25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community

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• Increase Your Facebook Page Reach With ‘Get Notifications’
• How are SEO and Web Hosting Related?
• 11 Ways To Maximize Pinterest Pins of Your Blog Content
• 10 Things Social Media Marketers Should be Thankful For
• Listening to Social Media to Predict the X Factor Winner
• WordPress Plugins: Why Use A Floating Navigation Bar
• Superdry Tweet Fuel – Converting Your Tweets To Fuel [Twitter Case Study]
• Twitter as a Powerful Internet Customer Service Force
• 7 Reasons Your “Social Media Guru” Isn’t Really A Guru
• Audi India And Race2 Join Hands To Find A New Star
• Using LinkedIn to Attract Business
• Grab Your Helix From Timex And Waste Your Time
• Top 5 SEO Projections for 2013
• Does the Executive’s LinkedIn Profile Hurt or Help Your Media Relations Effort?
• How Leveraging Local SEO Can Skyrocket Your Business
• Meaurement and ROI Top Social Media Concerns
• What’s Holding Social Influence Back?
• When Does Blocking Become Anti-social on Pinterest and Twitter?
• Giving (Social) Thanks Should Be An All Year Thing
• Writing Tweets That Grab Your Readers
• 10 Ways Yelp Can Boost Your Social Media Marketing
• Social Search –The New Game Changer in the Block
• Don’t Have Questions. Have Dilemmas.
• How to Add Linkedin Products and Services
• What I Learnt at Facebook Small Business Bootcamp

Increase Your Facebook Page Reach With ‘Get Notifications’ Posted: 23 Nov 2012 12:20 PM PST The annoying reality on Faceboook is that only about 17 percent of your Facebook fans, if you're lucky, actually see your status updates in their feed. Facebook wants you to pay, either by buying a Facebook ad or a Sponsored Post, so that more people can see your updates. When Facebook page owners finally realized that, they started complaining loudly. Maybe that's why Facebook has finally rolled out the "Get Notifications" feature for Pages. You've been able to use this feature on user profiles for quite some time, but Facebook recently enabled it for Pages. It's a way to flag your fans to your content, without paying, so they don't miss anything. Tell them to subscribe to all your status updates by checking the "Get Notifications" option under the "Liked" button. "Get Notifications" is automatically turned off when they Like your page, so they must take this step. Here is the three-step procedure: 1. Tell them Like your page. 2. Then tell them to hover their cursor over the blue "Liked" button until "Get Notifications" appears. 3. Click on "Get Notifications" and they'll see a checkmark appear. Every time you send an update, Facebook notifies them in the "Notifications" section of their Admin panel. I "Liked" Target's page about 15 minutes ago. Three minutes later, they added a new photo as a status update. It showed up in Notifications in my Admin Panel on my profile page: You can subscribe to updates on my Publicity Hound page here. Go through the same process. Click on "Liked," and then hover your cursor over the blue "Liked" button and click on "Get Notifications." If you like my updates, please Like, Comment or Share. What other tips do you have on how to pull more fans to your page, or encourage them to Like, Comment or Share?

How are SEO and Web Hosting Related? Posted: 23 Nov 2012 12:00 PM PST SEO and web hosting are both solutions that make it possible for your web site to receive a lot of online exposure so that it can be viewed by millions of people all over the world. Both solutions work hand in hand to ensure web site owners benefit from maximum optimization. A good/effective web hosting service is one that incorporates certain essential SEO components into its control panel. These components include the inserted title tags and meta tags. When selecting a web hosting service, web site owners should use one that is designed to promote search engine optimization. Web hosting services that offer high quality service will be those with an administrative panel that maximizes the SEO of a web site. It does this by formatting the web site's code so that it appeals to, and attracts the search engine bots. This will ultimately determine what rank your page receives. SEO Web Hosting and Regular SEO It should be made clear that there is a difference between SEO web hosting, and the regular SEO practices that are done to promote an article. Doing the regular SEO to optimize on content involves the use of dedicated key words that are added or inserted to the target article. The keywords then act like accessories that link the terms the searcher types into the search engine to the relevant web page. The user is redirected to that landing page once they click on the keywords. SEO web hosting is more complex and performs a related, though different, function. According to technikant.com, the integrated web host "specializes on assigning several IP addresses to make your domain actively look like it's coming from different locations at a particular time rather than the standard type that can be searchable and tracked down as coming from a single source." As a web host, SEO acts like a filter that removes unnecessary traffic from particular sites where the excess traffic could be viewed with suspicion, and lead to the banning of your web site. Web hosting and SEO hosting both allow web site owners to publish their sites on the supplied internet service using their own unique domain names. This is done on a dedicated server that is provided by the web host, with a specified amount of space. Web hosting is where certain data for your website is stored on a particular server. You may opt to use a shared host or one that you manage yourself to access its features. Web site owners have many options when it comes to selecting a web hosting service, but due diligence must be employed to research what is offered before you subscribe. You need to be informed on what the service can do for your web site as well as what it cannot do. Select a web hosting service that carries an SEO-friendly administrative panel that allows for integration with external SEO applications. Search for and make use of web applications that are compatible with the administrative panel, and use them to automate your SEO activities. Yogesh Mankani contributed this guest post on behalf of WhoIsHostingThis.com – read more about their reader generated web hosting reviews. Yogesh is a freelance technology writer with extensive experience in SEO and hosting.

11 Ways To Maximize Pinterest Pins of Your Blog Content Posted: 23 Nov 2012 11:50 AM PST I started my Pinterest boards as a way to learn about the site. While the big news about Pinterest was that its primary audience was mid-western women, I found that a west coast entrepreneur could fit right in. I found it ideal to use Pinterest as a content curation tool – basically it's a great, public way to capture some of the best articles, infographics and videos. I also found that it allowed me to effectively connect with and grow my audience in a completely new way. Very visual. Sometimes more personal. More of a focus on creativity. In addition, shared boards allows me to collaborate with others on topics for which we all share a passion. Pinterest allows another venue to distribute your content – whether it's information, images or videos about custom pottery, yoga lessons or social media tips and tools. I've found that Pinterest is a reliable driver of traffic for my blog. No matter what your business, I suggest you at least dip your toes in the water. It's refreshingly easy to use. With that said, there are certain things you can do to make sure your posts get more pins, re-pins, comments and likes on Pinterest. My most pinned post got over 750 pins as well as 500 shares in other social media platforms. Needless to say, this has led to quite a bit of traffic back to my site. How to Maximize Pins of Your Blog Content Here are eleven ways you can increase the pins and re-pins of your content on Pinterest (and drive traffic to your site. 1. Gather a community in Pinterest Yes, this doesn't specifically have to do with your post, but you want to build your community before you need it. Start connecting with other people in Pinterest today by following people in your industry or geography. Repin some of their pins, "Like" the good ones, and comment on the great ones. Oh, and don't forget to pin some content from outside Pinterest. Include pins of great blog content, articles, videos or pictures that you discover via social media or blogs. Having your own (even small) community to give your posts some initial momentum on Pinterest really helps! 2. Focus on topics that your audience loves Write a post about a topic that both your blog audience AND your Pinterest audience care about. Make it interesting, educational or funny. And of course, their has to be a visual element, but more about that shortly… 3. Write a great headline Pinterest users love a bit of irony, controversy or mystery (e.g. Why Pinterest is Addictive – A Contrarian View). Or you can go with a promise of straightforward useful content (e.g. The Ultimate Wedding Flower Arrangement Gallery, 5 Ways To Get More Traffic to Your Blog or How to Add Text to your Images). Give them plenty with your headline. 4. Use or create a great picture or graphic With Pinterest, it's all about either a) an amazing image or b) an image that communicates a powerful message. It can include words – this is especially helpful for pinning a post that has great, non-pictorial content. Make sure the picture is larger than 85 pixels high and wide (let me know if you have other data on minimum size). In general, bigger is better on Pinterest (but be careful not to overpower your blog post with a huge picture). 5. Make your content great! Make sure your content delivers. My most pinned post featured 89 links to articles broken down by topic. I could have just had a few articles or I could have just listed them without sorting them into topic. But that's lower value and would probably have led to less pinning. Take the extra effort to add value to your post. 6. Include a "Pin It" button on your post Make sure each blog post has an individual "Pin It" button on it. It's not enough to have a blanket "Follow me on Pinterest" button somewhere on your site. The "Pin it" button specifically refers to this post and makes it easy for people to quickly share it to their Pinterest account. Many sets of share buttons include Pinterest as one of the options. I use this free plugin on my WordPress site: Pinterest "Pin It" Button Lite. 7. Configure your picture for proper Pinning When someone pins the post, what shows up in the text? Make sure you optimize the text that shows up when people pin your post (see this article on for help on making sure your images have text when pinned to Pinterest). 8. Ask for the Pin! In your article, you can ask people to pin it to Pinterest. For example, "If you liked this post, share it with your friends on Pinterest or Facebook!". 9. Prime the pump by Pinning it yourself Pin your post to Pinterest. Remember, if you follow step #1 you'll have at least a small audience to get the post re-pinning started! 10. Share your post on other social media platforms Post cross-over happens all the time. Things found in Facebook get shared on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+. So by sharing your content via your other social platforms, you'll get more shares there as well as more Pins. 11. Communicate about your post in other ways If this is an important post, you can email industry contacts about the post and ask them (nicely) to share it with their audiences if they find it valuable. You can also send it to your mailing list as part of a larger email or as a separate one-off if it's important enough. Pinterest can be valuable for many types of businesses Most businesses can find Pinterest to be a welcoming place that enhances engagement, leads to great content discovery and drives traffic to their website and blog. Even if you're not on Pinterest yet, your fans may be Pinning your content. Are you optimizing it to be Pinned?

