVE YOU!” after a change in the construction plan. The project communications team hopes that by keeping drivers informed and updated with the latest information, drivers will be less frustrated throughout the construction.

Becky Wickstrom with Intrepid Agency is UDOT I-15 CORE’s social media manager. The I-15 CORE project restores and expands 24 miles of I-15 from Lehi to Spanish Fork. Follow on Twitter, Facebook or sign up for weekly text updates by texting “i15” to 83043.

This social media workshop is PERFECT for beiginners, novices, dabblers, and the completely uninitiated alike. You’ll go through the popular platforms and their application in business, strategy, goals, measuring, and more. It’s two days of awesome information (but you don’t have to take our word for it).

Be sure to use the SMC of SLC discount code, SmacSmcDsc, when registering !! To get $100 off the ticket price.

* * *

Date: Wednesday, Feb 25th & 26th, 2010, BetaLoft (357 West 200 South, Suite 201, 84101), downtown Salt Lake City, UT. Price before discount is $447.

Instructor: Josh “Shua” Peters : social media author , active SMCSLC member, and consultant who has worked with Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, single owner companies, and everything in between.

Format: Attendees will learn as a group, building a solid social media foundation for themselves or their company. Workshops will start at 9am and end at 6pm. Breaks as needed and lunch provided at 1pm.

Attendees Benefits:
* 16 hours of intense hands on training and education ($2,000 value)
* Both digital and physical (signed) copies of Josh’s book, TwittFaced ($26.99 value)
* Lunch provided both days ($20 value)
* Solid foundation for which to grow the social presence for you or your company (continually gains value over the years)

Please Bring:
* Laptop, netbook, macbok, or some other form of portable computer (wireless internet access will be provided)
* A good picture of yourself (in jpeg, gif, or ping format)
* A hunger to learn and desire to participate

Outline:
Day 1

* The basics
* The who, what, when,where, why, and how of Social media
* The Big 4: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs
* Audio, video, and other senses
* Creating a story and building your community
* Finding your customers and fans
* How to engage and not spam
* Best practices
* The 4 basic marketing approaches and social media’s application in them

Day 2

* Strategy, measurement, and advanced tactics
* Defining your goals, creating a strategy, and implementing the tactics
* Listening
* Defining goals
* Creating strategy and planning
* Engaging and Implementing your strategy
* Measuring
* Impact vs ROI and other fun stuff
* Twitter, FaceBook, and other platform strategies
* Strategies and tactics for your business
* Social Media for PR, Marketing, sales, communication, and more
* Integrating your efforts to maximize your results
* Social media inside the firewall (a.k.a. how to optimize your work environment)

Parking: Parking is located at 200 S 285 w. Cost is $5.00 for the whole day with no re-entry (hence the delivered food). Beta Loft is west 1/2 a block on the south side of the street (same as parking lot).

For more info on Josh Peters:

Blog: Shuaism
Twitter: JoshSPeters
Facebook: JoshPeters
LinkedIn: JoshSPeters
Email: shua @ shuaism (.) com

Note: The SMC of SLC is not conducting this workshop. But we are helping to promote it as Josh Peters is an active SMC of SLC member in good standing, and because he is offering a discount to SMC of SLC members.The name is the SMAC Social Media Workshop

It is the SMC of SLC’s pleasure to highlight one of our member agencies, Lava7. Lava7 was founded by four partners: Maile Keone, Jack Hadley, Blake Hadley, and Rob Jensen, who bring years of award-winning experience in traditional marketing, message development, concepting, copywriting, art direction, and graphic design. Focused on social media marketing, Lava7 seeks to help organizations to “expand their relationships in relevant and engaging ways, in more places, and more easily than ever before.”

* * * *

SMC: First up, Maile, what’s the story behind naming your new social media marketing agency “Lava7”? Any tie to your Hawaiian roots?

