Get that RSS feed!

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is what most online geeks love to tap! It allows users to share content on blogs, websites and other social networks. RSS is called a ‘feed’. It helps readers access to content that is regularly updated. Many websites and blogs include the RSS icon which lets users read content.

The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds. (Wikipedia)

The biggest advantage of RSS is that it allows users to stay informed about things that they want to. You can subscribe to RSS feeds of my fav blog and read posts and updates when something new comes up. Feed Reader and News Aggregators allow users to use RSS feeds from the sites of their choice whenever they want. Web-based feed readers like Bloglines, Google Reader are quite popular and simple to use. Find sites that allow you to syndicate content.

Viewing content gets easy and controlled. For instance, in my Google Reader I have subscribed to blogs, websites, articles, that I would love to read more about such as Mashable, Social Media Examiner, TechCrunch among others. You could also add keywords that interest you.

Go ahead, and subscribe to the RSS feeds of websites you simple love! Also, make sure to add one on your blog/website.
More at http://www.whatisrss.com/

Social Science & Social Media

An article on Social Media Today, talks about the relevance of social science and its relation with Social Media. Social Science as we know is the study of society and relationships. We are all born into a society and are constantly communicating with people around us. The need to interact and communicate is what keeps a society/community well bound.

Similarly, Social Media is all about communicating and engaging with customers across channels online. With the rise of Facebook and Twitter, networking is just a click away. Brands need to engage with customers in a way that allows people to share and exchange information. Social Media is all about gaining visibility by developing human relationships. Posting content or talking to your customers increases loyalty and helps you win new customers in the process. This creates credibility and trust.

It's important to have friends, to share knowledge and information, to network and make life a bit easier. The same applies when it comes to virtual friends. It's great to see that you got a whole lot of friends out there. (The average number of friends a person has on Facebook is 150.) It overwhelms us when we get so many friend requests, likes and comments. There is a transformation taking place; we are a whole new personality. We love talking to friends via a wall and through pokes. It keeps us going. Social Media is changing the way we maintain relationships.
What we do in life is replicated online. Take for instance, LinkedIn- the fastest growing PNS. We all want to be recognized for our work and our skills and talent. A LinkedIn recommendation is a great way to get noticed for the right reasons. Twitter allows us to share information to a whole lot of people with similar interests.

There many such examples of online activity that is closely related to 'social science'. Social Science is the way forward in Social Media.

Infographics to tell a story!

A picture speaks a thousand words and infographics do just that!
It is nothing but a graphic work that is designed to tell a story in words, pictures and graphics. Also known as Information Graphics it helps tell a story in few words.

Businesses and design professionals make use of this amazing technology to convey ideas in a simpler manner. Infographics appeal to social media marketers. With a vast amount of information to keep up with, it’s easier to reach out to social media experts through infographics which get the message in a clear and concise manner. It not only helps end users grab information but also helps social media marketers to sell what they got. As it is more appealing, users are more likely to bookmark, vote or share it online. Most social media marketers are using infographics to collect data in an image and get it across to users.

Working with design professionals for creating the best infographics is a must. It works when the information said is accurate, has less text, the image has colors that are visually appealing. Most businesses are resorting to infographics to communicate messages both internally and externally. Externally, it helps brands acquire more traffic, and saves time. It is an excellent method to showcase facts and figures.
For more on Infographics, read searchengineland
sociatic

Guide to Twitoaster

Twitoaster threads and archives all your Twitter conversations giving you statistics and ranking. Helps you improve and optimize your conversations with followers and your second followers. It helps in archiving and threading Twitter conversations, managing replies, simple mentions and retweets. Arnaud Meunier is the brain behind this successful application. Five things that make Twitoaster are – The Home page, Profile Page, Conversation Page, Search Page, and the Ranking Page.

Using the Home Page - Managing conversations, replying, tweeting, extracting links and images is a lot easier. You get to see hot users and #tags by the country in the home page. Yellow background next to the profile image means new replies since last visit.

In your Profile Page it will show you your rank and statistics by the day and hours. This is all with regard to replies. You can check your new replies and simple mentions. When it comes to following users, only those on Twitoaster will show up. If the profile name is in blue it shows that the person is using Twitoaster.

In the Conversation page – One can share, retweet, see who has started the conversation and extract the links, images from that conversation. You can reply to the right conversation or the point that you want to make.

The Search Page allows you to filter conversations by user, or titles and date. Also the experts in the conversation are highlighted in yellow. Filtering can be done in the following ways -
All Tweets (default): Whole timeline
With Replies: Only Tweets that received at least 1 reply
With Retweets: Only Tweets that received at least 1 retweet

The Rank Page shows you the ranking by category globally along with distinct users that week and a chart or graphical representation.
Also one can add Twitter conversation widget onto your blog/website and to iGoogle.
Twitoasters therefore is an useful application for brands, organizations, and people who have a large follower base and want to archive their conversations systematically.
Read more on this at twitoaster

Facebook status updates – Do they annoy you?

