How Social Media Is Changing The Way B2B Companies Communicate

admin    Adobe TV     Changing, Communicate, Companies, Media, Social

Nowadays, the question seems to be not who is on Twitter, but rather, who is not on Twitter. The world seems to be aflutter with the Twitter phenomenon. Even Bill Gates is tweeting.

The proliferation of Twitter and other Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs have drastically changed the way society socialises and communicates. And businesses are taking note.

Some of the world’s largest corporations are themselves changing the way they communicate and collaborate with their customers, stakeholders and employees. Conventional marketing such as advertisements and sending out mass e-mail are no longer enough. These days, companies are more inclined to engage directly with customers via online discussion forums or through blogs.  Marketing personnel are also equally at home typing out pitches using less than 140 characters on Twitter as they are writing out lengthy advertising copies.

Jumping on the social media bandwagon

According to an August 2009 survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 86% of companies from various industries said social media now forms part of their businesses. 61% have integrated social applications within their websites or other sites, while 40% have set up standalone online communities. 39% chose to embed third-party widgets into their sites.

Marketing was cited as the top reason for adopting social media tools (57%), followed by internal collaboration (39%).

In another survey done by McKinsey in 2009, 53% of business respondents said they plan to increase their investment in social media tools and technologies in the next three years.

Why the interest in social media amongst companies? It is considered a word-of-mouth marketing phenomenon that commands a higher level of consumer engagement, and in some cases, better return on investment (ROI), than conventional advertisements.

Power of social media

If there are any doubts as to the power of social media as a marketing tool, look no further than Dell. The computer maker made headlines last year when it reported that it had generated USD6.5 million in revenue from sales alerts on its DellOutlet (http://twitter.com/delloutlet) Twitter account. Granted, that is a tiny percentage compared to Dell’s total revenue of USD60 billion in 2008. However, considering that it cost the company next to nothing to set up the Twitter account, the ROI is pretty significant.

Another good example of the power of social media is Intuit’s use of online discussion forums. The financial and accounting software company’s “Live Community” forum allows customers to ask other customers questions, including those that the company isn’t allowed to answer because of regulatory restrictions. Through word-of-mouth and consumer feedback, Intuit has seen sales increase by more than 30% each year.

Technologically-savvy

Dell and Intuit are two examples of technology companies that are socially savvy in an industry that is by far the most comfortable when it comes to embracing Web 2.0

Tech companies already utilise podcasts, webcasts and video to market their products and service offerings, while online discussion forums and the blogosphere are used to solicit free feedback and suggestions for their products.

They have also started to engage bloggers to create awareness of new products by inviting them to do trial runs and pre-launch product reviews. This can work both ways though. A bad review may hurt a brand, but an endorsement from an established blogger can be powerful marketing.

Financial institutions – still on the sidelines

On the other hand, financial institutions in general, are still contented to be wallflowers in the realm of social media. They don’t engage much at all. This is not surprising as strict industry regulations and compliance issues prevent many banks from embracing the ‘open transparency’ that social media requires.

The only platform most of them seem to be in is LinkedIn. Although some banks have a Facebook page, most of the accounts seem to be opened by fans, rather than the lenders themselves.

Still, there are signs that some financial institutions are beginning to experiment with social media. Banks like Citibank and HSBC have discussion forums on their websites to get feedbacks from customers. While Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong has its own Standard Chartered TV (http://www.youtube.com/user/scbtv09) on YouTube.

Management consultancies – some are greater converts than others

Management consultants probably have the most to gain from engaging in social media, especially in promoting their thought leaders. Many partners from these firms already have their articles posted on the company’s website. These thought leadership pieces could potentially reach out to a wider base if they also have their own blogs or twitter accounts, or if they are linked to bookmarking and news sharing sites like Delicious, Digg and Reddit.

Deloitte Consulting and McKinsey are two of the best examples of management consultancies that are fully exploiting social media to promote their thought leaders. They use platforms such as Delicious and Digg to draw more people to their websites. By starting a discussion forum on their articles, they are able to provide links back to their corporate website showcasing more of their services. This, in turn, generates more traffic hits and eyeballs, and potentially, new clients.

