25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community

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• Dearly Beloved We are Gathered Here Today…
• Why the Most Selfish Thing You Can Do in 2013 is Think of Your Community First
• How Social Can Help Marketers Build Trust
• Please Share My Online Content!
• ‘Tis the Season to be Pinning: Pinterest Releases New Marketing Guidelines for Third Party Promotions
• Using LinkedIn for Prospecting and Lead Generation
• How Annoying Is Today? Very, Says the Social Web
• Linkedin – The Value of Updates and Groups
• Top 3 SEO iPhone Apps To Use In 2013
• Facebook Monetization Continues At Full Speed: Will $1 Messages Work?
• The True Meaning of Social Media
• Pinterest Is Only For Girls…Not
• End of Days: The Human Race in Review (Infographic)
• How Social Listening Can Make Your Job Easier
• How to Get the Most Out of Google+ SEO
• How To Manage Your Social Media Consultant
• 4 key Factors That Are Going To Affect The Way SMEs Perform SEO In 2013
• Blogging for Business: Are Comments Dead?
• Fastrack Targets Youth With #MakeHellCool
• Pinterest’s Latest Change Set to Better Businesses
• Instagram Creates Insta-Controversy; Internet Revolts
• Is Workplace Analytics Coming to Your Workplace?
• Social Media for Different Groups of People
• Social Media – Taking Stock of 2012 and Planning for 2013
• Modern-Day Productivity Secrets [Infographic]

Dearly Beloved We are Gathered Here Today… Posted: 21 Dec 2012 02:55 PM PST I read an article last week that really confirmed what I knew and was able to pinpoint the reason for holding such a belief. I've heard it said many times in regard to social media that wherever your customers are congregating, your business should have a presence there too. Some of us have even spent advertising dollars (lots of them) to promote all kinds of products and services. When Facebook rolled out their pay for posts program a few weeks ago it really ruffled a lot of feathers. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Maverick said he's basically had it with Facebook in a recent article and suggests we all go back to Myspace. The article I read last week by J.C. Kendall said that advertising on Facebook was a waste of time for businesses. You can read it here. Why is it a waste? According to Kendall, there's no commercial intent which brings me back to the purpose of the gathering. People are not gathering on social media with commercial intent.They're there to socialize and that's why many business owners call Facebook a complete waste of time. If you think about it, how much product would you really expect to sell at a bridal or baby shower? The intent of such a gathering is not to buy but to celebrate. So those of us in marketing tell our clients to develop relationships online, establish trust and then maybe you'll get the sale. But with Facebook's recent changes, getting your brand's message seen is getting costlier and according to Mr. Cuban, just ain't worth it. That phrase commercial intent absolutely resonated with this marketer. It made complete sense and further confirmed what I knew to be true. Gathering for the sake of gathering is OK for brand building and engaging customers. Gathering and positioning yourself where there is commercial intent is far more profitable.

Why the Most Selfish Thing You Can Do in 2013 is Think of Your Community First Posted: 21 Dec 2012 02:30 PM PST It may seem counter-intuitive but major shifts in both technology and consumer behavior have dramatically changed the dynamics that decide what advertising succeeds in today's social business marketplace. For decades, traditional media like television, print, and radio have been broadcast channels that engaged in a one-way monologue with their customers telling them what to think, do, or buy. And with no alternative, consumers were largely content. With the arrival of social media, citizens and consumers around the world have been able to talk back to institutions and brands as evidenced by the Arab Spring Revolutions, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and almost every major brand marketing today including the President of the United States during the recent election, Lady Gaga with her 'Little Monsters' social network in the entertainment world, and spectacular demonstrations of consumer/brand engagement like Felix Baumgartner's leap from space for Red Bull. As a result, marketers have woken up to the idea that they need to become more social and to demonstrate how they will add value to the lives of their customers. This is more than anecdotal opinion. Major research papers from Edelman, Havas Media, and Cone Inc. revealing that consumers want brands to be more socially responsible and they are willing to work with brands to help achieve their stated goals. As a result, whether you are a solo-preneur, small business owner or Fortune 500 brand, the most effective way for you to leverage social media is to frame your messaging in a way that serves the interests of your customer community rather than yourself alone. Ever since the global economic meltdown in 2008, media savvy consumers are very distrustful of brands that have demonstrated a profit for profit's sake approach and are voting with their dollars to reward those brands that serve the greater good as well as their own bottom line. That is why you see the major brands today reframing their marketing around their purpose in order to make themselves meaningful to their customer's lives. Consider the marketing strategies of some of the top brands in the world including Coca-Cola's 'Open Happiness,', Starbuck's 'Shared Planet,', and IBM's 'Smarter Planet.' Each is demonstrating their commitment to the greater good in order to build their business. So if you are seeking to be a profitable brand in today's hyper- connected marketplace you must position your marketing around the value you bring to customer's life. As a result, authentically committing to the well-being of your customers and framing your marketing around their well-being is the most selfish thing a marketer can do because that is what customers today rewarding brands through loyalty, goodwill and profits. What's more, by doing this you company and its culture will benefit form the fulfillment that brings and enjoy the tangible and intangible benefits of becoming an effective social brand. What d you think is the greatest obstacle to brands acting and marketing in this way? Is it leadership, shareholders and pressure to deliver short term profits?

How Social Can Help Marketers Build Trust Posted: 21 Dec 2012 02:00 PM PST If it seems like everyone has grown more cynical or marketers lately, it's because it's true. According to a recent Neilsen report, only 40% of consumers trust marketing content. Yes, I agree, it's pretty discouraging. However for all you marketers out there, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. While today's consumers may have lost their overall trust in marketing messages, 90% of them trust content from their social networks. This means that it's time for marketers to seize the moment, and utilize social media to try and help reestablish some of that lost trust. "It starts with acknowledging that we have a problem," says Doug Klein, an Associate Partner at Rosetta, in a recent post. Most marketers have the view that social media is just another channel for marketers to utilize in spreading their content. "We need to instead think of it [social media] as the influencer of all channels," points out Klein. He's right. Part of the power of social media is that "referral from a friend". We may no longer trust marketing messages, but we all still trust our friends. With social tools, businesses are able to tap into that collective voice and listen to what people are saying about their products and those of their competitors. By actively listening, it gives them unique insights to help marketers write more compelling content for their audience. Today's companies are then able to capture the most talked about areas of interest and use them to help shape not only the content on their websites and customer support forums, but also to include them as features – something that Marketo has successfully mastered by introducing over sixty features suggested by their online community. Due to the digital ADD that we've all developed over the past several years, more and more organizations are finding themselves searching for that one-on-one conversation. "As a result, tradeshows you attend today have become meccas of new social media participation that remind us of that simpler, more participatory age," says Klein. For example, IBM's October Information on Demand event created a template for how real connections can be made with attendees through "social concierges" equipped with digital devices connecting with attendees encouraging and populating social content that made the event feel more personal. So how can businesses reconnect and reestablish those one-on-one conversations and ultimately rebuild that trust with their audience. "The best way to do this is illustrated by brands that return to their roots and remember who they're in business to serve," says Klein. To better illustrate what he means here, let's look at three companies that really understand what it means to speak the language of their customers. GetBackToScratch.com is a micro-support community run by a food service equipment manufacture. They honor the artistry and passion of cooks making food like mom and grandma did – from scratch. Cisco is another great example. They do a good job connecting the heritage of the importance of networking to larger societal issues through its blog, Connected Life Exchange. Lastly Intel; Intel has done an excellent job connecting with individuals utilizing Facebook and with their recent slogan: "What makes your computer special is what it makes possible – Go Do Something Wonderful." The moral here is that there's a huge opportunity to fail in social if we continue to treat it like just another channel to push marketing content through. Social requires us to get away from being promotional and sensational and instead treat customers with special attention. It's about including their thoughts in the offerings we make, to being truly interested in what they have to say in the real work, to communicating about the things they care about – with a vocabulary that illustrates they can trust us.

