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 already be utilizing text links on your company website that lead visitors to your company’s Facebook Page.  Facebook has also provided its users with resources to quickly create “Profile Badges” and more recently “Fan Boxes” followed by “Live Stream Boxes” that can be incorporated seamlessly into other online platforms (company website, blog, email html, etc).  With the release of “Facebook Widgets” on September 4, Facebook is making it even easier to give more visibility to your Pages and Profiles by amalgamating their resources in one place.  They have even rolled out Page Badges and Photo Badges that give businesses more creative options for developing custom (Facebook) graphics / links.  A complete list of what you will find at the Widget Center includes:

• Personal Profile Widgets
• Profile Badge
• Photo Badge (NEW)
• Business Widgets
• Page Badge (NEW enhancements)
• Fan Box
• Live Stream Box

If you missed the chatter about Fan Boxes and Live Stream Boxes, here is a quick run-down. 

Fan Boxes

• Lets your website visitors become a Fan of your Facebook Page with 1 click, without leaving your website
• See how many users (and which users) are already Fans
• See a Stream of your Page activity
• Gives you an option for incorporating across multiple Social Media channels

 
Sample Facebook Fax Box

Live Stream Boxes let your visitors (blog, website, email, etc) post updates in real time and interact with one another, without leaving your website.  Be aware:  your fans’ status updates and comments will be incorporated on your company website when this tool is used.  Although you can customize the Live Stream Box to some degree – there will be content here that is beyond your control. 

The resources that Facebook has brought together make it easy for any business to give more visibility to their Facebook activity, without extensive involvement of designers and programmers.  These options are ideal for a business who loves the idea of Facebook Connect, but may not have the in-house team to accomplish the programming or the budget dollars to outsource the integration.

If you have ever done a “how to” search in any of the top search engines, chances are you have come across at least 1 article from eHow returned in the search results.  eHow offers users visitors an online knowledge base of more than 140,000 articles and videos offering step-by-step instructions on “how to do just about everything”.  The vast information is contributed by both professional experts as well as “regular” consumers.  Articles are organized into 100’s of categories to make it easy for users (and search engines) to locate specific instructions.  The tight organization and structure of the website’s content is also ideal for SEO. eHow offers businesses the opportunity to quickly and easily submit their content, and have it available for an audience of over 20,000,000 (and growing) monthly unique visitors. 

Having a presence in eHow can benefit companies in the following ways:

• Opportunity to link back to your website in certain situations (via personalized profiles)
• Networking opportunities within the eHow community
• Opportunity to comment on articles related to your product / service

 
eHow Article: How to Detect Diabetes Symptoms

Each article and video has a “share” button, making it easy to pass along to friends.  eHow also sends out an “eHow of the Day” email, which provides additional exposure to consumers (and professionals).  By incorporating complimentary How-To Videos, eHow is even more attractive to a wider range of internet users.  This extensive video content is also organized very well and even listed on a special Site Map, reserved for video files.

eHow Video: How to Know if You Have Diabetes

Becoming a member and contributing content to eHow is fairly straightforward.  If your business is interacting in other social networks – give eHow a try!

Facebook’s recent enhancements to targeting options make it easier than ever to get in front of your core demographic.  Suppose you are managing paid search efforts and want to target females logged into Facebook between the ages of 28-35, who are married, live in South Florida, are “Fans” of Kohl’s and Target, like the TV Show “Lost”, listen to “Dave Matthews Band”, and work at MoreVisibility.  OK, so maybe that’s limiting your impressions significantly but it can be done with Facebook’s targeting options!  As you are creating your ad and testing different selects, Facebook actually provides an estimated number of eyeballs that will see your ads. 

Facebook estimated audience A

Facebook estimated audience B

Even better….you will be reaching a super-clean segment.  Considering that consumers are using Facebook to connect with family, co-workers, and friends, there is no motive to be ambiguous when a completing profile.  After all, don’t you want to be sure people find the REAL you when combing through the sea of profiles on Facebook?

