Mashable Announces: Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Posted By Jared Cook:
Here is a recent post from Mashable, written by Stan Schroeder, about Goolge expanding their social search feature to 19 more languages.
Unfazed by Facebook, Google Rolls Out Social Search Globally
Google will roll out its somewhat controversial Social Search feature to 19 more languages next week, the company announced on its official blog.
Launched in October 2009, Social Search is a feature that combines regular search results with publicly available data created by your friends’ social media activities.
Your “friends” are quite loosely defined and include people in your Google Talk friends list, your Google Contacts, people you’re following on Buzz and Google Reader and other networks you’ve linked from your Google profile or Google Account. Google can also find your friends on public networks such as Twitter and Facebook and gather the data from their public connections as well.
The feature was recently the subject of controversy, as Facebook hired a PR company to push negative stories about Social Search in the press. Facebook claims that Google’s practices raise “serious privacy concerns,” and it’s unhappy with the fact that Google can use Facebook data for its service without Facebook’s permission.
For the most part, Google has stayed silent about the issue, although it’s noticeable that in its latest blog postabout Social Search, Twitter is mentioned three times while Facebook is nowhere to be seen.
Social Search should be available in 19 languages next week, with more languages on the way. Check out a video overview of the feature below.
Facebook Drives More Traffic Than Twitter
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Facebook has quickly been emerging to surpass Twitter in driving traffic to their website. Facebook users have been driving traffic to many of the top news sites, making it evident that Facebook’s corporate strategy has been what is differentiating themselves from other competitors, including Twitter. A recent article on mashable.com, written by Sarah Kessler, includes statistical data and more on the significance in increasing traffic.
The study looked at Nielsen data from the 25 news websites with the highest number of unique monthly visitors. About 35% to 40% of traffic to the sites came from links on other sites, as opposed to readers typing in a URL directly or clicking to another page on the same site.
Unsurprisingly, Google dominated this referral traffic. On average, the company’s search and news products accounted for about 30% of all clicks. But Facebook also referred a significant percentage of each site’s audience.
The Huffington Post was boosted the most by Facebook referrals, which accounted for 8% of its unique visitors. The New York Times derived 6% of its traffic from the social network.
For all its success at breaking news, Twitter did not have the same effect. The site with the highest percentage of traffic from Twitter, The Los Angeles Times, could only credit the micro-blogging platform with 3.53% of its traffic. Twitter referred a much smaller percentage of traffic to other sites in the study.
Part of the discrepancy between Facebook and Twitter referrals is their disparate user bases. Facebook has more than 500 million users while Twitter has 200 million accounts— many of them inactive.
Sincere Thanks To Philip Gesue, VP of Real Estate Development of Orient Express Hotels, Inc., For An Amazing Testimonial For Jennings Social Media Marketing’s Work in St. Maarten
Posted By: Valerie Jennings, CEO & Founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing http://www.jenningssocialmedia.com
Thank you Philip Gesue, vice president of real estate development of Orient Express Hotels, Inc., for selecting Jennings Social Media to promote the Arts in the Plaza Festival in St. Maarten. We greatly appreciate the wonderful opportunity to work with you and the Orient Express Hotels group in New York.
The Marketwire press release, posted on msnbc.com via marketwire.com, stated that the project included viral Web videos which Jennings Social Media Marketing directed, produced and viralized; search engine optimization; viral Web press releases; media outreach; and consulting. Gesue said, “We selected Jennings Social Media Marketing for their specialization in the social media marketing arena, in particular viral media campaigns. They spent a tremendous amount of time brainstorming with the team, working remotely in St. Maarten filming the artists, consulting and offering guidance. I know that Valerie Jennings has been involved with viral media since the beginning of the trend and knew how to deliver the right product on time and on budget. My experience with Jennings and her staff was great and I recommend them highly.”
Jennings Social Media Reviews Video Interview: Guy Kawasaki Talks With Mashable at SXSW
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
I would like to share this video regarding well-known author, venture capitalist and former Apple luminary Guy Kawasaki.
At SXSW 2011, Guy Kawasaki sits down for an interview with Mashable’s Christina Warren. In the wide-ranging discussion, he talks about his new book,Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, and points out useful tools he’s discovered at SXSW this year. Along the way, he talks about his two different stints working with Apple, musing about what might have happened if he had stayed with the company (http://on.mash.to/eILzqG).
