This post has been moved to 7 Reasons Every Business Needs to be on Twitter on the Webbiquity blog.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Web 2.0 Social Tagging. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Web 2.0 Social Tagging. Afficher tous les articles
lundi 11 janvier 2010
jeudi 31 décembre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 4
This content has been moved to Best of 2009: Social Media Marketing, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
lundi 28 décembre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Twitter Tips and Tactics, Part 2
This content has been moved to Best Twitter Tips, Tools and Tactics of 2009, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
lundi 14 décembre 2009
How to Suck at Twitter (And Still Look Successful)
This content has been moved to How to Suck at Twitter (And Still Appear Successful) on the Webbiquity B2B marketing blog.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
jeudi 10 décembre 2009
Twin Cities Top 10 Titans in Social Media Announced
Judy Grundstrom at the Just JudyJudyJudy blog yesterday announced the Twin Cities Top Ten Titans In Social Media 2009, chosen by a distinguished group of judges.It's a very interesting list. The winners come from a variety of backgrounds, including politics (Dusty Trice), broadcast media (Jason Matheson and Alexis Thompson of FM 107.1, Jason DeRusha of WCCO TV), the arts (Kate Iverson), corporate marketing (Kelly Groehler of Best Buy), and PR agencies (Blois Olson and David Erickson from Tunheim, the brilliant Jennifer Kane, and, um...me), among others.
You can find details of the top five and 6-10 winners on Judy's blog. It's quite an honor to be named to this list, and it helped me pick up a bunch of cool new local Twitter friends (I still don't like the term "followers," sounds too Kool-Aid-drinking cultish) like Aimee Cheek, Allison Janney, Tara Olson and Morsekode.
Judy also discussed some of the winners on the December 9 Jason & Alexis show on FM 107.1.
If you live in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area, want to make some connections here, or just want to keep up through social media on what's happening here in frozen tundra, the Top 10 Titans list is a great place to start. Thanks Judy!
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
mercredi 9 décembre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 3
This content has been moved to Best of 2009: Social Media Marketing, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
lundi 7 décembre 2009
137 Twitter Marketing Tips for Small Business
In case you missed it (as I did), Anita Campbell a few months ago published 137 Twitter Tips: How Small Businesses Get the Most from Twitter, based on input from the readers of Small Business Trends.
This report provides a treasure trove of guidance for marketers who seek to increase their brand awareness, credibility and business results using Twitter. The tips are categorized into six sections. Among the recommendations provided, by section:
Getting Started
*****
This report provides a treasure trove of guidance for marketers who seek to increase their brand awareness, credibility and business results using Twitter. The tips are categorized into six sections. Among the recommendations provided, by section:
Getting Started- Matt McGee provides tools (such as Nearby Tweets and Tweepz) and methods for finding local Tweeters to follow, and getting them to follow back.
- Joseph Manna notes the importance of commitment, and recommends spending at least a half hour per day discovering and Tweeting.
- John Joyce and Becky McCray offer guidance on useful tools (e.g., Twitter search and Twellow) for finding local or industry-relevant people to follow.
- Staci J. Shelton advises following people who retweet your content in order to build relationships with people who value what you share.
- Travis Campbell recommends finding a valuable blog post referenced on Twitter, leaving a comment on the blog, then retweeting it. "This further endears you to the author, while making a more meaningful connection with your followers."
- Joel Libava suggests tweeting one of your recent press releases or blog posts daily, mixed in with other links to useful and relevant articles and blog postings.
- Rick L'Amie helpfully advises creating a strategy before jumping into Twitter. What do you want to accomplish? Who do you want to reach? Lack of a strategy is one factor leading to high abandonment on Twitter; you'll never achieve your goals if you haven't defined what they are.
- Another contributor notes the value of participating in #followfriday, but explaining why each person you recommend is worth following rather than just listing other Tweeters.
- I couldn't agree more with this one from Robert Brady: "Automated DMs aren't worth sending. If you won't invest a few seconds to compose a 140-character message, I don't want to invest 5 seconds reading it."
- Tim Milburn has a clever formula for crafting a worthwhile T.W.E.E.T: "Timely, Worth reading, Educational, Entertaining, and Tweople-connecting."
- Jonathan Bacon of The Betty Factor advises trying to create real conversations, and remembering that everything you do on Twitter represents your brand.
- Vicky of Remarkable Parents writes that when asking for a retweet, leave at least 15 characters free so others can RT your message without having to shorten it.