With Facebook reaching 500 million users worldwide, it is no wonder that its 'status updates' is the most widely used feature with 60 million status updates reported per day! This is in addition to the 700 million pieces of content shared on Facebook each day! Twitter a platform for sharing status updates and Google Buzz joining in to offer the same, it is overwhelming to see how individuals use these channels for updating what they do and think.

Looking into Facebook status updates is a task by itself. Add your friends and you’ll know how daunting it is to read these status updates. For one, it is a great way to share information about yourself and the world around you but seriously how does it matter to me whether you are going shopping alone! (Unless, we are good friends)

The best part about status updates is that you can tag people you want to send these updates to, which make the job easier, especially when updating something that is directed at a particular person or people. Also, Facebook settings allow you to customize who can share information and comment on your wall. In www.jeffbullas.com he talks about five types of Facebook updates to avoid.

It gets really annoying when your status updates show you as being a Facebook wannabe, trying to gain attention of all the Face bookers of the world or those on your list, and then there are some who live in a world of their own thinking people did miss their status updates!

But not all is chaos here, Facebook status updates go beyond what you ate, where you partied and those hate messages you direct to your ex. Using the status updates for sharing news, videos, images, content or your work is great. It shows your true personality rather than pretend to say or like something that you really don't or that which really is not you.

Check your Facebook news feeds and see what gets your attention and what annoys you. I'm sure you will figure out what's the best way to use status updates and how to really win likes and comments that are genuine.

What's buzzing?

Gmail's Google Buzz which is a take on for Twitter may not be as popular as Twitter for business purposes, but the statistics which state that it has over 9 million posts and comments make us explore Buzz better.

Well, for one it allows you to follow all your Gmail contacts. And getting real time updates from them. Google Buzz allows one to share links, images, videos, and anything that is of interest to the people you follow or to evoke interest and comments. One can reshare, like, comment on the updates too. Make sure to update your profile so that it appears on Google search results. Having an incomplete profile makes it unsuitable for Google search results.

It also lets you integrate websites such as Picasa, Flickr, Twitter, and your blogs. What you buzz will not go to Twitter but your tweets will show up on Buzz. It gives you the option of sharing updates either private or public. Most of the content published on Google Buzz is from Twitter and very less percentage of it is done manually on Google Buzz.

It is not being used the way it has to be and it is also seen that very few individuals use it regularly. Whether people would experiment with Google Buzz one cannot say, with Facebook and Twitter bringing in applications and features that are getting users hooked onto it.

Big Five of Social Media for Business

Using Social Media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and YouTube helps increase visibility and your Google rank too. Optimizing these channels in the right way will help drive traffic to the website. Most brands and organizations use these top five social media platforms in their business and incorporate ways to gain profitability. Social Media Optimization is the need of the hour. Brands like Starbucks, Zappos, Dell... use these social media platforms to the maximum and reap various benefits.

Having a Facebook business Page is the first step to getting the most of social media. Recent reports state that more than 3.5bn pieces of content are shared each week on Facebook! There are more than 50% of the brands marketing on Facebook, as it helps build relationships and establishes credibility and trust. Having a Page that talks about your brand and selling your brand image to millions of people online is the key. Initiating discussions, polls, and making it as interactive as possible gets people coming back to your Page for more. Making it as visual as possible with images, videos, interesting contests, and give aways etc. is a great way to optimize Facebook.

Twitter, the best microblogging site is growing in leaps and bounds! Twitterers are blogging on things that matter and on every field and aspect of life. Tweeting can be done anywhere anytime thanks to various mobile and iPhone applications. News, images, videos etc can be easily shared in a short span of time. Twitter allows users to follow like-minded people and share ideas and knowledge faster than any other platform. Following the right profile and updating tweets must be looked into. Overdoing it gets very annoying, also tweets don't last long. Hence make sure to tweet at the right time using the right tool. Hashtags allow one to follow and search information in an organized way. There are various Twitter tools out there that help you follow the right profiles, schedule tweets, add images, videos etc... Do try them out and optimize Twitter for your business in the right way.

The most popular Video Sharing Site, YouTube, is another way one can optimize social media. It is the third most visited website. Most brands today have a YouTube channel that has videos that talk about their company, products, offerings, demos, interviews, events, announcements and many more. Some have third party videos that do the job of spreading the message for your brand. Having a YouTube channel lets you add friends, who comment on your videos, subscribe to your channel and this in turn increases views which are the only measuring factor for YouTube. It’s streaming two billion views per day!

The world's largest PNS – LinkedIn, is getting businesses and organizations hooked onto it. It is seen as a channel that not only gets you grab the right job and business deals, but also where professionals ask questions, participate in discussions, conduct polls and arrive at what's best for their business and career. LinkedIn now has 70 million members, with one million company profiles! Places like India are seeing a rapid growth in LinkedIn users. The integration of various LinkedIn applications such as Twitter, Slide Share, Polls, Box.net make the platform more appealing. One can have a personal profile, group profile or a company profile on LinkedIn, each having its own merits.

