Welcome to SMM.  This site exists as a resource to ministers and those who are interested in ministering to individuals both in and outside the church.  Our aim is to give practical tips welded together with theological principles to assist in the use of technology, especially social media, to initiate and enhance ministry opportunities.

It is our prayer that these tools will be used to improve communication and support relationships where the name of Christ will be shared and the name of God will be glorified.

If you are a social media beginner we hope you find the sight helpful.  Please don’t hesitate to ask for assistance.  If you are a social media expert, please join in the conversation and help all who desire develop and improve their skills to engage the world for the cause of Christ.

What is Social Media?

The Social Media Advent Calender presents: Donate by Clicking at Care2.

Looking for some good online donation sites for SonnCom’s Social Media Advent Calendar, I found care2’s way of linking advertisers with activists. Just click a button on care2.com and a donation will be made from a sponsors account.

Even though we should all give back to society using our own money, this is still a clever way to bundle advertising money with morale.

Visit the call to donate at number 6 on the Social Media Advent Calendar.

Der Nikolaustag im Social Media Adventkalender: Spenden per Mausklick auf care2.

Auf der Suche nach guten Websites für einen Spendenaufruf am 6. Dezember – dem Nikolaustag – stiess ich auf care2 und deren cleveren Spendenaufruf. Alles was man tun muss, ist einmal klicken, die Spende wird dann von Werbekonto der Sponsoren abgebucht.

Auch wenn es einfach ist, anderer Leute Geld zu spenden, ist es doch eine gelungene Kombination, Werbegeld mit einem zusätzlichen moralischen Zweck zu versehen.

Der Spendenaufruf ist also im 6. Fenster am Social Media Adventkalender zu finden.

Combine your Strategy:

Many companies keep their search and social strategies separate. If they can work out a strategy to combine their Social Media and
Search Strategy they can easily acheive their goals.

Generally Companies use Search for increasing the increasing leads/ sales whereas they use social media for branding
and customer engagement. If you can combine the Search and Social Media Strategies, it can produce great results.

From my experience, companies that has a clear strategy and optimize their social media content drive targeted traffic,
build relationships and reach customers.

Common Mistake:

People often make mistake by thinking social media as a direct merketing tactics. Measuring ROI from Social Media is not the right
approach as social media is just a platform. The use of a platform determines the results, not the platform itself.

Conclusion:

If your goal is to increase your revenue, you must look at ROI not Social Media. But if you want to improve customer relationships,
branding, and visibility you can target Social Media.

• 1 in 20 Americans are using Twitter (Harris)
• 49% of mobile Twitter users are age 35 and up (Nielsen)
• 48% of American adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page (Harris)
• Twitter had 17 million unique visitors in April 2009 – an 83% growth from March (TechCrunch)
• 52% of people with a MySpace or Facebook page have a college degree (Harris)

Have these stats changed your perspective on who is utilizing social media? I was surprised to find out how pervasive it is and how it’s not just limited to the younger crowd or the tech-obsessed. The numbers of visitors and growth of Twitter alone is certainly worth taking note of…many savvy companies certainly are. That’s where Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) come in. In my next post in this series, I will look at trends, methods and successful companies operating in this arena.

So, you want to create your own business. You have a great company name, catchy slogan and fabulous company logo. What’s the next step for an entrepreneur?

Creating a Facebook page. That’s right! Brand it. Brand yourself. It’s great to create buzz about a company, but where are you directing traffic? Do you have a website? A blog? Twitter account? Facebook page? Myspace page? Digg account? Delicious? The list goes on…

So, where to begin? Take a breath, let’s take a step back…WAY back, and ask a few questions:

1) The basics: Who are you? What is your company? What and who do you represent? One of the most commonly overlooked questions when starting a company and moving forward is addressing and targeting YOUR audience. Who are you trying to appeal to? What do you have to offer?

2) Show and Tell: Paint a picture for your customers. Explain. Elaborate and help them draw their own conclusions about your products and services.

3) Blog It: If you are starting your own business, odds are, that you have a lot to say about your market and area of interest. Start a personal or company blog and link it back to your website. Better yet, if your funds are low, use your blog AS your company website. WordPress, my favorite, offers a variety of custom options. You can design and customize with little to no experience. More advanced? Fully customize for low-cost by using CSS.

Blogs are essential in today’s world. It’s no longer enough to just be “in the game.” In order to be in it to win it, you have to be savvy and sharp. Watch and read the news. Stay up to date! In social media marketing? Mashable should be your GOD ( http://mashable.com ). Go on Twitter and research other people in your field of interest. Learn and converse. I have learned some of my best marketing tactics from those around me in the virtual world– you can, too.

In order to have a successful blog, post a picture of yourself. Personalize it. List your contact information. Let people know you are there to help. Are you offering products? Post photos and videos. Are you offering services? list your services. Bullet point. Be concise & efficient.

One of your highest priorities when engaging with the net is to create a landing page that is HIGHLY INTERACTIVE and aesthetically appealing. Have a high bounce rate? Try engaging with your audience more. Be interactive and post NEW, fresh content. “Out with the old, in with the new.”

A helpful tool, once you create a blog or website, is to track and monitor your progress with a dashboard. Google Analytics is very helpful, especially when it comes to weekly or monthly reports for yourself AND clients. Let’s face it, clients want numbers.

These are great starting points. Once you master, it is then time to move forward with adding events, bookmarking sites, graphics, widgets and more!

