Mike Dobbs, group director of SEO at 360i, posted his top 10 search engine optimization (SEO) tips on Mashable.com. Twitter pages and individual tweets now appear in Google search results.

Dobbs says now is the time to optimize your Twitter presence. Here’s a preview of his tips:

1. Choose a good handle

   Be sure to pick an optimal handle that’s relevant to your brand or campaign and easy to remember. Your handle (also known as your Username) then becomes part of your customized Twitter URL such as twitter.com/yoursite or twitter.com/yourtopic. Doing this creates a static address for future search indexing, which also helps usability for other cross-channel promotions. So choose wisely! The fun challenge…

2. Select an account name wisely

   Optimize the Twitter account name to best reflect your brand. Your name is what appears next to your profile, which can be different than your handle/URL. You obviously want an account name that promotes yourself, your company or your brand…

(Read more)

Here is some information from an article by Fred Aun, a writer for Clickz.com, about the impact and increase of advertising via social media.

Advertising is not a turnoff to people who love social media Web sites. In fact, many MySpace and Facebook users said ads on their favorite social sites have prompted them to buy something, according to a new report from Razorfish.

In its survey-based publication named “FEED: The Razorfish Consumer Experience Report,” the digital marketing agency says 76 percent of the 1,006 people surveyed said they didn’t mind seeing ads when they logged-in to Facebook, MySpace or the other social media sites they frequent. Razorfish also found that 40 percent of the respondents said they made purchases due to seeing those ads.

Read article: http://www.clickz.com/3631324

I want to share an article written by Melissa Jun Rowley from Mashable.com about social media and the resort industry.

How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media

A growing number of resort and spa destinations are spreading their wings and reaching a wider customer base via social media. With the help of social networking platforms and niche bloggers, vacation spots are broadening their branding efforts from the sand to the slopes, and connecting with potential patrons they may not have reached through traditional advertising.

Here’s a look at some of the social strategies these getaway companies are employing and what we can learn from their success.

(Read more)

I would like to share a unique study over the age demographics of social media users. Many would assume that most social media users are young tech-savvy teens but this online story brings out the truth behind the myth.

Study: Ages of social network users

How old is the average Twitter or Facebook user? What about all the other social network sites, like MySpace, LinkedIn, and so on? How is age distributed across the millions and millions of social network users out there?

To find out, we pulled together age statistics for 19 different social network sites, and crunched the numbers.

Full list of sites in this study: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Slashdot, Reddit, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, Last.fm, Friendster, LiveJournal, Hi5, Tagged, Ning, Xanga, Classmates.com, Bebo.

(read more)

Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategy Blogger, has come out with what he is calling a “definitive matrix” to help companies objectively sort through several social media networks, including the new Google Buzz. Owyang advises that a company’s ultimate decision, when evaluating these networks, should be based on one basic strategy: find out where your customers are and use the channel that is the most effective way to reach them.

From Owyang’s Executive Summary:

Find out where customers already are through developing data around consumer behavior called socialgraphics. Facebook continues to demonstrate a sophisticated marketplace for consumers and brands to mix about, however don’t discount MySpace’s active consumer based – if your customers are there. Continue to monitor Twitter and respond if customers are there – but they’ve yet to indicate sophistication to help marketers, instead rely on third party tools and agencies to respond. The feature set of newly spawned Google Buzz isn’t important, what matters is their ability to aggregate social content which will impact search strategy for businesses trying to reach consumers.

Read the entire blog post at Web-Strategist.com

Green initiatives and social media go together like two (organic) peas in a pod. Green companies looking to grow their business, clientele and networking base with other environmentally friendly prospects need to utilize social media to decrease their carbon footprint, while increasing business. Social media reaches green audiences like no other communication medium available today. Green bloggers are blogging about environmental issues and major media sources are listening. Sustainability is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and now, with social media, green companies are able to be heard in unprecedented ways. One tweet about a tip on greening up your home or a blog about a new green product is now visible for major media forums, not to mention, can be targeted toward the exact green audience companies have been trying to reach for years. Greening our global community is imperative. Mobilizing the forces that can make that dream a reality are most easily reached through social media.

