Should You Join A Social Community Or Start One?

Social communities are a dime a dozen, but existing ones are not always the best ones. YouTube, for instance, has a lot of competition. Some of the competition even bills itself as an alternative to YouTube, like the conservative-leaning political video sharing website QubeTv.

The big question is, should you join one or start your own. And the answer is “yes”. Or, more friendly, “both”.

There really is no reason you should shun other social communities, even if they compete with you. If you find a social community that fits in with your niche and you can see value in connecting with people through that community then you should join it. But you don’t have to limit yourself to that community. If you see some shortcomings in that community that can be rectified with one of your own then feel free to start your own. There are benefits to doing so.

Some benefits to starting your own social community are:

• You become the owner, you set the rules
• As the owner of the community you can brand it
• Owners of social communities become experts in their niches
• It’s another vehicle through which to sell your products and services
• You can earn revenue through social communities in other ways
• Being the owner of your own social community means people will want to build a relationship with you

Of course, managing a social community is hard work and time consuming. But the benefits can be worth the expense and the hassle. Still, it’s just one way. Join a few other communities in your niche to get a feel for what the playing field is like before starting your own.

The Biggest Social Media Pitfall

Social media is great for finding new customers and companies who use social media report great gains from its use. However, there is one pitfall to social media that just as many companies report and that cut into your company’s ROI.

The biggest pitfall to using social media for business promotion is to let it waste your time. Social media is so fun that you can get caught up in the fun and games and completely forget about business. What was to be a 15-minute “check in” to see how things are going end up being a two or three hour rabbit trail and nothing gets done.

This is one reason to outsource your social media campaigns. Instead of wasting your time playing around on the sites and not achieving the full effect of great marketing, have a social media expert conduct your marketing campaign. They will know where to draw the line on the fun and execute a sound business and marketing strategy for a positive ROI.

Yahoo! Offers Another Avenue For SMO

Yahoo! is still full of surprises. On its Yodel Anecdotal Blog, the veteran Web portal has announced a deal with Twitter. But this deal is a bit different than the previous deals struck between Twitter and search engines Bing and Google. This deal actually offers Twitterers a way to update their Twitter status from Yahoo!

But will users actually use it that way? That remains to be seen, but I’m betting that some users will.

Still, that’s not even the best part of the deal. The real meat of the deal, and the part that offers the best social media optimization benefit, is this:

Whenever you produce social actions on any website (like comments on articles, ratings, buzzes on Yahoo! Buzz) that you’ve allowed to appear on Yahoo! Updates, those actions can also be shared automatically with your friends on Twitter.

What I think this means is that Yahoo! users will soon have more ways to expand their social networks. I see a day when marketers will spend most of their day and their marketing efforts updating their statuses on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo! and their other important social networks. Or, they could just head right to Yahoo! and update all of their social networks at one time. In the near future, you’ll at least be able to update your Twitter status and take care of a few other social actions from Yahoo!

How’s that for a heightened sense of social media optimization?

Would SMO Be Better If Facebook Offered Blogging?

Chris Crum at WebProNews suggested that Facebook replace it Notes tab with a Blog tab. It’s not a bad idea.

Facebook users would gain an immediate benefit if Facebook offered blogging. No. 1, the built in Facebook user base would be incredible. This is now the second most visited site online, right behind Google. Facebook could compete head on with Google’s Blogger and actually do well.

Not only would users of Facebook benefit with that feature, but Facebook itself would benefit as it would see an immediate increase in user-generated content, improve its search engine friendliness and more people would stay on the website longer. But would a Facebook blog improve social media optimization (SMO)?

I believe it would improve search engine optimization for anyone who had a Facebook blog. I also believe it would improve SMO in a number of ways.

1. First and foremost, Facebook users would likely connect more through a blog
2. A blog could be brandable just like a Facebook page
3. With thousands of Facebook blogs pumping out content on a regular basis, Facebook would likely see more Twitter traffic
4. Widgetized blogs would likely lead to more video sharing on Facebook

I don’t really see any negatives in the prospect of adding a Facebook blog. Do you?

Should You Social Media Optimize For Google?

Yesterday we discussed whether you should optimize your website for Facebook in light of the social media leader’s relationship with Bing. Today I’d like to discuss whether you should get ready to optimize your social media campaigns for Google.

Well, I’ve been reading a few places today that Google is launching its own social network through Gmail. So does that mean you should go all out and plan a social media marketing campaign to target Google?

Not so fast. Give them a chance to prove themselves first.

Personally, I think you’d do better to spend your time optimizing web pages for Facebook. Google may have some nice social features, but it’s not a social network. And I think it will be a long time before it will compete with Facebook and Twitter.

Will Social Media Overtake SEO As The Primary Driver Of Web Traffic?

