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Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

Another Social Media List for 2009

30

December

2009

Yet another social media review for 2009. Some of the year’s best social networking posts.

Andrew Bates
Client Services Manager

With the holidays and year’s end we are inundated with “best of” and “top 10” lists of everything from The Top 10 Most Important Tweets of 2009 to Time’s The Top 10 Everything of 2009. To keep you from having to read all of the social media reviews for this passing year, I’ve taken it upon myself to do so for all of us. Here are some of the better collections I’ve seen recently:

Open Web Awards Winners List 2009 – This is Mashable.com’s 50 winners of their 3rd annual Open Web Awards: Social Media Edition. Here you can find some great follows and resources with a brilliant mention and win for one of my favorites – “Best Social Media Maven to Follow: @BuzzEdition.”

Ten PR People to Follow on Twitter – From socialmediatoday.com, this directory has a few that I already follow and gave me insight on some I had not heard of yet. I’ll be watching what these people have to say about online marketing and social networking in 2010.

10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs – so nice, I mention @mashable twice. This list is from October, but has some excellent resources for social media professionals. This post includes great points as well as some good tips on how to get the most out of Linkedin.

Top 10 moments in social media in 2009 – In this LA Times article from yesterday, Mark Milian (@markmilian) mentions the overwhelming change in tradition marketing brought about with the rise of social networking. He also touches on the obvious stories like TMZ breaking the Michael Jackson death via twitter while not ignoring the political issues like the Iran protests.

Top 5 Social Media Articles from 2009 – another fresh post, but from one of the best new blogs of 2009. This article is a collection of some very interesting posts filled with wisdom and valuable statistics (mmmm stats….). socialmediaexaminer.com is one to subscribe to and read consistently.

What will 2010 bring for social media? Well luckily there are plenty “best of” and “top 10” lists for this as well, but I won’t get into predictions now. Instead I wish everyone a happy new year whether you made it onto someone’s ’09 list or not.

Cheers,

@AndrewBates

Tags: Andrew Bates, best of, buzzedition, latimes, mashable, Social Media, Social Networking, socialmediaexaminer, top 10
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Online Marketing Trends to Lookout for in 2010

29

December

2009

Digital marketing trends and subsequent marketer’s tactics are constantly evolving, and in such a fluid space about the only thing that we can expect is that the high ROI strategies of today are not going to deliver forever.

Keith Vera
Client Services Manager

As we close out the year here at EyeTraffic Media, every one of us has felt the need to take the time to reflect on 2009, and look ahead to identify key upcoming online marketing trends that we can expect to see over the course of next year. Digital marketing trends and subsequent marketer’s tactics are constantly evolving, and in such a fluid space about the only thing that we can expect is that the high ROI strategies of today are not going to deliver forever. Outlined below are a few thoughts on what we think you can expect to see evolving throughout 2010, and things that marketers should be planning for to maximize their upcoming strategy.

- Complete Digital Footprint: 2009 was the year that establishing social profiles became an integral part of many company marketing mixes, and it’s not difficult to see why. Gone are the days where simply having a website, an online face to your company, is a sufficient web presence. 2010 is the year where many companies will find their online voice. Social profiles allow companies to interact with potential clients and customers directly, and expand communication beyond a one-way blog or newsletter to include community building around a brand, and forums open for discussion. Developing your holistic online footprint is just the beginning of making the most out of the social space however, which leads us to…

- Real-time Communication: Real-time updates are available across every major social profile and is, of course, the basis of Twitter. As the world of real-time online status updates and news feeds develop across social platforms and SEARCH ENGINES, target audiences will expect the same value and convenience of real-time communication from marketers that they get in their everyday lives from friends, family and colleagues. Of course where marketers reach their audience in 2010 is something else entirely, bringing us to…

- Mobile Marketing: Mobile marketing growth has accelerated over the past year; with the introduction of new smart devices more people are accessing the web via their phone than ever before. Social communication has gone mobile, as has significant percentages of search, and the mobile application market has exploded. Expect to see an increased focus and spend in the mobile arena in 2010 as companies focus on reaching consumers directly on their smart device through status alerts, sales updates, product or coupon information, and location-based information.

These are just a few trends we at EyeTraffic expect to see in the upcoming year. Do you have any that you would like to add to this list? Post your comments below.

Tags: digital marketing strategy, Online marketing trends, real-time communication, social marketing, Social Media
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Why the D.C. Area is a “Buzz” with Social Media

27

October

2009

Ever wonder why the Washington DC area is so ripe with social media? It’s because many of the experts are here

Andrew Bates
Client Services Manager

I have been recently asked why the nation’s capitol is so active with and in social media networking. Some believe the government and its newest administration play a big part. Others assume it’s because of the abundance of not for profits, associations, and organizations. And more still argue it is from all the activity generated by the local tech industry.

