Archive for the ‘Social Media Marketing’ Category

Xing Adds Google Maps for Visual Representation of Your Contacts
“Both Xing and LinkedIn have been layering in more and more social and resource-oriented features into their professional networking sites, for the purpose of providing more helpful information about a personal contact list in an immediate fashion. The latest move by Xing is the inclusion of Google maps, which displays your friends’ designated location.

Mobile Social Networks To See Sky High Ad Revenues By 2012?
“If you were to believe mobile social networks about their advertising predictions, they will by 2012 be raking in between $28 to $52 billion dollars in ad revenue. Given that normal online ad revenue only broke $27 billion for the first time in 2007, and with predicted drops in ad budgets due to the economic recession, the mobile predictions seem a bit hard to swallow.”

Six Impossible Things You Can Do To Improve Your Blog
“This week, I’m proposing to you, six impossible things that will make your blog more interesting, more appealing, or just that little important bit more popular.”

When Will Facebook Be Ready For Business?
“For awhile we’ve been pushing the idea of Facebook evolving to support business social networking alongside the “social” social networking. But in order for that to work, the site needs to find a way to shed its image as a beacon of college hooliganism — Facebook is a place to post party pictures, not product pitches. But even so, the appeal of leveraging Facebook’s social graph for business is too good to pass up. As we’ve noted in the past, there are already huge business networks on Facebook — 30,000 Microsoft employees, 8,500 Googlers, etc. Those relationships are ripe for exploiting for business networking, but there is a prevailing feeling that that’s not what Facebook is for.”

No Facebook?  No Thanks.  No Job.
“Stop the press! It would appear that modern man, if given the choice between the lure of monetary gain or the comfort of online communication would rather pass over the former if the latter is not also included.

[SociaList] Social Networking News Blurbs (May 8, 2008)

Apparently, “everyone is talking about mobile social networking” with eMarketer forecasting that “mobile social networking will grow from 82 million users in 2007 to over 800 million worldwide by 2012.” Social networking isn’t only about mobile, though, and certainly isn’t just for fun. Enterprise social networking is all the rage and Rachel Happe, IDC’s research manager for digital business economy, explains that “the technology is popular because companies are discovering the use of applications spawned by the popularity of Facebook and Myspace have business benefits.” “The study, which predicts the market could reach $2 billion by 2012, includes any software often deployed as a service paid for by enterprises to enable communities, either internal or external, such as KickApps, Passenger and hi5.”

We’ve written and posted headlines previously about the HR ramifications of social networking and social media and how more and more employers are using the social sphere to mine potentially harmful personal data about job prospects.  Well, apparently more employers are trying to take a more positive approach as Brian Singh, Managing Director of ZINC Research explains: “while the platform presents many opportunities and cost efficiencies for marketing and information, it is its strength in connection and engagement that can be used to attract and retain talent and build a vibrant company culture.  Why shut down access when you can leverage your best assets - your employees.”

Want to recession proof your life?  Social networking may be the answer.  “Online social networking is not only for socializing, but can be used for career building. The career building is enabled by creating an online presence to showcase skills, and extended by creating networks of online (and offline or “live”) connections. These connections can be very helpful in finding out about job opportunities or companies that will be hiring.” Just don’t get carried away and start spamming: “In a recent six-month period, Cloudmark tracked a 300 percent increase in spam on a large social networking site that it works with. Also, at several major social networking sites, about one-third of new accounts created are fraudulent, designed for spam and other attacks, the company said.

If you hold a black Amex, perhaps you may want to ensure you’re just as much of a VIP online as you are (or want to be) off.  If this is the case, here’s how to crack the world’s VIP social networking websites

Long gone are the days of boring mass-market charities and impersonal giving catered towards older white males. Web 2.0 has arrived and it has dramatically changed the face of online charity. The Internet makes it possible for virtually any social player to have a voice and a method of raising money. Web 2.0 has impacted charitable giving in powerful ways, from politics to AIDS research.

Top charitable causes in the web 2.0 fray incorporate social media and social networking to help spread viral ideas, facilitate community around causes, and involve users in their charity and message. A few of my favorites include:

• Kiva
• Good2Gether
• Yahoo! for Good
• DoTheRightThing.com
• DonorsChoose.org
• RonPaul2008.com
• Change.org

How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness
“Online social networks used to be just gathering places for friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then the marketers arrived, followed by politicians and job recruiters, all looking to tap into a growing mass of young people who are spending much of their time on the Web. Now, non-profit organizations are testing ways to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet’s viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing.”