An excellent article on social media by Greg Sterling got me to thinking. In the second paragraph he says:

One day in the very near future Facebook is likely to supplant Yahoo as one of the top two Internet destinations, the other being Google.

At first, I didn’t think anything of it. But then I got to thinking on it. He’s right. Facebook and Twitter continue to grow (though Twitter is a long way off from overtaking Yahoo! in traffic while Facebook is within driving distance). It is quite possible, and maybe even likely, that Facebook will become the second most trafficked site on the Web. And if that happens then it is feasible that it could become the No. 1 site as well.

Spammers continue to bombard the search engines with bad results and the search engines find it more difficult to filter the spam out. Several popular SEOs have pointed this out. Given that, the mood of the public could shift from confidence in search to confidence in social media. But when will that happen? Could that happen? What do you think?

The Simplest SMO On The Planet

Social media optimization (SMO) has come into its own. Not only do most webmasters today try to learn everything they can about search engine optimization and the methods the pros use to get ranked for their most important keywords, but they are also learning everything they can about social media optimization. Some webmasters actually spend more time on the latter than on the former.

The best SMO in the world is also the simplest. You don’t even have to leave your website. The goal is to get your site visitors to do the work for you.

If you’ve visited many websites at all then you’ve likely seen the share buttons. They come in various sizes, shapes and colors. Some say “share”, some say “bookmark this” and some use another phrase. But there is almost always an icon, a chicklet, and a link that allows your site visitors to easily share your content on their favorite social sites. And some even allow your visitors to e-mail your content to their friends.

The key is to learn your audience. Are they heavy Digg users or Stumblers? Are they Twitterers? Do you use e-mail more frequently?

If you learn the online social habits of your visitors and provide them an easy way to share content in their preferred content and at their preferred online haunts then you’ve got a big piece of the social media puzzle solved. The rest, as they say, gravy.

Is Twitter Necessary?

Chris Crum of WebProNews interviewed Matt Bailey, who said that you can run a successful business online without Twitter. Really? I thought Twitter was all that and a bag of chips.

Actually, he’s right. You CAN run a successful business online without Twitter. In fact, everyone did before 2005.

When it comes to social media, there’s a new brand of hype. What happens is, the online equivalent of the jet set (the early adopters) do some experimenting. When one of them finds a workable formula for a new social tool they start to tell their friends. Their friends do an experiment and confirm the report. They tell their friends. Before you know it, the news steam rolls and the spammers start moving in. Hype builds more hype.

But the reality is, you can do without the hype. What I mean, don’t get sucked into it. You should start the hype, not follow it.

Hype is really another word for viral marketing. It works. When you are the subject of the hype you’ll know it works. When you are the one being dragged around by the hype, all you can think about is, “Man, this sucks.”

Well, let’s not get dramatic. Social media optimization is not about following the hype. It’s about creating it. And you can run a successful business without Twitter. Of course, you can run a successful business with it too.

Social Networking, Social Breaks

Coffee breaks are refreshing. Take a short walk, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, fill your coffee cup and head back to the desk for a second wind and a great second half of your work day. More productivity, higher morale, and a happier disposition.

It works the same way in social networking.

You could consider the social networking a part of your recreation. It’s so fun you don’t want to give it up. But if it’s that much fun then you may not be getting any work done. On the other hand, if it’s too much work then how social is it?

The fact is, if you are social networking to make contacts for your business then it is work just like any other work. That’s not to say you are spending the entire day networking, but some people do. You start your day a-Twittering and it just doesn’t stop. Take a break. Refresh yourself.

It’s OK to take a day off of Facebook and come back refreshed. You might even take a full week. But don’t be gone too long. Any momentum you’ve built up by networking can be destroyed with too long off. So measure your days and refresh your energy. You deserve it.

Pepsi Gives Up TV Tradition For Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a fairly young form of Internet marketing. It has caught on in the last couple of years and doesn’t appear to be just a passing fad. The number of social media websites that are growing and drawing attention to themselves is astounding. And some of the top websites online – Facebook and YouTube – are social media websites.

So when a big name traditional marketing giant like Pepsi abandons TV advertising, and on Super Bowl Sunday to boot, in favor of social media marketing, that’s big news.

Why would Pepsi do this? Well, I can think of a few reasons and I’m trusting they’ve done the math.

• The Super Bowl’s audience is primarily U.S. households (granted, it’s a lot of households, but when you consider that social media marketing has no geographical boundaries, it’s a rather limited audience)
• Dollar for dollar, social media marketing can deliver a lot more activity over time than a couple of Super Bowl ads
• Super Bowl ads run for a very limited time, then – poof! – they’re gone; social media marketing will stick around a lot longer
• Super Bowl advertising contains no search engine optimization benefit while social media marketing does
• There is a much bigger chance that social media marketing can lead to Pepsi tapping into new markets than Super Bowl advertising

Let’s look at that last benefit. One of the biggest brands in China is Coca Cola. It’s huge there. Pepsi is hardly known. And the largest social media website in the world is a Chinese website. One very effective social media campaign in China could lead to Pepsi challenging Coca Cola’s hold on the market there.

