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Revisiting 10 Golden Rules of Social Media

Amy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:30:22 +0000

Revisiting 10 Golden Rules of Social Media
January 5th, 2010 (9:00am) Aliza Sherman 13 CommentsTweet This (248)

http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/01/05/revisiting-10-golden-rules-of-social-media/

As 2010 opens its doors, I wanted to take another look at my Golden Rules of Social Media, published back in May of 2009, to see if I could consolidate those rules into five actions we can take to work better in — and through — social media in the coming year.

Here is the original list of ten social media rules to live and work by:

1. Respect the Spirit of the ‘Net.
2. Listen.
3. Add Value.
4. Respond.
5. Do Good Things.
6. Share the Wealth.
7. Give Kudos.
8. Don’t Spam.
9. Be Real.
10. Collaborate.

5 Things to Do Within Social Media in 2010

Here is how I’d consolidate those rules to the fundamental ideas about how we should be using social media tools and platforms in 2010:

1. Listen. The best way to start your foray in social networks and other social media platforms is to listen. Listen to the conversations already happening around you before you jump in to join them. Listen to the ebb and flow. Listen to the rhythm of discourse. Listen to the stream to make sure you understand — and respect — what is already taking place. You will surely misstep if you do not listen.
2. Add Value. The term “value” is subjective, but once you have truly listened, you will be able to discern with relative certainty what is valuable to any given conversation or community. Can you add value to the conversation, not just an empty voice? Can you be a resource? A supporter? A cheerleader? An organizer? What is your social media value proposition?
3. Respond. If you are listening, you will hear when someone says something that begs your attention. You will hear when someone references you. You now have a door to enter the conversation. And if you’ve listened thoughtfully and have something valuable to share, your participation will be welcome.
4. Do Good Things. At this point in our lives, we should all know right from wrong. We should all want to do the right thing. We know that spamming is wrong — it is invasive, thoughtless, worthless, and a surefire way to mucking up a potential conversation. We know that scamming is wrong. We know that being honest is good and the right thing to be. We know that helping others and being generous is good, too.
5. Be Real. Be yourself. Even if you are representing a company or brand and are using the “voice of the company” or “voice of the brand,” you can still be human. Yes there is a time and place for automating a message, but learn when that’s appropriate. Be present. Be there. If you — or a real person who is paying attention and cares — cannot be there, don’t bother with social media. Remember that people are on the receiving end of everything you put out in more intimate ways than ever before. Don’t abuse that privilege when they let you into their feeds and streams.

What is the most powerful social media lesson you’ve learned in 2009 that can be good advice to others?

The Veld Group

adminootb2009 — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:43:08 +0000

We would like to welcome The Veld Group Business Brokers in Los Angeles California to our client roster.
According to the Veld Group’s Sales Director Ryan Clark “We seek to sell solid, profitable businesses that offer a unique value proposition and have a sustainable business model. Oftentimes, the value of any company, large or small, may be hidden amongst its assets. It may be a company’s patents, client base, manufacturing capability, distribution network, licenses and use permits, or simply in its location, property, entitlements, or facility lease.”

We are very pleased to be working with this forward looking company in a effort to increase traffic.

Turning social media into a sixth sense

Amy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:07:46 +0000

Turning social media into a sixth sense
The “Holy Grail” of social media isn’t real-time search, but “ambient streaming,” argues Edo Segal. Over time, Segal argues, social media will evolve into a virtual sixth sense — a constant, seamlessly immersive flow of information, passively filtered to meet our needs without overwhelming us. “It may sound like science fiction, but there are engineers and entrepreneurs out there already trying to make it fact,” Segal adds. “We will be seeing the first swells of this coming tsunami in the years to come.”

From: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/20/ambient-streams-realtime/

Beyond Realtime Search: The Dawning Of Ambient Streams

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by Guest Author on December 20, 2009

The following guest post was written by Edo Segal (@edosegal).

It was 1993 and I had just decided to drop out of college. I was a graphic design major in a great art school but decided I want to start my second company. Knowing this would mark the conclusion of my studies there I set out to create my final project. I would write a short story, design and produce it in print. I put out an edition of 300 and gave it to my friends and people who inspired me like author William Gibson.

