Top Twitter Tools for Easier, Faster Tweeting

Never before has Twitter been bigger than this year. With the right tools, Twitter avail your business to its maximum potential. As a marketing tool, Twitter’s new marketing and promotional opportunities should be integrated into already existing social marketing practices. For an easier and faster Twitter experience, here are analytic tools for small and big business ecommerce owners.

1. Tweet Effect – Despite being in its experimental stage, Tweet Effect identifies which of your Twitter status updates prompted users follow or leave you, which is important so you know which tweets will gain you more followers while keeping existing followers.

2. TweetLevel – A tool that measures an individual’s importance on Twitter by scoring four key ranking metrics - influence, popularity, engagement, and trust.

3. TweetStats – A simple tool that graphs Twitter stats per hour, per month, timeline, and reply statistics. This useful information lets you know how active you are on Twitter in order to gain more followers and be influential to the industry you belong to.

4. Babller – If you want to go global, then this tool is for you. Twitter status updates can be posted and read on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn in many languages. Updates can even be translated to specific languages.

5. LiveGo – Managing multiple social networking sites has just gotten easier with LiveGo. Clients include Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messenger clients, as well as email accounts at Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail.

6. Jotabl – Sharing tweets on blogs and other Web-based publishing spaces has become possible. Jotabl is a “shoutbox” displayed on websites where users can sign in with their Twitter username to post comments and messages.

7. TurnSocial – Expand social networking by adding popular social media and location-based applications on top of your Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare content on your website.

8. Bit.ly – Because Twitter is unfortunately limited to 140 characters, URL shrinkers have become one of the most important tools for Twitter users. Share URLs without the worry of exceeding the 140-character limit.

There are other essential Twitter tools that can be used to maximize Twitter accounts. Listed above are just a few suggestions to make the most of Twitter’s marketing potential.

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Facebook Insights for Small Businesses

For small businesses, having a Facebook Fanpage or simply a 'Facebook Page' (which should not to be confused with a personal 'Facebook Profile') can be a great asset in your marketing efforts. Here’s how: When someone 'likes' your Facebook Page and becomes a 'fan,' it shows up in their news feed and you've just expanded your marketing reach through that person's social network. When other people within that fan's social network subsequently 'likes' your Facebook Page, your marketing reach is further increased. The beauty of Facebook (as the largest social networking site with over 500 million users) is that your marketing reach isn't just confined to the physical location of your business, but expanded exponentially on the internet through Facebook. The marketing potential and subsequent page conversions is limited only by your creativity and ability to effectively use Facebook.

But availing a Facebook Page without any sort of metrics is like navigating a ship in the dark. Enter Facebook Insights, the lighthouse that will effectively measure your progress with empirical data. Here, we will discuss how small businesses can get the most out of Facebook by use of Facebook Insights.

Facebook Insights Overview

First the basics. Facebook Insights will only be activated once you've had 30 'likes' on your Page, which will automatically appear on the left side. Click 'See All' under 'Insights' and you will be brought to the Facebook Insights dashboard with two graphs that summarize two important metrics – one for 'Users' and the other 'Interactions'.

'Users' measures monthly active users, daily and total 'likes' and 'unlikes', 'like' sources, their demographics, media consumption, external referrers, and page and tab views. In summary, as the name implies, 'Users' is the domain of users on your Page.

'Interactions' tracks daily post views and feedback, daily story feedback, recent posts, and daily page activity.

Now that we’ve gotten a rundown of the basics, here are frequent scenarios that small businesses are sure to run into.

Are 'Likes' Enough
So you've started your Page and have 100 'likes,' and you feel good about your business's Facebook debut. It doesn't stop here. Here are metrics you should look into expanding.

Daily Active Users (top of main dashboard): Active Users are the opposite of Passive Users that 'like' your Page and never return. Daily Active Users continually return to your Page to consume its content – you should focus on increasing by posting engaging content.

Daily Page Activity (bottom of Interactions): This measures your followers' level of engagement, particularly the number of mentions your Page is receiving. When a fan mentions your Page, that fan is broadcasting your business to their network, which is effective marketing with minimal effort or business risk.

Daily Story Feedback (top of Interaction): Whenever a fan 'likes' your Page, it shows up here. Use this metric to see what content you're posting that's engaging you followers; and when (such as time of day or day of week) your followers are most active – post engaging content when your followers are likely to be receptive to it.

Spikes in 'likes' and 'unlikes' (top of Users): A spike in the line graph in either direction – either 'like' or 'unlike' – is worth investigating. You can sort through your content by day to see what elicited that reaction from followers and decided whether to continue or cease posting that sort of content.


Producing Content Followers Want

Produce content that keep your followers engaged in order to maintain their social network within your marketing reach.

Most Recent Posts (middle of Interactions): Save time by publishing content that your followers want. This metric will let you sort through recent content by 'impressions' to see how many people are seeing a post on your Page, on a news feed, or follower's profile. You can also sort through feedback percentage to see which posts are garnering the most attention.

Media Consumption (bottom of Users): Users respond well to video, audio, and photos, but they're time-consuming to produce for businesses. This metrics lets you see which media posts are getting the most views so you can focus your efforts on producing these types of media.

Daily Story Feedback (top of Interactions): This metrics lets you see if there is a spike in comments or 'likes' for a particular day. If so, it might indicate a topic of interest among your followers.

Tab Views (bottom of Users): It wouldn't make sense to keep producing content on one tab of your Page when another tab is attracting more activity with users – focus on the tab with the most activity.