That’s just one example. There are other markets worldwide where Pepsi is trailing Coca Cola and the younger audiences in almost every country (18-34 year olds) are social media users more than TV viewers.

I think this is a good move for Pepsi. I hope it pays off. If it works out like I suspect it will, Pepsi will have a very good social media story to tell in 2010.

Youtu.be URL Shortener – How Silly

I must admit, I’m getting tired of all the newfangled URL shorteners appearing now. I blame it all on Twitter.

In the old days it was Tinyurl and a few other struggling upstarts trying to compete for space in the URL shortening arena. Of course, there was no money in URL shortening so it was just a service to help webmasters who wanted a short URL – largely to help affiliate marketers mask their affiliate IDs and conceal the fact that they were sending their site visitors to another site to make a quick buck. But things have changed.

Twitter has made the URL shortener a necessity and not just a choice. While no marketer is obligated to use Twitter, not to do so is to miss out on a growing opportunity. I think it’s here to stay and will likely become an important part of doing business online. But you have to communicate in 140 characters or less.

Since Twitter has asked us all to share our favorite links online in 140 characters or less, there have been a ton of new URL shorteners appear on the scene to help us do that. The best ones offer link tracking so you can see how many clicks you are getting on those links. And now savvy webmasters are using those URL shortening services on their own websites.

Recently, Google announced their own URL shortening service – Goo.gl – which can only be used on its own site. And now, the latest, Youtu.be. Doug Caverly recommends using it for YouTube videos. I don’t know. Do we really need another one?

I’m all for social media in any of its forms, and YouTube is one of the best social media websites around, but what if they all had their own URL shorteners? How silly would that be?

6 Online Conversations With Social Media Implications

WebProNews visited with some search and social industry professionals in Chicago and came away with a list of 10 discussions in Internet marketing that are relevant for today and the future. Six of those 10 discussions are relevant to social media in at least a small way, but most of them hit the social media relevance factor directly and head on. Here are the 6 discussions on social media you should pay attention to if not get involved in:

1. Ranking In Real-Time Search – Real-time search has become synonymous with Twitter, and partly Facebook. You can’t argue that this doesn’t have some serious social media marketing connection. Plus, it’s interesting.
2. The Future Of Online PR – Online PR used to be about getting found in the search engines. Now it’s about getting found. Anywhere and everywhere. More than likely, if you use online PR in the future then you’ll be doing it through at least one social media outlet.
3. Lessons from Political Social Media – President Obama wasn’t the first to make social media relevant for politics. That was Ron Paul. But the nation’s chief executive did do the most in making it relevant for the rest of us.
4. Small Businesses And Social Media – Any discussion of social media must involve small business and the ways that average business owners can benefit. This discussion is a must.
5. Moving Beyond Google – What’s beyond Google? A lot of things. Like Facebook, Twitter, and the loads of other social media websites out there ready for you to leverage for your business.
6. Optimizing for Mixed Media Search Results – Mixed media optimization involves search, social, video, and viral marketing. Your arsenal of online marketing tools is as varied as your imagination. This is one of the best discussions you’ll ever witness.

That’s six out of 10 and they’re all related to social media in some way. The other four discussions are about search and PPC and they’re just as interesting. Get involved in these discussions now. Or learn more about social media optimization.

Yahoo! Courts Facebook, Expects Big Returns

It should come as no surprise that Yahoo! has announced that it will start using Facebook Connect on its properties. After all, Bing owns stock in the social media leader. And in the wake of the Yahoo!-Bing partnership looming on the horizon, it was probably a part of the deal.

Still, Bing in the picture or not, the partnership makes sense. Here’s what the Yahoo! press release says:

Yahoo!’s Facebook Connect integration will give consumers richer experiences on Yahoo!, including in Yahoo! Mail and on properties like Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, and Yahoo! Finance. It will enable them to connect with Facebook friends on Yahoo!, view a feed of their friends’ related activity on Yahoo!, and share content—such as photos from Flickr or comments on news stories—with all of their friends on Facebook. The content that consumers share with Facebook friends will then create a loop that drives visitors back to Yahoo!.

Well, that’s what social media marketing is all about, isn’t it? Sharing with friends what is important to you. And if Yahoo!s visitors are doing that on Facebook it will drive more traffic back to Yahoo!, which may lead to more searches using the Yahoo! search engine – at least, that’s what Bing and Yahoo! are hoping. More people using the search feature on Yahoo! will mean more opportunities for Yahoo! to raise more revenue and give Bing (RE: Microsoft) an opportunity to study what people are searching for in order to improve its own search technology.

