photo credit: Marc_Smith

Here is a quick follow-up post to the post from last week on What is your definition of Social Media .

This question is one that is being asked and answered in a variety of places lately.  Over the week-end Mashable collected the top 20 responses to the question “What is Social Media” What is interesting about how they collected the answers is they were via Twitter so the answerss were all 140 characters or less.

Here are some of the top buzz words that came from the answers:

• Collaboration
• Network
• Conversation
• Sharing
• Relationships
• Multi-dimensional
• Inclusive
• Information
• Community
• Personalization
• Empowering
• Real Time
• People
• Content
• Dynamic
• Power of the Crowd

The full post can be read here: What is Social Media

One goal that many businesses have that are using Social Media and Social Networking tools to market their business is that they will share or create something that will go viral.

viral: The buzzwords viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth^[1] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. (from wikipedia )

This morning I saw a great example of success in creating something that will go viral and be shared by many.  This is a video produced by Evian.  It has a catchy beat, uses babies and get it’s message across — but leaves the entertainment factor in place.  When you watch it you just feel like you have to share it and you do not feel like you were promoted or pitched to.

Here is the video for you to judge for yourself — did they do a good job in creating something that potentially will go viral and be seen by many and shared?

Social Media and Social Networking are great ways to establish, build and grow your business and if you are not using Social Networking yet it is time to do so.

I have found though that often keeping on top of managing your Social Networking can be very overwhelming and often time consuming.

Over the last several weeks however I have been researching, testing and implementing tools and process that can assist you in managing your Social Networking activities so that it only takes approximately 15 – 30 minutes a day.

Your largest time commitment is going to be in setting up your profiles and structure in order to streamline your Social Networking.

If you haven’t done so already a good place to start is by setting up profiles on a few of the top Social Networks.  The ones that I would suggest you start with are:

• Twitter
• Facebook Personal Profile and Facebook Fan Page
• LinkedIn
• YouTube if you are going to be using videos

There will be several more that you will want to integrate into your Social Media plan down the road but for today start with setting up profiles on the 4 sites listed above.

SourceOne Technologies is available to assist you with your Social Networking Profile Creation if you would like to have this handled for you.

In the next posts we will discuss more on tools that are available to help you manage these accounts.

On Tuesday December 22nd at 1pm I will be hosting a FREE Social Media and Social Networking Question and Answer call so that you can get some of your top Social Media and Social Networking Questions answered.

This will be a great call to give you a jump on your 2010 marketing plan and incorporating Social Media and Social Networking into your mix.

One question I see asked a lot about using Social Media and Social Networking as a strategy for marketing and consumer engagement is …..  Will I get a good return on my investment or am I wasting my time?

My friends at Socialnomics have produced a great video that does a wonderful job of answering this question.  I think once you watch it you will see that there is a significant ROI on using Social Media and Social Networking as a strategy..

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• Feeding Your System (chrisbrogan.com)

Scott Monty  holds the role of Head of Social Media with Ford Motor Company and also writes a regular personal blog on Social Media at The Social Media Marketing Blog.  Scott’s blog is one that I visit and read frequently and often gain a lot of great insights from.

I came across this video of a presentation that Scott Monty did the other day that I wanted to share with you.  It is about 50 minutes long, but it is well worth it.  Scott covers a lot of history and information on Ford and the use of Social Media and then he shares some great nuggets on Using Social Media to maintain your brand.

Social Networking and Social Media is a very hot topic right now and one that you really can’t ignore, but is it being embraced?

Many smaller businesses and organizations often question if it is really something they need to add to their marketing mix and communication streams.  When this question comes up they will often ask something like, “Are companies really using this?” and typically when this is asked they also want to know who and how.

There are several companies that are using Social Media and Social Networking in their marketing mix and communication streams.  Some big names are Dell, Southwest Airlines, Comcast and several others.

But how many really are using Social Media and Social Networking

I think you will be surprised when you realize just how many businesses are.  To give you an idea here are three thinks that provide you with over 1100 examples of Social Media being used by companies:

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/page-2

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/master-list-3

You won’t find 1100 companies, but you will find examples of what companies are doing.  These examples contain some of the following methods:

• Twitter
• FaceBook Fan Pages
• Blogs
• Photo Sharing
• Podcasting
• Video Sharing
• Content Aggregation
• Widgets
• Complete Social Networks

Here are a few fun examples of what companies have done:

Fidelity created this mashup for users to play with: http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/buffers/labs/index.shtml

Ford is Sponsoring this Wiki: http://wherearethejoneses.wikidot.com/set:home

Rubbermaid Has a pretty neat YouTube Chanel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RubbermaidOnline

Rubbermaid is also building a nice FaceBook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/RUBBERMAID

Toys R Us ( A favorite of my kids) has a sharp looking Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/toysrus?ref=nf

Newspapers are learning they need to generate content from readers – The Wall Street Journal has over 40 content blogs available: http://blogs.wsj.com/

Wells Fargo has launched Stage Coach Island that is an interactive online virtual world: http://blog.wellsfargo.com/StagecoachIsland/

This is just a handful of examples of companies using and embracing Social Media and Social Networking tools.  To see more great examples take the time to look at the three lists and see what others are doing.

