Mobile Groove

#DearKen I’m under increasing pressure to show results from my team’s social media efforts. Does my company need a social media rock star?

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Thank you for your question. Yes, your company must must must have a social media rock star. The twist? It’s you!

#DearKen: @TheMirrorTest author @JeffreyHayzlett calls people who abuse Twitter “twankers”. How do I avoid being too self-promoting?

Thank you for your question. Twitter “rules”, “guidelines”, and “best practices” are great fun for us marketers (especially considering that the golden rule of marketing is that there are no rules). That doesn’t stop folks like Jeff and I, however, from regularly writing about Twitter do’s and don’ts.

My usual disclaimer before we start to keep my company’s compliance team happy: all opinions expressed here are my own, and come from my experience running social media efforts, managing social marketers, and advising social marketing clients. Your mileage will vary.

Twitter is on the move, continuously launching features to enhance the advertising experience on Twitter. (Last week Twitter took the wraps off a beta service that will allow brands to target Promoted Tweets–the ad units that are actually Twitter messages–by country.) But what are the rules of engagement and to what extent (if any) should we promote goods and services in our Twitter stream? Ken Herron, social marketing authority and CMO at social applications and solutions company SocialGrow Inc., is back with a dose of valuable – and practical advice.

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#DearKen What are the pros and cons of sticking ads in your Twitter feed, and what is there to consider?

This week has seen both large tech firms (Bing) and small startup companies come under fire after their initiatives to solicit donations for Japan’s earthquake and tsunami victims in exchange for social support of their brands were viewed more as opportunistic PR than genuine efforts to help victims. How should marketers use social media for social good?

We welcome Ken Herron, social marketing authority and CMO at social applications and solutions company SocialGrow Inc., who will author a regular new social marketing advice column, #DearKen, to provide our readers with answers to their questions about social marketing technologies, tools, and best practices. To submit a question, tweet it with the hashtag “#DearKen”. All tweets will be acknowledged, and considered as being submitted for publication.