Written on March 20, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: searchengineguide
by Sage Lewis
WebWorkerDaily has a nice article on several very cool social media monitoring tools. If you aren’t monitoring the social media space for your brand name and probably your own name, you are leaving yourself open for potential damage.
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Written on March 19, 2010 by admin
Social media is on the front of every marketer’s mind (or at least it seems that way) but it still gets the treatment normally reserved for those who don’t quite fit in. In other words, while there is tremendous value in social media it is still a tough road to travel to get social efforts integrated with traditional marketing campaigns. The techniques voted “Most Likely to be Siloed” include third party social networking site, blogs and microblogs. While all the talk centers on these areas there is still considerable concern about how well they play with other elements of marketing campaigns and just how to best help them fit in.
eMarketer tells of a report done by Unica which is a marketing management firm. Here are the numbers from this particular study.
So what’s the hold up? Why is it that many of the most active, important and vastly utilized social media activities are still considered persona non grata when looking at the overall effect of marketing efforts?
My theory is that it I just a matter of TMI. When anyone has too much of anything it becomes difficult to manage. When it comes to data social media activities like Twitter, Facebook and blogs generate so much information that it can bury even the most seasoned marketer.
When asked how all of this data impacts other marketing efforts it becomes extremely difficult to isolate the true cause and effect relationships that C-level marketers want to see. Of course, the general lack of knowledge of these marketing vehicles the further you go up the marketing food chain creates an even greater issue.
In your experience are you seeing the same kind of difficulty in truly integrating your core social media efforts with the rest of your marketing campaigns? What ways have you found to bridge this gap to help social media get out of the silo and in with the rest of the marketing efforts?
Share your experience with us openly. You won’t be giving away any secrets. Besides, it’s Friday and most people will forget what they read by Monday anyway.
On that note, have a great weekend!
The rest is here:
Social Media Tactics Still Learning to Play Well With Others
Written on March 19, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: book, marketing, seo
Over the last few years, the popularity of social channels – for professionals, teens, grandmas and everyone in between – has skyrocketed. Consider the recent numbers:
Between blog posts, Facebook status updates, tweets, videos and every other piece of social content published, there’s a whole lot of information floating around out there.
Enter the latest social media player, Google.
Google’s latest activities, acquisitions and features all point to the fact that the search giant no longer has a close eye on web 2.0; it’s already there.
Here are 5 ways Google is now becoming a dominant social media player:
Until now all of the social content in channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, hasn’t been easy to find in a central place – including through Google search. Until now, that is.
That’s where Google Social Search comes in. It’s still in the experimental stages, but this new feature combines users’ social connections with organic searches. For example, if you were to search for “New Zealand,” social search results would appear beneath the organic search results. The tool scans your social connections’ content (based on the social accounts included in your Google profile) to create these results.
Google Buzz
These days, it seems the social world is abuzz with talk of Google Buzz. This new product is built into Gmail and essentially turns users’ inboxes into social networks. A mobile version of Google Buzz is also available.
Here’s how it works: Google Buzz leverages current email contacts and connects you with their social profiles. Through Gmail, you can share status updates and photos, and start conversations, all through from your email.
What does this mean for your brand? You may want to consider adding Gmail to your social media marketing mix.
Imagine the tweets highlighting your latest blog post or a new product launch getting found in organic searches. These days, that’s a reality.
At the end of February, Google happily announced on Twitter that public status updates from Facebook fan pages would now be included in real-time search. Facebook joins a long list of other social content appearing in search results including:
Twitter and Facebook marketing efforts, then, take on new importance and new meaning. It’s now essential that all social content be optimized just as other online content is optimized.
Still not convinced that Google’s sights are set on social? Just check out the list of its acquisitions over the last nine years, and count the social platforms.
In terms of sites owned by Google, the search giant has the gamut covered:
Google Wave
Essentially, Google Wave is 21st century email. The tool enables real-time communication and collaboration – i.e., share images, post videos, discuss ideas. Within Google Wave, you can create a message, invite other users to take part in the discussion, and add files, images, videos, you name it.
The coolest part about the tool is conversations are live, but you can rewind the wave at any time to see a previous comment.
It’s only available in limited preview right now, and you need an invitation from Google to join. Unfortunately, I’m not one of the lucky ones. Google, if you’re out there, can you hear me?
There’s no doubt about it: Google’s gone social. What’s up in the air is where it will go next. What do you think will be the next Google social media tools or applications?