Please Share My Online Content! Posted: 21 Dec 2012 12:20 PM PST Please share my online content! It was a cry of desperation. The woman in one of my Facebook groups urged fellow women entrepreneurs to support one another by sharing, commenting and liking each others online content. She pleaded that we can all benefit from sharing our peers information. I understood her frustration. As entrepreneurs and business owners we want our content shared. And let's just be honest, we'd like it very much if that content went viral! But for some reason the content you've labored over doesn't get the response you had hoped for. A handful may comment, a few more may like, but very few will actually share. And that's what we want. We want people to share our content. The good people over at The New York Times Customer Insight Group conducted some research to explore The Psychology of Sharing. This study asked why do people share online. This is the same question asked by the perplexed business owner in my Facebook group. Why aren't people sharing my content? Well according to the study, people do share content and here's why they share: To bring value and entertainment to their communities As a way to define themselves—one respondent said they shared content that reinforced the image they wanted to present To build and nurture relationships Self-fulfillment To bring awareness to brands and causes So you have to ask does your content fit the criteria. Does your content benefit the reader and their community? If you answer no, more than likely your content won't be shared. Key Factors to Influence Sharing What do you do if you discover your content doesn't fit the reasons mentioned above? The study sites seven things you can do to boost shareability. I'll list the first five. You'll need to: Tap into the consumer's desire to connect with their community — not just your brand. Establish trust. "Trust is the cost of entry for getting shared." Keep it simple and it'll get shared. Make them laugh or at least chuckle. Tread carefully though when your message is targeted to an international audience. "Embrace a sense of urgency." There you have it. Shared content is customer-centric content. Shared content is relevant, it connects the reader to their community, it makes them look good, it's not primarily focused on your brand and it's simple. Those are the keys to irresistible and shareable content.

‘Tis the Season to be Pinning: Pinterest Releases New Marketing Guidelines for Third Party Promotions Posted: 21 Dec 2012 11:15 AM PST Just in time for the holidays, Pinterest has released new Marketing Guidelines for companies using the innovative photo-sharing website for their contests and sweepstakes.  For those unaware, "pinning" has become the next new verb among social media users, right alongside "facebooking" and "tweeting."  Heck, even the White House now has an account.  The concept is pretty simple: users browse the web, spot something they like, and "pin" it onto one of their "pinboards." Retailers and other businesses have started using Pinterest to host their promotions.  Typically, companies will ask people to pin a certain number of their products, then email a link of their specially-named pinboard to the sweepstakes’ sponsor for an entry into a random drawing.  Hoping to capitalize on Pinterest's popularity this holiday season, retailers like L.L. Bean, Lands' End, and Mary Kay, have used this approach to develop "Win Your Wish List" promotions.  By entering these contests, customers can win gift cards or their favorite items, just by creating and sharing their pinboard. Similar to Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines, a principal motivation for the new Pinterest rules is the site's desire to ensure that promotion sponsors do not falsely associate themselves with Pinterest, implying that the site endorses or sponsors their promotion.  The Pinterest Marketing Guidelines make it clear that promotion sponsors should not state or imply in their promotion rules (and associated materials) that Pinterest is a sponsor of, or affiliated with, their promotion if that is not the case.  Moreover, the new rules make suggestions for successful use of the site in promotions and discourage the use of "spammy" promotional techniques that may overwhelm the site, violate the law and anger consumers.  The guidelines provide sample marketing materials and examples demonstrating how sponsors should and should not promote their contest or sweepstakes:   Pinterest's guidelines offer other tips for sponsors that plan on running a promotion through the website, such as: Do: Encourage authenticity: Reward the quality of pinning, not just the quantity of it. Promote your contest: Link to your Pinterest account or contest board from your website, social media and marketing channels. Prevent spam: Read up on our anti-spam measures to help keep your contest fun and useful. Make getting involved easy: Create clear instructions and a simple process. Pinterest also warns against engaging in the following activities: Don't: Encourage spam: Steer clear of contests that encourage spammy behavior, such as asking participants to comment repeatedly. Run a sweepstakes where each pin, repin, or like represents an entry. Ask pinners to vote with a repin or like. Overdo it: Contests and promotions can be effective, but you don't want to run a contest too often. Suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses you: Make sure you don't say or imply this anywhere in your marketing materials or branding. Finally, the guidelines remind sponsors that they are responsible for making sure their Pinterest-based promotion complies with federal and state legal requirements.  This includes writing the official rules, setting and enforcing eligibility requirements, and complying with various marketing regulations.  Pinterest also suggests that sponsors work with a lawyer to ensure compliance with these rules and regulations. So marketers, if you're gearing up for a Pinterest promotion this holiday season, make sure that you disclaim Pinterest's sponsorship of your contest and that you're otherwise in compliance with all relevant guidelines in order to make the promotion successful.

Using LinkedIn for Prospecting and Lead Generation Posted: 21 Dec 2012 11:05 AM PST LinkedIn has always been the professional social network, and it now boasts over 187 million users across 200 countries. While that may not seem like a lot compared to the astronomical user bases of Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn also lacks the personal and often meaningless information that clutters up those other platforms. Instead, it is where people come to showcase their careers and find information relevant to their professional lives, making LinkedIn an invaluable resource for businesses. However, LinkedIn is too often discounted as nothing more than a place to search for jobs. While that is certainly one of its core functions, LinkedIn is also a powerful marketing tool that should be a part of every brand's digital strategy. According to a study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversation rate at 2.74 percent. That's almost three times higher than both Facebook and Twitter. "It's the best tool we have for business development," writes Anna Bratton of Salesforce. So to kick off a new series on how to effectively grow your business with LinkedIn, we'll examine how to use LinkedIn to make prospecting and lead generation more efficient—ultimately leading to more sales and an increased ROI. Find Who You're Looking For LinkedIn's search function is excellent, and the advanced search is better. It allows you to filter by company, title, location, and keywords. With a premium account, you can even look at company size and seniority level. Use this to find influential people at companies related to your industry and you can uncover hundreds of new sales leads. Save your searches and have LinkedIn send weekly updates when a new person matches your criteria, effectively creating a potentially endless mine of new business. Let's Get Social LinkedIn groups are an invaluable way to discover new opportunities. With a quick search, you can find groups of all sizes discussing topics relevant to your industry. Participate in the conversation, ask questions, and answer other people's questions earnestly. If you have content, share it, but be sure it is relevant to the topic. You absolutely do not want to be labeled a spammer, so don't enter a group hoping to do nothing but promote your brand. Your contribution will set you and your company apart as thought leaders. In addition, you can view the profiles of other group members and send them direct messages, even if you aren't connected with them. So if you identify someone who looks like they could benefit from your services, check them out and connect. Finally, consider creating your own group if you can't find the specific topic you're looking for. This has its own advantages, such as seeing every LinkedIn user that joins. Never Cold Call Again After searching and joining groups to identify potential leads, use the information in their profiles to learn about them before making contact. Who are they? Which team do they work with and what are they currently working on? Do you have any common connections with them? Most LinkedIn profiles will provide the answers to these questions. Check out which apps they use and if they are attending any events. All of this information can help you reach out to a prospect in a more meaningful and relevant way. Change often means new opportunity. Pay attention to a lead's status updates, profile changes, and new connections to find new ways to connect. Reach the Unreachable Have you ever attended a conference or panel discussion and seen that one C-level employee with whom you would love to speak? And then that person leaves before you or anyone else gets the chance? Big companies always have those high-level people that just seem impossible to contact. They don't have public profiles on social media, and their contact information is completely missing from the corporate website. You would be surprised with how many of these "unreachable" people maintain a presence on LinkedIn, and are actually very reachable. After you find them with a search, see what groups they are in and join the conversation. Remember, you can send direct messages to members of a similar group. Also check out their connections and make note of any similarities. LinkedIn has a function that allows users to introduce common connections in a personalized manner. If all else fails, premium LinkedIn accounts have access to InMail—LinkedIn's private messages that are guaranteed to reach the intended person. According to LinkedIn, these messages are 30 percent more likely to get a response than cold calling, and it could be just the thing to reach that executive that filters out all other forms of communication. Remember that prospecting and lead generation on LinkedIn is about building relationships. Don't be a hunter; participate and contribute in a meaningful way. Use common sense and don't be obnoxious. Next week, we'll examine using LinkedIn for recruiting, and show how your brand can take advantage of the professional network's resources to attract the top talent in your industry.

