Guest post by Matt Polsky.

Prior to the rise of social networks, online brand management solely focused on common SEO techniques such as keywords, content, and proper HTML code. These techniques were used to secure and maintain the top positions on the search engines, and to ensure that only content a company wanted to remain visible regarding its product, services, or mission did so.

However, those days are over. A company can no longer rely only on SEO to provide proper online brand management if they wish to survive in the online world. Company’s now must integrate SEO techniques with the use of social media sites if they wish to protect and promote their brand.

Social media sites have become increasingly important for companies wishing to outperform their competition. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn have opened up completely new audiences to companies, which would have otherwise not been able to be reached. For many companies’ marketing teams these social networking sites have been a marketing dream.

After Ford’s monumental success of using social media to build hype for the 2011 Ford Fiesta, companies have been scrambling to adequately market themselves online. Now consumers cannot even watch a commercial or listen to a radio announcement without a Facebook or Twitter logo being given.

However, this increased visibility does come at a price. Companies have access to multiple platforms in which they can strengthen and expand their brands, but these sites can also be detrimental to a company if the accounts are not properly maintained. The 2010 Pew Internet & American Life study found that 58 percent of all consumers with access to the internet research a company’s product or service online before giving them their patronage, and most of those consumers are not going directly to a company’s primary website either. Third party sites, such as Facebook, Viewpoints.com, and Angie’s List have become popular stopping points for company reviews and information.

If a company’s Facebook page is covered in negative press, odds are, the potential customer will immediately move on and check out competitors. For businesses to get the most out of their social media accounts, they need to properly manage each account with frequent posts, updates, and positive press. Companies should also be actively engaging their customers. Not only negative comments need a response, comments and tweets complimenting the business are great openings to build strong brand advocates.

Companies wishing to succeed in the ever-growing online world need to increase their connectivity by incorporating both social media and the latest SEO techniques. Visibility can quickly determine a company’s success or failure, and without social media sites, businesses are giving up inexpensive resources that build brand awareness and hype. As social media sites continue to rise, online brand management will become increasingly more important, and companies should become proactive in managing their social media sites.

Image credit: slagheap (Flickr)

Matt Polsky is the Senior Content Manager for VA Mortgage Center, providing insights learned from the nation’s leading provider of VA home loans.

   A few years ago at a 2007 Paley Center confab, Cisco executive Daniel Scheinman predicted that, in the future, content would find us through our social networks, rather than requiring us to seek it out.

   Flash forward four years later and there’s no doubt he was right. Increasingly relevant information - whether it be from brands, the media or individuals - is finding us through our

social networks. However, with everyone and their mother creating content, standing out is becoming only more challenging.

   Enter this guide. Eloqua and JESS3 have once again pulled together an allstar team to share their best practices in social media. However, talk is one thing. Action is another.

   Thankfully, the the team proved it had the know-how to stand out in an age of too much content and not enough time...With this resource, it’s clear that you’re in good hands to navigate the challenges.

Last July, I covered the work of Global Web Index, which offered a quick glimpse of data for global social network usage, which they called Global Web Index LITE.




Here's the entire graphic as a Slidehshare embed:

Global Map of Social Networking - GlobalWebIndex - June 2011

You can also download the PDF directly from Global Web Index's website.

The legend that outlines social network penetration by country, enlarged for more clarity:

Are there any surprises for you in here? From the planning that I see many companies doing - not only in their marketing and communications efforts, but in their actual product planning and manufacturing - the BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are essential. That's borne out here as well - although it should be noted that Facebook has very little penetration into Russia and China currently.

To me, it's interesting to look at markets like Mexico, Italy, India, Russia, Malaysia and the Phillipines, where there is a greater percentage of people sharing content rather than those simply sending messages. This means that you need to have a content plan that enables active sharing of content - photos, videos, embeddable documents and slides, etc.

If you're in a global business, how does this infographic make you think about your plans? If you're based in a single market, how do the numbers reflect what you've seen?
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We were all probably taught the difference between listening and hearing when we were children. "I hear you," you say. No doubt you've uttered that or had it uttered to you. But is it enough?

We all have a fundamental need to be heard; that implies that we're acknowledged, certainly. Technically, hearing is simply the process of sound being transmitted and received. Telling someone that you've heard them is a good first step, and while that's an easy way to make a customer feel appreciated by a major brand, there are times when it needs to go beyond hearing and to truly listen: to take to heart what they've said and take a harder look at a business practice or service.

It's a cinch
Case in point: Cinch.