Outside of Facebook
You've invested your time developing your web presence. You've added 'like' buttons on your business website and emails. Now you want to know, rightfully so, what worked and what didn’t.

External Referrers (bottom of Users): This shows top external domains that visitors are finding your Facebook Page so you can revamp your approach to the not so successful ones. If you're driving traffic to your Page from you website, then you know you're doing something on your website that's attracting visitors.

'Like' Sources (top right of Users): Many of your 'likes' might probably be coming from you Page, but you should also see where else you’re collecting 'likes'. It could be from your website, or from your latest email marketing campaign.

Insights on an External Domain: Go to facebook.com/insights and click on the 'Insights for your Domain' box. You can easily copy a bit of code and link your website to your Page, which will allow you to see what content on your website are getting a lot of 'likes' on Facebook.

Web Analytics: Don't neglect other web analytics, such as Google Analytics. Ideally, you want your Facebook Page to drive traffic to your website (and maximize conversions), which should show up as a referring source in your web analytics.

Reaching the Right People
Demographics (middle of Users): Does your product cater a younger generation? Is your service better suited for older men and women? How old? Facebook collects personal information from its users, and Facebook Insights will paint a picture of the demographics of your Page. If you're soliciting activity from a demographic that's not your targeted audience, consider revamping the content you publish, how you publish it, and which external domains you’re publishing on.

Conclusion
Facebook Insights is a powerful aide to developing your business's online presence and measuring online campaigns. It should not be mistaken, though, as the silver bullet to business marketing and entrepreneurial uncertainty. Leverage Facebook Insights for your small business. See what works and what doesn’t and adjust; and your business will certainly get the most out of Facebook.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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FLOWD - Foursquare for Artists/Bands and Fans

Flowd is a new start-up geolocation application that attempts to build closer relationships between bands and their fans. Flowd is essentially Foursquare for bands, allowing them to update their attendance of shows through real-time updates.

Many bands today are already engaged with their fans through Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. These social media applications allow bands to directly communicate to fans and provide exclusive information of sorts. Flowd takes those elements and fuses them into one convenient application. Users can update their Facebook statuses, tweets, chat with other attendees, and post pictures of live events. Bands can create profiles, which users can actively follow and receive updates from. Another nice feature lets bands post tour dates, which are integrated into Google Maps. It's a convenient way of finding out where local shows are taking place.

Bands can also host events, which users can check into. This provides opportunities to host contests and other incentives to generate show attendance. Although there is no automated contest hosting feature, bands can check attendee profiles manually.

Perhaps real-time music stream integration would be a useful feature, allowing fans to check out artists and rewarding them in that way. Users should also be able to create a "music taste" profile, which will allow Flowd to generate "recommendations" and rewards based on "referrals" from friends. Another way to create rewards would be to account for fan "listening" stats, which Last.fm currently does.

The application is still in its infancy, so it likely that many new features will be integrated shortly. There are a number of creative uses for such an application. It appears to be a Foursquare rip, but it's a nice tool for bands and music fans. The majority of Flowd users are relatively small bands, but don't be surprised to see Flowd updates on your Facebook newsfeed in the upcoming year.

FLOWD launched earlier this month and is available to iPhone and Android users for free.

Written By Daniel T


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Google Chrome Update Adds 3D Graphics

Early last week, Google updated their browser WebGL extension to HTML5, making it possible to view 3D graphics in Chrome without a plug in. To demo their new 3D graphics feature, Google released a nifty Human body exploration tool, Google Human Body Lab. If you ever wondered what flipping through the insides of your chest and stomach look like, here's your chance. The tool allows users to peel away at the human body, allowing you to adjust and zoom in between muscles, organs, bones, and skins. It is extremely detailed, allowing you to view different veins and ventricles, a human anatomy students dream come true.


The new 3D feature creates numerous possibilities for not only health care and education, but various industries and businesses, especially those that provide tangible consumer products. For e-commerce, Chrome provides an alternative tool for e-store development outside of Flash. Engineers are already familiar with design tools, such as Solidorks and AutoCAD. With the new Google update, they may be able to transfer their detailed work into a browser for potential consumers and manufacturers to view in full detail.

For e-commerce, web site developers and designers can look forward to developing elaborate interactive item view pages, allowing customers to see exactly what it is they're buying in detail. If you've ever had a problem with viewing an item from certain angle, searching for that specific feature, or just not getting enough from a particular item photo; this could be a welcome tool. This is also a potentially powerful tool for customer service support and development of detailed, interactive instructional manuals. Not only is this useful, but makes shopping much more fun and interactive.

Google's 3D extension is a welcome addition to it's growing list of features.I'm crossing my fingers for stereoscopic digital projection shopping next. I'll never have to leave home again.


