According to a consumer online behavior study from Forrester Research the number of people visiting social networking sites has doubled since 2007. Forrester surveyed 40,545 US heads of household in January and February 2009 about a variety of topics including online behaviors and media consumption. Their executive summary states that,

Our 2009 data shows a stabilization of consumers’ overall time spent with online media. However, engagement with the online channel has deepened, as evidenced by the widespread adoption of such activities as social networking.

Take a look at this graphic that shows the very clear trending in favor of social networking.

Notice the not so subtle big red circle I added? It shows a large jump in the number of people that visit social networks. That’s great news! However if you look a little further down on the graphic you’ll notice that less than 20% of those surveyed read blogs, so there’s a key lesson to learn here.

When you decide to launch your business into the social networking world it’s important to incorporate your blog posts into your social network. Import your blog posts into your Facebook Page and other social networking accounts, because chances are that people may not visit your blog, but they much more likely to view your content through a social network platform.

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Social Media Marketing is not spam. It’s an honest campaign by which a company provides key insights into specific points of interest. If other words, if you are a plumber, your social media marketing campaign would be pro-tips aimed at plumbing laymen.

As a business that is participating in social networking, you MUST strongly avoid pitching your product. If pitch marketing is a hammer, then social media marketing is a magnet. Draw people to you by providing quality content about your industry. There’s nothing wrong with a small blurb about who you are and what you do, but don’t forget that the meat of social media marketing is about the content.

Don’t be lured into automating your social media campaign.

You aren’t fooling anyone.
Don’t forget that all those followers are real people. Interactive marketing means that you are speaking with individuals and creating relationships that continue to grow and change. People are smart and they can tell if there is a real person behind that business’s Twitter account.

Automated responses are SPAM.
As a business, if you are using automated direct messages you should question your purpose for being on Twitter in the first place. You’re dealing with real people and they can tell that your direct message is simply a prewritten marketing message. If you aren’t taking the time to put a personal effort into each one of your messages your audience will know it.

You can’t streamline personality.
Each business’s culture is different and it takes time to develop that personality through social networking. Engaging with your customers through Twitter is not a push button program. It takes time to develop a campaign and standards for social media marketing.

Take a look at this quote from Bernard Moon over at Mashable.com:

I just hope that Twitter won’t go the way of MySpace, where fake accounts are abundant and the majority of my “friend” requests are from small businesses pitching a product or scammers trying to sell their fool’s gold. MySpace grew because of its wild, wild west environment, but eventually it became too unruly and disengaging for most people. – via Mashable.com

Your business doesn’t engage in underhanded schemes to provide its product and services, so why should your marketing campaign creep around in the shadows. Customers like transparency.

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Somebody’s finally done it. The internet is now complete. Sears, in partnership with AOL News, has created Good News Now, GNN.com.

I think it’s a great way to share some positive headlines in a news market that is flooded with depressing topics and stories about failure. With headlines about seven leaf clovers, inspiring stories, and slideshows loaded with cute pictures like newborn twin black panther cubs, GNN seems like a great way to harvest a large amount of traffic and maintain a strong and positive branding campaign.

And on a particularly creative twist, they even have a weekend countdown timer!

Visit gnn.com

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I recently stumbled upon a great list of valuable business uses of Twitter. Jeff Quipp over at searchenginepeople.com put this list together and it really covers many of the aspects that make Twitter such an exciting tool for marketing.