Tweeters like Ecogiant @algore and Eco-friendly Vegan Filmmaker @ecovegangal, know what’s up. In a mashable.com article written by Cameron Chapman about environmentalists to follow on twitter, these two ecologically sound trendsetters, along with 73 others are the focus of top green voices to listen to.

Green Tweets: 75+ Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter

Twitter has a huge green community. There are green media, green companies and green charities all active on the microblogging service, as well as a whole bunch of individual environmentalists and green bloggers. The #EcoMonday hashtag — the environmental equivalent of #FollowFriday, in which Twitter users suggest “green” tweeters to follow and share green news and info — has grown into a regular trending topic every Monday, along with a variety of other green initiatives.

Read more
If your company is not already sustainable or you are still trying to figure out your green strategy for employees, vendors and clients, check out this video from Brad Roderick on greening-up your office!

Check it out!

This week, Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing released her latest promotional video about the changes within our industry. Jennings started her company in 2003 at age 24 from her home in Overland Park, Kan. Now, the business works with companies around the globe.

Watch the history of her business and some featured work by Jennings:

Not only do they perform and entertain on their respective playing fields, but professional and high-profile collegiate athletes are also entertaining online. Yes, multi-million dollar athletes are frequenting social media sites like Twitter and Facebook just like you and I, if not more frequently. With every 140 characters, they share to the world what’s going on in their own world and their fans are entertained yet again. While this is a great way for athletes to connect with their fans, it can also be another trap door for players to fall into trouble.

It doesn’t take long for word to spread when it’s posted on the Internet, especially when you’re a big name athlete. Former Kansas City Chiefs running back, Larry Johnson, knows this from personal experience. Mid-way through the 2009 NFL season, Johnson posted a negative comment on Twitter, laced with derogatory language and slamming his new head coach. Piled on top of the already mounting off-field trouble, it didn’t take long for Johnson to find himself suspended by the league and later cut from the Chiefs roster.

At the University of Kansas, basketball player Tyshawn Taylor has found himself in trouble on a couple of occasions due to questionable comments he posted on Facebook. In the fall of 2009, Taylor involved himself in the widely publicized campus fight that took place between the Jayhawks football and basketball teams and proceeded to inform everyone on Facebook that he dislocated his thumb because he punched someone. More recently, Taylor posted a comment on Facebook alluding to the idea that he may transfer to another school because of his limited playing time at Kansas. Taylor no longer has his Facebook account.

While there are disaster stories of athletes and social media, there are certainly some who know how to use it to their benefit. Cincinnati Bengals’ star wide receiver, Chad Ochocinco, has jumped into the world of social media head first and is making quite a splash. What started as a Twitter account has turned into what Ochocinco now calls OCNN: Ochocinco News Network. In addition to replying to followers’ tweets and posting his own personal tweets, Ochocinco is pursuing a side job of being a part of the media via Twitter and other mediums. This past week, Ochocinco has been in Miami covering Super Bowl XLIV with a team of three other current NFL players for OCNN. In addition, Ochocinco and OCNN have gone as far as having sponsorships from Motorola Blur and Degree for Men featured on the Twitter page. It looks like Twitter has created an additional career path for Ochocinco.

Social media is a wonderful way to stay connected with friends, family, fans, clients and customers. However, it’s critical that one is careful on what they post for the cyberworld to see, especially for those in the world’s spotlight. For everyone else, what we post can certainly be under scrutiny also. For those who are in search of careers or who have careers working with or in front of the public, employers and potential employers are watching. One questionable post and we may be in the same boat Johnson found himself in with (or without) the Chiefs.

Upon hearing the word “blog,” we often are inclined to revert to the cliché; the odes of tweenage girls venting about boy trouble, feline-fashion tips from recluse cat-ladies, or the perfectly pink posts of Hollywood celebrity gossip gurus. Blogs have long been the regarded as the artwork of amateurs. However, with the emergence of social media marketing, blogs are now booming with new-and-improved content intended to inform a more professional audience.

