Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Twitter exposes photo galleries, nudity and all
A new feature called User Galleries displays images on profile pages that Twitter users have shared via Yfrog, Twitpic, and other such services.
CNET's User Galleries page.
(Credit: Twitter)When users now view a Twitter profile page, they'll find a "Recent Images" pane showing photos the user recently shared with followers. They can opt to view individual images from that page or click "view all" to see the last 100 photos the user shared on the site. With that option, they'll be able to choose an image from a thumbnail listing at the top, and view it in ful-screen mode. The tweet that accompanied the image is also shown.
A grid view is also available for users to see larger thumbnails.
According to Twitter, all the images are listed in chronological order, though any photos shared before January 1, 2010, will not be included in the listing. In order to populate the page, Twitter said it has grabbed images from its own photo-sharing service, along with images shared via services such as Yfrog, Twitpic, and Instagram.
The style of Soical Media has taken on a whole new look !
http://ads.postano.com/?utm_source=adcenter&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=social%20media&utm_campaign=AI-Social%2BMedia%2BInterest%2B-%2BSearch
THE FASTEST AND SIMPLEST WAY TO STAY CLOSE TO THE THING'S YOU CARE ABOUT....
An information network
Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting. Simply find the accounts you find most compelling and follow the conversations.At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters long, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can discover a lot in a little space. You can see photos, videos and conversations directly in Tweets to get the whole story at a glance, and all in one place. See it in action.
You don’t have to tweet to get value from Twitter
You don’t have to build a web page to surf the web, and you don’t have to tweet to enjoy Twitter. Whether you tweet 100 times a day or never, you still have access to the voices and information surrounding all that interests you. You can contribute, or just listen in and retrieve up-to-the-second information. Visit fly.twitter.com to learn more about what’s yours to discover.Twitter for Businesses
Twitter connects businesses to customers in real time—and businesses use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influencers. From brand lift to CRM to direct sales, Twitter offers businesses an easy way to reach an engaged audience. Visit Twitter 101 for Businesses to learn more.
Twitter around the world
Twitter was founded in San Francisco, but it's used by people in nearly every country in the world. The service is available in more than 20 languages, and we continue to add them. You can change your language preference in your user settings with just a few clicks.
Twitter on the go
Experience Twitter on your mobile device by using one of our free Twitter apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7. To get the latest apps, go to twitter.com/download on your mobile device.Twitter for SMS
Twitter for SMS is an instant infrastructure for mobile communications. Individuals, businesses and social causes can use Twitter for SMS and our Fast Follow program to connect directly to anyone with a mobile phone. Here’s a list of all the countries that offer Twitter for SMS; we are actively working to add even more.Twitter in the Community
Twitter lends itself to cause and action. Every day, we are inspired by stories of people using Twitter to help make the world a better place in unexpected ways. Visit stories.twitter.com to learn more.
And with just a Tweet, millions of people learn about or show their support for positive initiatives that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Programs like Twitter Ads for Good offer a way for non-profit organizations to promote their efforts the same way as businesses can. As more community-centric organizations join the platform, citizens will increasingly engage with the efforts taking place to move their community forward. Follow @TwitterGood and @TwitterSF for more on these topics.
THUNDERCAT'S USE SOCIAL MEDIA AS WELL !!!!!
http://webtrends.about.com/od/twitter/u/twitter_guide.htm
As Twitter has evolved from a microblogging service into a popular social messaging platform, it has been instrumental in providing the "pulse" on news and events across the globe. In addition to its widespread acceptance among the news media and entertainment industry, Twitter has also become a popular social media marketing tool and a great way to communicate with both friends and co-workers.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
CAN YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?? THE CHALLENGE!!!
With over 845 million active users on Facebook alone, it’s safe to say that social media has become integrated into our daily lives.
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The social media explosion over the past few years has changed the way people and communities interact. Communication among individuals has become more dynamic, and information is delivered at a faster pace. Social media has allowed family and friends to stay up to date with what is happening in each others lives. Even businesses can now reach out directly to fans.With all the advances social media has enabled, some people are still skeptics. They don’t feel a need to be connected online, or they believe social media is too much work or too immersive. Some even ask the question: What would life be like without Facebook? Last year one of our writers at Mashable, Sam Laird, began a social experiment by testing what his life would be like without Facebook. This wasn’t because he disliked Facebook, but because he was curious to see the other side: would he miss it?
To this day, Sam has kept his Facebook account deactivated (but not fully deleted). He reported surprising results, saying that he misses out on a lot of conversation, and he always finds himself trying to catch up to articles posted on Facebook. He also reported that he had more time to browse the Internet, without worrying whether an article was share-worthy on the social network.
In order to see how fully social media has been ingrained in our lives, we want to test your resolve. We propose a challenge: Who can survive without social media for two weeks? This means you can’t update your status, send a tweet, +1 a post or “check in” to a restaurant. For two weeks you will only be able to engage with few online resources.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF TWITTER???
Twitter as you know it right now, through its official apps and the website, is not quite what Twitter will look like in the near(ish) future. The director of Twitter's design team told me that none of Twitter's current apps quite match the vision for where they're going with Twitter. None of them. The vision? In a word, simpler. But also more beautiful. To that point, Twitter just made a huge hire — Microsoft's Mike Kruzeniski, Creative Director for Windows Phone, who was also one of the design leads on Kin (which was in fact beautifully designed, like Windows Phone (above), though it suffered from stunningly poor execution). His emphasis on print design matches up neatly with what Twitter's trying to accomplish with Twitter Cards in attaching "media experiences" to tweets as well, I think. So you can start to get an idea of where Twitter might go.Getting there is not going to be easy, with Twitter attempting to balance the goals of being as simple as possible with the difficulties of maintaining a single vision across a multitude of platforms — in some ways, much like developers years ago wrestled intensely with how to design an app for both Windows and Mac that was consistent across both operating systems while feeling native to each one at the same time.
And while Twitter's focus lately has overwhelmingly been on refining the experience of consuming Twitter — largely in the service of new users — one of things it's looking at intensely is refining the actual tweeting experience. Right now, if you want to post a photo to Twitter using the iPhone — an OS that Twitter is baked into — it takes a half dozen steps or so (you can open Photos, find your photo, tap your photo, tap share, tap Twitter, compose Tweet, Tweet or open Twitter, hit "compose tweet," hit the picture button, snap or select a photo, write your tweet, then tweet). If you're at a concert and just want to tweet a photo and get back to the show, this giant list of steps is a problem. It's one that Twitter's working on fixing, reducing "friction points" so it's superfast and easy to tweet while making what you're tweeting as "dynamic" as possible.
The other thing "consistency" means to Twitter — obviously in the future — is being able to start a session on one device, like a laptop, and pick it up exactly where you left off on another.
