18 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community

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• The Benefits of Social Media Complaints
• Nerolac Paints Crowdsources For A New Jingle
• 7 Days to Breaking the Barrier To Blogging
• Have You Embraced Pinterest for Your Brand?
• Sony Brings ‘Love Marriage Ya Arranged Marriage’ On To Social Media
• Second Marriage Dot Com On Social Media
• No Klout Score? No Job Then
• How Mayank Sharma Is Finding His Past With The Help Of Internet
• Take Advantage of Social Media; Don’t End up in the Twitter DogHouse
• Is Your LinkedIn Headline Killing Your Personal Brand?
• Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Oh My! Part II
• The Benefits of Social Media Make You The Future of Retail Sales Staff
• Blogger Outreach is Earned Media Not Paid
• Why You Don’t Need to Worry About Google Devaluing Infographic Links…
• “Provide Value To Your Readers”, Says Blogger Manish Chauhan Of Jago Investor
• 5 Tips to Increase Your Visibility on Flickr
• Overcoming the Disadvantages of Social Media: Covering all the Bases
• Team GB: The Social Media Rankings 10/8

The Benefits of Social Media Complaints Posted: 11 Aug 2012 01:05 PM PDT Social media brings people together. More importantly, from a marketing point of view, it brings businesses and individuals together. Whenever we talk about benefits of social media engagement for businesses, we talk about your ability to talk directly to your market. Social media lets you monitor conversations about your brand online and it lets you get involved too. The opportunities for growing your business, both in awareness and actual sales, through social media engagement are huge. If you use the benefits of social media correctly, you can create a great online presence at a relatively low cost. The Benefits of Social Media Can Turn on You That's the sales pitch, the list of the benefits of social media that focuses on the opportunities it offers. But there is a downside to social media presence. Once you open up the lines of communication with your market, you leave yourself open to negative comments as well as positive. Because social media has become an important part of modern life, people will equate your Facebook page, or Twitter feed, to your customer service. As anyone who has worked in customer service will tell you, most people see 'customer service' as a euphemism for 'complaints department'. If a complaint is made directly on your Facebook page, another of the benefits of social media can turn against you. Whenever someone likes your page, post or status update; your name is passed around to all of their friends. This is great for building brand awareness, but not so good if the mention is negative. Especially if the complaint gains support, and support is easy to find on social media. All it takes is a few likes within the right social groups and all of a sudden your brand's name is being dragged through the mud all over the Internet. It's become a bit of a trend, especially in Ireland, for people to make long, detailed complaints through Facebook that get picked up and earn hundreds, if not thousands, of likes and comments. In most cases these complaints gain a bit of notoriety until the company steps in and contacts the person complaining to sort it out. A lot of the time, we never actually find out how it was resolved, the comments just disappear. From a brand awareness point of view, that usually happens too late. Once someone has seen one of these complaints, they can't unsee it. The Business Benefits of Social Media can be Individual Drawbacks So when a complaint is made on Facebook, only the complainer benefits? Well, not really. In a lot of cases, they'll get their complaint resolved, but it may not be worth the trouble. When you post something online, you open yourself up to criticism. Even if you're just complaining about your own experience, people can find a reason to criticize. The benefits of social media for business, the ability to get feedback on your business, are drawbacks for the individual. Some people will criticize because they disagree, others will be unhappy that they've had your story appear in their newsfeed. Mostly though, people will criticize because they can. Whenever you post anything online, you need to consider the possibility that people will disagree with you. It's become a trend for people to vent their disappointment over many things on social media. This can lead to complaints being resolved in a way that wasn't possible through traditional customer service. But there is also potential for the experience to be turned on the complainer, even if their issue is totally valid. There are many benefits of social media engagement for both businesses and individuals. But with complaints, it's hard to see who benefits. Have you taken the time to really get to know social media? There is so much more to it than just creating a profile, adding some photos, and updating your page every so often. Discover the benefits of social media, connect with your customers, engage with prospects, promote your products and services and market your brand. Click here to download our guide on getting to know social media.

Nerolac Paints Crowdsources For A New Jingle Posted: 11 Aug 2012 01:00 PM PDT Nerolac Paints, one of the largest paint companies in India has launched a 'jingle' recreation contest in association with TalentHouse India, an online platform that provides opportunities for the creative community. Ever since you were growing up, you knew it's Nerolac Nerolac…when a jingle begins with 'Jab ghar ki raunak badhani ho, deewaron ko jab sajaana ho". And that's the brand recall power of the jingle. But times have changed – now the consumer is younger and more conscious of the environment. So Nerolac has introduced a whole range of health and environment friendly paints for this young consumer and needs to recreate the popular jingle to reflect this change retaining the magic. It has partnered with Talenthouse India, a leading place on the internet where creative people can participate in projects by leading artists or brands and get the opportunity to showcase their skills. The best jingle gets Rs. 1 lakh and 4 runners-up and the most voted entry would receive Rs.25,000 each. All the details for the jingle recreation contest are on the Facebook app 'Kuch change karein, chalo tune badlein'. The contest is open exclusively to its fans, so 'like' the page before you can begin. The app is a comprehensive one – you can read all about the brand and its requirements for the new jingle and important contest rules. You can download the audio file of the jingle and click on Participate when you are ready. A complete entry form with steps to participate, helpful tips, Terms & Conditions, etc. will welcome you. At the bottom is a form with 3 tabs: Upload, Complete profile and Build audience that help you do those. How does this help Nerolac? Nerolac could have gone to the best of the agencies as it has done in the past. But why not go to the consumers in its stead. A lot many brands have already embraced this new phenomenon called crowd-sourcing, where brands are inviting their consumers to participate either in the way of a logo redesign, Diwali package design or a new TVC. Apart from being cost-effective, crowdsourcing has other benefits too: 1. Let your consumers 'own' you: It is the best approach a brand can adopt to build a sense of 'belongingness' in its community. By letting your users 'own' a part of the brand, you instil a little bonding in them every time you ask for an ad jingle or a complete TVC. 2. Come across as a 'social' brand: Gone are the days when a brand was looked upon as a 'social' brand if it interacted with its consumers on social media. Now is the age when brands have evolved to take social integration far beyond. Fans are being given a strong incentive to be a part of the community. 3. Connect with the next generation: If a brand needs to connect with the younger consumers, it has to be on social media. This is especially true for the brands that have been around since our parents' times! And a crowdsourcing contest creates the required pull for the young and the restless. 4. Create a social buzz: With the voting system on Facebook, such contests spread through networks. This could increase online visibility which would be an added expense for the brand had it wished to create buzz for its jingle recreation contest through other mediums. So if you are a lyricist or a music composer or somebody with a jingle-making quality, then go ahead and put in your entry before the 17th of August.