Cut to November, 2009, when I returned from sitting on a panel at the second Realtime CrunchUp. I had urged the audience and participants that when thinking about the realtime web we should not consider the challenge through the lens of how consumers behave today. I argued that the future potential of the realtime web is not in the misnomer “realtime search,” as the consumption of this signal will predominantly be in what I call ambient streams. These are streams of information bubbling up in realtime, which seek us out, surround us, and inform us. They are like a fireplace bathing us in ambient infoheat. I believe that users will not go to a page and type in a search in a search box. Rather the information will appear to them in an ambient way on a range of devices and through different experiences.

A few days after I got back from the CrunchUp, I was organizing some old documents when I stumbled on I Was Just Dead< , a cyberpunk short story I wrote 16 years ago. A story about a world of augmented reality. A world where at birth a chip is embedded in people’s brains creating a reality where they no longer discern what is “real” and what is augmented in their surroundings (Hear the audio-book or download the free eBook below). It was strange to hear my former self calling out about the importance of augmented reality from across the span of almost two decades of experiences in the digital world, half of which were spent solving the problem of how to filter the massive realtime stream.

When trying to understand something potentially transformative, knowing what questions to ask is more than half the challenge. We are still in the early stages of these changes and don’t yet have the necessary metaphors to make the leap into the future. It is for that purpose that I want to suggest what I consider to be the building blocks of our next big evolutionary leap in how we use technology. The four main building blocks are:

1. Realtime Web (Twitter, news flows, world events, and other information which relates to changes in the world)
2. Published Information (sites, blogs, Wikipedia, etc.)
3. Geolocation Data (your location and information layers related to it, including your past locations and that of your friends, as well as geo-tagged media)
4. Social Communications (social graph updates, IMs, emails, text messages, and other forms of signal from your friends).

Before these building blocks can create an ambient stream which is not overwhelming, all of this data needs to pass through a filter. The Holy Grail is a filter which only serves up information which is relevant based on who you are, your social graph, what you or your friends are doing now, what you or friends have done before, and in context of other information you are consuming. It needs to be delivered wherever you are and on whatever device or display can deliver the ambient stream: mobile phone, laptop computer, TV, heads-up display in vehicle or inside your glasses. The future of how ambient streams might enter our world is illustrated with the following simplistic diagram:

Putting all of these building blocks together will be an industry-wide task. There are a relatively small number of people who have already managed to spend a lifetime thinking about this problem. It has bred several academic disciplines and many sci fi novels and films. These related fields include pervasive computing, everyware and the buzzword du jour augmented reality (AR). All of these technologies produce ambient streams. AR, in particular, (which is focused mostly on methods of how to render information visually) is capturing the imagination of innovators around the globe. The underling technologies that allow devices to marry data to physical locations continue to evolve at a fast pace, and with other disciplines jumping into the mix the magic is finally starting to happen.

One only needs look at a teenager today as they do their homework, watch TV, play a game, and chat while watching their Facebook stream to get a sense for humanity’s expanding affinity to consume ambient streams. Their young minds are constanty tuning and adapting to an age of hypertasking .A very useful metaphor is that humanity is constructing its own synthetic sixth sense. An ambient sense that perceives the context of your activity and augments your reality with related information and experiences. Increasingly, we will be sensing the world with this sixth sense and that will change the way we collectively experience the world. Going back to the point made earlier, the watershed event is when we will be experiencing this “ambient sense” without being in a retrieval mode (i.e. not when we go to the computer or our mobile device to find information but rather as a product of our activity, location, and profile in context with the events and information available to us in a wired world).