A marriage made in heaven, yes?

Social Media Is Hyperlocal

News stories like this one remind us how social the web really is – and in truth, always has been. One term I’m seeing more and more is “hyperlocal.” But in this context, it has to do with social media.

The firm also says that even though the web is world-wide, its emerging power is hyperlocal.

What on earth could this mean?

I think it means that local small businesses trying to optimize for social media can relax and take in the breath of fresh air that social media is beginning to reach into its hyperlocal roots. That is, local small businesses can leverage social media to connect with local customers, drive more local traffic to their websites, and build relationships without getting too wrapped up in search engine lingo and the search marketing rat race. Instead, you can build a solid relationship with your neighbors on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter and take social media to the local level.

The next phase in social media optimization, I’m convinced of it, is hyperlocal.

Why Social Media And Reputation Management Are Entertwined

There is a tendency to discuss reputation management and social media as if they are two separate subjects. Of course, they are – to an extent. But the two are really intertwined. Social media optimization is reputation management; and reputation management involves social media.

Just to illustrate how married the two are, consider this anecdote I recently came across while reading online. An author of an article detailed how she monitored the social media conversations of potential business partners. Her first step was to ascertain the usernames of some of their social media accounts. She then exercised some savvy and searched for more accounts under those usernames.

But the sneaky part was when she rolled up the feeds from all the social media profiles of those partners into one master feed. She then ran the feed through two filters. The first filter was a filter for important keywords related to their niche. No big deal there. But the second filter was a filter for negative reputation terms, or red flag words like “sex”, “party”, “drugs”, etc. Hmmm, now that’s sneaky.

There are two sides to this equation. The first is how easy it is to monitor someone else’s reputation and see if it is the type of person you want to do business with. The second side of that equation is how scary it is to know someone else can monitor your reputation that way.

Why is that scary? If you have nothing to hide it shouldn’t be. And that’s the point. Are you carrying yourself online as if you have nothing to hide?

In our view, social media is reputation management.

Another Take On Small Business And Social Media

Early last week we reported on how Most Small Business Owners Are Too Busy For Social Media. There are many different ways to view this problem, some of which we discussed in last weeks post. Another view that should be considered is whether or not small businesses were targeting the right social media outlets.

If your a small business person targeting a local or regional audience then you need to consider your options. It may not make sense undertaking a social media marketing campaign on Facebook or any of the other large international social media sites. Your audience is not international so why campaign in an international marketplace?

There are always local or regional social media outlets that could return much greater dividends for the time spent. Sure, they don’t have all the bells and whistles that Facebook or Twitter posses, but they do have one important factor – the users are nearly all potential customers.

As a local trader, would you advertise in the local papers or radio – or would you advertise in a big city daily or on national tv. The commonsense approach, and the cost factor, would make your local media more attractive. The same is true for online social media. Target those sites and then judge whether or not social media marketing was worth the time.

Most Small Business Owners Are Too Busy For Social Media

Frank Reed at Marketing Pilgrim cites a survey by Citibank / GfK Roper in which 76% of the business owners surveyed (500 of them) said that social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have not helped their businesses to grow in the last year.

Well, I wonder why not? Could it have anything to do with the economy?

You might think so, but according to the same survey, 42% of the business owners surveyed said they have made greater use of their own websites and search engines to increase leads and sales. That’s not surprising. Search engine optimization has always had a better response rate than social media. But that doesn’t mean social media doesn’t have value.

Frank Reed nails it on the head when he responds:

Small town folks may be using social media but they aren’t telling all of their cool friends in some urban center how they just crossed the street and are now successfully maneuvering down another block to do that again. They live where people are trying to get on with life in a difficult economic environment. As a result they are not interested in the latest and greatest social media trends. They are interested in getting what they need at the right price from someone they trust.

For many small business owners, social media engagement takes a lot of time. But it doesn’t have to. Of course, putting time and money into building one’s website up should be the first order of business for anyone attempting Internet marketing. But social media features can be added to your website to give you a more rounded social graph and encourage your site visitors to engage with you in more ways than one. The study cited above doesn’t give any indication about whether or not the small business owners surveyed approached social media in the right way. It’s just a survey. What would the next 500 businesses say?

How Social Media Optimization Will Get More Complicated

The Web has increasingly grown more complicated since its inception and search engine optimization along with it. The next wave of search will undoubtedly be social media search and the result will end up being a more complicated social media optimization process.

Currently, it’s not so difficult but neither was SEO when it was first conceived. Now, however, talk to any Internet marketer and you are sure to get a list of do’s and don’ts that would make a bug go cross-eyed.