Stay Tuned to “Social Media, Facebook & Blogs: Stay on Top of Your BUZZ, Part 2″ — Coming Next Week!

When we talk Digital marketing, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind in these recessionary times is Social Media Marketing. There are a few intellectuals who’ve reached a stage where they can now argue if it should be called SMO or SMM or maybe something new has come up since I was an audience of such an intellectual discussion.
Unfortunately, I am yet to come across a discussion on Social Media which talks specifically on how to market a brand across this medium. There is huge amount of generic talk that pretty much boils down to the fact that Social media is huge, great, free, long lasting & engaging but no one can specifically define how it can be used for marketing a brand/ product/ service or should it be used for such a purpose at the first place. There is definitely a lot of merit in debating if brands should even touch the social media space for marketing or should they leave the consumer alone out there. I read the CEO of a FMCG brand expressing great displeasure in using social media for marketing “You can’t sell shampoo to someone while he’s breaking up with his girlfriend” he said. You can and you should refer him a dating service was the first thing that came to my mind. If you notice, the difference in the both the above approaches was not about the product being offered (shampoo & dating service) but on the one word which connects the user with the product. Yes, the real differentiators were the words ’sell’ & ‘refer’.
We are all consumers, when we leave our offices, its hard for us to find a corner in a mall/ train/ busses/ wherever we go , where some brand is not trying to sell something to us. Let’s not follow the same trend across Social media on the digital space. The ideal approach across social media should in most of the cases be a Consumer to brand communication rather than the contrary. Brands should do more of listening on social media rather than talking. Not saying that talking should not be done at all- but it should be done only where & when required and with an intent to help the customer or the brand (and the brand is not always helped by talking about it in golden words)
to be continued…(promise!)

Der Social Media Adventkalender ist 24 Tage Weihnachststimmung auf den populärsten Social Media Websites.

Die 24 Klicks am Social Media Adventkalender zeigen
- einen Überblick aller Social Media Kategorien
- die beliebtesten Social Media Websites und Services
- Weihnachten in Social Media
- Beispiele für Social Media Marketing

Das “Educational” soll Social Media und Social Media Marketing durchschaubarer machen und die Skepsis gegenüber Social Media Marketing verringern.

Der Social Media Advent Calendar is 24 days of Christmas at the most popular social media sites.

The Social Media Advent Calendar’s 24 clicks offer
- an overview of all social media categories
- a glimpse into into the most popular social media websites
- how each site celebrates Christmas
- examples of brand marketing in social media
- definitions and explanations

The educational’s goal is to provide an insight into social media und social media marketing and to reduce scepticism of social media marketing.

Web 2.0?  No problem!  Marketing your business to the over 80 Million blogs on the internet may seem like a daunting task, so why not let the experts handle it?

Obwohl das notwendige Know-how für Social Media Marketing mittlerweile online zur Verfügung steht, ist noch immer nicht einheitlich klar, wie man systematisch zu einem professionellen Social Media Marketing Konzept kommt.

Hier ist der SonnCom Ansatz:

Monitoring
Überprüfen Sie den Status Quo, Ihr online Image, messen Sie die relevante Kommunikation über Ihr Produkt/Ihre Marke.
Content
Entscheiden Sie, was Sie den Konsumenten, Ihren Kunden, der Öffentlichkeit mitteilen wollen.
Strategie
Setzen Sie Ziele und formulieren Sie die passende Strategie.
Konzept
Erarbeiten Sie das entsprechende Konzept.
SMO + SEO
Social Media Optimierung and Search Engine Optimierung.
Routine + Prozesse
Organisieren Sie die Massnahmen und integrieren Sie diese in die Unternehmensprozesse.
Messung
Messen Sie die Zielerreichung.

Diese systematische Methode garantiert, dass Sie wissen, womit zu beginnen ist, was zu erreichen ist, wie man es angeht und organisiert und wie man die Ergebnisse messen kann.

Read it in German.

With all the know-how about social media and the necessary marketing mix and measures, it is still not easy to apply a systematic approach to create a decent social media marketing concept.

Here is the SonnCom approach:

Monitoring
check your online image, measure the relevant communication
Content
decide what to tell your consumers, clients, the public
Strategy
set goals and formulate your strategy
Concept
create the social media marketing concept
SMO + SEO
Social Media Optimization and Search Engine Optimization
Routine + Processes
organize the regular work, integrate into company processes
Measure
monitor progress and achievements

This method ensures that you know where to start, what to achieve, how to attack it, how to organize it and how to measure it.

Any marketer who is truthful and honest will tell you that social media marketing (SMM) is still an emerging concept.  It hasn’t fully matured and there is no secret formula that will always work. Yet I continue to see seminars on social media pop up everywhere. This would be fine if most of them didn’t declare to have an “expert” speaker.  I’m unaware of how anyone can be a true expert in social media, one of the common academic views suggest an individual needs 10 years or 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to be an expert.

Several of the eldest social media sites, such as LinkedIn and MySpace, launched in 2003 making it impossible to hit the 10 year requirement. The 10,000 hours may seem possible over the last 6 years but we’re talking about deliberate practice, not just using the sites.  In other words an individual is dedicating their time in social media to developing business, building tools, completing research and documenting results, not just spending time on Twitter tweeting with others or looking for friends on Facebook.

Next time you meet a social media expert ask them about their 10,000 hours of experience.