• Geography finds its place online with geo-social networking sites
  “They’re called points of interest and can range from favourite outlet malls and good fishing spots to golf courses where Tiger Woods won a PGA tour championship. Others include Tim Hortons locations, Salvation Army Thrift Stores, historic cemeteries and hot-air balloon festivals. Geography is becoming a part of social networking on the Internet as websites focus on places that connect people, and as GPS technology becomes more common among consumers.”
• LinkedIn Prepares for Lucrative Push Into Europe
  “LinkedIn is building up its European operations in order to carve out a larger piece of the social-networking pie. The professional social-networking site is stretching outside the U.S., building its targeted advertising program as well as selling its recently launched product for job recruiters, said Kevin Eyres, LinkedIn’s managing director for Europe.”
• How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness
  “Online social networks used to be just gathering places for friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then the marketers arrived, followed by politicians and job recruiters, all looking to tap into a growing mass of young people who are spending much of their time on the Web. Now, non-profit organizations are testing ways to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet’s viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing.”
• Half will join social network sites
  “A study into the rise of the internet phenomenon showed that Britain has the highest membership in Europe of sites such as MySpace and Facebook. At least 9.6 million Britons use these sites, with participation levels expected to rise to 27.1 million by 2012. The report by Datamonitor, the independent market analyst, expects Britain to see the strongest growth in numbers in Europe over the next five years. Although the trend is being driven by the young, many older people have proved keen to embrace social networking.”
• Strong Uptake of On-deck and Off-deck Mobile Social Networking Services
  “The concept of mobile social networking is fast catching on in the U.S., as all tier-I and tier-II operators now offer social networking applications. Support from mobile operators expects to directly impact application discoverability, provide marketing support, and drive growth in the U.S. mobile social networking markets.”

Report: Social Media Challenging Traditional Media

“The report states that ‘video clips, blogs, podcasts, social networks and RSS are all essential components of the online media diet.’ Here are some of the key findings:

• 83% watch video clips, up from 62% in the last study in June 2007
• 78% read blogs, up from 66%
• 57% of internet users are now members of a social network
• RSS consumption is growing rapidly up from 15% to 39%
• Podcasts are now mainstream digital content, listened to by 48%

Social networks have been ‘a key driver for the growth of social media’:

• 22% of social network users have installed a widget or applications
• 55% have shared photos
• 22% have shared their videos
• 31% have started a blog
• The world’s biggest social network is MySpace with 32% weekly reach followed by Facebook on 23%

The report also states that social media is a global phenomenon:

• Top markets for blogging – China 70% of internet users write a blog, Philippines 66% and Mexico 60%
• Top markets for social networking – Philippines 83%, Hungary 76% and Poland 76%
• China is the world’s largest blogging market with 42m bloggers versus 26m in the US”

Why Marketers Love Small Social Networks

“Marketers who think bigger is better may want to reconsider, at least when it comes to social media. Ad spending on those sites is predicted to top $1.6 billion this year, according to eMarketer. However, much of it will be plunked into smaller, emerging social networks.

While My Space and Facebook get all the attention, social media focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching can be a strong branding target these days, said Anthony Acquisti, strategy supervisor with emerging media at OMD, New York. His running tally of emerging social networks, now up-wards of 7,000, is evidence of an explosive market.

These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because “relevance,” he said, “trumps size.”

By 2011, eMarketer estimates, half of all adults in the U.S., and 84% of online teens will use social networks. That’s both a golden opportunity and a colossal headache for brands trying to nail down the best new network for their campaigns.”

Looking to make a splash with the launch of your social networking start-up?

Step #1: Get featured on Mashable

“Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of meeting many of our readers at our various events around the country. Without a doubt, the number one most frequently asked question at these events has been “how do I get my startup featured on Mashable?” While there is no secret sauce, I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind people what we’re looking for and why we choose to cover some startups and not others.

Your startup should:

• Be a cool product
• Fit into Mashable’s “coverage universe”
• Have not already been covered to death elsewhere
• Submit to our Startup Review series
• Personalize your pitch
• Be concise
• Come to our events

Your startup does NOT have to:

• Be overly complex
• Be venture funded
• Be friends with Mashable staff
• Have a PR firm
• Be a startup at all

Remember, we’re also entrepreneurs, and we want to help great startups get the word out and be successful. We depend on you as much as you depend on us, so please keep your news coming and we hope to see you at an event soon!”

Step #2: Get Featured on SocialNetworkingWatch.com

Send your story to “tips@socialnetworkingwatch.com” and address it to Mark Brooks.

