Tag: Micro-blogging | Danny Brown

If you look to the right of this blog and scroll down a little, you’ll see a widget entitled “soundbites”. It’s from my latest home online, Posterous.

Perfect for both casual and more serious bloggers, Posterous is based on a pretty funky idea – to make blogging as simple as possible for as many people as possible.

You don’t even have to have an account, if you don’t want one – you can email your posts in. Simply send the text, images, media files or whatever you want to post and the Posterous team do the rest.

This could make Posterous ideal for CEO’s and top-tier management that don’t have time for blogging but appreciate the benefits of having one. If they can type an email message they can have their own corporate blog.

So why am I on there when I already have this blog?

Sometimes I have ideas that aren’t quite fully-fledged blog posts but are more than just a Twitter statement. Soundbites, if you like. This is where Posterous is ideal.

Basically I’ll be using it to post words and mini-ideas that you might find useful as a starting point for your own. Or not – I never said I was that clever!

Feel free to pop on over and say hello, or start your own Posterous and let me know where you’re at. Leave your URL in the comments – I’ll be sure to drop by.

Ask anyone what one of the biggest stumbling blocks for businesses and social media is and the over-riding answer will probably be understanding. Or lack of it.

With so many businesses questioning why they would enter a medium that doesn’t offer the same kind of return on investment (ROI) than traditional marketing, why bother?

One look at Starbucks could offer some answers. The Seattle-based coffee giant has embraced social media with some great initiatives that any business could learn from.

For instance, while other brands are deciding whether micro-blogging site Twitter is for them, Starbucks has tackled it head on. Better still, they’re actually engaging their customers into the bargain. Instead of simply using Twitter as a broadcasting tool, Starbucks is actively conversing with its 17,000 followers (although weekends seem strangely quiet).

By helping people buy Starbucks-related products to sharing information on various charity projects the company is involved in, the Starbucks Twitter account is the perfect example of great brand usage.

On top of that, Starbucks has also set up an interesting project over at My Starbucks Idea. Here customers of the company are invited to share their ideas on how Starbucks can improve. An open forum approach sees users post their ideas and other members vote for the best. These are then looked at by Starbucks for viability.

As an idea in improving a company through the people that matter – the customers – it’s brilliant common sense. As an example of interactive social media at work, it’s perfect.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Starbucks is embracing social media as well as it is. After all, the company has long been an advocate of social responsibility with their eco-friendly projects. With My Starbucks Idea and their Twitter account, they’re merely transferring their offline ethos into the social media world. And a fine job they’re doing too.

How does your brand compare?

photo credit:?betsyjean79