It was done.  The fan page is updated for the site, users are presented with a custom screen, including a video, an opportunity to opt in and join the site, as well as “Become a Fan” with a simple click of a button.  Facebook is now positioned as a list building tool through the customized fan page (thanks to Andre).   It was time to get serious about promoting it.  Welcome to Monday morning.  After putting it out there for feedback on Google Buzz, my friend Lori informed me that Facebook replaced the “Become a Fan” button with a “Like” button.  Initial reaction, bummer!  After mulling it over and chatting with some friends, there are three good reasons to “like” this latest move by Facebook.

3 Reasons to Like the New Facebook Like Button

There is nothing like relying on another technology to grow your business.  One has to be agile and flexible to adjust to changes that come along.  These changes are completely out of your control, and that is what unfolded as the MarketingProfessor fan page was completed.  Their recent update puts them (and you) in a great position to dominate, here’s why.

1 – More Targeted Advertising

User Profile Data Updated – More Acurrate. You may have seen a popup recently when viewing your profile, it asks you to confirm so it can link you to those pages.  It is also available through the info tab on your profile.  Here is a screenshot of mine:

Having this information helps Facebook because…

Facebook Get’s Smarter About Users. Understanding what users are linked to, and giving them an opportunity to clarify and confirm that only strengthens the bond Facebook has with it’s user base, making user profile data much more valuable.  This is critical for their success, and helps deliver more targeted results to advertisers.  Which leads to…

Advertisers Get Smarter Too. The better advertisers can target to a relevant audience, the better the results.  When clicking the “View Page suggestions” link (above screenshot), I can confirm links to:

• Schools
• City
• Past Employers
• Likes and Interests: Movies, Television, Music, Books, Activities, and other interest.

In the post How to Advertise on Facebook in 10 Minutes or Less the targeting feature (step 2), just got more enhanced.  This is huge for advertisers, and virtually eliminates the learning curve encountered with traditional PPC services.

2 – More Competition for Google

Google Needs Competition. The game is on.  Even though Google is integrating social search in some results pages, they are nowhere near what Facebook targeting can offer.  In light of recent buzz suggesting that Google prefers sites in organic results who also do PPC, (I have not seen solid evidence of this) what’s clear is that…

Advertisers Want Alternatives. They should.  It’s just not good strategy to rely on one vendor for the lion’s share of paid (or any) traffic.  However, Google has done such a good job for so long, many internet and small business marketers have done just that.  Time will tell how much this improves advertiser’s results, if you haven’t given Facebook ads a look in a while, now might be the time to do so.

3 – The Social Web Understands Like

Like or Recommend Translates Well. When talking to friend or colleagues, do you share what you are a “fan” of or what you “like”?  This makes good sense, and more than that, making it easy to add Facebook to websites social plugins is key to keeping visitors longer on page, and spreading good content.

Here is what it looked liked when “liking” the developer page at Facebook:

Here’s how it looks on the news feed after (available for friends to see):

More Social Hooks on Sites = More Engagement. This actually goes way beyond “Like” buttons, there are a total of 8 social widgets website owners can place on their site (see them here).

What say you? You agree with these three points? Have other insights to share?  Will this make you more likely to use Ads on Facebook for your business, and/or tighten up your Facebook profile? Chime in below.

Technorati Tags: Facebook Marketing Strategy, social marketing strategy

While at a recent social media meetup I connected with Mari Smith, a relationship marketing specialist.  She was kind enough to sit down in front of the camera as we discussed several things, including:

o Thoughts on the latest Apple iPad
o Her philosophy for engaging the market in social media (very different from successful internet marketers).
o The 80/20 rule …and more

The video is below.

Mari Smith Talks iPad & Social Media Marketing Tips

At the same event where Joel Comm was interviewed, Mari Smith sat down for a few minutes to discuss the iPad and her response to top internet marketers deleting their Twitter (and other) accounts.  If you cannot see the video, it is here.

Connect with Mari at any of the following:

• www.MariSmith.com
• www.Facebook.com/marismith
• www.Twitter.com/marismith

Thoughts?  Feedback? Questions for Mari? Chime in using the comment boxes below.

Technorati Tags: Facebook Marketing Strategy, mari smith, social marketing strategy, social media tips

iFart?  What in the world is that?  Crazy name for a software application, but this guy created it, and from what he told me, it was quite a success.