Not to discount the above reasons, but I say that those are just favorable conditions that help press the urgency. For me, what makes DC so rich with social media has more to do with the people evangelizing within our local community. To highlight this people first concept, I’d like to send a digital shout out to those that make this town a favorable place for social networking.

In no particular order, here of some of DC’s social pioneers that continue to push emerging technology and techniques:

Geoff Livingston – @GeoffLiving / geofflivingston.com – Geoff was one of the first people to articulate the ties between PR, Marketing, and social communications. Most social “gurus” are just copies of Geoff

Jill Foster - @JillFoster / womengrowbusiness.com – Jill is an avid blogger and co-founder of DC Media Makers. She does an amazing job of taking an online conversation offline and is great at making those valuable connections

Shashi Bellamkonda – @ShashiB / shashi.name – no one articulates the return on participation value of social like Shashi. Do businesses and associations use and measure social? Shashi has the example you are looking for

Frank Gruber – @FrankGruber / somewhatfrank.com – AOL product innovator, social media evangelist, and co-founder of @TECHcocktail, @shinyheart & @thankfulfor. Frank has more experience with practical applications of social for businesses and organizations then most. What’s on the cutting edge? Ask Frank.

Peter Corbett – @Corbett3000 /istrategylabs.com – Peter has real experience developing outreach and measureable programs for an impressive client list. He helps a group merge marketing with social in efficient and very successful ways.

Nick O’Neill – @AllNick / socialtimes.com – While people were still trying to figure out how to put social in a box with a label, Nick was already talking about the value of communicating in these environments. Nick always knows about the latest tech and can tell you if it has impact or not

Mayra Ruiz - @MarketingMisfit / mayraruiz.com – Marya brings communication out of community. Have a group or organization looking to understand their audience online? Let Mayra tell you what your community wants from your outreach

… and many others. Too many others to make one blog post. The fact is the DC area is filled with some of the best minds in social media today. The best part is there are so many events where you can engage and learn from these talented resources. Have a social “guru” in the area I didn’t mention? Send me your must have list.

Abates@EyeTraffic.com

@EyeTraffic / @AndrewBates

Tags: Frank Gruber, Geoff Livingston, Jill Foster, Mayra Ruiz, Nick O?Neill, Peter Corbett, Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media
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Survival of the Fittest?

22

October

2009

In times of economic crisis, being flexible and adapting to changing environments and customer expectations is the key to survival.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

Throughout this difficult market, we have been ever more vigilant to the changing needs of our clients and understanding shifts within the marketplace as a whole. In doing so, it has remained very important to recognize new consumer expectations, as they are the audiences in which our clients serve. By understanding their constomers, we are better equipped to recommend strategies and consult on the best ways to reach them. MarketingProfs has presented several considerations worth noting, especially for consultants looking to better identify with clients who are eagerly seeking the attention of their target audiences.

1.) Transparency over spectacle

Due to the ease in which information is accessed, consumers are privy to a range of content about an organizations they support. In turn, your reputation is ever more at risk as your audience can find the conversation about you. So, focus on trust and gain it through transparency.

2.) Dialogue over monologue

Broadcasting a message that elicits no response is a failed strategy and a way of the past. Engage your customers by asking questions and focus on tactics that are pull strategies, not push.

3.) “Fans” not customers

Treat customers as fans. Give them a reason to share their experience with friends and advocate your brand.

4.) Cultural value and immediate gratification

Organizations with cultural values similar to those of their fan base are bound to gain support. But, the value that the fans seek is desired immediately and at a reasonable price. So, identify both a sustaining cultural and economic value that can rival that of the competition.

5.) New opportunities

When income decreases, consumers will be more financially conscious. By the same token, marketers also have increasingly tight budgets and should explore powerful but affordable mediums to communicate. Those that succeed will not only offer a product or service, but instead offer a solution to the consumer in our times of crisis.

Tags: consumer expectations, Online Marketing, Social Media
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What is Google Caffeine and how does it impact SEO & Social Media?

15

September

2009

Google’s next gen search engine Caffeine became availabe in Aug 2009

Andrew Bates

Client Services Manager

In Aug ’09 Google unveiled its next generation search engine called Caffeine. Likely in direct response to Microsoft’s Bing search platform, Google Caffeine is focused on faster, more relevant search that takes into account social and viral media sites. With improved “temporal relevance,” Caffeine is said to have better results than the old Google when returning breaking information.

SEO and social media thought leaders have been putting the new Google through its paces at the publicly available Google Caffeine test sandbox. For comparison, initial tests focus on: Speed, Accuracy, Temporal Relevance, and Index Size.