10 Things Social Media Marketers Should be Thankful For Posted: 23 Nov 2012 11:39 AM PST As America awakes to hangovers, heartburn and half price products, and alliteration apparently, it's a good time for some reflection. Yesterday, people all over the US gave thanks for the important things in their lives. Social media marketers should be giving thanks too. There are things that make our jobs easier, little extras that we all take advantage of from time to time. One thing we rarely do is give thanks, and today is as good a time as any to start. Smartphones The smartphone made social media. For years people used services like MySpace and Facebook as glorified email addresses with pictures. They were a more fun way to use your computer to talk to friends, but that was it. The smartphone changed the game; once you could take your social network everywhere your social network became a part of everything. Posting pictures as they're taken, location check-ins, tweeting every single moment, these are the things that made social media an intrinsic part of so many people's daily lives. Which is what made social media marketing and social media marketers. Infographics A less influential one, but still something to be thankful for. Infographics are perfect storms of shareable social content. They look cool, they provide information in a fun, digestible manner and they can easily be branded or shared through a brand's social presence. Most of all though, people like to share them.  Link Shortening This may seem really minor, but how could you share content without it? On Twitter, every share would be three or four tweets long. More than that, full URLs are ugly and unappealing. Without a shortened link, you need to add a huge amount of text to keep people from being distracted by a big blue mess at the end of a post. Jealousy Not a thing, but the main driver of most user posts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. People like to make others jealous, it feels good to have something or be somewhere that others want. That's why people post pictures of meals, to show off. It's also why people check in at cool restaurants, hotels or share other information that becomes vital data for social media marketers. Bloggers/Content Creators Content marketers and social media marketers are two sides of the same coin. They both use content to encourage interaction with consumers and clients. The difference is that social media marketers don't need to create their own content. You can be a successful social media marketer if you're a good content curator, you just need others to keep creating content. Bad Social Media Marketers Getting things right in any industry is about trial and error. Thankfully, the trial and the error is often done by someone else. Because social media is so open and global we can learn by watching. We get plenty of reminders of what not to do from the social media marketers that don't know what they're doing and the ones that are just unlucky. Automation Social media success is about constant engagement. But nobody wants to spend every waking hour working. Automation lets you continue social media marketing, even when you're sleeping.  Friends of Friends You know the friends requests we mean. The guy you sat beside for that tutorial in college who happened upon you on Facebook and added you without really thinking about it. You'll never talk to him again, he'll never talk to you and neither of you will ever worry about it. But he will see the products, content and brands you like and vice versa.  Celebrities The smartphone may have made social media vital, but celebrities made it cool. Twitter, in particular, owes a lot of its success to the successful people who decided it would be a good idea to share too much about themselves on a social network. Many, many people joined social networks because they heard about a celebrity using it. Nobody joined social networks just to read branded marketing content. Worldwide Events Most social media marketer's go to topic is whatever's happening in the world today. From the Olympics to the Presidential Election, these things give people a reason to talk on social media. Which creates opportunities for social media marketers. Each of these made or makes the job of the social media marketer easy. Each one is vital in the continuing success, so today they get thanks and tomorrow we'll continue to take advantage of them. Now pass the turkey leftovers and get down to the mall. With so many social media options available and many ways of using social media to promote your business how do you know which one is right for your business? Register on this link and get your social media strategy evaluate by our team, who will advise you how you can make the most of social media to generate leads.

Listening to Social Media to Predict the X Factor Winner Posted: 23 Nov 2012 11:35 AM PST Here at Brandwatch we've decided to turn our hand to a little online palm reading. With just three weeks to go before the X Factor final, we want to see if we can predict the final results. Even if you're not 'totes hooked' on Rylan Clark, read on; you might just get some ideas for how to use a social media to benchmark and predict your brand's success. Want to know your future? Learn from your past We've chosen X Factor to demonstrate how you can use social media data to predict the future because there's plenty of data we can learn from. When working with social data, benchmarking is paramount – how can I know what good looks like if I haven't seen bad? We'll be studying the last month's X Factor quarter finalist discussion and comparing it with the five acts that made it through to this stage last year, looking at exactly the same period of the competition. Buzz volume alone is not enough to predict a winner If we look at discussion volume each week, we can see that James Arthur is by far in the lead, with his greatest competition for the title coming from boy band Union J. However, if we look at last year's buzz from exactly the same point in the competition we can see that the buzz leader then was Amelia Lily (who?!) and Janet Devlin, who was given the boot that very week. Our eventual winners Little Mix were languishing in third at that point. It looks like Rylan Clark has everything to play for… But that's okay; we can look at much more than just volume… To take this one step further, we took a look at which of the acts from this year and last year were most associated with winning at this stage in the competition. We looked at anywhere that terms associated with "winning" appeared within 5 words of each of our acts. Furthermore, since we've already decided volume doesn't matter, we've worked out each act's winning buzz as a percentage of their total buzz to make a fair comparison. The results are in: Here's the part where we feel like the show's presenter, Dermot O'Leary (only taller). When we looked at who was most associated with winning the week before the quarter finals last year, suddenly we see our winners Little Mix at the top and poor old Janet in the relegation zone at the bottom. In fact, for those of you who don't remember last year's running order in perfect detail, this winning buzz chart displays the quarter finalists in exactly the order that they were eliminated from the competition (bottom to top). Ranking this year's acts in the same way, it's looking even more likely that James Arthur is the favourite, but it might not be so close with Union J after all. Our money is squarely on James Arthur, but we don't want to rule out Jahmene Douglas just yet. You heard it here first. So, can you use online buzz to predict the future? So we'll see you in three weeks to find out, but if we were Louis Walsh, we'd be working on our "gracious loser" face.

WordPress Plugins: Why Use A Floating Navigation Bar Posted: 23 Nov 2012 09:45 AM PST WordPress Plugins: Why Use a Floating Navigation Bar Navigation is one of the most crucial aspects of website design. Even if it is not obvious, navigation aids can make or break your website. This is more relevant to a website that hosts a lot of content or has deep hierarchies. Optimum content organization has to be complemented with correct navigational aids to ensure that visitors to your website find the content they are looking for. Most affiliate blogs and some small business blogs use the blog page as their Home page and landing page. Nothing wrong with that as it helps in SEO and your website gets more hits to this page. However, with long posts and multiple posts on the same page, navigation often becomes a problem. For example, a user reading the third or fourth post down the page has no navigational aids to go to other posts or pages and must scroll back up or all the way down. In the above image, navigation in the left and right column ends near the vertical center of the page. As the user moves to the next post, the user will not have any navigational aid to go to a different area of the website. But there is a way to make your user's experience less tedious. A simple WordPress plugin can help you add a navigation bar at the bottom of your website where it is accessible to the user at all times. Quick Navigation Panel The Quick Navigation Panel plugin adds a floating navigation bar at the bottom of the page. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of content on your web pages, or have lengthy blog posts that require scrolling. With this floating navigation bar at the bottom, the users need not scroll back to the top to access the page links or the post categories links from the sidebars. Plugin details Author: s_Ruben Compatibility: WordPress 2.8 or higher Last updated: 3 May 2012 Download Link: http://WordPress.org/extend/plugins/quick-navigation-panel/ What can you do with it This alternate navigation panel gives your website or blog visitors an option to navigate to the desired page from any location on the page. The navigation option is also very unobtrusive compared to the vertical floating navigation menus that tend to hang in the middle of the screen and distract the reader. Options You have mainly two customization options: the first option helps you select the types of links you want on the navigation bar, and the second option helps you define how the navigation bar looks. With the second part of the settings, you can either add a custom CSS file, or use the defined colors and borders for the navigation bar. You need to think of each and every aspect of web design to provide an easy user interface so that the user may concentrate on the content instead of trying to figure out how to move around on your website. If you are using this plugin, or any other one for navigation, we would like to know about it. The great thing about the large WordPress community is that there are several plugins available for a certain task. Stay tuned as we explore other unique plugins that can certainly make your user's life easier, so that they can concentrate on your products.

