Reaching the masses on social media seems like an easy thing to do. Facebook has more than 800 million active users, with more than 50 percent of them logging in every day, Twitter claims 300 million.

But, while these vast user populations may represent great opportunity for the consumer-facing side of the business world, their translation into the business-facing community remains a bit unclear.

In judging the value of participation in this forum, BtoB marketers and decision makers often see two sides to the debate:

1. A complete lack of presence could reflect poorly on a company – especially in a BtoB world where staying “ahead of the curve” is everything.

2. With indistinct analytics, lead-generation value and return on investment, how can a budding BtoB company justify the expenses and time commitments associated with maintaining a social presence?

Furthermore, those businesses that go with door #1, often quickly become frustrated with their results, and fall back into door #2, unable to justify the investment.

I personally believe that with social media, you get what you put in. So, I’ll bring this discussion back to the bare bones of PR. Our overarching professional theme – know your audience – doesn’t magically disappear when thrown into the realm of social media...

 

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At the close of an infamous week marked by both an earthquake and a hurricane, I'm relieved to have missed the biggest disaster of all; the Twitter fail whale that arises from too many tweets and prevents users from viewing the site. Lately, every major event has further proven of the importance of Twitter as an instantaneous news source and an arena for completely unfiltered commentary and interaction. But as social media's role shifts to further evolve into a news platform and society's reliance on social media for disaster preparedness and awareness continues to grow, can popular platforms' systems keep up with the flow of information?

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Conventional PR wisdom will tell you that you can’t force something to “go viral.” Sure, you can make every effort to produce content that is hilarious, meaningful, catchy, valuable, or just so very cool that people want to share it with their friends. But no matter how real it gets in the Whole Foods parking lot, or how many dance parties take place in Apple stores, you truly cannot control what catches on and what doesn’t.

But sometimes a client offers a deal so amazing it takes on a life of its own, as was the case with the deal Kangaroo Express offered its guests: Pay $6.99 for a reusable cup, refill it with fountain or frozen beverages as many times as you like at any of the 1,600+ locations throughout the Southeast – all summer long.

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Instant messages and blogs were the roots of all my future social media use. There is an entire generation of young adults that share the same background. Now, as we mature alongside advancements in technology, we are changing the face of business communication.

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Our client, Eaton Corporation, donated three Level-2 electric vehicle charging stations to the City of Raleigh. Eaton is also taking the lead on installing these stations, Raleigh's first public EV chargers. At Largemouth, we were thrilled to promote Eaton's collaboration with Raleigh and cutting-edge green technology in our own stomping grounds.

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Some people love flying and others hate it. I am of the latter but do it all the time anyway.

On a recent flight back to Raleigh-Durham International I had the pleasure of sitting next to an instructor of airplane maintenance. As we flew he educated me on many of the mechanical processes of the plane, especially during the take off and landing. This knowledge helped me relax as I learned that the buzzing noise wasn't the plane falling apart. Simply having the instructor on board also gave me a sense of security; if anything bad happened I knew there was someone besides the pilot that would know what to do.

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Top auto trade publications got their first look at our client's (Eaton Corporation) Electric Vehicle charging equipment during Mitsubishi Motors' "Electrified Highway" test drive on May 20. The event, which started in San Francisco and ended in Sacramento, Calif., gave journalists an opportunity to drive the Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (iMiEV) in real world conditions from one major city to another.

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Last week I had the pleasure of attending the first-ever nationwide Media Leaders event that took place simultaneously in seven cities: New York, Austin, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and … Raleigh?!  Yes, that’s right. I was so proud to see North Carolina’s capital listed among these other major cities. I have happily lived, worked and played in the Raleigh-Durham area for several years now. Over time I have seen our area receive increased recognition across the country as a technology hub with Research Triangle Park and an education center with the many renowned colleges and universities in our midst. I am proud to see Raleigh is being recognized for its active social media scene.

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Amanda shared an earlier post that described our social media discussion with Laurie Steiner and Andrea Sanchez from the communications team at the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

During our chat Laurie and Andrea shared IFMA’s overall approach to social media but the way they engaged with their online communities for the organization’s annual trade show was particularly impressive. IFMA’s World Workplace Conference & Expo took place in early October in Orlando, Fla. this year. Laurie and Andrea said that social media is now part of any event plan for IFMA and from our discussion I know they definitely succeeded with incorporating it into the World Workplace plan.

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I recently attended a trade show with one of our clients to leverage its social media presence as a strategic part of its event outreach. In this instance, we wanted to share information about our client’s participation and plans for the event through the company’s Twitter account. The strategy Largemouth PR developed for the show was structured to support the launch of an industry-leading technology, as well as promote several cool features on display at the booth and encourage attendance and share highlights of presentations delivered by two company representatives.

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