For anyone out there who has not tested the waters of Facebook Ads, here is a run down of the targeting options available:

• Age
• Gender
• Geography (Country, State, City, City + radius)
• Keywords (User Profile fields for Interests, TV Shows, Movies, Authors)
• Education (College Grad, In College, High School, etc)
• Target by College / University Name and Major

The recent enhancement that I fell in love with is “Suggested Keywords”.  Suggested keywords are generated when utilizing the keyword field to target users.  For example, entering “lost” into the keyword field prompts the following suggestions:

• Dharma Initiative
• The 4400
• Josh Holloway

These additional suggestions are pulled from common terms that exist among Profiles who have an interest in “Lost”.  Suggestions will only be provided for keywords that have established a higher volume among Facebook profiles.  These keywords should be included in your ad’s targeting in order to reach additional users with a (similar) interest to your core audience.  Facebook’s keyword suggestions can also be extremely valuable in uncovering keywords to include in other PPC / Paid Search efforts.

Google just launched a new site, www.allforgood.org, which allows people to find volunteer activities throughout the US, thus creating a “social media search engine” of sorts. Bringing communities together in this form was encouraged by President Obama when Serve.gov was launched earlier this year. Allforgood.org now even powers the search tool on serve.gov.

All users have to do is enter the type of volunteer work they want to do and then specify their location. With that, a slew of results are given to the searcher via the Google powered search engine. This has many ramifications on the world of social media. For one, I think that the other major search engines, Yahoo and Bing, are more likely to get involved if allforgood.org takes off. Also, with the technology that Google is innovating (Google has launched an API to allow developers to use the data in their own applications); other social media websites will likely follow suit making their own websites as advanced as possible.

Lastly, another really nice feature to the new website is that you are able to log in via Google Friend Connect. This tool gives users the ability to use their Google, AIM or Yahoo password to gain access, making it as community friendly as possible. This will no doubt inspire people across multiple social media platforms to participate in this unique social media experiment.

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.

Both Twitter and Facebook have been gaining popularity with internet users over the last 12 months.  While their growth rate is phenomenal, the question is whether their magnetism will be a fleeting presence or a permanent fixture with the online community.

By digging into Google Insights for Search, I spotted a few interesting quirks between these two search queries. 

• Facebook appears to have a more mainstream and global appeal
• Google categorizes these two search queries differently
• Related search queries vary radically

Although several approximations are employed to arrive at this data, Google’s tool is awesome for providing insights into “broad search patterns”.  The popularity of search queries “facebook” and “twitter” over the last 12 months is illustrated below. 

Google Insights - All Categories

When comparing the popularity of these single word queries against all other queries during the same timeframe, Facebook appears to be the clear winner.  Twitter shows a slight bump in late 2008 but nothing close to the awareness of Facebook.  Over time, Facebook has steadily increased in overall popularity with an impressive growth rate over Q1 of 2009. 

In reviewing “Regional Interest” for the 2 queries, Facebook seemed to have a wider appeal globally.   

Note that Twitter does not index well when compared to the popularity of Facebook.  The United States does not even make the list of top 10 regions for Facebook; however it is #2 on the list for Twitter. 

A deeper dive into specific categories (brand new feature) lets us look at the growth rate of each search query.  Google suggests the most popular category classifications based on the keyword(s) you are researching in Google Insights. 

To my surprise, Google suggested “Online Communities” as the top category for Facebook, but “Telecommunications” as the top category for Twitter.  Aren’t they BOTH Online Communities AND Communication tools?  Taking several steps back and looking at the core components of each channel, the categorization logic makes perfect sense.

While you can certainly communicate and socialize on both networks, each has distinct differences that make a direct comparison difficult if not impossible to make.  We are not comparing apples to apples.  Facebook looks like more of a portal and has a social/personal feel….people go there to “connect” with their friends and family, make new friends, socialize, etc.  Twitter looks clean and simple and has a research/news characteristic. 

Twitter has a user base of over 1,000,000 (company will not disclose actual numbers), in comparison to Facebook’s recent 200 million mark. Regardless of the number of users, both networks’ growth has been explosive over the last two years.

New features and applications, privacy policies, monetization tactics, and more will dictate the user base for these networks as well as others in the space.  Users (zealots) are going to be loyal to 1 primary channel….but there is also a ton of crossover since each network offers distinguishing qualities.  Only time will tell which will be THE 800 Pound Gorilla of the space.  Who knows?  It could even be MySpace.