The XXI Olympic Winter Olympic Games are also being called the “Social Games.” Based on sponsors clever ways of gaining the spotlight, more consumers will have their eyes glued to their iPhone and computer screens, than the actual broadcast on TV. If major sponsors can motivate 500 million Internet transactions as a result of the Super Bowl (a one-day event), can you imagine what sponsors, apps, social networks and search engines can gain from sixteen days of sporting events in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Reaching out via social media, this Olympics may rival China in attention, if not in spectacle. On the months leading up to the event, the marketing teams of a hundreds of brands have been strategizing as to the most effective means to advertise its product and services using social media distribution. Both social networks will be covering the events in Vancouver closely and may prove to be a more informative source than even TV.
With Twitter’s more than 23 million hits and 1.2 billion tweets per month, Twitter will no doubt have a direct effect on Olympic information and viewership in 2010. Another feature released by Twitter just in time for the Olympics, is a Verified Tweeting Olympians resource page where you can cross-reference what the athletes are tweeting about in real-time from one source. Presently this site is following 100 athletes from Apolo Ohno to Joannie Rochette.
On Facebook, the International Olympic Committee has created an Olympic Games Page, which already has more than 1.2 million followers. The page plans to feature updates, photos and videos submitted by the athletes. The International Olympic Committee is also using Facebook to conduct a fan photo contest, awarding free tickets to events to winners, and has created an Olympic Mini-Games on their social network.
So the Social Games are in full swing in the social media space and it will be interesting to see how Vancouver fares as a result. Eighteen months after the spectacular opening of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, the organizers of the Winter Games in Vancouver are challenged to top the Chinese. Stated as the first-ever “Social Games” the excitement created by social media might be the stepping stone to make the opening ceremonies and subsequent competitions stand out from previous Olympics.
As a result of all of us getting social, let’s hope the 2010 Games are one of the best organized and most enjoyable Olympics ever. So rev up those mobile phones/ laptops and let’s hit the slopes!
LinkedIn recently added a Twitter status update functionality to their interface! Smart! So is there a reason to add your Twitter updates to your LinkedIn status? The answer is yes, I added it then contemplated the value add. Here are 3 reasons why you as any professional should utilize this functionality.
1) Stay On Topic- Over the last 24 hours I have thought more about my tweets and staying on topic. I still do posts on my interests, but have made sure to keep it more PG.
2) Additional Opportunities To Beat Your Chest – If you are currently using LinkedIn to network and find a new job, posting your Twitter posts is a great way to be King Kong & show what you know. Especially if you are in the Social Media and SEO fields. It is important to be intelligent in front of your peers and prospectus employers.
3) Gives LinkedIn Users Reasons To Return To Your Profile – Let’s be honest, Facebook is a far more personal application while LinkedIn is used for more professional reasons. I also looked and I only follow 40% of my LinkedIn contacts on Twitter. So adding this app is a no brainer and has already led to 8 new followers because of the use of the application.
I am sure there are more reasons to use the Twitter Status functionality on LinkedIn. But these are a few I found within the first 24 hours. Feel free to add yours in comments! Happy Tweeting & Linking!
Did you notice that Twitter added list functionality to follow this week? I have had a few people ask me what is the purpose? So with that; here is 4 ways to use Twitter lists:
- Niche Follow- Simply put lists allow you to follow groups of people based on their niche focus. As Social Media becomes more prevalent in the business word, the ability to focus your tweets on verticals will become more necessary. That reason necessitates the need for Social Analytics. The lists are another way to organize and focus.
- Topic RSS- In a way the lists are almost an RSS aggregator of niche topics. Much like http://www.search.twitter.com allows you to pull RSS feeds of #keywords, listing allows you to focus on topics.
- Who to Follow? – This is an easy one. If someone is being put into a lot of lists, then they are Tweeting items of value. Being added to lists is almost like getting a high rating! This will keep people honest. I know I have started looking at how many lists folks are on before following them. I have made simple criteria of 3 lists before following them.
- Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence & Industry Pulse- What a great opportunity to pull in all of the industry experts, stakeholders and players into one list and monitor what they are up to. A huge BI opportunity that all businesses should jump on!