This service launched in 2009 and is basically an audio blogging platform. Think of it as a Twitter for podcasting. It allows people to record and upload thoughts via a voice platform and then to share online. It's a great service and admittedly one that I haven't utilized enough. Yet.

On May 31, Cinch announced to its customers via email that it would be changing the service's URL from http://www.cinchcast.com to the shorter http://icin.ch. Easier to remember, right? And since they have an iPhone app, iCinch seemed logical.

Evidently not.

Customers didn't take it that way, at least. And while I didn't see any violent backlash online, the team at Cinch must have gotten an earful, for on June 1 - the very next day - they issued the following email to their customer base:

Yesterday, when we sent out the message regarding our upcoming website transition from http://cinchcast.com/ to http://icin.ch/, we heard back from several of our community members that they did not like the new domain choice. While it was short, they thought it was hard to remember and share with others, and did not clearly represent the Cinch brand.


Well, we took your feedback to heart. We still need to transition domains on June 7, 2011. However, we have decided to transition the Cinch website to http://cinch.fm instead. Again, other than the URL change this transition will be seamless to our users.


Please let us know if you have any questions. We apologize for any confusion.

Best Regards,
The Cinch Team

What did they do that was so remarkable? First, they let their audience know what they were trying to do, namely simplify the domain name to make it easier for the customer. Second, they acknowledged that they heard their customers' feedback. Lastly, they took it a step further and made it clear that they listened to their customers and provided a solution that not only met the business need but the customers' need as well.

As you think about your business and your daily interaction with fans, followers, customers and all kinds of stakeholders, consider how often you hear what it is they're trying to convey versus how you're listening to what it is they're saying. Are you acknowledging them simply for the sake of making them feel good, or are you truly building their daily drumbeat of feedback into your business model?

Last year, Nestle found out the hard way that Greenpeace meant business when the latter staged a Facebook attack on the confectioner. Greenpeace objected to the process of harvesting palm oil for the manufacture of Kit Kats and barraged Nestle with plenty of negative wall posts as well as one horrific, if memorable, video. But in the end, Nestle listened to their detractors and changed their business policy to a "zero deforestation policy" to reflect a more responsible and acceptable practice.

So the next time you're faced with feedback - from fans or detractors - you should ask yourself, "Are we listening?" The benefits could be tangible.

After all, it's a cinch.

Photo credit: x-ray delta one (Flickr)

The following is a guest post from Nick Jerome.

QR codes, a.k.a. Quick Response codes, are a useful way to encourage individuals to interact with a product or service. They can be used for a variety of engagement tactics including driving consumers to an ecommerce landing page, providing a coupon or giving in-depth product information.

Marketing firm MGH conducted very helpful QR code user research in February 2011:



As you can see, getting a coupon or accessing additional information are the two main uses for QR codes. The study also showed one-third of all smartphone users have scanned a QR code and two-thirds have seen one. Users who were aware of QR codes tended to be more educated and affluent and the largest majority of users were ages 35-54. As QR codes become more common, awareness is certain to grow in most demographics.

Before employing a QR code in any campaign, make sure you have covered all the basics:

• Not all users already have a code reader downloaded on their phone. Any time you place a QR code, provide a website URL like www.FSQR.org so they can download a reader to scan the code.
• This may seem obvious, but many companies have gotten it wrong: make sure the QR code goes to a site designed specifically for mobile.
• Think through the placement of the code in the real world. Putting a QR code anywhere with bad cell reception such as a subway makes it useless.
• As with any marketing initiative, measurement is key. Follow the success of a QR code with a trackable URL, which will provide stats on the number of QR code scans per hour as well as the devices used.

About the Author
Nick Jerome is a marketing services manager at FASTSIGNS®, a visual communications services provider with more than 550 locations around the world.
--

Great news for Delicious users: the service has been acquired from Yahoo! by none other than the founders of YouTube. Announced today via email and on their blog.

As you may recall, in December I reported that Yahoo! was sunsetting Delicious, the social bookmarking service, surprising many people and leaving them in a tenuous position. Many jumped ship, proclaiming Delicious dead and looking at alternative services like EverNote, Diigo and Pinboard, but others (like me) held fast, waiting for what would come next. That patience paid off with today's announcement that AVOS will take charge and will focus on being "the best information discovery service." Sounds like they'll be mining the tons of great information that Delicious users have been sharing.

For a little more behind the deal and situation that led to it, Mashable and Read Write Web have some good coverage that you may want to check out.

What's next for users?
There's an FAQ on Delicious that answers questions about the transition. I've reproduced some of it here for your convenience.

Why has Yahoo! chosen to transition Delicious to AVOS?

When will AVOS officially start running Delicious?

