Have you ever been in a good conversation with someone and been interrupted by a dumb comment from a by passer? They had no idea how the conversation came up, but they felt the need to give their opinion and try to influence you one way or the other. You probably thought that the by passer wasn’t too bright. They could have at least listened for a few minutes before commenting. It’s the same way with social media. As a business owner, if you try to jump on social media sites without a plan, just because someone said you should be there- you might get the same response.

Although, there are many social media sites on the internet and more being created every day, one should know they can’t all be approached the same way.  For example: if you have a Twitter account, you’re limited to 140 characters for your tweet. So obliviously, you don’t want to try to type in the company bio in one tweet. A company that uses Twitter well is Zappos. They’ve been able to relate to customers on a social level just by their president tweeting about his daily activities. On Facebook, the story is different. For example: Morevisibility has a Facebook page that posts recent blogs and videos. In the realm of Facebook, a company can present their bio information, mission statement etc., without seeming intrusive to fans.

Whenever, a company is looking to get on a social media site, it must evaluate why. Are they doing this because it’s the latest craze or is their a method to their madness? Each social site is different and has to be evaluated individually. If a company attempts to join a social media site without a strategy, it could backfire. Just like a company employs a strategy to reach its target audience in their advertising; a strategy should also be implemented to reach people on social sites. A key note to remember is that social media is about socializing. On most social sites, your job isn’t to be a salesperson; your job is to be a friend. The best way to do well on a social media site is to learn about the site and it’s “socialites”. Just like Mr. T would say “I pity the fool that doesn’t have a social media plan.”

Everywhere you go it seems people cannot stop talking about Facebook.  I have been approached by several clients who are interested in advertising on there.  While having a presence on a social media channel such as Facebook, is important, it may not be the best solution for every type of business.

Facebook ads can be targeted towards members not only by their age, location, martial status, sex and education level, but also by the interests indicated in their profile.  Advertisers are able to select the audience they wish to reach; however, this may not work for certain industries.  For example, an auto accident attorney in Phoenix, Arizona may want to start participating in Facebook.  The attorney will be able to select the Phoenix area as the geographic location, along with the gender and age group; however they would be unable to select ‘auto accidents’ as an interest when choosing the audience.  By only selecting the geographic area of Phoenix, the attorney runs a great risk of having the ads display on undesirable user profiles.  Another suggestion that may work better would be to create a page or group for the attorney.  Searchers would then be able to fan the page and learn more about the attorney’s services.

An example of a business that may perform extremely well in Facebook would be a nighclub.  This advertiser would be able to not only specify sex and marital status, but also particular interests such as, nightclubs, dancing and music.  Not only would they be able to reach the desired demographic but also users who have these particular interests.  In addition, this advertiser may also want to set up a page or group within Facebook for additional advertising saturation.

Facebook is a powerful social media tool that can help you bring your business to the next level.  There are many different components within Facebook that you can utilize. Whether you choose to participate in pay per click advertising or otherwise, don’t miss out on the huge potential Facebook offers.

With Google Insights for Search, you can “compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties”.  Don’t you wish Facebook provided a similar tool for search and wall-posting activity that occurs within its ecosystem?  They do….it’s called Lexicon….and it’s FREE! If your business is still in on the fence with regard to launching and maintaining a presence in Facebook, I suggest utilizing a combination of tools (namely Lexicon) and manual research to help determine the most appropriate strategy for gaining visibility and engaging with your customers and prospects.

A comparison of the terms “iphone” and “blackberry” are illustrated below.