What are the differences between Google Caffeine, old school Google, and competitors like Bing?

Well the speed is definitely noticable. Search comparisons show that Caffeine is easily two times faster than the old Google.

Old Google search for “Dog” yields results in .25 seconds:

Google Caffeine search for “Dog” yields results in .12 seconds:

What about the accuracy? Although all blended search options do not seem to be live in the new Google, there does seem to be an increase focus on keywords. Time will tell, but so far Google Caffeine is incredibly accurate.

How is Caffeine on Temporal Relevance and finding breaking news? The jury is still out. Google Caffeine frequently returns the exact same results as the previous Google or Bing.

Where is the most noticeable improvement next to the speed? The new Google Caffeine index appears to be many times larger than that of the original Google, but Bing still seems to return the greatest number of indexed results on a consistent basis.

Mashable’s SEO expert Ben Parr gives a great overview in his recent post “Google Caffeine: A Detailed Test of the New Google” with some excellent examples of searches he performed in all 3 environments.

So how will Google’s Caffeine search platform influence SEO and social media?

First Google Caffeine impressions:

- It is fast, with a deeper index

- There is an increased focus or weight on keywords

- There may be an increased weighting on domain authority & some authoritative tag type pages ranking (like Technorati tag pages + Facebook tag pages) with potentially slightly more weight on exact match domain names

- Caffeine likely has an improved comprehension of related words and synonyms

- Google’s new search may have increased the relevance associated with video and image results while decreasing the volume of multi-media returnWhat do you think? Try Google Caffeine against your favorite search site at Google Caffeine test sandbox and let me know what results you see.

- @AndrewBates

Tags: Andrew Bates, bing, caffeine, caffeine search engine, google caffeine, new google, Search Engine, search site, seo, Social Media
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How does Social Media benefit SEO?

28

August

2009

Social Media sites and links have strong SEO and organic rank value

Andrew Bates

Client Services Manager

Over the last couple years of both pitching and listening to pitches about corporate social media, I’m often surprised by how organizations focus on the “buzz” or brand benefits around social media without noting the obvious technical benefits for that organization’s search engine optimization.

We know that keyword phrases, site architecture, relevant content, and links make up for much of a website’s rankings (http://www.sherpastore.com/Benchmarks-Metrics.html and 1000s of other sources). Out of traditional SEO, we see that both on-page elements of a website like keywords and content factor as well as off-page elements like inbound links. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing value inbound links from other websites as “votes of confidence” for the website they are linking too (http://www.seocrunch.com/factors-in-seo-link-value/). Time and consistent results have shown that inbound links make up a majority of a site’s page rank value, and that each type of inbound link has different merit or weight for the referenced site:

Overall Ranking Algorithm

24% Trust/Authority of the Host Domain
22% Link Popularity of the Specific Page
20% Anchor Text of External Links
15% On-Page Keyword Usage
7% Traffic and Click-Through Data
6% Social Graph Metrics
5% Registration and Hosting Data

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors/

So what is the bulk of social media engineering? (besides the important, high-level concepts like awareness, community, resources, reputation management and the rest…) Well? Social ends up being a lot of properly research keyword phrases imbedded in optimized content on open, crawlable sites with tons and tons of contextual, relevant links from powerful domains. Social media is an ever increasingly important component of holistic, natural search. One of the best things an organization, association, group, or business can do to improve their web presence is to introduce a social media strategy that keeps SEO in mind during the strategy, execution, and analysis phases.

Search engines and search sites today are putting ever increasing value on authoritative social and multi-media based sites. Links from video sites like youtube.com and posts on sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, or Delicious are beginning to become incredibly important for any organization competing for their own space on the web (http://www.bestrank.com/blog/how-social-media-can-help-improve-organic-search-rankings/).

So remember when you are articulating your new social outreach program to your client or internal management team, you can remind those decision makers that your social and new media strategy will help measure and monitor the brand, it will help you communicate, understand and grow your audience base, AND… when executive properly it will improve and solidify the SEO value of that website.

Tags: Andrew Bates, inbound links, linking, search engine optimization, seo, Social Media, social media for businesses
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Social Media in a B2B World

12

August

2009

Social media has become increasingly important in the B2B space, and lately is beginning to be recognized as a significant lead source.

Keith Vera

Account Manager

Social media has become increasingly important in the B2B space, and lately is beginning to be recognized as a significant lead source. All social media is centered on mutual affiliations or interests, providing large pockets of online communities that B2B companies should be leveraging for lead generation and branding efforts. Of course to capture interest in these communities, a company need to become an active participant that provides a lasting value through the different social channels. Below, we’ll take a quick look at how providing fresh content and ideas allows B2B companies to become more visible and valued to target audiences in the top social media channels.

