How Companies are Using Social Media to Make Money

This is an excellent video on how companies are using social media to make money. Thanks to Ryan Schuler for posting this to the MSU Marketing Majors & Alumni Facebook group's wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMcnDfp_SJg
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=2264824661

Pew Report on use of the Internet to access govt information & services

This is an interesting study by Pew Internet on how Americans use the Internet to access government information and services. Thanks to Linda Bartnik for forwarding it.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Government-Online.aspx?r=1

Urbane Apartments case study

This is an excellent case study about how Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, Michigan uses social media to build its brand. Thanks to LaDonna McCuan for forwarding it to me.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/may/205992.html

Peer Influence Analysis

This Forrester Research influenced post talks about Peer Influence Analysis - how a relatively small proportion of the social media people create a disproportionate number of product and brand impressions. Thanks to Emanuel Rosen for calling this to my attention through a Facebook status update.

http://blogs.forrester.com/augie_ray/10-04-20-peer_influence_analysis_what_it_how_marketers_use_it

Interesting post on word-of-mouth

This is an interesting post on word-of-mouth communication. It goes along nicely with the McKinsey article posted below.
http://miroslodki.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/the-measurement-of-whispers/

Social Media Coordinator position with Southwest Airlines

Social Media's role in marketing is growing very rapidly and more and more of these positions are opening up. Thanks to Stephanie Elder, Bob Lochte, and Celia Wall for calling this position to my attention. There seems to be more and more of these positions out... there.

https://www.swajobs.com/ci20/index.jsp?locale=en_US&applicationName=swaExtCI&POSTING_ID=28072562&SEQ=jobDetails

McKinsey article on word-of-mouth

This is an excellent article from the McKinsey Quarterly on word-of-mouth. You have to register to get the article, but it's worth the effort.
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Strategy/A_new_way_to_measure_word-of-mouth_marketing_2567

Finish Line - Social Media Coordinator position

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR


JOB ID: CH20100902-10893

DESCRIPTION:
This purpose of this position is to coordinate Finish Line’s presence in social media/Internet communities, including blogs, message boards, email discussion groups, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, and other Finish Line-branded communities to generate awareness, opportunities, and more effectively connect with customers. It will also be responsible for on site presentation of community.

Duties:
• Assists in the development of Finish Line’s social media strategy, including audience, objectives, and strategy.
• Monitors external blogs, social networking sites and forums and participates in the conversation as needed.
• Manages social media tools, and remains current on the use of emerging tools and their applicability to Finish Line.
• Identification of 3rd party vendors to facilitate objectives.
• Identifies evangelists and actively suggests content derived from unique stores and interesting people that could be used for marketing content assets.
• Traffics communication in order to respond on a timely basis to visitor questions.
• Uses social media tools to reach new audiences across various platforms to increase product and brand awareness.
• Plans, writes, and edits web content for social media and other communication tools.
• Tracks and analyzes the effectiveness of Finish Line’s social media communications initiatives.
• Works flexible hours to assist in achieving efficient coverage monitoring various sites.

Qualifications

This position requires a Bachelor’s degree from a 4-year college or university or its equivalent. A major in Communications, Marketing, or a related field is preferred. Must be well-versed in various social spaces/communities, including their purpose, business objectives, demographics, growth capabilities and functionality. Experience with Web 2.0 and social media networking tools, including developing and executing a social media strategy, and knowledge of leveraging blog planning and posting, and community development and management. Must be an effective communicator with internal and external individuals at all levels. This includes spoken, written, electronic, and presentation skills. Communication should be consistently constructive and professional.

Computer Skills:

Should have intermediate knowledge and abilities with Microsoft Office products; strong knowledge of computer and web/digital technologies, software, and applications; and strong understanding of file management.

REQUIREMENTS:
Area(s) of Interest Marketing
Education Bachelors Degree
Job Type Full Time
Location Indiana (IN)
Job Level Experienced (Non-Manager)

Using Tweets to predict movie ticket sales

Looks like Tweets are good predictors of movie ticket sales.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1604125/twitter-predicts-box-office-sales-better-than-anything-else

This is how Apple does it

This post describes Apple's use of social media.

http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/facebook-status/2010/03/31/why-doesn-t-apple-have-facebook-page