9 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- What’s Better for My Blog’s Top Level Domain Suffix: .com or .net?
- Facebook Timeline – The Time is Now!
- My Top Content Marketing and Social Media Tools
- Social Media Tools & Tech – 15 Tips to Not Lose Your Mind!
- The Only Thing That’s Dead Is Your Crappy “Everything Is Dead” Meme
- Discuss: Are You a Facebook Liker or Lurker?
- Easy SM Tips: Facebook Unsubscribe
- Is Pinterest Right for Your Business, or Should You ‘Put a Pin’ in It?
- Confessions, Klout and Contradictions
| What’s Better for My Blog’s Top Level Domain Suffix: .com or .net? Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:30 PM PST When you set up a blog or website you naturally pick a domain name which ends with .com, mainly because it's become the de facto standard on the internet. I run a few blogs and they all end with .com with the notable exception of my blog jorgensundberg dot net. Why did I go with .net?First of all, the reason for setting up this blog was to claim my personal brand on search engines once and for all. There is nothing that gives you more link juice than running your own blog on your own name. And nothing that can steal more Google ranking than your namesake doing it first! When I did set it up, it was natural to go for jorgensundberg.com. This was unfortunately taken already, I was only about 7 years late apparently. After many weeks and months on the fence I had to go with another one out of .net, .info, .org etc. In the end the .net was the best option. More on this terrible ordeal in this post over at Ryan Rancatore's blog Personal Branding 101. How’s that .net working out for you?The good news is that blogging on a .net domain name has worked absolutely fine and I haven’t encountered any users getting lost looking for me. The only person that got a bit confused in the beginning was myself, I sometimes entered my URL here and there with the .com suffix just out of habit I suppose. So all in all, it's worked out really well and I forgot about the domain suffix question altogether, until… The .com is now available!Some eight months after starting this blog, I receive an email from a domain registrar saying that jorgensundberg.com is coming available in a few days. These guys wanted money for 'reserving' it and making sure I got it first. I didn't bite on that offer but I did keep an eye on the domain name and sure enough the .com did come available and snapped it up in a flash. I guess this doesn't happen very often, my cyber twin in Sweden probably went Luddite or just couldn't be bothered to maintain his site any longer. Do I now stick with .net or go with .com?Feels like I'm back at square one, should I now migrate my site to the preferred .com URL or keep it at .net? As much as I am sick of any more techy tasks for my blogging I can't deny that having a .com blog looks better. Option 1: Change to .comChanging the domain suffix will require a bit of work but will make it all look very neat and once it's done I can sleep better. Not exactly sure how it would work with backlinks though. And what about redirections? Option 2: People don't enter the URL anymore, they searchLet’s face it, less and less people actually tap in a full URL address in the browser field; it’s a lot easier to simply search for what you want. This is probably why one of Google’s top searches is for the word “Google”. In my case it's people searching for my name "jorgen sundberg" and not having the slightest interested in the domain suffix. In fact, some people just tap in “jorgen” and they seem to find me. Option 3: Forget search, they'll find you on social mediaThe social aspect on the Interwebs has also relaxed things; less people actually use search nowadays as opposed to clicking through from my profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Chances are most people that have read this blog once will connect with me on one of these networks or perhaps even Google Plus, FourSquare or Meetup. Wherever they connect, they can easily click their way back to this blog without having to tap in a URL or do a search. What did I go with?Well, as you are reading this on my .net blog you’ll know that I never changed it. For a combination of option 2 & 3 I believe the domain suffix isn’t really that important, a .com might look neater but it’s not really an issue. Hope I made the right decision here, if you disagree please let me know! More blogging tips at How To Get 20 High Ranking Backlinks of the Non-Turkey variety.   |
| Facebook Timeline – The Time is Now! Posted: 29 Jan 2012 12:15 PM PST Over the next few weeks, everyone on Facebook is going to "upgrade" to Timeline, a profile update that shares your history and online activity since you first joined Facebook with… just about everyone. When you get Timeline, you will have seven days to preview the content — just enough time to delete your Spring Break pictures before your Mom finds them. Like that baby book that your parents didn't quite get around to finishing, you can fill in information from your pre-Facebook years (remember those?) using the new status update box, which is pretty easy to update with those special moments you don't want to forget (or can't really remember), like your first date or your 21st birthday party. If you want to see how your timeline appears to other people, click the gear menu at the top of your timeline, and select "View As." You can preview how your Timeline appears to a specific person or the public. To feature something on your Timeline, scroll over the post and click the star to expand it to two columns. Or you can click the pencil to hide, delete or edit a post. Use the Privacy dropdown to change who can see your posts. You can even select "Only Me" for posts you want to save but don't want to be visible to others. For more tips on Facebook privacy, check out our recent post: How to Change Your Facebook Privacy Settings. If you just can't wait to share your Yearbook photos with your boss, you can get Timeline right now. Go to the Introducing Timeline page and click "Get Timeline."   |