How Annoying Is Today? Very, Says the Social Web Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:55 AM PST If you're reading this blog, chances are the world didn't end, in your time zone yet anyways. For years leading up to this very date, December 21, 2012, chatter has been building regarding the possible end of the world. Thanks to some ancient prophecies and the Mayan Calendar, doomsday-ers and naysayers have been debating the plausibility of the actual event. You would have to be living under a rock to miss the buzz. In fact, even that wouldn't spare you the endless amount of coverage this topic has received. Most likely today will indeed be the most annoying day on social channels. Ever. Lets take a quick look into some stats and sentiment on the topic. In just the past month "end of the world" mentions have spiked to 3.5 million mentions and over 4.2 billion impressions. Over two million of those mentions have been just this week. The topic has clearly hit the annoyance nerve with Net Sentiment being a lowly -2% last month and taking a dive to -9% as of yesterday. And Mayans are faring even worse, with -14% sentiment. To benchmark that number, sentiment for Instagram was 12% this week following the uproar of the new terms of service regarding selling photos. If an apocalypse has to occur, those of the Zombie persuasion are leading the pack for the preferred method. Sorry Mayans, maybe next time. Blame The Walking Dead. Zombies are in this year. We see many also say they "feel fine", and obvious reference to the 1987 hit single by R.E.M. The band must be loving the resurgence of their song "It's the End of the World As We Know it". Leonard Bernstein, mentioned in the song and a popular moment in the lyrics, has 100% net sentiment currently, in case you were wondering. Whether you are a relieved believer or annoyed disbeliever, or even a Belieber, it's safe to say the social web will be happy to put the whole "end of the world" matter behind us. Until the next one, of course.

Linkedin – The Value of Updates and Groups Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:30 AM PST What value do you see with respect to joining groups? I think there is some inherent value in following groups. Some groups have a few members and others have many members. If you are just starting off in groups, join several and try connecting with the people in the group. Start off by leaving some comments on their posts and then after you have started communicating with them, ask if you can add them as a part of your connections. This is probably the best reason to join a group. You can try starting your own group based on your job position or industry. Just be careful. Often times, you may be the only person communicating to the group and I just do not have the time or patience. The other value of groups is that you can control the updates associated with it. I prefer the once a week email. Again, its just another place for people to gain information. What value do you see in updates on the Home Page? This is the page I view the most on Linkedin. The sort function is awesome. Go to the drop down box which says "All Updates" Click on the item that says "Shares" This view gives you a picture of all the great material people are sharing with you. This helps you sort out the Twitter and other updates that people share across all networks. Also, the people who take the time to share articles share really great information. I also share this blog post everyday on this page. I find that it gives me more influence with my connections and people stay in touch with me. Which item: Updates or Groups has the most Value? For me, the Home Page Updates is the best place to see a return on your time invested on Linkedin. This page has really been improved over the years and the added filtering under "All Updates" drop-down is the difference maker. What value do you get from Updates and Groups? Please share your experience! photo credit: ryan_rancatore via photopin cc

Top 3 SEO iPhone Apps To Use In 2013 Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:25 AM PST The process of search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, has been around almost as long as the internet itself. As more and more people started using the web in the mid 1990s, brands and companies started to wake up to the business possibilities. And where there's a business opportunity, there will be ways of exploiting it. One of these techniques is SEO whereby a company aims to appear higher on a search engine's search results. By appearing high up on the list of results for a certain word or phrase, companies are able to boost visitors to their website and make more money. Search engines like Google and Bing are many people's go-to website when they log on to the web, making SEO a potentially lucrative process. The techniques involved in SEO are constantly changing and adapted to an ever-progressing internet but the basic principles are always the same. There are lots of tools out there for analysing some aspects of SEO, and it can be a pretty daunting to those who are first dipping their toes in the water. Of course, as the web has gone mobile, SEO tools have too. There are now a range of SEO apps available but what are three of the best? See the below for an introduction on 3 apps that come recommended. Found SEO Tool App Based on the browser version of the same name, this app provides a quick SEO audit of a url help businesses get the most from their websites. Both versions work by simply entering a URL into the tool to get a report on the SEO errors within a website. The SEO Tool app works by giving a website a simple, easy-to-understand overview of where it is going wrong in terms of SEO. The Found app covers a number of key areas of a website's SEO performance quickly, including technical issues like XML sitemaps and domain canonicalisation. It also looks at the actual content of a website, analysing items like on-page keywords and Meta data. There are many updates planned to look at extended features based upon user feedback. AdWords and SEO Secrets Anyone who is new to SEO and the techniques involved in boosting a website's traffic and online presence will know that it can be an incredibly complex and hard-to-master process. Different people will tell suggest many – and often conflicting – things about what you need to do to improve your website's SEO. That's where the AdWords and SEO Secrets app can come in very handy. Created by US-based Docstoc Inc, this app aims to make SEO simple and easy to understand so even the most inexperienced of web users can get their head around the concept. This application is also free and uses a range of techniques to make SEO easy. With more than 30 videos from SEO experts on virtually every aspect of the process, the app allows you to really get to grips with the various techniques. There is also a range of resources and SEO tools to use as your knowledge and understanding progresses. Even if you already know the SEO basics you'll find something useful on here. Website SEO Analyser Similar to the Found SEO Tool app, the Website SEO Analyser app will help you analyse the performance of your website. Created by well-respected SEO company Koozai back in 2010, this app is still relevant today thanks to regular updates that move with the SEO times. The Website SEO Analyser is also free to download and will create a detailed report on a website once a URL has been entered. Everything from simple facts like a website's age, location and number of indexed pages are included, along with a break-down of meta data, page headings and alt tags – perfect for SEO novices and experts alike. I hope this gives you an overview of some of the best iPhone apps available to check for website issues and to learn about optimisation practises. If you have some other recommendations I would be grateful to hear about them in the comments.

