Wheat Thins Rewarding Its Tweeting Customers

I went to the movie this past weekend and one of the commercials beforehand was one that many of you I'm sure you have already seen on TV or somewhere else.  It's basically just the Wheat Thins Company rewarding it's consumers for giving it publicity.  @CHRISMACHO is the one who tweeted about them and said, "Had a hunch today would be good but didn't think it would be THIS good....Wheat Thins is now following me on Twitter." Then Wheat Thins shows up and shows him the traveling billboard that says, "Follow @CHRISMACHO on Twitter. He's awesome."

I found it interesting how companies are actually showing their presence on Twitter and giving back to their customers who give them publicity.  Wheat Thins realizes how much "free" publicity they get when their customers tweet about them and are trying to give back and get them more followers as well.  I just thought it was interesting how companies were beginning to take advantage of social media sites and maybe are starting to see the real benefits of using social networks.  As we have said before, social media as a marketing tool is a great and nearly free way of getting publicity for your business.  Although some of the publicity might be negative most customers talk about their good experiences and a lot of people like to see some negative reviews just to see the company has some flaws and it doesn't seem like the reviews are put on by the company to make themselves sound good.

Video of "Follow @CHRISMACHO"

LinkedIn's Popularity

Last week I blogged about why paying for LinkedIn might pay off for some people.  This week I want to talk about how popular LinkedIn is becoming and has become since it's launch in May of 2003.  LinkedIn announced that it has finally surpassed 100 million users!  It was founded in 2002 and launched in 2003, but took six years to reach 50 million users. Six years to reach 50 million users seems pretty fast, they have really seen their increase the past two years.  In October 2010 they reached 85 million users and at the beginning of this year when they decided to go public they were at 90 million users.  That is quite an increase in just 3-4 months which goes to show how popular LinkedIn is becoming and why it is so important to maintain a professional image so you can continue to build your personal brand.  In their latest research, LinkedIn has found they are adding one new member per second!!!

To celebrate this accomplishment, LinkedIn has done some research on it's users - who uses and when they use - and has published it for others to see. Some of the facts they have found are:

• LinkedIn has experienced most of it's growth internationally - 56% of it's users are outside the U.S.
• It's fastest three growing countries are: Brazil, Mexico, India, and France.
• Most users get on LinkedIn during the workday - around noon.  However, mobile usage shows around 8pm.
• 1 million users are teachers; 20% work in the service sector; 9% work in finance; and another 9% in high-tech industries.

The article really shows us a lot.  It reminds us how popular any type of social media is becoming because even though Facebook might not be the biggest thing in a few years, there are hundreds of other types of social networks that are breaking through and on the rise.  Once again, I have discussed this previously quite a bit, it is a continuous reminder of why is it so important that we maintain our LinkedIn pages and keep a professional and updated profile.  More and more employers and recruiters are adding LinkedIn to their horizon when searching for potential employees so there is no telling how many times our pages are viewed or when our experiences and education will be wanted by a hiring manager.

"LinkedIn Surpasses 100 Million Users"

Perks of Paying for LinkedIn

I found an article today titled, "10 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade Your LinkedIn Account."  Although most of us in our social media class only have a LinkedIn account because it is a course requirement, we should keep in mind that it could be potentially helping us for our future - since a majority of us are graduating in May.  And although we probably aren't to the point where we use LinkedIn enough to find it beneficial to pay for its use the article did bring up a few good points.

The first major point was about the use of InMail.  InMail is just like email but it sends messages via LinkedIn.  Studies found that InMail is actually 30% more effective than regular email because the receiver of the message immediately knows you are part of the LinkedIn community and also can view your profile instantly to find out more information about you rather than just being a name on an email.

For those who use LinkedIn a lot to recruit and find potential employers, the paid version could definitely be beneficial to them because of the search filters that are offered to paying customers.  On the free version of LinkedIn, you are very limited to who you can find and you must put a lot more effort into searching for others.  With the paid version, recruiters are offered many different types of search criteria to filter their results which keeps search times to a minimum.

Another great tool with the LinkedIn paid version is being able to see who has viewed your profile and what keywords people are searching that brings them to your page.  This allows you to edit some of your information to reach more of your targeted audience.

There were other reasons mentioned for upgrading your LinkedIn account and there is no doubt that it can be beneficial to many.  As an individual it is your job to determine if upgrading is worth it to you or if the free version is taking care of your basic needs.  All in all, LinkedIn is a powerful recruiting tool and social media tool that should not be brushed under the rug and I think it is very important that we keep them neat and professional because you never know who will look at it and see you as a potential employer.


"10 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade Your LinkedIn Account"

Facebook - Creating Relationships or Causing Breakups

All I simply had to type into Google was "social networking" and two articles just posted today popped up linking Facebook and relationships.  One of the articles was a story of personal experience of how a relationship found its ending when the boyfriend started a Facebook page.  He connected with old friends (and girlfriends), created a Farmville and became consumed with chatting, updating, and feeding his new obsession.  The relationship began to plummet because most of his free time was spent on social networks, but the relationship ultimately ended when he connected with an ex-girlfriend and decided to visit her one night when she "supposedly" kissed him first.  He claimed he didn't cheat because he didn't initiate the kiss but he knew she still liked him and still decided to go.  Obviously there are other ways that Facebook or other social networking sites can cause turmoil in relationships. Status updates that claim a significant other is doing something other than what they said they would, "incriminating" pictures, and simply messaging or chatting with others we know we shouldn't can get us all in trouble.  

The other article claims that Facebook is the cause of 1 in 5 divorces that was discovered in a survey done by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Also, out of all the other social networking sites, Facebook is the leader for online evidence causing divorce at 66%.  Although Facebook does not claim to be a dating site, there is plenty of evidence showing that Facebook is in fact used by many to meet new people and start potential relationships.  For those of us in the situation where any social network could harm our current relationship, we need to remind ourselves frequently what we are using Facebook for and keep our minds in check.  The purpose is to keep in contact, updated, and update others on our lives - not to create emotional relationships that could turn physical or turn our attention away from the one we love.

"Facebook to blame of 1 in 5 divorces in US"
"Blame Networking Sites For Your Breakup"