Lastly, it’s the good old blogs that give you the liberty to share views and opinions on just about anything under the sun. Blogs need to be optimized so that it is read by people who matter; also it ranks high in search engines... Blogs that are updated regularly have greater chances of being ranked high in search engine results. Incorporating RSS feeds is another way to increase your blog subscriptions, and followers. Having a blog that talks specifically on a nice subject is the key. Company blogs like Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have been great examples. Blogs are an excellent way to market your brand image, sell products and services, maintain and acquire customers... and many more. Blogging and then tweeting your blog post, sharing it on Facebook, MySpace is a good way to share your content, which in other words is known as Interlinking.

Get the most of these big five for your social media...

Source: www.jeffbullas.com

Unlock Your World With Foursquare

A geo-location based mobile social media tool which lets other users know where they are by ‘checking in’ at locations and you may also earn rewards & badges by checking in’ frequently.
Foursquare can be used whereever you go be it at an Airport, public transport, museum,concerts, restuarants etc… The maximum ‘check in’ at one particular place or regular ‘check ins’ makes that user the ‘Mayor’ of the particular place. You can also see who else has ‘checked in’at the particular location. One can even add or plot the details about location on the map you are at, if it is not yet on Foursquare.
Foursquare can be a powerful tool for businesses. Foursquare is collaborating with restaurants and service providers to offer promotions for those who check in to their location with this app. For businesses, Foursquare“check-in” has become the equivalent of a new “fan” on a Facebook fan page. One such example is their recent partnership with Starbucks. As of March 11, 2010, frequent Starbucks customers who ‘check in’ at locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards.

Download the Foursquare app to your cell phone and instantly link to your address book and Facebook and Twitter accounts to discover where your friends are hanging out. See if they’re near you by looking at where they’ve recently checked in.

Social Media statistics

Social Media statistics astound us every minute with their findings and numbers!

Picture this -
Social Media Networks and Blogs consume nearly 25% of peoples time online (one in every four and half minutes online)

Brazil is the top nation when it comes to internet consumers with 86% visiting a social media network (74% of USA internet users visit a social media network)

Facebook is the world’s most visited social media brand with 54% of the worlds internet population visiting the brand

Japan has the lowest reach of Facebook active users at 3%

More than 35m Facebook users update their status each day

Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%. Currently, there are around 2.5bn uploads to the site each month

There are more than 70 translations available on Facebook

There are more than 3.5bn pieces of content shared each week on Facebook

India is currently the fastest-growing country to use LinkedIn, with around 3m total users

70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog

Twitter received 180 million unique visitors a month to its website

Total number of Twitter users at 105 million (12 months ago that number was 8 million)


More can be found at:

Jeffbullas.com

Econsultancy.com

An introduction to LinkedIn

It's not just the Social Networking Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut making waves across the globe and among various demographics, it's also the PNS or the Professional Networking Site - LinkedIn. Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is a business-oriented platform that helps individuals and organizations network with people across the globe.

Its growth has been amazing with more than 70 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide as of June 2010. The features of LinkedIn give you plenty of opportunities to expand and grow your network. LinkedIn helps businesses and organizations acquire new customers, buy & sell various products, recruit suitable hires, and make you sell yourself and your company for better prospects.

The advantages of LinkedIn cannot be ignored... One can know and learn more about one's own organization and other organizations receive updates on company information, get news and announcements and many more. Adding connections not only expands your network but makes your profile credible. Following people and companies is another way to keep-up-to-date with the discussions and news around.

Joining various groups depending on your industry and area of interest is a great way to share knowledge. Participating in polls, discussions, answering and posting questions make you gain visibility and more importantly gives you a whole lot of information needed to make your job easy.

Various applications like incorporating the Twitter account to LinkedIn, adding in SlideShare, polls, blogs etc makes your profile look interesting. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile yet, do create one right away and get the most of it!

Tips to make your blog interactive

Blog is one of the interactive channels in Social Media Marketing. This is a two-way communication channel as it creates interest in the target audience/readers to respond and become part of the blog communication.

Here are few routes to make your blog interactive.

Commenting: Allow users to comment on the blog post, this way user become part of your blog & they get to interact with each other apart from the interaction between the blogger and commenter.
Interact with comments: Blogger has to respond to comments posted, which shows the readers that their comments are valued. This would ensure in users revisiting the blog.
Drawing attention of the readers: Acknowledging and rewarding good comments by “Liking” the comment, would draw the attention of the other readers & make good use of the comments section.
Ask Questions: Asking open ended questions as a blog post would encourage users to share their knowledge by respodng to the posts. This should be done on the later stages when your blog has a good number of followers.
Add a forum: If the content of you blog is B2B oriented, adding a discussion forum to the blog for interaction among the users will also help.
RSS Feeds: Allow users to subscribe to your blog through rss feeds.If you own a Facebook Like page link the blog to the page through Social RSS app, similarly you can do it to your Twitter profile & LinkedIn group.
Share widget: Add Social bookmarking, Facebook &Twitter buttons for users to share the blog post on the social media channels.
Blog followers gadget: Show off your followers by adding the “FOLLOWERS” gadget to your blog.