Friday, June 29, 2012
PROFIT'S USEING SOCIAL MEDIA, (TWITTER)
How To Collect 4 Steady Profit Streams Using Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn,
Part One: The social media discovery that's rocking the business world – and rewriting the rules of freelancing right now (Don't miss this shift-change in business and freelancing, or within two years, you'll find yourself left behind and wondering what happened)
Part Two: Introducing the 4 steady profit streams you can collect using social media – and how to get started in 30 days or less, landing social media consulting contracts from $2,500 to as much as $12,000 or more per month (plus $300 per hour consulting gigs) – as well as grow a passive income stream of $5,700 and more every month from "playing" with social media
Part Three: Your shortest path to becoming a Social Media Expert – and maximizing the income you get from each profit stream (This turns off all the social media noise and hype – and shows you the clearest path to social media success)
Dear AWAI Member and Friend,
Social media is turning the business world on its head. No question about it.
Just take the stories from Part One of this report –
Social Media is changing everything about how business works online. Customer service. Sales. Marketing. Advertising. The rules are all being rewritten – with the customer driving much of the communication.
Companies refusing to play by the new rules are taking blows left and right. Those that adapt are gaining market share and raving fans.
Here's how this applies to you.
Clients have a new set of expectations for freelancers and web writers. You have to be social media savvy – not just web savvy. And yes, the rules are different here, too.
Parts Two and Three of this report show you how you can take advantage of these opportunities and start profiting using social media within the next 30 days.
By the time you're done reading:
For help putting together this report, I turned to Nick Usborne, web marketing consultant to Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Disney, as well as author of AWAI's How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites, Copywriting 2.0, and Profitable Freelancing programs. He's helped to identify the four opportunities web writers and freelancers have for making money using social media. And, at the end of this report, I'll show you how you can try Nick's new program on becoming a Social Media Expert, risk-free.
A brief note on How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert …
Nick Usborne's new How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert program is unlike any other social media course, program, or product out there. While other programs focus on how to use little tricks and tactics to accomplish one little goal with social media (how many hype-filled "make money on Twitter" courses are out there?!) … Nick's program is designed to give you the in-depth teaching and experience that will transform you into a true Social Media Expert who knows more than 90-95% of marketers today.
Beyond this, Nick uses his expertise as a web marketer, web writer, and in-the-trenches practitioner of the social media strategies he's teaching to show you how to make four separate profit streams using social media.
Because this program is well over 250 pages, there's far more on these opportunities than we can cover in this report.
As I said, I'll show you at the end of this report how you can get your hands on Nick's new program and give it a try. You'll get six full months to put it to work and start seeing results, or you get a prompt and courteous refund of your investment.
Of course, you're under no obligation by simply reading this report. Though if you decide at any time you'd like to try How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, you can use the links in this report, or call Barb, Pat, Debbie, or Jacqueline in the AWAI Member Services Department toll-free at 1-866-879-2924 and let them know you'd like to try Nick's new program, and they'll take care of you.
One more thing before you dive in …
With Nick's help, I've packed a lot of "how to" value you can apply immediately into this report. Please take your time to read through it and get the most out of it. I look forward to hearing what you accomplish with this.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Matter
Co-Managing Partner, American Writers & Artists Inc.
Founder, Wealthy Web Writer
http://www.twitter.com/RebeccaMatter
Within two years, your freelance business will be dead or dying if you don't have a solid social media presence. Is this a drastic prediction? Perhaps.
But, take a look around at all the top copywriters and marketing gurus you know. How many of them have websites? Ten years ago, if you'd told them they'd need a website to keep their business afloat, they would have laughed at you! Now it's an essential part of their business strategy.
It's the same for all businesses.
First, take a look at the timeline for how fast websites became critical to business …
Now, take a look at how much quicker this is happening with social media …
In How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, Nick Usborne covers this in much greater detail. But, beyond a simple presence (hint: opening an account is not enough), Nick shows some specific, proven ways to use these and other social media services to get clients for your freelance business.
It took over 15 years for websites to become a "must-have" for business. Today, social media has hit Phase 4 and is a business essential.
As I ask around, I'm finding businesses – especially freelancers – without a social media presence are starting to be left behind. (Don't let this be you!)
It's no joke: at this point, your social media presence is as important as your website.
Sure, a lot of marketers and business people have tried dismissing social media as a fad that will eventually just go away. But, these are the same curmudgeons who made similar predictions about putting up a business website – and look where that got them.
In reality, social media is becoming deeper and deeper integrated into the entire Internet. The major search engines are now even using Twitter links, Facebook "Likes," and other social media buzz to determine where a particular page will show up in search engine rankings. It seems like every week news breaks on a new way that social media is being integrated into our lives.
For one, a large majority of consumers are social media users. 23.1 million teens and adults find new brands or products using social media, according to a 2011 study called, Social Media Now Influences Brand Perceptions, Purchase Decisions of 38 Million in U.S.
And, that is an increase of 22% from 2010, to a total of almost 61% – so we're quickly getting closer to 100% of Internet users being on social media.
And, while there are some age and gender trends (young adults, for example, are the heaviest users), the demographics of social media cover the entire spectrum.
And power users – people aged 20 to 29 years old spend more time than any other age group using social media. 41% of them use social media more than 11 hours a week. It's not uncommon for these heavy users to open Facebook and Twitter in the morning (or apps they use to access these services) and keep them open all day as their portal into the Internet (move over, Google!).
Beyond this, users expect businesses to be involved in social media, and reward businesses who are.
Even as early as 2008, research by Boston-based consulting firm Cone found that 93% of Americans believed a company should have a presence in social media. And, 56% believed companies provide a better service by interacting with customers through social media.
Make no mistake, social media has already become a business advantage.
15.1 million people refer to social media before making purchase decisions (according to Social Media Now Influences Brand Perceptions, Purchase Decisions of 38 Million in U.S.) – that’s up 29% from the 2010 The Faces Of Social Media study.
Other studies have found that a whopping 93% of Facebook users share their shopping suggestions with friends.
In How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, you learn what businesses expect when they hire you for social media help, and how to exceed their highest expectations. And, you can try the program risk-free for six full months.
And, this is just self-reported data – the real numbers are likely much higher. After all, I know I'm not a minority in checking out a company's article, blog post, or web page after they mentioned it on Facebook or Twitter – and I don't think twice about it. I'm sure many users are just like me.
Billions are being spent on social media – and it's increasing fast.
Smart businesses have quickly jumped on the social media bandwagon, and are spending in earnest to attract social media users as customers.
Total spending on advertising across social media networks was $1.40 billion in 2009, and came in at $1.99 billion in 2010, according to eMarketer.
In 2011, social media advertising spending broke through the $3 billion threshold – growing 55% in just 1 year.
And, they’re expecting spending on advertising to increase by 28% in 2012.
That's just for advertising.
Total social media spending – including employees, freelancers, consultants, and services – could be dramatically more as companies throw their weight behind social media initiatives.
At this point, we've found consultants making $10,000 a day simply to teach social media to corporate executives. There's no guarantee you can make this much – yet figures like these make it clear that the money being spent on social media is tremendous. (Of course, half that would still be a good day for most of us!)
All the numbers are well and good – and provide significant PROOF on the growth of social media – but what's going on at the ground level?
It's one thing to look at all the stats and see that billions are being spent, consultants are making thousands per day, and social media is becoming a standard part of the marketing mix.
