The On-Going Conversation

LinkedIn Wants Users to Visit Daily

LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Today, a social news tool for business users that encourages perpetual use, similar to Facebook and Twitter.

From a consistent use standpoint, LinkedIn has a hard time competing with Facebook and Twitter. Users seem to view LinkedIn as a professional portal that doesn't require continual monitoring. Facebook and Twitter on the other hand seem to have a connected mantra that requires daily attention, and users feel out of touch if they aren't constantly engaged and interconnected.

Obviously this isn't the case, but users feel a subconscious isolation if they aren't checking their digital lives on a daily basis. Most people view LinkedIn as an environment for career networking, which doesn't consist of frequent changes and status updates. Users even have their Twitter updates linked via an external platform that appears on the LinkedIn feed, which is included on the landing page.

As a result, LinkedIn is trying to capture a degree of success with this approach to social media. They want to encourage uses to visit on a daily basis, by providing more value and the ability to directly search news online. To a certain extent, they want to be a one-stop shop for online content absorption. This may be quite challenging, although it is a great place to commence in a difficult social space.

Read the full article via Fast Company

The Era of Tablets: Microsoft Strives to Compete with Apple and Google

Microsoft will strive to release a tablet-oriented version of Windows by 2012 to compete with Apple's iOS and Google's Honeycomb.

Read the full article via Mashable

Adobe and Apple : Tech Friends Again

Adobe has apparently resolved the apprehension with Apple over Flash and lends support to the iPad in a series of new advertisements.

Read the full article via Mashable

Blackberries: Not Just a Fruit Anymore

RIM Update: Research in Motion plans to launch a cloud-based capability for its popular BlackBerry Enterprise Server by the end of 2011.

The Health of Wikileaks: Twitter Style

The U.S. Department of Justice served Twitter with a subpoena seeking data about the accounts of Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange.

The Overwhelming Benefits of Social Media

As cliché as it sounds, you never know until you try.

This day in age it has become increasingly important for businesses to harness social media. You don't necessarily need a perpetual approach either, but at least give it a try and see where the outreach takes you. It is also relatively effortless and economically feasible as well; it only requires time and dedication. Not to mention, the benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the time and energy that organizations must be prepared to devote towards the social ecosystem.

The social media environment is constantly evolving and changing as well. As this occurs, social media continues to become increasingly connected to business and the way in which it is conducted. Despite the juxtaposition of social media and social businesses, the phenomenon remains relatively new and wasn’t even part of the picture ten years ago. As a result, it can be challenging to decipher what is to come and where the world of social media is headed.

Regardless of the direction that social media may travel, I am intrigued by the possibility of what’s to come and where the trends will ultimately lead. However, even with excitement there comes a degree of obfuscation. One can never truly predict the course of time, and we will have to wait to see where the process goes next. Personally, I think that location-based networking services will continue to expand and increase the overall level of personal transparency. For example, Foursquare would be classified as a geographical social media network.

Moreover, if companies neglect to commence a social media strategy, they may be failing to connect with a niche portion of the population. This niche segment could potentially become customers, which may even help cultivate more customers, merely through word-of-mouth marketing. All-in-all, I believe the benefits of social media are hard to decipher and classify. However, I wanted to showcase an assortment of ways that social networking can benefit companies of all sizes. Who knows, maybe you will experience the benefits first hand and create a tangible way of classifying your own social advantages.

The Three Benefits of Reaching Out -- Socially and Strategically

1. Transparency -- Companies now have the ability to be more open than ever and connect with customers in mere seconds. It can also function in a reverse manner, with individuals being able to communicate with companies online, aside from the barriers of an organizational hierarchy. For the most part, prospective customers want to feel as though companies have the utmost credibility and conduct business in an honest fashion. With this in mind, social media can be an avenue to accomplish this, by opening the gates of communication to any individual that would like to correspond directly with the company.

2. Awareness -- Businesses can build an online identity, which hopefully generates more involvement from ordinary individuals. Social media can also be a primary avenue for news on events, contests and information that correlates the organizational mentality and overall mantra. This will allow companies to control the message and the fashion in which they convey themselves. Ideally companies want to present themselves in a professional manner, plus social media can help document the tech savvy nature of an organization, by showcasing their ability to utilize online avenues of expression.