We will be seeing the first swells of this coming tsunami in the years to come, but for our children the ambient sense will play a bigger and bigger role as it slowly evolves and weaves itself into their consciousness much like Google search weaved itself into their memory functions. The challenges we face in terms of making real progress stems from the fact that the overarching goal is one that requires a multi-disciplinary approach across a myriad of data sets. While there are many companies executing in each of the quadrants few are in a position to access the full scope of data and therefore the ability to create the Holy Grail of filters is limited. This is where the world of walled gardens and deals with major search providers presents a challenge for progress. Many iterations and mistakes need to be made before we arrive at the right way to collate and filter all these different streams of data into an ambient sense. If only one or two companies are in a position to iterate, progress will be very slow and the probability of success diminished. For success, it is necessary to create an ambient sense that will manage to balance the level of interruption with insight and arrive at the true goal of any sufficiently advanced technology, which is to be transparent and taken for granted as part of the human experience. It may sound like science fiction, but there are engineers and entrepreneurs out there already trying to make it fact.

Is it possible in the age of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple for a startup to innovate across the entire stack to come up with this sixth sense? Chime in at #ambientstreams

The Little Known Secret to Getting Page 1 Google Rankings

Amy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:02:04 +0000

The Little Known Secret to Getting Page 1 Google Rankings

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/the-little-known-secret-to-getting-page-1-google-rankings-steve-strauss

The Little Known Secret to Getting Page 1 Google Rankings

Jan 05, 2010 -

Want Page 1 search engine result rankings? Of course you do; we all do. Well, what if I were to tell you of a little known way that profoundly increases your odds of getting a Page 1 search engine result – might that be of interest?

I thought so.

The answer is video. But not just any old video. It has to be search engine optimized video. Properly post that, and according to a recent study by Forrester Research, you stand a 53 times better chance of getting a Page 1 Google ranking.

Yes, I know, the holy grail.

By now I’m sure you know all about search engine optimization – keywords and key phrases and incoming links and all the rest. The problem is, so does everyone else. That means that getting Google to think that your page is more valuable, more deserving of a high ranking than other pages, is harder than ever, despite all of your fancy SEO work.

That is where SEO video comes in.

What I am not talking about is simply putting a video on your homepage or some other desirable page. And similarly, I am not talking about submitting a video to YouTube and then embedding a YouTube player on your site. Neither of those will generate great Google results for your site because

1. They are not search engine optimized, and

2. Videos using YouTube result in click-throughs results for YouTube, even though the videos are re-posted on your site

But what will work – the magic bullet if you will – is video SEO. Video SEO is the process of using SEO tools with your video and then submitting the SEO videos themselves (not just the pages where the videos reside) to the various search engines.

Here is why video SEO is such an incredible Page 1 generator: First, search engines like Google are increasingly using “blended” search results – articles, video, pictures, and other forms of content. So video inherently gets more play because there is less competition for video results. And that is the second, and more important, reason. Because there is so much less of it, and because only very little of all online video is properly submitted with SEO, there is a disproportionate bias towards properly submitted SEO video.

You end up being a big fish in a very small pond.

So here is what you do:

1. Create some great video for your site. Note: Research indicates that if you have video on your homepage, up to 80% of your visitors will click that first, so it better be good!

2. Post it prominently throughout your site.

3. SEO it and submit it. Here’s the trick, and it is two-fold. First, you must optimize the video for search engines. That means key words and phrases must be used in the file name, in the captions, etc. Second, once posted on your site, you must then submit the video itself using XML tools to Google and the other search engines.

I know that last part may sound a little intimidating, but it need not be. There are some great online services that will submit the videos for you. For example, one I like a lot is Fliqz.com. Fliqz will, easily and affordably, index your pages and video, and properly submit them to the various search engines.

The upshot is that your videos and video pages should end up at or near the top of any default search results, the “Web” results, and not just the video results.

In fact, according to Fliqz, by using their “SearchSuccess” tools, “more than two-thirds of all videos submitted produce a first-page Google search result, and up to 25 percent have resulted in a number one Google ranking.”

Well, what are you waiting for?

How Can Social Media Marketers Tap into LinkedIn’s Potential?

Amy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:32:37 +0000

What about LinkedIn

This is a question I have been asking myself ….I have to admit I spend much of my time in larger social networking communities- namely Facebook and Twitter; – but LinkedIn; is one of those social networking communities where it feels like there is more potential to build a business brand than we know.