Written By Daniel T

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Expect These Social Media Trends in 2011

As the year draws to a close, individuals will summarize the major events that occurred in 2010 while experts, on the other hand, will try to predict upcoming social media trends as 2011 steps in. Last year it was predicted that mobile technology would play a big role in the development of social media – this has been proven with the triple-digit rise in social media consumption through mobile devices. Additionally, social media was predicted to become more exclusive and “less social,” which was exactly what happened with the re-launch of Facebook groups, the emergence of Path, and the partnership of major brands with Foursquare’s geo-location platform. These are the trends social media practitioners should watch out for in 2011 (from Ravit Lichtenberg of Ustrategy and David Armano of Edelman Digital):

• Social engines’ integration to companies’ decision-making strategies – social media and search engines will play a larger role as companies decide on strategic resolutions and execution of an organization’s objectives, marketing plans, and sales process, just to name a few.
• Video, mobile, and community platforms will continue to become critical catalysts as social media continues to evolve in the year ahead.
• People’s psychology will change with social media. The plasticity of our psychology is largely affected by how social technology impacts our lives.
• More integration will happen as more and more companies incorporate social media into their marketing strategies – not just regionally, but globally. Not only used for marketing strategies, companies are expected to utilize social media for crisis management and other business-related issues.
• The advent of tablets and cheaper smartphones will make 24/7 connectivity possible. Technology will be more powerful as ever as social networking becomes possible in and out of the house and the office.
• Foursquare’s location-based networking will open a window of possibilities for other social media sites. Facebook’s response to Foursquare’s location-based platform is about to be rolled out globally so businesses can make use of this more than Foursquare’s.
• Google will join those they cannot beat. After Google’s failed attempts to imitate Facebook’s social networking platform, the biggest search engine decided the best way to beat Facebook is by indexing them to pieces. Google’s algorithm has started with Twitter and the next step could easily be Facebook.

There are certainly more trends that could easily be predicted in 2011, with the way social media continues to revolutionize internet marketing strategies. Expect SEO and social media authorities to release more trends as the year draws to an end and 2011 fast-approaching.
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Spending For Internet Ads Surpasses Newspaper Ads For 2010

eMarketer reports that for the first time, advertisers will spend more on internet ads than print ads in 2010. Online ad spending will grow 13.9% (25.8 billion) for 2010, while print ads will see a 8.2% decrease from 2009 ($22.78 billion). eMarketer also predicts that print ad spending will continue to decline into 2011 at $21.4 billion, while online ad spending are predicted to grow to $40.5 billion by 2014.

This report clearly demonstrates the shift towards digital advertising. It is undeniable that the future for the majority of publishers and advertisers lies in digital formats. For a time now, analysts have predicated the fall of the paper medium, as using the internet and the digital transition have reduced costs and created better returns. E-mail ads and PPC banners, allow advertisers to reach targeted consumers more effectively, than spamming wasteful print ads. In addition to increased online activity, the poor economy has forced advertisers to find alternative means of marketing that prove to be more reliable. E-mail and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become the preferred means of advertising for many companies.

Although traditional print ads remain an important format for advertising, the decreased viewership of magazines and newspapers, has drastically impacted their effectiveness. The decrease in traditional mediums has been caused by technological innovation. The internet is no friend of newspapers and journalists. Companies like Amazon and Apple have been strongly pushing digital formats with their mobile devices, Kindle and iPad. In turn, publishers are having to shift towards digital formats, which also directly effects advertisers.

The shift towards advertising is not surprising. As we become a more technologically savvy and environmentally conscious society, paper will be viewed as an inferior and wasteful medium of the past. The growth of the internet and mobile devices is moving quickly, which is where advertisers will undoubtedly shift their focus. The types of approaches and strategies advertisers will take are still developing, as they begin to phase out print ads. Whether it be mobile applications, e-mail, or online ads, it's here to stay.

Written by Daniel T


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6 Essential Social Media Metrics

The most important thing in riding the social media wave is that businesses must develop a social media marketing strategy; here and here are two great resources. The second and equally important aspect, which is most often easily looked over, is measurement. Here are six essential metrics every business should pay attention to in order to measure the success of one's social media marketing strategy:

1. As the popular social networking website, it is vital to track how frequently your fans interact with your Facebook fan page by clicking 'like' and commenting on status updates. When fans do so, it'll appear in their newsfeed and expand your marketing reach not just by their immediate group of friends, but also by friends of friends that interact with you fan page, and so forth. As the administrator of a fan page, you can track this data as a chart on your Daily Story Feedback at http://facebook.com/insights. Be sure to check this every day.

2. Klout, also known as 'the Standard of Influence,' measures influence on Twitter. Klout goes beyond charting your followers. Instead, it examines retweets, followers, clicks on links, etc, and gives you a score that reflects your influence within your social sphere.

3. PostRank. Your social media savvy readers can interact with your blog through various mediums such as through Digg submissions, retweets, or Facebook shares. But these very diverse mediums make it difficult to impose some sort of measurement for social media marketing success. Enter PostRank, which consolidates the different ways your readers are interacting with your blog, and it gives you an 'engagement score.' This is useful in seeing which of your blog content is generating engagement with your audience.

4. Start a 'share of voice' report. Radian6, ViralHeat, and Social Mention are great Web sites for this. A 'share of voice' report measures the number of times your business/products/services are mentioned on the social web whether in positive, neutral, or negative vain. And the great part is, you can calculate your competitors 'share of voice' report and see who's more discussed about, whether good or bad.

5. Google Insights. Since Google is the most widely used search engine, a measure of the number of people searching your company on Google is very important. In 2009, research conducted by GroupM found that "consumers exposed to a brand in social media are subsequently 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand than are consumers unexposed within social media." Use Google Insights to measure your searchability on Google and draw inferences on the success of your social media marketing campaigns.

6. Inbound Links. Websites that link back to yours is the providence of SEO, and social media is the best place to accrue links. It’ll promote your website higher up on Google. Keep track of the number of websites linking back to yours with either Open Site Explorer or SEOmoz

At the very least, these are six essential metrics on measuring the success of your social media strategy, so develop fluency in them. What are some other useful metrics you’ve used to measure your social media strategy – please share.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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New Facebook Prototype Features Leaked

About two weeks ago, Facebook unveiled their new user interface to the world. Facebook enthusiasts have grown quite familiar of the sudden changes and revamps to the social media network. While some features are a nice change, others aren't quite well received. Nevertheless, Facebook constantly pushes for change and innovation, instead of embracing a comfortable status quo.