7 Days to Breaking the Barrier To Blogging Posted: 11 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT Whether you are a social media professional, or a business person working on understanding social media, blogging is a key area that needs to be worked into your strategy. Not Another Blogging Post This post isn't about the benefits blogging will bring when you incorporate SEO. This post isn't about the fact that by blogging intelligently in your field, you can establish authority and build your reputation on a larger scale than just in your limited social circle (IRL). This post isn't even going to touch on blogging best practices, content length, the importance of pictures or any of that. This post is addressing the very basics: How do you start to blog when you have no idea where to begin? How do you help push to break the barrier stopping you from blogging? In everything I have heard and seen, this is a major issue for the individual business person evaluating a social media strategy. It's a challenge for social media professionals because unless the task of blogging is being worked into the service offered to clients (and let's face it, the cost seems high to a small business just looking to get into social media and still doesn't understand it all), then someone is going to ask the question: how will we find the time, and how do you find content? In many scenarios, the fact that blogging is so integral – and seems out of the capability of the organization (read overwhelming) people just shy away from even trying, or launching social media programs because they feel the cost will be too high, and they are "lost". You don't have to be "lost" This is part of my series about understanding social media. In this post, I'm taking the issue of blogging down to a very, very basic level. You don't get blogging, you feel you can't blog, you worry about what you are writing, you have a client that just doesn't understand how to do it , or where to begin? I've got a plan for you. It's free and it's simple, and I think it will break that barrier. By the time a few weeks go by, I'm pretty sure you will stop worrying about how cold the water is and you will be diving in. First, a reinforcement: Blogging is about expression. It's about talking about what you know. It's about sharing ideas you are confident in. That's the easy part. As long as you have that, then you have somewhere to start. The Hard Part Wake up call : blogging involves communication skills, it involves a talent (at some level) to express oneself in writing. Is this what you are afraid of? At this point, I'm turning the conversation directly to you, the business person or the blogging hopeful. (You social media professionals can follow along and let me know what you think!). Are you afraid that your writing isn't good enough? That your topics are boring? That you have nothing to say? I get that. It's normal and it's human. You're about to write something for the world! Sure you want it to be perfect. Let me ask you this, if you had all of those skills, would you start today? Maybe you are creating worry with how to set up your blog? Maybe you're so busy, you know you don't have the time… Maybe you're assembling lists of rules and criteria that have you overwhelmed before you have even started? Well, you're reading this. So you must have some time. You're looking for something to help, drive you forward…the answer. An Idea I recently came across something new, it's called "OhLife" . When I first explored it, I thought – why would anyone use this if they could blog? I wanted to understand it more…it's been about a week that I have been checking it out…I did come up with answers to my question, and I think it's an interesting approach to a few things, but this post isn't about that, it's about helping you blog. So here's an idea I had, where it could be of great use: Oh Life takes away all the pressure, it forces you to commit to a writing schedule, but the best part is you don't need to have any tech knowledge, social media savvy, or anything to use it. Do you know how to email? Then you're set. I am sure the intention of the product is not what I am suggesting, but I believe it's a great way for you, the hopeful blogger, to jump in. A Helping Hand You see, blogging is easy – if you have the skill and if you're used to expressing yourself in writing (that takes years of practice). If you were known as a "writer" in school, you probably aren't even asking yourself "how do I blog?". I believe that what many business people need is training. Blogging training. We see it all the time, the questions: How do you blog? What's your process? You need to learn how to tread water before you start swimming in the Olympics. Just a few months ago some of you may have seen the series of posts which Mitch Joel started by his own post "Watching me Blog", Christopher Penn, then jumped in as well as others giving their version of how they blog. Was this the key to making you a good blogger? It depends on what level you're at and who you are. Does successful blogging come from a checklist? Listen, it certainly gives insight, as well as some great tips. However I really think the problem for those who aren't blogging is that they need material, they have no idea where to start, they are held back slightly by the idea of setting up a blog (this is no small task)…the list of why not's is endless. How about if you had a coach walking you through blogging? How about if you had a coach that you trusted so completely, you didn't worry about what you wrote, or how you said it, who wouldn't judge you? Someone who gave you that push every day, in just the right way? Your Blogging Coach If you really want to blog, then I'll make it easy: Check out "OhLife" – please note, their intent is not to teach you how to blog, it is my own observations of it's process that makes me recommend it to you. Let me explain: Its a slick little tool that is intended to document your life by triggering you to reply to emails every day, as it collects your words, and pulls them into a private blog only you can see. Kind of like a diary. You have to think out of the box and get a little creative with me to take advantage, but I really think if you give it a try, you will succeed. Although Oh Life isn't intended to teach you blogging, these are the reasons I am recommending you try out this tool as the "prescription" to break the blogging barrier : 1. It creates a habit – you set the time you want it to ask you about your day, and it will ask you. Do your part and answer – you'll create the habit after about a month. 2. You don't need to struggle for content, it's asking you a question – just answer. 3. It provides a safe environment for you to test your initial writing ability 4. It's private – feel safe in writing "bad content", "content that isn't good enough" – I believe as you do this day after day, you will start to realize that either you are improving, or that you have hope. In a worse case scenario, you will realize that maybe you need to outsource the blogging. Or get someone else in your organization to do it. Whatever the case, it's time well spent. 5. You can invest as little or as much time in your entry as you like. So you always have the time. Do it. See what it really feels like, take off the gloves and get those hands dirty. 6. This is the best part – try writing about anything. Break all the rules. Write about your day. Write about an issue at work. Write about something, anything every day. 7. You won't have any obligation in creating a blog- this works by email! You won't need to worry about what your customers think, or about anything, because you are your audience. It's safe to explore. After you've done this for a while, go back, and read it all. Did you break the blogging barrier? What is blogging? Blogging is nothing more than expressing yourself in writing in a way that provides value to someone, on some subject matter. Find your voice, stop talking about how you have to "get around" to blogging. Stop asking everyone how to blog. Just do it. I just gave you a way to do it for free, to do it safely, and to start today. Now go. If you have a hope at blogging, then this is your way in. Let me know how it works out for you, commit to doing it for 7 days before you make any judgements. I would be so happy to hear if you finally did it. If you finally broke that barrier.Don't worry about the next steps, we will figure it out then, so get started, today is the day. How was your day? Go now, it's easy, you just have to answer the question "How was your day?" ~ it doesn't get more pleasant than that. What do you think? Are you willing to stop reading about blogging and take the risk to write? Are we about to break the barrier to blogging?

Have You Embraced Pinterest for Your Brand? Posted: 11 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT If you use images or photos on any of your sites, you're probably already on Pinterest, whether you've registered on Pinterest or not. So, what are you going to do about it? If you're not on Pinterest, you're already losing control of your visual brand by virtue of not participating. Pinterest is going to push you to better brand your content and intellectual property in such a way that people know where that content is from without imposing grotesque watermarks, oversize copyright notices, or garish splashes of brand that takes away attention from the message in the image. So, when someone steals your image, your graphic, or your photo, will they associate it with you even if it is disassociated with your sites, blogs, or social media? I know, when you post your own pins on Pinterest, you can add a source link-back URL. I know when people pin your content from your own blog's "pin this" button that the link-back is attached to the image; however, most pins don't happen in ways you even remotely control. That's why National Geographic blocks Pinterest: losing control of IP scares the bejezus out of copyright-dependent organizations like Tony Stone, National Geographic, Getty, and Corbis! National Geographic could do amazing things with Pinterest if they weren't so threatened by it, but old media dies hard. But you're not going to be lame like that, right? You're going to share anything and everything that'll get you and your brand noticed and pinned, right? Good. Let's move on. Moving past logos & taglines to influential visualizations Is there a way you can reconsider your messaging to move past logos, slogans, taglines, copy, tweets, and posts to influential visualizations? Visualizations such as infographics, comics, cartoons, storyboards, branded screenshots as well as your products, services, management combine in such a way that you don't need to have any context or background information for these visualizations to make sense. I'll admit I didn't get Pinterest at first, second, and third. But I think I get Pinterest now, and it is an essential social media branding tool whether you like it or not For those of you who don't know about Pinterest, here's what Pinterest says it is: "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes." I must admit that I didn't get Pinterest at first, second, and third. But I think I get Pinterest now, and it is an essential social media branding tool whether you like it or not, whether you embrace it or not. The most important thing that the popularity of Pinterest reminds us as marketers and social media strategists is that text can no longer stand on its own. We all know that illustrating each and every blog post with a topical and striking image can aid in curb appeal when it comes to sharing posts on Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook. Images add a splash of color, drawing the eye powerfully to text-only content, no matter how compelling the title. Pinterest furthers the truth: Context needs to be packaged Pinterest allows images, graphics, photos, infographics, slogans, and logos to be illustrated with text. And Pinterest holds our feet to the fire because the image leads the appeal of the content. I feel like it is safe to assume that most "repins" and shares to Twitter and Facebook are made without reading any associated textual blurbs or link-throughs. As a communicator, I cannot assume that you have any shared experiences with me. If I want to communicate something new with you, it is essential that I don't do it in shorthand. In blogging and social media, this is even more essential because of sharing. Syndication and sharing chops off all context and there's nothing beyond the share. Sorry, Jacques. My years studying postmodernism now comes in handy. Jacques Derrida is quoted as saying "there's nothing beyond the text" in that "text" includes every content medium. All posts should include everything that needs to be said and cannot assume any outside knowledge. In a nutshell. I am now telling my clients that they need to extend their brand narrative to include visual and graphical storytelling In much the same way that I have been harping on writing blog posts and online content that can be shared willy-nilly far and wide, decapitated from its home blog or home site, without losing its impact, branding, source, author, and meaning; I am now telling my clients that they need to extend their brand narrative to include visual and graphical storytelling. Is it possible to go through your brand and commission as a series of inforgraphics? Is there a way to interpret your data, products, services, history, narrative and passion in cartoons, illustrations, charts, photographs, jokes, Internet memes, and amusing photos? Is there any way you can reenvision your brand in such a way that you can hire a professional photographer who can help turn the stuff you make and do into fetishable objets d'art — something that fiancees, interior decorators, and cooks can obsess about as they pin and repin their virtual mandala of collages and intention phrases to remind themselves of the life they want to live? If you play your cards right, you might very well become part of the vision boards people are pinning together every day in order to harness the power of intention in their lives.