1. Competitive – to track what competitors are doing and thinking (watch their tweets, who they’re conversing with, and so forth). Gain insights!
2. Employee Tracking – See where your employees are, and even what they’re doing. If you’re a service company with contractors on the road, some have used Twitter to reveal where all their contractors are around a city, which indicates how close they are to their next service call.
3. Market Research – to perform quick polls and research that will help you plan or implement your business strategy.
4. Networking – to connect with specific media personalities (eg. NY Times reporters), industry figures, politicians, etc., in hopes such relationships can help forward the company’s agenda.
5. News – to stay abreast of real-time industry news as its breaking. Twitter propagates news almost immediately after occurring, so provides almost instant notification to well versed Twitterers. The early bird gets the proverbial worm so to speak!
6. Branding – To build awareness, trust, and possibly loyalty. If a company Twitters good information routinely, and isn’t overly self-promotional, the profile will gather followers. The profile is then associated with quality industry news and integrity. Frequency and quality of posts then breed familiarity, and eventually trust.
7. Promotion – to promote new content on your website, or perhaps company news. The best content is worthless unless others know that it exists. Twitter helps propagate such messages.
8. Advertising – to advertise your product/service. New services like TwitterHawk are surfacing routinely. The verdict is still out on TwitterHawk as a legitimate advertising method, but the service and possibilities are intriguing.
9. Finding Employees – to find good potential job candidates. Smart job seekers will follow the tweets of the companies they wish to work for, knowing job opportunities will often be tweeted about.
10. Reputation Management – to learn about issues and problems people are having with your company, so that they can be corrected. I’m a firm advocate that every problem is an opportunity, when viewed from the right perspective.
11. Identifying Competitor Weaknesses – to find out about issues and problems people are having with your competitors so you can capitalize on them, and perhaps even gain market share. Just monitor the profiles and set alerts on the profiles of your competitors.
12. Client Relations – to engage in dialogue with clients. While not issues, clients can be encouraged to submit their product/service improvement ideas to companies via Twitter. I would encourage them to do so via Direct Message however, so competitors cannot track your company’s weaknesses, and plans for the future. At the same time, Twitter can be used to put a ‘personality’ and presence to a company. What a concept! Actually communicating with clients.
13. Business Generation – to find business leads. Some companies are even issuing RFPs via Twitter now.

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Read the entire blost post from Jeff here.

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Over at Mashable.com they have a blog post about how Twitter spammers are now using trending topics to push their marketing message to more viewers. Check out the screenshot below.

As you can see, there are legit tweets about the topic, but there is also an overwhelming number of posts from TrevBusiness pushing his website. TrevBusiness is not offering any valid comments or useful insights, he’s just filling up the trending topic with his junk business website.

Like we said a few weeks ago, don’t be lured into automating your Twitter profile. Stay away from auto-follows and other anti-social features.

If you’re thinking about using an online social tool, ask yourself these basic questions first:

1. Does it encourage a personal connection with others?
2. Is it beneficial or can it provide someone with information they actually want?
3. Would it be awkward to say or do something like that in real life?

If it doesn’t pass all of those three basic principals don’t do it. You never know who your sending your message to and you might have to end up dealing with a loud critic of your business.

Here at LEVELTWO, we take a personal approach for each social media campaign that we manage. Along with our other advertising specalities like interactive marketing, brand development, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing strategy, media planning and buying, media promotion, and website development we can help your business get the attention it deserves without the spam. LEVELTWO website.

Read the article on Mashable.com.

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It’s actually very simple to understand why social media marketing works. If you provide quality content using social distribution channels your marketing message is more likely to be viewed, interacted with, and shared.

Viewership
Social media is different (not better, just different) from search engine marketing because you are relying on your customers to perform two actions before you even get a chance to present your message.

1. First they have to actually search for your keyword.
2. Then they have to see and click on your ad.

Social marketing does not rely on your viewers to take an action before your message is delivered. You are distributing your content to them. As they browse Facebook they might notice that a friend of theirs recently became a fan of your product or company. That’s a customer testimony you didn’t even have to ask for!

Interactive
Because your viewers are consuming your content using a platform (Facebook, Twitter, ect) that they already love and feel comfortable with, they are more likely to interact with your message. It is more likely that they will view, comprehend, and comment on your content because rather than pulling them into your website and force feeding them information, you are pushing interesting content to them.

Shareable
The core of social media marketing is housed in the ability for people to share interesting content. Surrounding every memorable video or well written blog post is a plethora of “share” buttons (our own blog, for example, has lots of them). And blogs are structured so that people can send static links directly to the content that they want to share with their friend. The viral factor is a natural phenomenon.