In the wake of Google’s and Bing’s near simultaneous and recent announcement that there is an agreement with Twitter to incorporate real-time search into both search engines’ universal search results as well as Google’s announcement that social search is just around the corner, it is likely that the next big playground of competition will be in social media optimization.

Not only will the search engines themselves be competing for marketers’ attentions, but marketers will be competing for an audience’s attention.

There is no doubt that Twitter and Facebook will be at the center of the social media optimization wars. But what other networks will be there? My guess is any network of any size at all will eventually be incorporated into any social search model at the search engines. If you have not already started charting your course for social media optimization then now is the time.

How Technorati Can Make Your SMO More Alive

Technorati recently underwent a redesign. Redesigns are nice, especially if they improve a site. And Technorati needed improvement.

What they’re going to do is start publishing original content. Which is nice because it means that bloggers and other writers can now contribute to one of the best authority sites on the web. That will do wonders for your reputation in two ways: First, you’ll get good, high quality links from a great authority site. Secondly, you’ll tap into Technorati’s traffic base and have the potential to drive lots of great traffic to your site.

That translates into real social proof.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Technorati + Twitter + Your Blog = A great reputation. Build your social proof and let Technorati help.

SMO Is More Than A Social Connection

Social media optimization, or SMO, is about more than connecting with others on a social level. Sure, that’s important, but it isn’t the whole story. What SMO is really all about is getting the attention of people you would like to do business with. Strategy is very important.

At the heart of every effective social media campaign is an honest portrayal of who you are and what you have to offer potential prospects. Remember, you are engaged in “pull” marketing, not “push” marketing. That is, you are are drawing people toward you, not pushing your product on them. Television is push, social media is pull.

Pull marketing is much more subtle that push marketing. Therefore, social media optimization is about subtlety. The idea is to capture people’s attention. How do you do that? Here are a few tips that might help you:

1. Speak their language – If you’re talking to teenagers, use colloquial lingo that they’ll understand. If speaking to professionals then try using their business talk. Be sure to speak the language of your prospects.
2. Find out what they want – Don’t just jump out and start selling people stuff. Find out what your target audience is interested in. Offer them that.
3. Show up at the right place – Nothing is as ineffective as marketing through the wrong channel. If your prospective client is more likely to be at LinkedIn then you should be there; if they are more likely to be at Facebook then you should be there.
4. Yes, SEO still works – Just because it’s social media doesn’t mean that SEO won’t work. Social sites are websites. All the same SEO rules apply. They may require a little different implementation, but SMO and SEO do go together.
5. Get your prospect’s attention – In social media you have to lay it on the table. You can’t just hint at something and expect every reader to get it. Make a big splash, but do it appropriately. You are vying against a lot of competition so make sure you attract the attention you deserve.

Social media optimization is about connecting. Do it appropriately, but connect with the right audience at the right place at the right time. That’s true SMO.

How Traffic Can Improve Your Social Media Optimization

One of the factors that Google considers when computing search rankings is traffic – quantity as well as quality. Indeed, quality is perhaps more important than quantity. Sure, a site that gets 100,000 visitors per day may be seen as better than one that gets 10,000 visits per day, but just because you get a lot of visitors doesn’t mean that those visitors value your site. It’s easy to game traffic counts.

Another aspect of traffic comparison is whether or not visitors return to your website. If you have a low percentage of visitors who are return visitors to your website then you may suffer from some quality marks that are hurting you in your rankings. But that’ s not all.

Other aspects of quality traffic include traffic source, time on site, time on page, and bounce rates. I think traffic source is important and will likely become more important and when I say traffic source I’m talking about specific websites and their authority. If you get high quality traffic from a website that is deemed authoritative in the eyes of Google then that counts in your favor. It is conceivable that 10,000 visitors per day where 80% of that traffic comes from high quality, authoritative sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter versus 100,000 low quality visitors from low quality directories and such could give you more search mojo. Remember, quality counts. And I think Google is getting as sophisticated at judging quality traffic as they are at judging quality links.

The takeaway here is to seek quality traffic from high quality, authoritative social media sites, not rinky-dink startups with no reputation.

Can SMO Substitute SEO?

Can social media optimization (SMO) be a fitting substitute for search engine optimization (SEO)? To answer this question it helps to have a working understanding of both SEO and SMO. Let’s examine:

• SEO – The purpose for SEO is to attract visitors to your website based on search engine queries such that you answer their questions simply by delivering quality content that meets their needs.
• SMO – Social media optimization is the social counterpart to SEO. It doesn’t replace it, but compliments it. SMO allows you to attract new visitors by appealing to your audience’s social needs while grabbing their attention with valid SEO techniques.