Sony Brings ‘Love Marriage Ya Arranged Marriage’ On To Social Media Posted: 11 Aug 2012 10:30 AM PDT Love marriage ya arranged marriage, Sony Entertainment Television's latest show slated to be on air this evening, has managed to create a buzz on social media too. Everywhere we set our eyes, we see that social media is being used extensively in tandem with other media. Outdoor hoardings also display the social networks a brand is present on, without which a brand can look obsolete. Besides, social media itself is being employed by all other media to create the buzz for them, be it print or television! Sony Entertainment Television, has jumped onto social media for its latest serial and rightfully so. Given the debatable topic around which the serial is focused on 'Love marriage or Arranged marriage', the channel has a wonderful scope for building conversations around it. And what better medium than social networks to gauge what your audience thinks about this topic. Taking 'Love marriage ya arranged marriage' to the blogger community Sony has launched a blogging contest titled same as the TV serial it is promoting, in association with Indiblogger, an Indian blogger community. A brief introduction to the concept of the serial is given where two best friends believe in a happy marriage, but are on opposite sides in the love or arranged marriage debate. Bloggers have been invited to share their side of the debate with absolutely cool incentives thrown in. There are 3 Amazon Kindle Fires, 5 Amazon Kindles and 35 Shopping vouchers to be won, apart from every participant winning a gift hamper from the channel. As with all blogging contests on Indiblogger, a debate has already begun at the Indiblogger forum around this contest and its topic. Votes do not matter; creativity and originality are the only two factors that would be judged. Besides, there is a rule that stories should have a link to the Facebook page of the TV serial, which is a recent trend in blogging contests at Indiblogger. Love marriage ya arranged marriage on Facebook The brand new Facebook page has already garnered 593 fans with 672 talking about them. By linking all blog posts generated from the blogging contest to the Facebook page, the channel makes sure to drive traffic to the Facebook page. But then doesn't offer much on the page for fans. For a serial scheduled to be on air soon, the page shows a poor engagement strategy. Content does not excite you enough to join the debate. Most of the updates revolve around asking fans what side they are on – love or arranged! Perhaps the channel plans to build upon fan engagement as the serial begins to gain popularity, but for now the content is most likely to drive them away of boredom. Love marriage ya arranged marriage on Twitter The blogging contest displays a hashtag #LoveYaArranged similar to most blogging contests on Indiblogger. Bloggers are supposed to be using this while tweeting their post links, but this hasn't been mentioned. Anyways, this is quite a smart feature to incorporate as this would help the channel to keep a track on the conversations around the serial on Twitter too. Apart from this, nothing else has been done. The serial hasn't created an account on Twitter yet, so it remains to be seen what tracking the hashtags could really mean. The channel, however, is present on Twitter but in an inactive state. Could 'Love marriage ya arranged marriage' have been better? It is impressive to see a TV serial interact with audiences through social media, especially with the blogger community. The integration with Facebook and Twitter is also nice but I feel the campaign could have don't better with some brainstorming. Firstly, campaigns need to be integrated and well-defined. Campaigns cannot cater in silos, especially when audiences are divided across all kinds of mediums and are likely to be active only in a few of them. The blogging contest has a link to the Facebook page but the Facebook page does not share about the contest. Also, going further, the blogposts generated by the contest could be shared by the brand page on its wall leading to increased visibility and awareness for the serial. All this could create the necessary debate as the campaign was originally designed to do. Also, employing a Twitter hashtag without having a Twitter account does not make any sense to me. Twitter may provide you just 140 characters but there is a good potential in those limited characters to create conversations or buzz around a certain topic. Although, the concept of the serial is a debatable one, the debate seems to be thrown open only to the bloggers. What do you think?

Second Marriage Dot Com On Social Media Posted: 11 Aug 2012 09:40 AM PDT I had recently stumbled upon a Facebook ad for Second Marriage Dot Com, a seemingly interesting sounding film that comes across as a marriage portal at first. Upon clicking the ad, I was taken to an app that called for watching the trailer and that's how I got hooked to the movie. Second Marriage Dot Com deals around complexities of human emotions weaved with two adults getting their single parents married. The movie, which has been released yesterday, had been creating a buzz on social media ever since the beginning of this year. Moreover, the concept and plot provide for an amazing scope on social media. So I was curious to explore its social media activities. The movie has a presence on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Second Marriage on Facebook The movie has a cool fan base of more than 47K on Facebook, with nearly 20K talking about it. I liked the content and the variety in terms of engagement. The app I had landed on runs the movie trailer which is then scrambled up. Users are then asked to join the displaced sequences in the movie, which I think is a simple and cool method to promote. And the incentive to do this – discount vouchers! Content focuses on the characters of the movie. There is a good mix of text, images and video. I particularly liked the 'Behind the scenes' video. There is a variety of promotions on the wall – like a flat 50% discount for sharing your stories. I liked the one for readers who have found their soulmate at a matrimony site! There was also another story contest for couples to share their take on marriage. The content now is focusing around reviews of the movie at various popular movie review sites. Second Marriage on YouTube The YouTube brand channel has 32 subscribers and a total of 48K+ views for its 23 videos. Videos are are a mixture of the trailer, songs, dialogues, etc. Second Marriage on Twitter The Twitter account hasn't yet explored its full potential. It follows 37 people and is being followed by 13, besides having created 272 tweets. The tweets share links to its Facebook page and are a reproduction of the same content. As I've been observing most often, businesses are only engaging on Facebook, completely oblivious of the power of Twitter. This 140-charactered microblogging tool not only captures human emotions every moment, it also helps you to connect to just about anybody and create lasting relationships. SecondMarriage could have employed Twitter in a much more constructive method. The idea behind the movie and its complexities could have been used to create a discussion. I wouldn't say a blog is required for a movie, but definitely they could have shared more snippets and spicy titbits on Twitter, and given a good mix of its videos. The major point that's often ignored is why are you on a particular network if it is only going to be a replication of your other networks? Ending thoughts As digital budgets are tighter compared to what businesses are ready to spend on other mediums, it is difficult to actually judge a social media presence for short-term ventures, like movies for instance. At times, a lot of awesome ideas cannot be executed since the agency is cash-strapped or dictated by the movie makers. Leaving aside the budget-concept-execution equation, I think the movie does moderately well on social media. Facebook could have done much better in terms of engagement. Fans could be treated to scenes around the plot rather than offering discount vouchers. What do you think about Second Marriage Dot Com engaging on social media?

No Klout Score? No Job Then Posted: 11 Aug 2012 09:30 AM PDT Have you heard of Klout? No? Then you might be becoming unemployable. If you don't have a klout score you will be passed over for some jobs, and the number of recruiters using Klout as a measure of worth is growing. Thankfully, I am scaremongering because this situation is happening mainly in the US rather than in the UK. Thank goodness, right? Klout is an influence measurement service. You gain a score based on how influential you are on sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. I have a personal dislike of Klout – I think its scoring is flawed (it has been telling me for months I am influential about cats and John Terry) and I think it is way too early for anyone to take it seriously as a true measure of worth when so many people actually have never heard of it, let alone signed up to use it. Blogger Neville Hobson wrote a post this week pointing out a recruitment ad that actually stated you could only apply for a job if you have a Klout score of 35 or higher. This is not a scandal when you consider the job on offer was as a community manager – a job which requires an understanding of, and ability to build and manage an online community. There are many people, however, who do have those skills but who do not use Klout, and this struck me as a perfect example of a subject I covered yesterday on the blog of our sister site, Vertical Leap – How to be social without being public. If you work in marketing in any shape or form, and specifically online, you need to be using the social networks that the majority of other people use. You need to practise what you preach. People who work at Asda probably sometimes shop at Tesco; people who work at Marks & Spencer probably wear clothes from New Look or Matalan. Social media is one sector where you cannot avoid using your own merchandise, proving to others that you believe what you say. I hope recruiters in the UK don't start using social networks as a sole measure of people's worth, but I think you'll agree that it would be equally short sighted for potential employees to not realise the significance of how they use social networks. That means not only using them is important but using them responsibly too. There are some great social media marketing tips in the Red Rocket Media Downloads section.