Last week during the Northern Colorado Social Media Social I sat down with a couple marketers to discuss a few things.  Today’s post includes an interview with Joel Comm and asked him a few questions, such as where social media fits in with online marketers, initial impressions of the iPad, and Joel’s forthcoming book. The interview is included below in this post.

Discussion with Joel Comm – Social Media Fizzle – iPad Impressions

This is an informal discussion with Joel about social media, ipad, and his forthcoming book.  If you cannot see the video for some reason, you can see the interview with Joel Comm here.  Welcome your comments and feedback below the video.

Photo Credit: visual.dichotomy

Technorati Tags: apple ipad, expert interviews, Social Networking for Business

Are you overwhelmed by technology, in particular social media?  For the average business owner trying to leverage the internet to market their business, it can be daunting.  Fact is, some of the most successful internet marketers are also the least active in social media.  I have been slow to test new applications because either subscribers haven’t asked for it, or there was no value to readers who are looking for leverage in their marketing.  While social media generates a lot of interest and traffic, social media success stories for business are still more the exception than the rule.  Last week I decided it was time to checkout Foursquare, and below are my initial impressions, and an invitation to share yours.

Initial Impressions of Foursquare How About You?

While at InfusionCon in Phoenix last week, I decided to finally get my feet wet with Foursquare.  There’s been a lot of buzz about this application in recent months, and since mobile marketing is the next frontier for small business, I decided to give it a peek.  Here’s what I’ve found in the few days since installing it.

Works well on Blackberry

The app downloaded and installed on my Blackberry with relative easy, no reboot required. This is good because for whatever reason my Blackberry 9630 takes some time to reboot.

Let’s Me Check In

Foursquare uses the internal GPS to determine where I’m at, and then presents several options.  One of those is ‘checking in’ at a location you are at or near.  Checking in also give you the option to notify your friends and add a brief message as well.

There is another feature called “Tips” from what I gather, this allows me to me to read others tips, and present my own for a given check in place.  One might recommend a particular dish at a restaraunt, or even a server.  Whatever tip you think would help others regarding a given check in point.

Let’s Me See Others Nearby

Pretty self explanitory.  You can see other Foursquare users near you.  Unfortunately, the event I was at, only had two others who had ‘checked in’, not so good at an event of 1000+ people.  Yet I wasn’t too surprised, as this is a relatively new technology.

There was also a Twitter option, “View Tweets Nearby”.  It passes search parameters to Twitter for others nearby (within 1 mile) your location.

Adding Friends

There are 4 ways to add friends:

• Scanning the local address book on the device
• Twitter friends (enter Twitter ID)
• Search by Name
• Find using a phone number

I used the address book, as the next most appealing option was the Twitter ID, I was surprised how quickly it returned search results for friends on Twitter, wow.

How Will This Add Value

Considering Twitters lethargic path to profitability, a company like Foursquare needs to monetize quickly.  There are two primary areas where value could be added.

Location Based Mobile Marketing for Consumers
Getting coupons and invites for promotions of businesses near where you are.  Saving money just by driving around town!  Being rewarded for being a customer at a place you checked in, get a coupon for coming back to an establishment you’ve given business to in the past.
Location Based Mobile Marketing for Businesses
Encourage others to ‘check in’ with incentives, coupons, and raffels.

Sidenote: a location has a “mayor”.  Mayor’s apparently have some clout (not sure yet just what that is).

Small businesses can work with mayors of their establishment to encourage activity, for example, a coffee shop could have an incentive for the mayor such as “Check in once a week for a free latte.”  Their friends see where they hang out and create a social magnet, crowd customers, or however you’d want to reference it.

Have Your Own Impressions of Foursquare?

Using the service?  What are your likes?  Dislikes?  Chime in below.

Technorati Tags: mobile marketing, social marketing ideas, social marketing strategy

Since Google Buzz was enabled on Gmail accounts last month, I’ve observed quite a bit, and experimented a little on my own, and have been seeking feedback about what Marketers think about Google Buzz.  Thanks to those of you who took time to either comment here, or respond on Twitter or Buzz.  Thinking further last week I did my best to create an illustration of where Google Buzz fits in (graphic designers be forewarned with my web communications, I ran across an interesting Buzz Stream exposing a plagiarist and this week looked at an SEO Consideration of Google Buzz vs. Twitter. This post will round out Buzz talk for a while here as I share a 10 Guidelines of using Google’s latest social service.