MK: The name comes from the spreading of ideas. Lava spreads explosively, then moves more slowly, and finally settles into cracks and crevices, becoming part of the landscape and creating a foundation upon which other things grow. Lava also needs to be continuously pushed out in order for the landscape to continue to grow. Part of social media marketing is helping, watching, and encouraging stories to spread. That’s how we came up with the name. But I do like the Hawaiian connection.

SMC: Maile and Jack, what motivated you both to pour your hearts, souls, and wallets into the Lava7 partnership – and to focus your agency on social media marketing?

JH: One of my favorite books is Zag, by Marty Neumeier. Marty speaks of the relationships between trends, brands, fads, “waves,” and creating businesses that are essential and truly distinctive. Social media is not a fad. Social networks have always been a big part of doing business, and the Internet isn’t going away. Tools and methods may change, but this wave will continue to create trends that raise all ships. Four years ago I saw the writing on the wall and jumped into the deep end of the pool. I love what I’m doing. I feel like the 20 years I spent working in creative environments were preparation for what we’re now doing at Lava7.

MK: The first time I heard Jack speak, I knew I wanted to work with him. We’ve somehow managed to pull amazingly talented people together and create a fun business that helps people with both traditional and new marketing. My background in traditional tech company marketing is just a platform for the massive changes that are happening in the way we communicate. Being able to talk to companies and people about those concepts gets me up in the morning and keeps me awake at night. I’m just so excited about what each day brings.

SMC: Jack, you wanted to add something to what Maile just said about massive changes?

JH: Yes, if I might. The lines between advertising, branding, marketing, public relations, and customer service have become very blurred. That’s a good thing. Businesses should be engaging with their audiences anywhere they can, everywhere they can, and as often as they can. If you’re thoughtful about the ways in which you engage, it helps tell your story without annoying your audience. People are pulling and consuming information today in very different ways than before. These new strategies for digitally engaging and influencing are not only powerful, but represent a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.

SMC: You’ve branded yourselves as “digital engagement marketers.” Give us the low-down, Jack, on what Lava7 does for clients.

JH: We provide integrated social media marketing solutions that achieve business objectives. We do that by combining three things: strategic mindset, relevant tools, and compelling creative. I agree with SMC of SLC member Erin McBride, who suggested on this blog last month that “…we stop calling this social media marketing. To better encapsulate and explain what we aim to do with social media tools, I propose that we call it Social Media and Engagement Marketing.” I think that’s good thinking.

A problem is that businesses are feeling overwhelmed by it. The space is changing constantly. People don’t know where to start. They struggle figuring out how this fits with their existing efforts. They struggle getting C-level buy in. They’re afraid of wasting time and resources, and they don’t know how to measure effectiveness. We help businesses to first, wrap their minds and hearts around it. Then, we show them how to use the tools in simple, strategic ways. And in many cases, we also help with implementation.

SMC: Such passion, Jack! Is that why at least one client has labeled you a “mad genius”? Think the term fits?

JH: Whenever people say that, I’m not exactly sure what it means! Maybe it’s more like a “nutty professor.” Either way, I think I got that label because of my passion for what I’m doing. I guess it kinda fits. Sorta.

SMC: Maile, reassure Jack! List two strengths he brings to the Lava7 partnership.

MK: If I must! <grin> Other than his mad genius, Jack has an innate ability to help others understand complex concepts and processes. That ability has led to him to speak all over the state on social media marketing. He has helped many companies, from small start-up businesses to large technology companies, come to a better understand of where to start — which answers one of the questions we get asked all the time. In addition, his background as a branding expert helps companies to further understand that before spreading their story, they must first make sure they have clarity. Jack is a master at helping others to distill.

SMC: I’m disappointed. I was so sure you were going to mention those signature sneakers he wears to business functions. That’s gotta be a strength, too!

MK: Oh my gosh, you’re right. Those sneakers have cemented that Jack thinks outside the box!