Superdry Tweet Fuel – Converting Your Tweets To Fuel [Twitter Case Study] Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:25 AM PST This is a case study illustrating the India launch of UK based youth apparel brand, Superdry that employs a microsite along with Twitter to create a unique campaign wherein tweets convert into virtual fuel for a specially designed 'Superdry Morgan 3 Wheeler'. The Objective UK based youth apparel brand Superdry launched their presence in India with a set of street drive events. To extend this idea online and connect with the younger demographics on Twitter, the brand partnered with digital agency Brandmovers India to conceptualize a unique Twitter campaign called 'Superdry Tweet Fuel'. The campaign virtually simulates the brand's entry into India through a microsite where the drive is fuelled by user tweets. The Execution The 'Superdry Tweet Fuel' Twitter campaign challenged users to express themselves through tweets and help bring the iconic Superdry Morgan 3 Wheeler roadster to India, by converting their tweets to fuel for the car. The campaign had been hosted on a dedicated microsite that depicts the epic journey of the Morgan 3 Wheeler Roadster from London to Mumbai. The contest was simple – users had to follow the Superdry India Twitter account and tweet about where they would go for a #SuperDrive if they had a Morgan 3 Wheeler, and their tweets will get converted into fuel for the car. Powered by their tweets, the car travelled from London Superdry stores to Dover crossing through the English Channel to France, Germany, Belgium, Dubai and finally India. There were exciting prizes to be won in the campaign like Superdry apparel and an opportunity to drive the Morgan 3 Wheeler! The different sets of prizes were unlocked at different levels of tweets at the microsite. The best tweets for each level were featured on the microsite under the contributors section and also qualified to win prizes. Superdry Tweet Fuel microsite The Results The campaign has generated 2600+ tweets and 5.4 million+ impressions reaching an audience of 1.5 million+ people in 5 days. On the day of the launch of Superdry stores in India (same day as the qualifying rounds for the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix) the campaign trended in major Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad & Lucknow and UK & Brazil. On the launch day the campaign generated 1300+ tweets & 4.5 million+ impressions reaching an audience of 1 million+ people. Also, on the day of the launch the campaign hashtag ranked 393 globally reaching the peak of 35. Visitors to the microsite spend 3+ minutes on the website on average. Tweet Fuel Statistics via Hashtracking TweetFuel Microsite Analytics This is another interesting 'microsite powered by Twitter' campaign by Brandmovers. Earlier, we had seen the India launch of 55DSL that was also targeted to the youth. While that one had a graffiti wall resemblance in the microsite where tweets were painted on the wall, this one features a car that moves ahead only when fuelled by tweets. With the rising number of youth on Twitter, such focussed campaigns make good business sense compared to creating a buzz via a hashtag. In addition, the one thing that stands out in this campaign is the gratification provided to the community – apart from an opportunity to drive the Superdry Morgan 3 in Mumbai, there was the opportunity to be part of an amazing digital movement. Here's the video to Superdry Tweet Fuel case study:

Twitter as a Powerful Internet Customer Service Force Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST On the vast landscape that is the Internet, Twitter is fast becoming more and more of a powerful tool to be utilized for sales purposes. In the past, most people have probably thought of Twitter as just another social media site on which to communicate with others – friends, famous people, and even news outlets. Then, companies began to discover the many uses that Twitter has. Twitter forces the user to be clear and concise in tweets – 140 characters goes by very quickly if you are rambling. Companies have utilized these 140 characters to do so many things. Advertising, linking, and company voice type posts have all become popular. Twitter is also being used as an incredibly powerful customer service tool. For example, I often browse a blog called Dooce. The writer of the blog had written several entries regarding buying a new washing machine. The machine broke and needed parts replaced even though it was quite new. She was having a hard time getting someone from the washing machine company's customer service department to take her seriously. The Dooce blog is quite popular and the writer has many Twitter followers. She decided to tweet her grievances to the company. Lo and behold, not only did her problem get fixed almost immediately, a rival washing machine company offered her one of their sets (washer and dryer) for free! I believe that she decided to donate the free pair to a women's shelter. Such is the power of Twitter as a customer service force. Another interesting Twitter personality is a guy named Gary Vaynerchuk. A video post about him on TWiT.TV was recently brought to my attention. Gary is the CEO and co-founder of a social media consulting company. More relevant to this post, however, he also works for an online wine retail store as the co-owner and the director of operations. While he is less active with the wine business lately, he still does and always has made a point to personally answer every single tweet regarding his wine business with a clear and thoughtful answer. In turn, his online wine store became immensely popular. Social media as a customer service tool is still a rather new concept in the grand scheme of things. However, there are key ingredients to making social media work for your business that you should follow. As a small business owner or operator, it's a great idea to take advantage of utilizing as many social networks as time and resources will allow for. The more networks that you are able to maintain a presence on, the more opportunities to display great customer service. In turn, this can also drive up your sales. Consumers tend to respond strongly (and with their wallets) to companies that they perceive as having great customer service. If you are a new or up and coming business, consider using Twitter to do some research on what similar companies are doing or offering. Pay special attention to how any disputes or complaints are resolved. Twitter can be a great tool to help build your brand and subsequently, your reputation for customer service. The blog post on this site titled 8 Twitter Powerhouses You Must Follow is a great read if you are looking for shining examples of people who use Twitter as a tool to communicate with others.

7 Reasons Your “Social Media Guru” Isn’t Really A Guru Posted: 23 Nov 2012 06:24 AM PST Social Strategy or Stereotype? In case you hadn’t noticed, people really like to poke fun at social media-types. And why not? Social media is effective, but even the world’s smartest marketers struggle to measure ROI. There’s a dearth of trustworthy certification programs and college courses that actually produce people who can drive results. Anyone can brand themselves as a “Social Media Ninja” in their Twitter bio, and why shouldn’t you believe them? After all, Google gives me over 43 million results when I search “social media guru.” Does that mean that we’re all experts? Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update recently debuted a new character, a social media expert named Kourtney Barnes who cheerfully argued that all opinions in social media were of equal valuable. The Onion jumped into the conversation yesterday with a humorous parody of Ted Talks; a social media expert stating there’s no need for originality in the era of Twitter and Facebook: “Using your brains to think of an idea and your skills to implement it? That’s the old model.” Here’s the issue: the parody is based on real people on the internet. There’s just no way that all of those 43 million search results for “social media guru” were written by a recognized expert. Is your company paying someone who’s not driving results or even worse – believes buying 870,00 followers is a win? Here are 7 reasons why many self-proclaimed “gurus” are almost as bad as the guy in the video: 1.  No Value. “Social media eliminates the need to provide value to anyone…people liked cheetos even though they had no reason to.” Poppycock. Just having a page isn’t enough. If your social media guru thinks you don’t need to post or share content with more depth than a kitten meme (unless your business is kitten humor), they’re not aware of the fact that providing value increases your bottom line. Social media moves really fast, and your content will be buried quickly. Optimal frequency can vary widely even within the same industry, so HubSpot recommends you start by posting every two hours and increase gradually until you find what works best for your brand. 2.  No Incentive. What do your prospects get out of being your fan on Facebook? If your answer is “vacation pictures of the boss,” it’s time to go fire your guru. It’s crucial to differentiate your brand from competitors by standing out on social media. There’s not a single right way to do that – you can post humorous content, the world’s best links or run awesome contests – but you should be concerned if you’re not providing something in return for your fan’s time. 3. No Skills. “Any teenager could have done what we did. For no money. And much faster.”  I’m way over the internet’s ongoing argument about how old your social media manager should be. I honestly don’t care if they’re 103 or 18, as long as they’ve got the skills to manage your campaign. True social media experts have mad skills- they can seamlessly transition from customer service representative to data analyst in a matter of minutes. Not only do they get your business, they understand how to talk to your buyer personas. If your personal guru thinks that social media is nothing more than maintaining pretty pin boards, be very afraid. 4. No Effort. “Like, anything that’s old and requires effort? It’s inefficient.” One of the few human beings on this planet who could be called a social media guru is Gary Vaynerchuk. He had over 958,000 Twitter followers at the time of writing, and he built his wine company by providing effort. He spent hours and hours a day putting in the effort to engage Twitter users who were talking about wine. What’s his take on the situation? “99.5 percent of social media experts are clowns.” Because they’re not willing to provide effort. 5. Purchased Followers. “We were able to increase their followers from 300 to 900,00 in less than a week. And the best part is, all of these accounts were robots – so we didn’t have to tweet anything, because nobody was reading it.” There are inbound marketing metrics that matter, and there are vanity metrics – figures of very limited worth. Facebook likes and Twitter followers are a vanity measure, because they’re not a reliable measure of your reach. The best social media managers understand that genuinely engaging with real prospects will drive a whole lot more revenue than buying a few thousand fake followers to look legit. 6. No Client Love. “Ideally, real human users will leave social networking altogether, and all that will be left will be thousands of robots, talking to each other, who we can then advertise to.” Anyone who thinks social media management is all sunshine and peaches isn’t very experienced. The job entails some serious front-line customer service, and you’re going to be dealing with people who aren’t happy. The best managers aren’t scared of conflict or conversations. They’re experts at advertising crisis. 7. No ROI. “You just have to keep looking like you’re doing work, and people will pay for it.” When it comes to measuring social media ROI, you should be wary of anyone who’s either afraid of numbers or proclaims they’ve figured out how to track revenue. Because it’s really tough, which is partially why 53% of social media managers aren’t currently using analytics. Do your social media guru’s eyes start to glaze when you use terms like “referral traffic,” “click-through rate” or “share of voice?” We’re not saying they need to be the world’s most effective analyst, but they should have at least a little love for numbers. Oh, by the way – we’re hiring a social media manager. Are you awesome? Send us a Tweet.