Thank You to Angle Bush, Radio Host of Your15Minutes Radio, For Interviewing Valerie Jennings, CEO & Founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing, in Celebration of Women’s History Month & International Women’s Day!
Thank You to Angle Bush, radio host of Your15Minutes Radio, for including Valerie Jennings, CEO & founder of Jennings Social Media, during a panel discussion: “Blueprint for Success” with Diane Hansen and Pam Brossman on International Women’s Day in celebration of Women’s History Month (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your15minutes).
Listen to show:
Here is a partial transcript from the radio interview –
Angle: Valerie, tell us about the beginning of your journey.
Valerie: I started my company when I was 24 and will have had the business eight years this June. It has definitely been difficult starting at such a young age because there were some things that I had to learn and overcome, from being a female business owner to starting at age 24. I will say I had a ton of support from the community and Johnson County, Kan. There were a lot of people who invested time in working with me and it really helped me advance my career as a business owner. To both the men and women who really supported and talked about the success that we had with our clients early on, I just want to say thank you for being so supportive in those early stages and now to all of the wonderful companies we work with today, almost eight years later. It has been a lot of dedication and commitment not only on my part but everybody that works here, which is a pretty small social media marketing and pr firm. There is so much to be learned no matter what age you start your business at. There are some unique challenges when you launch that early in the game.
Angle: So you have gone through some things being 24 with people probably misjudging you like ‘she is only 24’
Valerie: Yes, that is probably fair.
Angle: One of the buzz words that many business owners are hearing at this moment is branding. We had a show on branding, discussing the book by Mr. Damon John, “The Brand Within.” I want to know from each of you, how important is branding and what does branding look like for each of you. When a client comes in and says, ‘I have a business but I don’t have a brand. Right now I’m an item. I haven’t gotten into the branding stage just yet. What do you do to assist that client that has not built their brand and is just starting out?
Valerie: It is incredibly important because without a brand you don’t have a message. There is not a story to share with your audience. There are all kinds of aspects that you need to review when building a brand and one of them is search engine optimization. What I mean by that is somebody jumps on Google and researches either the owner of the company, the product, the service they better find information or that organization immediately. It shows people in about 30 to 60 seconds if you have a brand presence and that you are dominating the search engines on either your company name or the owner of your company.
We spend a lot of time looking at the brand and most of the companies we work with do have a brand that’s been created and in existence for a while. Every now and again there is a startup that comes through here and we talk about how they are going to build up their brand. One of the first steps is to make sure you reserve all of the social networking sites for your organization on YouTube, Twitter Facebook to make sure that nobody else takes it down the road, or that a competitor takes it. That does happen and we see the brand hijacking going on. So once you have your brand going, protect the brand and cherish the brand. You can shift throughout the course of your company and change directions with branding and reinvent the brand. There are a lot of things you can look at overall it is such an incredible component. From a story telling standpoint and a marketing standpoint that brand has to be solid so you can understand how to advance your company farther down the road.
Angle: What in starting your business overall do you wish you knew then that you know now.
Valerie: I think overall it’s a resources concern. It’s one of things that you have to look into multiple components to building the business. I started when I moved into the Kansas City market and I really didn’t know anybody. I wish I would have a little bit better database of connections of people I trusted. I wish I would have been able to call on people who had established businesses that could have been trusted advisors. I felt like I was fumbling a little bit in the beginning because I just didn’t have those resources to call upon people and lean on them. I feel completely blessed to have those types of relationships now and there are so many people that I can call up anytime and I feel super supported. I think that is such a hard thing for many business owners who feel like they are going through this alone and if they don’t have those relationships or resources it can be really scary.
Angle: Last thing I want to know, tell me Valerie, what is your blue print for success. We want to know, how do you become successful when you are pursuing your passion.
Valerie: It’s commitment overall. It’s so hard to stay focused on everything that you want to accomplish. You have to look at the bottom line. If this is what you want then you have to be committed to it and that sounds like a generic response but I just have to tell you that it’s the most important thing to any business owner. If you don’t like what you are doing then you have to change it.
Listen to the Interview: with Valerie Jennings, Diane Hansen and Pam Brossman on International Women’s Day!
