Have you ever wondered if there is a system you can use to connect all of the social networks you use? Look no further, Meebo is a free service that allows users to gather all their friends in one single buddy list.

Meebo offers real time interactions with different IM platforms which facilitate talking and sharing information easily. Platforms that are supported by Meebo include AIM, Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Facebook IM and many others.

Meebo offers these services through a variety of tools such as a Meebo bar, Meebo notifier, Meebo me, Meebo rooms, Meebo mobile and even as an extension for Firefox. These services can be very useful for a marketing strategy since it provides an organized and compact approach for interacting with clients using social media. Meebo provides multiple services that can be useful to maintain a close and real time contact with clients and with company employees as well.

The Meebo Bar allows the option of sharing and chatting on a blog or site, the Meebo notifier on the other hand provides a connection without the use of a browser and displays messages on your computer. This can be very useful in a working environment. The Meebo me, allows you to add a chat to your blog or site, which enables you to chat with visitors/clients and keep track of them as well. The Meebo rooms allow you to chat and share media on chat rooms or a site. The Firefox extension provides the same service as an add-on to Firefox, where you can see your buddy list and be able to chat and drag and drop links to the conversations. Another service offered is Meebo mobile, which is an app for mobile devices including the iPhone, Android phones and Windows based mobile phones. This application provides the buddy list, and Chat service.

The use of this type of application can help SEO by providing real time updates to users’ accounts such as Twitter recently added to Meebo and Facebook, enabling the search results provided by Google to include the latest information posted. This being through a computer or through a mobile phone, which allows you to post any information to your social media accounts wherever you are, that is if using a 3G network.

Google Buzz was introduced to the world just a few short weeks ago as a new Social Media tool that allows for sharing of status updates, images, and videos via a new Gmail tab called Google Buzz. However in that short time, it has garnered plenty of attention and publicity. Unfortunately for Google, most of it hasn’t been the good kind. The search giant is being slammed by many outlets for Buzz’s lack of privacy, by sharing personal information without a user’s consent. Basically Google was ‘making’ you socially connected with people that you share email information with, which for all of us is a pretty scary concept.

Stories flew around about people getting caught cheating and women being reconnected with abusive ex-husbands. Very quickly, Buzz was tarnished. Google quickly scrambled to adjust their privacy settings in order to placate their users. These new options give users more control over the information you want shared.

But it’s far from over… Not a week later, Google is involved in a local class action complaint, where a Florida resident claims they have broken several electronic communications laws. It’s only a matter of time until we hear about more of these types of cases. 

It’s concerning to watch such a giant corporation go through the deployment of a new product with so many bumps in a short span of time. It will be very interesting to see how Google responds and reacts to all the ‘buzz’ on Google Buzz.

If you’ve logged into Facebook recently, it’s apparent that some features have moved around. The general navigation is at the top right, the subcategories for advertising are on the far left and messaging as well as notifications are icons on the top left. However, with all these changes, the biggest change that Facebook has made recently is offering a beta test of conversion tracking to a small group of advertisers.

Conversion tracking, according to Facebook “allows you to track activity that happens on your website as a result of someone on Facebook seeing or clicking your Facebook Ad.” This will be a key benefit for marketers, once Facebook opens up conversion tracking to everyone. Conversion tracking allows marketers to track performance of Facebook ads, which helps them optimize their advertising strategies. A likely outcome is that more companies will be willing to give Facebook ads a try.

Many companies haven’t advertised on Facebook yet because they don’t know how to calculate their ROI. Some have the opinion that because their analytics didn’t show any sales or leads from Facebook then it must not work. However, this is not the case. In fact, the opposite may be true. There are many people who will buy from a company’s site because they saw an ad on Facebook. (This is similar to Google’s view through conversion- read View through Conversion Tracking and Advocate for Display Ads).  Now, with Facebook conversion tracking, Facebook will start to get more credit for sales or leads that it’s bringing to a company’s website.

Facebook is making itself more appealing to marketers. Conversion tracking will be a huge asset and it will encourage those who have been skeptical, to take the Facebook jump. It will be interesting to see how Facebook evolves and what other features they add in the future.

I have spent a lot of time over the past few months debating my personal path into Social Media. As a company, MoreVisibility has been very active in the appropriate channels for quite a while (both for ourselves and for clients), but personally I have stayed on the sidelines.

The question I keep circling back to is whether a corporate presence is sufficient, or whether it is appropriate (or practically necessary) for me to be out there as well. The opinions I have received from colleagues and friends are widely divergent.

After scoping out the various options, I have (for right or for wrong) narrowed my focus to Twitter. Some of the folks I have spoken to feel that Twitter is too much non-important chatter, while others believe it presents an unprecedented branding and business development opportunity. One peer was able to document new business her firm has received as a result of her individual participation.