| My Top Content Marketing and Social Media Tools Posted: 29 Jan 2012 11:30 AM PST The Tools That Support our Content Marketing and Social Media Efforts There are several tools available to help shape your content marketing and social media efforts. At OpenView, we use our fair share of tools and services to help us achieve our content marketing goals. Here is a listing of my favorites:
What are the content marketing or social media tools you can't live without?   |
| Social Media Tools & Tech – 15 Tips to Not Lose Your Mind! Posted: 29 Jan 2012 09:45 AM PST
As I wasted my night away in social slacker land with all my fellow slacker geeks I was amazed at how many people are simply losing their mind. I guess I am so close to all of it that I forget how many business leaders, entrepreneurs and consumers are still learning. I saw everything from spammy Facebook, Pinterest & LinkedIn pages to a landing page that guaranteed me a first page Google ranking. However, most shocking was seeing QR codes on LinkedIn and Facebook avatars. Really folks? Come on! Why on earth would you use a "code" in the place of a branding and human connection opportunity? There is NOTHING about the QR code that is going to connect me to your brand. It takes at minimum 6-7 brand touches for me to remember anything about you. Why would you waste such valuable online real estate on a code that to the human eye and remembering brain looks no different than all the other folks doing the same thing? I am a believer in leveraging technology, cool gadgets, widgets and even QR codes. However, I suggest only doing such when they can be used in a way that brings value to your audience and helps you better inspire and connect with them. Even given tonight's QR code most shocking moments and geek slacker time, I still have good news. I am now motivated to not only finish a blog post, but also write a whole new one, thus the reason for this post. With all this tech evolution it is important we not lose sight of why you are spending time on social in the first place! I hope most of you are spending time on the social networks to:
I recently wrote a post titled "The Heartbeat of Social Media" where I talk in more depth on the importance of connecting with real people. It is the human connections we make with one another that bring the greatest benefits to our time and resource spent on integrating social media into our business. So as you work to kickoff your social program, more deeply integrate social media into your business or wherever you may be in regard to social media adoption, don't lose sight of the art of social media. Social media is more than tools. The tech is the easy part. Figuring out how to inspire, educate and engage your audience after the Facebook like or follow is of most importance. 15 Tips to Stay Sane in a Tech Crazed Social World1. Humanize before you codify! Your goal should be to humanize your brand, not codify your brand. Give me something I can connect to. Talk to me in words I can understand and relate to. Show me images that help me know who you are, what you do and how you can help me.
3. Align social media to your business not the other way around. You are destined for trouble if you try to force fit your business into a Facebook page or integrated blog platform. Instead your social media and online platform priorities should align with your business goals. 4. Select business goals where social can make a difference. Not all business goals can be positively impacted by social media. Align social as a priority where social can positively impact and move you closer to your goal. 5. Get in the head of your audiences. This includes clients, prospective clients, partners, online communities, evangelists, industry influencers etc. Learn as much as you can about them. What makes them tick, click and like? How can you inspire and connect with them? How can you help them achieve their goals and objectives? 6.What action do you want your audiences and communities to take? Where will they be when they will take such action? Will they be on a mobile phone? A PC? In their car? On a plane? Will it be morning, over lunch, late at night? I know all of these questions may sound crazy but they're not. Think about where your audiences will be when they will be engaging with you on the social platforms. If they are going to be on a mobile phone then don't put a QR code on the website that links to your Facebook page! How on earth will they use it? 7. WHY should your target audience take your desired action on your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile or blog? Give them a reason. Focus on the WHY more than you focus on the tech they will use. Without the why the tech is a mute conversation as they'll never pay attention anyway. 8. Be your own social duck! Don't get caught up in the hype. Just because your entire small business networking group is putting QR codes on their Facebook pages and sending spammy email doesn't mean you should too. Be careful who you listen to and do your research before making decisions that impact your strategy and community member experience. 9. Trust your gut. Even if you are a newbie and your agency or consultant tells you to do something that just doesn't "feel right," then do some research. There are many clueless agencies and consultants that are still trying to find their way in social. They mean well but may not be giving you advice that is going to help your business. Ask them for examples. Ask them specific questions related to WHY their recommendation is a good idea. If they can't clearly help you understand how the specific technical tactic they are recommending will help you meet a specific business goal or objective then don't do it.