Facebook Monetization Continues At Full Speed: Will $1 Messages Work? Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:08 AM PST Facebook has had an interesting journey through 2012. Before May the company was still private. A lot changed in May of this year when Facebook went public. The stock plummeted amidst a minor stock scandal and the realization by Wall Street that for having close to a billion users (at the time), Facebook didn't make oodles of cash. Maybe it was panic, or the challenge of turning the company around, or maybe it was getting screamed at by investors; something kicked their butts into gear and they began monetizing Facebook and implementing plenty of changes to help them make more money. They are ending the year with some interesting changes. Newest Changes at Facebook When you work with your clients, you know how important a social media presence like Facebook is. It lets your clients build their brand and communicate directly with customers. Social media can help to build page rank and other important search characteristics. That's why much of Facebook's early monetization strategy this year was targeted at businesses. Promoted posts, sponsored stories, and improved web and mobile ads helped bring Facebook's stock price up to where it is today. Yesterday the press reported on a new monetization test for Facebook. According to Donna Tam at CNet Facebook is going through with a "revamp of its popular Messages service" allowing people who "want to send [messages] to people they're not friends with" to do so for a $1 fee. The paid messages would go to their inbox as if it were a message from a friend. $1 Messages? Will it Work? Remember, this is just a test, and it appears to be relatively basic going forward. What would this mean for your clients if it became the norm for Facebook? If the service gets developed a bit more, it could become another way for businesses on Facebook to reach their customers with information, offers, and other useful messages. I can see the service acting somewhat like a personalized Sponsored Story or Promoted Post. Facebook will be happy, and it shouldn't bother users much if they get something out of the message and it doesn't feel like spam to them. As Josh Constine writes at TechCrunch, "Facebook could offer high-priced messages that go directly to users and would be essentially guaranteed to be read. He goes on to say that marketing through paid Facebook messages "could leapfrog email marketing and its low open rates." There's definitely room for Facebook to develop this little $1 message test it has embarked on to make it more attractive for agencies and businesses. Facebook is Here to Stay Despite all of the troubles the company had with its stock and the multitude of naysayers throughout the year, I think the company has demonstrated throughout the latter half of 2012 that it takes itself seriously. They have embarked on numerous monetizing projects and changes and their stock is recovering. They have always made money – just not enough for Wall Street. Every time I think that Facebook might be behind the times or not a great platform to market on, I simply remember that there are one billion users on the service. One billion! Heck, Facebook was the most searched term for the fourth straight year in a row. Let's hope Facebook can turn this paid messaging system into something businesses and users can benefit from. Do you think $1 messages is a good idea for Facebook to explore and expand upon?

The True Meaning of Social Media Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:05 AM PST Every Christmas I usually sit down to my favourite Christmas movie A Miracle on 34th Street but this year I won't be. The reason we're so drawn to Christmas movies is they put perspective on why we really celebrate Christmas and that it is not about the presents or baking the perfect Christmas ham, it is about being with the people you love. This year I won't be looking to a Hollywood blockbuster to regain perspective; I am simply looking to social media. I was searching for social media content online for a client and then I stumbled on a story that has caused this sudden shift in my 20 year old tradition - "JetBlue Delivers Cousin's Goodbye Letter to Newtown Child's Funeral". The article from Mashable reads: "Noah Pozner's mother wanted to bury a handwritten notes from his family with her son, a 6-year-old victim of Friday's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. This might not have been a challenge for local family members , but Noah's cousin lives across the country… and Noah's uncle had already arrived in Newtown for the young boys funeral". So Noah's Aunt took to twitter. "Tweets were sent to JetBlue and Delta. The two airlines running red-eyes between Seattle and New York, and with in 30 minutes JetBlue replied:" And this was the note that was needed to be sent to Noah: It seems silly to be looking to blockbuster films for Christmas inspiration, when all we need to do is look to social media. Here is the other stories this week that has also inspired me. So I put a challenge to you. Look to the social media for your Christmas inspiration and then send us your inspirational story.

Pinterest Is Only For Girls…Not Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST The Gender Dynamics of Pinterest Is Pinterest a women's site? Statistics would indicate that the answer is yes, at least for Pinterest use in America: according to a recent survey of social media demographics conducted by Pingdom, 79% of Pinterest users in the United States are female, while Pinterest use is more balanced in the U.K. An infographic produced by Visual.ly in February shows that 56% of Pinterest users in the U.K. are male. The countries' different uses for Pinterest account for the difference in gender dynamics. U.S. users turn to Pinterest for inspiration for crafts, gifts and special event items, and hobbies and leisure, while primary uses in the U.K. include venture capital, blogging resources and services, and web stats and analytics (though crafts are a common interest among the U.K. audience, too). Board of Man But Pinterest doesn't have to be a women's site—it just so happens that a lot of women use it. Some American males have decided to breach the Pinterest gender gap by using the site as a place to display their own macho interests. Drew Hawkins, a social engagement manager for marketing agency Engage, once complained about the site's predominantly female orientation to a female co-worker, who pointed out that the site is what you make of it. So Hawkins created his "Board of Man," which features how-to's on cooking bacon and pork tenderloin and boasts more than 200,000 followers. Manly Alternatives And those who want a more male-oriented social media site can turn to Gentlemint, the most popular male answers to Pinterest-style sites among its cohorts like Manteresting and Dudepins. It promotes itself as "a mint of manly things" and "a place to find and share manly things."  Users tack images, rather than pinning them; its "Popular" section displays superhero ornaments; a Star Wars screen capture of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo walking with Chewbacca to receive their medals for destroying the Death Star, with the word "Swag" displayed at the bottom). There you’ll also find a picture of Ronald Reagan riding a fierce-looking dinosaur with an American flag fluttering in the backdrop. While these images do contrast with the teddy bears, letters with elegant calligraphy script, and cake pops found on Pinterest's "Popular" page, both pages have things in common. Both have advice on apparel, inspirational quotes, and dieting advice. So while the specific focuses of each may differ for the site's users, they do still share some of the same underlying interests. It’s More Valuable than You Think And it isn't as if Pinterest is useless for men altogether; just like their female counterparts, men can use Pinterest for discovering new products, like the latest iPhone apps or the best of nerdy-cool video game gear. And Pinterest allows you to follow certain boards, rather than following users so that you can tailor what you see. Furthermore, Pinterest boards can give you ideas about what your female loved ones are interested in, making selecting gifts for them come Christmastime or birthdays much easier. But apparently Pinterest's relevance to men is so murky that some have deemed it necessary to outline how Pinterest can benefit male users. Googling "how do men use Pinterest" results in articles explaining how men can use it, as opposed to how they do use it. So how can they use it? As the following infographic from JM Block demonstrates, ideas include finding tips for home repair projects, viewing the latest gadgets and toys, and learning about workout routines: Experts are divided on the gender dynamics of Pinterest. Some argue that it isn't a bad thing that the majority of Pinterest users are female, while others point out that it may be just a matter of time before Pinterest catches on with men—after all, Facebook started as a site for college students, and look where it is today. What are your thoughts on gender and Pinterest usage? If you're a male Pinterest user, what do you use Pinterest for? Image credit:Email Designer.

End of Days: The Human Race in Review (Infographic) Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:55 AM PST Humans have been living on planet earth for centuries, fulfilling a myriad of timeless feats that have altered the way we go about our everyday lives. While these milestone advancements in science and technology have bettered the lives of generations to come, they have contributed to countless imperfections as well—from a deteriorating ecosystem to costly world wars. As we reflect on the End of Days, could the future of the human race be up for fatal risk or imminent growth?