How Mayank Sharma Is Finding His Past With The Help Of Internet Posted: 11 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT Our life is all about memories which we cherish every moment. But how would you react when one fine morning you wake up with no memory. You don't remember who you are, what you're doing on this planet and you don't even recognize your own parents. It is impossible for us to imagine but this is what Mayank Sharma went through. "I remember crawling up a flight of stairs on all fours, but I don't remember the effort, or the pain or the sense of achievement I felt. Can you really call that a memory?" Mayank, a man having creative traits of an editor and a photographer contracted 'Tubercular Meningitis' in 2010, which is a severe infection of the central nervous system. While he was being diagnosed, doctors observed that his memory was eroding slowly. The situation got worse and he didn't know anyone, not even himself. Chronologically, he was 28 years old, but the only memories that he was left with were when he was a couple of years old. "On the face of it, I have no issues with the fact that I can't recall the past 26 years of my life. What sometimes flusters me though is the fact that because of the memory loss I can't reciprocate the emotions of the people close to me — they have known and loved me for 28 years, while my depth of emotions towards them dates back to only the past two." Help from Facebook When gifted a wheel chair by his parents on his 27th birthday, Mayank for the first time understood that no parents would love to gift a wheel chair to their children. He couldn't see his life slip like this, he had two choices – either he let his 27-28 years go by or else find a way to trigger his memories. To let go 27-28 years of life was a big ask so he started his quest of triggering his memory. He tried some common tricks that he shares in his blog post. Along with this, he started searching his past on the Internet. These memories were either stored in his Gmail or in the social networking site, Facebook. But above this, his interests gave him the early indication of his beautiful past. "Since there's no way I can come to par with their emotional state, I look for continuance in the two emotional things that I can still connect to – photography and writing." He picked up photographs from his childhood days in the hope of fetching memories but nothing triggered his memory like Facebook did. To start with, he created a profile on Facebook and filled in details of his high school. Based on that information, Facebook recommended people whom he might know. The simple feature of Facebook changed Mayank's life. As he started connecting with friends, his network of mutual friends also increased. "As my network grew, I started contacting people with whom I shared mutual friends, folks from school, teachers, colleagues, editors, publishers, co-authors, and just random people I had bumped into at conferences. Once they acknowledge, I follow up with my boilerplate message and request them to add the much needed "context" to our acquaintance." Additionally, Mayank created a Memory Place page to collate his past and to communicate with friends and colleagues, eventually to create a Wikipedia. Mayank adds that by liking of the page, his friends also exposed him to their network of friends and some turned out to be mutual ones. For Mayank, leveraging Facebook was similar to leveraging the "six degrees of separation" idea. But was connecting to people and asking them that easy? "When I decided to reach out to people and rediscover my old self, I knew there would be some unpleasantries. But I think it's a small price to pay for almost three decades worth of learning experiences." adds Mayank. Help from Google But it was not only Facebook that helped Mayank to connect with his missing past. He told me that Google and its various online tools also helped him. Once his brain started healing and he started regaining cognitive abilities, he was informed that he had written extensively on the Internet. Thus started the quest of Googling himself. Google helped him to find his articles for various publications such as Linux.com, IBM DeveloperWorks, etc. He also read all the blog posts that discussed his work, read comments about his books and this helped him to create the professional aspect of his personality. Mayank also did some ego surfing with his username ('geekybodhi'). He did whatever was possible to hunt for his past that was somewhere archived on the Internet. "All this might sound unimpressive to someone with a normal working memory. But for someone with no episodic memory, who had to be told his name and then had to learn to respond to it, having access to this kind of information is of tremendous help." Along with Google search, the other thing that stored his past were the hundreds of emails that he had written via Gmail. Gmail helped him add the missing pieces of his past together and he found that from 2004 he had interacted with 889 people professionally and personally via Gmail. "Thanks to Gmail, I have been able to piece together the most important years of my adult life. Be it, the exhaustive threads hashing out articles and book edits with my editors, or sending out music and movie recommendations to friends, every email tells me something about myself in my own words, that I don't remember." Mayank credits Facebook as well as Google to help him in finding his missing past. But is it only technology or social media that has helped him regain some of his lost memory? Mayank tells me that despite all the advancements in medical science, all the love and affection of my parents, all the old snapshots, and videos, there's no substitute for a one-on-one interaction with people whom you have run into in various stages of your life. He further adds that, Social media adds a new dimension to neuroscience Indeed social media and internet has helped our real life super hero Mayank who is still creating his own past but lets not take the credit away from Mayank because he believed in it. Doctors are positive that with time Mayank will be able to regain his memories but till then he his good with crowdsourcing his memories. He has created a website that is about his entire medical journey, which definitely is a big help for medical practitioners and researchers. I wish Mayank Sharma a smiling future and thank him as without his help, this article wouldn't have been possible. Mayank your determination inspires me! For those who haven't seen his story yet, featured as one of the Facebook Stories then the video is shared below. And if you have such inspiring stories that revolve around Facebook then click here to share your story.

Take Advantage of Social Media; Don’t End up in the Twitter DogHouse Posted: 11 Aug 2012 06:05 AM PDT Everything you say on social media matters. No matter how often you tweet or update your Facebook or Google+ accounts, you need to consider what you're saying every time. In marketing, where you're trying to take advantage of social media, this is even more vital. Because public opinion, or at least social media opinion, can be quick to turn on you. And now there's a new app that let's twitter users demonstrate their displeasure with something they've seen on twitter. Twitter DogHouse allows you to temporarily place twitter accounts in the 'DogHouse'. In effect, unfollowing someone for a limited period of time. So if your attempts to take advantage of social media upset someone who's using the app, they can quietly remove your tweets for a period of time. Or they can tell you and everyone else. The app allows the option of tweeting to the account being placed in the DogHouse. Calling them out for whatever activity has caused them to be temporarily unfollowed. Which may feel like a bit of fun if it's used against a friend, but if a business account were to end up in too many DogHouses it could be hugely damaging to the brand. This is where the advantages of social media can turn on you. The ability to engage with such a massive community comes with the responsibility to keep that same community happy. The Advantages of Social Media Can Turn on You Twitter DogHouse was designed for big events like the Olympics. When you follow a large variety of accounts, you will find that some people will tweet things you're not particularly interested in. So when there's a big event you're not interested in, you can temporarily unfollow until the event passes, and you can re-engage with that account. Besides being the inspiration for the app, the Olympics itself is providing many lessons in how we should take advantage of social media. In the last 24 hours we've seen two Olympic examples of how not to use Twitter. Journalist Guy Adams had his account suspended by Twitter for tweeting the personal email of an NBC executive. Adams had been critical of NBC's Olympic coverage over the weekend and tweeted the email address as an avenue for his followers to complain. He was trying to take advantage of social media and gather support for his point of view. Instead he breached Twitter rules and ended up suspended. Even more serious was the behavior of @Rileyy_69, a 17 year old boy in England, who was arrested over malicious tweets he sent to Olympian Tom Daley. Daley was a big medal hopeful for Great Britain but finished fourth and received some pretty vile abuse in response. The immediate response of twitter users, to raise awareness of @Rileyy_69's behavior and condemn it, lead to the arrest. Take Advantage of Social Media, by Being Responsible These are two extreme examples of ways that people misuse social media. For us the lesson isn't what was said but the speed at which one account was suspended while another lead to an arrest. Both only a few hours after the original tweet. So now that twitter users have another way, besides the normal unfollow, to remove you from their account; marketers need to be even more vigilant. All it takes is one misstep and one or two unhappy followers for your brand to be seriously affected. One of the great advantages of social media is the speed at which public opinion moves on sites like twitter. A small bit of good publicity can go a long way. But the flipside of that is the speed at which bad publicity can spread. In marketing, you're never going to end up suspended or arrested. But, if you're not careful, you could end up in the DogHouse. Have you taken the time to really get to know social media? There is so much more to it than just creating a profile, adding some photos, and updating your page every so often. Discover the benefits of social media, connect with your customers, engage with prospects, promote your products and services and market your brand. Click here to download our guide on getting to know social media.