Step #3: Go to the next Social Networking Conference in San Francisco, California

“Q: What is the Social Networking Conference?

• JuiceCaster Nominated for Best Mobile Social Networking Solution in the 12th Annual Webby Awards
  “LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The 12^th Annual Webby Awards has nominated Juice Wireless’ mobile social networking application, JuiceCaster, for the Best Mobile Social Networking solution of 2008. The Webby Awards will announce the winners on May 6, 2008 and honor them at a star-studded gala in New York City on June 10. Additionally, from now through May 1, fans around the world can cast their votes for JuiceCaster in The Webby People’s Voice Awards presented by Nokia by visiting www.JuiceCaster.com.”
• Raketu Releases New Mobile Social Networking - Now Users Can Contribute, Communicate, and Share from Their Desktops and Mobile Devices Anywhere
  “NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Raketu, a leading global Internet communications, information, and entertainment company, today released its mobile social networking application. In addition to Raketu’s voice calling, SMS-Texting, file sharing and other communications, information and entertainment services, the new application allows any user, anywhere, to contribute, share and interact from any device. Raketu’s new Mobile Social Networking is also available on any desktop through the browser and the Raketu download client, so that users on Raketu’s website, mobile websites and from the download client can actively participate and share information in their social network no matter where they are.”
• Wirenode: Create Mobile Sites in Facebook
  “Wirenode is a startup from the Prague, Czech Republic. It’s platform for mobile publishing. Everybody can create mobile friendly website very easily, with no technology knowledge in their web browser. Created mobile websites are immediately accessible from all types of mobile phones. You can create mobile website with multiple pages, images, mobile RSS etc…
  Free version of the service is used by individuals, who created more than 6000 mobile pages. Premium version is used by marketing agencies and mobile operators for creating landing pages and small mobile portals for mobile marketing purposes.”
• Itsmy.com Reaches 1 Million Users on Mobile Phones
  “April 9, 2008 (Munich, New York, London, Madrid) – itsmy.com, one of the world’s fastest growing mobile-only social networks, has announced one million registered users. The ad-funded mobile community dedicates every user a free personalisable mobile homepage with a unique mobile web address (myname.itsmy.com) to show and tell all friends – the main reason for the fast viral growth. All users register via the browser of their mobile phone in mobile internet, wherever they are. Gofresh, the company behind itsmy.com, is a Telecommunications company with main focus on live entertainment combined with social networking - wherever, whenever. Gofresh targets with itsmy.com the leadership for off-portal mobile communities in US and EU in 2008.”
• 28 Million Mobile Subscribers Responded To At Least One Mobile Ad
  “According to a new report from The Nielsen Company, twenty-three percent (58 million) of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they’ve been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days. Half (51% or 28 million) of all data users who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded to a mobile ad.”
• Frengo’s Mobile Toolkit Makes Your OpenSocial Apps Mobile
  “Mobile media company Frengo has revealed its OpenSocial mobile Toolkit today, enabling developers to “share” their existing applications from other OpenSocial participating networks for mobile use. In order to support this, Frengo has created an OpenSocial-compliant mobile platform, which means mobile extension for your existing apps. RockYou is a launch partner.”

• 28 Million Mobile Subscribers Responded to At Least One Mobile Ad
  “According to a new report from The Nielsen Company, twenty-three percent (58 million) of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they’ve been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days. Half (51% or 28 million) of all data users who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded to a mobile ad.”
• Social networking websites protect children, says Bebo
  “Social networking websites are taking their duty to protect younger users more seriously following a sea change in attitudes, according to Bebo’s safety officer.Dr Rachel O’Connell said sites such as Bebo, which attracts users mainly aged between 16 and 24, have been driven to take online safety more seriously by a strong commercial as well as social imperative.”
• Facebook for Blackberry racks up a million hits
  “BlackBerry users have racked up more than one million downloads of a Facebook app in the five months since it launched. Facebook for BlackBerry - which is free to download and launched on 24 October last year - allows users to perform a variety of tasks including sending and viewing messages, making Wall posts and ‘poking’ other Facebook users. A user’s status message can also be updated on the go, and friend requests can be made and responded to. In addition, users can take photos on their phones and upload them directly to Facebook.”
• Sampa Launches Private Blogs for Families
  “Website creation service Sampa is getting more vertical. A few new options have been added to the service for creating themed websites for users to set up blogs to be shared privately with friends and family. This appears to be somewhat of an extension from the family tree-building tool that Sampa released last year, especially given the interactive functions that Sampa did include previously. In fact, the family tree capabilities are integrated into this new feature that Sampa is releasing. The premise is to offer an interactive and easily communicated way in which a user can share blog entries (stories) and photo albums with the people to which they’re the closest.”
• 7 Brand Name Social Networks
  “When big brands decide something is hot, they will move in and attempt to copy it. Sometimes they actually succeed at their goals, and sometimes…well, let’s just say that results are less than spectacular. We’ve sampled 7 well-known brands that tried their hands at creating a social network.”