Social Media Optimization

Online marketing has changed the strategies of traditional marketing, paving the way for new found marketing techniques. As we know online marketing is pull marketing, that is, it directly speaks to consumers. Social Media Optimization does just that. It creates buzz around a brand and increases visibility and creates awareness.

Social Media is a buzz word in today's day and age. The level of interaction among consumers is great in the social media space. But how does one optimize social media?
Social Media like SEO, drives traffic to the website. It is done through various channels and platforms like blogs, communities, podcasts, social networking sites, and microblogging sites among others.

Social Media Optimization is possible when one interacts with the consumers and brings about a two-way conversation. Encouraging consumers to participate is the key. Many brands fail to excite their consumers online. Hence, it is important to know your target audience well. “Who is your target audience?” “Who are you talking to?” and “what are you talking about?” must be paid attention to.

Content is another major factor that gets consumers back to you. Keeping it short and simple is a must. Customizing content and messages for each channel helps. One cannot have the same tone and messaging for both Facebook and LinkedIn. Content creation, thus is an important part of Social Media Optimization. Also, overdoing the marketing strategies online, kills the purpose and goal of the particular brand. Consumers do not like to be told what to do; it has to be done subtly. It is vital to choose the right marketing platform that can help you meet your goals and objectives. Letting others use your content such as subscribing to RSS feeds helps. Letting users bookmark the content and tagging is another way.

Marketers today are seeking to optimize social media in more ways than one. So, don’t just use social media to create buzz, optimize it to your best advantage! And get the brand talking to your consumers, so that they keep coming back for more!

Source:rohitbhargava

What makes a Facebook Official Page work?

This post is for all Facebook enthusiasts who love to market their brand and organization online. As more and more companies jump into the social media bandwagon, Facebook is one channel, marketers cannot afford to miss, let alone avoid.

Every brand wants to create an Official Page or previously called a Fan Page for more visibility and interaction among fans. Social Media Today talks about creation of these Pages. Having an Official Page lets customers and potential customers discuss and offer feedback to the brand/company. It is an excellent method to build conversations and retain the network of people that the brand has built. Facebook Pages have immense business potential and lets brands reap maximum benefits. Though it sounds simple and easy to market on Facebook, it isn't so nor is it rocket science. Strategies must be laid out and followed... There are millions of people out there talking a zillion things! So what is it that gets you the most number of 'likes' and 'friends'?

It is important to talk to your customers with a personal touch. Having many updates can confuse and irritate people. Hence it is advisable to post a minimum of three messages a day. Starting discussions, creating a poll, updating fans about the industry trends, new and upcoming products, announcements, uploading photos and videos of events, interviews, and demos is a great start. Having compelling content that gets readers attention must be given importance. Facebook gives one the advantage of adding FBML tabs that are customized and interactive for the user. There are many more things that can work wonders on Facebook. With Facebook changing the way the world looks at the online world, marketers are making the best use of this amazing platform!

Share your thoughts on marketing on Facebook.

Exploring Twitter!

Twitter is creating waves worldwide, as people today want to share every piece of information. And with such easy access, we have Twitter being used to share what one's pet doggie does, to celebrities' narcissistic behavior to businesses bagging the biggest deals and Twitter being used for humanity and spreading world peace among others.

Discovered in 2006, this micro blogging platform lets users share information in less than 140 characters. Twitter Applications are out there, letting users tap its potential to the fullest. We all love to have a conversation and get it going. With Twitter, one can interact and learn in the simplest and easiest way. We are sure many of you have used some of the Twitter tools to the best of your advantage. Here's some of the Twitter tools that we love!

Twitter monitoring tools
Tweetscan - Allows one to search conversations on varied topics. It also gives a list of popular searches. Also, helps to search people you want to follow by the topic. It offers specific keywords, phrases, and timeframes.

TweetDeck – It’s an easy tool to use and manage conversations on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to name a few. Manage conversations with @replies and direct messages. Follow topics in real-time with saved searches, and see who's following you...

TweetGrid – TweetGrid allows to monitor conversations, hash tags, phrases, people, groups etc. One can participate in conversations and search in real time.

Scheduling tweets
HootSuite - Allows one to schedule tweets through the day. It has loads of interactive features. It is a Twitter interface providing tools that you need.

Twaitter – Lets one schedule tweets, send messages from calendar, reply, send DM, integrates with ping. fm helps send recurring tweets on a daily, weekly, monthly basis translate and tweet in any language, manage multiple Twitter accounts. Soon to be called GremIn.

Twuffer – Compose tweets and schedule for future...

Other Applications you'll love
Tweepler – Enables you to process new followers and categorize them into 'Follow' and 'Ignore. This makes it simple and reduces clutter. This application helps to manage followers and categorize them accordingly, thus saving time. It also gives you Avg Tweets, Total Tweets, Number of Followers, Number Following, and the Followers to Following Ratio.