Audi India And Race2 Join Hands To Find A New Star Posted: 23 Nov 2012 06:12 AM PST Bollywood and luxury cars have always shared a close bond. The celebs and achievers don't want to choose anything but the best. German manufacturer, Audi which can't be questioned for the luxury and comfort that it brings in its machines, seems to be loved in the Bollywood town. In the last few months, the brand has marketed the latest bunch of SUVs quite innovatively in India. The brand started off by presenting the latest Q SUVs to deserving achievers like Salman Khan, Yuvraj Singh as they resemble class and comfort. The brand later shifted its strategy a bit by saying that the Q is not all about owning it but also gifting it to your loved ones. And Diwali is definitely the best time for gifting in India. The brand spread the message by asking B-Town celebrities about whom they would be gifting a Q. Carrying that further, now the brand has come forward with a new campaign – "Act in Race2". The new campaign is for the Audi social media fans and has been launched in partnership with the upcoming Bollywood action thriller Race2. "Act in Race2" Social Media Campaign Audi India which has a 1.4M fan following on Facebook has designed an exclusive Facebook app – Act in Race2. The contest is open for it's fans alone so only after liking the page you are shown the details of the contest. The contest allows your dream wish – to be a part of a Bollywood film – to be true! To be that one lucky winner, you will have to imagine a situation where you are on a grand Bollywood award ceremony and all set to receive your "Best Co-star Award". Now that you have dreamt a lot, take a video camera and shoot your award acceptance speech which in fact is your test for this role. So make sure you have a lovely speech that is captured well and once you are convinced, upload it via the app and fill all relevant details. To know more details on the date and judging criteria, make sure you read the T&C details listed in the app. How effective is the campaign? In a recent infograph shared by Unmetric, Audi India led the race in driving engagement on social media among auto manufacturers in India. The recent campaign is one such example how the German manufacturer has made it to the top on social media in India. The campaign is definitely a treat for fans and for the brand to go one step towards social. The app created for the campaign works without any glitch. Additionally, the app serves as a dashboard where you can check the set of videos that are being uploaded by users. Navigation is smooth and the app has incorporated the required sharing features too. Other required details of the contest have been listed in the T&C. Along with this, Audi India has created a video which showcases the lead stars of the movie Race2 who are seen inviting fans to participate in the contest. A small effort but adds genuineness and motivation for fans to participate in the contest. Ending Thoughts Although in the past, we have seen brands associating with Bollywood actors and giving fans a chance to feature in an ad or a song along with the star, this is the first time a brand is providing the opportunity for a fan to co-star in a mainstream Bollywood movie. To promote the Micra, we did see Nissan create the world's first Bollywood movie 'New Star of India' starring leading Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and 20 fans auditioned from Facebook. Later, Volkswagen India also gave a chance to audition your Volkswagen for the movie "Go Goa Gone". But, none gave the opportunity to star in a mainstream movie. The trend seems to be growing and Audi India's 'Act in Race2′ will only strengthen this trend further. This is an awesome chance for a fan who is passionate of joining Bollywood. The last date for video submissions is inching close so hurry up and good luck!

Using LinkedIn to Attract Business Posted: 23 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST LinkedIn can help you accomplish multiple business objectives, from attracting business leads, to recruiting new talent, and discovering potential opportunities for partnering. Attraction is Alignment To get what you want in business today you need to consider the expectations of your target audience. If you are looking for talented recruits you need to know what they will find attractive in a business. The same goes for sales leads and new partners. What your business wants has to be aligned with the community you are targeting. You have to speak their langugage, show you care about them, and reflect all of that in appearance and form. For example, if you are recruiting college students, your LinkedIn company page should include relevant experiences from recent hires, not just commentary from the marketing department. In other words, your business has to be what it desires to attract. If you want to attract employees that are fun to work with you need to show them your work environment is already fun. New prospects will expect to know that you have successfully served other customers like them. All of this is easily accomplished online with video. Every business is being judged by its online presence. In fact, a recent study indicates more consumers are placing their trust in online content. How does yours stack up? Everyone is An Influencer Traditional business practices favored big customers and the executive team that focused on them. Large customers were wined and dined and came to expect that. This is why you lost some of your smaller customers who did not receive that attention. Corporate enterprises still lavish perks on their top executives. This is one reason they have difficulty attracting top talent. If they did a better job caring for every single team member they would realize they all have influence for attracting more good people just like them. Everyone is an influencer within their circle of friends, and these circles intersect within the communities you serve. Thus, you now know why you should should connect on LinkedIn with employees, customers, and even some of your better competitors. Networks connect influencers of all shapes and sizes, and become powerful forces that affect what your business is trying to accomplish. This is why it's best to have only one personal presence on LinkedIn. Influencers today are not businesses, but people who may be associated with a business. Play The Game Savvy businesses realize that sites such as LinkedIn are designed for specific purposes and will change over time. For this reason, to accomplish your objectives you need to learn the many nuances about the respective sites to make them work in your favor. In regards to LinkedIn, I have written a number of articles that will help you out, including this comprehensive article on LinkedIn that includes video tutorials. In addition to that, it's essential you understand how social graphs work to create alignment on every social network. Whether you seeking new talent, more leads, or business partners to help guide you into new markets, there are only two ways to make those connections: a. Connect the Dots. This is necessarily a process that requires having a highly active and integrated network to then begin working backwards to make new connections. b. Be more Attractive. Search drives the web, and the most effective way to get what you want is to use that understanding of how it affects the social marketing process. That's how it works in real life, so it only stands to reason that it will work the same on the digital networks. LinkedIn is no exception. How are you using LinkedIn to attract more business? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts. Photo Credit