To hire Justan Brandt as your truthful and honest marketing consultant click here for contact details.

Vous trouverez dans ce billet, comme chaque Vendredi, notre sélection d’articles de blogs pour la semaine 48.

Citation de la semaine : “Right or wrong, the internet is a cruel historian”. Citation tiré du bouquin “The Future of  Reputation” de Daniel J.  Solove.

Bonne lecture

E-Reputation / Personal Branding / Corporate Branding/ Buzz

Les nettoyeurs du Net : article du Monde.fr qui étudie les enjeux de l’image en ligne sur la vie quotidienne des individus.

Qu’est-ce que l’influence d’une source ? : article didactique, riche en précisions et moyens de mesure sur le thème de l’influence.

Freddy Mini, Netvibes : « Nous offrons un résumé de la vie digitale » : entretien avec le PDG De Netvibes. Thèmes abordés : l’offre commerciale de Netvibes aux professionnels, la fiabilité des sources.

Negative Online Reviews : le billet présente les 8 émotions à l’origine des commentaires négatifs postés en ligne.

Tips for Responding to Negative Comments Online : 8 astuces pour répondre aux avis négatifs.

Comment mesurer le buzz sur Internet ? : question à la quelle répond l’outil BuzzWatcher de la société AT Internet.

Médias et réseaux sociaux / Marketing

Internet : média n°1 dans la décision d’achat : Internet, aux yeux des français, est la source la plus crédible pour les décisions d’achat.

Facebook : un fichier mondial de données personnelles, à ciel ouvert : l’intimité et la vie privée se rétrécit comme une peau chagrin au sein des réseaux sociaux.

Utiliser les médias sociaux dans les campagnes de communication : l’article détaille les enjeux de la communication d’entreprise au sein des médias socoiaux.

Attentio raises €525,000 for social media monitoring and analysis software suite : les entreprises de surveillance de médias sociaux lèvent plus facilement des fonds et attirent davantage des investisseurs.

SAS présente des innovations technologiques majeures : un leader de l’informatique décisionnelle entre dans le domaine de la surveillance des médias sociaux.

Building Social Web Experience : une présentation sur les fondements et les apports du web social.

Toys”R”Us Explodes on Facebook : de plus en plus d’entreprises font appel aux entreprise pour promouvoir leurs produits. Autre exemple : Les chaines de cafés.

Google Turning Times Square Into A Giant Voice Search Experiment : campagne marketing de Google Droid, la recherche se fera par la voix et sera affiché sur les écrans de Time Square à NewYork.

Canada, Australia Give OK To Microsoft-Yahoo Deal : L’alliance Bing-Yahoo est approuvée par les autorités canadiennes et australiennes qui estiment que le partenariat entre les 2 moteurs de recherche ne va pas à l’encontre des règles de concurrence et aura des retombés positives sur les internautes, les publicitaires et les éditeurs de contenus.

10 Tips to Integrating Social Media with Marketing :  Un billet qui aborde les moyens à mettre en oeuvre pour intégrer les médias sociaux dans les tratégies Marketing. L’article est composé d’une présentation et un texte explicatif.

Outils

Analyse de tonalité sut Twitter : deux outils twendz et twitrratr.

Kikin :  plugin Firefox adapté à Google pour la recherche dans les médias sociaux.

GazoPa : Moteur de recherche d’images.

Rippol : Recherche de vidéos en ligne.

Tweet : Outil pour mesurer l’influence sur Twitter. Les comptes ne doivent pas être privés.

Vidéos

IKEA: Facebook Showroom Campaign Strategy : campagne marketing IKEA sur FaceBook.

YouTube Instrument Annotations Experiment

Social media marketing can increase sales and cut costs.

Blunt statement with the sound of obnoxious bragging. But:

SMM improves marketing communication and optimizes communication processes with the target group.

Since target groups migrate communication to social media, it’s just logical for marketers to shift budget from other communication channels to social media.

И опять UNOVA. Офигительная статья, на мой взгляд. Федор, я Ваш навеки

Дерипаска и Абрамович никогда не вели блогов. Но, судя по поисковым запросам «Яндекса», люди активно ищут в интернете их дневники. Стало нормой, что состоявшийся бизнесмен должен иметь блог. Сделал бизнес, добился чего-то — заведи аккаунт в LiveJournal, Twitter и так далее. Как Тиньков, Прохоров или Полонский. О том, как интернет-дневник становится инструментом бизнеса, рассуждает совладелец и гендиректор компании «Сила ума» Федор Овчинников. Его колонку публикует сайт русского Forbes.

У меня все было наоборот. Я пришел в реальный бизнес из интернета. В 2006 году взял кредит в банке, чтобы открыть книжный магазин в Сыктывкаре. Риски были огромные. Денег хватало впритык на оборудование и книги. На продвижение магазина не оставалось ничего. Чтобы выжить, нужна была безумная идея.

Я устроил в интернете настоящее реалити-шоу. Завел блог и стал описывать на нем все, что происходит со мной и моим бизнесом. Сколько я потратил денег, сколько заработал, какие налоги заплатил, какую прибыль получил. Все по-честному.

