PROFIT'S USEING SOCIAL MEDIA, (TWITTER)

COMPLIMENTARY SPECIAL REPORT:
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

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:

1. 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) …
2. You'll know the four ways you can start to create consistent profits using social media …
3. 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)

You also get a 1-2-3 process for growing your freelance biz using social media. Even if you only use social media to promote your freelance services, Nick's program is a smart investment.

Try it today, risk-free!

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:

1. Teach social media within a business
2. Consult with a business on strategy
3. Offer "do it for you" services

Businesses are actively seeking social media experts to do all three — and are willing to pay well for these 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.

Try it today, risk-free!

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:

1. Step #1: Acknowledge the failure.
2. Step #2: Take full responsibility.
3. Step #3: Mourn the failure.
4. Step #4: Learn from the experience.
5. Step #5: Change your behavior.
6. 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.

• #Rant
• #SundayMusing
• Guest Post
• Poll
• Questions that Need Answering
• Social Blade Show
• Soshable Show
• Spotlight
• TWITTER IN THE WORK-PLACE ????

Twitter in the Workplace: Yay or Nay?

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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

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HOW DOES TWITTER COMPARE TO FACE-BOOK??

Facebook vs. Twitter

By NICK BILTON

Illustration by Nick Bilton/The New York Times

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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.

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

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:

• 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:

• Branding
• Networking
• Exposure
• Relationship/Trust Building
• Customer Relations (think @comcastcares on Twitter)

2. Customer Comes First While mapping out your objective, consider what your customer – or your ideal website visitor – wants to see from you. Get an image of that ideal person clearly in your mind, and consider what they see on their end with everything that you do. They are the person you ultimately want to attract into your funnel, so you want to make a great impression no matter where they find you on the web.
(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.




    
                                     

HOW FAST IS THE GROWTH OF SOICAL MEDIA ????  I have provided graphs to help show the curves of Social Media growth ... Enjoy!!!!

 

WHAT IS THE SOICAL MEDIA IMPACK OF TWITTER???

TWITTER REACHES 500 MILLION REGISTERED USERS, BUT HOW MANY OF THEM ARE ACTIVE USERS

Update: Shortly after 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 23, 2012, Twitter hit 500 million users, according to Twopcharts.com. Naturally, the analyst company is on to the next benchmark — the countdown to 600 million registered users. The estimated time until the next Twitter celebration is only 108 days away. There were an estimated 922,000 users accounted for in the past 24 hours.
The countdown for Twitter’s for the 500 million milestone began on Wednesday, February 22, 2012. The new figure comes from Twopcharts.com, a third party Twitter analysis company. New accounts registered per second is constantly above 13 on Wednesday, according to the official countdown board.

Click Image To View Twopcharts Official Countdown Board

There are skeptics who challenge these figures. Twopcharts has noticed fluctuations with the Twitter accounts it has been checking while keeping track of the countdown to 500 million. In a blog post, the company states that out of 100,000 accounts it has looked at, many have been suspended or closed. Others are inactive, still showing the default egg profile picture. It’s disheartening to some that 53% of the sample the company is analyzing is inactive.
The blog post concluded.

“Based on a sample of 100,000 accounts that were registered about three months ago, one has to be very cautious to draw any general conclusions. It is however likely that from the huge amount of new accounts that have been registered in the last year, the statistics will not differ greatly from what we found here.”

Regardless, Twopcharts is encouraging social networking enthusiasts to put on their party hats with a to-the-minute countdown on their website. A graphic also displays how many Twitter users have signed up in the past 24 hours. At 11 a.m. ET, more than 50,000-plus new tweeters were accounted for.

What does Twitter have to say about these numbers? Twitter’s official page lists stats as 100 million-plus active users. At New York’s Guardian Activate Summit In April 2011, Twitter announced its user base in the 200 million-range worldwide. Katie Stanton, vice president of international strategy at Twitter, stated more than 70% of tweets comes from outside the U.S.

Mashable has reached out for Twitter to confirm the report.
Twitter announced on Tuesday that iPhone and Android app users should be expecting some updates that will expediate finding friends, better copy-and-paste options and a “Read Later Service.” Perhaps these improvements will help push user sign-ups.
Let us know in the comments if you will be celebrating with virtual fireworks or do you expect a big Fail Whale in terms of reaching 500 million users.
COMMENTARY: In a blog post dated January 21, 2012, I commented on The Walls blog post that Twitter would reach 500 million users by February 25, 2012. This was based on Twopcharts tracking of Twitter's estimated registered users. According to Twopchart, Twitter reached 400 million users in Autumn 2011, 465 million users in mid-January 2012, and would hit the milestone 500 million users on February 25, 2012. Well, if their tracking is correct, Twitter is not slowing down one bit, because as of today, they have nearly 508 million users.
However, just how many of those 500 million users are actually using Twitter is anybody's guess. A hint could in a sampling of 100,000 accounts by Twopcharts. They claim that 53% were inactive, suspended or never used. That's a very high percentage. If we applied that 53% across the board to all 500 million users, this would mean that only about 250 million are being used. Twitter claims that they had 100 million active users at the end of last year, which is 20% of the total. Facebook claims 485 million active users. That's 57% of Facebook's total registered users (845 million). So what is causing so few Twitter users to engage on Twitter? That's a question that only Twitter CEO Don Costolo can answer, and he's not tallking.