10 Guidelines of Using Google Buzz for Business

I think there is potential with Buzz, and it needs to be a part of your social marketing plan, finding the balance can be tricky.  Here are some things I’m considering to make the most of Buzz for marketing purposes.

1-Follow Only Those You Have Interest In

If you follow too many, you will be inundated with Buzz streams, and will miss out on meeting cool people who comment on your cool people’s buzz streams (which is a great way to get targeted followers).

2-Participate in Those Conversations

As you participate in existing Buzz conversations, you will attract others who want to know more about what you have to say, that translates into followers.  Think if  you have knowledge, an experience, or a resource that can enhance the Buzz of someone you follow, and help those who read it.

3-Share Links/Videos When Possible to Juice up the Buzz Stream

This is a great feature. When posting a Buzz, support your comment with pictures, videos (YouTube), and links to content on the web.

4-Make sure your Google Profile is Up to Date

So if people want more from you, they can find out how to get it.  There are several good reasons to do this listed here (how to) and here (SEO).

Don’t…

5-Hook in Your Twitter Stream

If you update Twitter fairly often, followers may be put off by this “robotic” approach.  This constant set of Tweets coming in as buzzes will annoy those following you, not to mention it fragments the conversation and can be confusion (do I respond with Twitter, Buzz, or both?).

6-Reveal Who You are Following

I didn’t want my followers to get a bunch of follow request as a result of others trolling for followers.  This was enabled by default on my profile.   Verify the third checkbox is disabled when editing your profile.  Mine was next to the profile picture.

7-Follow Everyone Possible

Be selective, and don’t obsess over the number following you, this is an intimate following and as far as I can tell should be grown naturally.

Sidenote: I was following an internet marketer (Keith Wellman) who unfollowed me right away, because I was exposed to conversations that were not appropriate (and I didn’t need to be a part of).

Do…

8-Add Value to Those Who Follow You

Like #2, enhancing the conversation is key here, as you do, you’ll be appreciated more, and will attract new followers.

9-Post Content and Info That Will Attract Your Target Audience

If you are focused on speaking the language of your market, with tidbits, and helps here and there, you will attract the right followers, and bring them to the Hub of Your Social Marketing.

10-Recognize that Buzz is a Stream of Conversation

Any new Buzz you start has the potential to create an ongoing thread of discussion, a discussion that may be seen by many.  As new participants chime in a given stream, it floats to the top of buzz for all the buzz owner followers.  This is very different from Twitter, in which the conversation fades to the background with each new tweet.  This is a major problem, that Twitter has not yet solved, and may never be able to.

This any good?  You paying any attention to Buzz, or is it one more thing you are ignoring as a marketing tool? Other ideas? Chime in below.

Technorati Tags: google buzz best practices, social marketing strategy, social marketing tips

Plagiarism is a way of life if you publish content online.  As difficult as it may be, stopping cyber-criminals from stealing your precious and original content is hard to do.  However, I recently observed something unfold before my eyes that was inspiring.  Nothing to do with police, rather a bit of a social scolding.  In the old days (ok, at least before my time), there was a hat that a troublemaker classmate would be required to wear as they say in front of the class.  On the hat was the word “Dunce”.  The point was to use peer humiliation to encourage a rogue student to think twice about mis-behaving.  While I’m not sure if this approach would fly in today’s public schools, it was effective.  The person wearing the hat was embarrassed, and on looking classmates, while laughing, knew their fate if they crossed the teacher.  It seems this social scolding has made a comeback.  This time it is with Google Buzz, and we are all the teacher.

Google Buzz Case Study – Catching Criminals

A popular blogger, Darren Rowse of Problogger.net re-posted an odd request he received from someone who was stealing his content, and republishing it as his own (more on content stealing here).  The thief had asked to guest post at Problogger.net as a form of apology for stealing his content.  The conversation unfolded right before my eyes in a matter of hours, and I thought it a good example of how a social community can go to bat for you, even righting some wrongs.

I turned on the camera as I reviewed this buzz stream, and thought I’d share it here.   If you cannot see the video for some reason, it’s on the MarketingProfessor YouTube Channel here.