In summary, your viewers are more likely to see, interact, and share you social content because that’s what social networking is all about. It’s about the end user and if you provide quality content, the rest will take care of itself.

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The other day I watched over the shoulder of my wife as she was searching for a local shoe retailer. She opened up Firefox and up popped Google.com as her homepage. The surprise came when she typed the name of the retailer into the Google search bar rather than just typing the URL (which she actually knew for memory).

I didn’t really think much more about it until I ran across a blog post on MarketingProfs that stated a company’s corporate homepage is Google.com.

People are starting to view the Google search bar as their URL entry box. Instead of typing “www.zappos.com” people are simply typing the world “Zappos” into a search form.

This is a key point to remember for businesses engaged in internet marketing.

1. Do you rank first for your company name?
2. Are there any negative comments that show up for your company name?
3. Are your competitors advertising using your company name as a keyword?

If you are not seeing the results you want when you search your own business name you can

1. Advertise on Google using your company’s name
2. Launch a social networking campaign focused on branding and reputation management
3. Optimize your website for search engine ranking

These methods are proven to work and you can often see results within days of launch. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Take a look at some other points made in the article.

A brands biggest concern…should be the negative pages that show up in the results organically. Those are the listings that are much less in Google’s control and more in the hands of consumers/brands.

Just because there are people who are writing about your product on Yelp and GetSatisfaction, doesn’t mean you have to sit back and watch your search results get contaminated. No one is barred from producing content on the web. A brand has just as much right to talk about their great qualities and respond to those who disagree.

Creating great content around your product in pivotal to your organic search success. A big part of Google’s secret formula for organic search is traffic. If you build it (something great), they will come. The better something is, the more traffic it gets, the closer it will rest to your ideal search results.

Creating a small 2 to 3 page microsite is not enough. Engaging your industry through social media and social networking is how brands succeed at reputation management and internet marketing.

Marketing Profs – ‘A company’s corporate homepage is Google.com’

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Remember the days of dialup? The internet was on all the local 10 o’clock news channels because it was something new and different. Fast forward to 2009 and things are reversed. Customers now expect companies to have a website and if it doesn’t have dynamic interactive content then it’s nothing special. Everyday the standards are set a little higher.

So it’s a safe bet that generating business online 10 years from now will be phenomenally more difficult than it is today. That’s why it your niche company is primed for success online right now!

If you offer a speciality service or product, you are in a perfect position to dominate the market by identifying your company as the leader in its field.

However, if you offer a service or product that is more common, take the initiative and market yourself in more definitive verticals. Set yourself apart by being a specialist in niche markets rather than an entire industry.

1. The internet is a global marketplace, but that doesn’t mean you can’t define your target online audience within a specific geographic radius.
2. The big name industry players might have a strong brand, but you can dominate your market by saturating your region with content to reinforce your expertise.

As a niche company you have a strong advantage by defining your geographically targeted audience and marketing your company as a leader.

As a niche service company it is

1. Easier to distinguish yourself as an expert.
You will have less competition and more opportunity to cover your specific vertical.

2. Easier to convert a highly defined target audience.
Providing services and products specifically tailored to that vertical will result in a higher conversion rate.

3. Easier to replicate the business model for expansion
A taylor made product or service that has proven to be successful in one market is ripe for further development.

Also, take a look at why your small business is made for customer interaction.

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So you’ve decided to create something new in your business. Creating a blog that is engaging and interesting for people to read can be difficult when you are staring down that blank white page. You can write in waves, write only when you are inspired, and read lots of other blogs about your topic to help generate lots of new ideas on what to write about, but sometimes it is still difficult to be inspired to write.

Don’t give up yet. The creativity well has not run dry yet! Here are 7 more tips on how to engage your business blog readers.