It’s important to note that the best SMO relies on sound SEO. Your social media efforts will be enhanced if you start with SEO as the basis of your website building block and use it as your foundation. Let SMO rest on the foundation, not vice versa.

Will Social Media Optimization And Search Engine Optimization Meld Into One?

John Battelle is a brilliant man. He recently wrote a two-part blog post where he challenged search engines on two fronts:

I see two paths toward that goal: one is creating applications on top of “ten blue links” which help me organize and aggregate the knowledge I process while pursuing a search query, and the second is making my searches social, so I can share the process of learning and learn from those who have shared – not unlike Vannevar Bush’s “Memex” concept.

I’m not quite sure what he has in mind on that first point. It could be anything from the ability to make notes, which Google currently allows, to saving an individual search result to be included in subsequent search queries so that ongoing topical searches can be conducted – as opposed to strict keyword searches as they are done now. I can actually see some value in that type of aggregation.

But John Battelle goes further to suggest that search engines should be more social in nature. That would put a completely different spin on the nature of search. To actually include humans – other humans not associated with the search engine – in one’s search process combined with the other elements of search as we know them today and what they could be ten years from now, that would revolutionize search in ways that have not been done as of yet. The problem is, we’re a long way from there right now. Will we ever get there?

Can search engine optimization – the practice of influencing search results using keyword placement, link building, and other tactics – and social media optimization – the practice of writing content that appeals to the denizens of social networks and designed to get them to share it with their friends – ever meld into one product? Should they? What do you think?

Social Media Optimization Tip: Headlines Make All The Difference

Optimizing for social media traffic is a bit different than optimizing for search engines. But there are similarities. When you optimize your landing page for search engines, keywords are extremely important. After all, people will find your site by those keywords. But with social media, while keywords are important, they aren’t the most important thing. Social media users look for something different.

First and foremost, they want a unique experience. Keywords are good for ensuring those social media pages achieve better rankings in the search engines, but what happens if someone finds your content in Digg or StumbleUpon and arrives there from a search engine? You still want them to go to your website and that will take a different approach than merely sprinkling your content with keywords.

Your headline is very important. It should attract attention. More than that, it must get the click. Social media users have two things to go on in deciding whether or not to read your content: The headline and the description, or summary. The headline, more than anything, will determine whether or not they read your content.

What should a headline do? Three things:

1. Arouse curiosity
2. Tell the reader what to expect from the content
3. Use your primary keyword

Understand that Nos. 1 and 2 and more important than No. 3 when it comes to social media optimization. Yes, you want your keyword there for the search engines, but human readers care about the content. It must answer their most pressing questions or make them believe that your content will answer those questions. Get them to click. That’s the goal. And if you achieve that then you’ve done your job.

How Can You Optimize Your Social Media With DOS Attacks In The Air?

You may have heard that Twitter, Facebook, and a few other social media sites were recently struck with a denial of service attack, otherwise known as DOS. And if you’re wondering what that is, it is essentially a strategic cyber attack that induces the use of multiple computers to send hits to a particular web server, or in the case of the recent DOS attack, several servers, for the purpose of overloading them to the point that no one can benefit from the services those servers provide. In other words, the server is struck with too much to handle at one time and shuts down.

Such attacks are more common today than they used to be. It may be because there are more servers to attack or because there are more people to effect. Or it could just be that there are more bad guys who are Web savvy enough to pull it off.

At any rate, for attackers to have shut down Twitter the way they did this past week, they’d have had to have had quite a few resources at their disposal. As a result of the attack, Twitter was inoperable for a day and has been slow for most of the past week. The other social media sites attacked were able to ward off the attack successfully and weren’t affected. So you might be wondering how you can benefit from social media optimization efforts if that kind of thing can happen.

Well, it’s a real concern. But don’t fear. It doesn’t mean you have to shut down your business. Be careful who you associate with online. While Twitter’s server was affected and not your personal hard drive, if you mingle with the wrong crowd you could open yourself to vulnerabilities. Download a copy of the latest spyware or malware software and keep your firewall up and running. Be selective about who you let in on your profile. It’s business, but it isn’t monkey business.

What Is Social Media Optimization?

Social media optimization is a fancy word Internet marketers use to describe the best practices of marketing a business through various social media channels. Some of those channels might include:

• Blogging
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Digg
• Delicious
• StumbleUpon
• BlogCatalog
• Twitter
• YouTube

That’s just to name a few. There are countless other social bookmarking and social networking sites out there to participate in as well.