One key item that I see on these lists and I always tell people is that a Blog MUST be part of your mix.  This is where you communicate and share and this helps generate regular content.

Recently I have had the opportunity to meet with individuals that are just getting started with marketing their business online.  In working with this group one question that has been surfacing lately is what does my basic set of tools look like for getting started using Social Media and Online Marketing in my business?

I have told them that there are literally thousands of tools that they could use, however that doesn’t mean that they should use all of these and in fact many of them will not be effective for what they want to accomplish.

That being said here is what I usually suggest as a basic Social Media and Online Marketing Basic Tool Box:

A Company Website – This would be the static site that provides information on your products and services, hours of operation, location, etc.  This would also be where you sell products or services from if that is a component of your business

A Blog – A blog is becoming one of the top items that a business should have in the basic Social Media and Online Marketing tool box.  This is where you discuss your thoughts on topics related to your business and topics that are of interest to your target market.  This is your place to post content and to share and in some cases interact with your target market.

Tracking Tools – Once you have your website and blog set-up it is important that you know where your traffic comes from.  There are several tools that you can use out there that will provide you with that information.  One of those tools is from Google, Google Analytics.  Take the time to make sure you have this in place so you can analyze where your traffic is coming from and how people are finding you.

E-Mail Marketing – In order to build the relationship with your target market you need to begin collecting their information.  You can do this by offering a newsletter or a free report from your website and blog.  Your visitors will choose to opt in to your list.  This will allow you to stay in front of them from time to time via email.

Twitter – Twitter is a must have for all businesses.  This is where you begin to connect with others interested in your market and interact.  Twitter can also be used to listen to your target market’s needs and wants as well as use as a customer service outlet.  Twitter is also a great tool to use to drive people back to your blog.

Facebook – Facebook is another place to connect with your target market.  I would suggest you have a Facebook Fan Page where you can connect and learn more about your target market.  Interact with your friends and do things like wish them Happy Birthday and share information they can use.

LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a great tool to use to connect with those that may need your product or service on the professional level.  This is one tool that should be in every consultant’s tool box.  You can join and participate in groups with others that are your target market.  LinkedIn is great for many businesses; however I would have to say that it may not be the best tool for businesses that deal directly with consumers (such as restaurants, retail stores, etc).

As I stated there are thousands of tools that can be used for Social Networking and Online Marketing, this is just a bare minimum to start out with in your tool box.

Social Media and Networking tools have changed the way people share and obtain information.  Social Media and Networking tools have opened the door to content publication for anyone to be a publisher and share information with others.  These tools can be wonderful in spreading the word about your company and the products and services that you provide, however they can also be used to spread information that can be damaging to your brand or business.

Part of effectively using Social Media and Networking is to monitor what is being said about your brand and business and to keep a pulse on your market or niche.

Adding a monitoring component into your Social Media and Social Networking efforts will help ensure that you never miss a compliment or a complainant written about your brand or business.  If you know what is being said then you can be proactive in handling any complaints or potential bad press as well as highlighting any compliments that are being written about you.

The following are several FREE tools that you can use to monitor what is being said about your brand or business online:

Twitter Search – http://search.twitter.com/

Use Twitter Search to search for “Tweets” related to your company or those needing your products or services

Google Alerts – http://www.google.com/alerts

Google Alerts allows you to set up an alert that will let you know each time there is a new entry on the web with information related to your company, product or service or a topic you are interested in

Technorati – http://technorati.com/

Technorati is a great place to check out what is being covered in the blogosphere

Trendpedia – http://www.trendpedia.com/

This tools allows you to search for names and topics and compare how they rate with other topics or names

Social Mention – http://socialmention.com/

This tool is similar to Google Alerts, but focuses on social media

Twendz (Beta) http://twendz.waggeneredstrom.com/

This tool allows you to monitor twitter conversations in real time on the topic or key words of your choice

Effectively using Social Media and Social Networking tools to monitor mentions of your brand or business will help you stay ahead of the curve and be able to effectively deal with any bad press as well as highlight any positive press that you may receive.

This post is a bit off topic, however it is one that I wanted to write to get things started on the right foot.

The idea for this blog has been floating around for a while and even had a few test runs, but the feel just wasn’t right.  I guess maybe I should say that the look and feel both were out of sync.  I know it is the content that matters, right?  But I am sure you would agree that the look needs to fit as well.

Today it happened – the look and feel came together.  I know this should have been something that happened to start with, but I had to mix both my personality and goals of this blog as well as those of the sponsor for the blog, SourceOne Technologies.  So now the look and feel gelled together and the train is ready to leave the station and start moving forward.

The goal of this blog is to keep a pulse on the Social Networking and Social Media scene for you and provide you with the needed insights and tips to help you be successful in this area.

A personal goal I have of this blog is to also be able to share my knowledge of email and browser technology that I have acquired over the years and mix it up with what can be done with Social Media and Social Networking tools.

Needless to say I am excited about the opportunity to write for this blog and move it forward.

Ok we are now moving forward so hang on and get ready.

~Stefanie