Earlier today, Facebook unintentionally launched another update, which gave social media users a glimpse at what's to come. The features of the update seem quite significant in comparison to the last update. Here are a few updates:

Pages
Remember when Facebook forced users to link everything listed in their profiles? That was a bit of a inconvenience. They haven't toyed so much with the feature this time around, but have redesigned it. Tabs are now replaced by moving Pages to the left side of profiles. In addition, some Page admins noticed the ability to make comments on other Pages.

Memories
The designers at Facebook have caught onto the Facebook applications that allow users to see their entire year of status updates and comments, but have expanded on the concept. Reports mention the memories feature give users a "snapshot" of each year, with photos grouped by the year, updated statuses, and comments for a stroll down memory lane. For those with thousands of photos and hundreds of albums, it provides for some useful/great nostalgia. Perhaps the feature will rekindle old forgotten friendships and love or reignite passionate hate and jealously.

Outside World News Feed Filter
This provides users with news and real-time updates from outside sources. With so many users on Facebook already, this is a great feature to expose users to what they may ignore. It will be interesting to see how they integrate the types of news that are filtered through user profiles. It's not quite clear what kind of outside "news" this will be, whether it be blog updates, tweets, or from news sources.

Photos Lightbox UI
This feature provides a slick photo album viewing interface, similar to what users of iTunes are familiar with when viewing album photos. A minor change, but a "cool" one nonetheless.

Removal of "Comment" Button from Comment Box
This feature gets rid of the comment button entirely and allows users to make comments with the press of the enter key. To be honest, this feature seems quite odd and could possibly lead to many accidental/unwanted postings.

Automatic Mentions
In order to "mention" others or places, users usually have to place "@" in front of what it is they wish to mention. This new feature gets rid of the need for "@" entirely and eases mentioning others. Facebook will automatically place and link a mention to those that are connected to your individual profile. However, useful this may be, not not everyone wants to be mentioned and may cause some privacy issues that will have to be addressed.

These are just a few possible upcoming updates. Again, none of these features are ready for public release. Hopefully, this will prepare Facebook users of the new upcoming changes and provide Facebook with useful community feedback.

Written By Daniel T


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Twitter and Facebook Status Trends of 2010

With 2011 just around the corner and quickly approaching, Twitter, then Facebook, released their most popular trends of 2010. But a tweet from Twitter is different from a status update on Facebook, so we’ll look at how each was generated and see what the world was buzzing about in 2010.

First, Twitter:

In generating the list above, Twitter analyzed 25 billion tweets for 2010. Twitter listed its 10 most popular and talked about trends. Twitter also aggregated top 10s into eight categories: events, news, people, television, movies, technology, sports, World Cup, and hashtags. It’s fun to see what the world chirped about in 2010 – draw whatever interesting data that you can. Personally, I’m a little relieved that the Gulf Oil Spill trended higher than "Inception," which is not to say that it was not an awesome movie.

Facebook:

Facebook used a different statistical scheme in generating its own top 10 list. Facebook analyzed status updates across 236 countries. Whichever phrases or keywords increased by both percentage and volume from 2009 compared to 2010 made the list.

Again, a tweet is different from a status update so we can’t expect Facebook to reflect an exact translation of Twitter’s top 10 list. Because of this, a big surprise is that the number 1 trend on Facebook’s list is actually a phrase, not a topic – HME as in ‘hit me up,’ meaning call or text me. Another difference from Twitter’s list is that Facebook included categories into the list, such as 3. Movies, instead of having a separate category for movies and listing the top ten most talked about movies. The last surprise is #9. The word "airplanes" actually refers to the song "Airplanes" by hip-hop artist B.o.B, and doesn’t indicate a rising interest in aircrafts.

It’s interesting to see what 2011 will bring. I’m already looking forward to December 2011 when Twitter and Facebook will again release its list of Top 10 Trends, and it’s fun to see what top 10 trends you were a part of. From now until December 2011, be part of the dialogue – engage and participate in the buzz.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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Email Marketers and Facebook Messages: What You Need to Know

With Facebook’s new messaging system, email marketers are eager to know how this may affect their business, in terms of using social media. Because Facebook has been heavily incorporated into social media marketing strategies, the new messaging system will undoubtedly impact social media efforts practiced by businesses. Here are a few aspects of the new system marketers should know about:

1. Facebook’s new messaging system incorporates email into its social inbox, because of that, it is still technically email and the same email rules still apply. While Facebook boasts of having 500 million users, there are still a lot who don’t use the social networking site –a fact that is easily overlooked. Therefore, it could be said that these same people will not be using the new integrated service anytime soon. Additionally, with Facebook’s new “social inbox” where emails have a better chance of being delivered to the inbox rather than to spam, only targeted and important messages will be opened and read.

2. In line with this, Facebook will be doing away with subject lines, meaning the sender and brand ID becomes more important and plays a larger role in social media strategies. These are the key factors that will determine whether a user will open, read, or simply delete your message. The “From” name should be brief but having the most important keywords to help being identified by subscribers.

3. Facebook’s availability through mobile web applications presents multichannel communications that marketers should be aware of, in order to take advantage of them. Mobile devices will certainly play a larger role, as more individuals adopt smartphones. More Facebook applications, means more mobile Facebook users who can access and receive messages via mobile devices. Different channels also require different approaches, meaning marketers should ensure that a variety of touch points are executed for desired results. Additionally, photos and videos should be engaging enough to attract users to your page.