How Social Listening Can Make Your Job Easier Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:40 AM PST Businesses large and small use Twitter and Facebook to communicate directly with their customers. Social media allows us to announce new products and campaigns and build free brand awareness. However, social media isn't a one way street. Customers can use social media as easily as companies, and when they complain on social media, everyone can see it. Regardless of your company size or industry, you need to monitor social media. This is a pretty universally accepted concept, but implementing a formal process in your organization for social monitoring can take be a lot more difficult. A lot of organizations think of social media as an add-on to traditional processes rather than a transformative trend that's going to change the way businesses operate forever. The fact that you're reading this on our blog suggest that you fit into the latter category – as we do – and still face resistance to social media integration with business processes. Here are a few reasons we've found to work well to help the resistors see the light: Collecting Customer Feedback Rolling out customer satisfaction surveys can take a lot more time than simply reading through tweets and Facebook posts. Some companies, such as Square, set up Twitter feeds just to collect customer feedback. Responding to a survey can take a lot more effort than shooting off a quick Tweet, and a lot of customers have figured that out. Customers also tend to get incredibly vocal on social media in the heat of a moment of frustration with your products. They put their feedback in their own words, and you can learn exactly when, why, and from whom complaints or praises arise. You can then adjust products or processes to fix errors, or you can reward customer loyalty that you may not have discovered. You could spend three weeks building a traditional case study, or you could spend three minutes creating a Storify of great customer quotes. Which would you rather do? Gauging Real-time Reactions When you launch new campaigns, tracking them in social media is just as important as tracking them in your CRM. CRM and marketing automation tracking show you who engages with your campaigns as well as what they click on, but social media allows you to get real feedback. Companies may have figured out how to manufacture shares and likes, but you can still collect the personalized messages that your customers send about your campaigns. Social media also allows you to quickly take advantage of news events that are trending so you can gain publicity in areas that you've never before been able to. Twitter has completely disrupted the PR industry. Getting a press release on the wire is expensive and can be timely. Releasing it on your blog and promoting it via social media can get it front of a lot more eyes a lot quicker, and a lot cheaper. Enriching Sales Presentations Social media offers sales reps an unbelievably easy way to validate statements without using statistics. If you want to prove that people are unhappy with your competitor's product, what better way to do so than to compile a list of angry tweets and put it in your presentation? If you want to demonstrate that marketing executives face a debilitating problem that you can solve, why not display tweets from real marketing executives facing those problems? Unveiling Connections Perhaps one of the most untapped benefits of social media is it's ability to reveal connections that you wouldn't otherwise know you have. LinkedIn is great because it shows you your professional network and the professional networks of your colleagues, but what about all your personal contacts that aren't on LinkedIn? Your previous employer's network? Your education network? Your reference customers' networks? LinkedIn has a ways to go before its a universal connection solution, but even so, finding one person to whom you're connected can make the difference between a three month nurturing process and a quick reference phone call.

How to Get the Most Out of Google+ SEO Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:10 AM PST Social media strategy has become an important part of a company's SEO efforts, and pages on networks like Google+ and Facebook are critical for maintaining high online visibility. Google has created many tools and advantages for business pages on Google+, including big SEO benefits on their search engine. This article shows how to set up and use a Google+ page for better SEO results. Metadata and Search Terms in About Page To start setting up your Google+ page with information that will help people find you online, click on your About Page, then click on "Edit" to enter your information. Use the "Tagline" section to enter a short snippet about your page. Try to incorporate important keywords, like your page or company name, as well as a key word or phrase that helps explain who you are. The "Introduction" section allows you to input additional information that will help users know they have found the right page. You can actually embed links into this section, and since this section is highly visible by both users and search engines, it is a good place to incorporate link citations to relevant pages. Set up your official page under the "Website" section, and once this is in, make sure to click on the "Link website" button, just to the right of this section. This button brings up a piece of code that you or your webmaster can insert on your website. This code will allow your Google+ page to show up on the right hand side of relevant search results pages, and it helps Google determine the relevancy of a search query to your Google+ Page and your site. In the "Links" section of the About tab, you can update any other pages that are relevant to your business. Make sure to include links to your Facebook page and other social network pages. This will help Google determine the relevancy of these pages, and also provides users with more options to connect with you on these networks. Make sure to include any other important keyword or key phrase citations for your business, including your address, business phone number, and email address. Ensure that these citations are uniform across any websites and social media pages associated with your business. Address information is vital for any physical establishment, as it can help new potential customers find your business using Google maps and places. Photos/Videos Tabs The Photos and Videos tabs give you the option to enable tabs or edit sharing information for your media. One piece to note on this is the checkbox to "Show geo-location on albums and photos you've uploaded." If your page is for a brick and mortar style business, it might be a good idea to check this. If this is checked and your photos are shared with the public, this can help Google connect your page with its physical location in Google maps, and help connect other nearby users. Make sure to name photos as well. Posts on G+ Pages Posts on your page also contribute to your pages' SEO. Post content can help Google determine the relevancy of your page. By sharing media from your other pages around the web, you can help establish the relevancy of these links to your Google page. Posts on Google+ pages are trawled by the engines and show up in results pages as well. Posts can be embedded with links, and the more these posts are shared or +1′ed, the more the link's value increases. Read more about the value of +1′s from Google here. Keyword usage in posts does not seem to affect its search visibility, according to Ian Lurie in his Portent article, which assesses feedback on Google+ from several SEO thought leaders. His findings show that it is much more important that the content is good quality, as this is more likely to be +1′ed by other users for better rankings. Google+ posts are instantly indexed in the search engine, and posts that go viral will quickly build their search visibility. For more information on optimizing Google+ SEO, make sure to check out AJ Kohn's in-depth article on the subject. Connect with Other Pages and People Who you have in your circles can affect your page SEO as well. If you add others in your industry (especially if you share comments and contribute to their discussions), Google can better establish your page in your industry. If you contribute and start your own discussions in your industry's online community, you can be much more visible to other relevant users. Cyrus Shepard has another great SEOMoz article on Google+ SEO, which includes some useful tips to start engaging with other industry users. A strong social strategy can help drive a lot of traffic to your business, and Google+ is an important part of this strategy. Like Facebook pages, it provides another outlet to share your media and information and increase your online visibility. At the moment, Google+ is well established for businesses, and many other SEO writers I have read and I all seem to expect a lot of growth into 2013. The fact that Google+ pages and posts receive so many SEO benefits definitely raises their visibility in SERP's. This will inevitably drive a lot more traffic through Google+ and help users get more accustomed to the platform. On top of the SEO benefits and increased visibility of running an active Google+ Page, Google+ has many great tools for businesses, so once your page is set up, make sure to explore the social platform's other useful capabilities!