• Craigslist Is Our Mirror, Nothing Better (Or Worse) on TechCrunch
  “I flipped on the news today (yes, my actual television, not sure why) and the big story was Craigslist gone wrong. Someone placed an ad on Craigslist saying that anything at a home in Jacksonville, Oregon was up for grabs. People responded, and carted away most of the belongings of resident Robert Salisbury. He arrived home to thirty people picking over the last of his stuff. Even the man’s horse was taken.”
  Apparently, sticks and stones may break your bones and words written on Craigslist may indeed hurt you!
• SmartyPig is One Smart (Social) Savings Plan on Mashable
  “SmartyPig is a recently launched site that brings a community approach to a single savings goal. With SmartyPig, you actually set up a savings account with the bank it’s partnered with (West Bank), and invite others to contribute to your savings account. The idea is to set a goal (for a new bike or books for college), and allow others (parents, grandparents, friends) to contribute to your achieving this savings goal. These goals can be set as private or public. SmartyPig has introduced a highly secure system in which others can send money to your savings account, and once your goal has been reached, you can withdraw the funds (unless you cancel it all together).”
  What a great concept, I wish I had this when I was a kid! If you’re looking to raise money for a mission trip or college or any other goal, this site adds serious value!
• Employees should be banned from searching Facebook profiles of job applicants, says children’s groups on Daily Mail
  “Studies show one in five employers use the internet to check out candidates and two thirds of those admit their final decision has been influenced by what they found. Checking networking sites is also common practice for recruitment agencies with research showing more than 60 per cent of British executives are signed up to Facebook or similar. The children’s charities argue that this is akin to nosing through someone’s diary and is examining whether existing discrimination laws could be used to prevent the practice.”
  I agree that many employers use social networking sites to learn about candidates, but I’m not sure I agree this practice is unethical or should be banned. If you choose to post stuff online, it’s your choice. The fact that it will remain online and can affect hiring chances is a fact of life in the world of web 2.0. This is why taking a proactive approach to your social networking and promoting yourself in the right light is very important. In fact, I registered SocialScreeners.com for that entrepreneur that wants to make a business out of social networking screening services!
• MySpace and Friends Need to Make Money. And Fast. on Wired
  “The numbers are amazing. MySpace’s membership has ballooned from 20 million people in 2005 to 225 million today, an average annual growth rate of 513 percent. Rival Facebook grew at 550 percent a year during the same period. LinkedIn’s rate was 182 percent. Yet one social networking metric is distinctly underwhelming: the one with a dollar sign. Lookery, an ad network specializing in social media, offers display ads on MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo for only 13 cents per thousand times the ad is served (CPM); Yahoo’s average CPM is estimated at $13. Video ads on MySpace reportedly fetch just $25 per thousand showings; CBS charges $50 on affiliated sites, NBC as much as $75.”
• Will Musician’s Custom Networks Create Disarray On Social Web on Mashable
  “Want to network with rapper 50 Cent? How about befriending Kylie Minogue? Or Ludacris, or the Pussycat Dolls, for that matter? If so, perhaps you should look elsewhere than, say, MySpace, the default service for most things musical on the social Web. The alternative destination to hit? Well, actually, there is more than one place that you will be able to go to to connect with some well-known artists. Musicians are looking to go from the mass complex that is MySpace to locations a little more personal. Some are putting together their own sites meant to connect with a fan base devoted exclusively to them and their projects. Case in point: Thisis50.com.”
• Wikipedia Passes Another Milestone: 10 Million Articles on Mashable
  “Wikipedia, the community driven encyclopedia, passed a huge milestone this week in the form of 10 million articles in over 250 languages. As explained by Emily Chang, the 10 millionth article was a biography of a 16th century English goldsmith and painter named Nicholas Hilliard, written by user named Pataki Marta.”
• Evolution of the social network on BBC News
  “Recent reports of social networking’s demise may be slightly premature. Sure, some users are completely fed up with receiving friends invites, being “bitten”, “poked” and indeed having sheep thrown at them. And there has been a 5% slowdown in new UK users to the larger social networks, Facebook and MySpace, between December 2007 and January this year. But Alex Burmaster, an analyst at Nielsen Online which compiled the figures showing the decline, says: “The slow down in social networks is being somewhat exaggerated. It’s a natural form of any growth that we see in the online eco-system.”
• Online social networking sites spring up for the religious on KeyeTV.com
  “Online social networking sites crop up for the religious About two-thirds of Americans today use the Internet for some type of religion or religious experience. Experts say social networking online is fast becoming a heavenly experience.”
• Social networking sites to go 3-d on The Editors Weblog
  ” Through social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, people can keep updated with their friends by posting messages back and forth or by checking status updates. But imagine if the social networking world became 3-D. Based in Menlo Park, California, Vivaty has been creating 3-D virtual chat rooms that people can add to sites where they spend most of their Internet time. Users will choose pre-existing avatars to represent themselves as they do on services such as Second Life, and navigate through a gothic urban warehouse, seaside villa, or another of the dozen environments. Users will also be able to create their own environment wherever HTML code can be imbedded. Vivaty plans on allowing companies to construct their own virtual rooms with their own décor and messages.”
  Very cool; we’re planning on a 3-d social networking service offering soon as well as I believe this can potentially have huge value to the right niche social network.