Here is the SEO List we made: http://twitter.com/authoritydomain/seo
I am not sure if you know this, but Twitter lists have been available prior to this week. Here is a few to check out:
TLists: http://www.tlists.com/ (thx to @TazmanianTayTay)
TweepML: http://tweepml.org/TweepGen/createnew.aspx
Ultimately, the ability to organize your followers by niche is much needed! If you have other ideas, please share them in the comments.
Yesterday I posted two videos on my Facebook wall and realized that they both are great examples of how Social Media is allowing even the smallest business or individual stand eye to eye with large organizations or celebrities. Both are a true David versus the Goliath story. Or is it?
Case 1: AARP posted this video:
What I love about this video is how viral it has become with a positive message attached to a brand. But the beauty is any one person could create a video like this and help build their own personal brand that rivals the likes of AARP. Dollars are no longer needed to market effectively.
Case 2: Ask for what you want & come across capable:
A former client of mine recently became a free agent. She is a bright lady that knows how to use Social Media to market not only a corporate community- but her own brand as well. Case in point above! What is beautiful is she can use this video as the spine of her job finding campaign. Point to it with external
links and use the keywords she wants to rank for in her job search. She also shared the video with her peers who..well….shared it again. Case in point here! I will share this post in all the usual DoFollow channels and she will receive the very same link juice and viral exposure that we will. My point? 10 years ago the brand of an individual had no chance of being seen in the very same channels as Google and Microsoft – for free no less. This is affecting the News Media- the many is reporting news better then the major new agencies. Read Craig Newmark’s article- “A Nerds Take On The Future Of News Media”. Today, the gap between the bigs and the smalls, the corporations and the individuals has shrunk. The playing field has been leveled. Corporate responsibility is prevalent (a plus in my eyes) while their weight is decreasing, while the individual has more opportunity to be seen and thrive! Another plus! Before long there will no longer be a goliath, just a whole lot of David’s – some with a greater commitment to their brand! Which begs the question, what are you doing to grow your personal brand or your companies brand? Opportunity is ripe for the taking! Have you thought about your brand when watching the AARP and Naomi Marr videos?
We are consistently looking for new and inexpensive ways to market our E-commerce sites. Like many E-commerce sites, we operate on a shoestring budget, and are always looking for the least expensive ways to promote our site. We have found one of the best ways to market the site, with a very small budget is to partner up with the manufacturers that we represent on our sites. Here are three ways to utilize the skills and services that manufacturers offer to their dealers.
1) Print Advertisements-Many manufacturers will run print advertisements in trade publications. Ask the manufacturers that you work with if you can be involved with these publications, by paying a small fee to have your website listed on the print advertisements. Your website can be listed as a place that sells the manufacturers products. In return, this is also helping the manufacturer pay for the advertisement.
2) Website Listing on Manufacturer’s Site-If the manufacturer has a website with online retailers listed, typically a “where to buy this product online” or “online retailers” section, ensure your website is listed. This is a free link that the manufacturer should have no problem putting up. Some manufacturers will only put your link up on their site once you have reached a pre-set yearly sales number. Ask the manufacturer what the requirements are to have your link listed.
3) Promotions - Find out from your sales representative what promotions the manufacturer is running and when they will occur. Most of the time they will have it listed in a special area on their website, possibly homepage, or in a print publication. Ask to be involved in the promotion, to ensure that customers know they can take advantage of the promotion by purchasing from your website.
Manufacturers are always willing to work with you to help sell more products. Typically, they have a marketing team in place, and are more than helpful. Utilize the resources they provide to you for being their dealer. We have found the above three ideas are a great to start to working with manufacturers on the marketing of our sites.
New to Social Media? Here is a list of folks I value who you could say are the doers in Social Media. Some folks talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. This group are the Social Media doers in the business world. I find their insights valuable and I know you will too!
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chrisbrogan – Chris Brogan
President, New Marketing Labs. More? http://bit.ly/cbbio . email: blog at chrisbrogan dot com
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jowyang – Jeremiah Owyang
Partner, Altimeter Group. How I use Twitter http://tinyurl.com/24lv65
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AaronStrout – Aaron Strout
CMO – Powered, Inc. (and dedicated husband/dad)
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rhappe – Rachel Happe
Connector of ideas and people. Fascinated by social dynamics. Principal at The Community Roundtable – @TheCR
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RonPloof – Ron Ploof
Dad, Author, Speaker, Consultant, New Media Management
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TomHumbarger – Tom Humbarger
social media, marketing, community strategy, community management, consultant, blogger, runner, father of 4 – how can I help you?