TwtPoll – Companies such as Vodafone, Yahoo are engaging customer on Twitter via TwtPoll by asking questions on various topics. This helps them receive immediate feedback and acts as a method to showcase value and loyalty among customer and potential customers.

TwitPic – A picture speaks a thousand words! Sharing photos on Twitter is no rocket science. TwitPic lets you share photos with ease.

These are only a few Twitter Applications in the myriad sea of Twitter tools. Go ahead, share with us Twitter tools that you have explored!

Social media statistic for B2B marketers - Video

B2B companies take a lead on adopting social media as compared to B2C companies. " This is mainly because the fundamentals of buying process is changing for B2B companies "

Watch the video to know where B2B marketers has fit in social media ecosystem.



Source:Earnestagency

Social Media for business

According to a study conducted by Gartner, most Fortune 1000 companies will implement social media by 2010 but more than half of them will fail. Also many small businesses are of the opinion that social media channels like social networking is not working for them. This may be because these small businesses do not understand the working of social media and also have no knowledge on how to measure it. Some are of the opinion that small businesses profit from social media because the process starts from scratch.

Businesses need to have a social media personality. Social media helps businesses increase their brand visibility and helps build brand reputation. Businesses use social media primarily for communicating with customers and building a one-on-one relationship which helps build trust and reputation. As the main objective of businesses is to communicate with loyal customers and potential customers, it is vital for businesses to understand the sphere of social media and its working. Brands need to be human in their approach and encourage a dialogue making the communication two-way. Listening to customers and what the competitors are saying is an important aspect in building social media in business.

Deciding the channel for your brand is also necessary but that doesn't mean that brands need to have their presence in all the channels. Some brands are able to get the desired outcome through a limited number of channels or a specific channel. For instance, Zappos uses Twitter to communicate about the work culture, giving outsiders a view into Zappos and its philosophies. Businesses must begin by using one platform or channel to communicate their message, must gain proficiency here and then switch to the next channel.

After selecting the channel, it is vital to build a profile on the specific channel. Having a good profile helps build a lasting impression of the brand as a whole. Filling in the necessary details and uploading a picture to represent the brand is all the more important. Having a company logo or the face of a representative is crucial as it helps connect with millions of customers as opposed to having a question mark, or an image that does not relate to the brand.

As you know, communication is the primary step in the process of social media. Hence brands must be cautious about what they communicate and how they communicate the message. The content becomes a part of branding and remains an integral part of your branding process. What one communicates goes public and is viewed by millions of people, hence brands need to communicate the right message. Also having consistent messaging helps customers understand the personality of the brand. Social Media is a relationship tool that brings about engagement with customers and potential customers. Hence content must lead to interaction and participation where people can comment, discuss, exchange views and information, and make this experience rewarding for both the brand and the customers.

Analyzing the best social media tool is the last step. Analyzing the incoming traffic, number of conversations – positive and negative, number of clicks, number of people following you or the number of friends you have, looking at the profit in terms of sales or lead generation post the implementation of social media channels are some of the ways in which social media channels can be analyzed.

Lastly, one needs to realize that social media is a gradual process and takes time to build and maintain relationships. Tony Hsieh,CEO of Zappos, didn't make Twitter a happening platform for Zappos overnight, but did it over a period of time. Before long, we will see more and more companies jumping into the 'social media' bandwagon trying to connect with customers the world over.

Source: mashable

Are we ready for online media?

Organizations are looking at new avenues and opting for new media. Why? The reasons are many – it is a platform that brings in one-to-one interaction, gives quick feedback and suggestions, the reach is greater, it is a personalized form of communication, it helps one to create content and play with the medium... In short, unlike the traditional medium, the new media or the online media is an interactive medium giving a lot of scope for improvement and implementation of new technology.

In today's age of communication and technology, marketers are experimenting with the web like never before. Marketers have used and established Web 1.0 as the primary step in the online space. Most internet users have been exposed to Web 1.0 and have used it and still do. For example, hyper-linking of web pages and bookmarking is a basic step of receiving, storing, and sharing information. Studies show that more than 70% users are only familiar with Web1.0. Web 2.0 helps in the retrieval of information. Wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds are some of the examples of Web 2.0. Web 3.0 is seen as the next version of Web 2.0. Here users can do anything and everything they want from a single source on the web. Unfortunately, we are still exploring Web 2.0 and have a lot to learn and explore.

Some of the Web 2.0 companies in India are Pixrat which is a photo social bookmarking website based in Bangalore, Zoho which works on calendars and spreadsheets like Google, and Bixee is a web crawler for jobs among others.

