The top 3 companies that use Social Media most effectively, as posted by Amy Porterfield (a social media strategy consultant), are;

1): Martell Home Builders: they are a construction company based in Canada where there goal is to create a direct path from the builders to the consumers. So there website is very user friendly and most of their leads come from other buyers who have previously used the company.

2): Zappos: This is a very popular user friendly internet based shoe company. They use strategies such as fan of the week and allow comments on their website from buyers and their reactions. They are very successful and have a solid company structure.

3): Giantnerd: This is a company that sells outdoor equipment for activities such as hiking and biking. They are dedicated to selling their product but also becoming friends with their customers as well. They have set up their site in a way that encourages a social network where customers can talk to each other. Another aspect of their site is called WikiNerdia. This is where anybody can post questions about different products and then the other consumers that use the site answer it for you. This works well for Giantnerd because their customers do their selling for them. Along with this you can also look up older topics and posts about different products sold.

These companies can be used as examples as how to effectively use social media into your business. If you can’t think of strategies yourself you might as well look for them in companies where it works.

Organizations like Kiva and HOPE International are at the forefront of a unique and relatively recent model for charitable giving. Traditionally, money given to benefit the poor in other countries around the world meant paying for charity organizations to work in communities to provide food, clean water and other forms of relief. The problem here is that the donation only goes so far.

There is an old saying that goes something like, “You can either give a man a fish and feed for a day, or teach him to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.” What this means is that while giving is a good thing, it isn’t sustainable. Micro financing fits better into the second half of this saying. The basic concept is that small donations are compiled into relatively small loans, usually ranging from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand. This money is given to entrepreneurs in poor countries to help them start a self-planned business. Examples are the cost of a bicycle so that they can deliver groceries or the start-up costs of a small street vendor. With a very high payback rate (both Kiva and HOPE claim 98-99% rates), donors know that they are giving to a worthwhile cause, and can even reinvest the money after it has been paid off!

Visit these two great organizations’ sites to help out your fellow entrepreneurs around the world:

www.hopeinternational.org

www.kiva.org

I have been an long time support of Kiva.  It is a great company that makes it so easy to help other people. It empowers people by allowing them to give money to back up micro loans that would otherwise be to risky to do without Kiva guaranteeing them. Kiva has exploded since it creation.  Kiva has allowed hundred of other get ministries to form because of Kiva.  Kiva is the Ebay of ministry.  Kiva has a whole page of plugins people have created on Firefox for Kiva.  It has allowed ministries such as World Vision to find people who could really use loans and use the Kiva platform to fund their client.  Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc. is a company that was founded in 1986.  It was started by a group of Christian businessmen who wanted to help with Philipians issues with poverty and unemployment.   Kiva has given this group of businessmen the tools and resources they need to effectively minister to their community.  Alalay sa Kaunlaran has been on Kiva since 2008 and they have loaned over 2,000,000 dollars on Kiva.  Kiva has revolutionized the way people raise money for 3rd world businessman.  Kiva is a perfect example of how powerful the internet is.  Kiva was an origination that wanted to get involved in micro financing, but because of the power of the internet.  Kiva has allowed normal people to kelp a taxi drive in the Congo receive a loan to fix his car.  Or another example would a boy from Ohio can help father with 6 kids build his house.  Kiva and the internet has opened up huge opportunities to help people who really need loan.

By Ford Jordan
FordJordan.com | SEO, Webdesign, Sports, and Business