4th Floor Digital

Reverse Mentoring

Eric Leist — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:02:22 +0000

We’re excited about the possibilities reverse mentoring brings. In today’s terms, reverse mentoring means the practice of pairing digital natives with members of older generations who are still wrestling with some of the quick-moving technology in our world. That’s what we’re all about.

Here’s Alexa Scordato, co-founder of DartBoston, in her 2009 TEDx talk about her experience as a reverse mentor.

Social Media 101

Eric Leist — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:44:33 +0000

The world of social media is huge. Too huge, in fact. If you haven’t jumped in yet, it can intimidating. If you’re like most people viewing this post (i.e. you found it through Twitter) you may find it hard to believe there are some people out there who are still deciding whether or not social media is for them. To us digital natives, being on social media is like breathing or blinking. We don’t need to think about it; it’s part of who we are and how we communicate.

Today we gave a Social Media 101 lecture by highlighting three main platforms: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Here, you’ll find a repackaging of some of what we covered.

Facebook

Twitter

Online Video Workshop

Eric Leist — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:09:06 +0000

4th Floor Digital just finished up a great online video workshop. We’re more than happy to give it again. The PowerPoint is above, but the real value comes from the presentation.

Check out our Services page if you’d like to request a workshop on online video or on any social media topic.

More to Metrics

Eric Leist — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:31:59 +0000

The 4th Floor Digital Team is off to an incredible start. We’re getting requests left and right for new opportunities. There’s so much to learn about social media and so many people who want to learn it!

: The 4th Floor Digital Team at a BU-run Tweet-up

As a team, we’re learning too. We had a particularly interesting takeaway from one session so far:

Not all businesses have the same objective for their online presence, and they need to measure success in different ways.

Facebook fans might be really valuable for an ice cream company, but not so important for a B2B-focused Law firm. Monthly blog visits might be a great indicator of online success for a boutique PR agency, but not for a company that has content stretched far over the web.

Companies need to identify their goals for social media and figure out a few ways of measuring success, focus on those metrics and ignore the ones that don’t matter. Especially for small businesses, trying to track Google Analytics, YouTube views, Twitter list counts, Facebook comments, blog subscribers, impressions from Friendfeed, Diggs, Yelp ratings, AdSense revenue…can be exhausting!

Time efficiency is everything whether you’re doing your own marketing or you’re billing hours for a client. There’s more to metrics than the overwhelming amount of data that meets the eye.

The Weekend Digest – April 3rd

mshahab — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:47:20 +0000

News on the social media highway travels in the fast lane and still surpasses the speed limit.

Here to help you catch-up are our favorite finds from around the web for the week (3/28 – 4/3):

Amanda’s pick: Reputation Is Dead: It’s Time To Overlook Our Indiscretions, TechCrunch

As social media evolves, control over our online reputation is slipping through our fingers faster and faster. With just one click, anyone can post a YouTube video (Domino’s anyone?) or a tweet that smears a company or an individual. In this post, Michael Arrington argues that soon enough, no one will care about that photo of you funneling at a trashy college party.

Eric‘s pick: What would Facebook’s location-based feature mean for Fan Pages?, 451 Heat

Location-based services are the hottest trend in social media right now. When Facebook implements these services, as the company announced last week, it could mean some big opportunities for businesses. 451 Heat explores a few possibilities.

Lauren‘s pick: Titles, Tags & Tweets: the Role of Search in Social Media Marketing

Cross-promoting your content on social media platforms is important, but should be executed with SEO strategy in mind. Todd Defren of PR Squared gives us some tips.

Mariam’s pick: An 8-step plan for social media spring cleaning, Social Media Today

Take a moment to tidy-up and enhance your online connections. Social Media Today gives you a guide of how to reconnect and get the most out of your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook connections while encouraging you to ditch the blogs you don’t read for fresh content.

Mark’s pick: Know Your 5 or Social Media Might Eat You Alive, Fast Company

Organizations need to know how to target their potential customers. This article breaks down your potential audience into five categories, which you should know inside and out to maximize your community’s engagement. Also key: make it easy for people to find you. But you knew that already, didn’t you?

Photo Credit: We Heart It

Throwaway Thursday

Eric Leist — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:38:32 +0000

Every week, 4th Floor Digital will feature a “throwaway word.” These are words that have lost their meaning due to overuse, or have become outdated. We’re throwing some of these words away like the expired yogurt in the back of the fridge. For others, we’re clarifying an updated definition.

Today’s word:

Gatekeeper

What it used to mean: Any editor, reporter or assignment desk manager at a print or broadcast publication who decided whether or not a PR practitioner’s pitch would become or be featured in a story.

What it means now: Anyone who decides whether or not information will pass through to the public or group with whom he or she communicates. We now hear PR practitioners talking about “Facebook Group Administrator Relations” and “Twitter pitches.” The meaning of “gatekeeper” has shifted for some people. So let’s get more specific from now on. When we talk about passing information through a “gate,” are we talking about pitching editors or are we talking about commenting with a link on a popular blog post and hoping the author doesn’t delete it? “Gatekeeper” isn’t specific enough for the new ways of PR on the Web.

Grand Opening

Eric Leist — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:28:25 +0000

We’re Open!

Our mission is to teach whatever you want to know about social media. We give presentations and one-on-one sessions, webinars and advice through Twitter on our hashtag #4thFloor. If you’d like a customized presentation, let us know! We’re open to creating whatever you need.

To request our services, call Steve Quigley at (617) 358-0066 or email him stevequigley1 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Here are a few samples of the types of presentations we put together:

Online Video: Strategy, Production, Distribution
Blogging for Business: Development, Maintenance, Conversion
Time Management on Social Media: Getting the most out of limited resources
Augmented Reality: What it means for your business
Content Strategy: Delivering your message through multimedia
Online Authenticity: Have a personality, don’t just be another drone
Online Relationships: Which ones are worth the effort?
Guest Blogging: Why it’s beneficial
Commenting Etiquette: When and why
Measurement: Understanding Google Analytics, URL shorteners and more
Conversation Strategy: Messaging Across Social Media Platforms