Is Web 2.0 for India? Some professionals are of the opinion that Web 2.0 is not for the Indian market. The reason being, the low internet penetration in India, the penetration being 5-7% only. Ways of accessing internet is poor in India...people either have slow broadband connections or they need to run to a cyber cafe to even check their email. Whereas in the U.S. millions of homes have broadband connection and are able to access the internet round the clock! Marketers are predicting the rise of mobile internet in India, with over 350 mobile connections in India. But the question is how many of them are GPRS-enabled ? The online medium and the idea of internet mobile is at a very nascent stage in India. Also internet users in India is low compared to U.S. where Web 2.0 has been successful. Businesses in India, need to understand the online space and how it operates...experimenting and finding new ways to tap the potential of the online space in India. Understanding the technology is the first step to adopt Web 2.0 which will help the user adopt to the change quickly. With the help of web 2.0, companies can help promote their products in the emerging markets. The Government does help organizations and start-up companies to implement Web 2.0 and its various facets to its business. With Social Media emerging in India, Web 2.0 is a big opportunity for the Indian market that businesses need to invest in.

Source:exchange4media

Blogs as a marketing tool

Social media channels like social networking sites, microblogging sites, blogs, photo sharing sites, video sharing sites, social bookmarking sites, document sharing sites etc help branding and the number of businesses gaining profit from these sites, is increasing by the day. Blogs have a great impact on social media initiatives that businesses want to venture into. The advantage of using blogs is, that a detailed story can be posted which encourages feedback and comments. It leaves a lot of room for discussion. It helps to increase the morale of an organization, it leads to sales, it helps build the reputation and image of an organization, and brings about customer relationship management among others.

Blogs can be of various kinds, some use blogs as a personal diary, writing in their views and experiences of life. Some write blogs on specific topics catering to a particular section of readers. For instance there are blogs dedicated wholly to photography, gardening, movies, dogs... There are also organizations who blog for either internal or external marketing. Some organizations maintain an internal blog that looks to inform employees about the organization, its projects, and acts as a medium where information is communicated and exchanged via a single platform. Internal blogs help in the time of communication crisis, brings about a consensus among people, and makes the process of exchanging knowledge and information faster.

There are also company blogs which are maintained by the particular company to give an insight into the culture of the company, to promote products and services, to get quick feedback and to generate more customers. For instance, a camera company has an interactive blog that allows customers to give feedback on the product and suggestions on how they can improve the product. These are corporate blogs that are maintained by a representative of the company or by the CEO. For instance, it was Robert Scoble who started blogging about Microsoft giving an insight into the happenings at Microsoft. He gave a human touch and feel to the blog that made it popular. Other popular corporate blogs are that of Sun Microsystems, and Fastlane.

Blogs are a good medium of promoting business online as it helps to promote new products and services giving customers latest news and updates. It acts as an effective PR and marketing tool helping both the clients and the customers. Also they rank high on the list of search engines and are easily accessible. The reach is greater compared to other marketing methods. Branding one's blog brings about new visitors, building links, gaining subscribers, and developing content that will draw search engine traffic for years to come. The best part of having a blog is that over a period of time, it brings in loyal readers who give good feedback. Hence companies need to develop blog posts that are specific and well targeted.

Social Media campaigns in India Sunsilk Gang of Girls and Pepsi “What's Your Way”

Girls love to express their thoughts and bond with like-minded girls. Most young girls love to experiment with their looks and its fashion and style that gets them going! That's where Sunsilk Gang of Girls succeeded. It made urban Indian girls go online to share beauty tips, hair care, get an online makeover and discuss many other tips with hair expert Jawed Habib. The various tools and interactive features provided an opportunity for fun and emotional bonding for the young girls.

Sunsilk was doing well with the traditional advertising media. What made Sunsilk go online? It expanded its branding online due to the increasing percentage of Indian youth communicating and making friends here. Being the first all-girl online community, many of the Indian girls became an active part of Sunsilk GOG. Also that was a time when Orkut and MySpace was gaining popularity in India and the Asian market. The campaign was a success as the number of initiatives got them closer to the target group and also provided them value. It led to Indian women having an emotional relationship with the brand, making it the most viable product to be purchased.

This is what Hruthika, who works in an online marketing firm had to say about the success of GOG. “I think GOG was a great way for Sunsilk to engage with people. The interesting stuff on the site, got them many visitors coming back for more. Also they didn't actively promote the product but made GOG a knowledge sharing portal for young girls”.

Another campaign which is getting the youth hooked onto is the recent success of Pepsi My Can T.V. commercials. They want to have it their way! Pepsi's “What's Your Way” campaign's idea is to get youngsters to answer tricky questions and get their picture on a Pepsi My Can. The “What's your way” campaign has got many things right, one is getting the Youngistaan brigade of Bollywood to promote the campaign. Second is the overall idea of getting youngsters to answer questions that they have normally fallen trap to.

“Pepsi's ability to connect with the youth is not a new thing. But 'What's your way' campaign is one of a kind. It will be a good case study on integrated marketing communication. B-schools in the country can pick up this case study for their IMC program. The marketing strategy is well supported with matching tactics. Also it does excite me a lot and I'm looking forward participating in the contest. I can relate myself pretty much to the tricky situations they have come up with”, says Apollo Singh, online marketing professional.

Whether or not the Pepsi My Can campaign will succeed in engaging the youth like Sunsilk GOG, most companies would definitely want to take their product online and experiment with Social Media.