Thank You to Maureen Kedes, Radio Host of PR Insider, For Interviewing Valerie Jennings, CEO & Founder of Jennings Social Media
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Thank you to Maureen Kedes for interviewing Valerie Jennings Friday on PR Insider. During the interview, Valerie discussed how she started Jennings Social Media Marketing by transforming it to a more non-traditional way of approaching PR. Although she still incorporates the standard components that make up for a typical public relations company, Valerie embraces her work more through social media and the art of online storytelling. Here’s a brief transcription of the interview.
Maureen: Today I have an expert on the show in social media storytelling. Her name is Valerie Jennings, Founder and CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing.
Maureen: Tell us how you started before the birth of social media?
Valerie: My background is as a journalist. I was a print reporter and I did some on-camera work. I worked on the government side; I did some public affairs, media outreach. I got more training on the traditional side. Even though I’m not a senior entrepreneur, I started my business at the age of 24. I did give us a huge boost from competitor’s standpoint. When I first started the business, it was traditional PR–pitching, press releases, media coaching, prepping for interviews, and looking at what’s going to sell.
Valerie: We experimented with a PR Web and we used a a lot of search engine optimization to capture the story; what was interesting and what was going to drive traffic.
We’ve continued to expand what we do, and we still do a lot of traditional. But we’ve maintained the social networking side as a way to penetrate some of the traditional aspect. For example, we have a great blog post; we’re a great video to produce for a client. We’re going to maximize that on the client’s Twitter site on a social media press release on Facebook, whatever it is. So we talk about success in an exclusive client list, and we’re really looking for companies that have amazing stories. We try to figure out what is a possibility and we figure out what is trending. As a journalist, if people aren’t looking for it, why would they be paying attention?
Jennings Social Media Marketing CEO Valerie Jennings To Be Interviewed Live on PR Insider by Maureen Kedes Friday, February 25, 2011
Thank you Maureen Kedes for booking Valerie Jennings, CEO and founder of Jennings Social Media Marketing, on PR Insider to review social media storytelling: How To Be The Best Social Media Storyteller
5 Tips to Maximize Revenue From Your Landing Pages
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
For some businesses, it might be difficult to seek out solutions as to why they aren’t generating as much revenue as they expected. Author and consultant Mikal Belicove, from entrepreneur.com produced a helpful video which offers tips that can maximize revenue for your landing pages.
- Align your source message to the message that’s on your landing page
- Make your copy short, sweet, and to the point, (it’s not a sales letter)
- Have a strong call to action
- Use a light background color
- Don’t ask for too much information
Make sure the source that is driving traffic page to your landing page, the message from that source is aligned with the message that’s on that landing page. There’s nothing worse than getting to a landing page because of a promise for something and not being able to find that item.
For businesses and startups, it’s more ideal to 8 seconds or less to get somebody to do something.
Make sure the call to action is visually stunning and present on the page. There should be no question on anyone’s mind on why they’re on that page. They are there because you want them to do something. Also, don’t be afraid to ask.
Don’t make people feel like they are inside of a cave when they get to your site. Dark colors are out and light airy colors are in. Make sure you are using color to your advantage. You may need to do research and identify what colors customers in your space are going to identify with.
Be very careful with how much you ask for. It’s fine if you ask for their name, email, their zip code, etc. If you’re going to ask for their buying demographics, their age, and their income, you’re starting to add obstacles. Establish a dialog with that customer before you dive too deep. Fulfill the promise that the landing page offers, which is to deliver a white paper, give them a call back, etc. Engage them enough to produce an effective relationship where you can ask them those more in-depth questions.
Where Twitter Trending Topics Really Come From
Posted by: Kerry Phouthavong
Trending topics on Twitter can assist marketers or business owners in targeting a certain audience about a particular subject. In a recent article by Ben Parr from mashable.com, he explains how HP’s Social Computing Research Group’s study on trending topics helped to show where the topics really come from and why they are so important.
The article states that HP’s research analyzed 16.32 million tweets on 3,361 different trending topics between September and October 2010. HP discovered that Twitter’s Trending Topics algorithm cares more about the specific subject and reach of a tweet than who tweets it or how often it’s tweeted. Around 31% of trending topics are retweets and 72% of those retweets come from mainstream media outlet like @cnnbrk or @nytimes. The Telegraph, ESPN, @breakingnews and The Huffington Post all made the list of top retweeted users in at least 50 different trending topics.