Этот блог привлек внимание к книжному магазинчику на шестом этаже торгового центра. Люди с азартом стали следить, разорится этот парень или у него получится? Можно в России вести бизнес открыто? Кто-то крутил пальцем у виска и говорил, что меня стукнут по голове в подворотне, ведь я открыто публикую свою выручку! Кто-то подходил на улице и жал руку. И те и другие приходили в магазин и покупали книги. Так блог сделал известной мою компанию. У меня появились партнеры-инвесторы. Мы стали быстро развиваться. Ежемесячный оборот за три года увеличился в 20 раз, до $1,5 млн, сеть разрослась до шести магазинов.

Блог, казалось бы, сделал свое дело — дал толчок развитию бизнеса. Что дальше? Какие плюсы для компании я вижу в «сетевом нудизме»?

Для начала, блог важен для меня лично. Это мой ответ себе, что я не изменился, не закрылся, не превратился в сноба. Для меня оказалось принципиально важным сохранить открытость — притом что сделать это было теперь сложно. Нельзя существовать в бизнесе и быть свободным от него. Мой блог касался уже не только меня, но и партнеров, коллег.

В конце февраля 2008 года мы столкнулись с федеральным оптовиком-монстром «Топ-Книгой». Мы вышли на владельца гипермаркета с предложением об аренде торговых площадей, но нам сообщили, что гипермаркет уже ведет переговоры с федеральной сетью и договор практически подписан. Нам нельзя было пускать «федералов» в лучший торговый центр города! Я позвонил владельцу «гипера» и сказал, что хотел бы встретиться. «Федор, либо у тебя развита интуиция, либо тебе везет, — ответил собственник гипермаркета. — Мы завтра должны подписать договор аренды с «Топ-Книгой»». На следующий день я приехал на переговоры.

Когда я поднялся на второй этаж, где планировалось разместить книжный магазин, менеджер «Топ-Книги» мерил рулеткой помещение. Я еще не знал, что скажу руководству гипермаркета. Я настроился на эти переговоры, как будто они последние в жизни. Все закончилось успешно.

Я убедил владельца гипермаркета, что наш магазин лучше федерального. В соседнем кабинете-аквариуме сидел менеджер «Топ-Книги». Когда я проходил мимо, он посмотрел на меня. Может, он меня знает? Может, читал блог?

Я описал эту историю в подробностях. Пост вызвал бурную реакцию, в том числе среди менеджеров «Топ-Книги», которые писали письма и оставляли в блоге комментарии о том, что нельзя публиковать такие истории. После этого в Сыктывкар приезжал региональный директор «Топ-Книги» — разбираться с ситуацией, но магазин их компания так и не открыла.

Вскоре случилась другая история: поставщики канцелярских товаров предъявили претензии по поводу нарушения условий соглашения прямо в блоге. Мы активно зашли на рынок «канцелярки» Республики Коми. Местный оптовик обвинил нас в неуплате 500 000 рублей по прошлым поставкам нашим магазинам. Это была спорная ситуация. Мы уже конкурировали в тот момент. Поставщик писал: «Пользуясь случаем, хочу понять, Федор, ты деньги за отгруженный тебе в прошлом году товар (в т. ч. и ErichKrause) вернешь добровольно или по исполнительному листу? Может, долгами и обусловлен выбор менее сильных торговых марок?»

Я сидел перед компьютером в сомнениях. Удалить это комментарий, чтобы не портил благостную картину в блоге и нарушить свой внутренний принцип, или нет? Мой блог читали банкиры и поставщики. В тот момент репутация неплательщика мне была не нужна. Мы выступали как новички на канцелярском рынке и нуждались в отсрочках, а не в плохой репутации.

Я не изменил своему правилу — не удалил комментарий. Если уж начал эксперимент, надо сохранить его чистоту. Конкурент стал распространять информацию о том, что мы являемся его должниками. С его подачи мы попали в список неплательщиков на отраслевом канцелярском сайте. Он очень давно присутствовал на рынке и имел куда больше информационных возможностей. Поставщики стали отказывать нам в отсрочке.

Пост в блоге сыграл против репутации — но блог же и помог. Ситуацию выправила открытая дискуссия в комментариях. Я высказал свою позицию. Сайт читали поставщики. На федеральном канцелярском форуме обсуждали наши столкновения. Это сильно повлияло на ситуацию. В итоге мы нашли партнеров, которые сделали ставку на нашу компанию.

Блог учит отвечать на сложные вопросы публично. Как говорил Ницше, что не убьет — сделает сильнее. В самом начале в моей компании работало всего три человека, сегодня — около 50.

Вместе с развитием в бизнес стали приходить опытные специалисты из больших компаний. Многие не понимали, зачем нужен этот блог. Мой первый бухгалтер был шокирован публикацией выручки в интернете. Меня воспринимали как директора-эксцентрика. Но это были люди другой корпоративной культуры, которая отрицает всякую открытость.

Блог стал настоящим каналом влияния. По моим постам делали выводы конкуренты, банкиры, сотрудники. Не так давно я написал, что продам машину, для того чтобы добавить бизнесу оборотных средств.

Внезапно одна из моих менеджеров восприняла объявление из поста как результат своей работы. Она написала мне, что, если я продам машину – уволится. Я был удивлен, но менеджер посчитала, что продажа машины связана с ее ошибкой в управлении закупками. На самом деле нам просто не хватало оборотных средств, а менеджер работала прекрасно!

Я по-прежнему уверен, что плюсов в ведении блога больше, чем минусов. Сегодня мой дневник читают в офисе, на складах и в магазинах. Блог создает атмосферу открытости в компании. Каждый может задать вопрос и получить ответ. Работники знают, что я такой же, как они. Что в основе бизнеса лежат труд и стремление воплотить мечту, а не темные схемы или богатый папа.

