Occasionally, I get ideas for guest posts here on the site. Some are good, some fall a little short. But this one by Ashyia Hill is outstanding. I haven’t heard of most of these sites, and her tips on how to leverage them best are spot on. Pass it around. Interested in guest posting yourself? Here’s how. – bd

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A lot has happened in 10 years. A lot has changed.

As we Americans fill our heads with remembering September 11, 2001 – where we were, how we first found out about the crashes, how it changed our lives – it’s too easy to see it infiltrate our every thought on this 10th anniversary.

I’ve found myself wondering what would we know about that day and those acts had the technology of today been available then.

How much more would we know about what happened on the planes if everyone had a camera on their phones? Videos? The prevalence of texting?

What would we have known and when from people in the World Trade Centesrs as they posted to Facebook and Twitter?

What last words would there be across the web to loved ones from those who passed, via social media and texting?

What could have been done differently with the availability of wi-fi on flights?

I marvel at just how much more we would know because of these commonplace technologies that weren’t even available 10 years ago. I wonder how that day would have changed had they been available. I dare even wonder if that day would have even happened the way that it did.

What do you think? What am I missing?

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As you and your company make your plans to take over the world via social media and whatnot, tap the brakes just a quick second. Realize something:

Social media isn’t good at taking over the world.

We all love seeing our Facebook Likes increase by the hour. Who doesn’t like having Twitter followers in the thousands? And you aren’t really anybody until that “500+ connections” shows up on LinkedIn.

All impressive. And mostly useless.

The key to social media for businesses is that you get a chance to be social with those you otherwise would have a very professional, very guarded relationship with.

Further, social media is only marginally good at helping you meet new people and find new customers. But too many companies are spending way too much time connecting with everyone on every social network. Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn pages, Quora accounts, Foursquare accounts, YouTube channels, etc., etc.

I applaud your efforts. In fact, you certainly do need to have a presence on all of these networks, given the speed at which this landscape is changing.

But the real key is what you do after the account is created, and which network you spend your most time on. When you have so many channels, it’s hard to give any of them any attention at all. Unless you give yourself some boundaries.

And the best boundary for success in social networks is this: Spend time on the network(s) where your people are.

Sure, you may love Twitter (I know I do). But if your peeps ain’t tweeps, put Twitter in its place. If your people are all on Facebook and LinkedIn, even though you don’t care much for those networks, you gotta get over that and go hang out with them. Fall in love with the people, not the channels.

So keep being aggressive with your efforts. Explore all the networks and learn what you can. But don’t let all that exploration of the networks consume you. Instead, explore your people. And I’m betting most of them gravitate to just one or two of the more prominent networks.

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Infograph credit: http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20110228/162792394.html

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Social media has become one of the most important and effective tools for marketing today. With millions of users following these websites everyday, the task of marketing proves to be fairly easy and effortless. A social media promotion strategy is a good way to connect with people and at the same time make them aware of your services and products. It spreads faster than conventional website generated leads. Two of the best examples of social media are Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s talk about Twitter first. In Twitter, you just have to create an account and find followers. If you start to follow someone (even if you do not know that person) he/she will start following you as well. This way that person would be informed about any updates you make. At the same time your marketing purpose would be fulfilled. It is definitely one of the fastest ways of connecting to a larger audience isn’t it? And think it is for free.

Facebook is branded as the largest social network in the world. It has thousands of fan pages made by companies and brands, which help their followers stay up to date with the events, products and services offered by them. Facebook can be considered more user-friendly and a faster marketing tool than Twitter as it allows more functionalities.Companies can extend the functionalities of their fan pages to high levels, which include interactive menus and services, product guides, coupons, online sales representatives, and other details. It also gives you the option to change and update your pages whenever you need to without breaking a sweat. With the advanced developments going on who knows what feature would be introduced next.

The main reason for using these sites is that you capture the targeted audience and the desired number of audience usually exceeds your expectations. According to Facebook’s official statistical records, it has over a billion users, half of whom are active. These active users almost login every other day, half of these active users login every day. An average active user spends at least 2-3 hrs on Facebook everyday, reviewing pages and other events. These statistics are enough to prove the importance of Facebook for promoting your business.

Another reason why these sites are considered important for marketing is due to them being cheap. As the market is getting expensive day by day, organizations are looking to cut down costs any way they possibly can. They cannot afford to invest in a marketing campaign which would have an equal chance of success and failure. As budgets are pretty tight, they have to choose an effective marketing strategy, one which will save their money and bring in the traffic they desire. This is why these social giants are more preferred to other methods of business promotion. Success is almost guaranteed; you have a higher rate of traffic and greater flexibility of options. If you want a cost effective and successful promotion strategy, go for social media websites.

Richard is a ecommerce specialist. After spending several years as a Magento developer, Richard is now advising businesses on their online marketing activities.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28288673@N07/4847679257/

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Here’s the thing: to say this is long overdue is like saying BP took a little too long to fix the gulf oil spill. I confess, I’ve slacked off on wrapping up my Optimization Summit reviews from March. Most people would probably just have killed the idea at this point, but what I haven’t shared with you yet is simply too good not to get out there, regardless of timing. So, we’ll carry on, wayward sons.