- Anita Cohen-Williams and others note that best way to get retweeted is to post content that has value, such as useful blog post.
- Maria Marsala suggests putting "Pls RT" at the end of tweets, asking others explicitly for what you want. Interestingly, Anita Cohen-Williams advises specifically against doing this—if your tweets are interesting, others will retweet on their own. Who's right? Every group of Twitter followers is different, so TEST this with your followers to see what works best for you.
- Twitter can be a big time sink. To avoid spending too much time with it, Lisa Picarille recommends checking Twitter first thing in the morning, then spending about 10 minutes on it at two hour intervals to keep up with the most important tweets.
- Echoing Lisa's advice, Sharon Trombly suggests tweeting periodically throughout the day, such as with your morning coffee, at lunch, at the end of the work day, and in the evening.
- TJ McCue recommends using TwitterBar, a tool that allows you to tweet directly from the address bar in your browser.
- Michael Hartzell suggests creating a unique landing page to link to from your Twitter profile with a greeting and introduction that is a "secret page" only for your Twitter followers.
- Gil Yehuda advises setting up several free listening services to determine who is talking about you and where so you can participate in the conversations. Among the tools he cites are Tweetbeep, Twilert, Techrigy SM2, and BackTweets, which is great for finding links to your blog or website that don't include your name.
- Desiree Scales and several other contributors recommend using HootSuite, which allows you to manage multiple Twitter profiles through a single interface and provides metrics showing the results of activities in Twitter.
*****
lundi 30 novembre 2009
Social Media, Cell Phones and Online Shopping: Is Big Brother Us?
Is Big Brother watching you? Books like George Orwell's classic 1984
and films such as Minority Report
and Eagle Eye
present a nightmarish vision of an omniscient government watching our every move. The reality is far different story, paranoia about the Patriot Act notwithstanding. As recently as 2004, FBI agents still used laptops with Intel 286 processors.But is it possible that the government simply doesn't need hidden cameras, high-tech listening devices and secret agents everywhere in order to know the intimate details of our lives—that we're doing it for them?
Consider a few technologies that have become part of daily life:
Cell Phones: these can not only be used to take pictures virtually anywhere—and instantaneously upload them to the Internet—with GPS tracking, they can also be used to record our every move and pinpoint our current location.
Credit Cards: the credit card companies, and services they report data to, know what you buy, when, where, and how much. If government-run healthcare ever becomes a reality here, Washington bureaucrats may be very interested in any "suspect" lifestyle purchases: tobacco, alcohol, fast food, ice cream, scuba lessons, rock climbing gear...
Social Media: This is a treasure trove of information for any Big Brother-ish entity. You're telling the world what you think, where you are, who you know, how well you know them, who they know, and more.
It isn't just overweening or Orwellian government agencies that may take advantage of the increasing amount of voluntary online exposure of personal information of course. Scammers and criminals can take advantage of such data as well. MediaPost recently reported that Facebook is cracking down on ad networks that display misleading advertising or promote scam offers through its site. Facebook can even get a person killed.
Of course, the news isn't always so grim. Facebook can also be used by a crime victim to track down an assailant, and it kept this teen out of jail.
Our online lives are also of interest to private companies. Social media is now used routinely in the hiring process. That can be good or bad, depending on what recruiters find about you. It isn't just HR professionals, however, who may be monitoring your tweets or other social media use however; Facebook cost this woman her insurance benefits.
And then there's Google. Searchers and consumers love Google for its simple interface and relevant results, and marketers love Google for the traffic it drives to their websites. We'd all best hope that Google never abandons it's "Don't be evil" mantra given the amount of information it has about your online life.
And as the search giant increases its activities in mobile, it knows not just what you're doing online, but where you are and where you've been. Shelly Palmer finds this creepy, and Hillel Fuld worries that with the Chrome OS, cloud computing and other recent developments, "it seems Google is collecting a little too much information on my every move, and it is starting to make me uncomfortable."
So what's a person to do? Shunning new technology and going back to a pre-Internet lifestyle really isn't an option. There is too much convenience, too many new opportunities and capabilities presented by social media and other online tools to adopt a Luddite mindset.
The answer, rather, is just to be smart and sensible about the use of social media and new technologies:
- By all means, share your professional background and accomplishments online so that those who may hire you, as an employee or consultant, can find it. But be careful about how much and what type of personal information you post.
- Never disparage anyone by name online. The information will be there forever. There is no profit in burning bridges. If you feel compelled to report a bad experience with a company or product, make the criticism fair, accurate and factual. And if the company addresses your issues, give them credit, in the same venue where you complained.