3. Special deals and contests -- Ann Taylor for example is using Foursquare in a recent effort to harness social media platforms. Their campaign specifically allows individuals that are mayors at specific locations in New York City, to receive 25% off of their total purchase. Depending on the successful of their campaign, they may even attempt to expand the approach to all stores nationwide. Not to mention, there are specific social media programs that will allow to trigger messages at specific times. By having the option to schedule a message, businesses can determine when they would like prospective customers to be made aware of certain information. This means that social media in a sense, is more tactical than ever.

Business can also establish credibility, integrity and a degree of trustworthiness, merely by interacting with a niche portion of the population on-line. Obviously it needs to be in a positive and helpful manner, which will help yield the results that companies are striving for. Nonetheless, a companies’ approach is generally dependent on their particular organizational mantra and overall goal structure.

All-in-all, businesses should consider commencing a social media strategy, if of course they haven’t already. The strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be perfected from the onslaught either. Through time and social participation, businesses can literally generate a social prescription for the company, which speaks from experience and contains a frame of reference for comparison.

This prescription will hopefully become a remedy for the company and involve a transformation, once businesses have an understanding of the landscape they are working with. Just remember, there isn’t necessarily an incorrect way to conduct social marketing – just give it a try and see what happens. There are no rules to abide by and the conditions are still relatively new.

Image Credit: Social Media Marketing -- Enough is Enough by: Jennifer Mattern - July 2009

A Brief History of Social Media and the Digital Landscape

First it was MySpace. They dominated for years and eventually became isolated from assorted social environments that are more prevalent now. Not to mention, everyone who harnessed MySpace remembers having Tom as a friend.

Eventually the trend arguably withered and gave way to new applications such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Facebook, just to name a few. These environments have seemingly remained relevant, despite the monopoly of social media sites that have recently gained traction.

To some extent, I would even classify YouTube as a social media networking website. The reason – YouTube’s users have the ability to provide feedback and share video resources with anyone scattered throughout the world. Isn’t that basically the premise of social media, to bring people together regardless of location, through digital channels of exchange? They may be networking with different ideas, overall information and content, but on the surface, they are still expressing themselves through visualization and video communication.

Moreover, we have all experienced the joy of YouTube. A friend recommends a video that catches his or her attention and eventually you return the favor to one of your close associates. This could be classified as social networking as far as I am concerned, because there are videos that intermittently trend and experience a large influx of traffic, based on their accessibility.

This accessibility directly correlate to friends recommending videos, and even those that are featured on the landing page. Individuals could also post specific videos via their social networking platforms, which could also influence people into viewing videos on-line. Regardless of the street that directs them to the actual video—it to some extent was facilitated by social media and the influence of other individuals through social means.

Nonetheless, as the road continues to be paved, time will tell what new applications appear and which ones will fail to sustain relevance. I would have to assume they are all vulnerable, considering new social networking programs could rapidly appear as technology continues to expand. This expansion in a sense cannot be predicted and foreshadowed; it eventually takes its course, with the ever-dynamic environment that we classify as the social media landscape.

In addition, social media continues to pave the road of social innovation. It has become nearly impossible to avoid utilizing social media networks. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious, Foursquare or Orkut, it really doesn’t matter. There are so many different options to choose from, that we are all bound to discover one that we align with.

Companies have even extended special offers for individuals that use social platforms. For example, Mashable recently reported that Ann Taylor offers individuals that are mayors on Foursquare a 25% discount in New York City. They even plan to expand the offer to other stories, depending on the successfulness of the campaign in the New York City locations.

If you are unfamiliar with Foursquare, it is a social networking option that allows you to check-in at various destinations throughout the day. Depending on the number of times that you have checked-in, you are awarded different titles. Users are also granted the capacity to recommend different locations in your hometown, which provides personal advice for your prospective, to varying web friends throughout the world.