SMC: Jack, your turn. Maile is known as one of the best-connected movers and shakers within Utah’s technology industry. But what are the strengths she brings to Lava7?

JH: Maile has great business sense, and her energy is so contagious. She has a proven track record in helping take companies from point A, to point B, to point C. She has a deep understanding of traditional marketing and remarkable insight into the ways in which new media strategies integrate with traditional marketing. Maile is feisty, too. We like that — and so do our clients. It helps move us ahead on a daily basis, meet our commitments, and get the work done. Her favorite word yesterday was “snarky” after we fired a client whom she called “one snarky dude.”

SMC: Yeah, well, “dude” is probably a term she perfected on the beaches of Hawaii, right? Blake, let’s hear from you, dude. The Lava7 website is crisp, clean, and playful. Do you get all the credit for this online coolness? Is it your chief Lava7 hat?

BH: Right now, I’m doing a lot of the design execution, so yes, I guess I get most of the credit. But we also work a lot as a team, and utilize a number of outside design resources. We each wear lots of hat around here. Besides directing design, I spend a lot of my time doing behavior blueprinting.

“Digital Behavior Blueprinting” is the term we’ve coined for the first half of the creative process behind the strategies we create at Lava7. The second half of the creative process is more traditional; it’s about imagery, graphic design, headlines, colors, etc. But the first half is about coming up with ideas that engage. For example, what will draw people in? How can we get people to do the things, or click on the things we’d like them to do? How will people interact with the rollouts or promotions we create?

You can have all the cool social media tools in the world, with beautiful designs, but if there aren’t creative ideas for implementing and utilizing them, achieving the objectives, and driving results, they’re really useless.

SMC: Well said, Blake! Rob, you’re the final partner at Lava7, serving as CTO. But I hear you’re more commonly referred to as the “code guy.” Explain.

RJ: My partners do call me the “code guy.” As Blake said, creativity is no longer ONLY about messaging and visuals. In this space, it’s about applications, utility, interaction, and experience. I view my role as the technology bridge builder between the three parts of the puzzle: mindset, tools, and creative. Obviously, in the end, the execution of web-based, digital engagement is about pixels and code. But this kind of bridge building is much more comprehensive. Our creative team model is similar to the one used by Edward Boches at Mullen. I work a lot on solving the content distribution and development parts of our projects, making sure that the application of technology not only lines up functionally, but lines up strategically as well. Tying the tools together into smooth, integrated campaigns is critical — and a lot of fun.

SMC: Wow, Rob, you almost make me wish I was a techno-geek! Jack, one last question: Lava7 is actively educating the community on the benefits of social media. But you’ve also developed the curriculum for, and teach, an advertising and social media marketing class at Brigham Young University. What has teaching social media within the university environment taught you?

JH: It’s been an interesting enigma. While I’m not a career educator, my sense is that the wheels in academia turn rather slowly — while the corporate, high-tech business world I’m used to is always on the leading edge. Most communications, advertising, and marketing students across the country are getting very little instruction in universities about social media marketing for business. The students are SO tech-savvy; social media is their world! Yet, they end up in the middle, as much of their curriculum is behind the curve.

This social media marketing class has been a lot of fun because BYU (and in particular Jeff Sheets, the advertising lab director) has given these communications students the opportunity to be on the edge. The projects we do in class give them real-world experience. I’ve found the students’ blog posts on our class network to be very thoughtful and insightful. My guess is that these students will be among the very few who can interview after graduation saying that they truly understand how social media is changing the business world. Most other university students will graduate still thinking Facebook, as just an example, is only for planning weekend parties.

SMC: Lucky students! To wrap up, I’d like a takeaway from each you, please. Complete this sentence: I dig social media marketing because…

MH: …I am a connector and a maven, and it makes being both easier!

JH: …I never have to go to work. I just play all day (at least it feels that way).

RJ: …its power is accessible to anyone, yet so few have found it or know what to do with it.