Is Your LinkedIn Headline Killing Your Personal Brand? Posted: 11 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT If your LinkedIn headline is like most, it's actually doing your personal brand more harm than good. Here are 4 ways your LinkedIn headline can destroy your perceived value: Your headline is UNORIGINAL. Phrases like "Outside-the-box thinker" or "Problem-solver" or "Strategic Visionary" mean absolutely nothing and will not impress or intrigue anyone. If your headline is full of clichés, you'll just be seen as a low-value commodity. Your headline is CONFUSING. If someone is confused about what you do, you will probably not be asked for clarification. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a job-seeker, or a happily employed professional, be clear in explaining how you make other people/organizations better. Your headline is BORING. It's amazing how many people just use their job title and name of employer as their headline. You are much more than your job title! Provide evidence for your value/credibility by highlighting your most impressive/relevant achievement, honor, award, or third-party recognition/affiliation. Your headline is DESPERATE. If you are out of work, don't say that you are unemployed or that you are "seeking new opportunities." This sounds incredibly desperate and undermines your value. You should not be sitting back waiting for recruiters or hiring managers to find you anyway. You should be proactively seeking opportunities on your own. In addition, no one cares what you are looking for (which is also why most resume objectives are pointless). People care about how you can make their life/job easier and how you can solve their specific problems. Now that we have discussed what NOT to do, here, here is an easy 4-step process ("what-who-how-proof") that you can follow to create a powerful LinkedIn headline: Step 1: Say WHAT you are. Step 2: Say WHO you help. Step 3: Say HOW you make their life/work better. Step 4: Give PROOF that you are credible. Here are 3 examples: Executive Recruiter who helps Fortune 500 companies find top tech talent. Clients include Google and IBM Speaker/Author/Coach who helps job-seekers get their dream jobs. Featured on Fox/CBS/CNN (Note: this was my LinkedIn headline when this article went to print.) Personal Trainer who helps youth get healthier, stronger, and faster. Former head trainer for the NY Jets With each of these headlines, you immediately know what the person does, who they help, how they help them, and why they are credible. Your LinkedIn headline is valuable real estate, so don't waste any of the 120 characters LinkedIn gives you! Author: Pete Leibman is the Founder and Keynote Speaker for Dream Job Academy and the Author of I Got My Dream Job and So Can You. His work has been featured on Fox, CBS, and CNN.

Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Oh My! Part II Posted: 11 Aug 2012 05:20 AM PDT This post is a continuation of Monday's post, in which I looked at Linkedin and Facebook and discussed their benefits as B2B marketing platforms.  If you missed Monday's post, check it out here and then come back to read the remainder of my thoughts on this subject. With no further adieu, we take a look at the last 3 sites on my list: Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter. Tumblr Tumblr is not as widely used in the business world as some of the other social media outlets, but it is my personal favorite. Like Facebook it should be more casual and used to share your office environment. On our Tumblr page, we have special features like The Spotlight, where we highlight one of our employees (or one of their pets) with a short humorous bio. Music Monday is a big hit, each week one employee selects a few songs they have been listening to in the office and we share them on our page. You can also find our episodes of AG TV on the page! It is a great place to share blogs and infographics. Tumblr is visually driven, so you should try and share lots of pictures and videos in this space. Reddit I could write an entire blog on how to use Reddit for business purposes, but I will save that for another day.  Reddit is an online community where users submit content but also vote (up or down) other users content. This is great because the articles/pictures/videos that are up voted the most are found at the top of the page, making it easy to find the most popular content. However, this also means that you need to be cautious about what you share and where you share it, or you will be voted down. Reddit has a very strong community so you should take time to learn the ins and outs before you start posting your companies links or blogs on it.  There is something called Karma on Reddit and the Redditors take it very seriously! If you up vote other users content then you are more likely to be followed and receive good Karma. However, if you are just posting your own content and not actively participating in the community you will be voted down. Reddit is divided into thousands of subReddits making it easy to find relevant information. It is very important to share things in the appropriate subReddit because if you post in the wrong place you will receive a vote down, if you post in the correct place, you know you are sharing your information with appropriate parties. For example, /r/marketing or /r/socialmedia would be an appropriate place to share this blog post. /r/sales and /r/business are good subReddits to blog for business related information. There is a subreddit for everything! Another important part of posting in Reddit is to have a catchy headline. The headline is the only thing a users sees or knows of what you’re posting until they click on the link. Make sure all of your posts have an interesting headline so users will be prone to click on it and find out more! Twitter Twitter is the perfect place to bring all of these things together. Reddit is a great place to share articles, Tumblr is a great place for movies and pictures, and Facebook is a great place to share fun, social things. Once you post on any of these social media platforms you should be sharing that post on Twitter. They make it really easy for you to share, you can find a little Twitter button at the bottom of almost any article you read online and most of the other social sites will provide this quick link as well. It's also a great place to connect with other professionals in your field and find relevant information. There are many other social media sites out there to utilize and there is always a new platform just waiting to be the next big thing, but these are my personal top 5. I know a lot of people are skeptical about the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing. I think, if there is an opportunity to get your name out there, you should take it. Otherwise, your customer or client is going to a come across a competitor's awesome Linkedin/Facebook/Tumblr page! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, connect on Linkedin, or check out our Tumblr. How are you using social media in your organizations and what sites did I leave out that you think should be used more widely in the business world?

The Benefits of Social Media Make You The Future of Retail Sales Staff Posted: 11 Aug 2012 05:05 AM PDT Online shopping has become second nature to most of us. We know which sites we want to buy from, which products we prefer to get online. We're used to getting packages from Amazon or eBay and disposing of the cardboard and plastic packaging has become second nature. We've even started to develop our own patterns for planning our online shopping trips. We use the sharing benefits of social media to research what people have said about the products we're interested in. Sometimes we'll ask our friends and followers which product they would suggest we buy. The ability to ask these questions is often held up as the main benefit of social media. A whole community of opinions at your fingertips. This year two new companies have appeared who aim to leverage the benefits of social media for retailers. Needle and WaJam hope to revolutionize the online sales process, by putting the power in the hands of you, the general public. It's the natural evolution of an ecommerce industry that's always been trying to get you into the conversation. The Benefits of Social Media and Online Shopping As far back as 1995, ecommerce sites tried to leverage the online community of opinions and the future benefits of social media. eBay started out as an auction site that has moved towards retail transactions over the years, but their 'Feedback' system has remained. The system displays the opinions of previous buyers of a product on the seller's profile, allowing you to make a more informed choice. Amazon and other retail sites followed suit and customer reviews are now a fixture of most ecommerce sites. Meanwhile, we were still asking people on forums and chatrooms about products we wanted to buy. When Facebook, MySpace and Twitter came along and brought the benefits of social media sharing, this community of opinions reached the next level. No longer were you relying on the opinions of a stranger with no reason to be honest. Now you could get the opinions of your friends. WaJam and Needle Build on the Shopping Benefits of Social Media These are the shopping benefits of social media that WaJam wants to take even further. On the surface, WaJam is a shopping comparison site. But the twist is that the comparisons it gives you include any comments, tweets or user reviews your friends have posted through social media. It's like having your friends with you while you choose what to buy. You can choose which opinions to read and make sure you're totally informed before you buy. We've always sought the shopping benefits of social media interaction, now WaJam makes that process even easier. Because who's better qualified than someone who knows the product already? Another new business, Needle, take on that question to provide an alternative social shopping experience. The ability to connect with anyone around the world is one of the main benefits of social media. Needle seeks to bring together that ability and the expertise of people who know products. Needle is all about connecting fans of products with potential customers. They provide live chat on retail sites, where you can talk directly to 'Needlers'. These 'Needlers' are fans of products who can offer customers an informed opinion on what they want to buy. The benefits of social media don't stop at the social networks themselves. They provide indications and learning that can be used to create new ideas that make all of our lives easier. With developments towards further interaction and 'social' shopping like WaJam and Needle; these changes could lead to a totally new group of online sales staff. You, me and everyone we know. You have a solid, simply designed and easy to understand website, now all you need is to attract more visitors. A high-quality digital marketing strategy can do this for you.To help you understand the many benefits of digital marketing, we have created a white paper detailing its various forms including social media. Click here to download.