Скажете, опасные эксперименты? Возможно. Но я всегда слыл в региональном бизнесе «фиолетовой коровой». Быть такой «коровой» — выгодно, если вы не боитесь идти по новому пути.

В заголовке оригинальное название статьи. Ее автор Erik Qualman. В своем блоге этот товарищ распространяет последние тенденции social media. Кстати, в лучших традициях построения личного брэнда написал книгу “Socialnomics: How social media transforms our lives and the way we do business”. Не читал. Должно быть хорошая – в списке ТОП100 книг 2009 г. За полным текстом статьи идем на блог. Здесь выкладываю видео.

“Thanks to the astonishing growth of games on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, the U.S. virtual goods market is poised to clear $1 billion in revenues in 2009, more than doubling from a year earlier, according to a new report. By 2010, revenues could hit $1.6 billion as users become more comfortable paying for virtual goods in small transactions that are executed in a seamless fashion. But 2009 will be remembered as the year when it all took off, said Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network and co-author of the report.”

Yes, I Billion in Virtual Crap!

Can anyone explain to me why ANY ONE in their right mind would want to spend ANY REAL MONEY on faux flowers, game tokens, and other “VIRTUAL” stuff? Boggles my mind!  Yours?

( Click here to read full article by Dean Takahash about Social Gaming spend reaching $1 Billion.)

Сейчас модно говорить о пользе социальных медиа. Смотрим презентацию на тему оценки этой пользы.

Ярлык “баян” - это не повод не читать классику. Наслаждаемся многовариантностью ответа на headline вопрос.

The explosion of the web may have caught out newspapers and a lot of journalists, but early adopters have been able to thrive in an environment where one man’s threat is another’s opportunity.

Certainly the web has caused a lot of problems for media and journalists, but the tools to adapt to this changing market have been provided for us.

What’s more, the vast majority of the most important ones for bloggers, journalists, editors and even PRs and marketers are freely available, easy to use and – perhaps most importantly – free.

Some of these tools are suited to building traffic, some for measuring traffic, some for sharing or collecting information and others to add value to traditional content.

Some will suit you, others will not. A couple may even be irrelevant and I will make no claims for what they will do for your traffic, brand, revenues or social life.

But these are all tools that I use, in some cases vital tools, and if you accept the metaphor of modern journalist as media Swiss Army Knife you need to constantly develop your skills and make use of the largely free tools you have at your disposal.

There are, literally, thousands of them out there and it can be confusing as to which may be of help and which – in all likelihood – will not.

These are the tools and applications I find most useful and I’ve tried to keep the apps, and descriptions of them, fairly basic. There may be some obvious ones I miss out, which just means I haven’t got round to making use of them or I don’t consider them worth flagging up for starters.

There seems to be a lot of suspicion surrounding social media and Web 2.0 apps. All I have to say to that is this: They are tools. How, and whether, you use them is up to you.

The only criteria are that they’re predominantly free and they are basic, widely-available online tools or apps.

Anyway, without further ado here’s the selection. Dive in.

Twitter and related

Twitter is, to my mind, so important now for online media types that it’s got a category of its own.

Twitter

The Web 2.0 Telegraph is the most fitting description I’ve seen of Twitter. Twitter is simply the platform of choice for important communicators interacting with one another: promoting links, sharing information, asking for help or shooting the breeze.

If you’ve built up good contacts in relevant fields on Twitter it’s the most important tool you will use.

• See: Twitter
• See also: Robin on Twitter

Twitpic

One picture is worth a thousand words, or 140 characters. Show Twitter followers what’s got your attention by connecting up your phone to Twitpic.

You can set up Twitpic so it directly and instantly feeds to Twitter, even old mobiles can do it.

• See: Twitpic
• See also: Robin on Twitpic

Twitterfeed

If you have multiple blogs and multiple Twitter personas you need to make sure the correct blogs are feeding to the correct Twitters. Doing it manually can be pain in the backside, so automating a feed to post to Twitter is worth investigating.

There’s some debate as to whether automated posting goes against the grain a bit on Twitter. As with anything, moderation and common sense are key.

If you’re using Twitterfeed you don’t want more than a couple of automated posts a day. A deluge of links will get you unfollowed. And Twitterfeed is no substitute for proper engagement on Twitter.

• See: Twitterfeed
• See also: Twitterfeed on Twitter

Hootsuite

If you manage multiple accounts it’s simpler to manage them from the same place, rather than logging in and out and juggling usernames and passwords.

I initially used Tweetdeck but it’s awkward and buggy. Hootsuite is easier to use as it’s on a webpage; simpler; customisable; and has useful add-ons like stats, URL shortening and scheduled posting.

• See: Hootsuite

Bit.ly

Essentially anointed by Twitter as the link-shortener of choice, Bit.ly is probably the best too. It will take your long link and make it into a 20-char link that won’t eat up your 140 chars in a tweet.

A simple interface and some basic metric-tracking and sharing tools are the cherries on the cake.

• See: Bit.ly

Twitterholic

Looking a bit rough around the edges now but this is the tool I used to build a following on Twitter by finding people in similar places or with similar interests to me.

It’s always easier finding people who will reciprocate if you have something in common, an area where a lot of people trying to build a group of followers fall down.