“What proves to be more important in determining trends is the retweets by other users, which is more related to the content that is being shared than the attributes of the users,” HP concludes in its research report. “Furthermore, we found that the content that trended was largely news from traditional media sources, which are then amplified by repeated retweets on Twitter to generate trends.”
HP concludes that traditional media still starts the conversation around the most-discussed topics in social media, not the other way around.
Jennings Social Media Marketing Press Release: Social Media Marketing Entrepreneur Valerie Jennings Named Friday Girl TV’s 2011 Woman 2 Watch Posted on Yahoo!Finance.com, MSNBC.com & Businessweek.com
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
Jennings Social Media Marketing press release regarding Valerie Jennings’ recognition as one of Friday Girl TV’s 2011 Women 2 Watch was recently posted on Yahoo!Finance.com , MSNBC.com and Businessweek.com. The article reviews Jennings as a change agent, entrepreneur, community activist and an all around phenomenal woman.
Read Valerie’s interview with Friday Girl TV: http://fridaygirltv.com/blog/2011/02/02/woman-2-watch-valerie-jennings/
Twitter Launches ‘Connections,’ Its Own Version Of Facebook’s ‘Mutual Friends’
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D, Jennings
Twitter has created ‘connections,’ their own version of Facebook’s ‘mutual friends.’ In a recent article from techcrunch.com, written by Alexia Tsotsis, explains that even though Twitter has experimented with the feature before, the change is a permanent step towards developing a more useful Twitter social graph.
The article states that Twitter has collapsed its “Followed By” and “You Both Follow” features into one area called “Connections.” This allows you to see what users you have in common with other Twitter users. While you still can’t see the number of users you have in common, you can see a complete list of mutual follows and people you are both followed by when you click “more.”
Twitter’s Carolyn Penner says, “By exposing accounts that you and another user have in common, you will now know how those accounts are connected to other accounts you already follow. As a result, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about which accounts to follow.”
Social Media Marketing Entrepreneur Valerie Jennings Named Friday Girl T.V.’s 2011 Woman 2 Watch
Posted By: Kerry Phouthavong
Valerie Jennings, CEO and entrepreneur of Jennings Social Media Marketing, was recently featured as one of Friday Girl T.V.’s 2011 Women 2 Watch.
The feature was released today and reviews Jennings as a change agent, entrepreneur, community activist and an all around phenomenal woman. In addition to being featured on Friday Girl T.V.’s Women 2 Watch page, Jennings will appear in the monthly Friday Girl Newsletter: The Friday Files: The Girl’s Guide to Chic.
About Valerie Jennings:
http://www.jenningssocialmedia.com/about/
Friday Girl T.V. features interviews with progressive women of all ages who are influential in shaping their community through the arts, business, philanthropy, fashion, health and fitness, with additional segments on fashion, sex, love, relationships, lifestyle and culture (http://fridaygirltv.com/woman-2-watch-4/).
Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing and Web advertising strategies from website design and development to viral videos. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
The 5 W’s of Twitter Marketing
Posted by: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D, Jennings
Now that many social networking sites have evolved, Twitter is capturing interest. A recent article, written by Eric Tsai from designdamage.com, explains the 5 W’s and 1 H of Twitter. These tools will help businesses know why to Tweet, who to Tweet, what to Tweet, when to Tweet, where to Tweet and how to Tweet.
- Why Tweet
- Who Tweets
- What to Tweet
- When to Tweet
- Where to Tweet
- How People Tweet
People love to use Twitter to update their personal or professional lives as well as to comment on a relatively wide range of topics.
Why people follow people?
Another interesting data from Dan Zarrella’s research reveals a list of names you can call yourself to get more followers than the average Twitter account. These names are ‘founder’, ‘expert’, ‘official’, just to name a few. People naturally like to follow authorities that “appears” to have some sort of influence.
Despite its popularity, Twitter has yet to go mainstream. But it’s still interesting to see who is using Twitter to identify the demographic should you decide to focus on this channel. There are actually a much higher percentage of African Americans and Hispanics use Twitter than whites.
The interesting part of it is that Twitter seems to self-segregate around topics and issues with different ethnic groups. So instead of bringing people together in new and innovative ways via technology and Internet, people are more divide as a result.
What should you tweet? Well, it really depends on why you’re using Twitter for what purpose. Needless to say that in marketing “everything is a test” so make sure you are sending out interesting, relevant tweets that communicates value.