How To Manage Your Social Media Consultant Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST Managing social media for business is a challenging and time consuming task. You might be doing this yourself right now and planning to hire an external social media expert to help you leverage this new medium to increase sales, manage your brand identity online, or provide your customers an additional channel to reach you. Unfortunately, there is no formal education that you can look for in the right candidate – marketing management comes closest, I guess. As for experience, we all have some experience in using these networks, but exploiting them for a specific purpose needs more than familiarity with the social media networks. Carl Natale makes some interesting observations about skills a social media consultant should have. Hiring someone to help you get set up on the networks and get started can save you a lot of time. You can then choose to continue using the consultant or get your full-time staff trained – they can also learn by simply observing what is being done. But as a very thoughtful reader observed in a comment to my earlier post, offloading social media activity to an outsider is a bit difficult as the conversation with followers, connections, friends etc. must be formal and personal at the same time. Can the social media consultant capture the essence and philosophy of your business? Neal Schaffer provides some excellent questions that can help you hire a social media consultant. So Let us say you have found a great consultant who can help you achieve your goals through social media. But this is definitely not the end of the road. This is your entry into the exciting world of micro tweets, entertaining posts, and valuable comments. Now is when you have to put on your captain's hat and sail the boat. There is a crucial handshake that needs to happen between you, the business owner and the expert you hired. Unless you're clear about what your philosophy is and share important historical stats and data, you might be throwing money down the drain. We bring you six ways to make the most of the social media consultant you hired. 1. Discuss and Define the Objectives Various organizations have jumped on the social media bandwagon for many different reasons. Some with hopes to generate leads, others to engage existing customers, while some to recruit people. Whatever your reason, you need to discuss this with your consultant so that she can come up with a strategy and plan the road map. The discussion will also help you quantify the results that you expect to see out of this investment. 2. Outline the Level of Service What will you do and what will the consultant do? Social media management is a complex job. Depending on your objectives, the exact mix of tasks will change. For example, if your objective is customer support, an external social media consultant will have fewer tasks and your product support person – need not be a dedicated resource – will need to invest more time. It is also desirable to have some control over the content that will be posted online. Would you want to manage each comment and post, or does your consultant have the skills to make those decisions? You can keep the help you get restricted to just posting content, or go all the way and hire someone to manage the entire thing top-down to achieve your business objectives. 3. Assign a Point of Contact It could be you or the sales and marketing guy – the key here is assigning the person whose abilities you trust. Even when you have a skilled consultant, you need to be in the loop. The dynamism of social media requires that you respond fast, and even if your consultant is skilled, she might need some critical business information to respond to a specific comment. Assigning someone as a point of contact frees you from the task and keeps information accessible to the consultant. 4. Create a Buffer No. I am not talking about the application. Give some time to review the material planned for the week. All publication houses follow a calendar; there is no reason to not have a plan for the week or more. Accidents Happen. Just as you take some additional time into account while estimating a project, it is helpful to have posts for 2-3 weeks reviewed in advance. 5. Discuss and create a Guideline This is the most important thing. There are numerous examples of people shooting off their mouths online on micro blogging platforms. You want to avoid this at all costs. Define what you want the consultant to reply to. For example, keep specific questions related to business philosophy and future plans for yourself and let the consultant respond to routine Thank Yous and His. Do you want them to respond to any accusations or complaints? Maybe not. Specify who will address such questions. This could be the assigned point of contact or you. 6. Meet/talk once a week Talk about what's happening in the office. Talk about interesting things you thought about your products and other related subjects. This will help the consultant look at the company from the inside. Social media engagement is a process. It is not something like an advertisement in a Newspaper that you get designed and published. The better the person gets to understand your business and views, the lower you will need to assign resources to the consultant. Have you been through this already? Tell us about your experiences. What was the best and the worst of hiring an external consultant to manage your social media activities?

4 key Factors That Are Going To Affect The Way SMEs Perform SEO In 2013 Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:35 AM PST It's been a hectic year for the SEO industry, with numerous new algorithms and updates which saw thousands of website search results drop dramatically. Google hasn't made it easy for SMEs in 2012 and it doesn't look like it is going to get any easier to get ranking on the much desired page one spot of the search results. Add People have listed 4 key factors SMEs are going to have to consider when thinking about their SEO strategy in 2013. Mobile search With smart phones and tablets rapidly usurping laptops and PC's, it's increasingly the norm to use mobile for local search  purposes which has already proved to have great benefits for local businesses. This makes it vital for SMEs to get their businesses listed locally and ensure their website is mobile friendly as next year they can expect to see an increase in traffic to their website from mobile devices. Quality over quantity link building In the beginning, link building strategies simply consisted of getting more back links than competitors to get ahead until the Penguin update changed the face of SEO. SMEs now need to focus on earning links from authority and trusted websites that are relative to their business. Video SEO Video is not a new concept but 2013 is going to see more businesses develop content for consumers rather than the search engines. Web video has proven to be the most shared content throughout social media networks and in 2013 social signals such as likes, shares and retweets are going to hold more strength with the search engines. Google Author rank Google Author Rank is the measurement of authority of the people who write content on the web and is set to play a significant role in determining Google ranks in 2013. It will no longer only be based on domain name and authority but also the authority of the person who writes the content on their website. Google author rank will have great benefits to SMEs who are churning out great content as not only will their results be more visible but will also help eliminate the infamous problem of duplicate content. It seems 2013 will see a swift of the way businesses think about SEO and instead of achieving immediate SEO wins, businesses will need to begin developing long-term SEO strategies.

Blogging for Business: Are Comments Dead? Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:30 AM PST I do not want to be one of those Internet conspiracy theorists that proclaim things are dead–especially services that I deem to be very valuable like SEO. However, blog comments seem to be dead–or at the very least dying. And I tend to blame it on two fairly recent trends. One is, of course, social sharing. Why would you comment on the blog itself, which will only be read by a few, when you can post it to Facebook or Twitter and add your comment there, to be read by virtually everyone you know? Second is the fact that spammers have gamed comments as their new link building opportunity. Additionally, it is rare that you read comments that actually add value to the post. In fact, comments usually just say "I hated this" or "I agree with this" and do not give many reasons why in either case. So what does it matter? Well, if you're like this blog and its contributors, you grow concerned that comments are not coming in at a wild and rapid rate. But then, like our contributors, you go on social media and see your content is being ingested, talked about and shared (another reason online reputation management is your friend). Therefore, you surmise that your content is worth reading and receiving feedback. But what about the days when blog comments gave you additional viewpoints and allowed you to respond to those that asked smarter questions? What about the days when editors had to append notes or updates to their blog posts because of people pointing out an indiscretion or an untruth? It made us better writers. We still answer to people; perhaps just on a different platform than before. Certainly social media has had its share of fails and wins in regard to reader response. However, I wonder what form blogs will take should people take their conversations to social totally. That is, if there is no conversation on the blog's site and the writer is no longer in control of where the conversation goes, what will happen to the blog itself? Perhaps eventually, we will only rely on our social media sites for blogging and will stay away from hosting sites like this one. But I think sites like these are an invaluable resource, one that catalogs trends, insights and tools over time, developing and changing as the digital landscape does. To regain control of the conversation, it is becoming increasingly important that we have command over our social brand. Not only monitoring what people are saying about our blog posts, but what they are saying about the contributors and the quality of content overall. In addition, being proactive on social channels and asking for feedback about blog posts is imperative for driving engagement. Perhaps the number in the comment bubble will be low, but you will still have your finger on the pulse of the conversation surrounding not only the topic, but on your blog's brand. What do you think about blog comments? Does it matter that they're dying (or dead)?

Fastrack Targets Youth With #MakeHellCool Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:21 AM PST Fastrack, the bold and definitive youth brand that emphasises on 'moving on' in life, has come up with an exciting campaign targeting its young consumer segment. The campaign called "Make Hell Cool" is based on the end of the world prophecy by the Mayans where the world would be ending on the 21st of December. Beginning a week prior to doomsday, the campaign urges youth to sin as much as they want so they could be a winner in hell! About Make Hell Cool The campaign that would be ending today, has created quite a few blasphemous ways to rock in hell. Make Hell Cool has a dedicated website that serves as a one-stop location for the campaign, complete with a background score of 'Stairway to Hell' and a timer with the countdown. The website also integrates the brand's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube page. The 3 sections Obituaries, Confessions and Last words help to share your own or your friends' obituaries, confessions about dark secrets and your last words. If you can be hell's finest, then you could win yourself a free ticket to attend the Koh Samui full moon party in Thailand. And daily winners could get 'End of the World' hampers and other Fastrack gear. Make Hell Cool website You need to login through your Facebook account to be able to make a confession. Once logged in, you can post an obituary or make a confession or share your last words. You can also share, comment or like other's posts. There is also a live tweets section comprising of tweets with the hashtag #makehellcool. Make hell cool promotes the limited edition of Fastrack 'End of The World' gear, specifically created for the campaign and carrying 21.12.12 date on them. Apart from displaying its lot of watches, sunglasses, bags, belts and other accessories, the site provides a store locator and the link to buy the products online as it is also integrated with the brand's main website from where one can easily navigate back to the 'make hell cool' link. How cool is it? Youngsters are prone to 'End of the world' discussions and the idea of living life to the fullest occupies the most mindset in youth. Blending the two concepts into 'Make Hell Cool' is a cool idea that is certain to resonate with the youth. It is a well-executed campaign as well with a dedicated website and a convenient Facebook login. To add to this, the campaign further strengthens its brand positioning of 'Move on', where moving on to hell is made way cooler if the Mayans were right about the end of the world. However, this looks extensive work for a short term campaign. 'Make Hell Cool' is well integrated into the brand's main site where one can also browse through the collections and buy them online or find a store nearby. The concept of integrating Facebook and Twitter in the website, will work in the brand's favour for obvious reasons. In a nutshell, Make Hell Cool is perfectly targeted towards the youth and brings about the right engagement with them, apart from helping brand communication. So, what do you think of 'Make Hell cool'? Have you shared your confession yet? Do share your thoughts on the campaign.