Blogger Outreach is Earned Media Not Paid Posted: 11 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT My definition of blogger outreach has always been about acquiring earned media coverage from bloggers and online influencers. My definition–and my assumption–has always been that blogger outreach is public relations and not paid media. I may well be mistaken. "Earned media (or free media) refers to favorable publicity gained through promotional efforts other than advertising, as opposed to paid media, which refers to publicity gained through advertising. Earned media often refers specifically to publicity gained through editorial influence, whereas social media refers to publicity gained through grassroots action, particularly on the Internet. The media may include any mass media outlets, such as newspaper, television, radio, and the Internet, and may include a variety of formats, such as news articles or shows, letters to the editor, editorials, and polls on television and the Internet." (Wikipedia) I recently had a Twitter chat with Serena Ehrlich, Director of Marketing for Mogreet during which we discussed the fine points of blogger outreach. We agreed on everything except on whether blogger outreach was pay-per-post or earned, what bloggers wanted from a marketing pitch. To quote @Serena, "Just smile, pay and disclose," in response to my post, "don't roll your eyes at social media influencers." I quickly responded, "Funny. I am an "earned media" social media marketer. There's never "pay" so much as "gift" which is generally access, info, news," and Serena asked, "do you find them moving towards pay? All blog conference preach payment (but I'm earned too so I get ur point)" and I responded "Don't forget, most bloggers online have never been corrupted by blogger conferences :)" and, finally, "You don't NEED to be sneaky in social media. You cannot CONTROL the conversation and you had better be as open as humanly possible." And that's really the reason why people prefer the blogs and bloggers that offer predictable and controllable paid-content. Because you can control them by virtue of contracting with them over currency and sponsorship. That comforts many but it lacks a number of important things, the most important of which is penetrating deeper into the conversation online, engaging with the newest talent–bloggers who have never been kissed or who have been blogging and sharing with their small circle of compadres in perceived invisibility ("what am I even doing this for, didn't I start doing this so that I could get free review swag from Brooks, Nike, Saucony, and Mizuno?") and in utter desperation ("I don't have the time for doing this any more–I should be running about running instead of writing about running"). What my version of long-tail blogger outreach offers is the ability to efficiently get deeper into the conversation, move further down the list of bloggers, into a social media conversation that's a hell of a lot more like the blogosphere circa 2006: a cloud of conversations, reviews, insights, editorials, and exposures that reflect something and someone a lot more in touch with what they believe rather than the political and commercial give and take associated with the slick, safe, produced, and programmed world of mainstream media. In my experience, bloggers want content that's fresh, relevant, and germane to their topic of interest or expertise; they also want to be associated with something cool or flattering: a brand they like, a company they respect, or a product they have always loved, have been interested in trying, or have never heard of (or have yet to be released). Being offered exclusive content, getting to be first kid on the block for something, or having the bragging associated with being identified, tapped, and invited, openly, into the fold of a worthwhile organization. If you need to pay a blogger a posting or linking fee in order to get them to write about you, your social media agency is not doing their job; in fact, they're just spending your money and they're getting easy and safe posts but they're certainly not doing right by you when it comes to identifying, engaging, and building a true relationship with the taste-makers and influencers in your space. And, because you don't have to earn their coverage based on the merits of the pitch, it calls into question the quality of the gift. First, let me define "gift:" a gift is anything that a blogger considered valuable or germane to their news cycle. It could be exclusive content, it could be unique access to a person or technology, it could be the generous use or advance access to a product or service with the express intent of giving them time to experience, review, and critique it to share it with their readers. It can even include exclusive blogger access to giveaways, discounts, membership, or coupons for the blogger's readers. But no, apparently every single blogger who has ever been to a blogging conference has been convinced–conned–into holding their posts ransom to a fee card. I mean, I see it all the time: folks who respond to any query with a fee sheet, be it their price for a "sponsored" post or even for just a keyword link. I can understand offering me a price list for advertising space in the form of a banner or sponsorship credit, but these bloggers, who I will not name, are impenetrable when it comes to working on building a relationship, on becoming a preferred news channel, or even taking the audition towards becoming an official permanent member of one or more communications programs. This is a pity. Why is this a pity? Well, most of the true A-list bloggers do not put such a mercenary barrier between companies, organizations, and brands–which is how they became A-list bloggers–by being likeable, accessible, having character, being popular, and having integrity. The entire culture of the blog is supposed to be more authentic, more honest, and less under the thumb–and in the pocket–of the products and services about which they write. Right? Long-story-short is that my long-tail strategy for blogger outreach, influenced heavily by the Cluetrain Manifesto, digs much deeper than just the top-50 or even to top-600 bloggers; in fact, my strategy doesn't care anything at all about Klout, Compete, Google PR, or even page views or age of site. The only thing my strategy cares about is whether they're topically-, linguistically-, and geographically-appropriate, targeted, and viable. When you have a list of 1,000-9,000 viable and germane blogs for any particular campaign, you can readily dismiss anyone and everyone with a hand out and spend more attention grooming, encouraging, and rewarding those bloggers who are interested in being part of an interesting campaign, and innovative product, a special appeal, a new opportunity, or hot (exclusive) news. At the end of the day, I will certainly collect a spreadsheet of all the folks with their hat in their hand, asking for payola for a positive post or a pre-written link through (they're explicit that the link is a follow-me Google link-juicy link and not the hated "nofollow" blockade). I will deliver that spreadsheet to the paid content and paid advertising folks–if they exist or are interested–along with their price sheets and offers. But when most of my colleagues and I, in our sundry agencies and associations, are hired to engage in blogger outreaches, our tasks are very similar to the tasks associated with traditional PR: connect with journalists and see if they'll be willing to cover you. These campaigns don't have a discretionary bribery fund. We're lucky if we even have the kinds of endless review copies that we want to circulate to all interested parties. Our mission requires that we simply thank the folks who get back to us with their rate sheets and their requests for links and sponsorship, put them aside, and move on to build a connection, a conversation, and a relationship with all the other bloggers who are willing to enter into a conversation–a negotiation, if you will–first, before you shut me down before I even have a chance to make my appeal or to reach a mutually-beneficial agreement. What I had to say, in appreciation, is that my team and I don't need to waste a lot of time–these bloggers surely do get to the point right away. There's not a lot of resource-intensive back and forth: it's very clear what you're getting. But it comes right back down to what I thought blogger outreach and blogger engagement was: earned media public relations campaign wherein you pitch bloggers cum citizen journalists and they decide whether or not what's in it for them or their readers is consistent with the quality of news, offer, or "gift" that my team and I are willing to give. And I don't even know what is valuable anymore, really. I understand the desire for revenue and the desire to not be taken advantage of by big brands (with deep pockets, assumedly) who should really be willing to put up or shut up. Fair enough, but there's a lot of opportunity and future associations that are dismissed out of hand as a result. What these brands, associations, nonprofits, companies, and their associated advertising, marketing, and PR companies want is earned media even though they could very well afford the $150 link fee or the $250 sponsorship in any single blogger's rate sheet; they could probably afford a thousand of those, presumably. The reason they come to Social-Ally or an agency like mine is because what they get for that money up front is PR garbage. They've all been through IZEA, they've all been through the SEO link-buying frenzy, and they've all bought sponsorship and ads just about everywhere. What they haven't found is authentic journalism from someone who is not paid for nice things; someone who has the integrity and character to offer balanced, quality, reviews and insights, be they good or not so good, consistently and over time–and these folks, the folks that my clients are looking for when they look for blogger outreach are not the folks who sound like car-salesmen or infomercial pitchmen when they write a client-friendly (or even client-doting) sponsored post, they want someone who is really passionate for Mizuno running shoes for example or has had a relative build a Habitat for Humanity house of has hosted a child during the summer for the Fresh Air Fund. They're looking for taste-makers, of course; they're also looking for brand ambassadors; they're looking to get married rather then just getting lucky; and they're hoping that the enthusiasm of being associated with a real PR campaign from a recognized brand is enough (for now). And, what they're really hoping–all except a very few clients (and those are really just in it for the links, I'll be honest–is that that boundless pride and excitement really translates into an irresistible, passion-infused, post that no longer ever happen in mainstream media. They're not looking for neutrality or objectivity–they're happy with fanboys, fanbois, and bona fide enthusiast-obsessive, but they're more excited that the end-result is organic, hearth-felt, and extemporaneous–what each earned media blogger wants so say rather than saying what he or she thinks we want to hear (which, like I said before, almost always sounds like the forced song-and-dance of a veteran used car dealer). Anyway, there are loads of mommy bloggers, sports bloggers, gadget bloggers, tech bloggers, and sundry other topics and categories–none of whom are in their top-50–who have decided that they're not citizen journalists but something more along the lines of the paid circulars in the paper or the "paid advertising" or "advertainment" section of most commercial magazines. That's fine. But because most blogger outreach campaigns are resource poor and their agencies a little lazy, the experience of most blogger outreach campaigns don't go very far down the list of bloggers–or are restricted to just a certain class, PageRank, Klout, or Compete score, all they ever get is a load of jaded mercenary bloggers who readily hold their posting ransom, posting–or dropping links–only for the highest bidder. The reason is simple: most brands are not national or global enough to command the attention of the real top bloggers. These bloggers have mostly maintained a semblance of journalistic and community integrity–being honest and open in their review, coverage, or sharing; however, they also have a strong level of discernment as to what they will cover, when they will cover it, and what sort of terms their article or post will follow (first right of refusal or first post or an ability to leak before an official announcement, etc). TechCrunch will only cover your startup if you're willing to reveal financials to them in a big way; Om only covers it if he things is personally cool; etc. I am not saying that these top guys are saints. There is a lot of money going on. There is a lot of access. There are a lot of business class tickets and flights to corporate headquarters being offered, but none of these things (should) effect the quality and comprehensiveness of the copy, be it a review or announcement or just the editorial commentary. Below them, there are the folks who have been able to accrue the correct metrics–the semi-pros or the advanced amateurs. To them, their "blogs" have become businesses, which is cool enough, I get it; however, they're exclusively pay-to-play. They've sold their souls to the real market of the Internet these days: keyword phrase links designed to transfer Google juice from a blogger's blog directly to a company's site, product, service–or to deposit an affiliate link into an advertorial review designed to drive a direct sales funnel to a commissioned sale. These strategies are part of my previously-mentioned social media robot armies and zombie hordes: link-farming, affiliate marketing, and inbound marketing. That's all well and good but it is not blogger outreach. And if it is, maybe we need to rename blogger outreach to blogger relations instead. Or, rather, I think we need to make sure that we call these payola blogger outreach what they really are: inbound marketing campaigns with a blogger component. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we at Social Ally call it, it's what you hear (thanks, Frank Luntz). Let me ask you: what do you think of when you think of a blogger outreach campaign? Do you think of earned media first–traditional PR mapped to bloggers–or do you think of blogger outreach as a way of identifying bloggers who would be amenable to sponsorship, paid posts, or bough links? Or, both? I really like to know how that phrase is used circa 2012 instead of 2006, when I started Abraham Harrison, RIP, and if I should even be using blogger outreach to represent earned media blogger relations campaigns on the Social Ally website. I would love to hear your feedback in the comments.