Blogging: Blogging should be centered on industry specific topics, and need to be published regularly to help build and grow an audience base. Blogging can lead to solid lead generation as a loyal readership and “community” builds. Blogs should be used as a platform for company and industry updates, and stimulating thought leadership in any industry.
Facebook: Facebook has become an increasingly resourceful messaging platform for B2B companies. Creating company and product fan pages allows for tremendous visibility and also allows a company to communicate directly with its fans and evangelists. New information shared on these fan pages is also automatically streamed to fan’s Facebook news updates, helping to create a constant connection between a company and its community.
Linked In: LinkedIn should be utilized to close the social loop in a B2B professionals community, particularly as it is a business-focused network. Take advantage of LinkedIn group announcements and company status updates to automatically promote company messaging across linked industry groups and professional connections.
Twitter: Twitter is a great platform for pushing company messaging, news and events out to a collective audience. There is a lot of visibility to be gained by simply getting the word out about your company or products and services. Tweets can be at will or scheduled, and ReTweets with different calls to action are particularly effective as audience growth mandates more tweet volume to generate message visibility.

Take a look at EyeTraffic’s social media specialist Blake Bowyer’s blog for tips on social media messaging 10 Pithy Social Media Tips in 140 Characters or Less. Don’t forget to Comment, and tell us how you’ve been leveraging social media in the B2B space.

Tags: B2B lead generation, Social Media, Social Media for B2B
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Reschedule the Bake Sale: Nonprofits Find Marketing Voice with Social Media

17

June

2009

A new Dartmouth study suggests that nonprofits are turning to social media for marketing efforts and may be leading the adoption curve.

Blake Bowyer
Media Program Analyst

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) might get overlooked as the most likely sector to hold the flag for social media marketing. However, while tried-and-true fundraising tactics like carwashes, yard sales, and craft fairs worked for your high school cheerleading team, the advent of Web 2.0 gave every smart organization a low-cost ace up its sleeve. And nonprofits aren’t exempt according to a recent study from the Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts, which says 89% of charitable and nonprofit organizations have at least one type of social medium (blogs, social networks, Twitter, etc.) in their marketing arsenal.

So what? Every person and organization on this planet is tapped into social media, right? Well, recent research digs up these mind-boggling numbers:

Worldwide, 60% of execs and IT professionals "do not understand the potential social media offers employees or customers" (source: Avanade)
Only 16% of the Fortune 500 companies have public blogs (source: US Web Central)
Approximately 5% of small businesses use social media (source: eMarketer via Sage Research)

Even if doubled and tripled, those numbers are dwarfed by the uber-majority of NPOs looking to social media. It still seems counterintuitive, though. How has a sector that is resource-poor and overpowered – perceived as having a low level of operational savvy and a high level of marketing aversion – outpaced its for-profit, high-talent counterparts in a corner where 93% of consumers expect companies to have a social media presence? (Source: Cone)

If you think about it, often working on shoestring budgets and heartstring issues, the combination of nonprofits and social media makes perfect sense. Two of the biggest benefits of social media: efficiency and connectivity. Efficiency in the sense that any organization from your local pet shelter to Oxfam America can instantly establish a presence on many social networks and acquire followers, fans, and benefactors it might never reach traditionally. For free! (aside from time spent developing these marketing assets, which would be part of the overall marketing effort in the first place, right?).

Moreover, with that presence, a nonprofit can connect mano-a-mano with its benefactors – new and old. The primary advantages of social media include tantalizing phrases like "establishing a dialog", "participating in the conversation", and "flattening to the customer", which is all and well. But many organizations think that sounds great and never grasp how to use the power in those qualities. However, that dialog is inherent in most nonprofits, because they have stories to tell and in those stories exists value that is lost in mailboxes and inboxes. Through social media, nonprofits can directly spread their message, generate revenue, and recruit volunteers and help supporters do the same.

It’s no wonder that, in a sector where organizations are dropping like flies in the current economic climate, nonprofits are among the leaders in the adoption of social media. NPOs benefit since they are lean by nature when for-profits trim the fat only when revenues drop, which might account for the early-adopter role nonprofits have assumed in the social media milieu.

These two figures are worth repeating: 93% of consumers expect your organization to use social media and 89% of NPOs do. While for-profits are eating up the talk (HERE) of revenue model envy, they might want to take a cue from their cause-centric comrades before they go unintentionally nonprofit. Do you have a blog or are you just reading one?

Tags: marketing research, nonprofits, Social Media
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Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

Abates@EyeTraffic.com @EyeTraffic / @AndrewBates

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