CaliberPulse
Caliber Group has launched CaliberPulse.com to help businesses stay abreast of the latest consumer behaviors, opinions and marketing trends to survive and thrive. Our agency excels at building brands and relationships. We’re well versed in the use of both traditional and social media to educate, influence or persuade audiences. To deliver an effective message, we know you have to understand your clients/customers: what they want and what they need.
What can you expect to find on CaliberPulse.com?
- National, regional and local consumer behavior trends and opinions.
- Insider marketing, public relations and Web marketing trends and tips.
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Don’t be the TMI Twitter Guy
Everybody knows somebody who shares information that should be kept to themselves. I like to call that person "The TMI (Too Much Information) Guy." Typically they are somebody you know at work or interact with in social settings. Now that social applications like Twitter and Facebook are bursting at the seams with new members, The TMI Guy is now your friend or follower. Not only can this make your social media experience a not-so-fun one, but it can also hurt your online reputation with other friends and even employers. Imagine if TMI Guy starts blabbing about something embarrassing you did - it's in their personality to share everything. This is definitely a trend. Here are some tips to consider as you build your online networks, whether you know a potentially dangerous TMI Guy or happen to be TMI Guy yourself (shame!).
August 5, 2009
Are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube Really Free Marketing Tools?
A popular argument in the business world against social media is that employers would have to pay employees to blog, tweet or post video and photos to YouTube and Facebook. The "man/woman-hours" is the expense.
August 4, 2009
Personalizing Twitter Account Key to Building Social Media Brand Following
A recent study on social media shows that taking the time to personalize your profile and targeting followers who are peers and influencers could yield better results than using your brand name and logo and waiting for consumers to come to you. While the study focuses on insomnia and a fictitious pharmaceutical brand, the results really translate for any business looking to build awareness and/or educate consumers using social media.
Friends and Fans and Followers, Oh My!
There seems to be two social media camps emerging in the marketing/public relations world. Camp Go For It! and Camp I Don't Have Time For This! can be found in every office nook and cranny defending their positions. So what's a good business executive/entrepreneur to do? (Check out this ReadWriteWeb post on degrees of social media usage.) The same thing your predecessor did when the Internet was born. Or how about when that newfangled box, the television, came to be? The radio? The truth - as is usually the case - I believe lies somewhere in the middle. Marketing and PR professionals didn't stop reaching out to print media when the first radio the size of a Volkswagen took up floor space in Grandma's living room. And companies today still advertise on TV and radio, despite the numerous banner and pay-per-click online advertising opportunities. So what's the deal with social media? Will those tried-and-true traditional media tools we've gotten so comfortable with really go away if you dare to Tweet? Hang on to your blanket, Linus.
July 31, 2009
Avenue Coffee Leaves Tucson Twittering and Caffeinated
As Twitter becomes more of a business tool every day, there is an emerging trend of smaller businesses using the social media platform as a way to engage customers. Korean BBQ trucks in L.A., snowball shops in New Orleans and sushi restaurants in San Francisco have all found ways to market with a limited advertising budget, achieving outstanding results. Avenue Coffee, Tucson's newest place to get your java fix, was extremely successful in using Twitter to drive first-day sales to their store on a day that had many clamoring for their free pastries from a much larger competitor.
July 24, 2009
Twitter: Follower Count Now a Job Requirement
When the developers of Twitter launched the platform in 2006, I bet they never thought the number of someone's followers would help or hurt their chances of landing a job. Thanks to a recent Best Buy job posting, now your network's reach matters even more. Best Buy recently posted a job opening for a senior manager of emerging media marketing. This person would be the lead for all mobile, social and video marketing and media efforts. The applicant needed a bachelor's degree and some social media marketing experience. Oh, and he or she must be an active blogger and have more than 250 followers on Twitter.
July 15, 2009
Crawling Sunset Strip via Twitter
I've heard of a Club Crawl, a Pub Crawl and even a Santa Claus Crawl, but the businesses on Sunset Strip have done something really innovative by combining real-time updates through Twitter with the traditional bar-hop. This Saturday, businesses like The Viper Room (@theVIPERroom), The Comedy Store (@TheComedyStore) and The Roxy (@TheRoxy) are hosting the first Tweet Crawl. Those participating get a collector-edition button and access to drink, cover and prize specials only available through following the participating businesses' Twitter accounts.
July 10, 2009
Searching Social Media for Your Message
As social media continues to dominate marketing, media and PR conversations, I keep getting the same question. It's a fun tool, but what's it really have to do with business? In a nutshell: There are conversations taking place about your company/business. Whether those conversations take place in the men's room, at the watercooler, at the customer service counter or online, shouldn't you know what people are saying about you?
July 6, 2009
Dell Makes $3 Million from Twitter
For those businesses that don't think there's money to make via social media, think again! Check out this Wall Street Journal blog about how Dell has surpassed the $3 million mark using Twitter to promote product sales and discounts. Dell seems to have broken through the glass ceiling of social media, successfully turning it into a business tool that directly drove profit for the computer maker.
June 24, 2009
Tweeting for Business
Tweetdeck offers a nice search function that some entrepreneurs (hello #Bradford Shrimp!) are using to find business leads on Twitter. How? Type in a search phrase like "Wordpress help" and find everyone who's talking about your topic. Then follow them and offer interesting content/tips they can use. Run a restaurant? Try searching for the phrase "happy hour," or if you're a grocery store chain, "coupons" or "groceries." It may take a couple tries to get the phrase or keyword that works for you, but a little research could yield a new customer/client you weren't reaching yesterday. If you're not in the business of directly selling something, you can use the search function on Tweetdeck to network within your industry.
June 23, 2009
Using URL Shortener Bit.ly for Marketing Efforts
Twitter has done a great job of making Internet users write more concisely with its 140 character rule. It helps that URL shortening services let us share links that may be too long in their original state. TinyURL and Bit.ly are great ways to condense a link into a small amount of characters for tweeting and retweeting purposes. The advantage to using Bit.ly is how it doubles as a marketing tool for departments and companies investing their time and money in Internet marketing and social media.
June 22, 2009
Social Media Workshop a Success
More than a hundred attended our Smart Marketing Workshop on Social Media yesterday morning! “Using Social Media to Build Your Brand and Business” offered a introduction to social media while representatives from Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Arizona Daily Star, KOLD News 13 and Buffalo Exchange discussed how they’ve used social media to improve their businesses. Some of the takeaways I Twittered during the workshop, in case you missed either: If your demographic isn't using social media, don't wait another six months, get there before your customers do. Best Western has been using a travel blog to allow visitors to share tips and great experiences. Result: Best Western's site has grown 50 percent since creation. Customers who want to identify with a cause can identify with Kenneth Cole and interact with the clothing brand and its fans on its Awearness blog. Result: The clothing brand is reaching a niche customer demographic interested in identifying itself as socially conscious (Gen X anyone?). Hewlett Packard created a scavenger hunt using Twitter, offering free products and building brand awareness for HP. Result: they increased traffic to their Web site around the holiday season - great timing! Domino's Pizza used social media (YouTube) to successfully manage a crisis situation involving former employees and food safety. Result: Social Media proved an important PR tool as they reassured their customer base that their food is safe. Nature Conservancy used Digg to raise awareness by posting articles like, "14 easy ways to be an environmentalist." Result: they substantially increased the number of visitors to their Web site.
June 18, 2009