Bob Williams

An idea to engage loyal customers

June 5th, 2011 | Leave a comment | Tags: , ,

A friend recently converted trinkets and memorabilia from his place of work into a photo album on Facebook. It was simply entitled “The Office”. He had each item placed on a white background for the photos. Then he tagged friends on Facebook who had some part in the historical story related to the item.

An example image from "The Office" photo album

As I looked through the album I thought about how this idea could be used by companies to create a virtual museum of historical artifacts related to their company. Imagine a longstanding company like Coca-Cola or General Electric with a series of online catalogs on their web …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

An alternate view: The end of blogging

May 20th, 2009 | Leave a comment | Tags: , , ,

I read a post today by Andrew Serwer titled The end of blogging. While I agree with the premise that the manner in which we communicate is rapidly changing, I disagree that blogging is dead. I too use both Facebook and Twitter as a communication vehicle with family, friends, and those interested in my thoughts and writings. However, I see distinct usages and styles forming that differentiate the use of Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.

In my experience, Facebook is used as  mostly social medium for personal messages. My friends are posting updates on everyday life. Facebook provides an easy tool for those who don’t want to write fully versed and …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Social media awareness

April 16th, 2009 | One comment | Tags: , , , , ,

A classic marketing framework for describing consumer behavior is awareness,  interest, desire, and action (AIDA). Tim Ash does a good job of relating the AIDA model to eCommerce and Internet Marketing. Over the past several months, I’ve been trying to promote the ‘A’ for awareness with social media with my organization, friends, and family. It’s been a surprisingly difficult task.

At work, I routinely collect and share social media examples with peers and managers. Now, I don’t consider this a spamming effort. I try to make the content of each message relevant. It might be about relationship building or how businesses are using social media to reach customers. My …Continue reading >>