4. Avoid being tossed to the junk folder, by paying close attention to details, in order to ensure a successful delivery to a user’s inbox. The ‘catch all’ inbox is where all messages not from “Friends” are contained, meaning this box will be least visited by users. Marketers should be able to use all tools at their disposal, such as segmentation and personalization to engage recipients.

These are just a few changes marketers need to be aware of in the presence of Facebook’s new messaging, which looks to shake things up. The fact that Facebook has integrated email into its inbox is a prime example that demonstrates the need for email and social media to work together.

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Reservoir of Human Consciousness

Since the inception of the internet, Google and Yahoo have dominated consumers' choice for search engines. But with search engine algorithms, chances are they're churning out Web sites based on popularity. How 'bout a return on a query with a little flavor and personality? Enter Twitter's Search feature.

When you run a query on Twitter's search, it'll return tweets from Twitter users. Simple enough, and one might even ask, "What’s the use in that?" With over 90 million tweets per day, streaming-in in real-time, there is a massive amount of information to be harnessed. I like to think of this as a massive reservoir of human consciousness that pools daily tidbits, diatribes, and rants. Businesses and individuals can benefit from this information by searching the 'buzz' going around their targeted audience, or how its audience is reacting to relevant current events. With 90 million tweets circulating everday, becoming fluent with Twitter's Advanced Search fields will help sort through pointless babble. Even individuals can have a little fun with it for personal use.

Twitter's Advanced Search has traditional search fields such as focusing on keywords and date ranges, but they also feature fields that leverages Twitter's interface, such as narrowing your search to include retweets or positivie/negative attitudes, i.e. smilies.

Here is one fun way that individuals can use the information available on Twitter. Let's say you have a friend that's an avid tennis player. His birthday is coming up but you don't know anything about tennis – use Twitter’s Advanced Search for gift ideas. Type in the following words in the following fields:

All of these words: gift

Any of these words: tennis

Tweets with those 2 keywords will come up and offer excellent gift ideas.

Caution
College students beware. While Twitter is a great go to place to see what the buzz is about something, be cautious in extrapolating hard, solid facts. This word of caution goes for everyone. Instead, try this tactic: at the very bottom of Twitter's Advance Search, in the 'Others' section, click 'containing links.' Your search will return tweets that contain links, which are great leads to more credible sources of factual information. Remember, follow these leads but don’t use them in lieu of concrete information.

Checking the buzz around your business and getting gift ideas are just two ways of capitalizing Twitter's Advanced Search. You can even use it to get great travel and sightseeing ideas to places you've never been. Please share ways you've used Twitter's Advanced Search.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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The Impact of Social Media on Holiday Business

As e-commerce merchants enjoy an increase in sales during the period from Black Friday through the holiday season, have you ever wondered how much of this is influenced by social media? Paul Chaney, in an article for Practical Ecommerce, shares his insights on how social media is helping to shape the world of e-commerce, particularly this busy holiday shopping season. Citing data from Fredrick Njim, CEO of social commerce site Addoway.com, Chaney states that online shoppers referred through social networking sites were more likely to complete a purchase compared to those who were referred from comparison shopping search engines. According to the article, this trend is also apparent throughout the holiday shopping season. Not only are companies utilizing the power of social media, but consumers as well. They are often using social networking sites to share, recommend, and shop.

Chaney cites the case of Dale Traxler, an e-commerce merchant and owner of Beaded Impressions, as well as an author for a Practical Ecommerce blog. According to Traxler, social media is “paying dividends.” He suggests investing time, effort, and money to build social media presence particularly through Facebook. In fact, he recommends redirecting $50 from a company’s PPC (pay per click) budget per month and reinvesting it in building a Facebook presence. Today, Traxler has about 9,000 fans on his Beaded Impressions Facebook page.

This Holiday season, Chaney cites two ways by which e-commerce merchants are using social media tools to increase sales. First, by using it as an additional channel through which they can share information on promotions. Second, by using it as an outlet for exclusive content and marketing campaigns. A few examples include high profile retailers, such as Kmart, Best Buy, Target and Sears. Other smaller merchants, such as Rainebrooke and Beaded Impressions, used Twitter to promote their Cyber Monday deals.

As the number one social networking site and top ranked trafficked sites on the internet, Facebook has become a “centrepiece for social commerce sales”. It is a leading platform for content distribution as well as for broadcasting information on exclusive deals. Case in point: Software supplier PC Tools and religious store The Catholic Company offered Cyber Monday deals via Facebook, while nutritional supplement supplier Vitacost.com, had an exclusive Cyber Monday sneak peek accessible only to its Facebook page fans. Overstock.com and jeans manufacturer Hudson both held an exclusive Facebook-only VIP sales events.

While social commerce, a product of social media and e-commerce, has yet to become common practice online, the aforementioned examples clearly demonstrate that it is an emerging approach to sales. With morecompanies utilizing social media, social commerce will be essential to a company’s success.

Coming Soon - Foursquare to Add Photo Share feature?

By now, many users on Facebook are familiar with status updates concerning where a friend has "checked in" to or where they've been. For those still in the dark, the clever folks at Foursquare are behind those location updates that inform you where so and so is, and doing what. More recently, Foursquare has been unveiling various updates and features to their ingenious social media application. For those not following Foursquare or are new to it, we've compiled some interesting and useful features.