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marksylvester – Mark Sylvester
Solving problems using Visualization. Personal and Quasi professional observations here. @intronetworks for work related thoughts
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mikepascucci – Mike Pascucci
Social Media/Online Community manager, AAA Mid-Atlantic
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juliaroy – Julia Roy
Social Strategist, digital influencer and creator/host of Tweet Week, a video blog about Twitter. Show archive: youtube.com/tweetweek
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DerekShowerman – Derek Showerman
Director Of Social Media & Senior Social Media Consultant @ Authority Domains. Former SM Consultant @ Mzinga. Mets fan! Perfectionist & analytical sith nerd.
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adamcohen – Adam Cohen
Partner at digital agency Rosetta, Leading Search, Online and Social Media Practices, Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots fan, Dad of 3 amazing boys
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BryanPerson – Bryan Person
Social media evangelist at LiveWorld. Keywords: Husband, Dad, Austin, #RedSox, breakfast
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KateDickman – Kate Dickman
Crayonista, Social Media Gal + Community Manager for Panasonic’s new online community – LivinginHD.com
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mwallcomm – Mark Wallace
VP Social Media, commonground Social Network for Environmental Professionals – Lawyers, EH&S, LEED, Green Building, CRE, etc.. Dad, Hockey/Sports Guy, Music Fan
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GeorgeDearing – George Dearing
blogger,media tracker and Telligent evangelist working on the real-time web [georgedearing.com]
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justinmwhitaker – Justin Whitaker
Freelance Geek. Socal Media Bunny Rabbit.
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glennhilton – Glenn Hilton
I own ImageX Media a Drupal web design and development firm. I’m passionate about social media, technology, authenticity, and everything that’s good.
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ShannonPaul – Shannon Paul
Social Media Manager @ PEAK6 Online. The views expressed on this profile are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of PEAK6.
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ChadNorthrup – Chad Northrup
CoreBlox co-founder, Dartmouth Alum ‘96, Boston sports nut, beer lover, husband, and dad to 2 little girls
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Marc_Meyer – Marc Meyer
Dir.of Social Media and Search, Principal at DRMG, and Co-founder of Hashtagsocialmedia.com
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You bulk follow them here:
I was recently putting together a document for benchmarks involving Social Media, and to make sure I wasn’t missing anything I did a Google search to see if I was missing any benchmarks. What I found was interesting was most everything was for pay, which makes little sense. There isn’t much giving away of intellectual property with sharing how to set goals? So with that, here are 5 benchmarks that your social media presence can strive for. If you reach these goals you will see success:
Twitter- Number of followers. In order to effectively spread your message and engage successfully we suggest organically getting over 1000 followers, and over 100 Tweets.
Facebook Fanpage – Once you get to 50 posts with unique content (articles and blogs), and over 200 followers you will see some calls to actions occur.
LinkedIn Group – Same deal with 50 posts, but with Linked In usually 100 followers on LinkedIn does the trick. We have found most folks on LinkedIn are inclined to participate in business ventures then on Facebook. So less is more!
Youtube – Once you get 15 new video posted and shared in Social Bookmarking channels and embedded in your blog or social website, you will start seeing success. Remember unique content is key, so these videos need to be created by you and your organization.
Alexa – We have seen a direct correlation between traffic ranking under 800,000 and social media success. If you do your due diligence of sharing your unique content in DoFollow Social Media channels with the link pointing back to your blog or social website, you will start seeing success at achieving your business objectives once you get under 800,000 (lower the better- Facebook is ranked 4 in the world). Share the link to your unique content in as many Do follow Social Media channels! It is laborious, but incredibly important.
We have well over 200 benchmarks that we share with our clients. But these are 5 benchmarks that will help you be successful using Social Media if you do your due diligence (commitment to unique content) and track to these markers. Don’t hesitate to contact Authority Domains if you need additional help or guidance.
Is your company struggling with its Social Media strategy? Ironically if you’ve been searching for an answer your lethargy might 
actually help you leapfrog the competition. The rest of this article deals with the benefits of socially integrating your site with Facebook Connect. Afterwards I’ll offer up a quick and easy referral strategy for your eCommerce site.
