Where is social media taking the world to? As the universe of social media continues to gain influence amongst the populace in this age of uncharted technical revolution, the question as to how the dynamics of real time communication are affecting our lives is only understood in a very limited sense due to the small window of context. As our natural social need for interaction begins to spill into the digital realm, some interesting effects have begun to transpire whether intended or unintended, positive or negative.

The raw profusion and abundance of consumer data available as a result of the unbridled growth and usage of Social Media (SM) networks by people all around the world has instigated opportunities in the world of business and marketing that were almost unimagined by many of previous generations. Who would have thought fifteen years ago that “Google” or “YouTube” would be such a widely used verb?

The true beauty of social media is that the basic mechanism required for it to function is the inherent desire for its users to be social, something that anthropologists for years have asserted as a condition innate to all of us. As neuroscientists have told the field of so called “right brain” marketing, this type of communication (especially from a marketing sense) engages consumers at their emotional core.

We as humans want to interact, we want to tell stories, we want to have information available on command– this is partly why the SM movement has been as successful as it has been. SM offers both companies and consumers a mode of communication that is far more interesting, engaging, and relevant than most conventional marketing methods.

The major benefit of effective SM use (among many) is that it allows a company to grasp at what their core customers are thinking about as they think it (hence the term “real-time” technology).

Why is social media valuable? How can it be used to better understand and engage your customers?

SM not only offers companies open opportunities to collect data regarding their target market, it also gives them the power to communicate with that market directly, actively position their online brand, and to gain a large community of followers that are actually interested in hearing about their products or services.

Good corporate SM use is akin to good online PR with one distinguishing point – SM not only allows companies the opportunity to position and present who they are, it lets them get immediate feedback, adapt, and reposition without skipping a beat.

Yves Behar, an industrial designer at Fuse Projects recently said “Advertising is the price companies pay for being un-original.” Social media is an incredibly cheap way for even the smallest companies to gain brand enthusiasts and evangelists. Not only that, you can generate a laser focus on your key demographics and speak freely with them at a more interesting & relational level.

If you are a business owner and haven’t asked yourself “How do I get more people to pay attention to my company on the internet?” then it might be worth your while to get engaged and see what it can do for you.

Feel free to comment or add your own thoughts below–

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I have read the articles and heard the talks revolving around the upcoming “Facebook Killer” from Google.  I will say one thing, many have noted that Google now realizes that Buzz was not enough.  Yea, I would say that is a contender for understatement of the year.

Back to the point at hand, is Google really making a platform to go head to head with Facebook?  I would not put it past them.  Yes, I said it, I would assume Google is making something that will contend with Facebook.  I don’t believe however, that it will dethrone Facebook, the main reason being Facebook has a foothold in the market.  They are also constantly evolving and adding new features.  The fact is, Facebook is the center of social networking.  Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, the list goes on, they all play a role but Facebook is full featured.  It is dynamic in nature.

The bottom line is simple; I do believe Google is creating something.  I do not believe it will kill Facebook or even overthrow it.  Competition brings innovation.  If anything, Google making an attempt to really compete with Facebook will likely bring new and cool innovative features to the market.

What’s your take on this?

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People frequently tell me they plan on taking on an intern to manage their social media. An inner part of me cringes every time I hear this because I know I have failed to explain the importance and power of social media to them in a way they can understand.

Yes, I am a biased opinion. I am convinced though that social media is one of the most effective ways of reaching a large audience. Additionally, social media represents a new twist in Marketing… everything said on social media is permanently archived forever in an easy to search manner. Talk about what a PR nightmare it could turn into! Every piece of content said is permanently attached to your brand image.

When I hear people say they are excited that they found an unpaid intern or low-paid intern to manage their social media and help them get into the 21^st century, I know it is already too late to educate them on the dangers this provides their business. The primary question I wish I had the opportunity to ask them point-blank one month prior:

When you think about your company brand that you’ve worked so hard to establish, how do you want to continue it? In a concentrated professional manner, or in a haphazard way that might occur with a low paid (or free) intern who might leave you in a few weeks. Most companies say they want consistency of message and of delivery.  They want to be confident that the words that go out about their company are well-thought out.  Because social media is quite new to a lot of companies, many don’t know that there is no “undo button” in social media?

How much do YOU want to risk?  With SMCPros you can be confident every move is planned and focused on making you look good to your customers and prospects.  Our methods are tried and proven successful. We are way past guessing what works.  So I ask again: How much do you want to risk?