Social media optimization involves a few principles that, if followed, will help you reach the right target audience for your message and drive traffic to your website. What are the principles? Glad you asked. These are the principles that we recommend for the best social media optimization practices:

• Create unique content
• Engage your audience through a blog
• Provide a way for your readers to bookmark or share your content
• Distribute your content through RSS, aggregation, and various channels of social media
• Participate in other people’s channel marketing initiatives as well (ie interact)
• Be genuine, not fake
• Use SEO

The idea behind social media is to be conversational. You can do that without being pushy or overbearing. You can also do it and still ask for the sale. Before you jump into a social media campaign, take time to study what social media is, who is using it, and how they are doing it.

Is Twitter Social Media For Small Business?

Twitter is the latest fad in social media, only it’s not so much a fad as it is a new development and it seems to be taking over. I think everyone knows it. John Battelle certainly does.

I think the interesting thing is that Twitter has finally offered something for small businesses. It isn’t much. But it’s something. A subdomain.

The business.twitter.com subdomain currently has an introduction book for Twitter targeted to small business owners. So instead of spending $25 on that e-book for the total stranger, start with the book offered by Twitter. It’s an html book so no download and it’s free. You can get your introduction to Twitter straight from the company.

Beyond that, however, there are some things that you do need to know about Twitter. It isn’t Facebook and it isn’t Google. It has its own little personality. It’s own game rules. They’re not hard to learn, but you don’t want to break them. After reading the introduction offered by Twitter, find out about the ground rules from a consultant who knows Twitter and social media just like they know small business.

Search Engine Optimization Tip: Section Targeting For Enhanced SEO

One SEO technique that very few webmasters employ that more could probably use to great effect is section targeting. Section targeting tells the search engine that a particular piece of text on the page is more important than the rest. You can use section targeting to draw the search engine’s attention to that text for SEO purposes. This is particularly helpful if you are running an AdSense site.

There are two ways to go about section targeting:

1. Highlighting the positive
2. Downplaying the unimportant

Remember, the idea is to tell Google which part of the page to focus on for keywords so that the search engine can more easily match your keywords with your content. If you’re really savvy, you can use both types of section targeting code to ensure this happens.

Highlighting The Positive

Let’s say you have a particular part of your page that uses your primary keyword more than other parts of the page. You want your ads to match that part of the page’s content. Use this code to tell Googlebot that this piece of text is important and that it should use it to match AdSense ads with the text:

<!– google_ad_section_start –>

<!– google_ad_section_end –>

Between those tags you can put a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire section. I would be cautious to include too much or too little, however. Google’s guidelines say to include a “significant amount” between those tags. Probably, for most sites, a two or three paragraphs is plenty.

Downplaying The Unimportant

If you want Google to ignore a particular section of your page so that it doesn’t match ads with content that isn’t optimized for your keywords or that is less weighty than other parts of the page then you can use this code:

<!– google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) –>

<!– google_ad_section_end –>

Not a lot of difference, huh? But that difference is significant in what it tells the Googlebot to do.

Try section targeting for better optimization and higher AdSense earnings.

Managing A Blog For Your Business – More Than SEO

It’s no secret that bloggers contribute a lot to the opinions on the Internet today, as well as the efficiency of a lot of SEO campaigns. Old strategies are dying out because of the social media network, and bloggers are a large part of this (not so recently) new network. There are a lot of ways to promote your business through a blog, the first step of which is to start a blog!

This blog should offer something useful, neat, or just plain fun – whatever the case, you can’t expect to attract readers with bad content, so here are the first steps of a great blog:

1. Choose a good theme that is relavant to the business and optimize the blog with related keywords. This means content rich, organized, and easy on the eyes. Whether you’ve shelled out for a self hosted blog or your blog is hosted on a blogging site, there are plenty of free themes for Wordpress blogs out there. We generally recommend Wordpress because it is more professional and better for SEO purposes. Choose your URL based on the company name. You may have to get creative if there are other businesses out there with similar or same names.
2. Generate valuable content. The content should be consistant (posting at least once or twice a week), and contain useful information, interesting news, fun facts, or neat pictures. Whatever theme you’ve gone with, maintain it! If you decide to change things up in the future, do so gradually. Organize the blog with an “about us” page, a way to contact the administer of the blog, and utilize the perma-link option, so your post URL’s can be read in plain English and associated with the content on the blog (as well as potential search queries that can lead to the blog).
3. Don’t ignore old posts. A lot of bloggers have the tendancy to post and be done with it. The problem there is that after awhile, this content is virtually useless to search engines. A lot of things are taken into consideration when an engine decides to show an interior page as a result, but recency is part of it. If the post hasn’t been touched in 6 months, it might as well not be there. One way to keep things active is to re-visit old posts and see if there’s some piece of information that needs to be added, or something that might need to be changed if something about the company has also changed. Just be sure to inform readers of changes made to avoid confusion about the posts. A strikethrough on over omitted sentences is common, and a notice of something added is also typical in posts that have been edited.
4. Encourage Discussion. Once the blog begins to get a readership, post about topics that motivate visitors to state their opinions. The key is to hit a topic that many people have a voice on, but not to be extreme in a “company” opinion on the matter. You can take a bit of a risk posting an extreme opinion on any matter, and feul a comment-hosted-argument, which doesn’t make any blog look that great. The advantage to the administer of the blog is the ability to delete inappropriate content posted as comments (or to not approve them at all if comments first require approval), but readers can catch on to this and feel like you’re only doing so to protect your reputation, and not have a legitimate discussion about the topic.