Unfortunately, aside from Deloitte, McKinsey and Accenture, most management consultancies have yet to jump on the social media bandwagon.

LinkedIn

The only social media channel that all companies across the three industries seem to be on is LinkedIn. This is to be expected. Unlike other social networking sites, the approximate 50 million registered users on LinkedIn are professionals looking to connect with like-minded peers, or to create their own business connections.

The site’s large treasure trove of professional contacts has become a popular “go-to” place for human resources personnel. Because it also has different groups for any number of organisations or special interest groups, companies also find LinkedIn especially useful when looking for candidates with a specific set of skills.

Bookmark it and share and share alike

While blogs, Twitter and Facebook are the more popular social media channels being utilised by businesses, B2B companies should also look into exploring bookmarking services like Delicious and news sharing sites such as Digg and Reddit to generate greater awareness.

Adobe Systems maintains a list of interesting company related news and conversations on Delicious. For instance, the software company used Delicious to store and share a link that gives a tutorial on how to apply the Bokeh, or hazy effect, in web design. By bookmarking this link, Adobe ensures it gets more eyeballs, and potential customers, than it would have had had it only featured the link on its website. It also uses Delicious to advertise its eSeminars.

Meanwhile, Intel’s blog network allows readers to ‘digg’ or recommend the blogs that they have read on Digg. For example, a blog written by an employee on the power of Intel’s 3D streaming technology was recommended by almost one thousand registered Digg users and generated over 100 comments. As a result of this employee’s blog entry, the company was able to review independent feedback, gauge the popularity of the subject and generate some buzz through a third-party site.

So, what’s next?

While some companies, such as Intuit, Intel, Accenture and Deloitte, are taking full advantage of, and reaping the benefits, from Web 2.0 technologies, most business-to-business companies are not very socially engaged.

It would not be long before social technologies become a norm within the B2B space. After all, it aligns with what B2B marketing is all about – and that is to build ongoing relationships with one’s stakeholder communities.

So go ahead and:

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It is no longer a one-to-many business environment, but rather a many-to-many world. B2B companies can no longer afford to stay on the sidelines if they want to get ahead of the competition.  So, is your company socially engaged?

Tips on the Changing Trends Within the Online Flash Game Industry

admin    Adobe Flash Player     Changing, Flash, Game, Industry, Online, Tips, Trends, Within

Flash games available online are one of the most popular amongst the online gamer. It is most popular amongst the all age groups.

The flash games are developed by the developer by looking at the taste and choices of the online gamers. In USA all age group of people like to play online flash game. Due to constant changing in the web technologies are leads to give new form of the online flash games. The online flash games are made with combination of graphics and color combination. The online flash gamers are always try to learn new games to change the taste and try to learn new games with interest. If the gamer are interested the gamer can play hours. The addictive of the gamer are always look at the new games with interest to get the things of their choice.

There are various online gaming website available which gives thousand on online games in different theme and age group. There are intensive collections of the flash games. The players are always looking at the newest game and always looking at the latest development of the games by searching the flash games through different websites. Apart from the paid online flash games. Gamers are always looking at the free online game as well as download and play the flash games with in certain period of time. It is crucial to get the adobe flash software to download the flash game. It is most crucial to download the flash games from the authentic website. It is essential to download the Adobe Flash to play flash games from online site.

Developers are developing the games in different categories like racing games, fighting games, sports games, flying games, multiplayer games, and arcade style flash games. The gaming industry in USA are booming and it is fastest growing industry. There are many websites provides rating on the bases of the customer response get from the premier or demo version of online games. Based on the rating and review of the online games. The gamers who are passionate with the online gaming skills with interest are always see the review and subscribe the online game or download the game according to their choice. There are various forums are also discuss the online flash game development and innovations in the online flash games. There are always posting their review and idea on the forum to alive in the online flash gamer community.