It does not have the mass following and hype of Facebook or Twitter…but there is a very active audience in this community that is ready to listen and engage in your conversation. There are numerous features in LinkedIn that make it simple for marketers to conduct targeted searches and engage in meaningful (and sometimes lucrative) conversations.

How do we harness the potential of LinkedIn? What can we do to bring value to prospective leads and the community as a whole?

I recommend checking out Lewis Howes article posted this week to find answers to these questions…… Top 5 Ways to Market Your Business With LinkedIn. He literally wrote the book on tapping into the LinkedIn market when he co-authored ‘LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website’- so he may know a thing or two about LinkedIn.

Here is a summary of his 5 best practices tips…..Be sure to read his full article. I look forward to putting all of these into practice and will let you know the results!

LinkedIn Tips From Top 5 Ways to Market Your Business With LinkedIn

1: Use LinkedIn Groups Receive Tons of New Leads Daily
Make sure you create a group that fills a need for the audience you’re targeting in your business field. This will ensure that every person who joins the group is a qualified lead……Here’s how to maximize your LinkedIn group:

1. Add keywords in the description of your group to increase your search rankings on LinkedIn’s search section.
2. Add keywords in the title of the group to be found on Google.
3. Add your company website or blog to the group to drive traffic to your site.
4. Add your blog RSS feed to the group so every new article is automatically posted to the home page of every group member.
5. Send a weekly message that adds value for group members and drives traffic back to your site.
6. Connect people in the group by making introductions to those who could potentially do business with one another.

#2: Ask (And Answer) Questions & Build Your Credibility with LinkedIn Answers

Here are some tips for answering questions….First, set up the “Answers Application” on the bottom right-hand side of your home page for the subjects you know best.

1. Research the person who asked the question, and find a way to tie in a personal response with something from their LinkedIn profile.
2. Be as helpful and resourceful as possible when answering the question. Give tips, website links with additional information, or even recommend someone who is the best expert on that topic.
3. Leave the answer with an open invitation for more communication by asking them to contact you privately if they need any extra help.

All of these tips will help you gain the most out of answering questions, and will help you build powerful relationships that will grow your business.

#3: Create Powerful Events

Hosting an event is a great way to build your business (see events under the ‘More…’ news in the LinkedIn navigation bar). LinkedIn has an events platform that allows you to target thousands of professionals for free.

Due to the viral nature of LinkedIn, once someone RSVPs to your event, it shows up on the home profile of everyone that person is connected to, spreading the message for you.

Creating an event on LinkedIn is simple. Answer a few questions and start promoting your event. Send an invitation to the people who would be interested in the event based on region or niche. You will notice a wealth of opportunities from hosting your own event.

#4: Run an Advanced Search in Your Target Market

The advanced search function helps you get in touch with the exact people you’re going after. Simply click on “advanced” on the top right side of your home page next to the search box. This will take you to a clean page where you can input anything you need to find the exact lead you are seeking. You can search by industry, keywords, company and title, to mention a few.
#5: Send Personal Messages

Once you find leads, you want to send them personalized messages. The best way to drop any walls—and give yourself the best chance of making a sale—is to connect with someone on as many personal levels as possible. Look at their profile, find out which companies they’ve worked for in the past, which school they attended, what groups they’re in, listed hobbies and who your mutual connections are.

Holiday Video for Marketers and SEO Fans Everywhere….

Amy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:05:21 +0000

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer- so I am sharing this clever, delightful video from the genius staff at Hubspot Marketing. Enjoy:

If Marketers Went Caroling, What Would They Sing?

How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook – A Must Have Guide

Amy — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:28:21 +0000

I am afraid that Facebook has aquired a really bad rep over time as a place for people to exploit themselves, their families, friends, and personal details. I want to argue, however, that being a Facebook user does not mean that you will have to endure hackers and strange people peeping into your personal life. Nor is it necessary for people to have multiple Facebook accounts- one for personal, and one for business. I have always believed that it is a far better use of time and energy to have just one big account- and carefully managing your contacts and how much access they have.