• See: Twitterholic
• See also: Journalists on Twitterholic

Social bookmarking sites

Using social bookmarking sites simply to try and drive traffic can be fruitless and potentially damaging. All have unique communities and all are different, even if they don’t initially appear to be.

If you’re representing a brand you may want to think twice before submitting ill-fitting links to Digg, Reddit and Fark. If you’re not going to engage or observe how things work, don’t bother.

Also be aware that chasing traffic, as an end in itself, can be somewhat self-defeating. Choose your bookmarking carefully.

Digg

Using Digg to its maximum potential – in terms of traffic – takes time, effort and patience. As with Twitter, it’s about building a community and using that community to promote your links.

I think Digg has a fairly narrow band of opportunities for editors or journalists. Funny, techy or sporty stuff seems to do best as Digg users tend to use it to share distracting, fun stuff.

The obscene amounts of traffic The Onion and Cracked get from Digg seems to bear this out.

Occasionally I happen to write something I think will do well on Digg, and I make sure I write a header and description that will appeal to Diggers.

A well-placed story on Digg will send you hefty amounts of traffic, and it’s good for in-bound links too. Also bear in mind the reason it’s there – it’s fun.

• See: Digg

Delicious

Of very little use for generating traffic in the way Digg and Reddit are, Delicious has probably grown into the most pure social bookmarking application.

It’s beautifully simple and, because it’s searchable, is a great repository for valuable information.

It tends to be used by people working in media, PR, programming and marketing so it’s a gold mine of peer-approved guides and information in these areas.

• See: Delicious

Reddit

Not a million miles away from Digg, Reddit has an arguably broader focus and is easier to get into for newcomers.

Reddit’s community is not to be messed with however. Get a link submission wrong and you’ll know about it.

• See: Reddit

Fark

Digg on speed, or maybe acid. Fark consists of ‘not news’ chosen by a community and as such a very difficult tool to wield with any success.

In fairness Fark is not a tool at all, but can be used as such. Many international media have successfully harnessed Fark as a tool to drive vast amounts of traffic.

A story on the front page will deliver tens of thousands of hits over a very short space of time, which often leads to servers being ‘farked’ – brought down by the deluge of traffic.

A very good understanding of the community is required, and there’s a good opportunity to sharpen up your headline-writing skills. Only the very best stories and write-ups are greenlit, but the resulting traffic can be huge.

• See: Fark

RSS, alerts and readers

Tracking the websites that are important to you, and sharing your own content with readers is an important element of the online Swiss Army Knife.

Netvibes

I say Netvibes because it’s the one I use and I think it’s smart, but any reader or personalised home page will do – they’re essentially much of a muchness.

If you’re in media or PR you need to keep up with events on a daily basis. That means browsing potentially hundreds of feeds a day.

Grabbing an RSS feed and displaying it in your reader alongside 50 others is a lot easier than going to those individual sites.

Add-ons like widgets, increased sharing abilities and clever use of APIs from other apps like Facebook and Twitter means you can potentially browse, and interact with, all the relevant bits of the web from one page.

Most have a public setting too. As a result I have a public homepage on Netvibes that displays all my various online real estate around the web.

• See: Netvibes
• See also Robin’s public page on Netvibes

Tabbloid

Takes your feeds and displays them in a newspaper format. A bit clunky, and there are a few similar tools out there, but handy if you get square eyes looking at a normal reader.

Can also be used as a promotional tool to round up your output on a regular basis.

• See: Tabbloid
• See also Tabbloid sample

Feedburner

Allows you to track and edit your RSS feeds, share links and embed ads in your feed. No earth-shattering, but provides far more control over RSS feeds.

• See: Feedburner

Google Docs

Put e-documents online, quickly, easily and – er – freely.

• See: Google Docs

Google Alerts

Track a developing story, stay abreast of any news concerning particular companies or trends or steal a march over others on breaking news relating to your chosen keywords.

• See: Google Alerts

Twitterfeed

Again. See above for details

Multimedia

There are a hundred ways to tell a story these days. Use images, videos and music to bring yours to life.

Youtube

There are half a dozen good apps out there that will allow you to upload and share videos, but for simplicity’s sake I’ve gone with Youtube.

Youtube as a platform is only really as good as your videos, but as a tool it’s probably more versatile than you’d think.

Most obviously it provides some fantastic, free, embeddable multimedia content. If you can’t do something with that you’re probably in the wrong job.

Insight actually provides some useful metrics – the one measuring the attention span of watchers per video for one – while playlists, audio beds and annotations allow for some personalisation.

Add a customisable channel page and Youtube becomes a valuable tool in branding and hosting.

Live Stream and Vimeo may be more obvious, and going forward will come into their own, but for ‘quick and dirty’ Youtube is good enough for most.

• See: Youtube
• See also MotorTorque on Youtube

Flickr

Please be aware of what Flickr is not – a free image bank. If you’re going to use Flickr to source images you need to have a thorough understanding of Creative Commons licences, and some form of contact with individual authors.

Also, Flickr is not a link-building tool. Any links are nofollowed and business accounts are frowned on.

With that in mind Flickr can be invaluable for finding good quality images to accompany articles and is also a pleasantly simple image storage and presentation tool.

Image sets can be presented as embedded slide-shows, which can be a great visual dimension to a story alongside a static image.

Flickr can also be used to create links within photographer communities and can be used to promote photographic work.

Again, its largely self-policed by one of the more righteous online communities, so ensure you know what you’re doing.