Courtesy of an article dated February 22, 2012 appearing in Mashable

NOW ON TO THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.  IS IT A BAD THING AND IF SO, WHY? Again, feel free to render your important comments!!!!!!

The Disadvantages to Social Media MarketingSocial Media is a fantastic tool if used properly, but it takes time and dedication

  As with everything in life the good must be paired with the bad. Many articles (including mine) promote the positive benefits of using Social Media to help promote businesses in the Industrial Automation / Building Automation space.

Social Media marketing is a fantastic tool in any marketer’s tool box, but many authors don’t want to talk about the pitfalls associated with it. There are a great many advantages that can be utilized such as rapid viral exposure for products, increased search engine rankings and above all qualified leads and sales. There are also some things to be aware of:

1. Bad Branding – The wrong online brand strategy can doom a company, and put you at a huge viral social disadvantage. Just ask Sony. Sony has a great platform in the PS3 but they chose to neglect the value of effective social media and as a result the sales of the Microsoft Xbox have soared while Sony’s always remain number two.

2. Commitment – I have mentioned this in past articles, but it really can’t be over stated. If your company decided to start a blog, twitter feed, or Facebook page, then designate someone to maintain it. There is nothing worse than going to visit a corporate blog in September and the last post was in June. It tells potential customers that if you are too busy to maintain your blog then you are probably too busy to provide them with customer support. They will shop elsewhere. If as a company you can’t commit at least 6-8 hrs a week on Social Media then don’t bother with it. Social Media is a living breathing beast. If you feed the beast then the beast works for you, but you need to feed it often.

3. Relevant content! - Let’s be honest. Blogs and Twitter feeds tend to take on the persona of their authors and this is a bad, bad thing! It is not an individual’s feed or blog, it belongs to the company and they have designated you as the rep to post. Many Social media marketers forget this and think that they are the blog or feed. This will only end in a bad way. Corporate blogs and feeds should be agnostic. They need to be interesting and represent the company, but they should be designed that authors can be swapped out with a limited drop in following. Granted some companies have “celebrities” that they want to showcase and that is a good thing, but have a plan should they ever leave the company. You do not want all of your social media efforts and ranking to disappear because someone decided to leave the company. Social Media is a marketing tool that needs serious content. No one cares that you are in Switzerland for a conference and seeing the local sites. What readers care about is what technological advances you learned about at the conference that might impact them.

4. Time – I mentioned before that getting involved with Social Media is very time consuming. As a company you will need to designate an individual to constantly feed your pages and profile with relevant content (see point three). This individual also has to monitor comments and respond to questions. For small companies this can be a serious problem as they need all hands on deck to keep the company afloat. The commitment of time is why many small companies choose not to engage in social media to boost their marketing efforts. They realize their limitations and simply do without. This is where an outside consultant becomes invaluable.

5. No short term ROI – The honest truth is that Social Media Marketing is a long term strategy. Seeing a return could take anywhere from a few months to a year before a company sees the benefits of increased customer loyalty and sales.

6. The risk of negative comments – Any time a company opens itself up to open criticism there is the possibility of negative comments about a product or service. I don’t see this as a negative. I have always found that the measure of a quality company was how they dealt with problems, and companies that admit their faults, fix them, and carry on, sell more products. Consumers want customer service. They want to know that the company that they bought the product from is fixing any issues quickly and listening to them. Wal-mart used this strategy to help create the employee share program where every employee of a store gets a split of the store they work at profits once per year to reward their employees for their hard work. Wal-mart used their corporate blog comments to develop this program and increase productivity.

Above all Social Media is a fantastic tool if used properly, but it takes time and dedication. Imagine a scenario where something goes wrong with a product line. Social Media can be used to get your corporate apology and statement out extremely quickly to do damage control and get a statement out before your customers start forming a negative opinion. It is a great tool, but every tool has to have safety precautions when using it.

Ultimately, deciding if you should employ social networks as part of your marketing plan comes down to what is right for your business. Can you afford to commit the time and effort to reap the rewards? Social Media is definitely not a “band-aid” solution to a poor marketing plan, or to give you a sudden surge of sales. Social Media is a committed effort to building relationships and a client base for the long haul.