Source: exchange4media

How to track and measure Social Media

Social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Stumbleupon, Digg, Diigo help you get the desired traffic. Social media is a new phenomenon and businesses need to use the right tools to get accurate results. The first step is to understand what you need to track and what is your goal. Some businesses may want to track only a particular campaign on a specific channel, or the number of people sharing the website, or the number of positive comments etc.

Google Analytics helps to track the website data, traffic, rankings, visitors, and traffic sources...Specific events and campaigns can be tracked for social media. Websites like Bit.ly help to track the number of clicks that the particular page has received. As a part of marketing activities, general engagement metrics should be made a part of the monitoring process. Gauging unique visitors, time spent on the site, frequency of visits, conversions etc help to measure the success of marketing efforts.

There is no single tool that helps to get the information you need. You need to gather the information and aggregate the results. Google page rank, Alexa rankings, Technorati, are some of the sites that help you track social media activities. It is an art to understand web analytics and requires the expertise of professionals to study it. Also one needs to analyze the data and use it to engage with the audience in a better way. To get the desired results, businesses need to revamp the way their social media process operates. A goal needs to be established with regard to connecting with customers online, and what needs to be communicated to the customers. One must assess if people are listening and if they are,what is it that gets them hooked. Let customers participate and engage with them on a personal level. See what gets traffic and use it to your advantage. Not all these measurements are appropriate...Getting the revenue or profit data from the client before and after the marketing campaign is an easy way to analyze what needs to be done next and the areas of improvement.

Source: Mashable

Social Media trends for 2010

In 2010, Social Media will become more popular, more mobile and more exclusive. Niche networking sites will be a trend leading to exclusive users following you or being on your friend list. Connecting with people who share common interests, hobbies, and having professional associations will give people a purpose to have you on their friend list. Sites that focus on particular interests such as photography, writing, music, or based on demographics that is, age, gender, occupation etc. will gain popularity. This will help to lessen the clutter and will bring in more value. It will also make it easier for marketers and advertisers to target their messages and audience.

In countries like India, going mobile will be the greatest advantage for social media enthusiasts. Picture this - There are more than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices and that number grows daily. MySpace estimates that 50% of its Website traffic will be mobile within 24 months. All the major social media sites have mobile versions of their Websites. Another reason for organizations to go mobile is the ban on social media sites by organizations. This will see a rise in the percentage of smartphones that will get people to use social media and its advantages will only increase.

The convergence of social media and ecommerce will reach greater heights with companies like Zappos receiving more accolades. Zappos is a classic example of a company using social media to showcase its culture to the outside world. Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, tweets more about his philosophies of life rather than business. Dell is another successful brand that has optimized social media for business. There are several interesting aspects of how Dell uses social media to leverage its business. They have an active presence in every social media channel and have used this as an opportunity to connect with millions of customers.

Online reputation management is another aspect that will see growth. ORM deals with monitoring the reputation of a brand online, dealing with negative comments and protecting your brand via social media channels. Monitoring, repairing and managing are the three steps that companies need to work on for online reputation management.

Google Friend Connect lets users to connect with friends on different websites. Google reports over 5 million sites using friend connect while Facebook Connect has around 15,000. Google SearchWiki is nothing but social media search. SearchWiki allows anyone with a Google account to change the order of search results and make notes about each result in Google. This will help to improve core search results. And will help to rank websites in the future.

The channels that will be widely used across businesses are microblogging sites such as Twitter. The biggest advantage of Twitter is that it lets you network with people in your industry, there is a lot of freedom and space for carrying on conversations. Helps you get the desired traffic and views to your blog. Twitter is in fact a central point for social media activities.

Source: Businessweek
Techcrunch

Importance of Social Media Marketing

Many people want to promote their business via social media? Why? It has various benefits to begin with. Thanks to the number of channels, social media helps reach out to lot of people at once, leads to better search engine rankings, everybody can use social media...there are no barriers, helps one get closer to customers and respond to their needs, increases brand awareness, influences brand reputation, generates leads, and increases sales online among others. Here's a look at some of the social media tools:

Blogs provide an excellent platform to voice one's thoughts and opinions on everything under the sun. Great that people can now listen to what you say, counter it and also give feedback and suggestions. Many bloggers today post just a blog post or two and then promote it actively on other social media channels. Posting a link of your blog post on Twitter and Facebook lets many people read it who otherwise wouldn't have. This is because, most of us like to spend time on Facebook rather than look for content elsewhere. It also helps to get the much needed traffic for your blog.

Social media helps your content to be published in various channels. Bookmarking content, videos, and images on Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, and Diigo gets you the desired traffic. The more people bookmark the particular link, the more it is read and trusted. Having a presence in social networking sites such as Facebook help to engage with customers directly (which can be debated) - Giving announcements of product offerings, upcoming deals, and having a fan base that signifies the strength and value of the brand. Microblogging sites such as Twitter lets one 'tweet' their thoughts in 140 characters or less. It lets one articulate content in fewer words thus reaching the goal of people reading or viewing your tweet.