Although Lexicon does not currently provide the granular level of segmentation that Google Insights does, these features are in the works and can be previewed here:  http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/#/lexicon/new/.  Cool new features include:

• Demographic Trends: breaks down who is discussing a given
  topic by age, gender, and country
• Associations Graph:  plots terms that are frequently mentioned alongside the topic
• Sentiments:  percentage of positive versus negative posts
• Pulse:  shows keywords that frequently occur in the Profiles of users who mentioned the topic or keyword
• Maps:  shows where people are talking about the topic

Of the new features in the pipeline, it is tough to choose just 1 favorite.  Associations, Sentiments, and Pulse are my personal faves.  Associations are similar to “Rising Searches” or “Breakout Searches” provided by Google Insights.  The Associations graph is great for identifying related terms that are used in conjunction with the core term you are researching.  See below for associations with “Swine Flu” wall posts in Facebook.

Consider using the same language in your Wall Posts as your prospective customers.  Just how you should position yourself depends on your overall strategy for the channel.  Using the Sentiments info provided by Lexicon can help guide the process.  Lexicon Sentiments gives you an idea of positive versus negative commentary on the term you are researching.  If you find that there is an overall negative sentiment toward your product / brand, be prepared to address the concerns head on! 

Pulse is awesome!  It gives you insight into interests (keywords) of users posting content relative to the keyword you are researching.  This data can be tremendously valuable when setting up Sponsored Ads.  For example, if I wanted to target football enthusiasts, Lexicon provides me with a list of keywords to include in targeting for my ad.  The example below provides a breakdown of favorite TV Shows for users who posted wall content relevant to “football”.

While proactive keyword research and competitive analysis is critical to planning an engagement strategy for entering new platforms (or markets), Lexicon is not generally one of the go-to tools; it has somehow managed to go unnoticed by many online marketers.  Maybe it is the excitement of Google Insights or the buzz about Twitter Search that has pulled would-be users into other channels.  Perhaps subscription-based options give users a greater sense of value?  Before heading down the road of paid or proprietary tools, check out what people are saying about you on Wall Posts in the Facebook ecosystem.

Tweeting across language borders can be challenging, but if you are marketing internationally, Twitter can be a great way to reach across cultural boundaries and engage a whole new audience. For example, did you know that the most widely spoken language in the world is Chinese? In order to use Twitter internationally, consider employing a Twitter Translator. One new promising tool comes from Mloovi.com. It takes your tweet and translates it using Google’s Translation tool:

Not only that but any tweets coming in from another language can be translated into English (or whatever language you prefer – they cover 42 languages including Chinese, Greek and Arabic). If you want to try it now, go to: http://mloovitweet.com/. 

If you have some knowledge of the other language and want to review your tweets before you send them, you can also use Google’s translator tool directly: http://translate.google.com.

This takes a little longer, but lets me preview my tweet before I send it out to the world.

Even considering the potential for misunderstanding, using translation software can help you get a better understanding of international friends and potential new customers. If you have a good relationship with your followers and explain that you are using translation software, they’ll likely understand any small language mishaps.

The tool is in development now and as with any automatic translator, it won’t be perfect, so you’ll want to be careful not to challenge it with slang English terms – keep the language straightforward and simple to avoid misunderstandings. If you are unsure of this and prefer to stick to English, go ahead and tweet internationally in English as English is a popular second language and your followers will likely understand your English tweets as well. In that case, you might just want to use the tool to understand when your international correspondents tweet in their native language.

In any case, don’t be afraid to expand your world and use Twitter internationally to find new customers across cultural and international borders.

In the world of marketing, everyone knows that branding is a critical component of how your business is portrayed to the public. A known slogan, a catchy phrase or jingle such as “You’re in good hands with Allstate” or “Always Coca Cola” can set you apart from the competition. Included in branding one’s company is having a visual such as a logo that triggers your company name or product in someone’s, mind when they see it. Favicons are becoming increasingly popular on the internet and they will be making even more headway if Yahoo has its way.

According to Wikipedia, Favicons are “a 16×16 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage.” In basic terms, it’s a mini logo that shows up before your company’s url in the address window.
This example shows Wikipeida’s Favicon,

 which is the “W” in front of their url.

Favicons can be a huge benefit, because they reinforce your brand logo when people are on your site. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m a visual person.” Now, you can reach out even more by adding a Favicon to your website.  What’s even more exciting is what Yahoo is planning to do with Favicons in the near future.