Theoretically there’s a war that’s being waged right now over your online entity. The main players are Facebook Connect, OAuth (Google) and OpenID (decentralized). While these giants battle it out for supremacy, let me save you a whole bunch of time, effort and energy. The war is over. The king is dead. Long live the new king, Facebook Connect.
Technologically all three services are fairly similar. Basically your user authentication is handled by a third party and a validation cookie is sent back to you the instigating site. OpenID is slightly different insofar as that anyone can run their own authenticating server. In the case of Facebook Connect and OAuth, Facebook and Google handle the validation respectively.
Technology aside, where Facebook enjoys a massive competitive advantage is in the underlying social network that’s intrinsically built into the site. When a user connects to your site via Facebook Connect you as the site owner can use the FacebookRestClient to not only pull all of the demographic information that Facebook maintains on that specific user but additionally (and more importantly) you can also instantly pull all the demographic information on all of that user’s friends as well. This data used properly can be a huge boon for your company as I’ll explain later.
Some of the other features that Facebook Connect offers are the ability to publish to the user’s newsfeed, tag friends, upload pictures, share links and change their status remotely (a la Twitter). That’s right, users on your site can publish directly to Facebook without leaving your site. There’s a whole host of other features that you can learn about from the Facebook Connect documentation page.
Ultimately what does this all mean for you? Let’s have a quick look of the competitive advantages to you, the online business owner:
- Trusted Authentication – The trust actually runs two ways in this case: First your internal technology department can basically outsource all your authentication management system to a huge company (fewer headaches for you, less liability). Secondly, your end user gets peace of mind that a reputable ID management system is in place (much like the VeriSign GoldSeal, it promotes consumer confidence)
- Simplify Signup – I know if I fill out my personal information on yet another social media site I’m going to snap and I know I’m not the only one out there who suffers from Social Profile Fatigue. Facebook Connect offers a simple and streamlined method for users to join your site without filling out a large form while still providing your eCommerce site with all the demographic information you want and need. Oh and by the way, since your users will spend less time signing up for your product or service, they can spend more time doing what you want them to (like buying stuff!).
- Word of Mouth Accelerator – One of the least expensive and most powerful customer acquisition methodologies is word-of-mouth (‘free’ has a certain ring to it). By allowing your users to instantly and seamlessly publish information to your site as well as their own Facebook account you gain instant access to their entire social circle. Smart brands will learn that the key to getting content into Facebook is about providing a meaningful value exchange for each Facebook Connect interaction, prompting their users to naturally want to post to Facebook at every turn.
- Business Information – Even if you’re planning on starting your site tomorrow, you can quickly and easily tap into years of demographic information that Facebook has been collecting. The value of each signup suddenly gets multiplied by a hundred fold each time someone signs up to your site (the average Facebook user has 124 friends).
- Increase Traffic – According to Bob Buch, VP, Business Development at Digg.com: “..social community sites using the Facebook Connect API have seen their traffic increase from 30 -100%”
- Instant Targeted Marketing – Upon logging in, the Facebook-powered profile can inform a much more relevant, targeted experience. A retailer can feature merchandise based on profile details like location, age, relationship status or even brands that the user has “fanned.”
- Influencers – For anyone who’s read The Tipping Point you’ll instantly recognize and value the “Connectors”. Facebook Connect makes it quick and easy for your company to recognize which users have the biggest social circle and your company can act accordingly (for example you can offer free samples to anyone who signs up for your service and has over 1,000 Facebook Friends).
- Easy Implementation – One of the best features of Facebook Connect is that it is by far and away the easiest of the three libraries to implement. Basically drop their Javascript library onto your page and you’re ready to rock (there are other methods but this one is the easiest).
Quick and Dirty Viral Marketing
Few online businesses stand to gain as much from Facebook Connect as eCommerce websites. Ecommerce sites typically have a lot of users but little or no viral promotion. One simple type of promotion that becomes easier with Facebook Connect is a simple product recommendation system that has some sort of reward associated with it. For example earn a 5% discount off of all your purchases every time you refer product (x) through your newsfeed. Another simple Facebook Connect strategy is to offer a $20 gift certificate for every Facebook Friend referral.
