Lowe Toyota

Time to work on Butler Automotive Mission Control

Tom Thornton — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:34:00 +0000

My Fav Chrome Extension – Minimalist Gmail

Tom Thornton — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Social Media tips, tricks and tools – short version

Tom Thornton — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:07:00 +0000

How to

Making your WordPress blog more social. WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms available and making your blog more social with posts more easily shared on social networks is a great way to begin creating your own community around your brand. It’s a great example of how blogging and social media work together. Here are some simple plug-ins to get you started. Simple But Creative

Success Stories

Does social media really work? Need proof that use of social media is a truly effective marketing tool? This article looks at some real and measurable success from best selling author Timothy Ferriss. Ferriss has demonstrated the effectiveness of social media marketing on its most basic level in both the promotion of his first book The 4-Hour Workweek and more recently in promoting The 4-Hour Body, his latest book. Watch as even traditional media takes notice. Financial Times

Trends

Why Facebook might not be your best bet for social media marketing. A surprise contender seems to have surpassed Facebook for sheer volume of social referrals. Data suggests StumbleUpon has become a viable player along with other social media front runners and if you need further evidence of the increased impact this site is having you need only check the stats. Forbes

Tips for local social media marketing. Examples of local businesses using social media marketing are everywhere. If your business is not yet using them, well, you may be missing out. Check out this post from Phyllis Zimbler Miller with both examples of local social media marketing and ideas for what you could do to put your best social media foot forward. Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing.

Three ways to boost your brand with social media. No matter what platform you use on social media, one of the key missions you must undertake is brand building. In simple terms, this means creating not only an awareness of your business product or service, but also a sense of what you stand for with a community who you hope will either become customers or create referrals for you. But how do you create this brand and what is the best way to start? BizSugar

Blogging

Why every small business owner needs one. Of course, blogs can certainly be small businesses in themselves, Jeannette Paladino, Writer-in-Chief of Write Speak Sell, argues these days your business really shouldn’t be without one. Jeannette helps businesses market themselves with social media and build brands online. Here’s why she thinks your business could benefit from blogging. Bloomberg BusinessWeek

So now you’ve got a business blog. But are you really getting the results that your want? If not, what steps could you take to improve your results? If you are already getting great results, what steps could you take to make those results even better. (Hey, there’s nothing wrong with improvement, no matter how well you’re doing.) Sometimes the simplest changes, say, the three steps suggested in this post, are all you need. webbed ink

Branding

Working on your online personality. When your social media account or blog becomes the main manifestation of your company, it can save a lot of huge marketing decisions and missteps (like spending money for TV ads or billboards that don’t adequately represent who your company is and what you represent) and replace them with lots of smaller mistakes that happen every time you sit down to create a post. Here are some keys to establishing an online personality that reflects your business in a better light every day. Technorati

10 tips to rock your blogging/social media world. Blogging is the original social media, before Facebook, Twitter or any of the rest. So, it’s not too surprising that some of the tips for improving your business blog have to do with making it interactive. Always keep your readers in mind and think about what they need…and what will make them want to come back for that next post. SearchEngineWatch

10 things wrong with your business blog. Conversely, there are a few things that will definitely hurt your blog, so don’t think just because your business has one everything is fine. It’s true that creating a blog is the first step to success in social media marketing and branding online. But remember that a bad blog will create a poor impression of your brand in the same way a good blog will create a good one. Make sure you don’t commit these deadly errors, or you will undo any positive impact your business blog might have. Daily Dose

Six Social Media Death Nails

Tom Thornton — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:00:06 +0000

Hard lessons I have learned in social media. Ugly ones, embarrassing ones, hide under a rock ones. (I am a notorious poor speller just to mention)
These are not reasons you should avoid getting involved in social media by any means.
My mistakes on Facebook or Twitter and others are out there forever. I cannot take them away or delete them. They live and breathe on the net.
Passing along to you some things I would hope you would avoid or stop doing. As I press forward, I am sure there are mistakes waiting on me just around the corner.
If you are just getting started, please set yourself up an RSS reader (I recommend Google or Reeder on the Ipad) and digest what others are doing. Right or wrong.
So to begin, my Six Death Nails:

One: Stop Talking About Yourself. Yes, you are wonderful and smart and good looking. But beyond what your momma thinks (hey, I am from Alabama) remember you are on the world wide web buster and there are allot of people just like you. This is social media, not you media. You should be looking to engage, to comment, to offer yourself and your experience with others.
Read a blog and if it hits home with you, make a comment. Read a great tweet, re-tweet it or reply to it. Give tips, look for advice, open up a bit.

Two: Balance. Who many social media sites can you sign up for on http://knowem.com/?
Wow! Claiming them is one thing, but do not try and keep them up. It cuts down on the quality of your posts. You need to be able to post on a regular basis and with too many accounts you just cant.
You can just put the same posts EVERYWHERE right? Well, yes you can. To me, it’s either you do that or do not post at all.

Three: Bad Content. There is many perspectives out there. Yours may be unique, even cute if you add in some kittens. Please stick to what you know and your experience in your own words.
Myself, I like to take pics, but pretty much suck at it. So, to write about photography would be pointless and wasting readers time. Pulling in stories from around you works well. Your world is interesting, just express it.

Four: Keep it down ! The volume that is. Readers are looking for value not volume. Keep those post short and to the point. Going on an on will just keep people from coming back. If you have to, break things into parts.
Speaking of which,
END OF PART ONE !

@davidkelly -Fab Toy Ad ! ROFL

Tom Thornton — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Traffic in ATL for the Internet Battle Plan conference

Tom Thornton — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:15:00 +0000

Taken with picplz at Kroger in Atlanta, GA.

#internetbattleplan @pcmguy during chat

Tom Thornton — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:18:05 +0000

Taken with picplz at Double Tree Hotel- Fitness Room in Atlanta, GA.

#dibp ready for day 2

Tom Thornton — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:04:56 +0000

Taken with picplz at courtyard by marriott buckhead in Atlanta, GA.

@RalphPaglia Is there a Hash Tag for Internet Battle Plan

Tom Thornton — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:58:00 +0000

@RalphPaglia Is there a Hash Tag for Internet Battle Plan in Atlanta, GA? Let’s see… #IBP, #InternetBattlePlan, #ATLIBP,#RalphGroupieSession… guess I should just ask.
Getting excited about going to ATL. Doing some prep work. It means being away from work but it does not mean not working. So, I have to get somethings done ahead of time.
Get some posts scheduled in Hootsuite, making sure my team knows how leads will flow in my abscence.
It is happening at the right time too. Almost cosmic in scope. I am in the middle of a website relaunch and I am sure I will be able to apply lessons learned into our new site. Not to mention the impact on the sales floor. That is, if we have the fortitude to follow through.
Will not have the luxury of staying in ATL. I will commute each day back and forth. I am sure to finish listening to the Inbound Marketing audio book and lots of podcast as well.
Going to take both my laptop and Ipad so I can have all my bases covered. Still not sure if I should take the larger Dell laptop or the smaller Linux net-book.
Wife asks if a tie is in order? Well, I wear one everyday and see no reason to deviate now.
Excited too because often us Internet guys that are embedded in dealerships suffer from being to cloistered within the dealership.
I rarely get a chance to talk to my peers. We all keep slogging away, doing the best we can in our own dealership’s environment. I will be sure to find people to be jealous of. But very pleased that my gracious boss is allowing me to attend.
Look for that hash tag to hit feeds hard as we all give our insights and thoughts.

Grateful you took the time to read – tom

Can you see Lilly?

Tom Thornton — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:39:39 +0000