But, what gets even better is when you start to see the actual impact social media is having on a case-by-case basis.
Slow-moving companies are getting eaten alive by social media – as you'll see in the United Airlines story. Others – like Comcast and 1800Flowers – see the business advantage of social media and are leveraging it to build their brand, keep customer satisfaction high, and even to make direct sales.
Business goals can be made or broken with social media. This discovery is rocking the business world. Let's look at how this is happening – then we'll look at how you can use this discovery to profit.
COMPLIMENTARY SPECIAL
REPORT:
Make Money Using Social Media
Make Money Using Social Media
How To Collect 4 Steady Profit Streams Using Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn,
And Other Social Media Tools
Within 30 days, you can become a Social Media Expert and
start earning as much as $300 per hour and $2,500 to $12,000 per month through
social media consulting, plus a bonus passive income stream of $5,700 and more
monthly. This complimentary Special Report shows
you the four ways to make money using social media, and how to get
started immediately.
From
Rebecca Matter, Co-Managing Partner at AWAI,
Founder of Wealthy Web Writer
and
Nick Usborne, Web Marketing Consultant to
Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Disney, and Author of AWAI's Money-Making Websites, Copywriting 2.0,
and Profitable Freelancing Programs
Rebecca Matter, Co-Managing Partner at AWAI,
Founder of Wealthy Web Writer
and
Nick Usborne, Web Marketing Consultant to
Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Disney, and Author of AWAI's Money-Making Websites, Copywriting 2.0,
and Profitable Freelancing Programs
Here's what is in this Special Report …
Part One: The social media discovery that's rocking the business world – and rewriting the rules of freelancing right now (Don't miss this shift-change in business and freelancing, or within two years, you'll find yourself left behind and wondering what happened)
Part Two: Introducing the 4 steady profit streams you can collect using social media – and how to get started in 30 days or less, landing social media consulting contracts from $2,500 to as much as $12,000 or more per month (plus $300 per hour consulting gigs) – as well as grow a passive income stream of $5,700 and more every month from "playing" with social media
Part Three: Your shortest path to becoming a Social Media Expert – and maximizing the income you get from each profit stream (This turns off all the social media noise and hype – and shows you the clearest path to social media success)
Dear AWAI Member and Friend,
Social media is turning the business world on its head. No question about it.
Just take the stories from Part One of this report –
- In just a few short months, over 11 million people watched the YouTube video about how "United Breaks Guitars" – creating a public relations disaster for United Airlines and making every musician think twice about flying "the friendly skies"
- Comcast Cable rewrote their rules for customer service in response to Twitter complaints – and turned a potential disaster into high satisfaction among their most vocal customers
- 1800Flowers now even lets you shop directly from Facebook – generating direct sales using social media and reaching customers who may never visit their website
Social Media is changing everything about how business works online. Customer service. Sales. Marketing. Advertising. The rules are all being rewritten – with the customer driving much of the communication.
Companies refusing to play by the new rules are taking blows left and right. Those that adapt are gaining market share and raving fans.
Here's how this applies to you.
Clients have a new set of expectations for freelancers and web writers. You have to be social media savvy – not just web savvy. And yes, the rules are different here, too.
- If you can drive business results through social media, you have a huge opportunity to help clients create and manage their social media presence (some social media consultants are bringing in upwards of $10K a day just to teach social media to executives!)
- Want to add 10-25% or more in fees on your current web-writing contracts? Add social media to your list of services and you can quickly gain extra income from projects you're already doing
- Need more clients? Look no further than Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – you find clients, clients find you, and you land gigs just by joining the conversation (many clients are now looking first – and sometimes only – to social media when they need help)
- Get high-quality web traffic – referrals can bring you the most ready-to-buy customers, and social media is a referral medium. You can add 50% more traffic to your website through social media – and see a similar bump in income for your Money-Making Websites and self-publishing projects (using the same skills you sell to clients!)
Parts Two and Three of this report show you how you can take advantage of these opportunities and start profiting using social media within the next 30 days.
By the time you're done reading:
- You'll see the exact opportunity that social media is presenting now (and why learning social media today is as important as learning the Internet has been for the last 15 years – and especially the last five) …
- You'll know the four ways you can start to create consistent profits using social media …
- And, you'll have specific action steps you can take now to start collecting your fair share of the profits being made using social media
For help putting together this report, I turned to Nick Usborne, web marketing consultant to Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Disney, as well as author of AWAI's How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites, Copywriting 2.0, and Profitable Freelancing programs. He's helped to identify the four opportunities web writers and freelancers have for making money using social media. And, at the end of this report, I'll show you how you can try Nick's new program on becoming a Social Media Expert, risk-free.
A brief note on How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert …
Nick Usborne's new How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert program is unlike any other social media course, program, or product out there. While other programs focus on how to use little tricks and tactics to accomplish one little goal with social media (how many hype-filled "make money on Twitter" courses are out there?!) … Nick's program is designed to give you the in-depth teaching and experience that will transform you into a true Social Media Expert who knows more than 90-95% of marketers today.
Beyond this, Nick uses his expertise as a web marketer, web writer, and in-the-trenches practitioner of the social media strategies he's teaching to show you how to make four separate profit streams using social media.
Because this program is well over 250 pages, there's far more on these opportunities than we can cover in this report.
As I said, I'll show you at the end of this report how you can get your hands on Nick's new program and give it a try. You'll get six full months to put it to work and start seeing results, or you get a prompt and courteous refund of your investment.
Of course, you're under no obligation by simply reading this report. Though if you decide at any time you'd like to try How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, you can use the links in this report, or call Barb, Pat, Debbie, or Jacqueline in the AWAI Member Services Department toll-free at 1-866-879-2924 and let them know you'd like to try Nick's new program, and they'll take care of you.
One more thing before you dive in …
With Nick's help, I've packed a lot of "how to" value you can apply immediately into this report. Please take your time to read through it and get the most out of it. I look forward to hearing what you accomplish with this.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Matter
Co-Managing Partner, American Writers & Artists Inc.
Founder, Wealthy Web Writer
http://www.twitter.com/RebeccaMatter
Make Money Using Social Media, Part One
The social media discovery that's rocking the business
world …
Within two years, your freelance business will be dead or dying if you don't have a solid social media presence. Is this a drastic prediction? Perhaps.
But, take a look around at all the top copywriters and marketing gurus you know. How many of them have websites? Ten years ago, if you'd told them they'd need a website to keep their business afloat, they would have laughed at you! Now it's an essential part of their business strategy.
It's the same for all businesses.