Why You Don’t Need to Worry About Google Devaluing Infographic Links… Posted: 11 Aug 2012 04:15 AM PDT Matt Cutts’ claimed in a recent interview that it is likely that Google will be looking at ways of devaluing infographic links in the future, saying this: "The link is often embedded in the infographic in a way that people don't realize, vs. a true endorsement of your site…" Here's the main reason's why reducing the value of infographic is simply ridiculous unworkable in practise. Most links are editorial As much as you'd like them to, in my experience people rarely seem to use the embed code supplied with an infographic. More often than not, the person reposting your piece will simply give you a mention in the the body of the text, or annoyingly, not at all! I spend a great deal of time chasing websites who've published my content, politely requesting a link back to the original source (my blog post).. How? Just how? How are they going to police this!? Even if we live in a magical world where everyone uses the supplied embed code, what exactly are they going to do in order to devalue links? Considering they currently can't stop sites with 80% spam anchor text links from ranking on the first page of the SERPs, it's a bit rich to then suggest they're now looking at ways to devalue links that people actually work for. Waste. Of. Time With all due respect, I think the webspam team have bigger fish to fry in regards to link spam. Having recently seen my company's website penalised for no real reason, whilst competitors with less ethical link building tactics were just peachy. By the way, we're back stronger than ever now, but I make this point to illustrate the fact that I feel there's a lot more fundamental issues for Google to be dealing with. Bad Infographics Get Bad Links Matt also had this to say - "They get far off topic, or the fact checking is really poor… The infographic may be neat, but if the information it's based on is simply wrong, then it's misleading people." We’ve all seen terrible infographics. However, websites tend to only publish infographics relevant to their industry/niche, and they tend to know if the information and statistics in the infographics are out of line. If an inofgraphic is misleading then it simply won’t get links from good webites. Therefore, Google has nothing to worry about in terms of rankings boosting links being garnered. But here’s an idea - How about Google devalues poor quality websites that publish terrible content, rather then punishing everyone whether they produce great content or not?  Duh! And finally… This is my favourite SEO blog post ever, and sums up exactly how I feel about Google at this moment in time. Making rash claims about reducing the value of infographic links, whilst the guys that spend their time earnestly adhering to guidelines and creating great, unique content flounder. Essentially, Google should focus on sorting out the big issues with the SERPs before they make sweeping statements about devaluing decent, well-earned links. That is all. </rant>

“Provide Value To Your Readers”, Says Blogger Manish Chauhan Of Jago Investor Posted: 11 Aug 2012 04:10 AM PDT Jago Investor is a financial planning and personal finance blog teaching stuff about money and how to manage your investments. Here, we bring you views from Founder and blogger, Manish Chauhan in which he shares his blogging journey and what keeps him going strong. When he founded the Jago Investor blog back in 2008, Manish Chauhan's sole aim was to demystify myths regarding personal finance being rocket science. He was neither a certified finance professional nor someone seen as a 'trusted' source on the subject. But his passion to help others paid off and in four and a half years, his blog is amongst the top go-to sites for personal finance advice today. It is a big myth today that Personal Finance is an area that needs fancy certifications to help others. While certification will obviously add value, Manish says it's not at all a vital element, especially in the area of personal finance. "Personal finance deals with common man, his regular day-to-day issues and how he should behave in his financial life, which can be learnt and explained to others in simple manner, which we do." The blog has close to 55,000 comments along with the ones in the forum. While this is no mean task, it does apparently involve a whole lot of dedication and perseverance to gain the reader's trust. Manish believes that the high trust factor earned from readers has helped them tremendously. The biggest thing is trust here, if you trust me , you will believe me, and when I talk in terms of facts and figures, it's automatically authentic information and judgement. When asked about what drives his passion even today, Manish is quick to point out that one does not need motivation to do what he/she loves because their love for work itself is motivation. Way back in 2009, just a year into the blog, a reader contacted him for financial planning and wanted to pay him even though he was not qualified or had advertised such services. It was a time when qualified professionals were finding it tough to bag fee-paying clients. But here was a reader asking Manish to plan his finances because he trusted him. Manish charged him more fees than what is the standard even today, and there has been no looking back ever since. This first taste of success was followed by another one when CNBC contacted him to do a book on personal finance. Manish attributes all his success to having high quality articles that are useful as well as easy to understand for his readers. Although, SEO (search engine optimization) has helped him gain more traffic, it was always good content that helped in retaining them. Besides, the most important philosophy followed at Jago Investor is to reply to each and every comment in detail within 48 hours. In fact, the readers believe that "If I put a question, I will definitely get a reply"! Apart from useful content and responding to their readers, Jago achieved a major milestone when it launched a Q&A platform for the readers where they could ask personal finance questions that could be answered by any one. Along with offering multiple choices for their readers to get their financial queries solved, Manish has also used Twitter and Facebook effectively. There is no doubt that social media helps him in getting more traffic but Manish has leveraged the power of social media to also help his readers in case they have been cheated by a financial company. Here is an example with two stories illustrating how Facebook and Twitter was used and justice meted out in each case. We asked him what he thinks about 'Blogging for money' as it is the usual intention behind starting a blog. Advertisements, paid services and products are some of the topmost ways to make money through blogs, said Manish. One can't deny that blogging has money in it, but Manish shares that one cannot start with that motive, else the motive itself will not let the blog develop. "A lot of bloggers do not understand that if they blog consistently and provide lot of value to their readers, they are actually creating a big market for their services for future. There will always be some part of your community who would like to pay you and go to next level. I market my book to my readers and almost 95% books which are sold are bought by my community only." That said, Manish has achieved a deeper contentment that goes beyond money. We leave you with his thought-provoking words: "I love when I see how many peoples' lives are getting changed by what I write; personal finance is the core of someone's financial life and things are related to money matters. If someone controls that, his overall life can have improvement. I get a thanks message each day and that keeps me going on."