Yahoo has started testing Favicons on sponsored search ads. Think about it, your logo right next to your search ad. Not only does this give your ad more credibility, it helps your brand stand out from the competition. According to Yahoo, “when a user searches for “Expedia,” or another search that matches your domain name, that same favicon will show up next to the URL in your ad.”

This is especially beneficial when competitors are bidding on your name.
Here’s a perfect example. Most of us have had a competitor bid on our name, in an attempt to lure away consumers who were looking for our brand or company name. Now, with Favicons, (if you’ve branded yourself correctly) a consumer will recognize your ad because of your Favicon. Even better, if you’re new to the business world and need to brand yourself, what better way to do it than having your favicon (logo) next to your ad?

I’m looking forward to Yahoo opening up Favicons on sponsored ads to the entire market. It’s a great way to brand your company and increase top of mind awareness. Just to wet your appetite. Here’s an example of a Favicon with a sponsored ad.

As business owners continue to learn and accept social media, urgency of branding awaits. The more social media is exposed to business owners on a personal level, the more acceptable and suitable it should become for their businesses to engage in these channels. The popularity of social media is too hard to ignore. But as business owners are starting to engage, one frequent incident they may encounter is the unavailability of acquiring their brand terms for page/profile names.

It’s an even greater challenge to try and have the same branding page name throughout all social media networks. To avoid this, business owners should look for emerging channels and preserve their branding names in new social media networks as they arise. If a business owner feels that social media is important to their business or that it could be, they should look into the availability of some of their branding terms.

So log-on. A good practice would be to go into Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and Twitter and begin to create accounts and get a feel for what’s still available in the order of your branding terms and try to create a “super-user” name in all the networks. This shows a strong branding presence and could precisely connect users to your profile across other networks.

Even if you don’t have immediate plans for setting up social media profile pages, you still need to secure your brand. If not, your competitors and venture opportunists will. If finding time to put into social media networks is your biggest obstacle, Morevisibility offers these services.

Not buying into the Facebook Frenzy? Sick of being asked to follow your friends on Twitter? Feel like you might burst if one more person tries to connect with you on LinkedIn? Don’t know or care what a blog is?

Even if these questions apply to you on a personal level, the truth of the matter is that now, more than ever before, large and small companies are testing out the waters with the implementation of a social media strategy

In this tough economic climate, social media is a cost-effective way to get your message out to prospective customers. Whether we are talking about a YouTube video, Facebook Profile, Twitter page, or an onsite blog, social media is sizzling hot right now and is literally all around us. Many clients I speak with are allocating a respectable budget for social media efforts this year. According to a recent article by the Aberdeen Group, a leading provider of fact-based research, 21% of best-in-class companies are looking to increase their social media marketing budgets more than 25% in 2009.

A concern I often hear from clients is that they do not fully understand social media enough to invest the time and/or budget to focus on it; especially when they do not utilize these networks on a personal level. The unknown is always a bit scary, but diving into social media and embracing the unknown is well worth it. MoreVisibility ran a social media boot camp series last month, which highlighted: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and YouTube, all of which are being professionally utilized by a growing number of companies. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the webinar series.

Don’t be such a skeptic. Embrace the art of “collaborative content” and experience all of the benefits! Let social media work for you the way it is working for a growing number of companies, large and small.  Then, you can even “tweet” about it on Twitter!

By now I am sure that you have heard of Twitter.  People are using it to connect with others to share small bits of information.  “Twitterers” are using this service to keep in contact with old friends, follow celebrity gossip or even look for business products and information.  As a business, it is important to have a custom Twitter channel to help capture some of these users who may be searching for what you are tweeting about. 

As you build a following on Twitter, it can be increasingly difficult to manage.  With more followers comes more interaction, and with thousands of followers, keeping those interactions personal and up to date can be difficult.  Luckily, many third party developers have been designing applications to help with the management of your Twitter channel.  Below are a few of my favorites that can help businesses manage their Twitter channel.