First, take a look at the timeline for how fast websites became critical to business …
- Starting in the mid 1990s, the Internet became business-friendly and having a website made your business cutting-edge. (We can call this Phase 1)
- By the late 1990s, a website became another way to connect and communicate with your current customers. (Phase 2)
- In the early 2000s, customers and potential customers started turning to your website as a measure of whether you're a serious business or not – and websites became a real business advantage. (Phase 3)
- And, by the late 2000s until now, websites have become an essential part in any business strategy. (Phase 4)
Now, take a look at how much quicker this is happening with social media …
- While social media sites started popping up in earnest around 2003-2004, it wasn't until 2007 that they became business-friendly. At this point, advertising and setting up social media profiles for your business was cutting edge. (Phase 1)
- By 2008, social media became a powerful medium for connecting and communicating with your current customers. (Phase 2)
- Through 2009 and 2010 customers started to turn first to Facebook and other social media platforms to find your business – and if they could follow your competitor but not you, you risked losing a customer. Social media became a business advantage. (Phase 3)
- In 2011, social media became an essential part in any business strategy and it’s only going to become more necessary this year. (Phase 4)
Required Social Media For Freelancers
Where do you need to be seen in social media to grow a thriving freelance business? Bare minimum: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you're going to add social media services to what you're offering clients, your list gets longer.In How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, Nick Usborne covers this in much greater detail. But, beyond a simple presence (hint: opening an account is not enough), Nick shows some specific, proven ways to use these and other social media services to get clients for your freelance business.
- Who to follow, Like, and connect with in the social media world to grow your freelance biz
- Easily connect with your best prospects because of one big advantage social media offers
- The simple social event that turns prospects into clients for your freelance services (this has nothing to do with selling)
It took over 15 years for websites to become a "must-have" for business. Today, social media has hit Phase 4 and is a business essential.
As I ask around, I'm finding businesses – especially freelancers – without a social media presence are starting to be left behind. (Don't let this be you!)
It's no joke: at this point, your social media presence is as important as your website.
Sure, a lot of marketers and business people have tried dismissing social media as a fad that will eventually just go away. But, these are the same curmudgeons who made similar predictions about putting up a business website – and look where that got them.
In reality, social media is becoming deeper and deeper integrated into the entire Internet. The major search engines are now even using Twitter links, Facebook "Likes," and other social media buzz to determine where a particular page will show up in search engine rankings. It seems like every week news breaks on a new way that social media is being integrated into our lives.
Even then, what makes social media relevant to business?
For one, a large majority of consumers are social media users. 23.1 million teens and adults find new brands or products using social media, according to a 2011 study called, Social Media Now Influences Brand Perceptions, Purchase Decisions of 38 Million in U.S.
And, that is an increase of 22% from 2010, to a total of almost 61% – so we're quickly getting closer to 100% of Internet users being on social media.
And, while there are some age and gender trends (young adults, for example, are the heaviest users), the demographics of social media cover the entire spectrum.
And power users – people aged 20 to 29 years old spend more time than any other age group using social media. 41% of them use social media more than 11 hours a week. It's not uncommon for these heavy users to open Facebook and Twitter in the morning (or apps they use to access these services) and keep them open all day as their portal into the Internet (move over, Google!).
Beyond this, users expect businesses to be involved in social media, and reward businesses who are.
Even as early as 2008, research by Boston-based consulting firm Cone found that 93% of Americans believed a company should have a presence in social media. And, 56% believed companies provide a better service by interacting with customers through social media.
Make no mistake, social media has already become a business advantage.
15.1 million people refer to social media before making purchase decisions (according to Social Media Now Influences Brand Perceptions, Purchase Decisions of 38 Million in U.S.) – that’s up 29% from the 2010 The Faces Of Social Media study.
Other studies have found that a whopping 93% of Facebook users share their shopping suggestions with friends.
3 Ways To Collect Your Share Of The Billions Spent On Social Media
Want to cut off your own slice of the multi-billion dollar social media pie? Three of the top opportunities we've found are to:- Teach social media within a business
- Consult with a business on strategy
- Offer "do it for you" services
In How To Make Money As A Social Media Expert, you learn what businesses expect when they hire you for social media help, and how to exceed their highest expectations. And, you can try the program risk-free for six full months.
And, this is just self-reported data – the real numbers are likely much higher. After all, I know I'm not a minority in checking out a company's article, blog post, or web page after they mentioned it on Facebook or Twitter – and I don't think twice about it. I'm sure many users are just like me.
Billions are being spent on social media – and it's increasing fast.
Smart businesses have quickly jumped on the social media bandwagon, and are spending in earnest to attract social media users as customers.
Total spending on advertising across social media networks was $1.40 billion in 2009, and came in at $1.99 billion in 2010, according to eMarketer.
In 2011, social media advertising spending broke through the $3 billion threshold – growing 55% in just 1 year.
And, they’re expecting spending on advertising to increase by 28% in 2012.
That's just for advertising.
Total social media spending – including employees, freelancers, consultants, and services – could be dramatically more as companies throw their weight behind social media initiatives.
At this point, we've found consultants making $10,000 a day simply to teach social media to corporate executives. There's no guarantee you can make this much – yet figures like these make it clear that the money being spent on social media is tremendous. (Of course, half that would still be a good day for most of us!)
All the numbers are well and good – and provide significant PROOF on the growth of social media – but what's going on at the ground level?
It's one thing to look at all the stats and see that billions are being spent, consultants are making thousands per day, and social media is becoming a standard part of the marketing mix.
But, what gets even better is when you start to see the actual impact social media is having on a case-by-case basis.
Slow-moving companies are getting eaten alive by social media – as you'll see in the United Airlines story. Others – like Comcast and 1800Flowers – see the business advantage of social media and are leveraging it to build their brand, keep customer satisfaction high, and even to make direct sales.
Business goals can be made or broken with social media. This discovery is rocking the business world. Let's look at how this is happening – then we'll look at how you can use this discovery to profit.
WHAT IS TWITTER DOING ABOUT IT'S OWN FAILURE'S ????
Not all failures end well. Sometimes, people suffer a setback and never recover. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is all in how you process it. If you are going to succeed in work and in life, you must learn to deal powerfully with failure.
There are at least six steps to turning failure to your advantage:
Not all failures end well. Sometimes, people suffer a setback and never recover. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is all in how you process it. If you are going to succeed in work and in life, you must learn to deal powerfully with failure.
There are at least six steps to turning failure to your advantage:
- Step #1: Acknowledge the failure.
- Step #2: Take full responsibility.
- Step #3: Mourn the failure.
- Step #4: Learn from the experience.
- Step #5: Change your behavior.
- Step #6: Enter whole-heartedly into the next project.
Failure is inevitable if you are going to tackle significant goals. You have to learn to make it work for you. In doing so, you are planting the seeds of your eventual success.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Twitter in the Workplace: Yay or Nay?
Should companies allow their employees to use Twitter? Many PR nightmares have happened in recent years that are making some companies ban the practice altogether. They say that it’s a waste of time or dangerous practice. They say it halts productivity or encourages slacking off. They think that their employees may burn them if they’re allowed to communicate with the public so freely.
They may be right. Then again, they’re probably wrong.
Rather than banning social media, businesses need to set guidelines and train their employees. It’s that simple. This isn’t a gray-area issue as most would claim. Granted, there are a few professions that should remove social media from the equation. I’d hate to have a doctor in surgery giving a Twitter play-by-play, for example. Otherwise, there are very few companies who can get hurt through social media if they set proper guidelines and train their people on what’s appropriate and what is not.