5 Tips to Increase Your Visibility on Flickr Posted: 11 Aug 2012 04:00 AM PDT Social media comes in many shapes and forms. You have the life-inclusive multipurpose Facebook, the quickfire thought sharing platform Twitter, the time wasting viral powerhouse YouTube, the professional networking tool LinkedIn, the inspiration generating Pinterest…well, you get the idea. The niche is ever widening, with more sites being created to fit new audiences every day. Some are big hits, some are just carbon copy wannabes. Most are innovative but don't quite manage to take off the way the creators hoped it would. Mainly because it is in a market that is so well covered by massive websites. The one that has managed to cover all things image sharing is Flickr. A place for people to show off their own work, it is probably the most popular photo site on the web. It has plenty of professional portfolios, amateur albums and even creative commons items that can be used freely for personal or commercial purposes. With proper credit, of course. If you are using Flickr and want to increase your visibility, there are several ways you can do so. But first, I want to address a common misconception people have about this site. While it is in the Terms and Services that you cannot use Flickr to advertise, it doesn't mean you cannot indirectly promote your business. Flat out advertising will get you kicked off the site in a heartbeat. As will spamming groups with links and things trying to get you to go to their site or page. But if you want to promote your business, these five tips will help you do so within Flickr's rules, while raising your overall visibility. #1. Reverse Marketing (This includes embedding links in webpages, sharing from social media sites, Pinterest) Just because you can't easily link to outside pages from within Flickr, doesn't mean you can't do it the other way around. Embed the link in photos you use on blogs, share it on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and connect other photography accounts with your Flickr account in the descriptions. This allows you to draw people on third-party sites to your Flickr page. Which then gives them access to your other photos, as well. In addition, you can create a Pinterest account to share your photos, as well. They have recently made a feature that allows sharing from Flickr, but automatically offers proper credit and a link back to the original photographer. Which will get you around those nagging copyright and fair use worries. More reading: How To Add Flickr Images On Your Blog #2. Get a Professional Account It doesn't cost much to buy an annual professional account from Flickr. For about $25 you can have an official icon showing that you are a pro user, which actually adds more credibility in the community. You also get enhanced features, such as unlimited photos, video, HD video capabilities and photo replacement if you enhance an image. But the most beneficial feature for visibility is that with a pro account, you can post a photo in up to 60 user group pools. Whereas a free account only allows you to put each photo in ten. This gives you six times the chance of being seen. You also get statistics that show you traffic and link referrals. So you can monitor where traffic is generated from and use it to improve your marketing. More reading: Flickr PRO review #3. Join Plenty Of Groups and Be Active Group pools are about much more than just posting your own work, whether you do so on a pro account, or not. It is about fostering relationships and contributing to the site at large. The more you do this, the more well known you will become. But it will be in a positive manner that gives you a reputation on Flickr, and brings people to your images. Start by commenting regularly, offering constructive criticism and telling people what you like about their images. Be encouraging and invite people to the groups you join. Participate in contests, where able. You can even start your own group, if you are ambitious. More reading: Turbo Charge Your Traffic With Flickr Groups #4. Properly Tag and Organize Your Photos   A surprisingly common mistake people make is in tagging and grouping their photos. These little details make it harder for images to come up in a search, and so limit exposure, even when placed in plenty of groups. You have to make sure you are putting precise, obvious tags in each photo when you first upload them. When adding tags, it help to write both genre, mood and description keywords. For example, a photo could be a sepia shot of someone standing in a field with a low sun. You could tag it, 'sepia, nature, woman, field, sunset, romantic, nature, calming'. This gives a decent number of relevant search parameters for a user to find your shot. As for organization, it helps to put your work into collections. This is done on your profile page. You can take sets and put them together, or just group them based on common themes, formats or any other element you might like. You see this a lot with people who make series that are meant to go together. More reading: Tips for Effective Flickr Tagging (some great advice there!) #5. Allow Creative Commons Use The web is full of blogs and sharing sites now. Many are always on the lookout for images they can use, royalty free. Stock photos only go so far, and they may be looking for something a bit better to use. Which is why so many choose Flickr, thanks to the creative commons section. They are easy to embed with links and author names, and can be found on multiple sites. For example, Wikimedia Commons always has a lot of Flickr images mirrored there. If you want to see your images gaining a wider viewing, start offering some of them for fair use. It doesn't have to be every photo, but just a select few that have licensing offered. I usually recommend photographers provide one in ten pictures under creative commons licenses. More Reading: Choosing and crediting Flickr Creative Commons photos Conclusion People love Flickr, both for personal and professional use. For the average photographer, it has limitless potential for self promotion and sharing creative inspiration with others. For businesses, it is a possible social tool that can draw others to products or services through indirect marketing. Whichever way you choose to use it, the handiness of Flickr is impossible to deny, So start boosting your visibility using the five steps above, and get to reaping the benefits. Guest Author: Ann Smarty is the serial guest blogger running My Blog Guest, the free guest blogging and content sharing platform. You can find My Blog Guest on Flickr. Image Credits: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5, Image 6.

Overcoming the Disadvantages of Social Media: Covering all the Bases Posted: 10 Aug 2012 07:05 PM PDT One of the main advantages of social media is also one of the big disadvantages of social media. The fact that there are so many social options, and so many users, make it a great option for marketers. But then you have to stay active across all social media. With so much going on in social media, the only thing worse than falling behind is looking like you've fallen behind. Another of the disadvantages of social media is everything you put out there is public, so if there are big gaps in your online activity it's obvious to everyone. So how do you stay on top? 1. Make a Plan They say that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And in social media, that's especially true. You need to know how much activity you'll have on each social media channel every day. You can't just browse and share things you like, then throw in a few details about the company. It needs to be a concrete plan, with engagement on each channel every single day. 2. Play Favorites When you're working in social media you may think of your various accounts as children that need nurturing. But your social media accounts aren't like your children; you're allowed to pick your favorites. This doesn't mean you can completely ignore one of them; you can't overcome one of the disadvantages of social media by creating another one. But you can focus on the larger sites like Twitter and Facebook and update the others more sporadically. 3. Integration is Your Friend As an individual, integrated sharing can be a little frustrating. You don't really need to be told about your friend's latest blog entry on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn within seconds of one another. Email notifications weren't designed to let you know about Mitzy's latest hairball. But as a marketer trying to overcome the disadvantages of social media, integration is vital. If you can post a blog and share it through all your social channels in one click, it gives you more time to focus on generating great social interaction. Along with the huge advantages, there are a few niggling disadvantages of social media. And having so many channels to update is chief among them. But by following these steps, you'll have a much better chance of staying on top. Now is the time to audit your Facebook Pages using this comprehensive checklist of best practices and the associated success factors. In this white paper, we have compiled a series of tests for each area you should examine. You’ll find a readily accessible overview of the points to consider with space for you to record your page's performance, either on its own or against a competitor’s. Download your facebook checklist here.

Team GB: The Social Media Rankings 10/8 Posted: 10 Aug 2012 06:10 PM PDT In an Olympic first, Usain Bolt retained both 200m and 100m Gold medals last night and confirmed his name in the track and field hall of fame – but what about the athletes from Team GB? Well, Britain also established a new first: Nicola Adams claimed a gold trophy in women's boxing for the first time ever. In an otherwise fairly quiet day that saw Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechtolsheimer win medals in individual dressage, as well as Ker-Anne Payne just miss out on a bronze in the 10km open water event, Jade Jones also set a new first for Britain as she grabbed a gold medal in the taekwondo final. Yet again, we've used our social media monitoring tool to listen to the online conversation about the British athletes, compiling a top-ten list out of the hundreds of athletes that make up the squad, as ranked by volume. Very much in keeping with our mid-week hypothesis that the winner takes it all, after looking at the 100m final data, today's leaderboard is utterly dominated by Adams. The rest of the table is made up of the big names, as were so featured heavily yesterday, with all of the aforementioned performers filling up four of the top six places. The two unprecedented women's medals really stole the show though, and over half the conversation online about team GB was centred around Jones and Adams.

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