If you’re looking to gain a strong handle on social networking methodology, these resources are for you:

• This recent Social Networks Research Report by WildBit is worth downloading.
• MediaShift, a great new media blog published by PBS created an excellent guide to social networking online.
• Should your business be on Facebook? - an article by CNNMoney
  

Not into social networking? Prefer blogging? Then check this good read on being insanely useful in order to make your readers come back.

Sip coffee, click links, absorb inspiration/facts/motivation:

• The Best Way To Display News Online: Linear vs. Contextual
• Using social networking sites for hiring
• Who’s Hot And Who’s Not In Social Networking
• LinkedIn now offering corporate profiles
• Ning: All Our Charts Point Up And To The Right

• Girls In US And UK Command Remarkable Web Usage Numbers
  (girls and young women are now the most prolific web users)
  “Found in Sunday’s edition of The Times of London, an article by Kate Spicer and Abul Tahrreport documents a trend of increasing Web adoption among girls and young women in both the US and UK. This finding does not only pertain to blogging. It includes most all common and habitual tasks: shopping, social networking, referencing educational material, etc.”…”According to a recent Pew Internet Project targeted at teens, 35% of American girls have registered blogs, and 32% have multifaceted websites. (For boys, it is 20% and 22%, respectively.) Though those two segments can presently be taken as one and the same, the fact that a full third of all girls in the youth and young-adult demographics are chronicling their lives and maintaining online profiles is something that really does calls for celebration - especially celebration of Web designers and engineers, whose work has, after all, now been guaranteed fit for true mass consumption. Which is good news for, well, everyone. Men, women, boys, girls, geeks, non-geeks, etc.”…”Here are a few more figures to consider. 70% of girls in the US operate one or more social networking account. 57% of boys presently vouch for doing so themselves. In the UK, the figures are more equalized, but still 55% of the social networking market is comprised of female users.”…”Though females remain a puzzling minority in the computer sciences sector of college-level educational institutions, they are effectively no longer a niche market. They stand on equal footing to males in the world of Web 2.0. And they’re only going to get more connected and more invested still.”
• Interview w/Kent Lindstrom, CEO of Friendster
  
• Just An Online Minute… Zuckerberg: More Beacon Apologies
  “Facebook’s ill-fated Beacon program continues to dog CEO Mark Zuckerberg”…”“We probably got a little bit ahead of ourselves,” Zuckerberg said, according to press accounts. “We came across as knowing more than we really knew.””…”Still, for all the criticism, it sounds like Zuckerberg opened up somewhat on stage. For instance, he confirmed that Yahoo attempted to buy Facebook for $1 billion a few years ago and said there was disagreement within the company about whether to accept the offer, He also briefly addressed the company’s finances, saying the business is “around breakeven” — which is probably as much information as we’re going to get, absent a public offering.”
• Ten Tactics That Could Save Your Online Reputation
  “1. Know your achilles heel
  2. Assume everything will make it’s way to the web
  3. Create a great online impression; dress to impress!
  4. Choose your blog voice carefully
  5. Hang out at the right social network
  6. Send bloggers love letters, not PR pitches
  7. Build your Google reputation now, not later
  8. Monitor your online reputation as often as your e-mail
  9. Ostriches are not great role models
  10. Three words to remember”
  My advice: Get your own domain name (preferably your name, if possible), setup a blog, build a profile on Facebook, build a profile on LinkedIn, and build a page on Squidwho that links them all up. If you have a portfolio, upload it to Flickr and import the photos on your Squidwho page. Make sure each of these components link to each other and this is a great, manageable approach to building a solid reputation online without having a management nightmare on your hands. Once you’ve set everything up, set a reminder to update your profiles and information at least once a month, to keep things as fresh and relevant as possible. For an example, check out my Squidwho at www.robbyberthume.com and notice how it teases my Facebook profile as well as my LinkedIn profile, while showcasing my Flickr portfolio pieces and being plugged into my blog’s RSS feed.
• AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million
  Ironically, AOL stands for America Online and yet this move is “geared towards international growth” as AOL reportedly launched “17 international web sites over the last year and has plans to expand to 30 countries outside the U.S. by the end of 2008.” All of this while, ironically yet again, “AOL itself has been talked about as an acquisition target.”