This infographic by our friends at Mindflash explores the issue and draws some statistical conclusions on social media use in the workplace, particularly with Twitter. Do you believe it should be allowed?
Click to enlarge.
Soshable Being Sociable
Share
Friday, June 22, 2012
HOW DOES TWITTER COMPARE TO FACE-BOOK??
Illustration by Nick Bilton/The New York Times
The best way to compare Twitter and Facebook is to look at the old children’s story “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
For those who don’t remember curling up in bed as a child, listening to an adult narrate it, this is the old fable of an arrogant hare who loses a race to a slow tortoise. The tortoise beat the hare because it followed the mantra slow and steady will always win the race.
In the world of social networks, Facebook looks like the swift and cunning hare, Twitter the leisurely and careful tortoise. This race is not judged by speed but by a stopwatch with a much longer lifespan, one that is tied to trust.
To run so quickly, Facebook exploded because it slurped up endless amounts of data about its users. It often did so in ways that earned it scorn from those worried about privacy and the implications of personal data used by others. Again and again, Facebook pushed the boundaries of people’s privacy by making things public that had once been declared private on its site. It continually opted people into new features that clearly overstepped the company’s original privacy agreements.
As a result, Facebook users tiptoe through the site on eggshells. A recent CNBC poll found that “59 percent of respondents said that they had little to no trust in Facebook to keep their information private.” Eventually, the Federal Trade Commission stepped in to stop Facebook, but it was eight years too late.
Twitter, on the hand, has taken an opposite approach. The company has never made its users’ private information public when it has introduced new features. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has not endlessly changed its privacy policy. Users of the site trust Twitter more.
The stark difference between the two companies’ approaches to privacy is evident with product introductions.
For example, on Thursday Twitter introduced a feature that is intended to make better suggestions of whom to follow on the service. To make the new service work, Twitter needs to do some snooping. Did privacy groups come out and berate Twitter for its actions? No. Did the F.T.C. announce an investigation into the company’s practices? Actually, quite the opposite. The government proudly announced Twitter’s ability to let people opt out of the new feature.
Sure, Twitter has made careless decisions, specifically with security. In the early days of the service, it was repeatedly hacked, putting users’ personal information at risk. Twitter’s negligence resulted in a settlement with the F.T.C., too.
In the long run, people will trust Twitter more than they do Facebook. And when it comes to building a long-term, trusting relationship with its users, Twitter will take it slowly and steadily, and in doing so, could win the race.
Facebook vs. Twitter
By NICK BILTONIllustration by Nick Bilton/The New York TimesFor those who don’t remember curling up in bed as a child, listening to an adult narrate it, this is the old fable of an arrogant hare who loses a race to a slow tortoise. The tortoise beat the hare because it followed the mantra slow and steady will always win the race.
In the world of social networks, Facebook looks like the swift and cunning hare, Twitter the leisurely and careful tortoise. This race is not judged by speed but by a stopwatch with a much longer lifespan, one that is tied to trust.
To run so quickly, Facebook exploded because it slurped up endless amounts of data about its users. It often did so in ways that earned it scorn from those worried about privacy and the implications of personal data used by others. Again and again, Facebook pushed the boundaries of people’s privacy by making things public that had once been declared private on its site. It continually opted people into new features that clearly overstepped the company’s original privacy agreements.
As a result, Facebook users tiptoe through the site on eggshells. A recent CNBC poll found that “59 percent of respondents said that they had little to no trust in Facebook to keep their information private.” Eventually, the Federal Trade Commission stepped in to stop Facebook, but it was eight years too late.
Twitter, on the hand, has taken an opposite approach. The company has never made its users’ private information public when it has introduced new features. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has not endlessly changed its privacy policy. Users of the site trust Twitter more.
The stark difference between the two companies’ approaches to privacy is evident with product introductions.
For example, on Thursday Twitter introduced a feature that is intended to make better suggestions of whom to follow on the service. To make the new service work, Twitter needs to do some snooping. Did privacy groups come out and berate Twitter for its actions? No. Did the F.T.C. announce an investigation into the company’s practices? Actually, quite the opposite. The government proudly announced Twitter’s ability to let people opt out of the new feature.
Sure, Twitter has made careless decisions, specifically with security. In the early days of the service, it was repeatedly hacked, putting users’ personal information at risk. Twitter’s negligence resulted in a settlement with the F.T.C., too.
In the long run, people will trust Twitter more than they do Facebook. And when it comes to building a long-term, trusting relationship with its users, Twitter will take it slowly and steadily, and in doing so, could win the race.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
JUST WHAT IS TWITTER DOING ABOUT IT'S OWN EXPERIENCE?
Below is the hottest hyper link addressing this very question!!!!!!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/how-twitter-beat-facebook-at-its-own-story
Below is the hottest hyper link addressing this very question!!!!!!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/how-twitter-beat-facebook-at-its-own-story
WHAT ABOUT THE KID'S GROWING UP IN THE SOICAL MEDIA WORLD ????
Hanging Out and Growing up with Social Media
The relationship between human beings, their environment, and society has always been complex, intertwined, and interdependent. Some might argue the terms environment and society are one in the same. In social media, the media or utility serves as the conduit that connects the user and their worlds. Society represents the human beings using a profile or identity to create connections and shared meaning. Social media and the development of written language are similar in the construction and developmental process. Some aspects are linear and predictable, and other aspects of the developmental process and social media are unknown. In this paper, the author examines how media, and in particular, social media is a central part of many Westerner’s developmental processes by intertwining media psychology theory with his own family experience.
The rapid adoption of social network sites by teenagers in the United States and in many other countries around the world raises some important questions. Why do teenagers flock to these sites? What are they expressing on them? How do these sites fit into their lives? What are they learning from their participation? Are these online activities like face-to-face friendships – or are they different, or complementary (Boyd, 2007a, p. 2).
These questions help frame the discussion of developmental behavior as it relates to the ever-changing psychosexual and developmental aspects of children and adolescents engaged in social media. Lev Vygotsky’s thoughts on child development provide a framework of questions for discussion relevant for today’s children, teenagers, and the intersection of social media.
Vygotsky (1978) believed three fundamental issues offered insight as to the manner in which human development occurred. His questions were as follows:
Boyd’s work in social media identified similar thoughts regarding youth engagement in culture and processes stating, “While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality” (Boyd, 2007a, p.1).
I have selected two questions to frame this discussion of “hanging out” and growing up with social media:
Social Media is an umbrella term, defining all of the activities that come together in a utility that uses multiple communication mediums’ of words, pictures, or videos to create visual displays, picture-sharing opportunities, connection points, and the creation of personal meaning and community building opportunities. Social media uses the wisdom of crowds to connect people and information in a collaborative manner.
Social media can take many different forms, including message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, group creation, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Club Penguin (children’s social networking), iTunes (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), and Flickr (photo sharing).
In an e-book from Spannerworks.com called What is social media?, another definition is provided. “Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media which share most or all of the following characteristics: Participation, openness, conversation, community, and connectedness” (Spannerworks.com, 2007). This community-oriented connectedness aligns well with the interests of youth today as being involved with their friends. It is a critical aspect of their life meaning and development.