What does AVOS plan to do with Delicious?

Will AVOS maintain the Delicious service with all of its functionality?

How do I transfer my bookmarks?

What will happen to my public and private bookmarks?

• Delicious username
• Delicious password
• Email address
• First Name
• Last Name
• Bookmarks, Tags and Notes
• Inbox items
• Tag Bundles
• Tag Descriptions
• Network Members
• Subscriptions
• Blogpost jobs
• Twitter Auth credentials (if supplied)

What if I don't opt-in to migrate my bookmarks to AVOS?

Can I export my data from Delicious?

What are your thoughts on this transition? If you're a user, will you continue with AVOS? And if you left, would you consider coming back? Why?

Image credit: Pink Sherbet Photography (Flickr)

Empire Avenue is the new game in town. It sits squarely in the social networking space, but it has a different twist - one from which I think businesses may be able to gain valuable insights, all while allowing people to enjoy themselves.

What is it?
Essentially, it is a rewards system that makes what we already do on the web   - create and share content - fun by making it a stock market-like atmosphere. You can earn money (their currency is "Eaves") by buying other people and you can see your own worth rise by getting other people to invest in you. When tied to other accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn and blogs, your net worth rises based on the content you either create or share. But like the other sites, it's also a social network itself. It's a chance to connect and brainstorm with others by finding affinity groups ("Communities") within Empire Avenue.

How to "win" at Empire Avenue
According to the team at Empire Avenue, there are two ways to win: by being an Investor or by being an Influencer:


While the world may be defined in these two separate buckets - creators and consumers - for most of us in the social space, it's not an either/or proposition; we're most likely creating and consuming. But if you're looking for a hot tip on who's a mover and shaker and is worthy of your investment, I'd recommend these two points:

1. Think of the people in your networks who are the most active content producers (tweets, videos uploaded or commented on, blog posts written, etc.) and invest in them, regardless of price;
2. Search the "Recent Arrivals" for people you know who fit the description in #1 and heavily invest in them before their price rises. You'll be in on the ground level and well positioned for a long-term gain.

One point of interest: you can keep your activity to Empire Avenue if you like (investing, giving "Shout Outs," buying items), but the developers have created a way to make it more than just that: the rewards that you get for EA activity are limited in nature (dividends, currency for taking certain actions, etc.). By linking your social activity from other sites, you see your net worth rise more quickly. The main way the system does this is by using what's known as gamification. Yes, that's an actual term. By rewarding people with positive reinforcement for actions taken - much like Foursquare has become synonymous with - Empire Avenue uses a system of Achievements to recognize your progress. Below are some examples.

For a recent and in-depth look at how game theory is affecting the social and mobile space, take a look at what Brian Solis had to say about it ("The Games Businesses Play with Customers").

Is there more than just fun and games?
But let's get beyond the surface and look at the practical nature of what Empire Avenue has to offer. Robert Scoble, after interviewing the CEO Duleepa Wijayawardhana (DUPS), determined that one side feature he discovered was that it creates a way to better determine who's actually providing value in our networks.

Empire Avenue themselves have been pretty smart about their ecosystem, as they've already built in a revenue stream: there's The Shop, where people can purchase Luxury items such as airplanes, homes, boats, etc. For those who really want to rise to the top quickly, they can purchase Eaves with real cash. And I definitely see the potential for brands to enter the fray and sponsor items that they can offer for purchase.

Why I think Empire Avenue is onto something
Other sites such as Friendfeed, Quora or Klout all give us some information or let us interact with each other in some way, but they're each limited. To me, Empire Avenue is a much more holistic, three-dimensional system that is comprised of all of the digital grunts we get on Facebook and Twitter, as well as deeper forum-related discussions via the Communities, an aggregated stream of their activity, and - most importantly - peers' ratings of influence and effectiveness (via buys and sells). To see a really interesting conversation that Caleb Storkey had with a few influentials about this topic, check out his post.

That's a much more realistic and informative way to gauge influence, rather than a simple one-dimensional score such as Klout. I could see companies like Radian6 (recently acquired by SalesForce.com) acquiring Empire Avenue as an adjunct to their business. Think of the value they could add by giving clients a dashboard in which they could actively participate rather than simply consume information about the influencers they're trying to reach.

How do brands get involved?
While this may seem limited to individuals at this point, Empire Avenue does allow brands to get involved and has a separate business signup process. For well known brands, they lock down the stock symbol or brand name in order to preserve some semblance of order. We started accounts for Ford (FORD) and Lincoln (LINCOLN), linking our Facebook pages, YouTube channels and Twitter and Flickr accounts. We expect to add more content channels as we continue to explore the system. In the meantime, we've been lucky enough to see individuals investing in us, but we've also taken the important step of interacting with them (just as we do on every other social network) and we're investing in them as well.