A key point often forgot (or simply ignored) by marketers and individuals looking to make a splash in the social media realm is the idea that you need to add value to receive value in the world of web 2.0.   Countless stories can be cited of companies and marketers entering the social media and social networking fray trying to tap into the social sphere, but ignoring the very core reason why the social realm exists.  This reason is so that users can help users.  Collaboration is the cornerstone of community and an analogy for successful open source and collaborative initiatives can be summed down to “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

It’s this principle, though, that’s often overlooked by many.  It goes back to my recent blog post entitled 99% in which I quoted Seth Godin from his new book, Meatball Sundae, in which he wrote: “1 percent of the people are givers. In Wikipedia, for example, about 1 percent of the users create and edit articles.”  Using this logic, there is a huge chunk of social media users who are content to be social media browsers and not contributers.  This is all fine and dandy, but my point in this post is that if you’re striving to market and actually market effectively using the social media realm as your stomping grounds, you simply have to fall in the category of a contributer, otherwise your efforts won’t be nearly as effective, if it all.

What does this mean?  It means that before you start a Facebook advertising campaign, Facebook company profile, and spam a bunch of Facebook users with your marketing message, take a step back (and a deep breath while you’re at it).  Just like with organic search engine optimization, success in social media marketing isn’t usually something that happens overnight.  The efforts that lead up to a particularly viral blog post, a following on Digg, success on YouTube, or getting your Squidoo lens to bring traffic to your website are typically overlooked, but for the sake of my argument, this is a huge mistake.  Using Facebook as an example, before you do what I’ve described above, it’s a better approach to first actually use Facebook for a while on a personal level.  Add friends, make connections, and focus on adding value to the community.  Post relevant and thoughtful notes, actually contribute to groups, and stay in touch regularly with friends.  Once you’ve built a presence and a following as a contributer, you can then begin to phase in your marketing goals.  This is true with nearly any social media marketing campaign.  Before you’re blog is going to work for your business, you need to first focus on writing good content, and a lot of it.  You need to first focus on reading OTHER blogs and posting thoughtful comments and responding to comments you receive.  You get my point: contribution is the effective stepping stone to marketing results.

I’ll pause now on the social media marketing discussion (don’t worry, I’ll be coming back to it regularly in the future). In the meantime, I’d like to highlight one website in particular that could be a valuable tool in your social media toolbox, if you follow my advice above: Squidoo.

Squidoo is a website that was pioneered by marketing guru Seth Godin as a social platform for easily creating pages on any topic imaginable and enjoying the benefits of a strong community and the inheritance of great PageRank.  Squidoo does a good job describing itself: “Squidoo is an incredibly easy platform that allows you to build a lens, all by yourself, in less than five minutes. Don’t build a lens instead of your website. Build a lens to help your website.”

Squidoo is great because it’s super quick to get a “lens” started and constructed with social media and search engines in mind.  If you’re a pet shop, you can easily create a comprehensive lens on, say, raising a lesser-known species of turtle or perhaps starting an aquarium.  With a multitude of widgets to choose from, you can add content, plug-in RSS feeds, showcase photos via Flickr, highlight products via Amazon, or present videos via YouTube.  What’s more, you can easily categorize and tag your lens before subsequently submitting to social bookmarking sites and joining Squidoo groups.

All of this means you can drive traffic to your website, earn money on ads (or donate the money to charity), build credibility, build online brand/name presence, and provide individuals, including your prospects, with valuable information at a time when they’re looking for it, a time when your help can make an impression.