11. Don't spam me, please. If I connect with you on LinkedIn, do not spam me and all of my contacts. I received three different emails via LinkedIn tonight from trusted colleagues. Someone who I connected with and accepted their LinkedIn invitation made it his priority to spam folks on my contact list. He even used my name and said he and I were friends. I told all three people the truth, and they are now all going to write back to him and inform him of his spammy ways and how unsuccessful they were. We also all reported him for spam. #FAIL 12. Don't act desperate. Even if you are desperate for leads, new business, likes, friends, followers, don't use behavior that makes it obvious that you are! Swap the same time you are spamming desperation posts and emails and instead focus on your own goals, objectives and market research. If you do the proper planning you'll see better results and won't have to beg for online friends. Trust me, it works! 13. Keep it simple. When all else fails go back to business 101. I sometimes think people are forgetting everything they ever learned. It's not that hard folks. You are in business to sell product or service. You have a particular market you want to sell your product or service to. Social media is nothing more than a new channel for you to communicate, inspire and better connect with clients, partners, prospects and more. Don't over think or over complicate it more than it has to be at the early stages. 14. Prioritize new tools and technology. You don't have to be on every social network and use every social tool, gadget, plugin available. Schedule geek time. Schedule a specific amount of time to "play with new tools" if you are a tech and shiny object geek like me. I find that if I set specific "geek time" then I am far more productive the other parts of my week. When incorporating a new tool or technology into your social strategy be sure that you do your research first and align it to your business goals and objectives.
There is hope. Even if you are guilty of all of the above, don't freak out. You can easily pull your QR code down if it's not justified. You can work this week on your goals and objectives. Don't get lazy and think you'll never be able to fix it and move forward in a positive way. Stop the spam now. Stop begging for likes today. Focus on your business and audience first and the rest will come much easier! Trust me, it really does work! Your TurnAre you an admitted tech addicted geek? Or a you a newbie who has fallen victim to the latest tech or codifying gadget? Remember the first step to recover is to admit publicly your faults and commit to positive action. If you have already recovered or never had issues with tech and tool addiction, what advice do you have for others? How do you prioritize and not lose your mind in this crazy social tech geek world?   |
| The Only Thing That’s Dead Is Your Crappy “Everything Is Dead” Meme Posted: 29 Jan 2012 09:30 AM PST I'm a little tired. Not physically. I could always do with a little more sleep, but then so can everyone. No. I'm more tired about the constant "The End of PR", "The End of Marketing", "The End of Print" and "The End of Advertising" missives that seem to be flying about at the minute. I can't open my email subscriptions without the latest link shouting out "The end of…. Where now for Industry X?". I'm an avid blog reader and use Alltop regularly to find interesting stories from my industry and beyond. Yet it seems that there's an "End of…" blog post for every *normal* one at the minute. Why? Why do we have to bang the nails into the coffin of industries that are still very much alive? Why do we have to look at an industry that's been around for years as "ending", just because there are new tools available? Is there really such a thing as an ending, anyway? End or Mend?Instead of saying an industry is ending, how about we say it's mending instead? If an industry is really viewed as being broken, should we be closing the door on it or helping it back on its feet? If your pet breaks its leg in an accident, do you immediately want to put it to sleep or do you love it back to health? If you break the point on your trusty pencil, do you sharpen it or throw it in the bin? Even when that pencil eventually writes its last word, you don't stop using pencils – you start afresh. But it's still with the same type of pencil. When you've taken your last step on a particular journey, it doesn't mean your travels are over – it simply means there's a new journey to begin. It's easy to say something is finished – you don't have to worry about it anymore as it heads for that big garbage bag of irrelevance. The harder part is making irrelevant into relevant. It's not easy, but if there are solid enough foundations already there, isn't it better than starting again? image: Black Glenn   |
| Discuss: Are You a Facebook Liker or Lurker? Posted: 29 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST
