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.

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.