Before you think it’s too good to be true, remind yourself that your initial goal is narrow: to focus on contributing and adding value.  Squidoo is merely a platform for adding worthy content and fresh (or different, or witty, or more useful) information to the web.  The web may be cluttered and crowded, but one thing is true: value has a way of floating to the top.

So head on over to Squidoo and let this lens help you get started.  Need an example of an informative lens? We recently build this lens on finding and choosing a web design company.  Still need more assistance?  Check out their FAQ and forum!

“Social networks are good for PR but not for advertising”
“WPP found that more of their clients were interested in keeping consumers updated on company changes, events and specials and that social networking sites were a good way to do this. However, advertising on social networks was not as popular, leading the company to deduce that social networks are helping businesses but in a different way than originally thought. From the beginning, many businesses have been interested in creating branded micro-sites within social networks. What this trend report indicates is that this is a good way to connect with a user-base, to introduce new products or to keep consumers updated on sales or company events.”

“International Social Networking: Facebook in German, LinkedIn in France”
“Two interesting developments in social networking localization: Facebook today released a German-language version of the site, and LinkedIn has entered the French market in a bigger way by signing a deal with popular job listing site Apec. And speaking of translations, and French, and social network globalization, this very interesting map (in French) shows popularity of social networks in different parts of the world. Facebook is fourth in Europe, so perhaps a German translation will bump it up soon. LinkedIn does not appear on this map.”

“A Facebook For The Seven-Figure Set”
“A private social networking site for top-flight corporate candidates? Executive search giant Heidrick & Struggles is developing one, in an effort to streamline its recruitment of elite managers.”…”Heidrick, which has a global practice, is betting the site will become a destination for candidates wanting to view presentations by employers—and for clients, especially those who need to assess résumés and references quickly. ‘With all the time zones around the world,’ says Heidrick partner Jeffrey Hunter, ‘it makes for a very effective gathering point.’ The key, say Hunter and other Heidrick partners, is to offer greater privacy and security than the public Internet provides. The idea, says CEO Kevin Kelly, is to reduce the usual three- to four-month search time for high-level hires. ‘We’re an old firm with an old business model,’ Kelly says. ‘I’m thinking about how we help redefine the industry to respond faster.’

Take This Poll On Mashable!
“This week featured two more major platform announcements: the iPhone SDK, which allows developers to build applications for Apple’s mobile device, and Open AIM 2.0, an expanded developer program for AOL’s leading instant messaging software. Next week we’ll see the consumer launch of the MySpace Developer Platform (and as such, a significant launch for Google’s OpenSocial). Meanwhile, it has has already been almost a year since Facebook kicked off the third-party apps craze with its platform.” Which platform do you think is the best opportunity for developers? Click here to vote and view results.

“Russian YouTube Clone RuTube Valued At $15 Million”
“With about 400,000 daily users and consumption of over 40 million videos per month, the monthly revenues reportedly reach about $400,000. We actually mentioned RuTube in two blatant rip-off posts, so perhaps you’ve noticed that a lot of clones occur overseas, which also seem to be the most successful. Quintura mentioned this by noting that US-based clones don’t seem to catch the same kind of breaks we’ve witnessed in Germany and Russia, among other countries that are across the ocean. A $15 million valuation isn’t bad for the boot-strapped RuTube, which was started shortly after YouTube was acquired by Google. Well, that’s a dream come true, now isn’t it? The Russian market is heating up in the online space, with LiveJournal recently having been acquired by Russian company SUP as well.”

Robby Berthume: IMO, this last headline regarding RuTube shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are so many sites and start-ups that need to take notice of the opportunities in being the first-to-market in other countries besides the US. Much opportunity awaits in the globalization of social networking and web 2.0.

What’s new and notable in the social networking realm?