Tweet3 – This service is great for businesses that may have multiple Twitter channels.  Some businesses have a channel for the main business and another channel for their customer service department.  Tweet3 allows you to have one central place to log in and manage all of your Twitter channels.  This can help you to organize your channels better without having to log into separate accounts.  It also contains an analytics package that will help you to track your tweets, followers and interactions.

CoTweet – Some businesses have one Twitter channel with multiple people wanting to create tweets and interact with customers.  CoTweet Beta is a great tool for that.  It allows many people to share information through a Twitter channel, while retaining their personal identity if desired.

TwitterHawk – This is well suited for those with a larger budget.  TwitterHawk allows you to create custom responses to users who search for “keywords” you predetermine.  When a Twitter user mentions your search criteria, a tweet is sent to them automatically on your behalf.  You can have up to 5 auto responses, and the cost is five cents per tweet sent.

Mobile Applications – With the advent of many mobile Twitter applications, now anyone can Tweet from anywhere, no matter what kind of device you have.  Now you don’t have to be bound by your computer to make updates throughout the day.  You can use your phone to send updates about what you are doing from anywhere.  For a list of the most popular mobile twitter applications broken down by device, please visit: http://mashable.com/2008/12/21/twitter-mobile-applications/

Social media networks are valuable for marketing as they enable companies to build a personality outside of their website, express points of view on various topics and share their industry expertise within communities where they can build relationships with potential customers.

Social media marketing is becoming more and more prominent, however, building a company presence can be a headache if it is not approached in a thoughtful manner.  It seems as though many companies are not sure how to begin even though they may be familiar with channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, on a personal level. To get started on the right foot, there are a few things to take into consideration.

The first two questions that are important to answer are: “Why should my company have a presence within the channel(s)?” and “What should my company strive to achieve (what are the goals) within the channel(s)?”  Without being able to answer these questions, how will you know if you are successful?  Once you can answer these, you may also find it a bit easier to establish a “voice” for your company.

Take into consideration who will be managing the channel(s). This can be approached in different ways.  For instance, have you decided to launch a social media presence for customer service purposes?  Or, is your presence intended to be a means for your company leaders to share information or industry specific news from a management level perspective?  The voice that you portray and who manages your channel(s) will obviously go hand in hand.
 
You should also know your audience. Once you identify who you are trying to reach, you can determine the channels that are the best fit for your company. Don’t forget to research smaller, industry specific communities that may exist relevant to your business.  Individuals within these niche communities will likely be better targets for potential customers.  Although there will be a smaller audience, the audience will likely be more relevant for what you have to contribute. Recognizing your audience will also help you to tailor your messaging. Should you share industry information, promotions, special offerings, company news, or all of the above?

Without knowing the answers to the questions above, you may find yourself without a clear direction for your social media marketing efforts, leading to a disappointing or overwhelming experience.

It seems hard to imagine just six years ago, MySpace was created, revolutionizing the internet. It can be said that MySpace was the beginning of what we all now know as social media. Two short years later, Facebook came into the picture.

Facebook has steadily grown while MySpace has been declining. It was less than a year ago that MySpace had more visitors than Facebook. However, according to comScore, MySpace had 124 million monthly unique visitors last month, a decline of 2%. In contrast, Facebook garnered 276 million unique visitors, an increase of 16.6%.

According to the graph below from Compete, Facebook overtook MySpace in December 2008 and continues its growth, while MySpace experiences a sharp decline in visitors.

While the largest demographic on Facebook is ages 18-25, the fastest growing demographic is women aged 55 and over. This could be a major contributing reason for Facebook surpassing MySpace in the number of visitors.

By now, we know that internet users are very fickle and what is today’s social hot spot could be tomorrows passing fad. By this time next year, we could start to see other social networks, like Twitter or LinkedIn surpassing these social media giants, making both Facebook and MySpace yesterday’s new.