Video and photo sharing sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Photbucket are an audio-visual medium, making the content more interesting and enjoyable. But it is more of a one-way conversation. This depends on the strength of the video or image. For instance, a Michael Jackson video has great chances of having comments that lead to a conversation. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn help to reach a network of professionals in your domain leading to valuable discussions and exchange of information. Also your queries are answered with genuine people from the field, leading to knowledge sharing.

There are many more like forums, QnA sites, document sharing sites etc. In short, social media marketing is the new age marketing. It helps small businesses see the light of the day and lets the already established ones have a stronger foothold. It's not as easy as it sounds. It is a gradual process and needs expertise and patience if you want to see the fruits of your results.

Social Media and consumer behavior

Consumers are influenced by the Lux ad featuring AbhiAsh, which leads to an action. That is, it urges many of the girls to run to the supermarket down the lane and get their hands on the new Lux. Why? Recall value is greater with television being a visual medium and Lux and Aishwarya go a long way, making it easier for consumers to associate with the brand. This is not surprising for a brand which is a household name in India. There are certain products that consumers seek information about and want much more than a commercial featuring a top ambassador. Many top brands are now using social media to reach out to customers directly leading to greater exchange of information over the internet. For instance, top brands have a presence on the microblogging site Twitter. Tony Hsieh the chief executive of the online shoe store Zappos shares details of his life with 7,200 “followers”. Things he does – gives away a pair of Zappos shoes to his followers, rewards one new Twitter follower a trip to Las vegas for two to visit Zappos HQ and a lunch with the man himself.

Social media tools impact purchase decisions but do they result in purchase behavior? Consumers do use the company website to learn about the products and services that it has to offer. With the onset of social media, brands are now using this opportunity to talk to customers more often. This is still at an initial stage in India but not so in United States where social media is a major part of their life. Study shows that 70% of consumers in U.S. have used social media websites and nearly 49% made a purchase decision based on the information gathered. Social media enables to exchange information with a brand representative which gives value and credibility.

The best example of a brand using the social media as a platform to connect with customers in India is 'Sunsilk Gang of Girls'. Members here discuss hair care, career, entertainment, celebrity chats... The videos of Vodafone's ZooZoo ad campaign received more than a million views in the first two weeks of its launch.

Social media experts believe it is more than just a fad. Companies are already setting up research departments to study consumer actions. With enormous amount of data available, researchers are studying patterns of human interaction in virtual space to predict what they will buy or use.

Source: Gauravnomics
Docstoc

Social Media adoption by Indian businesses

Rajesh Lalwani, the Managing Director of Scenario Consulting Private Limited, in an interview talks about the current state of Indian businesses and its move towards social media. (Have used the points from his interview with due permission) Also check his popular blog at 'Rajesh @ Blogworks'.

Indian businesses prefer mainstream media and do not want to take the risk of testing the waters of Social Media. Why? Traditional media tools such as the print media (newspapers, magazines), and electronic media (T.V. Radio) have greater reach. They reach out to many people at once which help to establish the message that the sender (the businesses) wants to deliver. The chances of recall are higher which adds to the overall image of the brand. How many of you remember the full page ad of the new Yahoo! In 'The Times of India'? And how many remember the pop up ad in any website you last visited? The chances are very less or bleak... On one hand we have the urge to do new things and follow the social media strategies adopted by a Dell or Satrbucks. On the other hand, we need to fight our biggest hurdle – Internet penetration. The current penetration is only 5-7%

Social media, is an engagement tool which involves building conversations/collaborations and understanding what people are saying. In India, social media has been used as a tool to engage with the employees. Most businesses maintain their own blog which helps them reach out to customers. This builds a relationship of trust. Customers know you as a company and can relate to what you say. And then there are social media channels such as social networking sites (Facebook, Orkut, Friendster), professional networking sites (LinkedIn) , microblogging sites such as Twitter, video sharing sites (Youtube) etc which brands are using to reach out to more customers. This is a gradual process and the results happen only over a period of time. These channels help to get feedback instantly and many brands have used this as an opportunity that brings about the co-creation of a product.

Helping clients plan and choose a social media strategy is vital. It's not about letting clients have a presence on say Twitter but it is about Twitter adding value to the business of a client. India has about 350 million mobile connections. The best way to use this is to make it internet-friendly. There will be a sea change in the way businesses operate and use social media. Brands will engage with customers directly, resolve customer queries and complaints, will take in feedback and suggestions among others.
Companies must prove that the implementation of social media has had a significant impact on the company's growth as a whole.

Source: Digital Media Across Asia

Social Media = Interaction

The heading says it all doesn't it? The Social Media concept survives on that high level of interaction. You are never alone with social media. Its like the different kinds of light that changes the shape of you're shadow. Conversation is what we look for. Why? To share experience and to learn from the experienced.

Creativity, imagination and taking a step back to understand what YOU as a human being can give to others is what people look for in the whole journey of life. What better way than the social media channel. Its how you look at things at the end of the day.