The folks over at Flowtown have a great illustration that aggregates information about where small to medium business spent their money in 2009 and where they plan to spend it in the next 5 years.
Where is the Beef?
February 27, 2010
February 19, 2010
5 Social Media Tools Must Haves for Small Businesses
With as many social media services as there are fish in the ocean, it gets very confusing for anyone to keep up with what’s what. While early adopters are raving about which service will be this year’s darling, for small businesses kicking off their social marketing campaign this discussion is completely irrelevant. To get their feet on the ground and establish a presence on social media, they really need to start off with 5 basic services. Now that doesn’t mean those services will be the end all of all services, they are just the essentials and are going to be the framework with which SMB will build upon in the future.
NameChk
What's my name
A consistent brand is essential to any marketing presence, the name check website is a great tool to allow you to secure your brand’s name on the top social media sites, even if you don’t plan on using all of them.
February 17, 2010
February 9, 2010
Infograph: The State of the Internet Today
Today, the Internet world is more important than ever. Our lives are interwoven with it, both private and corporate.
We plan our outings, keep in contact with friends, and communicate with each other on the Web. Our daily business dealings revolve around email, online resources, and collaborative software like Google Wave. We get our news online, watch our movies on YouTube, and keep-up-to-date with Twitter. More importantly, the Internet, and Social Media in particular, are proving to be very important to the way we advertise and market ourselves, our products, and our ideas.
Keeping up with ThoughtPick’s latest “Learn Social Media By Example“, we believe that to pull off great online campaigns, you need to be familiar with the audience. Not your audience in particular, but the larger Internet audience that might come across your campaign. It is essential to keep the Internet’s demographics in mind when creating any online content.
We will be using parts of our latest favorite infograph, created by Focus, to explore the different facets of online existence.
These illustrations use 100 circles to help visualize a crowd of a 100 people, and how they live in the online ecosystem.
The Basic Information: Gender, Age, and Income
Who uses the Internet
February 6, 2010
January 28, 2010
Will the iPad Change Social Media?
We’ve all heard it now. The most over-hyped non-product in history of the world is finally a product.
It even has a name. It’s not the “iSlate” nor the “Apple Tablet” that people have been using for a while, it’s actually called the iPad (naturally, #iTampon was a trending topic on Twitter soon after).
The gorgeous Apple iPad
While many people are disappointed, saying that the iPad is nothing more than an over-sized iTouch, I personally believe that it will be game-changing. Maybe this particular release won’t knock us off our heels, but eventually, with the proper support, a large list of applications, and a little mind-set change from the consumer side, this device is going to be the iPod of “handheld companions“.
Let me explain…
January 18, 2010
5 Uncovered Myths about Getting Retweeted!
Every now and then, someone somewhere decides to fabricate or resurrect a new myth or urban legend which changes the way we see and even do certain things! Like, for example, I would not dare say “Bloody Mary” 3 times in a row in front of my mirror in the dark, no matter what the stakes are and even if it was a bet with great returns!
Busting the Myths about Retweets!
A few days ago, while wandering around in the social media realm, I came across a new fabricated myth molded into a post form called:“5 Secrets To Get Retweets That The Experts Won’t Tell You”.
Having had a great and prosperous Twitter experience so far, it really got on my nerves to read such a post, wondering: Who are those experts? And how would someone make such assumptions? Based on what exactly?
In a nut shell, this myth lessened my Twitter experience and turned it into a joke, which is why I decided to rebel by fighting it back!
Uncovering the Myth about Getting Retweeted…
1. Focus On The Sexually Active.
In this fantasy post I read, the author stressed the importance of focusing on the “sexually active” tweeps, saying that sex always sells! I tend to highly disagree, with a frown! From my humble yet vast experience, I found that most active, valuable tweeps are those who are more business-oriented; those who want to promote a high quality image and promote their designs, inspiration and even quotes that aim towards providing a better quality of life!
January 15, 2010
Google StreetView: Virtually Stealing Adspace
Google patent for the ads
Google was just granted the patent above, which is leading internet observers to believe that Google will soon introduce ad-retailing on outdated billboards in Google Street View.
Basically, if a banner owner feels like the ad showing is totally out of date, he would be able to update the spot with a different ad, just like on a real billboard. According to the patent, it will also work with posters in shop windows and theatres, and Google seems to be planning to also sell space for “unclaimed” spots–potentially leaving the spots free for rival services to advertise on a competitor’s business.
Okay, it probably won't look exactly like this...
What Does This Mean For Online Advertising?
With banner blindness going stronger than ever, advertisers and ad-sellers must come up with new ways to make use of the online community to generate advertising money.
Advertising in virtual worlds like Second Life became very popular several years back, but soon proved to be a fad. Meanwhile, contextual advertising like Adsense is still growing strong.
November 27, 2009
8 Tips to help you Become a LinkedIn Power User…
Linked In: Business Networking
LinkedIn seems like the middle child of social networking, and is a hugely underrated site. The fact that it’s a “zero cost” business networking tool should definitely play to its advantage and it will surely hit its prime in the future. Like everybody else, the only reason I got to join LinkedIn is because I kept on getting invitations to it until I gave in and gave it a shot. I spent a few hours filling up my profile and adding connections; the whole business only approach was very appealing and a fresh change from the very personal nature of Facebook. Some even argue that it’s not even a social network.
The goal of every business is to be ahead of the curve. To help bring up to speed on how to use LinkedIn effectively, here are several tips and tricks to help you become a LinkedIn power user.
Tip 1. Connect With People You Have Met
Adding connections to your network will definitely make you more visible. Make sure to add people that you meet in real life to your network. It might be a good idea to include a mention of your LinkedIn profile on your business card since it will serve as a reminder to others to add you. Also be sure to send a custom message of invitation to others because reading the same generic message of invitation gets old really quickly.
10 Tips to Ensure That You’re NOT A Social Media Sucker!
If only we, for once, actually took the time to understand the value of this quote, most of us wouldn’t have gone through most of the crap we had to deal with, whether on a personal level or business wise! But we are humans and we are stubborn!
My mother knew better than to try to teach me from her mistakes, however, I still have faith in you, my readers, and in the fact that you will trust me enough to learn from my own experience on social media venues as to not commit the same mistakes I did!
Top 10 Tips You Should Follow When Using Social Media!
Are you ready for this? Here we go..
1. Culturize!
Being culturally aware and sensitive is very important when using one or multiple social media platforms or venues. Cultural ignorance is highly destructive in your relationships with the communities you are trying to be a part of!
2. Emphasize!
When active inside a realm as impersonal as social media, it is very important for you to be able to emphasize any point you are trying to make in order not to be misunderstood. No one can hear the tone of your voice or see your body language so your words are your weapon and your executor!
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