1. Offer Advice
You’re likely blogging about business because you have business experience. One way to gain loyal readers is by sharing your knowledge and giving them practical information they can use in their own businesses. You can give your readers an instant benefit by avoiding abstract ideas and providing specific tips, advice and tools they can use right away.

2. Talk to the Audience
You’re already ahead of the game with this one, because the readers of your blog have interests that are common to yours, otherwise they wouldn’t be reading your blog. Get to know them by keeping an eye on comments, watching for trackbacks and listening to feedback in other forums. All of this input can be material you can use to make your posts resonate with your individual readers.

3. Share a Personal Story
Business is business and personal is personal, right? Not anymore. Today there is an increasing amount of overlap between the two, and people want to know a little more about the person behind the blog, beyond that they are an expert in business. So give a little of yourself to create a stronger relationship with your readers.

4. Go Off-Topic
Throw in an occasional post that’s not exactly business-related. If it bombs, it bombs and you know to go a different route next time. But if it is successful, you can insert some comic relief, mindless banter and maybe even a personal story as listed above to give your readers a brief change of pace.

5. Keep It Short and Sweet
You could probably write some very long posts when you’re discussing your latest business endeavor or what it took to have your website redesigned. If that much information is necessary, split it up into a multi-part series. Use lists, subheads and images to break up heavy content whenever possible.

6. Give Up the Wheel
Ask directed and specific questions at the end of your posts to encourage reader commentary. For every few posts where you provide advice, throw in a post that asks for the answer. Involving your readers will give them an opportunity to take an active role in your blog.

7. Give readers what they want
Carefully read the comments provided by your readers. They are invaluable because they allow you to tailor your posts to the information your readers are asking you to provide. Acknowledge the comments, answer the questions, and address the requests and you’re on your way to building great relationships with your readers.

Tips via problogger

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Universal Search – The blending of multiple sources of data onto one search result page. Results can be in the form of websites, videos, blogs, images, maps, books, and news stories.

When you perform a search on Google.com you don’t just see websites that relate to your search query, there are search results from many different types of media. For businesses, it’s important to represent your products and services in each of those mediums.

On May 16, 2007 Google put out a press release stating that they are beginning their move towards universal search. The key is “to break down the silos of information that exist on the web and provide the very best answer every time a user enters a query,” says Marissa Mayer, the vice president of search products and user experience at Google.

Here’s an example of a universal search result.

While companies are scrambling to achieve the highest website ranking for certain keywords it’s important to note that in the example pictured above, images and videos have the upper hand because they attract the eye faster than text.

While a searcher is in the research mode they are more likely to click on a multimedia search result and if that video is part of your online marketing campaign it will be much easier to guide them through the sales funnel rather than pushing them through using a pay per click text ad.

Here’s another example showing a search result for someone interested in learning more about back surgery.

It doesn’t take much to convince someone that universal search is important, so now that your on board, here are some tips on how to optimize your videos for universal search.

1. Use YouTube
   In case you didn’t know, Google owns YouTube, so it makes since that YouTube’s database would be given priority over other sites. Isn’t nepotism wonderful?
2. Add keywords
   Load your video up with keywords relating to the subject of your video. Add them to the title and description as well.
3. Invite comments and responses
   The more activity surrounding your video the better. When someone posts a video reply to your video it will have a link back to your original video, thus pushing up the authority of your own video.
4. Acquire as many view as possible
   No one knows exactly how the video search algorithm works, but it’s very likely that the move view you have, the higher our video will be ranked.
5. Embed and link back to the video
   Promote the video on your website or blog (hopefully you have both). Encourage people to watch and share the video. If it become popular you want the video traffic to come to your site, not YouTube.
6. Keep it short
   The max length of a video on YouTube is… Wait. If you are even getting close to the max length you are off course already. Keep your videos under 5 minutes at all costs. If you have a long video, cut it up into different subjects. Not only will people be more likely to watch the whole video, but you’ll have more videos in your arsenal.

I hope this helps your understanding on the importance of videos in a universal search world. If you have any questions give us a shout on Twitter or leave a comment below.

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