1. Foursquare API v.2 

For those app developers out there, Foursquare has recently released an updated version of their API (that's Application Platform Interface). While I can't exactly explain in detail the benefits of these updates, I'm sure my comp sci/programming friends out there will appreciate them.

• OAuth2 is much easier to use, more secure for users, and can even be used entirely from client-side Javascript
• By dropping XML support, we’ve been able to make the server more responsive (but not 1000x faster; sorry)
• There’s extensive documentation that includes sample applications and an API explorer
• A lot of work was put into consistency and clarity
• And last but not least, we’ve added oft-requested new endpoints for fetching user’s badges, user’s venue histories, and venue popularity

2. New Badges!

What good are badges?

In addition to location updates, Foursquare users may also familiar with these "rewards" updates, also known as "badges." The badges are given out when an individual completes certain tasks and allows them to display them as trophies. The purpose of badges is to encourage people to get out and do productive tasks, whether that be exercising, voting, or donate blood. Although it may seem trivial, it's been proven to work. For video gamers, this feature is nothing new. Gamers have been enticed to play and complete in-game challenges to achieve trophies. Some challenges have gamers ripping their hairs out to complete them. "100 kills without dying"?! Sound absurd? A little. So what do users get out of it? Only 100% game completion, a trophy, and possibly a global ranking. That update or "bing" sound to your dashboard can become a suprising obsession.There's no real world incentive, other than bragging rights. However, Foursquare is changing the game.

The Future of Foursquare Badges

Although badges may seem small at the moment, their benefits for social media marketing are beginning to take off. Companies are now integrating Foursquare badges with real world incentives, giving out things, such as gift certificates and coupons for "check ins." It is plausible to foresee more companies jumping on the band wagon, using badges for viral marketing purposes, such as scavenger hunts, contests, or social events to create physical traffic. This would create a stream of status updates and create massive exposure for companies. Again, it is a fun social feature that allows companies to increase their brand presence and attract the curiosity of tech savvy consumers.

Here are some recently added badges:

• Dog’s Best Friend – for frequenting dog parks
• Great Outdoors – for getting out to parks to breathe in some fresh air
• Swimmies – for the aquatic minded
• 9 to 5 – for those of us in the weekly grind
• Hangover – we’re not encouraging hangovers, but are happy to salute people who keep on trucking!
• Ski Bum – to commemorate your trips up the mountain

Now get out there and earn your badges! 

3. Upcoming Photo Share feature
Although a photo share feature isn't currently available, it is speculated and reportedly coming. A leaked picture reveals that the photo feature is in development and possibly in beta at the moment. With the majority of updates streaming from high tech mobile devices with camera features, it seems to be a given.

With such a visual generation today, photo sharing is crucial. Capturing a screen shot of your favorite foods/restaurants/locations is a great way to attract consumers. Integrating this with the badges feature and possibly an advanced visual recognition feature, would be great and interesting additions. Rewarding individuals with badges and discounts for photo sharing could have massive appeal

Written by Daniel T.

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We Can Be Billionaires Too

The title that most people know Mark Zuckerberg as is the founder of the world’s most popular social networking website Facebook. But Zuckerberg also claims another title that most people might not know: history’s first youngest billionaire. The fact that he doesn’t flaunt that title on his Facebook status is a bit humbling. What’s even more humbling is that this morning it was revealed that Zuckerberg took the “Giving Pledge.” Initiated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, by signing the “Giving Pledge,” Zuckerberg has agreed to give more than half his wealth to charity either during his lifetime or after his death. Other billionaires that have taken the “Giving Pledge” include Paul Allen and Carl Icahn.

But it doesn’t take a billionaire to give into the spirit of the “Giving Pledge,” and what better time to exude a little bit of that billionaire attitude than this holiday season. While we enjoy our warm meals and celebrate with presents, we realize that not everyone can be so fortunate. So this holiday season, let’s exude a little of that “Giving Pledge” spirit and give back where we can. We might not be billionaires, but here are some great ideas on the social media sphere:

1. Write a Blog Post. Spread the word about your favorite charity or non-profit organization by writing a blog. Spread the word. Let your readers know why you believe in the work they do.

2. Share Stories with Friends. Did you read a blog about a charity that touched your heart? Share it with your friends. Retweet, or even just email a link to your circle of friends.

3. Follow Charities on Social Networks. Corporations and big companies aren’t the only ones riding the social media wave; charities have also jumped on the social media bandwagon. The simple act of hitting ‘like’ on a charity’s fan page will expand their social reach exponentially.

4. Support Causes on Awareness Hubs. Rally around charities on awareness hubs like the Facebook application Facebook Causes.

5. Find Volunteer Opportunities. Social media is making it easy to find volunteer opportunities. They even have smartphone apps for it! Just type in when you’re free to volunteer, and it’ll geo-locate volunteer opportunities around you.

6. Embed a Widget on Your Site. Promote your favorite charity on your site. Non-Profit organizations offer embeddable badges and widgets.

7. Organize a Tweetup. Commonly known as ‘Twitter meetups.’ Gather like-minded people offline to rally behind a charity event or just get the dialogue started around an issue.

8. Express yourself Using a Video. Blogs are great but videos convey your eagerness, passion, and enthusiasm for a charity.

9. Sign or Start a Petition. Instead of standing in the cold in front of your local grocery store asking busy shoppers to sign your petition, Twitition allows you create, disseminate, and sign petitions on Twitter – how convenient for both parties!