Looking at our recent video case study release focusing on NewUrbanismBlog.com and the sustainable design market, one can notice the cross-industry perk blogs pertain thanks to social media marketing, the first and most notable benefit being the self-promotional factor.

In the video case study, Kevin Klinkenberg, principal of 180° Urban Design, explains that his blog is much more than a means to get the word out concerning the virtues of his business. “I think it’s obvious that when we have our company and our personal information on it that it really helps promote our business,” Klinkenberg said.

Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, started working with 180° Urban Design about a year ago. Due to the types of posts that Klinkenberg was contributing to the site, Jennings found that early on they could transform this site into an online community. “In many aspects the site has not only been positioned as an online community, but it’s also a resource for businesses particularly focused on walkable communities and sustainable design,” Jennings said. “Now, we have a launch pad to position the company, Kevin and his business partner in ways that position them as ‘thought-leaders’ in that industry.”

This second perk of business blogging transforms the blogger into a “thought-leader” via the creation of short posts containing very topic-oriented pieces specific to their industry. “As somebody who reads a lot of other blogs, the ones that really keep me coming back are the ones that really have something to say, whether it’s sort-of an advocacy standpoint or educational, that’s a better way to connect with the online community,” Klinkenberg said.

This benefit spawns a dual-effect granting companies the ability to transcend into a new class of communication. The surge of education and advocacy standpoints in blogs offers a more professional content, while still retaining the more intimate “personal-feel” of the all-familiar individual blogger. Herein lies the extended beauty of professional blogging, it’s the instant relationship created between the blogger and blog-reader (ie: potential new client, new contact, or new consumer), initially based on professional content, but conveyed in an informal manner.

The transformation from blogger to “thought-leader” has created a new niche for the business world to become a bit more personal. With the opportunity to ignite instant industry-specific conversation, blogs offer a professional, yet informal medium of online communication, all the while functioning as the self-promotional factor of the good old fashion web pages.

I would like share a story that Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, was presented by Hamptons Green Alliance. The story focuses on the HGA presentation of housing development updates at the AIA Peconic Member Dinner Meeting in Southampton, NY.

 Bridgehampton, NY – Members of the Hamptons Green Alliance (http://www.hamptonsgreenalliance.com), believed to be the first group of contractors who specialize in a variety of disciplines in the building industry to formally come together to share their expertise and promote sustainable building practices, recently presented their first project to members of the AIA Peconic Member Dinner Meeting in Southampton, NY.

The HGA project, which was announced last year, is a net zero energy, carbon neutral and LEED platinum house on Long Island. In what is believed to be a first in the Hamptons – if not the nation – this home is being rebuilt from the ashes of a horrific fire.

The presentation, which focused on the planning process for the HGA house project, which followed many of the concepts described in AIA new Integrated Project Delivery forms, also included reviews of the sustainable technologies used to attain the goals of the project as well as those that have been used to create energy in sustainable ways. There was a discussion of how thin film photovoltaic creates electricity with less impact on aesthetics, and a review of the status of residential windmills for this project. Other sustainable technologies required to meet the project’s goals were discussed such as low flow plumbing fixtures, smart home electronic technology, improvement of soil composition organically and reviews of materials to reduce the home’s carbon footprint.

All founding members of the Hamptons Green Alliance were on hand to field questions concerning the technologies that each has brought to the project.

The group, working with the Long Island Chapter of the United States Green Building Council, intends to seek LEED Certified Platinum status for the house, as well as implement a methodology developed by Frank Dalene, president of Telemark, Inc. and a founding member of the Hamptons Green Alliance. In addition to the presentation on the HGA House, Mr. Dalene also presented information on ICEMAN, a mathematical formula that scientifically determines the carbon footprint of any manufactured product. The mechanism is briefly explained on the website: www.carbonfactorindex.com