April Social Media Star: Steve Hofstetter

Social media has proven to be a successful marketing tool for many big businesses, but even small, one-man operations can benefit greatly from using these tools!

Author, columnist and comedian Steve Hofstetter has been using social media since Six Degrees started up in 1997. Anyone remember that tool? He’s kept ahead of the curve and is truly a social media star.

Not only does social media help to spread the word about Steve’s act, it literally fills the seats for him. When he started on Facebook, he was performing at coffee houses, and now 7,000 + Facebook friends later, he’s performing in theatres!

Read Steve’s social media tips and go check out his accounts. We promise you’ll get your laugh for the day!

What is your job/company/profession/title?

Comedian.

What was the first social media technology you used?

Six Degrees. If you’ve heard of it, you’re lying.

What is your favorite social media tool?

Friendster, in the way that I appreciate 80s music. But I rely on Facebook for real.

How have you used social media for your business/company and how has it benefited?

I set the record for the most Facebook friends back in the day. When I started my quest, I was performing at coffee houses. By the end of it, I was performing at theaters. Social networking spread the word about comedy.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?

Hours.

How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?

As a comedian, spreading my comedy is not a time waster. If I was a banker, yes, Facebook couldn’t really help my career.

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?

No, because then they’ll catch up. I will tell you the way to predict the next tool – portability is key. YouTube would be nothing if it couldn’t have been embedded in MySpace. Oh, remember MySpace? Adorable.

Where can people find you online and via social media?

http://www.twitter.com/stevehofstetter

http://www.facebook.com/stevehofstetter

http://www.youtube.com/thehofstetter

Social Media News of the Week: April 18, 2011

It’s time for this week’s social media recap and I wanted to start by saying Happy Birthday to Facebook’s “like” button. It’s been a huge first year for you and I wish you much success in your second year! I also want to give Foursquare a huge shout out for a successful Foursquare Day this past Saturday.  The geolocation app scored over 3 million check-ins on Saturday and I’m proud to be one of those!

Other news this week: Twitter could potentially purchase TweetDeck for $50 million from UberMedia.  This is not a total surprise to me since TweetDeck is the most popular third party client on the Twitter platform. There has been some tension in the past between UberMedia and Twitter so it will be interesting to see how this situation all unfolds!

Since I started my blog today with some shout outs that’s how I will end, as well. Shout out to Groupon for partnering with General Mills on a deal that excited every coupon clipper in America! Buyers were able to get $40 worth of General Mills products and a coupon book for only $20!

Final shout out goes to Dream Theater, an amazing band that I have had the pleasure of seeing several times. Mike Portnoy (a phenomenal drummer) decided to call it quits this year and they’re on the hunt to replace him. They’re using Facebook to let their fans know every detail of the selection process, which is important for this band since they have some of the most dedicated fans in the world. Good luck in the selection process, guys, and I wish you all the best of luck!

Twitter Marketing Dos and Don’ts

Businesses conduct informal surveys on Twitter all the time. They want to know what their customers think about the products or services they provide. Sometimes they want to let their current and pontential customers know about new products and services that will be available in the future. As noted in a previous post, that’s great when done in extreme moderation.

Several marketing and business experts participated in an email interview that led to the creation of the following list of Twitter marketing Dos and Don’ts:

DO – Address customer problems in real time. Be there whenever the customer or prospect may need you. If possible, even before they need you, said Lindy Moses, marketing associate for FabulousSavings.com. It’s all about being available.

DO – Use Twitter as a source of information for customers and prospects. Don’t just gather information from your followers for your market research projects. Share useful information, tips and links [that will help] your followers to see you as a credible source, said Holly Fisher, executive director for Charleston Step Ahead, Inc.

DO - Start by engaging people you already know. Find current clients, prospects and friends and have conversations with them, recommended Jeff Gibbard of True Voice Media, LLC.Acknowlege their content and participate in the community that emerges.

DON’T – Bombard your followers with your company’s brand messages. A big no-no is sending automated direct messages to everyone who follows the company, cautioned the director of marketing for Reach Local, Mike Merrill.

DON’T – Retweet yourself to the point of distraction. Over-targeting individuals through repeated use of the same messages or targeting and retargeting the individuals is as annoying as spam email or political flyers in your door, said Matt Van Hoven, the communications director for Skinny NYC.

Whether you use Twitter as a way to conduct informal surveys and market research, to engage with customers and prospects, or both, heeding the warnings and following the advice of those who have done it successfully could help you increase business and promote your company’s brand naturally.

Do You Check In?

Is Foursquare going the way of Friendster or do you think it has some staying power?

In this Social Moms post, I review my personal “check in fatigue” and what gave me renewed enthusiasm for Foursquare.

Social Media News of the Week: 4/11/11

I’m dedicating my blog to the social media winners and losers of the week! I usually have a pretty good overall theme to this weekly blog but the social media world must have been on vacation this week, because there wasn’t too much interesting news popping up. With that said, there were several interesting success stories and a few failures worth calling out!

Let’s start with the losers:

1. The Winklevoss Twins- Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have been after Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for more money — as if their $65 million settlement wasn’t enough! A U.S. appeals court ruled that the previous settlement will stand, basically sending a message to the twins to get over it and move on!
2. Cisco’s Flip- Cisco is putting the Flip video camera to rest and reorganizing their businesses. Current Flip customers will receive news on a transition plan but Cisco will drop the Flip pretty much like a bad habit. Most think that the Flip didn’t do as well as predicted due to the increasing quality of cell phone cameras. I’m personally bummed about this loss but then again maybe I’ll find a sick deal on one in the near future!

And the winners are:

1. Tasti D-Lite- These guys are doing a great job at social media and they’re taking it much further than just being on Facebook and Twitter. They’ve integrated a traditional loyalty program with social media; they’ve taken advantage of locations applications and have come up with creative ways to interact with their customers. You can read more about their social media strategies here, thanks to Mashable.
2. Britney Spears- I’ve been waiting for the day to call Britney Spears a winner again and the moment is finally here. She released her newest album Femme Fatale last week and social media was a large part of its success! If you went to Britney.com last week you saw an opportunity to pre-order the album and then invite your friends to do the same. If you had 10 friends sign up, then you got 20% off the entire Britney catalog of songs. This is a brilliant way for the music industry to finally jump on the social media bandwagon.

Social Media News of the Week: 4/4/11

I have said time and time again that I’m a big fan of location-based apps. Although I forget to check-in most days, I do keep up with all the updates Foursquare, Facebook and many more are making to increase the usability of these applications.

This week I loved reading that the New York public library will invite 500 people for a scavenger hunt using Foursquare. What better way to keep people interested in reading, books and visiting the library then to make it fun and let everyone know they’re keeping up with the times. They are also the first public library to release a Foursquare badge to go along with this promotion!

Finally, this week President Obama announced his re-election campaign not on television or in a public statement but on Facebook. Obama has been known to be up-to-date social media wise but this (personally) was an interesting avenue to make such a large announcement.

Although I love that the United States government is embracing social media, I would like the present and possible future president of my country to make a more personal, live announcement not on his Facebook page which, let’s be honest, an intern or aid runs, not him.

Later this month he’ll also live stream a town hall meeting with Mark Zuckerberg on his Facebook page, and I’ll be watching, will you?