Even though I feel like I am a bit late to the party, my research indicates that I am actually early relative to many other business owners; or maybe they have decided that it’s not right for them?

An additional dimension of my uncertainty is the notion that Social Media shouldn’t be attempted half-heartedly and once you start, you can’t really stop if you want to be taken seriously. That’s what we tell our clients anyway. So I am trying to figure out whether I should allocate the time to tackle it properly. My Twitter profile is twitter.com/andrewwetzler. To date, I have never made a tweet. Please feel free to follow along to see if I jump into the pond.

At $3.99 to download, I would be hard pressed to pay for an application that provides me with (enhanced) CPR instruction.  While I can certainly see the value in having access to potential life-saving information there is 1 key factor (outside of limited discretionary income) stopping me from making the purchase….I use a Blackberry.  Where is the love for Blackberry users?  After all, we Blackberry users still account for over 40% of the Smartphone platform market share, according to comScore. 

The iphone application (Pocket First Aid & CPR) that proclaimed to have saved Dan Wolley’s life and helped pull him through the earthquake in Haiti got a lot of play in the weeks following.  There have been tons of articles – retweets, blog posts, etc all creating enormous buzz for the iTunes app store and American Red Cross.  This online conversation helped move the application to its own all-time high #49 on apple’s Top 50 Paid Applications List.  This is clear evidence that word of mouth / viral / social media marketing works well and can show quick results.  However, it is not the end-all answer for getting more visibility for your iphone application.  According to a recent article, “that bump may be short-lasted; as of Jan. 27, it has fallen back to No. 76, and sales seem to be on their way back down.”  Unless there are plans to capitalize on the buzz created around this app, we can expect to see its popularity decline, along with the overall drop in web search query volume relative to the earthquake in Haiti.  Google Insights for search illustrates this point below in charting the Worldwide search query popularity for the phrase “Haiti iphone”.

While the iphone and Android Smartphone provide allow developers to use more bells and whistles, the adoption of these devices is still taking hold.   If you have application development on your radar for 2010, be sure your plans include existing customers and visitors to your website.  Many of your existing / potential customers may be limited by service providers in their area, added expense of upgrading a device, ongoing monthly expense, etc.  To see which devices your customers and prospects have been using to access your website, tap into Google Analytics Mobile Reports.  Refer to Emily McNair’s post, titled Mobile App Considerations, for other key items to think about in developing mobile applications.

You may have heard that Google is entering the social media realm with their new product called Buzz.  If you already use Gmail, you may already be aware of Buzz.  Essentially, Buzz will take your current list of contacts and have you “follow” them and they can follow you as well.  With this new feature, you can now share photos, status updates, and other information more easily than before with your friends.

Once you signup for an account, or start using it within Gmail, you can choose to make your profile private or semi-private, and add links to the other social networks that you participate in.  Some have already raised concerns about Buzz attaching to your Gmail because it will now make many email addresses public.  Is this something you really want to do?  And making your profile private only prevents it from being indexed in the search results.  You will be provided a Google profile URL, and if someone knows this URL, they can see all of your content such as photos, status updates, etc. This is unlike other networks such as Facebook, where you can make all of your information private.  In Facebook, even if someone knows your personal URL, they can’t see all of your information unless you give them permission to do so from your account settings.

Another interesting aspect is that it doesn’t seem to be built for businesses, at least for now.  At first, Facebook was only peer to peer and businesses were not allowed.  But now a business can create a fan page and promote goods and services and market to their fans.  With Google Buzz being integrated into Gmail, how will businesses be able to get in this space? I think due to the ability for fan pages, Facebook has grown. Other social networks, like MySpace have made it harder for businesses to have a page and therefore their popularity and growth has decreased.

Time will tell if Google Buzz will be the next social media giant, but for now, I am a bit skeptical.  What are your thoughts?

Social Media has certainly been a significant area of growth for online marketers over the past year. According to a study conducted by Econsultancy, only 17% of those surveyed said they do a good job measuring ROI from social media.  At the same time 70% are planning to increase their social media marketing budgets in 2010.
 
All companies who advertise online should be tracking their website’s data in some way, typically through an analytics platform, such as Google Analytics.  With social media on the other hand, the activity that occurs within these channels can be difficult to track. People often look for concrete numbers and sales, but within social media it’s not always that clear-cut.  While you can code links and see referring traffic, other important measurements are overlooked.

Within each channel, evaluating success will be different.  For instance, in Facebook you can view your Page Insights to assess information about the interactions fans have had with your Page. Just last month, Facebook also announced Post Insights, which lets “Page administrators find out how many impressions each story on their Page receives and what percentage of those impressions result in action (likes, comments, or clicks). “  In other Social Media channels such as Twitter, you can use URL shortening services such as bit.ly or hootsuite.com, which both have their own tracking capabilities built in. YouTube also has Insights available to view data about the videos posted.