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Written on March 12, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: book, marketing, seo
If you run an ecommerce business, chances are your customers – regardless of their age, gender or economic status – are active on social networks and social media sharing sites.
Just consider the statistics from social media monitoring site Pingdom:
The bottom line: If you aren’t discovering which in social networking channels your customers spend time and include them in your ecommerce marketing mix, you’re probably missing out on building relationships, community and increasing new customer acquisition through online word of mouth.
Leverage these five social media marketing tips for ecommerce to either get started with more social digital marketing or take your current social strategy to the next level:
Very few things in life promise endless options – digital and social media marketing being one exception. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to YouTube, there’s no limit to the number of social networking channels available for your business to leverage. Key to successful social media marketing for ecommerce is choosing the right channels to reach customers.
Find out where your customers are congregating by:
Whether your ecommerce business is new to social media marketing, or just need to take your efforts up a notch, competitive intelligence can be very useful. Spend some time by conducting a competitive audit of your top five competitors on the social web. Include:
For even more inspiration and insight into what works well on the social web, look to ecommerce sites in other industries or even successful B2B social media examples.
In order for your ecommerce business to gain a following on whatever social channel you choose, entice customers with something they can’t get anywhere else.
For example, promote a contest via social media. Last fall, TopRank® Online Marketing leveraged this tactic for one of its ecommerce clients. TopRank used the client’s blog and Facebook fan page to promote a Halloween contest to name the best costume. This initiative not only drove additional traffic to the client’s website, but also helped increase the number of Facebook fans.
Alternately, offer an exclusive item to social media followers or fans, such as free shipping or a weekly coupon. You can also offer “breaking news” that does not appear anywhere else, like pre-product release announcements or an inside look at your company’s inter-workings.
The primary goal of your ecommerce site may be to sell products, but your social media marketing strategy should encompass a wider range of tactics that simply promoting offerings. With too much product pushing and not enough engagement, you’re unlikely to experience optimal success.
Incorporate some of these ideas into your ecommerce social media marketing strategy:
1-800-Flowers maximizes the use of social media for its marketing efforts.
Many ecommerce sites leverage social channels to make it even simpler for customers to purchase their products. 1-800-Flowers has taken this idea to the max (see image above). It was the first ecommerce site to launch a Facebook store, allowing customers to browse and purchase its products directly through Facebook.
1-800-Flowers may be an extreme case, but ecommerce sites large and small can still indirectly sell products through their social profiles. For example, highlight new products or best-sellers and provide a link to the order page on your website. It may not be quite as simple as purchasing directly from the social profile, but it can be just as effective.
The five ideas are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ecommerce social media marketing. What social media tactics have you found to be successful?
Written on March 11, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: book, marketing, seo
Welcome to the post-Winter/pre-Spring version of the BIGLIST review of SEO blogs. Snow is starting to melt and you can actually walk around outside (in Minnesota) without your eyelashes freezing together. We have a nice group for you to review so fire up your RSS reader and subscribe.
LyndiT blog gets our attention for great design and user experience in this BIGLIST update. Lyndi Thompson is a Social Media and Online Marketing Specialist and like me, is addicted to peanut M&Ms. Besides writing about a mix of social media, SEO, web design and online marketing topics, you might be interested to know Lyndi lives on a mini farm, owns several animals including a donkey and supports some great causes in the Northwest.
Did your SEO or SEM blog make the cut? Share the good news with your readers using the badge and link below or choose one from the badges page.
Written on March 11, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: marketing
As you know, a couple of weeks ago (my company) Trackur launched Trackur Free–a competely free version of the popular social media monitoring tool.
To celebrate Trackur Free’s success–and to get as many people protecting their reputation as possible–Trackur is now giving all users a chance to win a free Apple iPad!
Yep, you can get your hands on a free online reputation monitoring tool AND enter to win the hottest gadget around!
Want to enter? Head over to the Trackur site pronto!
Read more:
Would You Like a Free Apple iPad With Your Trackur Account?
Written on March 11, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: marketing
I know that what I am about to say is not original but it really struck me that as Twitter announces that it is offering location based information on its site there is so little reported about the potential issues this may create.
I think it struck me because the Twitter site is usually the last place where the cool ideas are implemented. Location based mobile apps for Twitter are nothing new and with the increasing popularity of foursquare and others this craze seems to have some serious legs. This is all the more evident if the Twitter site is climbing on board.