• David Kirkpatrick, Senior Editor of Fortune, did an interesting write-up entitled “Geography, social media and breakfast“: “Combining social networks with geographic information was one of the big ideas at a gathering this week of uber-techies and media digirati in New York.”…”The next big thing is the integration of location-based information with social networking applications. At least that’s one conclusion I took from a high-energy “social media” breakfast for 100 techies in New York this week.”…”Not only will you see what someone is doing online, but you will know where they are doing it. That might significantly change how you relate to people in the real world.”…”Not merely entertainment, it is supposed to let you use Google maps to get things done with other people, as well as play games. Aktihanoglu says it will allow you to, among other things, in effect combine Craigslist with Google Earth. His motto: “Never be lonely again!” (It’s pretty hard to use so far, though.)”…”Geography is likely to get more important on the Net.”My Response: A very interesting and relevant article about the state of social networking and the integration of geography into the fray. I agree with Mr. Kirkpatrick and this is evidenced by several of our current social networking projects utilizing Google Mapping technology and geo-based functionalities. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the next phase in social networking will be a “shakeout” of the social networks that aren’t relevant, aren’t adding value, and aren’t fulfilling a need or want in a simple, innovative way. People don’t want “just another social network.” No one wants to have to join and maintain presences on 10 social networks, especially if none are adding value and all are focused simply on trivial conversations and “pokes.” My belief is that in the future, one “broad” social networking is certainly needed (e.g. Facebook, or when a social platform succesfully connects ALL networks and gets broad appeal, so if you have a presence out there on one site, you have a presence on this main site). Several career (or student based, for younger people) based social networks would be valuable and additional sites will have to fulfill a want or need so well, and be so focused on adding direct value to their audience, that interested users will have no choice. Geo-based functionalities is simply an example of this new breed of valuable features that combine function with form in an innovative way.
• Esther Dyson of the Wall Street Journal wrote “The Coming Ad Revolution“: “The current online-advertising model will become less effective, even as it gets increasingly sophisticated. New players are emerging to devalue the spaces that the ad giants are currently fighting over. Companies you’ve never heard of called NebuAd, Project Rialto, Phorm, Frontporch and Adzilla are pitching tools to Internet service providers that will enable them to track users and show them relevant ads. This approach (called behavioral targeting and already in service by ad networks that track users through so-called tracking cookies) undercuts traditional online publishers, who employ content to lure users and to sell adjacent ads. Now, the ISPs can sell advertisers direct access to the same users.”…”This market will get more competitive, and users will be barraged by ads to which they will pay less and less attention. Call that public space, a world of billboards and cacophony. Even though the ads will be more “relevant” than ever, users will increasingly tune them out.”…”This does not mean that traditional online advertising will go away, just that it will become less effective. Value is being created in users’ own walled gardens, which they will cultivate for themselves in real estate owned by the social networks. The new value creators are companies — like Facebook and Dopplr — that know how to build and support online communities.”My Response: Key point here: when you’re serving a visitor with a relevant product, link, or company (note my omission of the word “ad”) at a time when they need or want this information, it’s not annoying. It’s helpful, valuable, and liked. Examples: Google’s Sponsored Search Results and Amazon’s Recommends. Except, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. So even more relevant ads isn’t necessarily wanted, either. On the other hand, any other method of approach in this day and age simply will not work that well anymore. With more and more clutter comes more and more selective vision and hearing. It’s exciting indeed to see the new technology on the horizon continue to evolve into more and more useful as mass advertising winds down.

Other notable articles:

• Presidential Hopefuls Spending Little On Web Ads. Why? Social Networking.
  “…We can all recognize collectively that modern social frameworks on the Web are remarkably efficient platforms and means with/by which messages can be relayed. And if we are to take into account the reality that many millions of Americans are connected in one way or another to online networks - if one should look at the growth of social networks over the last few years, one can see quite clearly that a very significant percentage of Internet users in the U.S. are connected to a social framework of some sort - it then must come as little surprise that advertisement spending by the present set of presidential campaigns has been, well, exceedingly small. Especially given the very momentous circumstances we find ourselves in.”
  
• Facebook on top of social networking tree, but you won’t find new friends or a job.
  “Facebook is still the most popular social networking site among students and graduates, and clearly ahead of Bebo and MySpace when put head-to-head according to Milkround.com’s student and graduate database. But users claim none of the major three offer enough help finding new friends or a job.”

P.S. Facebook, if you’re reading this, I’m SO tired of Facebook Application-originated SPAM! I understand things spread virally and that the current methods ensure the Facebook Platform grows and that Facebook app developers have an easy, viral method of transmitting their work and spreading their tools. It’s simply that when it becomes a nuisance/annoyance every time I log in to my account to have to clear tons of invitations and junk from my account, something is wrong. Am I not supposed to enjoy my logged-in time on Facebook? Because it’s starting to feel more like taking out the trash every week. To me, it’s the social networking version of e-mail forwards. Yes, the e-mail forward is originating from my friend, but with too many non-relevant forwards, pretty soon you block them all out and eventually set your spam filter to “kill mode.” To add insult to injury, it appears the mySpace is following the same path. Go figure. That is, go figure out how your social network can add value and spread ideas without becoming annoying, intrusive, and cluttered.

-RB