Other brands that have cropped up so far include Oreo, Sears, Audi and Applebees. Stay tuned as the gold rush begins. For a comprehensive roundup of other posts about this topic, as well as a set of recommendations and caveats for what it means for brands, please read - and then re-read - Jeremiah Owyang's post. And then take a look at Adriel Hampton's Game Mechanics blog.

I've just scratched the surface here; this is a very rich subject and I'll be interested to see how it plays out. We've seen other efforts fizzle out, but to me, this seems to have more potential. What do you think? Have you started an account yet?

Oh, and if you'd care to buy a few shares of me, I'm SMONTY and I think I'm still a value stock. :-)








Image credit: unlovablesteve (Flickr)

The following is a guest post by @ericschwartzman.

Up to now, one the biggest challenges that social media posed was forcing organizations to decide just how open they should be. The belief was that information that could be public should be transitioned to social media, but proprietary information should remain under wraps in email, on the phone and in meetings.

Those that did a good job socializing their external communications, like Dell and Comcast, saw productivity gains, since conversations that occur on social media are automatically recorded, discoverable through search and shareable. But those parts of the organization which were not customer facing, or which did not interact with outside entities, were pretty much sheltered from realizing similar gains.

It is now popular wisdom that Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are good places for businesses to market their products and services. Migrating external communications to the social web turns customer service into public relations, and minimizes call center demand. But what if you want to use a social network to collaborate internally?

Until recently, no one dared share corporate secrets on social networks. When it comes to B2B social media uses like privileged discussions between manufacturers and resellers or internal discussions between sales and marketing personnel, you'd need a more intimate social network. Strategic planning, competitive analysis and product development are just a few activities most companies prefer to keep confidential.

In episode #594 of For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz discussed Steve Rubel's Ad Age column about what he calls the 'Validation Era' of online marketing. In our rush to amass friends and followers, Rubel argues, we've assembled online social communities that are so loud and so constant, that it's become difficult to use them for more than mundane conversations.

The early stage of most sales cycles is equally mundane. You start the process by searching Google and asking your online social network for recommendations. But the final decision for a considered purchase, like a car or computer, or a high-ticket B2B purchase, like selecting a raw materials supplier, has to withstand greater scrutiny. Search and social help us build the short list, but the discussion that leads to a final purchasing decision has been offline. But with the rise of private social networks, internal business conversations are likely to go social as well. And that will limit the marketer's ability to steer the purchasing decision.

B2C marketers may have some luck. But if B2B brands try to secure access to these exclusive, customer-only conversations, by encouraging their employees to engage through their personal profiles, or by dispatching their subject matter experts, they're unlikely to succeed. These B2B conversations will only be open to small stakeholder committees, no matter how trusted or influential those outside the circle may be. Private means private. After the vendors pitch, the buyers clears the conference room to discuss who they want to hire. Marketers must leave the room.

Rubel cites the rise of services like Path, Beluga and GroupMe as examples of intimate social networks gaining prominence. And indeed they are rising in popularity. But already, one high-flyer has come and gone. Google Wave, a private activity streaming service launched before its time failed to catch on, Google lost patience and pulled the plug. On the B2B social media side, Salesforce.com made its Chatter service free in February, giving up to five users the chance to establish their own, little private Facebook. Others are leveraging platforms like Jive to create their own, password protected social networks, as SAP has so famously done already.

The private social network as a B2B social media tool has numerous useful applications. But I wouldn't count on it replacing Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin any time soon. These services provide private messaging features which are already trusted enough to swap email addresses. Instead, we are seeing the dawn of an era where sensitive business conversations, which could never reap the benefits of social media, are beginning to be socialized as well.

External communications will stay on Facebook. Sensitive, business conversations will move to services like Chatter. And private social networking services will expose organizations to the benefits of leveraging social media to accelerate the pace of proprietary, confidential business processes like product development, workforce management, strategic planning, business process management, vendor sourcing, research & development and logistics. We will learn to pick the social media channel, based on the public or proprietary nature of the message.

What do you think? Have you seen interesting examples of B2B social media? Please share as a comment below.

About the Author
Eric Schwartzman (@ericschwartzman) provides social marketing research, social marketing services and social marketing training to businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. His book Social Marketing to the Business Customer with Paul Gillin is the first book devoted exclusively to B2B social media marketing.

The following is a guest post from David Murton.