- Be careful who you connect with. There's no need to follow everyone on Twitter, friend everyone on Facebook or connect with everyone on LinkedIn who reaches out to you. This doesn't mean you should only interact with people you know personally, of course (social media is about expanding your network after all), but it's best to know something about the person.
- Never Twitter drunk.
- Think twice about doing anything online that you wouldn't do if your mother, your boss and a police officer were staring over your shoulder.
- It's also a good idea to periodically Google yourself and check a site like 123people to see what information is available about you online, and correct any erroneous data if possible.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
mercredi 11 novembre 2009
Which is Better for Driving B2B Blog Traffic - Twitter or LinkedIn?
I recently did a little test to determine whether Twitter or LinkedIn was more effective at driving traffic to a few specific posts on this blog. While the results aren't scientific by any means, they are enlightening.
Various posts were promoted on Twitter (with retweeting encouraged) and to three relevant and popular LinkedIn Groups focused on social media, PR and b2b lead generation.
The results? For a minimally retweeted post, Twitter drove about twice the traffic of LinkedIn. For a heavily retweeted post (Will Content Marketing Kill Trade Publications?), Twitter provided six times the traffic of the LinkedIn groups. More specifically, on the day this article was posted, Twitter accounted for 60% of the total blog traffic, LinkedIn about 10% (the remaining 30% was mostly Google search plus a few miscellaneous referring sites).
Of course, your mileage may vary based on factors such as the specific LinkedIn groups utilized, the number of Twitter followers you have, and the influence of those retweeting the post. Still, the magnitude of the differences in this test seem to indicate that while both of these social networking tools can be helpful in driving blog traffic, Twitter produces higher volume.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
Various posts were promoted on Twitter (with retweeting encouraged) and to three relevant and popular LinkedIn Groups focused on social media, PR and b2b lead generation.
The results? For a minimally retweeted post, Twitter drove about twice the traffic of LinkedIn. For a heavily retweeted post (Will Content Marketing Kill Trade Publications?), Twitter provided six times the traffic of the LinkedIn groups. More specifically, on the day this article was posted, Twitter accounted for 60% of the total blog traffic, LinkedIn about 10% (the remaining 30% was mostly Google search plus a few miscellaneous referring sites).Of course, your mileage may vary based on factors such as the specific LinkedIn groups utilized, the number of Twitter followers you have, and the influence of those retweeting the post. Still, the magnitude of the differences in this test seem to indicate that while both of these social networking tools can be helpful in driving blog traffic, Twitter produces higher volume.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
jeudi 5 novembre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 2
This content has been moved to Best of 2009: Social Media Marketing, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
lundi 26 octobre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Twitter Tips and Tactics, Part 1
This content has been moved to Best Twitter Tips, Tools and Tactics of 2009, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
jeudi 22 octobre 2009
3 Reasons it's Tough to Measure the ROI of Social Media
Social media marketing is a hot topic, with 75% of marketers planning to initiate or increase social media use next year. With larger budgets and more time devoted to social media will come increased pressure to demonstrate ROI.
While it's not necessarily difficult to show an ROI from social media, accurately measuring the return on investment is challenging for at least three reasons. First is the problem of "last click attribution." A recent study found a 50% CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to both social media and paid search for a brand, but if the actual click comes from AdWords, good luck convincing your executives that social media efforts led to that click. Similarly, a click-through from Twitter or Facebook may have been influenced by any variety of other online and offline marketing efforts, so giving 100% credit to social media for lead may be overstating the case.
For the complete story, read Three Challenges in Measuring B2B Social Media ROI on the B2B Online Marketing blog.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
While it's not necessarily difficult to show an ROI from social media, accurately measuring the return on investment is challenging for at least three reasons. First is the problem of "last click attribution." A recent study found a 50% CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to both social media and paid search for a brand, but if the actual click comes from AdWords, good luck convincing your executives that social media efforts led to that click. Similarly, a click-through from Twitter or Facebook may have been influenced by any variety of other online and offline marketing efforts, so giving 100% credit to social media for lead may be overstating the case.
For the complete story, read Three Challenges in Measuring B2B Social Media ROI on the B2B Online Marketing blog.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
lundi 12 octobre 2009
How to Use Social Media to Leverage the Power of Google
Note: This is a guest post written by Christopher Angus, an award winning Internet Marketer.