10. Organize an Online Event. Raise money for you charity with an online event. Early this March, 12for12k ran a tweetathon: Over a 12 hour period, a $12 donation gains entry to a drawing prize of either an iPod touch or Wii. There’s no limit to what online event you can initiation with social media at the tip of your fingers.

It doesn’t stop here. Please share creative ideas on how you can use social media to support a charity or rally behind a cause.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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Dell Is Watching You - Launches Social Media Listening Center

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are widely used today as primary marketing tools. They provide companies with a more direct approach and way to increase presence among potential customers. In turn, customers also provide feedback directly or indirectly via comments, tweets, videos, or pictures, which can be useful or damaging to a company's image. The ability to monitor and respond to such feedback is provided through simple searches or more complex analytics services, such as Google Analytics. We have even seen legitimate news sources, such as CNN, use them in their news segments.

Many companies have already established their presence through a variety of Social Media services. Dell has chosen to take it a step further. While the NSA is busy tapping into our phone conversations and tracking our movements, "Big Brother" Dell wants to know what you're tweeting about and why. Today, Dell officially launched their Social Media Listening Center. The purpose of the new center is to provide Dell with the ability to track and monitor all things topics related to Dell. They're hoping that it will help improve Dell's consumer outreach and better their (outsourced) customer support. So be sure to comment and tweet your gripes away. They'll greatly appreciate it. While this might seem like overkill, Dell isn't the first to do this, as Gatorade was the first to launch such a program.

While the Dell "command center" may appear to be a glorified customer service call center, it is an interesting approach towards helping companies understand their brand presence. They can utilize trends and better understand where they stand among consumers. It shouldn't be a surprise to see other listening centers pop up soon. I also have no doubt that they will be monitoring this post as soon it is published.


Written by Daniel T. 



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Back Up Your Tumblr

Remember when you got this screen when trying to access your Tumblr?

I remember when the headlines started crashing in in the social media sphere: "Tumbler is Down." With over 3 million users and averaging 2 million posts per day, I was confident that they had some sort of contingency plan. Two hours into the outage, I read tweets from Tumblr saying they were working furiously to get Tumblr back on. Even Tumblr founder David Karp had something to say about it. Then the angry/panicked tweets ensued from users. In a nearly 24-hour cycle, Tumblr is once again online with no online content compromised (according to Tumblr President John Maloney, though it wouldn’t hurt to double check), but it’s certainly left a foul taste in our social networking experience.

To be fair to Tumblr, they launched a backup app last year that lets users save their blogs. It’s really easy to use: just download the app; sign-on with your regular Tumblr info; and save your blog to your desktop. It should look like this:

You can even back it up on a CD. It really is that easy to backup your blog, but it’s so easy that most of us just fall into the trap of not getting around to it. We’ve all heard the horror stories (lost wedding photos, term papers), don’t let it happen to you or your Tumblr.

It’ll be interesting to see in the coming days whether other major social networking sites like facebook and twitter will create some sort of backup app. Imagine losing all your tweets, pictures, fans, friends, notes, comments! Please share your thoughts, ideas, and panic attacks while Tumblr was down.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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'Tis the season... Oscar season.

With the Academy Awards around the corner (Sunday February 27, 2011 to be exact), it’s that time of year again when we can expect studios to churn out movie contenders for Hollywood’s largest, most prestigious, most coveted awards. But fame, glamor, and makeup aside, the Hollywood industry is no different than any other business/industry; it must develop a brand, and market its product/service.

Hollywood is a great example of an industry that has molded its marketing strategies to compliment rising trends to reach its audience, and it’s fun to examine how it has evolved. Remember when you used to see movie trailers as TV commercials? Now it seems like the fad to make it in time for the previews before your movie starts, but even that is giving way to more modern social media tactics. Of course, studios divert inroads with audiences through traditional publicity, but now-a-days, they would be hard-pressed not to use social media sites such as youtube, facebook, and twitter to implant excitement for its movie releases. Here are two successful examples:

To peak interest in the release of the third installment of the Toy Story franchise, Pixar implanted this alternate reality of a (fake) 80’s commercial to introduce its new character, Lots-O, which you can watch here on YouTube.

And while we’re on the subject of Pixar and Disney: Congratulation to Disney for reaching asocial media milestone of 100million fans on facebook.

Paranormal Activity was produced on a $15,000 budget and initially went on limited theater release, but thanks to a facebook fanpage campaign, it went on to gain one million fans to pressure its nationwide release. Its sequel was released this past October and bother movies went on to gross over $356 million.

The Hollywood industry has found its niche within the world social media, but it’s certainly not the end of it. And as any clever business would know, it must continue to adapt to the changing trends of social media.

As a fun little side note, I predict another Oscar nomination of Best Animated Feature for Pixar. Please share your thoughts, Oscar predictions, or if you’ve seen other clever examples of studios promoting their movies through social media.

Written By: Jaszver Bauzon

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Google Boutiques - your personalized online shopping expert

  

The online gurus at Google seem to never run out of things to do. On Nov. 17, the search engine giant unveiled it's latest creation, Google Boutiques, a personalized fashion search tool they hope will make shopping for clothing and accessory items more pleasant. 

For this project, Google brought together a team of computer scientists and fashion experts in the industry. The description, which sounds straight out of the film Terminator, states that Boutique utilizes computer vision and machine learning processes in order to analyze your personal taste and style. Similar to data mining, it uses a fashion algorithm that provides recommendations based your search, selected preferences and boutiques from fashion experts. The computer is learning how you dress in order to help you dress.