Social Behavior as it relates to the context of social media is the study of how people influence each other in their individual and collective behavior. This includes both the individual activities involved in crafting a perception of an individual in a setting where others may be present, as well as the changes that may occur due to group behavior and influence (Glassman, 2000).
Social Networking refers to the utilities that create collaboration through activities that people use to connect, develop relationships, and create personal myths. These sites and activities allow for self-identification and discovery; as well as self-expression through words, pictures and other mediums of communication. These sites base primary interactions around a user’s profile, an individual home page that provides an opportunity to customize their page with self-directed information, pictures, quotes, and widgets that help craft their online identity. Boyd provides an example, stating “Throughout the country, young people were logging in, creating elaborate profiles, publicly articulating their relationships with other participants, and writing extensive comments back and forth. By early 2006, many considered participation on the key social network site, MySpace, essential to being seen as cool at school” (2007, p. 1).
Social Networks are defined differently, as a related cousin to social networking. Linton Freeman and Cynthia Webster define social networks as “a structural form – or patterning of the ties that link social sectors and interaction” (1994, p. 223). Freeman and Webster visually describe the patterns in this manner: “…whenever human association is examined, we see what can be described as thick spots – relatively unchanging clusters or collections of individuals who are linked by frequent interaction and often by sentimental ties” (p. 223).
Social Cognition is the study of how people understand themselves and other people. The International Social Cognition Network states, “It is a level of analysis that aims to understand social psychological phenomena by investigating the cognitive processes that underline them” (2007). The processes that make up social cognition are perception, judgment and the memory of social stimuli. Utilities such as Facebook create social cognition experiences as individuals can create and change their identity with their pictures, and create engagement by presenting pictures and using words to connect, share and create meaning with other individuals. This developmental process helps in the shaping and sharing of one’s identity.
Social Psychology is the study of how social conditions affect individuals and groups. Social psychology is concerned with the areas of attitude, persuasion, cognitions, influence, group dynamics, prosocial behavior, and interpersonal attraction and behavior. The examination of attitudes and behavior and how they interact is a key focus of social psychologists.
Social Intelligence is defined as the non-cognitive social aptitudes that allow us to respond to an emotional situation. Aptitudes are perceived as being without thought. As we continue to learn more about social and emotional intelligence, we also learn that while perhaps different, the two also overlap. Relationships are the key and critical connection between emotional intelligence and social intelligence (Goleman, 2006).
Hanging Out and Growing up with Social Media
The relationship between human beings, their environment, and society has always been complex, intertwined, and interdependent. Some might argue the terms environment and society are one in the same. In social media, the media or utility serves as the conduit that connects the user and their worlds. Society represents the human beings using a profile or identity to create connections and shared meaning. Social media and the development of written language are similar in the construction and developmental process. Some aspects are linear and predictable, and other aspects of the developmental process and social media are unknown. In this paper, the author examines how media, and in particular, social media is a central part of many Westerner’s developmental processes by intertwining media psychology theory with his own family experience.
The rapid adoption of social network sites by teenagers in the United States and in many other countries around the world raises some important questions. Why do teenagers flock to these sites? What are they expressing on them? How do these sites fit into their lives? What are they learning from their participation? Are these online activities like face-to-face friendships – or are they different, or complementary (Boyd, 2007a, p. 2).
These questions help frame the discussion of developmental behavior as it relates to the ever-changing psychosexual and developmental aspects of children and adolescents engaged in social media. Lev Vygotsky’s thoughts on child development provide a framework of questions for discussion relevant for today’s children, teenagers, and the intersection of social media.
Vygotsky (1978) believed three fundamental issues offered insight as to the manner in which human development occurred. His questions were as follows:
- What is the relationship between human beings and their environment, both physical and social?
- What new forms of activity were responsible for establishing labor as the fundamental means of relating humans to nature and what are the psychological consequences of these forms of activity?
- What is the nature of the relationship between the use of tools and the development of speech?
Boyd’s work in social media identified similar thoughts regarding youth engagement in culture and processes stating, “While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality” (Boyd, 2007a, p.1).
I have selected two questions to frame this discussion of “hanging out” and growing up with social media:
- What is the relationship between human beings and their environment, both physical and social?
- How (do) youth engage through social network sites today and (will it provide long-lasting insights) into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality?
Definitions
The following definitions provide context for this emergent field as a foundation for understanding and future development. These definitions also provide insight as to how technology is being embedded into the culture, similar to the early adoption studies of the telephone, and the behavior related to its use and adoption.Social Media is an umbrella term, defining all of the activities that come together in a utility that uses multiple communication mediums’ of words, pictures, or videos to create visual displays, picture-sharing opportunities, connection points, and the creation of personal meaning and community building opportunities. Social media uses the wisdom of crowds to connect people and information in a collaborative manner.
Social media can take many different forms, including message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, group creation, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Club Penguin (children’s social networking), iTunes (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), and Flickr (photo sharing).
In an e-book from Spannerworks.com called What is social media?, another definition is provided. “Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media which share most or all of the following characteristics: Participation, openness, conversation, community, and connectedness” (Spannerworks.com, 2007). This community-oriented connectedness aligns well with the interests of youth today as being involved with their friends. It is a critical aspect of their life meaning and development.
Social Behavior as it relates to the context of social media is the study of how people influence each other in their individual and collective behavior. This includes both the individual activities involved in crafting a perception of an individual in a setting where others may be present, as well as the changes that may occur due to group behavior and influence (Glassman, 2000).
Social Networking refers to the utilities that create collaboration through activities that people use to connect, develop relationships, and create personal myths. These sites and activities allow for self-identification and discovery; as well as self-expression through words, pictures and other mediums of communication. These sites base primary interactions around a user’s profile, an individual home page that provides an opportunity to customize their page with self-directed information, pictures, quotes, and widgets that help craft their online identity. Boyd provides an example, stating “Throughout the country, young people were logging in, creating elaborate profiles, publicly articulating their relationships with other participants, and writing extensive comments back and forth. By early 2006, many considered participation on the key social network site, MySpace, essential to being seen as cool at school” (2007, p. 1).
Social Networks are defined differently, as a related cousin to social networking. Linton Freeman and Cynthia Webster define social networks as “a structural form – or patterning of the ties that link social sectors and interaction” (1994, p. 223). Freeman and Webster visually describe the patterns in this manner: “…whenever human association is examined, we see what can be described as thick spots – relatively unchanging clusters or collections of individuals who are linked by frequent interaction and often by sentimental ties” (p. 223).
Social Cognition is the study of how people understand themselves and other people. The International Social Cognition Network states, “It is a level of analysis that aims to understand social psychological phenomena by investigating the cognitive processes that underline them” (2007). The processes that make up social cognition are perception, judgment and the memory of social stimuli. Utilities such as Facebook create social cognition experiences as individuals can create and change their identity with their pictures, and create engagement by presenting pictures and using words to connect, share and create meaning with other individuals. This developmental process helps in the shaping and sharing of one’s identity.