BH: …it has allowed me to think beyond traditional media and dive into a fascinating level of communication that has opened a new world of creative solutions.

SMC: Thanks much, all — and Mele Kalikimaka!

***Jack Hadley is also cofounder of the Social Media Club of Utah Valley, and founder of Cowork Utah, a social media community workspace providing a collaborative environment for independent designers, bloggers, and programmers.

Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt is a freelance writer, editor, and social media trainer/marketer. Catch her online at www.Bell-Rehwoldt.com, http://www.facebook.com/SheriBellRehwoldt, and http://www.linkedin.com/in/sbrehwoldt

by Jack Hadley, SMC of UV member

Whether you’re a blogger, advertiser, PR manager, programmer, SEO specialist, branding expert, or business owner—you’re a marketer. And if you’re reading this post, you’re likely a social media marketer as well.

Tough economic times, bailouts, loan difficulties and foreclosures have taken a devastating toll on the banking industry. Although the severity of conditions has varied from region to region, consumer trust levels have declined.

Western Community Bank (full disclaimer, Lava7 client), a three-branch community bank in Utah County, has always approached marketing with an innovative attitude. During difficult economic times, their commitment to starting a social media engagement strategy by launching a simple blog demonstrated a proactive community mindset and a willingness to assume some thought leadership.

Lesson 1: Think Ahead Of The Curve

Enter, Adam Weight, VP of Marketing and Technology. During the bank’s blogsite development, a number of prominent social-media-specific articles began appearing in banking publications.

Adam was one step ahead. Are you? Ask yourself, “Am I being timid in my industry? Is there an opportunity—however small—to assume a leadership position? What’s holding me back?”

Lesson 2: Be Human, Listen, And Participate

Western Community Bank (WCB) started with a simple premise… Engage with customers and community members in ways that are honest and transparent, and provide clear insights and useful tools that are relevant to local audiences.

As one of the founders of the Social Media Club Utah Valley, I’ve noticed that the majority of our initial members are people inside our industry (meaning advertising, marketing, pr, branding, seo, etc.). There are few engaged members who either own or work in businesses from other verticals. Adam is one of them—and he makes a point of attending our club’s meetings and functions.

If you’re one of those people who falls outside “this industry” ask yourself, “Am I taking advantage of every opportunity to learn the mindset and tools that surround social media marketing? Am I attending SMCSLC (or Utah Valley, Cache Valley) meetings and thinking about how to leverage this wealth of passion and expertise to build my business? Am I using a blog, and/or other basic tools to listen and participate?”

Get involved! It makes a difference! And it doesn’t need to be difficult. Take off your marketing hat and put on your audience hat to better understand their needs and perspective. Here’s a recent, actual WCB Twitter exchange:

Lesson 3: Don’t Quit. Your Tenacity Will Pay Off

Afraid you’re not a great writer? Maybe that’s true. But in Seth Godin’s words, “Stick with it and you’ll get better at it.” Are you afraid nobody’s interested in what you have to say? Perhaps… At least today. But whether anybody reads your blog or not, the metacognition that takes place in formulating how you talk about what you do is priceless. Don’t stop. This is as much for you, and the way in which you view your business, as it is for your prospective audience.

Lesson 4: Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

Let’s face it… Banks are, pretty much, boring. Agreed? They’re the epitome of traditional and conservative. The nature of what they do is all about regulatory requirements, privacy and safety. Not exactly a party. While remaining thoughtful and sensitive to their position and reputation, WCB isn’t afraid of having a little fun. It keeps them human—and here’s a good example.

So, dive in! Zig passionately while everyone else is zagging. Ignore the economic doom and gloom. There’s never been a better opportunity in history to take the four lessons above and turn them into a powerful blogging and social media marketing foundation for your business.

Onward!