I am sharing this article written earlier this year, it is a well known resource to most Facebook users and referred to as the “Holy Grail of Facebook Privacy”. When I advise our clients to set up Facebook accounts, and be active users in these communities- the very last thing that I want for them is to feel vulnerable and “exposed” to people they may not know.

If you follow the 10 guidelines mentioned in 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know by Nick O’Neill (revised this month)- you will be able to breath easier. Nick shows you how to do the following smart steps in “Settings” to ensure your account is seen only by those who you want to see it- and helps avoid potentially embarassing situations among your friends, family and colleagues. Be sure to read his article and follow the steps outlined:

1. Using Your Friend Lists

2. Remove Yourself From Facebook Search Results

3. Remove Yourself From Google

4. Avoid the Infamous Photo/Video Tag Mistake

5. Protect Your Albums

6. Prevent Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’ News Feeds

7. Protect Against Published Application Stories

8. Make Your Contact Information Private

9. Avoid Embarrassing Wall Posts

10. Keep Your Friendships Private

These are just ten ways that you can protect your privacy on Facebook. While there are a few other small things to keep in mind, these ten settings are most important. Keep in mind that while you may have turned off the visibility of many profile sections, there is no way to prevent all photos or videos from being visible if friends of yours make the images visible.

The best way to prevent embarrassing items from showing up on Facebook in the future is to not make bad judgements in your personal life. We’re all human though and being completely paranoid about every choice you make is probably not the best way to live your life. Be aware of what privacy settings are available and be conscious of what your friends may be publishing about you.

While you may not want to configure all of the privacy settings outlined, simply knowing how to do so is a great step in the right direction. By following the 10 settings listed above you are well on your way to an embarrassment free future on Facebook!

Marketing Study Shows Social Media Marketing is Not Just a Trend- It is Becoming an Industry Standard

Amy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:17:50 +0000

Because Social Media marketing is relatively new to most businesses, I find that lots of small-medium sized business owners are a bit timid about jumping into it. Many are worried Social Media is a fad, and investing precious time and money is just not worth it.

I am always searching for articles that give good examples of Case Studies and other companies using Social Media – and found a great article in Inc. 500 about a recent study from the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and how mainstream Social Media marketing is really becoming.

To our clients who have already embraced Social Media as a way to build their brand online- congratulations for being a head of the game and I will work as hard as I can to keep you there! To those who hesitate and need further proof that Social Media is becoming more standard in our industry, read this article:

Inc. 500 CEOs Use Social Media for Business

A new study shows that the use of social media is particularly prevalent among Inc. 500 companies and provides new insight on the role social media plays in running a business.

By Tamara Schweitzer | Nov 25, 2009

For the third consecutive year, the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, has conducted a study on social media usage among Inc. 500 companies. The 2009 results confirm the upward trend of social media adoption rates among some of the fastest growing private companies, and provide a useful comparison of social media trends from 2007 on.

This year’s study, which was conducted by researchers Nora Ganim Barnes and Eric Mattson, included 148 of the 2009 Inc. 500 companies. As with the past two years, respondents were asked about their usage and familiarity with six types of social media tools, including blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking, message boards, and wikis. In the past year, social media usage by the Inc. 500 has grown, with 91 percent of companies reporting that they use at least one social media tool, compared to 77 percent in the 2008 survey. And, of the six social media categories, the one that continues to be the most familiar to Inc. 500 companies is social networking, with 75 percent saying that they are “very familiar with it.”

To account for the rise in popularity of newer types of social media, this year’s study also asked respondents about their interaction with sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace. Not surprisingly, the study found that many of the companies have already embraced these sites for running their business, with Twitter being the most widely used of them at 52 percent of the total respondents. While Twitter and other social networking sites have seen significant growth in comparison to previous years, other social media tools such as message boards and podcasting declined in the level of usage. But despite lower usage of some tools in 2009, many companies that have not yet incorporated social media in their business operations say they intend to do so in the future. For example, 44 percent of companies without a company blog say they plan to start one, and 36 percent intend to use some form of online video.