Pinterest’s Latest Change Set to Better Businesses Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:20 AM PST My relationship with Pinterest is that like any other— ever-changing. I remember distinctly when I first learned of the photo-sharing website (on Twitter, no less) and knew I just had to score an invite during its beta testing stage to become a user. I learned how to create my boards and have been pinning numerous recipes, outfits and workouts ever since.  Formats, capabilities, and number of users continue to change and grow, but it wasn't until I started working at Kuno that I looked at Pinterest from a business standpoint. Then, last month, Pinterest introduced its latest development: Pinterest for Business.  What's New? Cat Lee, Pinterest Product Manager, posted the new features now available specifically to better businesses on the company’s blog. "We want to help more businesses provide great content on Pinterest and make it easy to pin from their websites," she wrote.  First and foremost, businesses have new, specific Terms of Service to agree and adhere to—differentiating personal accounts from business accounts. There is even a "Logos, Trademarks and Marketing Guidelines" section that offers an even easier understanding on how to use Pinterest's identity and assets. Corporate users looking to create an account are encouraged to sign up directly as a business. If you already have an existing Pinterest account though, don't worry. You won't have to start from scratch. Pinterest is giving you the option of converting a personal account to a business account, allowing you to specify your business name and verify your website. You will also see various widgets and buttons you can include directly on your website to invite people to follow your company's account and its boards. Pinterest even offers case studies of successful business profiles of companies like Etsy, Jetsetter and Allrecipes. I, personally, am a fan of Etsy and found it extremely interesting to read how Pinterest has helped showcase the brand authentically and increase sales for Etsy's sellers. A Look to the Future At this point, the Pinterest for Business option seems like a win-win for all. A Forbes.com article states it simply: "The more businesses join, the more content is created, repinned and circulated, and the larger the user base grows as a result." There are even talks about the possibility of adding analytics to the social media site. What benefits do you see in setting up a Pinterest account for your business? Photo credit: someecards

Instagram Creates Insta-Controversy; Internet Revolts Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:10 AM PST New Privacy Policies Aren't What They Seem The Instagram controversy that made us all forget about the impending doom of the Mayan Apocalypse may not have been all that big of a deal. With a significant percentage of social media users in complete upheaval about the photo-filter social media network claiming to have the right to our photos of breakfast pastries and puppies, Instagram has taken note of the lack of approval and retracted their updated policy. Well done, Internet users. Instagram's actions are proof that if you make enough stink, you'll get your way! What did the policy specifically say? "You agree that a business may pay Instagram to display your photos in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions without any compensation to you." The Internet went crazy over the wording of the new terms of service, but many didn't actually understand why. Most assumed that, like Facebook, Instagram would be able to sell its photos to companies to use for advertisements, and they were right to assume this. But Instagram isn't much different from any other social media site. Every other company on the Internet that stores its users' data has similar, if not the same, privacy policies in place. In fact, over 1 billion people agreed to these terms and services when signing up for their Facebook accounts. But did this controversial rewording really matter? No. In fact, when you first signed up for Instagram way back in the day, you agreed to these terms of use. So what's changed? Nothing really. Now they're just being more upfront about it. If you remember, back in 2010, Facebook went through its own little privacy controversy by updating its Rights and Responsibilities in which the company announced that it now had the right to sell any photos to anyone that wanted them, unless you took control of your own security settings. Facebook owns Instagram. They bought it for a shocking $1 billion. The policy actually aimed to make things a little more clear, though the resulting confusion indicated that this attempt failed. The policy took out all of the "if, then, like, such as, and wherefore to" language and actually boiled it down to "Someone can purchase your photo, and use it." Now, this policy has its limitations. They can't edit your photo. They can't change anything about it. They can't add in their own caption about what's going on in the photo and they can't add wording to it. The Good News So you'll never find yourself in situation where you're driving down the interstate minding your own business when suddenly the photo you took of yourself doing the ever-popular, yet highly unattractive "duck face" is splashed up on a billboard as an advertisement for bad Botox injections. A company can, however, use your geographical location to determine which ads would be best to show you while using their app. It's important to remember that Instagram is not a non-profit agency. They have to make their money somehow. And with a $1 billion debt to pay off, Facebook is looking for the best way to capitalize on their biggest purchase to date. The sale of user photos just might help with that, but again, users have known about it from the start. A company, we'll use Applebee's, for example, can take any photos taken at any of their restaurants, and post them to their various social media sites with captions like "The best view at the such-and-such Applebee's!" Does any of this seem familiar? It should, because Facebook has been doing this for years. Their advertisement processes are essentially the same. Ever seen a sponsored ad with text that your friend actually wrote? If you love The Big Bang Theory, and post anything about it, the studio and network can pay to have that promoted across your friends' timelines. So if my photos aren't going to be altered, and Instagram has basically had these policies all along, what's the controversy? Who knows? One thing is for sure though, and that is that Instagram didn't do a great job explaining to the public what the changes actually meant. That's something they're working on right now actually: they've recently released a statement that they are going to reword their new terms of service and have clarified that they don't plan to sell your actual photos. They've decided to remove that language from their new and updated terms of service. Your photos of pancakes and Christmas lights are safe, for now. After the outrage that poured out of fans threatening to delete their accounts, Instagram and it’s owner Facebook have decided there are better ways to go about this and we'll look forward to hearing the new terms of service in the coming weeks. image credit: love your skeletons