Jack Hadley is CEO at Lava7, a Digital Engagement Marketing Agency. Often referred to as an epiphany catalyst and corporate storyteller (although a client recently called him a “mad genius”), Jack helps both large corporations and small startups distill and refine their message for clear communication. An award-winning copywriter, and former agency Executive Creative Director, Jack has a rich background in all aspects of the creative process, and has passionately focused the last several years on social media engagement strategies for business. People often tell Jack that he’s helped them really understand social media marketing for the first time. He’s frequently asked to speak to groups about messaging, creativity, and social media marketing. Jack also teaches a social media marketing class at Brigham Young University.

by Scott Cowley, SMC of SLC member

A large group of Twitterers who usually tweet from desktop clients like TweetDeck are returning to the Twitter website these days to do some of their tweeting. Credit Twitter Lists for this trend.

If you haven’t heard of Twitter Lists, here’s a quick recap:

You can put anyone on a list you’ve created and named (you get 20 of them, up to 500 names each). You don’t even have to be following the person to place them on a list you’ve created.

Lists can be public (viewable by anyone) or private (for your eyes only). You can see which public lists you’ve been placed in by clicking the “lists” link, located on your Twitter profile near “followers” and “following.” Right now, the only way to manage Twitter Lists is through Twitter.com (although Seesmic Desktop just integrated them and other APIs like TweetDeck and Tweetie are soon to follow).

So what do Twitter lists mean for you?

Already, people are claiming lists as the new status symbol. How many lists are you on? Whose lists? Did you make the “social-media-experts” list, the “people-i-am-married-to” list, or are you just on some guy’s “americans-i-know” list?  What if you’re not on a list? Or worse—what if you’re on someone’s “people-with-ugly-faces” list?

Remember that Twitter lists, just like all social media, can be used as just another online popularity metric or as a legitimate tool to help make social media life easier. Several other bloggers have already written about how you can use Twitter Lists. Here are a handful of the best ways I’ve seen to use Twitter lists so far:

Learn about yourself. You can learn about how others perceive your personal brand and the value you create on Twitter by which lists you’re on. You may think you’re a PR-specific Twitterer, but maybe your tweets don’t reflect that consistently. If you’re on very few lists, it may just mean that you’re unique, for better or worse.

Make a list for vendors/applications you use. You don’t really want them in your normal feed, but you still want to hear about new services, products, updates, or feature improvements from companies you use daily, especially If you’re like me and instinctively unsubscribed from all of their e-mails. Plus, you’ve got their accounts all grouped together in case you ever need to contact one of them. (Plus, if everybody did this, we’d have a great reference list to draw on when evaluating new vendors/products)

Group profiles that always tweet the same kind of content. Most people are following several accounts that are strictly industry news or blog feeds (or contests). Instead of following them, group them together in similar lists like a categorized RSS feed. For blogs that don’t have a corresponding Twitter account, you could create a new Twitter profile and send blog RSS feeds to it using Twitterfeed. In concept, you could ditch RSS completely and not be racked with the guilt of having 1000 unread items. Sounds good, huh?

Create a temporary list of events. This is a great easy promotional tactic. If you’re organizing an event, you can get people talking about it and networking in advance by showing who’s going to attend. This takes the pressure off people having to write down everyone’s Twitter name during the event, and enables people to follow up afterward. For example, I just made one for people attending the upcoming Utah Social Media Awards, which I’ll probably delete a few weeks after the event is done. (Let me know if I missed you)

Have another way you’ve seen to effectively use lists? Let me know on Twitter (@scottcowley) or in the comments below.

About the author: Scott Cowley does SEO and social media for SEO.com and is passionate about helping clients catch the vision of how social media can be put to use. He enjoys making friends through SMCSLC and SMCUV and currently resides in Provo with his wife Kathy.

eBay is the world’s largest online auction marketplace and the base of its customer support is right here in Draper, Utah. There are 3 other centers worldwide as well though: Dublin, Ireland; Dreislinden, Germany; and Vancouver, BC.