While I know that folks at RapLeaf and Social Intelligence play this game, there are legitimate reasons why Facebook makes it damn difficult for you and me to pull this info. I hope I need not explain any further than by pointing-out the umpteen visceral reactions Facebook users have had to each and every change made to the social networking site. But clearly, it is helpful to be able to know who's liked you, yes? Your goals are to provide useful and valuable content, yes? Of course. And you want to know how many of your customers are there versus prospects and others. But useful content doesn't always earn you the interactions or better yet, the leads you want. We will hear a lot about 2012 'being the year of engagement.' Give it some thought each time you come across that idea. Ask yourself what you're doing to earn your likes… to keep those likes. Take a look at Facebook Insights for your brand page. What do those numbers tell you? Are you connecting with folks at optimal times? Where do your followers live? US metro areas? The UK? Brazil? There are lots of questions to consider. Many of you might be fan-gating "premium" content on your Facebook pages. Does that mean your likes are targeted such that visitors hang on every update you share? What's the value of your gate? An iPad or some other prize? Or is it exclusive content that your stakeholders can't get anywhere else? The former is fun (I actually won an iPad this way!) but the latter is where the value lies. To be honest, I don't do business with the company that handed me that free iPad. I suspect most winners of these contests don't, either. I've done targeted fan-gating a couple times at EMC. It works with the right message and content. I'd even argue that given access to demographic info on EMC's corporate Facebook page, that 75% of those "likers" are interested in what the company has to say. Are some of these folks employees? Sure, but they have networks too. And they need to be influenced same as any other. So while you seek to know who your Facebook audience might be, take a step back and ask yourself if you're doing everything possible to deliver valuable content to targeted audiences. Are you listening to them and engaging in their comments? Do you have repeating commentators on your wall? Are you correlating your wall activity to other initiatives, both online and offline? Lastly, what are YOU saying on your own wall? Are you asking engaging questions? Giving useful feedback? Or are you merely sharing links to other content? It's perfectly fine to share content. Just be sure you're asking folks to engage and not just click away to read that article. Image courtesy norebbo.com   |
| Easy SM Tips: Facebook Unsubscribe Posted: 29 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST Unfriending people can be a traumatic experience for both you and others. I don't know about you, but I definitely get tired of seeing updates from people that I met years ago who don't talk to me. While some would unfriend them, I figure, why burn the bridge? Now, you don't have to. To stop seeing them in your news feed, all you have to do is go to their profile, click 'Subscribed', then click 'Unsubscribe' at the bottom of the menu. (You're automatically subscribed to anyone that you're friends with.) You can also further customize what you do/don't want to be subscribed to within a person's feed, along with general settings such as "All Updates", "Most Updates" or "Only Important". On the other side, you also have the ability to 'Subscribe' to people who you aren't friends with, such as celebrities. You can only do this for people that have allowed subscribers. More info can be found on Facebook's Subscribe page. You can also allow public subscriptions by clicking "Allow Subscribers" on the preceding link.   |
| Is Pinterest Right for Your Business, or Should You ‘Put a Pin’ in It? Posted: 29 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST
Is Pinterest even meant for business? Strictly speaking, no. No one who has set up an account and taken time to check the site out for any length of time would think that Pinterest is a social media site meant for business. And since it is still in Beta mode, and open to users by invitation only (to get an invitation, check with your friends or contacts on Facebook, it's likely that someone will be able to send you an invitation), it will be interesting to see where its developers take the site. That said, you can use it to build brand awareness and even to feature products and services, but my advice would be to use it sparingly and judiciously for those purposes, and participate on it as an individual if it is something that interests you, first and foremost. To know whether Pinterest is right for you or your business, you need to know what it's being used for and who is using it. Who is using Pinterest?Again, a short foray into Pinterest itself will quickly reveal to you that it's users are mainly (overwhelmingly) female. The site is used by individuals who share their own or other people's handcrafted decorations and décor, home decorating styles, personal fashion styles, wedding ideas, party ideas, recipes and food presentation, kids crafts and rooms, quotes, graphics, DIY (do-it-yourself) how-to and other inspirations. If you don't see your business's target markets or your own interests represented in those categories, then it's unlikely that Pinterest is right for you, at least not right now. If you do find members of your ideal client types represented by those types of interests, though, here are some guidelines to help you get started with this social media site:
Want more? Likeable.com’s article on how to curate your brand on Pinterest [here] suggests that you ‘pin’ contests and giveaways (great idea!), create an online catalog by way of its pin boards and pin relevant how-to and special interest content.    |