Mashable reports on Twitter’s efforts with the following picture and quote which pretty much tells the story.
It’s a simple integration: with any tweet that has a location attached to it (mostly via apps that support it, such as Foursquare and Tweetie), a small location icon will appear at the end of the byline of that tweet. Clicking on it will bring up a Google Map showing the location where that tweet was sent.
I am admittedly not a fan of this kind of service but that means nothing because a lot of people are. The people who I think may be most enamored with this trend are those people who want to know where someone IS NOT rather than where they are. You know those folks that like to come by your place when it’s empty or less protected because of your absence.? Those nice people who like to take your belongings? You know them as burglars, thieves, robbers, home invaders etc etc.
As I started to look into this a little more and back in February KTVU.com ran a story (video here and it’s pretty interesting) about a web site developed to make the point that maybe a little restraint may be a good thing in this quest to tell everyone when you are not at your home. The site is called Please Rob Me
As more people reveal their whereabouts on social networks, a new site has sprung up to remind you that letting everyone know where you are — and, by extension, where you’re not — could leave you vulnerable to those with less-than-friendly intentions. The site’s name says it all: Please Rob Me.
Launched last week, Please Rob Me is exceptionally straightforward. Pretty much all it does is show posts that appear on Twitter from a location-sharing service, Foursquare. Please Rob Me puts these posts into a long, chronological list it refers to as “Recent Empty Homes.”
Please Rob Me assembles its list by taking information that Twitter makes freely available so that many Web sites can show tweets. But the point of Please Rob Me could be made with data that flows on dozens of other sites as well.
I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s “Hey, look where I am now!” parade. If someone wants to do this kind of thing, that’s fine. As of today, we live in a free country. But when a law professor from UC Hastings, Robin Feldman, finishes her explanation as to why a site like Please Rob me will not likely be considered an accessory to any crimes by saying
The victims to an extent are fools. They are publishing their information and they should be thinking about it.
I just had to wonder. What are your thoughts on this one? Is telling everyone where you are at all times always a good thing?
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Twitter’s Site Joins Location Craze and Burglars Celebrate!
Written on March 10, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: book, marketing, seo
Plenty of bloggers are talking about the inevitable intersection of social media marketing and search engine optimization. Keyword optimized social content and channels of promotion provide abundant signals to search engines for improved visibility on standard, social and real-time search.
The changing nature of social media marketing and optimization create the need for tools whether for research, marketing and promotion or analytics. Here are 11 social media and SEO tools you might find useful:
What low cost or free tools have you found to be effective for social media optimization tasks?
Written on March 8, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: book, searchengineguide
by Mike Moran
Social media is free, but what’s the catch? Time. We only have so much time to spend putting our message out there, but we don’t want to limit how many people can hear what we have to say. This problem comes up in many ways, but the simplest is the dichotomy between Facebook and Twitter. Many folks decide to spend the bulk of their social time on one or the other, with relatively few people using both. If Google Buzz catches fire, this fragmentation might only increase. What’s a marketer to do?
Image by luc legay via Flickr
Let’s face it. There’s no real difference between “friends” and “followers,” nor between “”status updates” and “tweets.” And why would you decide to spend all your precious social media time updating one venue and not the other, if your customers use both of them? But how can you double the amount of time you spend in social media updating both?
You don’t have to. I decided that I prefer Twitter to Facebook so I have every tweet I send out mirrored as my Facebook status. And I do the same thing on LinkedIn. I haven’t taken the plunge on Google Buzz yet, but I’ll probably do the same thing there, also.
If someone wants to see what I am up to, they can use their favorite method to keep up and I only have to update once. I know people using FriendFeed to accomplish the same thing. In each of your social media lives, you can set up these mirrors to make sure that your customers can keep up no matter what network they are in, while you only need to update once.
Now, I find even though I update in only one place, that I still have trouble making time for more than a few tweets a day, but there isn’t anything I can do to help with that.
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"I don’t have time for Facebook and Twitter"
Written on March 8, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: searchengineguide
by Sage Lewis
Search Engine Roundtable has reported on a new feature in Google Webmaster Tools. You can now update your Sidewiki profile in your tools section. Learn what Sidewiki is and how you can use it to your benefit.
Be sure and visit our small business news site.
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Google Adds Sidewiki Control to Google Webmaster Tools
Tags: and-how ,benefit ,dichotomy ,google ,small-business ,social ,social media ,spend-the-bulk ,sure-and ,tools
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