Grab Your Helix From Timex And Waste Your Time Posted: 23 Nov 2012 05:51 AM PST India has one of the largest population in the Gen Y (15-35 years) category and the number even surpasses the entire population of certain countries. It would be a no brainer to say that these are the people brands should focus on. And that is exactly what Timex is known to do since they came to India years ago and still continue to do in a great way! With the advent of social platforms, they have cleverly latched on to them and are trying to engage with the youth. The Timex Helix page is not different in that way and they proclaim it loudly by the tag like 'Helix is for the young and the young-at-heart', aligning clearly with Timex's marketing DNA. But what particularly caught my eyes was this app that proclaimed the youth to 'Grab your Helix', in my terms its one of the best 'call-to-action'. Clearly, the objective of this campaign was to take on the Fastrack brand of watches and tell the world that Helix aligns much better with the younger fans. The campaign handled by JWT tells the story in a way that they capture the youthful trends, which includes 'wasting time' and living life to the fullest. About Grab your Helix With about 118k fans, you know that the Facebook page is doing a great job of getting users, but as I put on my 'reviewer' cap, it really becomes interesting. Status Updates: They are doing a great job indeed by having regular updates on the page keeping the fans/followers interested. I see them leveraging events or special occasions – Mickey Mouse's Birthday, Dusshera, Diwali and sending out related updates. App Tabs: In addition to the usual photos and likes tab, Helix has cleverly embedded their YouTube channel to the Facebook Page. Critical stats – 6 odd videos out there and one of them getting about 200+ views and total of about 350 views. While that may sound an interesting number, I am not too sure about those stats since number of Facebook 'Likes' in that small plugin at the bottom says '74k'. This ratio between likes & views seems very out of place. The other tab is labelled 'Grab your Helix'. As I said earlier, since it is a great 'Call-to-action' I clicked it instantly expecting a contest like page to appear. Unfortunately, that was not the case and it was a static HTML page with images of different watches and on clicking them, it took me to 'Helix' webstore. While I was okay that it was not a contest page, which I would have otherwise liked more, but something that intrigued me was that it took me to the home page of Helix Webstore. It would have been really good had they taken me to the product page of the watch that I have clicked. Overall, I would say that they have missed an opportunity to engage with fans through the Apps tab. Ending thoughts While, as stated earlier, the objective was to align with youth and pick up some trends, I believe it has missed out from the core message. Along with regular content that showcases some of its watches, they have messages interspersed proclaiming 'waste time'. But the 'waste time' messages without any call-to-action signals, has generated feeble engagement for the campaign. Without a doubt, Timex has a huge following amongst the youth and this was one opportunity for them to connect very closely with them. As I see it, while they are trying to induce the fans with frequent updates, it has not yet generated more engagement, unless you count 'likes' as engagement. For each status update, they have only been able to generate 2-5 comments while the number of 'likes' are in 100s. Hence, the 'likes' are not really converting to great engagement. And certainly, to keep the youth engaged, they need to have more contests. It would ensure that the fans keep revisiting the page and spend more time. Meanwhile, they are there, but not yet quite there!

Top 5 SEO Projections for 2013 Posted: 23 Nov 2012 05:20 AM PST 2012 is coming to an end and Google has been very active with the latest Panda and Penguin updates during this year. Indeed, search engine optimization is a moving target of every webmaster competing for traffic! In this article, we will discuss five projections by SEO experts around the globe. Review of the Recent Google Updates Panda and Penguin updates this year took the online world by storm. Google had made the effect of penalizing website with no added value to readers. Duplicated and weak content were abolished and eradicated. Using analytics and quality metrics, Google was able to also get rid of spam blogs with overly stuffed keywords. The focus has to be articles with cornerstone content. On the rise are content (either in the form of video, text or image) thriving with uniqueness. So if you're a blogger, promoter of any online content or anything of this sort, you should abide by this mandate. What might Google come up with in 2013? Let's find out! Top 5 SEO Projections 1. Google Author Rank markup will be the basis of ranking. Google+ has launched the rel="author" markup which enables you as an author to link up all the articles you published. When this snippet of code is added to your blog and your content, your headshot in your Google+ profile will appear beside the search results. Empowering author rank, this thus makes your authority more known to the public. Jon Payne, President and Founder of Ephricon Web Marketing, explains further that Google begins to look at trusted links coming from the same author source. The forecast is that instead of Page Rank, Author Rank will matter more to search engines in the last two quarters of 2013. So as early as now, you must claim authorship of all your content in the web with this Google author rank markup. 2. Guest posting will be devalued by Google. Guest posting works by publishing posts in other blogs and capturing audience in the same niche to get them connected to your own. In essence, this allows you to expand your followers and fan base. But earlier this year, Penguin and Panda came to effect. They changed the original paradigm by configuring the algorithmic weights of guest posts. There are various spam guest posts created on the web. Hence, Google is now not so much in favor of guest posting, as it sees these "post exchanges" only as a manipulator or search engine results. On the other hand, if you have been solely submitting posts with good quality, then you should not be affected negatively by any Google updates for the years to come. Be careful linking guest posts with bad neighborhood. If your post involves duplicate content and cloaked content such as stuffed and unrelated keywords, you’ll also be in deep trouble. 3. Social signals will highly affect the SERPs. As there is now so much traffic booming in social media, Google may have to get good use of these channels to position content in search engine. Closer to home is its very own: Google+. The Google Plus system can potentially bring much weight in determining whether or not the page or content has been helpful to readers. Posts with more social sharing points (+1's) will be given a greater deal in SEO. However, there are also rampant manipulations of shares. Case in point is Facebook likes and recommendations. Another is Twitter likes and favorites. Services are available in the Internet wherein these social shares can be bought with money to gain credits in turn. Google has to figure out a way to track these incidents for social signals to reign as appropriately. 4. Highly increasing personalized search results will be recognized. Google works to provide relevant search results to users. What better way to cater this service than producing personalized search results? Google identifies the user's location and search engine activities. For instance, location-based search results from Google will prioritize pages from your country to top in the results page. You will see a different set of posts coming out of the first page when you change your location setting in Google. Problem is that optimizing your meta tags and description with keywords relevant to your business may do good only locally. (By default, Google learns your location by your IP address.) If you are targeting clients who belong to other locations in the world, businesses in these countries might just defeat your rank in SEO quite easily. 5. Technical parameters such as page titles and descriptions will have greater bearing in SEO. CEO of CompeteLeap, Ryan Draving, says that spinning articles with poor grammar will not be counted by Google as a hit. Obtusely written titles and descriptions of pages and posts will also be useless. Google hunts those websites solely created to advertise brands without engagement with users. Draving adds that Google expects to see your legitimate brand or company name attached in the majority of your inbound blog links. Conclusion Many of these predictions are based on the natural progressions of Google updates as seen in the recent months. Keeping up with Google changes in SEO algorithms is challenging. But now that you're more guided, you can think ahead and practice your SEO with a futuristic mindset. Analyze them and carry on with the best practices. Good luck!

Does the Executive’s LinkedIn Profile Hurt or Help Your Media Relations Effort? Posted: 22 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PST In preparing for a storytelling workshop in Asia last week, I spoke with six different journalists from blue-chip properties like Reuters and The Next Web. I asked a simple question – How do you prepare for an executive interview? While each journalist has formulated his or her own approach to due diligence, two common denominators surfaced. They google the executive's name. They check out the exec's LinkedIn profile. I realize this isn't exactly a revelation. In fact, when we hosted LinkedIn for a "lunch bucket" a couple years ago, we heard how the company spent considerable time educating journalists on how to navigate the platform … and we were given an upgraded account at no charge. But here's where things get interesting. In my recent talks to journalists, I learned that more than checking out an executive's background, they're extrapolating from the executive's LinkedIn page to make broader judgment calls. In one journalist's words: "LinkedIn is the best place to get a sense of the person, what they did before, their career trajectory. It also tells me how much they want to project themselves to the outside world." That one phrase "how much they want to project themselves to the outside world" is pretty darn revealing. Everyone talked about understanding the executive's personality and style from LinkedIn. Two journalists went as far as to say they use LinkedIn to qualify an executive before accepting an interview. For all of these reasons, PR should be guiding executives in applying storytelling techniques to their LinkedIn profiles so they make an impression on the outside world. For example, 99 percent of people put their current title under their name when the format already allows slots for both current and previous titles. The real estate under the name can be put to better use by sharing something about the role, the person's passion, etc. You can see example of this in my own LinkedIn profile below. As a second idea, the summary section is the perfect forum for a glimpse into the executive's take on thought leadership, not just a laundry list of skills and achievements. And sharing a personal tidbit or two can round out the profile. These three changes can transform a drab LinkedIn profile into a preconditioning tool for media relations.