| Confessions, Klout and Contradictions Posted: 28 Jan 2012 04:20 PM PST In my third set of musings around social influence and indexing tools such as Klout, I feel it is time to confess a few things. But first, you may have noticed from my previous posts – I am not a fan of the importance being put on the afore mentioned tools in the industry. I think it is dangerous to put so much faith into tools that generate arbitrary numbers, that can be altered at the whim of a developer and whose algorithms are closely guarded, when jobs and money rely on them. I am however, not naive. I know how important it is for social networking experts and marketing types to be able to quantify their success with social media and in turn the worth of social media in their jobs and companies. You can’t draw a pretty chart or info graphic from anecdotal comments from Twitter. Men in suits who hold the purse strings need to see numbers. It is a fact of all industry life that we all just have to accept. I even understand why the algorithms are so guarded. The more transparent they are, the easier it is for people to game the system. It is also much harder to protect your Intellectual Property of every one knows exactly how you are doing it all. So, for my confession. I’m quite addicted to Klout. But I am addicted to it in the same way as I am addicted to Call of Duty. It is all about the game. I noticed this when my Klout dropped to 49. I suddenly realised I cared. Because I had been quieter for a few weeks than usual, a computer had decided I was less influential. This annoyed me a little. It reminded me of just how pointless this sort of thing can be. It also made me start generating content again. You see, no matter how much I hate Klout, I hate losing more! This brings me to another mini confession. Whilst I have blogged on and off for a while, in the last few months I set myself a challenge. I wanted to try and raise my profile a little. I wanted to raise my Klout. Don’t get me wrong. I love writing. Everything I write is my real opinion and I wrote it because I wanted to. I will continue to do so and even without the likes of Klout, would have been writing anyway. But Klout gave me a tangible challenge. On an individual level it was a great driver and could be of little harm. My activity and writing has also allowed me to chat to real influencers in the industry. They have read my views and I am not ashamed to say I enjoy when they agree or give constructive feedback. It never hurts to have a gentle ego stroke. So there we have it. I love Klout. I also hate Klout. Life’s complicated, I’m a person with contradictory opinions and you can take them or leave them – I will continue to have them with or without you, but would love to hear your views either way.   |
I spent some time last evening cruising around Facebook, LinkedIn, Goolge+, Pinterest, and a few hundred other platforms. I had high hopes for finishing a couple blog posts but instead got lured in by the latest social news. You know how it is. Just as we get use to something it changes, a ticker is added, more of our activity gets shared, a new social network is born, mobile app launched and the list goes on.
2. Know your goals and objectives. What are you doing and why? Why, why, why, should be the question you ask yourself over and over.
10. Quit telling me to like your page! I can't believe how many business leaders who have been properly trained and doing social media for quite some time are still doing this. I know you want Facebook likes. We all do. What should matter more to you is that I feel inspired to click "like." A like is only valuable if I come back, if you make a lasting impression in my brain. When you keep asking me to "like" you or help you get to a certain number of "likes" it actually makes me question more why I liked your page to begin with and that maybe I should unlike it? Focus also on the people who have 
15. Embrace the heartbeat of social media. Don't ever lose sight of the people of social media. Social media is nothing without communities and the people within them. One can not breathe or last without the other. Focus on providing value, sharing your best stuff and you will see result. Focus on offering the tweet that makes someone's day, week or month. Share the knowledge via a blog post that solves business problems, inspires change or even gives them a dose of reality in an area they need to wake up and smell the coffee. Whatever it is make it real, make it you and make it about the people!
Hardly a week goes by when some enterprising colleague asks me how to identify, segment, market to, and effectively stalk (my words, not theirs) their company page's Facebook followers.
The phase, "let's put a pin in this" means that something may be a good idea or suggestion, but that you are going to pin it to a bulletin board (really or symbolically) for further study. But since early adopters generally get the most ROI from being among the first to really understand and utilize new communications, you might not want to "stick a pin" in Pinterest, which landed among the top 10 social media sites with nearly as much traffic as Google+ according to 
Instead, you might want to start pinning on Pinterest on behalf of your business sooner, rather than later. Now that I've spent a few weeks sleuthing through the site pinning interests of my own at| You are subscribed to email updates from Social | Business 2 Community To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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