Thanks to Darren Rowse for opening up his inbox on this and sharing an issue that impacts many who are publishing content online.

Thoughts? Experience with Google Buzz? Chime in with your own thoughts, ideas, and feedback below.
Image Credit: cogdogblog

Technorati Tags: case study, google buzz, google buzz best practices

Figuring out where things fit in on the social web can be daunting, even overwhelming.  Seriously, with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, a Blog, Email Lists, and now Google Buzz, how does it all fit together?  I often gravitate to graphs, charts, and illustrations.  Maybe it has to do with the old phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  I find words can get in the way where a graph or chart can explain a complex idea in seconds.

How I See Google Buzz Fitting With My Social Marketing

I’ve had this image in my mind for several days now, and even though I’m not a pro graphic illustrator, I finally took the time to put it together.  PowerPoint is probably not the best program to create something like this in, but I welcome your feedback.

Understanding the Intimacy Curve in Social Marketing (Does an Awesome Graph Need Explaining?)

After my wife saw this chart, she hesitated with the term “Intimacy”.  In case you weren’t enamored with the chart itself, let me offer some further explanation.

Y-axis Intimacy – Speaking of my wife (of 12 years in just a couple weeks), while we didn’t have a typical courtship I didn’t ask her for a date the first time I met her and didn’t ask her to marry me after the first date.  I realize this example can be overused, but the social web isn’t much different.  Depending on the product or service, future customers need some warming up first.  As they get to know you better (consider this expanded view of email marketing strategy), the information shared gets more and more exclusive -  I’m talking about subscribers only info.  The ultimate sharing happens when they trust you enough to purchase one of your products.  This is what I call ‘customer only’ information.

X-axis Profile - Social websites go from very public to private.  Twitter is public (unless you have opted to protect your tweets) and nothing can stop someone from seeing my public profile.  If someone opts to follow me on Twitter, they are probably more interested in what I have to offer than someone who doesn’t.  As they initiate connections on other, more secure networks, they are self selecting for more information from me.  So as they go from Twitter, to Facebook, to my blog, etc., intimacy goes up.

• Suspect – No idea if they are in my target market.
• Prospect – May be qualified for what I have to offer.
• Customer – Have rewarded me with a sale or engagement, have purchased access to me, and mutually obligated ourselves to each other.

Google Buzz is near the top in terms of intimacy and to the right because if I want Buzz to remain more useful than just Twitter, I won’t permit just anyone in my Gmail address book, or follow just anyone who decides to follow me.  “Buzz” appears right below the words “Inbox” in my Gmail (and yours), which is visited by my readers more than my Twitter feed will ever be.

What Say You of this Graph? Ugliness aside, where am I going wrong on how I’m viewing where Google Buzz currently fits in my social marketing?  Chime in below (charts welcome).
Photo Credit: 1.stream

Technorati Tags: google buzz best practices, social marketing strategy, social marketing tips

HootSuite has been around for some time, unfortunately I’ve only been using it for several months, and am hooked.  It makes it so easy to integrate multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages.  You can even use HootSuite to update your chosen social accounts using content from an RSS feed (like your blog).  Today I logged into HootSuite and discovered they had a new update.  No worries, it is all contained within the browser, so no software to download.  I’ll review them here, and why I think HootSuite is a great productivity tool for today’s social web.

4 More Reasons to Start Using HootSuite

I am often asked, “How do you sync all your social profiles?” or “Are there tools available to help people manage multiple social profiles?”  I have used multiple services over the past couple years, but my favorite has been HootSuite, and now it just got better.  Here are the 4 new main features.

1 – HootSuite Supports Twitter Lists

Twitter lists allow you to group a collection of Twitter users as you wish.  It is an organization tool of sorts in Twitter, so you can quickly locate people of interest and see their latest tweets. Lists can be private or public to your Twitter account.  Lists have been around for some time, but I didn’t use them, because I was keeping all my important peeps in HootSuite groups.  Today, when I logged in, it prompted me to convert my HootSuite groups, to Twitter lists.  They say that it will run faster, and now I can share lists with others (see them on this page, half way down right hand side).

