Best social media reads of the week (thus far)

It seems people were thinking hard about social media over the holiday break, as some FANTASTIC social media articles and blog posts have been published this week. Below you will find a list of the writings we considered to be the best of the best (thus far).

1. Pepsi Chooses Social Media Over Super Bowl (Media Bullseyse) – If you’re only going to read one article about social media this week, make it this one. Just as the title suggests, Pepsi is redirecting its Super Bowl fund to a Super Social Media campaign. In other words, “It’s been decided that they would rather be talked about in a positive light by millions than have their ad seen by millions of people, even it is the Super Bowl”. Cool move, Pepsi Co.

2. Why Social Media is Still a Red-headed Stepchild (Web Worker Daily) – So true, it’s almost painful to read. Highlights reasons why there is so much resistance from PR and marketing departments regarding social media.

3. How to Say Stupid Things About Social Media (The Guardian) – “Why do people care what I ate for breakfast?”, is a common comment we’ll hear from Twitter skeptics. This article explains why…and they don’t care what you ate for breakfast, so there.

4. 91% of Companies Used Social Media in 2009 (Simply Zesty) – Nice analysis of stats released by the Center of Marketing Research at UMass.

5. 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010 (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide) – Jeremy liked this one so much, he wrote a full analysis of it here, that is equally important to read.

6. Breaking Up in a Digital Fish Bowl (NY Times) – This one doesn’t have anything to do with social media and business, but it is a fascinating read about dating (and breaking up) in the age of Facebook. So happy I’m married. So happy.

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Every day you will receive an e-mail alerting you of a 24 hour Groupon deal in your city. For example, two weeks ago I was notified of a 10 class yoga pass at a local studio for 50% off, or $50 ($5 for a yoga class, btw, is crazy awesome).

If you want to take part in the deal, sign up. If a pre-determined minimum is reached (25 was the minimum for the yoga studio), the deal goes through. Your credit card will be charged and you’ll receive a certificate for your purchase. If that minimum isn’t reached, the deal is a no-go. No harm, no foul.

Businesses benefit by getting new customers through the door (priceless), and a nice wad of cash from all who signed up. And, keep in mind, businesses set the minimum, meaning, if it’s only worth their time for a guaranteed $1000, they can make that happen.

Returning to that yoga studio (link to the deal here), 132 certificates were purchased. At $50 a pop, that studio brought in an extra $6600 in that 24 hour period (minus Groupon’s percentage, which changes depending on the business, but seems quite reasonable). That’s 132 customers trying out that studio, and $6600 they didn’t have at the beginning of the day. Not too shabby.

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Our social media reads of the day 11/03/09

1. Social Media in Healthcare Cheat Sheet – Just a quick blog post that got my wheels turning. Doctors using social media? I find it creepy and fantastic at the same time.

2. Six Social Media Trends for 2010 – BusinessWeek and HarvardBusiness.org present a list of social media trends to look out for in 2010. There’s nothing mind blowing to be found in the list, but it’s worth a glance. I do hope to see #4 happen, as we’ve seen a lot of damage done to various brands due to lack of social media policy.

3. Five Ways to Make your E-Mail Marketing Campaign Shine – The reason I like this one is because it focuses on e-mail marketing, and we’ve seen this most effective means of communicating with customers overlooked in this new world of “social media marketing”. Social media is about reaching out to the people. Why would you ignore the people who have voluntarily signed up for your e-mail newsletter, essentially saying, “Please contact me anytime you have anything to sell…because I am interested”???

These are your best customers. Don’t ignore them.