If you’ve done email marketing, you know the importance of timely delivery. It’s about being at the right place at the right time and this applies to Twitter as well. According to HubSpot’s report, the best day to tweet is Thursday and Friday while the best times to tweet are 3-5 pm as well as 9–11pm Eastern Time.
Again like the W for “what to tweet” time to tweet serves as a good foundation to start sending out your well crafted tweets. Keep in mind that it doesn’t mean you won’t get retweets or clicks during off peak hours, you just have less traffic to engage with but it also means less competition.
Similar to how often you check your emails, how Twitter users check their tweets also reveals the fact that half of the Twitter users never check their streams which means there is a high chance that they simply won’t get to read majority of your tweets.
Much like the diversity we see in who’s tweeting, the location of where people are tweeting is relatively proportional. Location can be a key piece if you’re business requires foot traffic such as retail stores, restaurants or if you’re selling to a specific geographic. Its just another metric to keep your eyes on and overtime you may see a trend developing that’s worth conducting another split testing.
According to Twitter’s own blog post “The Evolving Ecosystem,” 16% of all new users to Twitter start on mobile now. Besides Twitter app for mobile devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry being the most popular ways to access Twitter, third-party apps make up 14% of all unique Twitter users.
If you want to build a long term relationship with your customers, focus on relationship not just triggering the buy button. And Twitter is another great platform to cultivate that relationship.
Why are you interested in using Twitter in marketing? Why do you believe you’re better invested there than in other channels of marketing?
At the end, social media is just push marketing with the ability for the other side to push back.
Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Increases Website Traffic With Social Media and Cuts 75% of Google Adwords Budget
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s data center and Internet hub, saw a 200-300 percent increase in its website and blog traffic, and cut 75 percent of its Google Adwords budget. The marketing ROI is part of an ongoing social media campaign with Jennings Social Media Marketing (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).
Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND, said that Jennings Social Media Marketing helped 1102 GRAND have a better perspective of online marketing strategies. “We were in need of marketing experts and that is exactly what we found in Jennings Social Media Marketing. We have worked with Jennings Social Media Marketing for approximately two years. In that time 1102 GRAND has had an increase in website traffic, saved 75 percent of the budget on the Google Adwords campaign, been requested for more interviews than we can handle and been able to realize significant quantifiable results through additional revenue,” said Bonawitz.
Bonawitz added that the focus on social media is extremely beneficial. “Jennings Social Media Marketing implemented many facets of social media marketing including Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletters, blog, case studies, organic search engine optimized press releases and Web videos. Social media is such a vital tool because it is constantly working. We have had so many great results, and it is hard to argue with results,” said Bonawitz.
1102 GRAND is a Midwestern carrier hotel and network neutral collocation facility specifically enhanced with the infrastructure to host and provide services to an array of global network operators including carriers, service providers and enterprise customers who demand highly secure and connected, customized solutions for their core networking equipment. 1102 GRAND offers a wide array of collocation options including cabinets, cage space, suites and space for private data centers, all of which are connected to a carrier neutral Meet Me Room, housing nearly 30 carriers and service providers including AT&T, Level 3, TeliaSonera, tw telecom, Zayo Enterprise Networks, and Hurricane Electric (http://1102grand.com/).
4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011
Posted By: Jared Cook
2010, often referred to as “the year of social media,” has come and gone. As we move forward into 2011, we will continue to see social media evolve and grow.
Below is an article from Mashable.com, written by Tim Ferriss, providing his insight into-
4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011
Ah, social media marketing. Fewer things are so lavishly spent on, yet so poorly measured. Here are a few predictions for 2011 related to where the smart money and dumb money will go. Special thanks to a number of high-volume retail experts for their insights, including Ryan Holiday, director of marketing at American Apparel. Read on for our predictions and let us know in the comments what you think social media marketing will look like in the year to come. 
1. YouTube Beats Yahoo — Video Will Convert
YouTube
is the second largest search engine in the English-speaking world. That’s right: YouTube is bigger than Yahoo. Zappos, as one example, added simple videos of people holding shoes and moving them around to its sales pages and increased conversion rate from 6% to 30%. When I look at the traffic sources for my book trailer on YouTube, the biggest referrer isn’t my own blog. It’s The Huffington Post. I customized the video and text content to a niche (but sizeable) outlet that didn’t exist two years ago: Huffington Post Books. With proper targeting and syndication, this 50 second video almost immediately propelled my book from an Amazon rank of approximately number 150 to 30, now stabilizing at number four in all books. We usedRankForest to track this sudden change.