Not to mention, people can update their social accounts at their convenience, regardless of their location. For the most part, the convenience factor is facilitated by mobile smart phones, which have hypothetically transformed the way that we function.

All-in-all, the changes have enabled people to update their information wherever, whenever and however. It also helps provide a quality user-experience, and eliminates the hurdles of staying in contact with those individuals, which are important to you and require constant contact.

At some point, I also believe we will all be expected to be fluent in social media and basically unable to stay truly connected without it. This naturally leads one to question—if social media is beneficial to those involved with it, or if it will create more of a divide amongst individuals, who don’t have access to the Internet on a daily basis.

What do you think will happen in the world of social media and technology? Would you classify social media as beneficial or detrimental to society as a whole? Consider the questions and share your thoughts with your social friends—start the digital conversation.

Image and Art Credit: Ashley Cecil — the Painting Activist –Ashley Cecil’s Website

Will Advancing Technology Destroy Interpersonal Communication?

I remember a more simple and un-embellished time, even unpretentious as far as I am concerned. A time when people weren’t constantly updating their Twitter accounts, communicating with their friends via Facebook, staring at a small screen with intrigue and arguably isolating themselves from the tangible world.

Personally, I cannot judge because I constantly fall into this trap and even find myself updating various social platforms simultaneously. Even though I continually use social media, I can still see the potential for digitalization to destroy the nature of interpersonal communication.

With individuals constantly expressing themselves through digital channels, will they even be able to connect with people on a personal level, aside from the barriers of digital concealment?

Furthermore, with more and more people utilizing innovative technology, we will eventually see the destruction of personal communication skills? What do you think? Have you ever considered this possibility?

I am not sure if this question has ever come into your own mind, but I thought it was a valid one to consider.

Anyways, this day and age it is hard to go anywhere without seeing evidence of digitalization. We cannot seem to escape the social and technological revolution, even if we try. Whether it’s an I-Pod, I-Phone, I-Pad, Blackberry or opposing personal hand-held device — people just cannot seem to function without a constant connection to the multi-media world.

Moreover, individuals have the ability to stay in contact with people like never before. At the same time, we continue to ride the wave towards increased technology and maximized innovation. Time will only tell what will happen and where the road of technology will ultimately head.

I am by no means questioning the advancement of technology; I am merely pondering the end result of this new obsession. Will there be a down side or will it remain optimistic?

Can we continue down the road and maintain the yielding of benefits for society? Or will the reality of communication amongst individuals be eventually tarnished?

Please join the on-going conversation and let me know what you think.

The Importance of a Social Media Strategy

Social media continues to become increasingly connected to business and the way in which it is conducted. Despite the juxtaposition of social media and social businesses, the phenomenon remains relatively new and wasn’t even part of the picture ten years ago. As a result, it can be challenging to decipher what is to come and where the world of social media is headed.   

Regardless of the implications, I am intrigued by the possibility of what’s to come and where the trends will ultimately lead. However, even with excitement there comes a degree of obfuscation. One can never truly predict the course of time and we will have to wait to see where the developments in digital technology occur.

Nonetheless, social media has already brought about innovation and has even changed over time to become more user-friendly. Individuals now have the convenience of updating one aggregate site, which will post a message on a collection of different social environments.

Who would have thought this could become a reality in the digital world, especially considering the social media advent is to some extent, still in its youth? Even though it may seem unexpected, the ability to cross-post is evident and I don’t believe it’s going anywhere in the near future; at least as far as I am concerned.

For example, I facilitate posts with HootSuite and Ping.Fm, which allows me to maximize efficiency, by taking less than five seconds to express my ideas on approximately fifteen social websites, simultaneously. In my case, the updates generally include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Digg, GoogleBuzz, Delicious, Friendster and LinkedIn, just to name a few.

 Social media has also continued to become more interconnected. This means that most platforms have the option of syncing with other sites. I even have the option of connecting my blogs to HootSuite as well, which can create a haven for news aggregation, information and continual communication.  

Moreover, social media junkies can continue to update their status and post a message on as many networks as they would like. This can even be more beneficial for businesses; they can have one individual responsible for social marketing and allow that individual to do it with utmost convenience and efficiency.