Having said this, please, be careful.

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Many of our clients have yet to explore LinkedIn and understand it to its fullest potential. Many of you ask yourself the same questions, without finding accurate answers for them. I have put together some FAQs that will help answer some of your questions.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of InMails I can send out?
A: In order to send InMails, you need to upgrade your account. There are 3 different packages which have different features that you can upgrade for. Of course, it’s directly proportional to the amount you want to spend. InMails start from 3 per month and go up to 50.

Another alternative would be to purchase InMails without upgrading. InMails are for $10.00 each and you may purchase up to 10 at a given time.

Q: Is there a certain number of Open Introductions I can have at a time?
A:  You may have up to 5 introductions open at any one time. If your introductions run out,  you can either wait for the recipient to take action or upgrade your account.

Q: How many connection requests can I have opened?
A: There is not a limit to how many people you are connected to, however, rumor does have it that you are allowed up to 3,000 invites to connect with others. Each time you are prompted to invite someone from your own personal e-mail and they do not join, you have, in essence, wasted a contact.

Q: When I want to add someone to my network and click on I don’t know this person, what happens?
A: LinkedIn will not allow you to send out the invitation. A warning pop up appears telling you that you are not allowed.

Recipients can indicate that they don’t know you. If they do, you’ll be asked to enter an email address with each future invitation.

Q: Can I search a group for a specific member without going through entire list?
A: Yes, there is a search bar available within the group under the ‘more’ tab.

Q: Can I see the groups my connections are on?
A: Yes, if you go into their profile, it is displayed towards the bottom of the page. It does not however show common groups you share.

Do you have more questions? Or have answers? Share!

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There have been many people across the globe complaining about Facebook’s recent privacy setting changes. As a matter of fact, Facebook has been LISTENING to you! Due to peoples rising concern they have decided to reconsider those settings.

The announcement is expected to take place shortly after 1:00pm ET, on Wednesday.

“I can confirm that our new, simpler user controls will begin rolling out tomorrow. I can’t say more yet,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told CNN in an e-mail Tuesday.

The website also implemented, among other changes, a new tool that spreads user preferences and data across the Web. This tool allows Facebook users to share articles and “Like” pages. In return this had an impact on the privacy settings and some members voiced their concerns to changes that switched their settings to default making their profiles open to the public.

“I know we’ve made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that our intentions are in the right place and we respond to the feedback from the people we serve,” Zuckerberg said in the e-mail, which Scoble printed after receiving permission from the Facebook CEO to do so.

What kind of changes are you expecting to be rolled out?

CNN Tech was used as a source for the above information.

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Numerous marketing approaches are being used nowadays, how do you know which one is the most appropriate for your organization?

We usually start by breaking down each approach before analyzing and making a decision as to which route to proceed with.

Ask yourself not only what your target market is, but also WHERE they are at. Are they on social media platforms? Are they listening to the radio, watching tv or perhaps just reading the newspaper? Any campaign you decide to run with needs to be carefully thought through. Brainstorm your objectives and set your direction.

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I watched a TED video this morning. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Wine Library TV, reminded me once again that everything we do today is digitally recorded. Our children and grand-children are going to have access to so much about our lives. When I think about what I know about my great grand-parents, I know their names and I know the few stories I have time to hear from my grandparents. But my children are going to have access to what I said on twitter even today, March 15th, 2010. They will be able to see that I missed the last 3 episodes of 24 because hulu broadcasts that.

Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad, spoke at an EO event this past week at the James J Hill library on the topic of Social Media. He also stressed the importance and power of the web. As technology evolution continues to accelerate, more and more of what we do is going to be digitally recorded and archived. In the near future, life will be video-recorded and broadcasted everywhere we go (as it already can be). What does this mean in the privacy debates, speed of life issues, the ADD surge in young people? I don’t know. But technology is quickly and gracefully macro-evolving the way life works.

I am very interested to know your thoughts on whether these things concern you, excite you, and what you plan on doing with this.

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Exporting my contacts from hotmail was completed in 5 clicks. If you think that sounds easy, read on!

I went over to my Gmail account to see how I could import these contacts. To my surprise, it had its own set of steps that were much easier to say the least! One thing that really impressed me are the options it presented me with to further facilitate my transition. It allowed me to import my contacts, import my mail AND import any new mail I receive from my hotmail account for the next 30 days! In addition, once the import started, it let me know that I can close the window and keep using Gmail, or even log out and close my browser. It would still keep working in the background.