2 – Reporting and Tracking

Many have offered feedback on 3 Rules of Using Twitter for Business, but what if you could see how your followers in your niche are interacting with your tweets?  HootSuite allows users to track how many clicks, by region, and time a given link gets in a social message.  This information can be exported in CSV, or to a PDF.  They even support “custom URL parameters” (jump for joy marketing geeks).

3 – ‘Klout’ Score

In the lower part of the interface, there is now a “People” button, after selecting that and specifying the Twitter account, HootSuite ranks those in the social circle, and then gives several options of how you can interact with that Twitter user, including adding them to a Twitter list.  Here’s a screenshot.

4 – Save as Draft

With HootSuite, users can easily schedule tweets for the future, but now they have added the ability to save as draft.  Similar to email, this is useful when you don’t have a link ready, or aren’t satisfied with the tweet, or for any other reason you want to save it.  Sidenote: You can also upload documents and images, sweet!

Bottomline

This update builds on the already powerful feature set of this free tool which has saved me a lot of time managing and updating my social profiles.  If you haven’t had your hand at HootSuite, give it a test run, it only takes a few minutes to setup your accounts.  Who knows, you might even get hooked on it, like I am.

What do you think of HootSuite? Chime in with your comments below.

Technorati Tags: Social, social marketing strategy, social marketing tools

It seems the announcement of Google Buzz, has created, well, you guessed it, buzz.  From security concerns, to “Facebook killer” language, and everything in between, Google Buzz is another example of Google extending its presence in the social (and mobile) web.  It adds on to Gmail accounts, and allows for social engagement with those in your Google address book and beyond.  Below is a video overview of Google Buzz, excerpts from content I’ve been reading around the web, and the real question for marketers, as always, chime in with your own thoughts.

More Buzz on Google Buzz – A Question for Marketers

I first noticed it yesterday when opening my Gmail, Google Buzz?  This video offers the best explanation of Google buzz (view on YouTube here).

Update: It was suggested (comments) to post a link to my Google public profile, so fellow readers can reach me via Buzz. Click the ‘Follow Me’ image below to go there, and then click the button on that page if you want to follow me. -Travis

Buzz About Google Buzz Around the Web

WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw

Before you ever touch any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see who you email and chat with the most.

Publish Date: 02/10/2010

http://www.businessinsider.com/economy

Google Buzz and Email: Strength or Weakness? – GigaOM

Google Buzz, in case you hadn’t noticed, has been getting lots of…well, buzz since being unveiled yesterday. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a huge Facebook-Twitter-MySpace-Yelp-Foursquare killer, or it’s a giant …

Publish Date: 02/10/2010

http://gigaom.com/

Matrix: Google Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter (Feb 2010 …

The feature set of newly spawned Google Buzz isn’t important, what matters is their ability to aggregate social content which will impact search strategy for businesses trying to reach consumers, read my first take analysis. …

Publish Date: 02/11/2010

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Google Gets Angry Buzz Over Lack of Full Android Support – GigaOM

Google Buzz has received a ton of hype as a potential Twitter/Facebook/Foursquare/Yelp-killer, but it’s only fully available on about 80 percent of Android devices on the market. And that’s got some of those older Android users furious. …

Publish Date: 02/11/2010

http://gigaom.com/

Noteworthy Updates from Friendfeed (slow) – Scroll to Review

Question for Internet Marketers

What are your thoughts about Google Buzz? Simply borrowing technology from Google Friend Connect and Google Wave?  The question I have for you is, do you see Google Buzz as having potential for extending your online marketing, or is it simply another potential distraction? Before responding, consider the same question for Facebook when you first heard about it. Good for business, bad, or too early to tell?

Technorati Tags: google social media, social marketing strategy, social marketing tools

Every once in a while a celebrity joins Twitter and makes news.  What happens when the founder of Microsoft, who is also the richest, and most generous (financially) person on the planet signs up?  Let’s just say, it makes quite a buzz.  Mashable reported today that he surpassed 100,000 followers in 8 hours.  At the time of this post he is over 200,000 followers.  Not that numbers are that important, but at that rate he will surpass one of the top Twitter celebrities…

Bill Gates – Welcome to Twitter!

Ashton Kutcher in less than 15 days.  Doubtful it will happen, but at a minimum I say…Welcome to Twitter Mr. Gates.

Here are some of Bill Gates Recent Tweets:

Technorati Tags: celebrity twitter, twitter