2. The Full Resurrection of E-mail
Groupon has an e-mail list of at least 15 million strong in the U.S. (the company says it’s 30+ million if you include international), which goes to show that a true permission asset can be worth nearly $6 billion on the bidding table. E-mail addresses are a safer long-term investment than social media features. Think about all the money companies spent advertising their MySpace
pages in 2007. Even on Facebook, your direct messages to fans are relegated to a second tier inbox no one reads. This is something you don’t have to worry about happening in e-mail marketing. Among 20- to 35-year olds, at least, their physical addresses change more frequently than their e-mail addresses. The smarter marketers will budget “social media” acquisitions based on lifetime value (or a set duration, like 6 months’ retail purchases) of e-mail addresses. One major retailer did the math and learned that an e-mail subscriber is worth roughly $20 a year in annual online revenue. Knowing this number allowed the retailer to: 
- Calculate the value of the real estate it gives the e-mail signup box at the register in stores. It turns out to be one of the most lucrative converters in an already competitive area.
- Easily say “Yes” or “No” to requests to participate in contests/sweepstakes by judging return on new e-mails acquired.
- Calculate what the company can spend to build its list.
There are companies like Opt-Intelligence that can be paid a CPA (cost per action) for what are called “co-regs.” Co-reg example: If you’re signing up for an account at NYTimes.com, and it says “Get 4 issues of Golf Magazine FREE!” someone paid for that because they knew it will make money based on lifetime value. After the above-mentioned retailer quantified what an e-mail subscriber was worth, the company was able to double its subscriber base in less than eight months. The majority of that growth came not through spending money upfront, but from the redirection of already existing resources in ways that weren’t possible before calculating that number. Let’s say that added 500,000 e-mail addresses, each worth $20 in 2011; that means an additional $10 million in revenue with no significant capital outlay. Aaron Ray uses the same tactics for the “free agent bands” (major acts who’ve left a label) at The Collective. He figures out how many tickets you sell through your fan club, how many downloads come from your e-mail list, and how much traffic you can drive through Facebook and Twitter. It’s critical for two reasons: 1) For accurate revenue/sales/attendance predictions, and 2) As ROI metrics to justify investments for growth. This also allows loss-leader campaigns. Even if the math on a Groupon deal is razor thin, a smart retailer (online or offline) can acquire e-mails through a special form they set up and add an extra $20+ per transaction, per our hypothetical example. Many companies can afford to give product away for “free” if they have the right metrics. Most companies don’t, which leads us to number three.
New Social Media Business Trends for 2011
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D, Jennings Social Media Marketing
Social Media is an important aspect to many businesses. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, blogs etc., are among the most popular ways to communicate and network. Business owners everywhere are utilizing social media in order to grow and manage their companies. Below is an article from http://venturebeat.com, written by Gary Halliwell, that reviews social media business trends for 2011.
According to the article, social media is always changing so it is important to stay on top of social media trends. Haliwell compiled a list of social media trends for 2011 to “help entrepreneurs make the most of this exciting marketing opportunity.”
Social marketing will move beyond Facebook and LinkedIn – A recent Harvard research study showed that information and influence travel up to three degrees across a social network. The information you communicate to friends, family and colleagues is often passed on beyond your network – possibly to thousands of people, most of whom you will not even know. Similarly, the information you receive each day may have traveled two or three degrees before it reaches you.
This is where the meat is for social marketers. In our connected world of Tweets, blogs, emails and posts, this information transmission is captured in electronic form, and what we know as “word-of-mouth” in face to face interaction has become “word-of-digital”, and it’s incredibly track-able and useful.
2011 and the years ahead will be a time when marketers start to get away from thinking of social marketing in terms of the limited information posted on Facebook or LinkedIn, and start to figure out how to influence and encourage the transmission of information across the vastly larger real social networks their customers inhabit.
Socially adept companies will align the needs of employees and customers – Social is about “we” – a dimension that few companies are used to operating in. “We” includes the inter-connectedness of customers on the internet, airing complaints and raving about things they like, creating resonance for brands both positive and negative. Just as importantly, and perhaps less intuitively, is that “we” also embraces employees.