Social Psychology is the study of how social conditions affect individuals and groups. Social psychology is concerned with the areas of attitude, persuasion, cognitions, influence, group dynamics, prosocial behavior, and interpersonal attraction and behavior. The examination of attitudes and behavior and how they interact is a key focus of social psychologists.
Social Intelligence is defined as the non-cognitive social aptitudes that allow us to respond to an emotional situation. Aptitudes are perceived as being without thought. As we continue to learn more about social and emotional intelligence, we also learn that while perhaps different, the two also overlap. Relationships are the key and critical connection between emotional intelligence and social intelligence (Goleman, 2006).
HOW TO USE SOICAL MEDIA!!!!
You have a website or an online business that you want to promote. You need traffic, and you need search engine rankings. Where do you start? Well, right now all of the experts are raving about Social Media – and how you can use these services to get “tons of inbound links” and an “avalanche of website traffic”.
The problem is that they are both right and wrong…
Wrong because done without a clear objective, it can actually come back to ‘slap’ you. Unfortunately, most people get tips in twitter-size bits: bookmark your links on all the bookmarking sites, tweet all of your blog posts, set up multiple squidoo lenses, interlink all of your lenses and hub pages, etc (that list could go on and on)…
At the moment, some of that is actually working – and working fairly well even. But most seasoned marketers already know that it’s short-lived, and that those practices will leave footprints that will ultimately backfire on you.
Its called SPAM. We all dislike it, yet to some extent people will rationalize that its okay to do in their own business. Using software to blast your links out to hundreds of social bookmarking sites… is spam. Setting up dozens of social media properties solely for the purpose of getting inbound links to your website… is spam. Even Digg’ing your own blog posts is spam (in my personal opinion).
Right because used correctly the social media services can give you a platform for brand awareness, exposure, networking, and a huge boost in traffic & sales.
As a small business, or an online business, social media campaigns give you an edge over larger competitors. Studies show that most companies are not yet adopting social media, leaving a sweet gap for the “little guy” to do big business in that space.
And that’s what we’re going to discuss here today: how to use Social Media successfully. Meaning for long-term benefit to your online business. I’ll break this down in a “top ten” list real quick, but I encourage you to both take it literally… and also consider what I’m sharing and how you can apply it in any way that specifically fits your business model & marketing plan.
10 Smart Ways to Use Social Media… Successfully
1. Map Out A Clear Objective Your social media plan should stand on its own two feet, and not even include “how to get better search engine rankings”. Consider how you would use social media properties if the search engines did not exist. Ideas to consider in your overall objective might include:
(Note: what impresses humans, also impresses search engines!)
3. Consistent, Quality Content The content that you post to social media properties should be both consistent as in regular updates, and also consistent with your overall message or objective.
If you are an MLM recruiter for example, provide quality resources for recruits. If you own an ecommerce gardening site, offer gardening tips. Whatever your message, you want to make it consistent across the web.
(One of my personal pet peeves is to follow a favorite author or blogger on Twitter, only to never (ever!) hear a single peep from them about the topic they are so well known for!)
This helps you achieve your branding objectives, and allows you to create the perception that you want people to have of you or your company. Anyone who follows you online should easily be able to fill in the blank: (You) is known for ___ . Can you even fill in that blank quickly & clearly??
At the same time, being consistent with your message and your branding lends towards your goal of relevance and theming when it comes to SEO.
4. Focus on Content, Not Marketing Too often I see people get this backwards. If you focus on valuable, high-quality content then that content will do the marketing for you.
You shouldnt be digg’ing or bookmarking your own content, but rather writing such great content that your readers give it an unsolicited digg or stumble. Your job is to write, and provide easy access to social media services where your readers can share your content with their friends & groups.
When people like what you have to say, they will share it – period. And when they share it, the search engines will take notice. Write something great, and let the rest happen naturally!
5. Caution: Dont Over-Optimize! Obviously you want top search engine rankings for specific keyword phrases, but be careful… because there is such a thing as over-optimization. Using the same anchor text everywhere that you link to (or request a link to) your site leaves a ‘digital footprint’ too, throwing up a red flag that you may be trying to manipulate the search results.
To avoid this, you want to use natural variations in anchor text for the links that point back to your primary website. You need a certain number of “click here” or similar links to give balance to your optimization strategy.
6. Stop Linking To Your Home Page “Deep Links” or links pointing to internal pages on your website (or blog) help to give it authority and depth. It is not natural to have hundreds of links pointing to your (general) home page, and none pointing to your internal content pages.
All other things being equal between two identical websites, the one with more deep links will outrank the other. This also gives you more exposure in the search engine results, since your internal pages will begin ranking for specific relevant keyword phrases.
For more on this topic see: 7 Practical Deep Linking Tips.
Social media is all about micro-topical discussions, so consider how you can introduce internal sections or pages of your website into these conversations.
Tip: Your home page may not be the best link to share with someone you meet while networking on social sites. Consider linking to your “about me” page instead for a more personable introduction into your site.
7. Be a Valuable Resource There’s a reason its called Social Media, and not Self-Promotional Media. Keep that in mind when you are considering what you will post to your social media properties.
If all you post is self-promotional links and requests, you will eventually become a part of your readers “noise” and ultimately be filtered out. They may not unfollow or delete you, but they will begin to scan over your posts and tweets without even realizing it.
Avoid this by becoming a valuable resource in your niche. One way you can do this is by sharing links to domains that you dont own. And I dont mean your own squidoo lenses or myspace profiles – I mean domains you have ZERO association with. Provide value to your groups.
You mean, you want me to *gasp* promote my competitors?! Yes – and become friends with them too. Interlinking and networking is powerful!
8. Use Social Networking To truly achieve your social media objectives, you’ll have to do some social networking too. Forget the word “competitor”. Other publishers or webmasters in your niche are your best friends in the social media landscape!
One of your goals should be to locate every competitor on your level (or within reasonable range) and create an “inner circle” of friends or business peers. These are people you can interview or be interviewed by, exchange links, joint venture with, etc. Stop looking at them as competition, and start looking at how you can leverage each others position in the marketplace!
Tip: Dont ask for favors. And dont flaunt the favors you do. Simply follow, comment on, link to, or otherwise become “known” to select publishers in your niche and I promise that they will notice… and generally begin to reciprocate. Given a little time the relationship will form naturally and be mutually beneficial.
9. Build Rapport Get involved in discussions, reply to blog comments, ask for feedback (and then respond to it and act on it!), etc. People want to know that you’re a real person, and not just a bot spitting out links and sucking in cash.
Dont be afraid to have an opinion or to express your thoughts on hot topics within your niche. Your unique voice in the market will attract your ideal visitors and customers.
Social media gives you an opportunity to be personable. An ecommerce site has its limits when it comes to establishing trust and building long-term customer relationships, so use social media as an opportunity to truly connect with your target market.
10. Link Freely – And Dont Apologize For It! This is somewhat of a combination of tips #3 and #7. One thing that really makes me cringe is the 2 words “shameless plug” – promise me you wont ever use that phrase (ugh!).