Beyond regular posting and blog maintenance there is a world of SEO that can be done for a blog, but these basic beginning steps are necessary for a search engine optimization effort to be effective for the blog. For more information about social media and search engine optimization, feel free to get in touch with Reciprocal Consulting, an Internet marketing firm that can help.

The Social Media Rundown: Where To Start And Where To Go

There’s no doubt, the Social Media is alive and well. Everyone from the independent musician to the corporate giants utilize the Social Media to accomplish otherwise difficult or impossible marketing strategies, and it looks like this aspect of the Internet marketing world is here to stay, at least for awhile.

When engaging in a campaign that targets and utilizes the Social Media, it is important not to jump the gun. As quickly as a brand or name can be rocketed to the top, it can be crushed before it ever gets a foot out the door. For this reason, preparation can be the difference between success and defeat. In the same regard, it’s not just about what you do or how you do it, but what order you decide to accomplish each leg of the journey to Social Media Marketing success. Here are some tips:

• Cover Your Bases- A lot of people have the tendency to jump into every Social Media site they can find and try to make friends, send messages, join groups, etc. The problem with this approach is that the best impression should be your first impression. If you plan to have any lasting standing with the people you encounter on these sites, you need to have something to offer. Depending on your niche, it may be handy advice, a free download, or maybe even a how-to guide. It really comes down to the people who would be interested in you or your business, and what they can get from the connection. Take the time to set up your own site, populate it with rich, valueable content, and make sure your best foot is forward. You wouldn’t show to a wedding wearing half of your tux or dress – don’t show up to the Social Media party unprepared!
• Choose your Friends Wisely – There are a lot of tools available online that one can utilize to track what people are saying about them. Sites like Twitter are a lot easier to track, when they’re all about the talk, but you will never know what is being said before it is said, posted and set in “stone”. Blogs are a large part of the Social media, and everyone has one these days. If you upset the wrong person, they can ruin you, easily. After that, you may have a world of Reputation Management in front of you, but it’s better not to let it get to that point. Be courteous on the sites you join, and be responsive to those who are interested in what you do or have to offer. It’s important to filter out users that it wont benefit you to interact with, and it’s equally important to keep up the communication with those that will.
• You Have To Earn Trust- Every business starts somewhere, and generally, an up-and-coming business, large or small, earns their reputation and much of their clientele from word of mouth, but more specifically, from providing good service and/or products. Likewise, your “image” on the web will have a lot to do with you. If you want your name to be recognized and associated with good opinions, interact in kind. In time, users will stumble on your name and know it because their friend told them about you, or because they saw it on another site. Whatever the case, the best way to brand is by doing what you do, not necessarily better than anyone else, just better than most people would expect. This leaves quite the impression and can make a Social Media effort much easier. SMO is not meant to replace all other forms of advertising, branding and customer relations – it is simply a catalyst for more leads, exposure and ultimately, sales.
• Put In The Time- It may be a no brain-er, but what you get out of your Social Media campaign is what goes in, and time is no exception. For many, time is a luxury, one which that many cannot afford to dedicate enough of to a self-propelled SMO campaign. For a lot of businesses, hiring an Internet Marketing Firm is the way to go, since not only will this save the business the time that goes into it, but these are trained professionals that have experience and knowledge to get the job done right.

Next Page »

• Topics

  • Competitive Intelligence
  • Internet Marketing
  • Pay Per Click
  • Reciprocal News
  • Reputation Management
  • Search Engine Marketing
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Social Media Optimization
  • Uncategorized
  • Viral Marketing
  • Web Design

• Archives

  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008

• Links

  Chris's Blog
  Follow Us on Twitter
  Reciprocal Consulting
  Sphinn
  WebmasterWorld.com
  

• 888-220-7361
  Free Internet Marketing Analysis - Call Or Submit Form

  Email:

  Phone Number:

  Name:

  Your URL:

  Enter Your Comments:

• Enter your email address:

  Delivered by FeedBurner

• Recent Posts

  • Can Your Website’s History Be Bad For Your Reputation?
  • Why Analytics And PPC Go Hand In Hand
  • Internet Marketing In Silo
  • When Should You Conduct Competitive Intelligence?
  • Why Web Design Is Important