I’ll again refer to Zappos, as it achieves customer excellence by ensuring employees and customers are aligned by delivering happiness to both employees and customers. Management knows that reacting to customers in real-time requires employees who are motivated, empowered and creative across the whole organization.
In 2011, we’ll see more companies embrace Zappos’ approach to social as integral, and large corporations relying on their inertia will feel the hot breath of excitement from fully motivated competition.
Millennials will take another step forward into the breach - The shift to greater social connectedness will continue to move forward in 2011. In 2010, at a recent conference about social media in Boston, not one of the 500 attendees was below the age of 30. As a result, a lot of the discussion about social media was that of fear, uncertainty and doubt.
As younger people begin to turn up at these sorts of conferences, expect the conversation to change into discussions and enthusiasm for the possibilities of social media, as opposed to the threats. Help is on its way, but it may be too late for larger more static companies where management think social is a cocktail in a bar.
Social will penetrate deeper into company structures – The Fall 2010 NetProspex Social Business Report analyzed over 2 million contact records of folks within the largest companies in the nation. The trends offered an interesting view into 2011.
Not surprisingly, marketing decision makers had the heaviest use of social media. Interestingly, our study also showed human resources professionals ranking 2nd for social network usage. CEOs, meanwhile, were number 11 on the list, outpaced by office managers and customer service reps. This is a trend that will hopefully reverse, as more CEOs see the power of social media to network and to amplify their thought leadership.
Go live or go home – In his recent book, Real-time Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott gives many examples of companies that suffer from not reacting in real time to customer issues. Going “real time” means preparing an organization to react to what’s happening in their world, cohesively and adeptly. It requires planning for the future with room for ambiguity and change, and the flexibility to react from the top to the bottom of a company.
Going real time is something most companies, especially large ones, are not geared to do. Generally, management selection is based on planning, organizational and political skills. Now that customers have the power they do with social communication, in a conversation that is visible to all, Scott’s premise is that creativity and improvisation is required in the real-time culture that customer relations now demand.
The good news is that this pressure will create excellence seen in live performance, but 2011 is still the beginning of painful transition for the majority of business.
Thank you to Becky Bosshart, Writer for Recharger Magazine, for Featuring Valerie Jenning in a Recent Article
Posted By: Jamie Sutera, VP of R&D
Thank you to Becky Bosshart, writer for Recharger Magazine, for interviewing Valerie Jennings for a recent article. During the interview, Jennings discussed social media trends. According to the article, Valerie Jennings, who created a blog for InkCycle, said the company is building brand awareness of its eco-friendly ink cartridges using online reviews, and Sarah Thompson, LaserNetworks’ marketing manager, explains what new bloggers should expect from social media (hint: it’s a long-term investment).
Study Shows Twitter Surpasses Facebook as Marketing Tool
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
A new study by SocialTwist reveals that Twitter links produce more clicks than links shared on Facebook. Twitter and Facebook are used for marketing as well as personal use. According to this study, Twitter proves more effective than Facebook at reaching customers. This article written by Barbara E. Hernandez from Entrepreneur.com highlights the pros and cons of both Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter Crushes Facebook for Marketing
Facebook makes up 78 percent of traffic among all social network sites and micro-blogging site Twitter accounts for 5 percent, but on average “tweets” with embedded links get 19 clicks while Facebook’s shared links only get three clicks, according to a study by SocialTwist.
The marketing firm, which offers viral social media marketing campaigns, analyzed more than a million shared links through its Tell-a-Friend widget that lets people share information on Websites. SocialTwist measured success by a clickthrough rate, a term for the number of clicks on a link that takes a user to a specific destination.
The survey yielded other surprises, such as that MySpace still has 15 percent of social media market share.
If you’re using Twitter or Facebook to reach out to customers, here’s what each service has going for and against it.
Ring In the New Year with 2011 Marketing Trends
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
As the Holiday season approaches, the year is coming to a close. We look to the next year with anticipation and curiosity. What will 2011 hold for social media? This article written by Eric Tsai from B2C Marketing Insider reveals the four most expected trends for social networks, businesses and marketers.
4 Internet Marketing Trends For 2011
As we’re approaching the end of the 2010 there are numerous developments with businesses using social media. I had predicted that brands will need to figure out how social fits into their overall brand strategy by identifying where the leverage is with social media and how to manage it.
Online communities are now everywhere there is access and common objectives. Even social networks are interconnected themselves pushing and pulling content across various channels.