The people that follow you, subscribe to your updates, or ‘friend you’ on social sites… want to hear about your latest news & tips! And if they dont, they’ll quickly UNfollow you – which is just fine too. This is not a numbers game or a vanity contest – its a means of syndicating and socializing in a professional yet personable way.
You have a website or an online business that you want to promote. You need traffic, and you need search engine rankings. Where do you start? Well, right now all of the experts are raving about Social Media – and how you can use these services to get “tons of inbound links” and an “avalanche of website traffic”.
The problem is that they are both right and wrong…
Wrong because done without a clear objective, it can actually come back to ‘slap’ you. Unfortunately, most people get tips in twitter-size bits: bookmark your links on all the bookmarking sites, tweet all of your blog posts, set up multiple squidoo lenses, interlink all of your lenses and hub pages, etc (that list could go on and on)…
At the moment, some of that is actually working – and working fairly well even. But most seasoned marketers already know that it’s short-lived, and that those practices will leave footprints that will ultimately backfire on you.
Its called SPAM. We all dislike it, yet to some extent people will rationalize that its okay to do in their own business. Using software to blast your links out to hundreds of social bookmarking sites… is spam. Setting up dozens of social media properties solely for the purpose of getting inbound links to your website… is spam. Even Digg’ing your own blog posts is spam (in my personal opinion).
Right because used correctly the social media services can give you a platform for brand awareness, exposure, networking, and a huge boost in traffic & sales.
As a small business, or an online business, social media campaigns give you an edge over larger competitors. Studies show that most companies are not yet adopting social media, leaving a sweet gap for the “little guy” to do big business in that space.
And that’s what we’re going to discuss here today: how to use Social Media successfully. Meaning for long-term benefit to your online business. I’ll break this down in a “top ten” list real quick, but I encourage you to both take it literally… and also consider what I’m sharing and how you can apply it in any way that specifically fits your business model & marketing plan.
10 Smart Ways to Use Social Media… Successfully
1. Map Out A Clear Objective Your social media plan should stand on its own two feet, and not even include “how to get better search engine rankings”. Consider how you would use social media properties if the search engines did not exist. Ideas to consider in your overall objective might include:
- Branding
- Networking
- Exposure
- Relationship/Trust Building
- Customer Relations (think @comcastcares on Twitter)
(Note: what impresses humans, also impresses search engines!)
3. Consistent, Quality Content The content that you post to social media properties should be both consistent as in regular updates, and also consistent with your overall message or objective.
If you are an MLM recruiter for example, provide quality resources for recruits. If you own an ecommerce gardening site, offer gardening tips. Whatever your message, you want to make it consistent across the web.
(One of my personal pet peeves is to follow a favorite author or blogger on Twitter, only to never (ever!) hear a single peep from them about the topic they are so well known for!)
This helps you achieve your branding objectives, and allows you to create the perception that you want people to have of you or your company. Anyone who follows you online should easily be able to fill in the blank: (You) is known for ___ . Can you even fill in that blank quickly & clearly??
At the same time, being consistent with your message and your branding lends towards your goal of relevance and theming when it comes to SEO.
4. Focus on Content, Not Marketing Too often I see people get this backwards. If you focus on valuable, high-quality content then that content will do the marketing for you.
You shouldnt be digg’ing or bookmarking your own content, but rather writing such great content that your readers give it an unsolicited digg or stumble. Your job is to write, and provide easy access to social media services where your readers can share your content with their friends & groups.
When people like what you have to say, they will share it – period. And when they share it, the search engines will take notice. Write something great, and let the rest happen naturally!
5. Caution: Dont Over-Optimize! Obviously you want top search engine rankings for specific keyword phrases, but be careful… because there is such a thing as over-optimization. Using the same anchor text everywhere that you link to (or request a link to) your site leaves a ‘digital footprint’ too, throwing up a red flag that you may be trying to manipulate the search results.
To avoid this, you want to use natural variations in anchor text for the links that point back to your primary website. You need a certain number of “click here” or similar links to give balance to your optimization strategy.
6. Stop Linking To Your Home Page “Deep Links” or links pointing to internal pages on your website (or blog) help to give it authority and depth. It is not natural to have hundreds of links pointing to your (general) home page, and none pointing to your internal content pages.
All other things being equal between two identical websites, the one with more deep links will outrank the other. This also gives you more exposure in the search engine results, since your internal pages will begin ranking for specific relevant keyword phrases.
For more on this topic see: 7 Practical Deep Linking Tips.
Social media is all about micro-topical discussions, so consider how you can introduce internal sections or pages of your website into these conversations.
Tip: Your home page may not be the best link to share with someone you meet while networking on social sites. Consider linking to your “about me” page instead for a more personable introduction into your site.
7. Be a Valuable Resource There’s a reason its called Social Media, and not Self-Promotional Media. Keep that in mind when you are considering what you will post to your social media properties.
If all you post is self-promotional links and requests, you will eventually become a part of your readers “noise” and ultimately be filtered out. They may not unfollow or delete you, but they will begin to scan over your posts and tweets without even realizing it.
Avoid this by becoming a valuable resource in your niche. One way you can do this is by sharing links to domains that you dont own. And I dont mean your own squidoo lenses or myspace profiles – I mean domains you have ZERO association with. Provide value to your groups.
You mean, you want me to *gasp* promote my competitors?! Yes – and become friends with them too. Interlinking and networking is powerful!
8. Use Social Networking To truly achieve your social media objectives, you’ll have to do some social networking too. Forget the word “competitor”. Other publishers or webmasters in your niche are your best friends in the social media landscape!
One of your goals should be to locate every competitor on your level (or within reasonable range) and create an “inner circle” of friends or business peers. These are people you can interview or be interviewed by, exchange links, joint venture with, etc. Stop looking at them as competition, and start looking at how you can leverage each others position in the marketplace!
Tip: Dont ask for favors. And dont flaunt the favors you do. Simply follow, comment on, link to, or otherwise become “known” to select publishers in your niche and I promise that they will notice… and generally begin to reciprocate. Given a little time the relationship will form naturally and be mutually beneficial.
9. Build Rapport Get involved in discussions, reply to blog comments, ask for feedback (and then respond to it and act on it!), etc. People want to know that you’re a real person, and not just a bot spitting out links and sucking in cash.
Dont be afraid to have an opinion or to express your thoughts on hot topics within your niche. Your unique voice in the market will attract your ideal visitors and customers.
Social media gives you an opportunity to be personable. An ecommerce site has its limits when it comes to establishing trust and building long-term customer relationships, so use social media as an opportunity to truly connect with your target market.
10. Link Freely – And Dont Apologize For It! This is somewhat of a combination of tips #3 and #7. One thing that really makes me cringe is the 2 words “shameless plug” – promise me you wont ever use that phrase (ugh!).
The people that follow you, subscribe to your updates, or ‘friend you’ on social sites… want to hear about your latest news & tips! And if they dont, they’ll quickly UNfollow you – which is just fine too. This is not a numbers game or a vanity contest – its a means of syndicating and socializing in a professional yet personable way.
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