The site also includes a "social" feature, such as Twitter, where shoppers can "follow"their favorite boutiques.   Much like the YouTube celebrity phenomenon, we can expect a whole new wave of amateur fashion experts to emerge soon. Clothing brands may also find a new friend in Boutiques as a social media tool to promote their products.

Boutiques creates a dynamic shopping experience for shoppers. Can't figure out what goes with this color or that specific outfit? Wonder what that celebrity is wearing? Boutiques includes a useful visual search, analyzes a particular items shape and color, then provides a recommendation. There are even fashion "Do's" and "Don't"s, to prevent you from committing that fashion crime.  It's a personalized fashion expert at your finger tips.

Boutiques is an interesting experiment and a nice addition to creating a more "social" shopping experience, by connecting fashion experts and the casual shopper. Currently, Boutiques is only available in the US for women's fashion (sorry, guys).

Share your experience or tell us what you think about Boutiques in the comments section.

Written By: Daniel T.




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Beyond Traditional Marketing - The Psychology of Content

The field of marketing appears to be a relatively simple task on the surface. A company has a service/product that they want to promote and sell, so an advertisement is put out. However, as technology moves forward, so have the ways individuals respond to advertisements. There were the traditional magazine/newspaper ads, the TV commercials, product placement, and now social media. Individuals come in contact with advertisements every day, so much that they have essentially been desensitized to traditional forms of marketing.

Therein lies the problem for marketers. Marketing companies have often relied on traditional quantitative forms of marketing, relying on numbers, surveys, and charts. Understanding the psychology of consumers is essential. It is necessary to consider quantitative and qualitative data in order to produce a holistic view of a market. What makes the consumer respond? The layout of a site? The colors and pictures? Specific words? Every demographic trait requires consideration.

Take, for instance, the use of "Act" vs. "Act Now!" One is more passive, while the other is affirmative. It might appear trivial, but there is an art to crafting content. Users have "click-triggers" that marketers must creatively engage. Here are a "click-triggers" to consider:

• Sticky content
• Attention grabbing, well-written headlines
• Finely-crafted copy
• Pleasant user experience

The most effective sites have content that do not overtly target consumers. They tap into the "natural impulse" of buyers subtly, instead of using manipulation. That being said, it will take experimentation.

It simply comes down to the fact that as marketing experts, one cannot ignore the individual. Social media allows us to reach thousands simultaneously, but it is a futile attempt to appeal to all. Social media should not change the true "art" of marketing. Markets respond to ads differently and it is important to craft content within context. Carefully crafting a site's interface, visuals, and words can make a considerable difference. If one cannot capture the mind of one, how does one expect to attract an entire market?

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Written by Daniel T.

Facebook views account for 25% of page views in the U.S.

With 500 million users, Facebook is one of the largest social media websites in existence. Along with other services, such as YouTube and Twitter, Facebook has changed the way the world interacts with each other.
Exactly how big is Facebook? According to Hitwise, Facebook account views make up 25% of page views in the United States alone. It is by far the most popular and used site in the United States, only slightly behind the internet giant, Google.

Not only that, but it's popularity and exposure appear to be growing daily with a 55% over-the-year increase (comScore). A large part of Facebook's success is due to constant updates to it's features (for better or worse). Facebook's development depends on a simple symbiotic relationship between the community and it's developers. Frequent users of Facebook are familiar with the constant revamping of the user interface. Users cry out and scold developers for disrupting current features, while quietly praising others.

With a critically acclaimed film and what seems to be endless growth, what comes next for the Social Media giant? We'll have to see. Will there be room for competitors? Or will Facebook maintain it's crown as the Social Media King. One thing is for sure, it shows no sign of slowing down.

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by: Daniel T.

Social Media Ingenuity - Cold Stone's “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social"

Today, many companies are reaching out to their customers through social media. It is an essential tool for companies to utilize such tools in order to establish brand power and maintain a loyal customer base. Individuals are bombarded with advertisements to filter through daily, which creates difficulty for marketing strategists to attract their attention. The tools are widely available, but mastering the art of social media requires true ingenuity.

Like many companies, Cold Stone Creamery has embraced the Social Media medium to attract customers. The company launched social media based contests through YouTube and one of the first eGift applications available on Facebook. The eGift application allows users to send real monetary gift certificates that can be used in a physical store. The app was such a success that profits reached $10,000 within a month.

Cold Stone Social media Stats:

Organization: Cold Stone Creamery Social Media Handles & Stats:
Website: ColdStoneCreamery.com
Twitter: 2,460 followers
Facebook: 830,478 fans
YouTube: 26,251 views since channel created in June
Highlights:

• A new eGift Facebook feature added $10,000 in incremental sales to franchisees in just a month and a half.
• With social media, Cold Stone averages a cost of about 39 cents per coupon redeemed compared to $3.60 per redemption with print advertising.
• The company added 66,000 new fans over about an 8-week period with a flavors contest.
• A Facebook coupon increased sales 1 to 1.2%.
• 14% redeemed the coupon compared to .02% in the past.

Other viral promotions include, special coupons, ice cream flavor contest, and throwing “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social” . Special in-store coupons offered through Facebook, such as 2 for $5, have increased in-store traffic. Within 3 weeks, 500,000 coupons were printed. The company saw a 1-1.2% increase in sales, with a 14% coupon redemption rate. 

It seems that the success of Cold Stone's social marketing lies in the "fun" factor of social media. Cold Stone's success should be looked at as a successful innovative model for those companies that seek to utilize social media effectively. 

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By: Daniel T.