Now, I am one of those people who has been using hotmail for the past ten years. Being in the social media and marketing community has proven me otherwise.  A few reasons I have decided to switch over to Gmail:

Google Calendar

Is web based and really easy to synch with your mobile phone. You can also create different calendars and color code them to your needs.

Labs

There are so many features that are being developed by the community everyday that further simplify your life. Two examples I found to be helpful are the Undo Send & The Title Tweaks features.  The latter isn’t as clear so I’ll further explain it. It basically changes the order of the elements in the browser title bar from “Gmail – Inbox (10)” to “Inbox (10) – Gmail” which allows you to see if new mail has arrived even if the Gmail window is minimized!

Labels

I don’t know about you, but I like keeping my emails organized.  You know those emails you get, the ones that have a tendency to fall into numerous categories? With the label feature, you don’t need to assign it in ONE folder! You can have multiple labels for it which is easier to search for should you want to refer back to it.

Archive

If you don’t want to delete the email, yet it is something you have already read, archiving it is the way to go. All archived mail remains in the archived folder and you can use the search bar to find it later.

Reader

Reader allows you to subscribe to websites you frequently visit and brings you their latest updates right to your email! You can also share your entire list with friends.

Documents

With this feature, you can create a word document, excel file, presentation and/or form all within your account! Not only does it allow you to do that, but also, you can share specific documents with friends and co-workers.

Go on, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Now that’s taken care of, I’m starting to buzz! – add me to your buzz environment!

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If you don’t use Twitter on a regular basis you might be wondering why certain words in tweets have the # in front of them.  This is called a hashtag and it is used to help ease the search of a topic or keyword.  When people on Twitter search for things or try to keep track of a topic, they search for a word with a hashtag in front of it.

A good example is a conference such as social media breakfast. The Minneapolis social media breakfast uses the hashtag #smbmsp. Most of us Minneapolis social medialites have a search column on our Tweetdeck and of course we use the hashtag.

When I tweet about an auto-manufacturer or any company, I always use the hashtag in front of the name.  These companies are searching for their names using the hashtag.  You can even make a hashtag out of nothing.  For example, I have made a hashtag out of #GoodDay simply because I was having a good day.

Something to keep in mind, you have to make it all connected with no spaces in the words.  People are used to reading the hashtags and figuring out the words.  It is usually not hard.  Overall majority of the people you follow are likely using hashtags in  tweets and you can view them as examples.

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If you have specific questions and are looking for various answers, why not use LinkedIn Answers? With this feature, you can ask questions within different industries and be sure to find an answer that will satisfy you! Thought-provoking questions that relate to others sharing knowledge they have is always great. This also gives SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) a chance to share their knowledge and will improve the quality of others’ answers.

How do I earn expertise when answering questions on LinkedIn?

This is what LinkedIn has to say:

When you see a green box with a white star on a Profile, you know that person has proven their expertise by answering questions posed in the Answers forum. They have had answers selected as the ‘Best’ answer and are given expert status. Answer experts can be found at the bottom of the Answer home page. To earn expertise:

1. Find questions in the areas you know.
2. Browse questions to find categories familiar to you and answer those questions.
3. Every time the questioner picks your answer as the ‘Best’ answer, you gain a point of expertise in the category of the question. The more points of expertise, the higher you appear on lists of experts. Private answers don’t count toward expertise.

Once the question is closed the member can rate the answers that came in. Answers is a good way to share and exchange information.

What do I benefit if I am listed as an expert?

It is a great way to add value to your Profile by displaying your writing style, personality, organizational abilities and subject matter expertise to those viewing your Profile. If your answer is voted ‘Best’ it is hoped that it was because you provided the best information in a way that helped the member to resolve their query.

This will help you stand out amongst the crowd and will also draw attention to your business. People will keep you in their mind and will know who to not only go to for answers but for services!

Still not sure?

Start by trying to ask a question, yes, you are entitled to ask up to 10 questions per month and see what/how people respond back. And note the amount of time it takes! You will be surprised by the amount of people who are offering their knowledge.

Depending on how specific your question is, you will receive responses. One question I asked received 5 different answers within an hour time span while another received 10 within half an hour!

Keep in mind that questions you ask can also be flagged, reported and removed if they are inappropriate which might lead you to become blocked by LinkedIn from asking any more questions.

Best Practice- Make sure to thank the person who’s answer you ranked as best.

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