For business owners, bloggers and marketers, we have to realize that the landscape is changing and will continue to shift towards attentive reach, not frequency.
Instead of trying to reach broad targets of demographic groups, investing in paid media we find valuable organic content becoming more powerful, ranking higher by search engines and shared by passionate communities.
Need more facts to back up the growth of social media? According to Harris Interactive:
- 9 out of 10 (87%) online adults use social media
- Highest percentage (22%) uses social media less than 1 hour per week
- Highest percentage of 18-34 yr-olds (17%) uses social media 6-10 hours per week
Social Media Coupons and Promos Reach Audiences and attract “Followers” for Brands
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga 
More than half of consumers follow at least one brand on a social networking site. A new study shows that consumers chose to follow a brand in order to receive a deal or promo or to find more brand information. This article from InformationWeek.com was written by Alison Diana and it reveals the results of the new social media research.
Coupons, Promos Attract Social Media Brand ‘Followers’
The majority of consumers are willing to follow a brand on Facebook or Twitter — especially if there is a financial motivator such as coupons or special promotions, a new study found.
In fact, 60% of consumers polled follow at least one brand via a social network, and one in four said they did so in order to search for coupons or promotions, according to a poll of more than 15,000 residents of the United States and Canada by Empathica, a developer of customer experience management (CEM) solutions. Thirty percent cited their desire to seek more information on a brand, the study found.
“The challenge for companies is to identify the triggers that make consumers want to follow their brand, further engage with them and keep them top-of-mind,” said Gary Edwards, Empathica executive VP of client services. “Our survey results suggest consumers show preference to interacting with brands that offer coupons and promotions via social media outlets. It’s important for brands to recognize consumer preferences and what will help encourage them to visit an establishment.”
Foursquare Check-Ins Show Where Shoppers Went on Black Friday
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
Retailers promoted their Black Friday sales heavily this year. Social media was a reliable tool for many retailers who chose to use apps, Twitter and Foursquare among other social media tools. This article written by Jolie O’Dell from mashable.com uses graphs to show where shoppers checked in on Foursquare.
Which Retailers Got the Most Checkins on Black Friday? [STATS]
We’re still breaking down the metrics for Black Friday 2010, but if Foursquare checkins are any barometer, Target probably had a pretty good day.
A tiny percentage of the population uses location-based checkin tools like Foursquare; and in all likelihood, these digital citizens are more likely to be shopping online than in stores during the holiday season. So numbers gathered by Trendrr and AdAge represent a tiny sliver of what in-store numbers might have actually been.
The number-one store by Foursquare checkins was Target, which captured almost one quarter of all Black Friday checkins — no small feat considering the substantial Foursquare marketing efforts of other brands.
Thank You to Social Marketing Hub for Featuring Jennings Social Media Marketing
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
Thank you to Social Marketing Hub for featuring Jennings Social Media Marketing in a recent post. The article includes a video and explains how Jennings utilizes strategy to create innovative marketing plans. The post can be seen here.
Groupon Launches Holiday Store
Posted By: Carlee Vellinga
Groupon is a prime example of the growing popularity of coupon and check-in businesses. Groupon launched a holiday store today. The store, Grouponicus, will offer new deals daily with a focus on holiday gift options. This article by Kit Eaton at fastcompany.com reveals the growing focus on social media shopping.
Check-in/Coupon Business Exploding: Groupon Gets Into Digital Music Downloads
Groupon is soaring like a rocket at the moment: Today it opens the Grouponicus Store, with Rihanna’s new album as the star offering and social media links a-plenty built in. It’s the latest sign that the check-in/coupon digital marketing phenomenon is exploding.
As well as the “variety of unbeatable features that have made Groupon a global phenomenon” the press release states, “LOUD will be available as a $5 digital download in the inaugural holiday store of Groupon, the Grouponicus Store, beginning November 22, 2010.” That’s a pretty big coup for Groupon, given the big-star status of Rihanna, and the fact that LOUD is running at $9.99 in Apple’s iTunes store–the biggest music retailer in the U.S.
The company is calling it a “first of its kind” deal, and while it’s definitely a success, it’s probably almost as much thanks to the clever marketing that Rihanna’s team are using for the new record, which includes “aggressive” social media activity across the usual suspects of Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.
Valerie Jennings 
Cassie Stubs
Katie Stumpf