How Leveraging Local SEO Can Skyrocket Your Business Posted: 22 Nov 2012 11:39 AM PST Many business owners look at the internet in order to break into lucrative markets all over the world. Although the internet is worldwide, don't overlook the impact you can have locally by being prominent placed in the search engines when qualified business partners, on your doorstep are searching for your business and services online. This is where leveraging local seo can be a great advantage for your business. The Argument for adopting local SEO into Your Marketing Plans 1. Your consumers are going local In a recent study by ad network Chikata*, results showed that nearly 25% of searches using Google had local intent. Therefore if there is a demand online for your products or services then people still feel more comfortable engaging with a local firm so they can get the item sooner and if there are any problems can visit the store or service provider easily. More and more consumers are using search engines to find local businesses on their computers and mobile phones. According to Google, 20% of search queries are for local businesses, 40% of mobile searches are for local businesses and 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. 2. 40% prefer to Research Online Purchase Offline That's right, in a survey conducted by Google**, 4 out of 10 people prefer to ROPO – Research Online Purchase Offline. So by being the business that give the greatest information on the product or service to local searches online it follows that you will get the lion's share of the business. 3. Prominent first-page listings When a search for a service is coupled with a local identifier the results that are typically displayed on the first page of Google include a Map on the top right hand of the screen. This map is made up of the businesses that Google knows to be relevant to that search and is now a feature of Google+ local. In the organic results you will notice that each pin or marker on the map correlates to a listing. The point is if you get Google to recognise your business on the map you get multiple first page listings. 4. Local search is less competitive. Yes, there will be less people searching than there will be on a national level likewise there will be less businesses in a position to compete. The majority of the national chains will not, yet, be optimised at a local level and this gives greater opportunity for those that invest in positioning their businesses as the leader in the local market place. Simple Steps to Get Ranked in the Local Results As a business owner there are a few steps that you can take in order to boost your chances of benefiting from qualified local searchers. Here are the 4 basic steps to take advantage of the local search engine optimisation opportunity: Keyword Research The first steps with local SEO as with any type of online campaign should be your keyword research. Without knowing if there is a demand for your products and services online and the particular words and phrases people are using to find the results you will be quite literally throwing your advertising spend down the drain. Use Google's free keyword tool to find keywords that are frequently-searched and relevant to your business. Optimise Your Google+ Listing If you aren't already set up with a Google+ Local listing, you'll need to create your profile and verify your ownership. Then, select the categories that best suit your business description, bearing in mind the keywords that you know to be prominent to your user's searches. By doing this you will help Google know which keywords should trigger your business listing to appear in the local results. Get Your Business Out there In getting your business out there you are looking to include your business information, Name, Address and Postcode (NAP) in as many relevant places online. These mentions of your business details are known as citations and are a very important factor of how Google shows trust to a business online. A good way to do this is by listing your business on local business directories such as Yell, Thomson local, Yelp etc Get Reviews More important than what you say about your business is what your clients have to say about your business. Make it a habit to ask customers to take the time and review your business by going to the business directories and leaving a testimonial about how good your business really is and how great the service was. The more positive reviews that people say about your business the better, and the more Google and other search engines will pay attention to your business as they will know that by sending targeted traffic to your business they will get happy customers. By having glowing online reviews you may convince other online browser who stumble across your business to pay closer attention as to how your service can benefit them. The internet allows your business to branch out and reach lucrative markets that you could never have dreamed of competing in, but don't get carried away and forget where your business started and the local community that you have at your doorstep. The ultimate aim of local SEO service is to target your visitors and reach out people that have immediate requirements so that you can make your business a great success.

Meaurement and ROI Top Social Media Concerns Posted: 22 Nov 2012 09:20 AM PST A new survey of 44 global PR firms revealed that 82% want a standard measurement tool and that measuring ROI is the number of barrier to using social media.

What’s Holding Social Influence Back? Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:39 AM PST What's holding social media influence scores, of the likes of Klout, Kred and Peer Index, back from wider adoption? At Big Data World Asia I gave a well received talk. In it I argued that there were three reasons: 1. Business social media maturity Most businesses are not mature enough in their use of social media. Three issues: It tends to be human led (hiring of community managers or social media managers) rather than automated approaches. Strategy is skewed towards a PR agenda – 'let's listen, let's maintain our reputation' rather than an integrated business agenda "how do our customers want to engage with us on social media?". Scattergun approaches dominate – few businesses actually segment their social communities properly – instead it is by channel ("our Facebook fans") or by territory ("Fans of ABC Inc EMEA"). 2. Immature social CRM market There are few industrial scale systems in place to market on social media. Adoption of enterprise social media management tools remains sketchy. Social CRM vendors like Nimble CRM are only just gaining traction. 3. Customer wariness "I am not a number!" is the cry of many a social influence score customer. This is a potentially insurmountable problem, however it's just not true – at one level we are just a number – a customer number, a telephone number and so on. The promise of social influence scoring is that this number becomes more accurate and within our control rather than being simply arbitrary and unchangeable. In my next post I'll look at the weaknesses inherent in standard influence scores, and how a leaderboarded solution allows us to rise above them.

When Does Blocking Become Anti-social on Pinterest and Twitter? Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:15 AM PST I'm often asked about the privacy of using social media. The question usually goes something like this: "If I have a friend or acquaintance who I'd prefer didn't see my posts, should I just block them?" I always respond with the statement, "Most social media is public." I say most, because Facebook is definitely more of a private network, and it's very easy to even be friends with someone without showing them all of your information and posts. But on Pinterest and Twitter? These networks are completely public. Anyone can peruse your boards, whether they're following you or not; Anyone can browse your tweets. So, why block someone on Pinterest or Twitter? And, more importantly, what happens when you do? What Happens if I Block Someone on Pinterest? It's important to know exactly what happens before you decide to block. If you block someone on Pinterest, they won't be notified – until they try to interact with you. Because Pinterest is so inherently public, so are your boards, unless you create a secret board. If you decide to block someone, here is the message they get: There's no hiding from that. You've effectively let that person know, in no uncertain terms, that you have no interest in interacting with them. If they click to learn more about why you've blocked them, they are directed to a page on Pinterest that says "If you're getting a message that you've been blocked when you try to follow a specific person or interact with his/her pins, it is most likely that your interaction with them was outside their comfort-zone." Think about that. According to Pinterest, you've just implied that this person is some kind of a stalker, or worse… Knowing this, if you get to the point of wanting to block someone, they probably should have done something bad enough for you to actually report them to the network. Blocking someone on Pinterest means that The person you block will not be able to follow you or interact with your pins. You will not be able to follow this person or interact with their pins. Neither you nor the other person will be able to like, repin, or comment on each other's pins. Any previous follows that existed between you and the other person are automatically removed. Any previous comments between you and the other person are automatically removed. Any previous likes and/or repins between you and the other person are NOT automatically removed. You may, however, unlike pins to remove them individually. All other interactions are blocked. Is There Any Privacy on Pinterest? Secret boards were recently announced. This is a great way to organize your pins before you're ready to show them to the world or to maintain a board that is for your eyes only. What About Twitter? Twitter was built as a public network. This means that you don't even have to follow someone to go to their page and see what they're up to. So if you are going to tweet, treat the message as something you would be happy to share with your mother. What Happens if I Block Someone on Twitter? Very little, except that when the person goes to your page and clicks "Follow," they will be greeted with this message: You will not see any @mentions coming through from this person either. While this works well as a means of avoiding a true spammer, if you're trying to block that annoying high school friend from interacting with you, be aware that they won't be your friend online, or offline, for much longer… Can I Have Any Privacy On Twitter? Sure you can. To unclutter your Home Timeline, simply unfollow those whose tweets you don't want to see. If you don't want the general public to see your Tweets, there is something you can do on Twitter without going down the "Block" route. You can choose to have a protected account. When you protect your Tweets, the following restrictions are put in place: People will have to request to follow you; each follow request will need approval. Your Tweets will only be visible to users you've approved. Other users will not be able to retweet your Tweets. Protected Tweets will not appear in Twitter search or Google search. @replies you send to people who aren't following you will not be seen by those users (because you have not given them permission to see your Tweets). You cannot share permanent links to your Tweets with anyone other than your approved followers. It's Really a Question of Etiquette… The way I look at it, blocking someone with whom you would ordinarily interact in the real world, is tantamount to walking past them and blanking them on the street. They can see you — you're right there in public, but you refuse to interact. It's a bridge burner. Creating a secret board or unfollowing is a less aggressive approach that accomplishes the same goal without unintentionally (or intentionally) offending someone. Social media ettiquette is evolving, so it's best to be informed and err on the conservative side. Guest Author: Tammy Fennell is the CEO and co-founder of MarketMeSuite, the "Inbox For Social" for Small Businesses. She co-founded MarketMeSuite and has grown it to over 30,000 small business users. Tammy is also the editor of WeAreSocialPeople.com. Connect with Tammy @Tammykfennell. Want to Learn How to Market Your Business and Personal Brand on Social Networks? My book – Blogging the Smart Way "How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media" – will show you how. It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog. I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 115,000. You can download and read it now.