What are your experiences with Facebook Connect? How are you using Facebook Connect, OAuth or OpenID to improve your site’s stickiness?
As always using music to inspire my programming. Here’s what’s in my iPod right now: La Roux – Bulletproof (Zinc Remix)
So here we go… the lawsuits have begun and the days of being a completely anonymous blogger are now over. So beware with what you say and how true or not true it is. You may fall victim to what you thought was a protected private cyber world.
All this stems from the shameless and anonymous ‘Skanks in NYC’ blogger, who was facing a potential defamation lawsuit by model Liksula Gentile Cohen. The blogger, who published photos and called Cohen shallow, demeaning names, completely disrespected and portrayed the model in negative fashion. Cohen took action and asked that the racy post of her be taken off immediately. However it didn’t end there, Cohen also demanded that Google release the name of the “anonymous” Blogger. Google did not comply with Cohen’s requests, unless ordered to do so by a court. Well, Cohen’s requests and persistence with the courts paid off and the Manhattan Supreme Court Judge ordered Google on August 24th to hand over the blogger’s e-mail and IP addresses. Google gave the information to Cohen’s lawyers, who plan to sue the blogger for defamation.
Now here’s the twist, that same blogger, who now has been identified as fashion student Rosemary Port, is filing a lawsuit of her own. She has decided to sue Google for revealing her identity to Cohen, and thus to the world. So now we know that if the correct actions are taken with the legal system, anyone’s identity can be given away with a simple court order.
This is only the grand introduction of what can potentially be lawsuit after lawsuit; back and forth with the plaintiff and defendant. Who are right and whose freedom of speech is actually being taken away? Now that Google has been ordered to give up the identity of a customer, this is surely a case that many will be watching closely. Is this only the beginning of the end for all anonymous blogs? If simply calling someone something online is considered to be defamation, it may open the door for more lawsuits against all social networking sites such as; Facebook, Twitter, myspace, etc…. Just make sure to be nice with your words and you won’t even have to sweat about a lawsuit. But then again, where’s our 1st amendment right?
A client recently asked me to put together a cheat sheet to show to Social Media naysayers. As I was doing the research I started asking myself, why would any brand NOT engage? Have a gander at these 10 data points:
- According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising
- There were nearly 116 million US user-generated content consumers in 2008, along with 82.5 million content creators. Both numbers are set to climb significantly by 2013 (eMarketer, February 2009)
- 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
- 81% of online holiday shoppers read online customer reviews (Nielson Online, December 2008)
- 74% agree-including 14% who strongly agree-that they choose companies and brands based on what others say online about their customer service experiences, the survey shows. (Society for New Communications Research, May 2008)
- Mobile user-generated content will generate $5.7 billion worldwide in 2012, up from $576 million in 2007. (“Mobile Social Networking: Opportunities & Forecasts 2008-2013,” Juniper Research, October 2008)
- By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing’s primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing. (1to1 Media survey of the 1to1 Xchange panel, April 2008)
- Online businesses lose as many as 67% of consumers due to a lack of online product information. (Allurent, January 2008)
- In a study of online UK retailers, 59% reported that the consumer-generated activity leads to better search engine optimization. (eMarketer, 2008)
- 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements. (Yankelovich)
among 78% of the study’s respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”, October 2007)
With this compelling data in mind, think about Social Media in regards helping your business fill these business objectives:
1. Market research and business intelligence
2. Customer/partner education
3. User groups
4. Product innovation
5. Competitive analysis
6. Peer‐based support, education and innovation/evolution
7. Company‐wide collaboration/learning solution
8. Thought leadership/leads
9. Workplace alignment, communication & training
10. Organic/White Hat SEO Link Building
Now think about the data points above and these 10 business drivers above. Is there any business that is lacking in at least one of those areas? Is your business lacking? Now think about this:
“Social Networking & Social Media Ad Spending to Rise 13.2% in 2010 to 1.3 Billion!”
-eMarketer
I came away from my task yesterday convinced, now more than ever, that all companies should be utilizing Social Media to some degree. I am not saying go full bore if you haven’t engaged yet, but if anything it is time to dip the toes in to the Social Media waters to see how warm it is. The data is saying now is the time, especially with the Wall Street Journal and CNN claiming the recession is at an end.