Is Workplace Analytics Coming to Your Workplace? Posted: 21 Dec 2012 06:26 AM PST With the difficult economic times managers are coming under increasing pressure to get more out of the resources available to them.  Central to this is to ensure that we're getting the most out of each employee in our team.  Aligned with this is a fierce battle for the brightest talent in the marketplace. These twin goals have created a growing appreciation for understanding the talent we have, and of course the talent we don't have.  Workplace analytics is pivotal to this drive to understand our human capital. A new report by HR company i4cp set out to explore the workforce analytics scene to determine what it is that separates the good from the bad.  It came to a number of conclusions: High performing organisations take a more calculated approach, using data for strategic, long-term planning.  Nearly twice as many high performers did this compared to low performers.  A similar number were also rigorous in assessing the payback and ROI of their analytics work. Turning data into information is the most pressing analytics challenge and high performers are better equipped to meet it. A commonly repeated lament among HR practitioners is the difficulty in determining what the data gathered means. This was the top data collection obstacle for all survey respondents. High performing organisations take full advantage of processes, automation and standards to ensure data accuracy, while low performers rely mostly on manual checking. Twice as many high performers report using company-wide standard definitions as a method for guaranteeing data accuracy. Both high performers and low performers check data reliability, but high performers use automated processes (68% to 38%) to a greater extent, which not only reduces errors but frees up employee time for more pressing tasks. High performers have HR leaders that are highly engaged in using analytics to drive performance; Low performers by contrast are content to supply data to the executive team. More than twice as many high performers have HR leaders receiving workforce data than low performers (81% to 33%), which suggests a more robust, analytics savvy HR department in more successful companies. Predictive analytics are underused for human capital measures even by high performers. Predictive analytics can reduce uncertainty and provide an evidence-based grounding to the decisions of both HR and the business.  Both high performers and low performers are still finding their way in developing the skills and technical capability to perform and use predictive analytics. The idea that high performers use analytics more than low performers is not a new one.  A 2010 study by MIT came to a similar conclusion, revealing that high performers used analytics five times more than low performers. So how do you go about starting on the data driven path?  The book Calculating Success: How the new workplace analytics will revolutionize your organisation outlines six key steps. Step 1: Frame the central problem As with any major project, you need to understand the context within which you're working.  Why is this project important?  Earlier this year Forrester identified the importance of finding your 'burning platform' to aid transition from old to new, and this is just as crucial for a transition to workplace analytics. Step 2: Apply a conceptual model to guide the analysis Next you need to figure out what it is you want to measure.  It needs to be something that is fundamentally important to the business. Step 3: Capture relevant data It's unlikely that you have a shortage of data.  The difficulty comes with making sense of the data you have, and then being able to act on your findings.  Try and simplify the metrics you measure so you can isolate the relevant information across business units. Step 4: Apply analytical methods Suffice to say, this could be a discussion in its own right, but applying the right analytical methods is key to getting the right insights from your data. Step 5: Present statistical findings to stakeholders As with any data, it needs to be presented in a way that makes it easy for stakeholders to take action.  This should be focused around the central problems you identified earlier. Step 6: Define action steps to implement the solution Once you've identified the areas for improvement you'll need to create actions to improve them.  This is not a one off process so using the data to underpin a culture of continuous improvement will be crucial. Do you use workplace analytics in your organisation?

Social Media for Different Groups of People Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:05 AM PST Groups of people like clubs, civic groups, companies, institutional organizations and the like who share common interests and concerns commonly extend their beliefs and advocacies to colleagues via online technology platforms offered by the web. In open web browsers, such aggrupations get the word out via portals and social media. These are venues for discussion and fora among those belonging to certain groups/organizations and those not necessarily members but nevertheless genuinely interested. You can be part of such merely by participating in the online discussions about any particular subject. If you find a forum topic to your liking, you may also take part and perhaps learn a thing or two from other participants. This is the essential atmosphere of mindshare that online communities offer. It is interactive and instantly gratifying since info collaboration and exchange between participants is carried out in real-time. Info exchange Organizational portals serve as websites that encourage discussion and online participation among registered members. If you wish to participate actively, you may need to register online and be a member first of specific interest groups. If you wish to merely observe, you can just access such portals and gather information willingly aired by those taking part in forum discussions. Discussion and willing exchange of information among likeminded people and groups of people also happen with social media. Take the case of Facebook and the hundreds of thousands of groups it hosts within its vast social media infrastructure. You, as well as anybody else, can quickly get a group page going merely by signing up to a Facebook account for the kind of group you have in mind. You can initially target friends from your personal Facebook account's friendlist to introduce it to other potentially likeminded users. Discussions in social media are less technical in nature. Info exchange is more intimate and is commonly done via private messages, comments, shares and likes. Connecting businesses with markets Owing to such possibilities, web portals and social media are also used by businesses to connect with their various markets. You may view web portals and social media efforts done by various companies, groups and organizations as aggressive marketing options aside from mere advocacy forwarding activities done online. Both premises are correct because of the following enablers: Enables specific and relevant information to be readily and reliably accessible. Specific interest portals and social media groups and their discussion and forum content will always be specific and relevant to consumers and info seekers because they have a clear and definite discussion agenda. Topics are clearly defined beforehand in portals. Social media status shoutouts initiate discussion among peers and page administrators can delete, bar or block irrelevant, disrespectful, or misleading comments and "trolls" from the discussion or page. Portals and social media offer reliable accessibility anywhere there is web access. Enables analytics to determine market response. Portal discussions in any forum can be used as an indicator of genuine market response especially when joined in by consumers and retailers. Web analytics can quantify such from verifiable forum info sources. Social media user reaction towards marketing information can be measured by analytics in terms of how much organic info sharing happens and the amount of virality any posting enjoys. Enables business-to-business engagement. Forum discussions between business owners contribute to information exchange that proves mutually beneficial to those in participation. This helps industries achieve coordination and creates the atmosphere of healthy competition sustainable. Enables consumers to get helpful info from other consumers. Social media's impact on retail is attributed to its inherent ability to allow its users to interact with other users in ways that influence their buying habits as consumers of retail products. Price comparisons, where to get the best deals, and promo opportunities are often discussed freely in social media. Enables online communities to be open to revenue opportunities. Portals often derive revenue from ad displays in their websites while social media groups can openly launch promos and branding effort targeted at certain groups and their members. The online community is a market sector in itself.

Social Media – Taking Stock of 2012 and Planning for 2013 Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:45 AM PST December is the time of year when many of us contemplate the year that's past. A stocktake, if you like, of what has and hasn't been accomplished and learnt. And a look ahead to what you'd like to achieve in the year ahead. In the spirit of end-of-year reflections and New Year resolutions, why not take a look at the year that was for your business on social media and make plans for 2013? Here are a few pointers to help you on your way: Break it down Take a retrospective tour of your business's social media in 2012 from start to finish. Were there any defining moments? Was there a campaign that was well-received or particular type of post or shared content that followers and friends responded to particularly well? Make notes, define what it was that worked and look at ways to replicate those successes moving forward. Learn from mistakes Whether it was a slightly inappropriate post or the Christmas party photo that probably shouldn't have made the cut, recognise your mistakes and learn from them. Put together some social media guidelines about what is and isn't in line with your brand and business and circulate it internally. That way, there's a measure for what is and isn't okay for your social media. Measure your worth The proof is in the numbers. Use social management and monitoring systems like Radian6, HootSuite or TweetDeck to identify what is and isn't working. Consider the place of social media in your SEO and analytics and revise as necessary. The start of a new year is as good a time as ever to overhaul and start fresh. Plan ahead Get a plan in place for 2013. Consider your business's goals and create a social media strategy that will help you achieve them. Ensure that your social media efforts are in line with the rest of your business brand and content marketing vision. Be consistent in sharing and creating interesting and relevant content. Interact with your followers and friends. Use social media to build relationships with consumers (both potential and existing) and peers.

Modern-Day Productivity Secrets [Infographic] Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:25 AM PST Feeling overworked is something most of us can relate to these days. In fact, recent research conducted by Wrike revealed that a whopping 87% of respondents admit they overwork, hampering much productivity (though more than a third of them say they don't feel overwhelmed). Such is life in today's data-driven world, ey? As information overload continues on its merry/wild/earth-shattering way, so grows the importance of unlocking new keys to productivity and efficiency. With the help of Wrike's survey, Mashable created the graphic below to help the cause. A few key points: • 64% of respondents feel most productive between the hours of 8 and 12 am • 10.9% feel most productive between the hours of 4 and 8 pm • 54.6% of respondents feel deadlines mobilize the best skills • 76.8% feel a sense of responsibility kicks their rate of productivity up a notch • Being in a good mood came in second (56.9%) for turbocharging productivity It's not brain surgery–the little things (vs. ostentatious perks or eventual rewards) really do make a big difference. If you're a project manager, try putting a strict midday deadline on the more important projects and make sure work tapers off through the second half. If people are coming into the office knowing they've got important stuff to do immediately, that would increase their sense of responsibility during their most productive hours. And if they aren't going home with a workload to finish before their head hits the pillow, they're more likely to come into work the next day in a good mood. Check the infographic below for more handy facts:

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