HootSuite even allows you to schedule messages periodically. This means that businesses can determine a network strategy and post messages automatically, regardless of the time of the day. With this in mind, organizations can specifically target messages to individuals that are time-sensitive and relevant to the business itself.

The reason this is so important, is because social media doesn’t necessarily influence sales or participation; it is more of a vehicle to increase recognition, awareness, web-influence and potentially SEO (search engine optimization).

Business can also establish credibility, integrity and a degree of trustworthiness, merely by interacting with a niche portion of the population on-line. Obviously, it needs to be in a positive and helpful manner, to yield the results that companies are striving for. Nonetheless, a companies’ approach is generally dependant on their particular organizational mantra and overall goal structure.

All-in-all, businesses should consider commencing a social media strategy, if of course they haven’t already. The strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be perfected from the onslaught either. Through time and social participation, businesses can literally generate a social prescription for the company, which speaks from experience and contains a frame of reference for comparison.

Basically, this prescription will become a remedy for the company and involve a transformation, once businesses have an understanding of the landscape they are working with. Just remember, there isn’t necessarily an incorrect way to conduct social marketing – just give it a try and see what happens. There are no rules to abide by and the conditions are still relatively new.

 

Twitter : @RJSchoenefeld

Contributing Blogger on Social Email Marketing

Linked-In : http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanschoenefeld

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Social Marketing Forum : http://www.socialmarketingforum.net/profile/RyanSchoenefeld

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The Nature of Social Media Measurement

Unless you have the budgets to use the best web analytics, social media management and social media measurement apps in town and, even better, to couple them with CRM, marketing automation, email marketing etc., it’s often less obvious to find the best way to combine and integrate solutions that enable you to couple online analytics with social media metrics and analytics. And I’m not even talking about customer data. Of course there are several ways to include specific social media metrics within a “free” platform such as Google Analytics. And, yes, there are some free or, at least affordable, social media management solutions that enable you to combine the typical engagement, interaction and other features they offer with Google Analytics. But there is no “ideal” combination. The reason is simple: it depends from what you want to achieve. Take this blog for instance. Our aim is to inform, share and engage, it is not a corporate or “branded” blog that ultimately wants to generate leads. If, however, you are a business and want to combine the data about the interactions people have with your blog and web site, data from other digital channels such as email, social media monitoring and social engagement metrics (starting from simple things such as the number of times a post is tweeted, bookmarked or “liked” and how much clicks these tweets etc. generated), you’re in for a quest. Again, if you don’t have the budgets. Or in other words: when the investment in decent solutions, can hardly result in a positive ROI for your activities, even in the long run. I recently started looking at all possibilities that exist and solutions that don’t exist yet but are in private beta. It is a diverse landscape and integration is not obvious. On top of that, many vendors have their own methodologies to track and calculate engagement and integration with web analytics is often missing. As a simple blogger a lot also depends from the blogging platform you use. What will Google and the social networks do? Undoubtedly the market will evolve. What will Google Analytics do for instance? And, obviously, what will the social networks themselves do? We know what Facebook has been doing and since end of last week we also know a little about what Twitter might be up to. The company has acquired Trendly, a cloud hosted web analytics application from Smallthought Systems. With the acquired technology and team, Twitter wants to provide data and enable businesses to filter the Twitter signals that matter to them from the endless stream of tweets, noise and clutter. Good news: it seems that integration with Google Analytics is foreseen. Trendly: not for you and me (yet?) However, it doesn’t look as if you, me and small businesses will be able to use it to have a better and more integrated view on all online channels. Because for now, the acquisition should be seen in the perspective of Twitter’s promoted tweets advertising solution and will thus benefit the advertisers and media planning people. It seems that the promoted tweets ad solution receives positive feedback from both advertisers and Twitter users. But it also looks as if all the others will have to keep testing and using other ways to have a better analytical view on Twitter in the overall online picture. For all those that try to find an optimal solution for small budgets, like us: let us know what your findings are. We will gladly share ours once we have finished our exploration. Source: Social Email Marketing