• See: Flickr
• See also Robin on Flickr

Pixlr

Essentially an online Photoshop but cheaper (free actually), faster and simpler. Great tool that’s good enough for most photo manipulation.

• See: Pixlr

MPEG Streamclip

Good tool for video file conversion and some very basic editing features. Plays virtually anything. Can also be very good at capturing online videos if that’s your thing.

• See: MPEG Streamclip

Spotify

Weren’t expecting that one were you? But any new free app should be considered for the possibilities it provides.

A few brands have flirted with playlists, and I’ve done a couple of articles involving playlists to accompany articles.

There may not be a huge amount more scope than that, but Spotify is a free resource that offers free access to millions of tracks. Who saw that coming a couple of years ago?

• See: Spotify
• See also Crucial Three article on Liverpool Culture Blog

Morgue File

A good free image-bank site. The value of a good image to accompany an article can make all the difference. If you have access to a free image bank you’ve really no excuse. Remember to add a credit and check licenses though.

• See: Morgue File

Stock Xchng

Another great free image bank, with a premium level.

• See: Stock Xchng

Mash-up and added value apps

Add value to your content with embeddable mash-ups and media that complement your content.

Dipity

Great for building timelines for events that can be embedded. Connect up RSS feeds to feed a topic or add manually.

The added value it can bring to a running story is not to be underestimated – it’s shiny and it’s useful, especially if you’re using your own content to build timelines.

• See: Dipity
• See: Dipity US car industry timeline

Google Maps

Google Maps should be subtitled ‘not just maps’. Any amount of mash-ups can be created with the API, but it’s just as easy to create interactive co-operative maps using the site itself. Also works well with Google Earth.

As with Dipity, you can add value to content and tell another dimension to a story. A no-brainer for travel reports and write-ups.

• See: Google Maps
• See: Half Map Half Biscuit

Cover It Live

The ability to cover an event live on a self-hosted platform can be invaluable. Cover It Live allows administrators to host guests, guide discussions and moderate reader comments.

While Twitter may be a more obvious platform for micro-blogging, Cover It Live can be embedded into a web page, customised and managed in terms of who can contribute. Images and video can also be embedded in the stream.

Again, it can add another dimension to traditional coverage and bring live events to life.

• See: Cover It Live

Xtra Normal

A tool that allows you to convert to text spoken by an animated character may be gimmicky, but it can be fun.

Any blogger worth their salt should be able to think of something at least funny to do with it.

If Xtra Normal had been around 20 years ago we could have had animated reports of Gerry Adams speaking to the UK via an animated avatar.

• See: Xtra Normal
• See: Worried about acid erosion? on AdTurds

PollDaddy

Encourage user feedback and drive user-generated content with a poll – it can provide valuable insight or be used to drive original content itself.

Easy to configure and embed, you can stick it in the middle of an article one day and write a follow-up the next day based on the results.

• See: PollDaddy
• See also: Ten worst adverts of 2009 on AdTurds

Metrics, web editing and SEO

If you’re running a blog or website you want to be able to track its performance over a number of metrics. A basic understanding of SEO will benefit any journalist too.

Google Analytics

Or any decent analytics package that allows you to track, compare and dig down into various metrics.

Analytics will do all of that and more – you can’t seriously run a large website without something at least as powerful and detailed as Google’s statistics tool.

Analytics can be used at a very basic level for tracking your traffic and website performance, or can provide intricate details into what’s going on in the deepest reaches of your site if you drill down.

Makes a great pairing with Adsense.

• See: Google Analytics

Webmaster Tools

Webmaster Tools allow you to get your hands a little more dirty with the intricacies of web design and SEO.

If there are any obvious problems with the navigation and accessibility on your site, Webmaster Tools should flag them up, along with some SEO information on backlinks and keywords than may give you a different perspective on how your users – or search engines – view your site as opposed to how you view it.

• See: Webmaster Tools

Adsense

Making money from a blog or website can be something of a double-edged sword. I don’t have Adsense on any of my personal blogs, but do use it on other sites.

Simply put Adsense offers the ability to make money from your blog or site with a few clicks.

Style your ads, decide on what keywords you want to include on your ads, settle on placements and Adsense will generate code for you. Stick the code in your blog, verify your account and watch the cash roll in.

Don’t expect vast sums unless you’re doing thousands of impressions a day, and bear in mind the downside of changing your blog to a money-making device.

• See: Adsense

Google Trends

Stuck for blog topics or want to research a trend? Google Trends is a good way to track what’s popular, although Twitter Trends can be used in much the same way.

Comparing two or three different terms can be instructive if writing about brands, TV programmes or pop bands.

Trends also pairs up well with Insight, an advances search facility currently in Beta, which allows you to drill down into search data over different periods of time or by region and country.

Both are probably of more use to marketers, but keyword searches and tracking can also be useful for giving a fresh perspective on an article, creating unique content, driving Adwords campaigns or simply finding out who is currently winning out of Doctor Who and Star Trek.

• See: Trends
• See also: Who is winning out of Doctor Who and Star Trek?

Website Grader

A good all-in-one tool that will grade your site against others in terms of traffic, search engine placements, page rank and a dozen other metrics.

Can provide a good introduction to basic SEO and an insight into what you may be doing correctly or incorrectly.

• See Website Grader

Platforms

If you’ve not made the leap you’ll need a platform on which to host your blog or site. Make sure you pick a good one.