Eric Mattson, CEO of research firm Financial Insite and one of the head researchers in the study, believes that the high reception to social media among Inc. 500 companies is significant for several reasons. “Inc. 500 companies are focused on doing anything they can to grow faster and social media is an innovative tool that may give them an edge over their competition,” say Mattson. Additionally, he says their status as private companies plays a role. “There is less implication for private companies using social media – they don’t have to worry about the stock market going up or down based on someone’s Tweet,” says Mattson. “And often in smaller organizations, there is more room for innovation because it requires less processes to adopt.”

In looking at the data from a longitudinal standpoint, it’s clear that it’s not just the level of social media usage that’s significant, but the way in which businesses are using it. As in years past, respondents were asked if they were monitoring their company name or brands in the social media space, and 68 percent said yes, compared to 50 percent just two years ago. Lastly, companies were asked for the first time if they are using social media to communicate with vendors and suppliers, and 34 percent reported using social networks as a way to communicate, while 26 percent cited Twitter as an important vehicle for communication. “From a big picture trend standpoint, these results show how prevalent and widespread social media is becoming in every aspect of business now,” says Mattson.

Is Twitter Striking a Deal with Google & Microsoft?

Amy — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:57:38 +0000

All right all you Twitter Nay-Sayers.…pay attention- this is big. Last week, the news broke that Twitter is in serious talks with Google and Microsoft about incorporating their data, or “tweets”, into their Internet search results. The search toolbar added to Twitter earlier this year (allowing users to search for specific keywords used in Tweets in real time) has evolved into very popular method of conducting online searches. As we have seen from recent major new stories (the Iranian Elections for example) Twitter users are finding key information on the latest news events and happenings in real time.

Why should business owners and marketers care about this developing relationship? Because Twitter feeds could soon be integrated into the results of search engines- and if you are not using Twitter to connect to major players and influencers in your industry, you might be missing a big opportunity to position your brand to find more search engine traffic once this deal goes through. I want to share some smart advice I found in What Twitter’s Deal with Google Might Mean for Marketers!

So, what should marketers do? Start connecting with influencers in your industry. Do keyword searches on http://twitter.grader.com/search and find the influencers relevant to your business. Start sending them resources, responding to their tweets and doing whatever it takes to form relationships. You’ll need them to know about the content you’re creating, find it interesting and hopefully … retweet your stuff.

Great advice- this is a practice marketers ought to be doing any way.

Case Study: Dell Exemplifies How Social Media is a Critical Link to Your Customers

Amy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:13:07 +0000

I was inspired to write today’s post because I wanted to share an article today from Richard Binhammer, a senior manager in corporate communications at Dell, posted on SmartBlog on Social Media.

Those who have worked with me know that I spend a great deal of time encouraging businesses to let go of their fears and embrace social media as a means for their message to travel efficiently and to build trust among their customers. What better way to do this than to encourage employees to share their valuable insight in social media communities?

In the article, How Dell took social media mainstream, Richard describes how communication tactics among businesses have changed since community driven social networks have taken such a prominent place in our society.

I think Dell is an excellent case study of a large business who has embraced this concept by encouraging their employees in marketing, sales, service and support, and product groups to engage with customers and each other via social media channels.

The social media model being used at Dell exemplifies the true spirit of engaging and listening to your customers. All businesses should pay attention and learn from their experience. Dell has benefited from platforms such as Twitter and IdeaStorm to share their brand, build trust with their customers and have received valuable feedback to make them an even better company.

Richard sums up what I have been trying to say for some time much more eloquently that I can:

After three years of experimenting, listening and learning, ….we have concluded that social media is ultimately about connecting and communicating across all aspects of our business….. While social media started as a way for Dell to distribute news and special offers, it has evolved into a critical relationship builder, integrated into all business units.

Here are three tips for getting started on integrating social media into your business operations:

* Listen first. Learn from what your customers are saying to establish your baseline.

* Engage employees internally through social media. Use blogs, Yammer or company-specific social tools to get people used to and excited about the platforms.

* Encourage employees to set up social media accounts. As you know, social media is addictive! Once people try it, not only will they be itching for more, they’ll be coming up with ideas for how it can benefit their team.

Ahhhh…Poetry! Music to my ears!

-Amy Dunn