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