Giving (Social) Thanks Should Be An All Year Thing Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:15 AM PST I love this time of year! The kids start getting excited knowing that Christmas is not too far away. They dream of lots of presents and start making their list and checking it twice. I also think adults and children enjoy the change in the routine that comes with holidays. There's the parties, great food, the short weeks, family and friends, and, oh did I mention the parties. I am certainly not going to be the first, the last or the only person wishing that the holiday spirit lasted throughout the year but in social media particularly, every like, RT, mention, comment, +1 and pin is a gift! And so we need to be thankful for each and every one. I wrote earlier this year that the most important words in social media are "thank you." I even suggested that these might be the most important words, well, in the history of words. Saying "thank you" is not just the right thing to do, it is a way to return social equity. Social media influencer and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk even believes we are in the early days of what he calls "The Thank You Economy." And while I believe that words matter, actions are even more important. It is not enough to be thankful. You have to express it. Saying "thanks" is a dividend on the investment you make in your relationships. I try to apply this every day. First I thank every person who Retweets or mentions me. It is not blind or automated. If you RT or mention me, I will mention you back. I group my thanks together and have introduced lots of people to new followers and friends this way, based on our similar interests. I also say "thanks" for every comment on my blogs whether I agree with them or not. I usually "like" all my likes on Facebook and I try to +1 all my Google+ sharers. Over the years that I have been active on social I am sure that I may have missed somebody so let me say it now: THANK YOU for all your support over these amazing years, and throughout my social media journey. We are nothing without our friends, our network of social connections, no matter how deep or far they go. I am truly honored, humbled and grateful to be a part of yours! And since I am sure these words were not enough to express what I am trying to say, here are a few of my favorite quotes on being thankful: "I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks." ~ William Shakespeare "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." ~ Winston Churchill "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." ~ John F. Kennedy Let me know what you think in the comments below and follow the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Google+.

Writing Tweets That Grab Your Readers Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:11 AM PST Twitter, by length limitations enforced by that tool, doesn't allow more than 140 characters per tweet. However, just because the tweets are short doesn't necessarily mean that the tweets are exciting and that they grab your readers profoundly. It is not always easy to write tweets that entice your readers and drive them to want to interact with you in a big way. In fact, writing effective tweets can be considered an art form. Remember that if you go over the 140-character limit, your content will be truncated. Because of the length limit that has been imposed upon you, the writing style might have to change to accommodate that limitation and you will have to tap into your creativity in order to come up with exciting content that provokes the thoughts of your readers. The 140-character limit is actually less than 140 characters because you most likely need to leave some space for a link or two as well. There are ways to shorten tweets that you have written so that they fit into that limit and are "grabbers" at the same time. Rewrite your tweet in its entirety Rewriting may take some practice. At times, you may have to work and rework your content before the final content that you end up actually sending. Not everyone is a natural editor. You need to come up with a way to express whatever you wish to say in a clear, concise, and effective manner. You need to come up with a way that gets to the heart of what you want to say immediately. Come up with different ways to say the same thing Luckily, the English language presents you with a great deal of options when it comes to word choices. There are many different ways that you can say the same thing. You should try to convey the information differently each time. That will keep it interesting and people will pay attention to your tweets and want to read more. Since length is a big consideration, you should try to come up with shorter synonyms to replace longer words. It is important, however, to make sure that whichever words you use to replace the already existing words are truly identical in meaning. If they aren't exact, you should steer clear of those words. You need to ensure that you are communicating precisely as you intend to communicate. Get rid of words that are not absolutely necessary If you have words in your tweets that are really not making a positive contribution to your content, don't use them. You can get away with colloquialisms in tweets that you can't normally get away with. As long as your content is clear to your readers, you won't have anything to worry about. It is acceptable to avoid words such as "that" and "which" in that context also. Using Arabic numbers instead of words and concise punctuation When it comes to tweets, you should use numbers instead of using the words that represent the numbers. Regarding punctuation and symbols, there are plenty of short ones that can be substituted for the longer ones that you may have in your tweets. Regarding punctuation, if you are running close to your 140-character limit and you still feel that there is more to say, you can use ellipses (three dots), which will make your readers understand that another tweet will continue with the same topic. Use the active versus the passive voice Writing in the active voice is a better use of the language when it comes to tweeting. Additionally, when you use the active voice, you will be using fewer characters. Use hashtags Hashtags are very important. The right hashtag can be substituted for information that is longer (more characters). The most direct way to get your point across without stepping on the limitations is the way that you should choose. Clear content Your tweets must be clear to your target audience. When you are using concise language in your tweets, make sure that you don't sacrifice clarity at the same time. Appropriateness There are some abbreviations that people use when they are tweeting personal messages (such as "BFF," "BRB," etc). Those types of abbreviations are not appropriate when you are tweeting for business. The same concept applies to subject lines for your tweets. You need to be mindful of using what is appropriate and not using what is not. Don't lose the impact It is important to know when using concise language is effective and when it isn't. It isn't only about being concise. If you feel that it is necessary to get your point across with very specific words and only those will do, use them. Conclusion Twitter is an extremely effective social media tool that you should use on a regular basis to help grow your business. It is important, however, to follow the rules and make sure that your words have to maximum impact with the minimum amount of space. Your readers will love your content and will become loyal followers before you know it. We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let’s have coffee.

10 Ways Yelp Can Boost Your Social Media Marketing Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:25 AM PST For many businesses, Yelp can be an incredibly useful social media network for driving real and measurable business results. Following are 10 ways that Yelp can boost your social media marketing efforts: 1. REVIEWS As has been discussed in a previous post, consumer reviews have huge impact and influence over other's purchase decisions. With over 30 million user generated reviews of local businesses and counting, reviews are Yelp's bread and butter. 2. BUSINESS PROFILES Business profiles on Yelp provide pertinent, factual information about businesses including hours of operation, your location, link to your website, payment options, required attire, price range, and accessibility. This information could be make or break when it comes to consumer purchase decisions. 3. PHOTOGRAPHS As far as social media content is concerned, photographs drive higher levels of engagement than any other type of content, and Yelp predominantly features user's photographs as part of every business profile. Photos, particularly user photos, give prospective consumers an unbiased glimpse of your business and offerings from a peer's perspective. 4. CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT Yelp's many user-driven features allow for your consumers to deepen their involvement in your business and/or brand. This involvement can help to strengthen affinity for your business and will increase the probability of consumers endorsing your business amongst their social graphs. 5. SEARCH RANKINGS & VISIBILITY Business profiles and reviews tend to rank highly in search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo! You can greatly enhance your business' ability to dominate the first page of search results by ensuring that you have claimed your profile and garnering a significant number of positive reviews. 6. MOBILE It was recently revealed that roughly 40% of all Yelp searches are conducted on one of their mobile apps (iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Palm). Mobile access to all of the benefits Yelp has to offer is a good thing because it empowers consumers while on their purchase journey and when they are closer to the point of purchase. 7. ADVERTISING If raising awareness of your business is one of your primary digital marketing objectives, Yelp offers a suite of advertising options for independent local businesses, national or regional businesses, and national brands or advertising agencies. 8. FACEBOOK INTEGRATION Facebook has been integrated on business profile pages allowing consumers to share their affinity for your business with their friends, organize groups of their friends to visit your location, or share reviews. 9. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT In one of my previous posts about The Positive Effect of Negative Reviews, I discussed how negative reviews can actually support strategies for continuous improvement. While it should not be your focus to collect negative reviews, in the event you should receive them, they can be parlayed into opportunities for improvement and rectifying a consumer's negative experience. 10. AWARENESS Yelp gets over 78 MILLION monthly unique visitors, giving you great opportunity to raise awareness and the profile of your business. Do you have any additional thoughts on how Yelp can help to produce real business results? If so, let me know in the comments, or on Twitter @RGBSocial Original Post