To truly appreciate social media and the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, the consumer must first remember the wireless networks' distant and humble beginnings. In the year 1888, Heinrich Rudolf Herz generated the world's first radio wave. A short six years later, it translated into telegraph signals that made long-distance communication possible.

Piggybacking on Herz' radio wave, Marchese Guglielmo Marconi translated the wave into a wireless signal that would make short-distance radio transmissions possible. Perfecting his technology, he was able to gradually increase the reach of his radio waves to 31 miles. Online communication schools credit his tenacity for truly realizing the potential of future radio wave technology.

During World War II, the use of radio wave transmissions as main means of communication hastened the further honing of the technology. Fast forwarding to 1970, Norman Abramson designed and tested the first wireless local area network, also known as the WLAN. From there, the race was on to make wireless technology smaller, better, faster and further reaching.

When the courts released the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands for unlicensed usage in 1985, 802.11 technology created the industry standards for wireless product manufacture. It is from within this technology group that Vic Hayes tweaked the wireless Internet and would become known as the "father of Wi-Fi."

From there it was merely a hop, skip and jump to the fourth generation of cellular wireless (4G) standards that social media and wireless communication users enjoy today. Facebook aficionados in particular are known to congregate in hot spots that feature free access to the social network for laptops and cell phones.

The Impact on Communication Habits and Business
Harvard Business School proclaims social media and networking to be the "the most significant business development of 2010." Use of emails and phones has become a mobile endeavor that is no longer tied to the home- or office landline and stationary computer. Instead, it takes place while on the go, in transit, at the moment of opting to make a buying decision and also when actively pursuing business opportunities.

Entrepreneurs may have initially seen social media - most notably MySpace, Twitter and Facebook - as a playground for the younger generations. Yet as the true power of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook creation began to shape business visibility in the online marketplace, companies had to scramble to make an appearance. Not surprisingly, less tech-savvy businesses were not as adept at presenting themselves to the consumer.

As a result, a good many businesses are now built around primarily the aspect of promoting other businesses through social media (and especially mobile social media) applications. Freelance writers, website builders and online marketers have grown a cottage industry around the function of introducing the world to small, midsized and larger businesses alike.

Case Study: Egypt and Tunisia
Mobile devices in conjunction with social media are also credited with influencing national politics. Cases in point are the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Used to rally demonstrators, Facebook postings, mobile phone images and SMS messaging played a huge role in organizing a thus-far loose-knit regime opposition.

Using YouTube to transfer up-to-the minute information about events, protests and government responses to the entire world, 'sanctioned' local media outlets had no possibility to distort what was going on. Not only did social media shift the world's sympathies to be with the protesters, but when sharing pictures of what was happening, it was possible to motivate even the people within the countries to keep going and get even more people involved in the demonstrations.

Dispelling various incorrect claims made by the media, it became quickly apparent that the regimes of Tunisia and Egypt had failed, even as official liaisons denied any changes in power.

The Dark Side of Social Media
For all its benefits and the commercial advantages of social media applications, there is a decided downside to the mobility of the experience. For example, teenagers and even adults are spending a large portion of their days engaged in the virtual reality created by social media, which in turn affects school and work results. Who does not know someone who "just had to check their crops" before they wilted on Facebook's widely popular game Farmville?

Even more sinister is the peer pressure on teenagers to do "cool" things to show off, sometimes resulting in accidents, ill-advised meet-ups with predators and of course cyber-bullying by peers. There is a also an emerging culture that leads to a constant self-comparison with other social media users, especially by teenagers, resulting in possible psychological trauma and even depression. After all, it is difficult to not feel rejected if a friend or classmate fails to "like" a comment or suggestion.

What Awaits Us in the Near Future?
Trailblazers are busy making mobile devices faster, smaller and more powerful than ever. With the latest announcement of "brainwave to iPhone interface" from PLX XWave, wireless social media could soon become one with its users. These devices have the power to interpret brainwave activity and help shape the social media experience accordingly.

The already more commonplace text-to-speech and speech-to-text software -- along with the above mentioned mind-controlling device and simple headphones -- could even make hand held devices and laptops obsolete. Social media users may just opt to hear tweets/messages via a headphone and then post messages via speech-to-text technology.

Of course, this does precious little when it comes time for harvesting the crops on Farmville.

David Murton has been helping companies build and maintain their online relationships with customers since 2006. He is also a professional writer and blogger, with a particular interest in the open source Drupal platform. On a more personal note, David is an avid piano and accordion player, drawn especially to music of the classical and romantic periods.

Photo credit: Kaptain Kobold (Flickr)