These are only a few ways to measure success. It’s important to understand that positive dialogue about your company and an increased awareness of your brand can mean success for social media. So as you’re working to grow your social media presence, take a look into channel specific measurements of success as well as pay attention to the conversations held.  Are they positive?  Are people spreading the information that you post? Social media doesn’t always lead to direct sales, but positive interaction over time and increasing brand awareness certainly can.

I recently saw a video on CNN about a new product from a company called NeuroSky, which enables users to control a floating ball with their mind. The user wears a headset that reads brain signals and sends a message to the device which floats a ball inside a cylinder.

The technology will be marketed as a toy at first and later extended into reality T.V. shows, automobiles, and video games. It’s also being used for professional archers competing in the Olympics.

Imagine this type of technology in conjunction with handhelds and touch screens in which you could send a tweet with your thoughts or download an app to relieve stress. You may even be able to connect with your audience in new emotional and intellectual ways which have never before been achievable.

NeuroSky boasts a Brainwave Visualizer, Bluetooth Audio, Developer Tools, and even a video game with a character named NeuroBoy in which the user can mentally float objects and throw them.

It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but technology is changing the way we live our lives everyday. The future is now! You knew I was going to say that, right?

Since I can remember, Super Bowl Sundays were more then just a football game, as many viewers tuned in primarily for the commercials. With the ever-changing trends and the large shift toward online marketing and social media networking, businesses are starting to invest their advertising dollars in other mediums outside of television.

When this past Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials aired, many familiar brands had returned, but for the first time in over 20 years, Pepsi has opted to take a different approach. The world renowned company has readjusted their advertising dollars from television to social media. Pepsi Co. decided not to spend $2.8 million on a 30-second spot. Instead, the company created the Pepsi Refresh Project community on both Facebook and their website, which will donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations, individuals and companies with great ideas.

(Pepsi Refresh Facebook Page)

Pepsi’s Refresh Project will fund over $20 million to fan’s ideas that will have a positive impact on the world, environment, health and cultures. Pepsi’s Refresh Project is an interactive web community that engages with fans by allowing them to submit for grants, as well as vote for other’s submissions such as sending Girl Scout cookies to troops overseas, creating a diaper bank for poverty stricken families or building a garden to supply fresh produce to the local food pantry. Pepsi’s innovative social networking campaign has built an engaging community of fans who will continue to interact for months. Celebrities like Rhianna, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon have also become a part of the Pepsi Refresh Project. They too are asking Americans to vote on which idea they’d like to see implemented.

Why not shift your advertising efforts to a free social media platform that has more than 350 million active users, of which about 70% of those Facebook users are outside the United States? There are more than 700,000 local businesses with active Fan Pages for which more than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day. It’s an ever-growing community that spans across the globe.

This recent Pepsi initiative is one of many that represent a significant shift and trend of well known brands and companies moving their advertising efforts to social media.  If large companies like Pepsi can effectively cut advertising dollars and dedicate their advertising efforts to building relationships with customers through social media, then who’s to stay that others won’t follow suit?

There was a time and place when social media was just chat rooms and im’s; a way to keep up with friends or family. Marketers barely paid attention to social media because it seemed that there was no way to truly capitalize on it. However, that has all changed in recent years. Marketers have found ways to benefit from social media. In fact, to borrow a line from Disney’s Hercules, social media has “gone from zero to hero in no time flat.”

Social media is being embraced by many marketers, especially since they can advertise and track R.O.I. In fact, the headline of a recent article by DMNews caught my eye, “Social media gaining on traditional marketing.” According to the article, many marketers are moving marketing dollars from traditional media to social media. Social media is getting results and that’s where the advertising dollars are headed.

Social media isn’t just about cold turkey advertising, it’s about relating to the customers and fulfilling their needs. Think about it, people are following tweets online for sales, but also to find out the newest gadgets and share their stories of success or failure with a product. Facebook is allowing companies to run sweepstakes, contests and free coupons on their Facebook pages, in order to increase their fan base. Digg is rolling out more ad options, AIM shows advertisements on your AIM buddy list when you’re logged in, and blogs allow companies to share information with consumers. Social media offers marketers and companies a plethora of ways to communicate with consumers.

The new wave is here and it’s social media. For those who have been slow to get involved, now’s the time. I like to think of social media as the horse and car scenario. At one point, mostly everyone traveled via horses and then the automobile came out. There were some skeptics, but with time the automobile gained acceptance. If you look out your window, do you see a car or a horse? My point exactly.