Social Search –The New Game Changer in the Block Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:50 AM PST According to ZDNet Google will remain most searchers main search engine for a long time to come. The boundaries of the fast paced world of search engines are continually blurring with many newcomers come to take on Google. Bing is doing their best to attract searchers and the likes of Facebook’s social search is really throwing the Internet into turmoil. How social search is a game changer? A new search paradigm is emerging in our constant and everywhere connected world: the amalgamation of search and traditional social networks. In a constant bid to stay ahead of the game even the big players like Google are keeping things fresh by introducing social network search with Google+. With users logging in and virtually condoning what some might regard as intrusive practices ,personal data improves  search results dramatically. Why Google stays ahead If other search engines ever hope to take Google’s crown they need to be able to offer more than Google does and also sway people away from the Big G. With “Googling” a common word now used in everyday life it’s hard to attract people away , and of course where the majority of people’s eyes are is also where advertisers money will be found. It’s not just the fact that Google provides well known and diverse products, they also provide, arguably , the best services. Their search index links in to so many well known products like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Now and of course YouTube. Google is even a major payer in the Smartphone market with their Android operating system on most of the world’s new smartphones and apps sold via the Google Play portal. Everything looks very rosy for Google so who could possibly hope to compete? Playing David to Google’s Goliath Consider these numbers: More than 800 million active users, mobile users not very far behind with a quarter of a billion daily users. And one fifth of the page views on the web come from this new source. The database of this upstart search engine is insidious and has access to so many personal and private pieces of user information, like friends, apps used, favourite places and even people’s likes and hobbies! This powerful database is constantly and knowingly updated continually, by the users themselves, making it not only far reaching but also accurate. The name behind this new search engine: Facebook- which I’m sure needs no introduction. Now Facebook is not precisely in the business of being a search engine, but it certainly has the power to become a massive social search vehicle as social data is its constant business and a continually updated user profile is so significant. Believe it or not Facebook is actually faster in this type of search than Google. For a lot of their searches Google spiders are limited to abundant data crawls and guess work on people’s likes, with a +1 vote really only providing a direct indication of a searchers preferences. With Facebook it is so much simpler, direct use of likes, the ways that apps are interacted with and so called action links help them to decide which pages are important to a user. In a way Facebook users directly tell the social network what they like, this makes social and business engagement more meaningful and businesses can fully personalise content. Google is of course savvy to this hence their massive +1 drive. But the relative lack of interaction compared to Facebook with, for example, an average user only interacting with Google + for about three minutes a month providing a massive contrast with a huge 400 minutes interacting with Facebook. Actually in a big slap to the face of Google their + usage levels actually lag behind MySpace. A new social search frontier With users willingly giving up so much data, social search with improved results and data factored in, is a new mind shift for search. Even more worrying for Google is that Bing and Facebook are collaborating to shift Bing searches in a more social direction. Analysts say that this could be why Bing’s popularity is gradually growing. We can’t lose track of those other Google products mentioned at the beginning of the article, these other products like Gmail( with 50 million using this email solution) make Google’s searchers more privy to so-called private user information . This broad reach leaves the king of search perched precariously at the top of a pile of almost 70 percent of the World’s search- but times are changing! It's Time for some Action If you’ve read this article you’re someone who understands the need to be ready for the new social search paradigm. You want the old ways of searching and social search to be in harmony for you. So start from the top: Google search is still paramount so don’t lose track of staying active there. Remember that broad reach of products from this search engine? Well whenever Google asks for a profile or places make sure you do more than pay it lip service. This will keep you socially engaged with Google and so it’s on to uses you can make of Facebook. Naturally you should have a business page linked to your relevant data. And make sure that it is easy for people to find you on Facebook. Engagement is critical so eyes on your content and likes all promote what you do and keep making you more popular, and popularity is increasingly the main factor that sells in this evolving search world.

Don’t Have Questions. Have Dilemmas. Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:45 AM PST I had a boss once who wouldn't listen to you if you came to him with a question. Ever. He would just turn you away. His philosophy was that if you come with a question, then you haven't really thought about an answer. You didn't take the time to sit down and think things through, you didn't research possible answers yourself, and you didn't ask anyone else for advice. You got to a fork in the road, and instead of working out which direction was better, or building a list of pros and cons, you chose the easy way out, and asked your boss to decide for you. But that isn't what your boss is there for. And if you haven't thought of an answer by yourself, or done some research, or even asked other people – then what is he paying you for? So when we came across problems that we couldn't find a good answer to on our own, we had to sit down and think about them. If we didn't find a solution or an answer that seemed to fit, or we weren't sure what answer was better, then we could go to the boss (and his door was always open in this case) and present our dilemma. Should we choose option A or option B? This would open up a discussion, of course. Why do we think option A is better? What good points does option B have? Did we think what would happen if the situation changes? Isn't there an option C that we can go with? At the end of the discussion, you would end up with a decision, and of course tasks to support that decision. Meetings are much like that. When you go to a meeting just to ask questions, or organize a meeting just to ask questions – you aren't doing your job. You haven't done any research, you have no options to offer, you don't really know what's better and what's not. You came across a problem, and you did the second easiest thing, after asking your boss. You convened a meeting. You want to know something? That's not what meetings are there for, either.

How to Add Linkedin Products and Services Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:05 AM PST Has your LinkedIn Company page generated any new leads or sales? It could be! Here's how. By adding products and services to your Linkedin Company Page you can generate interest in learning about how your business can help your page visitors accomplish their goals. Whether or not you choose to include your products or services on your business page is entirely up to you, but if you aren't taking advantage of this feature, you may be limiting the potential your Linkedin Page has to generate any ROI. The Products and Services tab appears at the top of your Company Page Follow along with my video tutorial below and learn how to add products or services to your Company Linkedin Page. Video Tutorial More than just Products and Services When it comes to listing your products and services don't be afraid to think outside the box. Aside from including your obvious pay-for products, this can also be a great way to showcase the following resources: White Papers E-books Special Reports Free Assessments Conferences Events Podcasts Networking Clubs Increase Visibility and Engagement Your products and services can also be recommended or shared by Linkedin users in your network which helps with social proof and amplification as their networks will see their recommendation as a status update. Not to mention products and services also appear in your Linkedin Company page's Sidebar when visitors find your page. You are also given the ability to include links to your website or other designated landing pages designated for your products which can help funnel traffic to conversion. The first Product that you create will be displayed in Sidebar Track Results By using Linkedin Company Page Insights data you can see the basic traffic information your company page has received over the last 7 days. These stats tell you when a user visits your products and services page and records any clicks your listed product or services receives from within the page. Final Thoughts Linkedin provides some obvious benefits to listing your products and services on your business page as described above. Though it does not guarantee and ROI, showcasing your competencies and providing extra resources to your page visitors may be the last push in the right direction in their buying decision. If you created a Linkedin Page for your business and link to it from other sites you are most likely receiving traffic. There's no harm in providing information about what you do best and real recommendations about those services can be another added bonus in a prospects decision to contact you. What other products or services have you listed on your Linkedin Company page? Have you found any success from including them? Let me know in the comments below.

What I Learnt at Facebook Small Business Bootcamp Posted: 21 Nov 2012 11:00 PM PST Recently business have been up in arms over the dramatic drop in reach their Facebook pages have been seeing but on Tuesday 20th November, SMB Marketing Consultant from Facebook Nick Bowditch put all of the rumours to rest at the Facebook Small Business Bootcamp. Basically Facebook was built for people and not for businesses. The fact the businesses can use it is a bonus but at the end of the day statistics show that businesses on Facebook will never spend a red cent with Facebook or any of its products and when you have 4,000 employees in the company… well you do the math. Facebook is about People; and those people sharing content and information about their lives not about companies marketing their latest product specials. So why the drop in engagement and reach? Well the truth is you never really post something and have 100% if your fans see it. Your fans have to be online to see your posts, and you may have 10,000 fans but there is a great possibility some may have hidden your posts, so your post will never be seen by them. Nick says " if your page has gone down this means you have been less engaging." It also turns out that companies aren't using Facebook correctly. Nick Bowditch spoke of a trip to Marrakech where he watched a local story teller tell stories in his native tongue and the crowds that gathered to hear his tales. This is what companies aren't doing well, they aren't telling stories! One Facebook page that tells stories well from a single photo is Humans of New York who have over 433,000 Fans. These are user submitted images taken from an iPhone of people in New York city which are simply captivating and thoughtful. It is true that a pictures speaks a thousand words. It also seems that business are also measuring their success on the wrong thing it is not your "LIKES" at all. There 1 billion people on Facebook and each of those people have on average 140 friend connections; that is 140 billion friend connections in total. Business have been so concerned about getting people to Like them on Facebook or to comment on a status update but we should be targeting our followers friend connections by asking our followers to "click Share"! The rule says that 14% of people trust ads but 80% of people trust a friends recommendation so why not capitalize on this and ask the two words that we simply haven't been asking "click share"! Ever heard of Edge Rank the supposed Facebook Algorithm? Well forget what you've heard. The truth is there are several algorithms and they are changing everyday and not even Mark Zuckerberg knows it. There are only 4 people in the world who know the algorithm and one of them has 2 PHD's and has deemed it impossible to work out. However Nick did give some great insights as to how updates are seen on user Facebook Newsfeeds. How the news feed works: 1. If you like every post by a page that shows up, it will show you more posts from that page. 2. If every one on Facebook is shown a post ignores it or complains, its less likely to show you that post. 3. If you like photos it is likely you will see more photos 4. If the page receives a lot of complaints then it is likely to be seen. Nick also covered in his keynote some great tips for people who are just starting to use Facebook. Tips if you are just starting out: 1. Build your Facebook Page. 2. Set your cover photo and your profile picture 3. Get existing customers to like your page 4. Engage with your fans with quality content. 5. Influence the friends of your fans. There were so many more insights that came out of the Facebook Small Business Bootcamp. For the next edition of "What I learnt Facebook Small Business Bootcamp" tune in next week for tips from the top 5 Facebook pages in Australia.

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