WordPress

So far in front of other blogging platforms it’s not even funny. WordPress hosted or self-hosted is easy to figure out, has an interface so intuitive it’s almost beautiful, good support and a peerless range of plug-ins.

If you’re a journalist you need a blog. If you need a blog, use WordPress. That is all.

• See: WordPress

Tumblr

Ultra-simple blogging platform that makes the easy-to-use WordPress look like quantum mechanics.

Tumblr’s simplicity and efficiency is its greatest strength, so if you need something that works out of the box and don’t need the extra bells and whistles, look no further.

• See: Tumblr
• See also: Robin on Tumblr

Promoting yourself

Much as it pains me to say it, you need to be a brand these days, and that means at least providing people with the means to browse your skills and experience.

I use this blog to do that, but there are a couple of other tools around the web worth a look.

LinkedIn

I’m not actively searching for freelance or seeking a new job, so I’ve not got much out of LinkedIn so far.

If and when I do I’ll no doubt investigate further as this is what everyone uses. I’m not clear how much business actually gets done on LinkedIn, but for now I’ve got a page on there with the basics on.

• See: LinkedIn
• See also: Robin on LinkedIn

ReTaggr

Unsure about ReTaggr at the moment, but it does what it says on the tin – essentially an online business card.

• See: ReTaggr
• See also: Robin on ReTaggr

• Image by Noodlepie on Flickr via Creative Commons

NB. There are 38

Web 2.0, как концепция «интернет для людей», породил множество социальных сервисов: сетевых сообществ, форумов, блогов и, конечно же, социальных сетей. На сегодняшний день «Одноклассники» и «В контакте» – это одни из самых популярных запросов пользователей Рунета в поисковых системах Yandex и Google. Число участников этих социальных сетей зашкаливает – свыше 30 млн. пользователей в каждой. Поэтому социальные сети – это огромный потенциал для раскрутки и продвижения сайта и наряду с понятием SEO появляются новые понятия – SMO и SMM.

Что такое SMO и SMM?

SMO – Social Media Optimization – комплекс мер, направленный на оптимизацию контента сайтов для социальных сетей, форумов, блогов. В отличие от SMO, SMM (Social Media Marketing) – это маркетинг в социальных сетях и он направлен не на изменение самого сайта, а на продвижение и пиар сайта (товара или услуги) в них.

В 2006 году Рохит Баргава (Rohit Bhargava), считающийся автором понятия SMO, выделил 5 основных правил оптимизации сайта для социальных сетей. В настоящее время количество этих правил возросло. Приведем лишь некоторые из них:

• На сайте следует размещать такие статьи, на которые будут ссылаться другие.
• Следует упрощать добавление статей с сайта в социальные сети, например, используя ленты новостей RSS.
• Следует поощрять тех, кто ссылается на сайт. Таким образом, сайт окажется в кругу тематических ресурсов.
• Следует поощрять создание mashup-сервисов с использованием контента сайта.
• Следует поддерживать активное обсуждение материалов на сайте с помощью сервисов голосования, рейтинга популярных статей и комментаторов.
• Самые полезные для читателей элементы, например, подписка на RSS или блок самых обсуждаемых материалов следует размещать на самом видном месте.

Инструменты маркетинга в социальных сетях подобно инструментам SEO-оптимизиации бывают как белыми, так и черными. Черный SMM напоминает обычный спам, когда в социальных сетях без учета тематики повсюду размещается информация о сайте. В белом же социальном маркетинге обычно используются такие методы как публикации заметок на популярных новостных ресурсах, участие в тематических форумах, комментирование популярных блогов.

Насколько эффективна раскрутка сайта в социальных сетях?

Главной целью раскрутки сайта в социальных сетях, будь то SMO или SMM, является привлечение внимания участников социальных сетей к раскручиваемому сайту. Например, создав группу по интересам в социальной сети «Вконтакте», можно пригласить в нее друзей, друзей своих друзей, и так далее. Группы с большим количеством участников привлекают внимание других пользователей этой социальной сети и вскоре пользователи уже сами добавляются в группу с интересной им тематикой. Размещение в подобной группе ссылок на основной сайт, интересных статей, фото и видео, дискуссии на интересные темы – все это способствует привлечению посетителей на раскручиваемый ресурс. По сходному сценарию можно действовать и в социальной сети «Одноклассники».

Таким образом, раскрутка сайта при помощи социальных сетей – действительно эффективный и действенный метод. Однако, как легко можно испортить вкус замечательно приготовленного блюда лишней щепоткой соли, так же легко навсегда испортить репутацию сайта, используя черные методы SMO и SMM. Поэтому лучше доверять раскрутку сайта в социальных сетях только профессионалам, таким как специалисты студии веб-дизайна WebStudio2U!

…

Если Вас заинтересовал данный материал – ознакомьтесь с материалом источника по теме Раскрутка сайта в социальных сетях более детально

Making Social Media Relevant: Get Measurables, Pursue Quality not Quantitiy of social media relationships / friends http://ow.ly/BFLJ 7

Nozumi Japanese Cuisine in South Barrington is getting a Social Media Marketing boost from MicroshareLLC including Twitter, a Blog & multimedia services. We hope you enjoy the “Sushi How To” video!

View Nozumi's new Blog & Twitter stream!

We can tell you firsthand that the sushi is amazing!

Richard, Director of Social Media

@richardbouchez

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