“Our goal is to provide the best deals on whatever people want from the most diverse sellers on the planet,” says JD Norton, eBay manager and Social Media Club of Salt Lake City member. “We want people to tell others about the deals they find on eBay and also know that eBay support is always there for them when they need us. We also want both our employees and our community members to be in touch with the business as a whole and we know we need to be accessible via all means, especially via social media.”

One of the ways eBay meets its goals is to use social media extensively both internally as well as externally.

How eBay’s Internal Communications Leverages Social Media

The Internal Communications group uses social media in many different ways. It leverages a robust intranet which is packed full of blogs, forums, discussion boards for employees, and video posts. It serves as the hub for streaming all meetings and events company-wide as well. It also makes great use of picture galleries, similar to Flickr. Each employee in the company has their own landing page which they can modify and personalize with info about themselves, their own photo gallery, and other media. They can even create their own internal blog. It really is a great example of social media used to the fullest extent internally.

How eBay Is Expanding Its Use of Social Media

Externally, eBay  has many different departments using twitter to address customer concerns, report company information, and spread details about what is going on in various departments. Just over a year ago, eBay launched the eBay Ink blog, which is a blogger working within the confines of the eBay campus in San Jose and blogging about the goings on within eBay with an unfiltered voice and opinion. This is quite evident as not everything on the site portrays us in a positive light all the time. It also gives the community a look into the eBay business as a whole and the members which keep us afloat. Via the @eBayinkblog twitter account, eBay was the first major company to broadcast its analyst’s day live via twitter.

eBay’s Green Team just launched a huge social media campaign and recruited many employees worldwide with a strong touch in social media to help them spread the word. The team’s Facebook page is growing quickly and they can be followed on twitter via @ebaygreen.

“My group specifically uses social media as means to keep employees in the loop about all the “fun” stuff going on around the offices in which they work, as well as recruiting for upcoming events,” JD shares. “We also recently got approval to begin using twitter as a voice to the community with regards to community events we will be a part of. We love doing random giveaways to tweeps and usually throw a trivia aspect into these giveaways. We have numerous community events coming up this summer where we look forward to using twitter for treasure hunts, “where are we” contests and just blasting event updates from the events themselves.”

When asked what technologies eBay finds most useful and effective, JD commented: “Our group specifically has found twitter and blogs to be the most effective. We are expanding the use of Vlogs and podcasts internally as well, and our employees are loving them.”

How eBay Plans to Use Social Media in the Future

eBay plans to use social media much more than it does now. JD comments, “We feel as if we are just using the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). My goal for us is to expand internal use of twitter and somehow integrate it into the communication systems we are already using as well as finding the time and resources to fully expand all events onto FaceBook and definitely stay in touch with and adopt developing forms of social media.”

About eBay

eBay’s office here in Draper is a CS center consisting of nearly 1200 employees, which range from support reps to business analysts and CS software programmers. It supports members via e-mail, chat, and phones; plus, it has certain groups using twitter more and more to lend help that way as well.

“The group I manage, comments JD, ” is responsible for all employee & community event for North America Customer Support. We plan and facilitate all site-wide meetings, employee recognition programs, quarterly and yearly employee events (including the summer picnic, holiday party, sporting events, etc). We also work to set-up all charity initiatives and volunteer opportunities within the organization.”

“As far as community events goes,” JD  continues, “my group works to align our business and our employees with opportunities to get involved in the community and make sure that we are good corporate citizens within the communities in which we operate. We do this by way of sponsorships and employee volunteerism and also by supporting our employees in activities which they participate, like recreational sports leagues, races, festivals and the likes. eBay was founded around a tight knit community of users and has always had a very alive and active community portion of the site full of discussion boards, blogs, chat rooms, and forums for members to connect with us and each other. Our goal is to reach out to the actual communities within which we operate and personally interact with members and non-members alike.”