While Google and social media are two separate entities, they are closely intertwined. Google ranks its results based on several hundred quality signals. These range from website backlinks to the actual words on a particular page and whether a website has trust and / or authority. Many a SEO Company has tried to manipulate the results to their benefit. This is largely based on the fact that Google is a “backlink-based algorithm” and people would simply buy or find other means of artificially inflating their number of links. Of course, Google combats paid links or other “unnatural” links with its algorithm or in extreme cases penalising a website.
As Google’s algorithm advances it has become far more difficult for business owners or SEO professionals to “game” the system and Google will continue to use other signals outside the normal margins to determine the quality and where a website should rank—these are starting to include the inflow of traffic to a website and possibly citations on other websites too. However, the most advantageous aspect to performing well in social media is that many people who frequent the sites are webmasters and blog owners. Should you have an interesting article, resource or any other item which may be of interest to them; they will link to your site from their own internet property. It’s these “natural” links which have a gargantuan impact on a website’s ranking on Google. This is particularly true when a popular website or blog picks up your story or other item and links to it, these top websites may include Wired.com, BBC or generally any other high end news website.
Many journalists cruise techy social media sites such as Digg and Reddit looking for interesting stories to cover and link too. Getting your story to the front page of these hugely popular sites is not hard if you have the knowledge. These top social media sites also have their own algorithms to prevent people manipulating their story to the front page. To get your story to the front page of a popular social media site you need to submit it to the site in particular and then ensure that your story gets sufficient votes to ensure it reaches the front page. To get several hundred votes you either need to have a large number of friends or get someone with an established network to submit your story for you. These Social Media Experts will usually charge a fee though for helping your story reach the front page of a particular site.
Having your story visible on the front page of a social website for a short amount of time will bring several benefits. These include: Huge amounts of traffic, brand building and of course the all precious “backlinks”. We also believe that Google looks at what’s popular on social networks and gives the popular items a temporary as well as a long-term boost in its own rankings.
To succeed on Google, webmasters and business owners now need to embrace social media and other internet communities or risk losing valuable rankings on Google.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
While Google and social media are two separate entities, they are closely intertwined. Google ranks its results based on several hundred quality signals. These range from website backlinks to the actual words on a particular page and whether a website has trust and / or authority. Many a SEO Company has tried to manipulate the results to their benefit. This is largely based on the fact that Google is a “backlink-based algorithm” and people would simply buy or find other means of artificially inflating their number of links. Of course, Google combats paid links or other “unnatural” links with its algorithm or in extreme cases penalising a website.
As Google’s algorithm advances it has become far more difficult for business owners or SEO professionals to “game” the system and Google will continue to use other signals outside the normal margins to determine the quality and where a website should rank—these are starting to include the inflow of traffic to a website and possibly citations on other websites too. However, the most advantageous aspect to performing well in social media is that many people who frequent the sites are webmasters and blog owners. Should you have an interesting article, resource or any other item which may be of interest to them; they will link to your site from their own internet property. It’s these “natural” links which have a gargantuan impact on a website’s ranking on Google. This is particularly true when a popular website or blog picks up your story or other item and links to it, these top websites may include Wired.com, BBC or generally any other high end news website.
Many journalists cruise techy social media sites such as Digg and Reddit looking for interesting stories to cover and link too. Getting your story to the front page of these hugely popular sites is not hard if you have the knowledge. These top social media sites also have their own algorithms to prevent people manipulating their story to the front page. To get your story to the front page of a popular social media site you need to submit it to the site in particular and then ensure that your story gets sufficient votes to ensure it reaches the front page. To get several hundred votes you either need to have a large number of friends or get someone with an established network to submit your story for you. These Social Media Experts will usually charge a fee though for helping your story reach the front page of a particular site.Having your story visible on the front page of a social website for a short amount of time will bring several benefits. These include: Huge amounts of traffic, brand building and of course the all precious “backlinks”. We also believe that Google looks at what’s popular on social networks and gives the popular items a temporary as well as a long-term boost in its own rankings.
To succeed on Google, webmasters and business owners now need to embrace social media and other internet communities or risk losing valuable rankings on Google.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
jeudi 1 octobre 2009
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 1
This content has been moved to Best of 2009: Social Media Marketing, Part 1 on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
mercredi 23 septembre 2009
A Better Way to Launch New Products - Rolling Thunder
This content has been moved to A Better Method for New Product Launches – Rolling Thunder on the Webbiquity blog.
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
mardi 22 septembre 2009
Best of 2008: Social Media Optimization, Part 6
This content has been moved to Best of 2008: Social Media Marketing on the Webbiquity blog.*****
Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)