Video Content and It’s Significance in the Changing Internet Marketing Landscape

admin    SEO Video     Changing, Content, Internet, It’s, Landscape, Marketing, Significance, Video

Video content owners should take advantage of the free branding and traffic opportunities that video search engines and universal search offers. As video search engines like YouTube, Myspace, Metacafe, Veoh, Google Video, Truveo and Yahoo Video become more and more popular, they should be utilized by movie, TV, new, music, and video content owners as a fantastic source of free and relevant branding and target consumer content viewing and traffic opportunities via the inclusion of video search engine optimization strategies for consumers that are looking for video search engine clips. OMMA Video Conference — Infuse Creative Founder/President Gregory Markel shared his 12 years of search marketing expertise with OMMA Video conference attendees this morning regarding how to optimize video content for such popular video clip search engines as YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo Video, Google Video and others. Drawing from his years of multimedia marketing experience with such clients as The National Geographic Channel, Fox, (The Simple Life), CBS, (CSI), FOX, (24hrs), New Line Cinema, (Lord of the Rings), and many others, Gregory moderated a panel which included Jeffrey Pruitt of Icrossing, Frances Costello of Veoh, Bob Heyman of Mediasmith, and Mark Rotblat of Tube Mogul. The panel detailed a number of important video optimization fundamentals and approaches to optimizing video for video search engines by enabling one’s video content to be more easily found for target keywords within video search engines like YouTube as well as Google Universal Search and ASK 3D results.

About Author:-

Bergstrom-seo.com is an emerging SEO Company that delivers exceptional search engine visibility through its strategic SEO Strategies to its clients who are located around the world. Its services entail keyword-based content development, website optimization, strategic link building, and social media optimization.

Adobe Photoshop: Changing The World

admin    Adobe After Effects     Adobe, Changing, Photoshop, World

“To see is to believe” is what most people say. However, this old adage, like so many others, has been negated by technology. Today, with Adobe Photoshop, you can create any image you want and share it to other people. This way, Adobe Photoshop is changing the whole world’s perspective on reality.

For those who do not know, Adobe Photoshop is a program designed to let people edit various images on their computers. Its primary purpose is to let people perform touch ups on pictures before printing them. Of course, each succeeding version of Adobe Photoshop included more and more tools which let people add effects and do various other things to their photographs. The Adobe Photoshop of today actually allows people to add sound and animation to their photographs for sharing on the internet.

In the past, people who took bad pictures were stuck with them. A lot of things can go wrong in a picture. There’s the usual red-eye, skewed angles, shaky focus and others. Adobe Photoshop was the tool that made all of these things disappear. With Adobe Photoshop, people can take pictures like amateurs and still produce images like pros!

However, Adobe Photoshop today has gone beyond image editing. Today, the software is labeled as an image manipulation tool. This somehow gives people the impression that Adobe Photoshop actually gives them a greater degree of freedom than other image-editing programs available today. In fact, it actually does.

If sight is reality, then Adobe Photoshop can help you create any reality that you want. With Adobe Photoshop, you will be able to create images of other worlds. You will be able to capture the beauty of the universe inside a glass jar. Your creativity will be unleashed. That’s how much Adobe Photoshop can change your life.

In the world today, one can easily observe the impact that Adobe Photoshop has wrought on culture. Just like Google, Adobe Photoshop is now being used by people as a verb. When a person is said to be photoshopping something, it is always assumed that the person is editing an image of come sort, whether he or she is actually using Adobe Photoshop or not.

Adobe Photoshop has also led to a whole new level of art and animation. Did you know that tablets were developed specifically with Adobe Photoshop in mind? Artists of today have gone beyond using paints and a canvas. Today’s painters make use of tablet sensors and Adobe Photoshop to produce their masterpieces. With the technology of Adobe Photoshop, people are able to take the art of drawing, add a bit of computer technology, and come up with a whole new genre of animation.

In the past, images had to be saved as specific file types in order to be usable for Adobe Photoshop. However, because of the proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones today, Adobe Photoshop can actually import the photographs directly from the sources. This means that the gap between taking the picture and sharing it is reduced.

Adobe Photoshop might just be a tool for some people. However, you should know that tools, when used by enough people can change history. In this age where everything is defined by computers, Adobe Photoshop is just another tool which, in the right hands, can change the world.