Up next is Mack Collier’s presentation, Think Like a Rockstar. I had heard of Mack before, so I was looking forward to the presentation from the beginning. Mack packed his presentation with more case studies than most Lasik surgeons can throw at you at their “get to know us” seminars, and I loved ‘em. More than that, though, was that his rockstar analogy really sticks. It’s one of those analogies that doesn’t just clarify a topic; it illuminates it.

You can check out Mack’s entire Think Like a Rock Star presentation here (or embedded below).

So, without further adieu, here are my biggest takeaways from Mack’s presentation. I’d love your input. Oh, and if you’re interested in seeing Mack in person, be sure to register soon for the September sessions of Optimization Summit coming in mid September 2010. Here’s a discount code if you’re interested.

Why do rock stars have fans, and companies have customers?

Man, does that question make your marketing molars rattle or what? Rock stars NEVER have customers. It’d be silly to even think of fans that way. Mack explained the following:

• Rock stars are fans themselves. They’re fans of their own music, and they’re fans music that they’re fans also like. It’s a great example of nurturing the common ground. Mack quoted Willie Davidson of Harley Davidson who said “We’re in constant contact with our customers; we ride with them all the time.”
• Rock stars look for ways to shift control to their fans. They hand over the reins and let the people have at it. The Beastie Boys did this in 2004 with their concert flick ‘Awesome we F’n shot that.’ (Read the full details behind this – it’s greatness).
• Rock stars find the bigger idea. They move the focus from “me” to the stories, emotions and issues that matter to their fans. Sarah MacLaughlin’s World on Fire video is an excellent example of leveraging the medium and the process and making them a part of the actual message.

Mack explained a lot more in his workshop. So much so that I finally gave up on taking notes and just sat back and enjoyed the ride, knowing his presentation would be available online. Which is what you can see below.

The key idea here is that we have to shift our paradigm in how we think of our customers. They are equal parts consumer, distributor and partner. They are our fans. When you think of them that way, everything else seems to line itself right into place.

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Let me count four ways, to be exact.

I’m becoming fonder and fonder of Twitter, and there’s nothing that’s had more to do with that than a feature they released several months ago: Twitter Lists.

Keeping up with your Tweeps is overwhelming and stressful. Heck, it’s impossible. Unless you break it up into chunks, which is what Lists let’s you do. It’s not necessarily a new idea, but it seems to make Twitter about 20 times better.

The folks at St. Louis Social Media Report recently let me guest post on the topic. I think you’ll find some useful ideas out it, so go read 4 Ways to Put Twitter Lists to Good Use now.

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I’m no Facebook marketing expert, but this post by Tim Soulo over at SEOMoz.org has made me smarter. This is hands down the best A-Z marketing guide on using Facebook I’ve seen. Check out this guide to Facebook marketing now.

Some of my favorite tips:

1. First, if you’re unfamiliar with promoting your business on Facebook, the first part of this article is a great, simplified run through of what to do.
2. Tim reminds us to optimize specifically for the Facebook search engine. Tons of people use it, so leverage your content on your Facebook page for it.
3. This is loaded with ideas on getting more traffic to your fan page. Read it!

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Most people on social media sites are focused on making, essentially, one point:

“Hey, I’m interesting.”

It shows up pretty easily in their posts. Here are some unnamed ones I just pulled from Twitter:

• “Facebook should add a feature that allows you to edit your wall posts. Remove is the only current option”
• “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order – John Burroughs”
• “There is too much certainty in the world, but skeptics don’t impress me either.”
• “SO excited to be presenting w the Schrecklet on engaging your social community for GREAT THINGS!”
• “Been a fun but very busy weekend. Currently engrossed in an audiobook. Good stuff, may even write a review.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the tweets above. They have their place. The focus is on the Tweeter. However, those who are truly succeeding today with social media are making a slightly different point:

“Hey, I’m interested in you.”

These people ask questions, spark conversations and follow up. And they’re the ones getting the most out of social media.

In actuality, a good mix of these attitudes toward social media is probably profitable. Ironically, though, the more you seem interested, the more people find you interesting.

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I need your input here.

If you’re anything like me, you didn’t get Twitter at first. Could’ve been how you were or weren’t using it on your phone. Maybe it had to do with who you were or weren’t following. Or maybe the light bulb just took a while to light up.

Regardless, I think it’s more common for people to not get Twitter right away than it is to get it from the start. I know it took me months. I actually hated Twitter when I first started using it.

For that very reason, I’m putting together a free eBook title How I Stopped Hating Twitter: Making Sense of an Amazing Tool. It’s certainly a work in progress, so I’d love your input. If I find it useful for the eBook, I’ll be sure to email you, get your permission, and then include it.

So, what made Twitter make sense for you? Leave your story in the comments.

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You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

- Dale Carnegie

My take: Well, you can’t really go wrong with a Dale Carnegie quote, now can you? And who knew he was such a social media wizard!?!

There are a few takeaways on how to apply this quote to Twitter and social media, and online marketing for that matter:

• Do your tweets and updates reflect that you’re interested in what your “friends” are saying? How many @ symbols show up in your tweets? What’s the ratio of comments to posts?
• The secret to a successful social media campaign is the same as to a successful life. Don’t complicate it. Take genuine interest in people. Twitter and Facebook are only tools to do that more.
• Be patient. I love that Carnegie didn’t say two days. Relationships, offline or online, take time. This is especially important if you are leveraging social media for business success. Commit to the journey.

What other ways can you apply this quote to today’s online marketing landscape?

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Read more Marketing Quotes by Marketing Greats now.

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