Defining Your Personal Brand

I have been honored to be included as a regular guest blogger on Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog. Recently, I posted about defining your personal brand. In the professional world we've been discussing this for years and the topic was highlighted by Tom Peter's BRAND YOU over a decade ago.

Social Media presents a unique opportunity to either stand out or be drowned out. I wrote about it here:

Defining Your Brand

Defining your brand is critically important to your personal and business success. Beginning years ago with “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters, the importance of defining and building your personal brand has been growing and is hitting a tremendous stride in 2009. Peters pioneered the idea that your brand is not the company you work for but rather who YOU are in that company.

These days, superior skills, great resources, and inside knowledge are merely prerequisites if we even hope to compete in today’s global marketplace. Rising above, standing out, and hitting your target has become more difficult than ever. It is very crowded out there and it’s said people receive literally thousands of branding messages every day from news media, movies, online, print, billboards, radio, TV, etc. Our personal brand - the words and phrases we want others to think of when they think of us - is all that’s left to differentiate us from the rest of the pack. Add to that the fact that people are now changing jobs and careers so often, and your personal brand has become more important than ever.

You first define and then communicate your brand with a clear strategy. For many, navigating that invisible line between clear and effective communication of your brand and offensive self-promotion is tricky. It’s important to be authentic and speak to your accomplishments. However, you will wear out your welcome if you try too hard, sell too much, speak too fast. On Broadway, it’s called flop sweat. You’re not sweating because of the bright, hot klieg lights. You’re sweating because you’re losing the audience – you know it, and they know it. MORE HERE

Social Media in the News Week of 1-16-09

From Mark VanBaale, Deere & Co

Super Bowl 09: Social Media Hits the Gridiron InternetNews.com - USA If people are building relationships and having conversations on social media hubs like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, then advertisers need to plant a flag ... See all stories on this topic

mediabistro.com Twitter a Hot Topic at mb's 'Journalists and Social Media' Panel mediabistro.com - New York,NY,USA From left: NPR's Andy Carvin juggles devices for Twittering from the stage last night while addressing social media for journalists with fellow panelists ... See all stories on this topic

AT&T partners with Lil' Wayne for social media outreach PRWeek - New York,NY,USA ATLANTA: AT&T is using social media and partnerships with entertainment companies and artists to interact with a younger demographic. ... See all stories on this topic

Social Media/Self-Publishing Blended To Share Design Knowledge Product Design & Development - Rockaway,NJ,USA Concord, MA –(Business Wire) –Already the largest online community of engineering parts, suppliers, and buyers, the 3D ContentCentral service became the ... See all stories on this topic

Social Media Hierarchy Revisted Examiner.com - USA This content from: Duct Tape MarketingSocial Media Hierarchy RevistedA while back I wrote a post that outlined what I called the hierarchy of social media. ... See all stories on this topic

Netvibes: The new social media dashboard Vator.tv News - San Francisco,CA,USA If you're a corporation or marketer who uses social media for marketing purposes, you need to be able to listen and monitor your surroundings for ... See all stories on this topic

SodaHead solution for social media marketing ADOTAS - New York,NY,USA As it is, Feffer, along with childhood friend Michael Glazer, found his calling in the social media market. In 2007, they started SodaHead, ... See all stories on this topic

Twitter a Hot Topic at mb's 'Journalists and Social Media' Panel

From Mediabistro:

The conversation kicked off with PressThink's Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) citing Marx's definition of revolution in reference to social media: "The means of production have changed hands in publication... It's an open source revolution," he said. Continuing the metaphor, Sklar quipped, "Sometimes revolutions swing a little too far," and the panel concurred, citing mob mentality and a lack of respect for production as some social media trouble spots.

Echoing the question reverberating around conference tables across the country, the evening's big x-factor was how to monetize the social media mechanism to bring in cash. Originally directed at Rosen, the question engendered a delayed response. His silence made people brace themselves for his answer. "Well, this is the question people ask," he joked, to uncomfortable audience laughter. Collectively, the panel agreed that it envisioned more possibilities than disappointments in a new world of news fueled by social media.

More social media insights and video from the event, after the jump...

HOW TO: Survive a Social Media Revolt

Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites. You can follow him on Twitter

It often stuns me to see how poor social media entrepreneurs and their executives are at listening to their communities, communicating with them, and generally using the communities’ feedback to improve their services. A quick glance at the top three sites in three of the fastest growing sectors within social media will exemplify this point.

There have been numerous ‘revolts’ on Digg (social news), hundreds of thousands of users have created numerous groups to stage protests on Facebook (social networking), and hundreds of blog posts have been written about how terrible Twitter’s service and up-time used to be and what a poor job they were doing in communicating their problems with even their most loyal users (microblogging).

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The Hulu Crisis

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Keeping that in mind, it came as no surprise that when FX requested that Hulu remove an earlier season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia from the site, Hulu complied and removed the seasons in question without communicating the change to any community members. Seeing as “Sunny” is one of the most popular shows on the site, the community was rightfully upset and in quite an uproar at Hulu’s mismanagement of the situation.

Read more here

COMPANIES MISSING BIG OPPORTUNITY TO TURN CUSTOMER PAIN INTO COMPETITIVE GAIN, SAYS CMO COUNCIL REPORT

Thanks to Mark VanBaale, Deere & Co, for forwarding this article. I agree with the points made here - companies are slow to adopt new social media tools to solve their own pain:

CMO COUNCIL: Study Implores Marketers to Drive Major Changes in How Companies Measure and Optimize Customer Experience and Advocacy; Critical Need To Improve Listening and Responsiveness Across Organizations

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2009) - Despite overwhelming agreement on the importance of customer experience and word-of-mouth, senior marketers admit their companies are failing to take decisive, company-wide action to integrate customer voice and experience into key business and marketing processes, according to a new study by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council.

Sponsored by Satmetrix, the Net Promoter Company, the study, entitled "Giving Customer Voice More Volume," revealed that a surprising 58 percent of the 480 executives surveyed said their companies do not compensate any employees or executives based on customer loyalty, satisfaction improvements or analytics. Some 38 percent said their companies have no programs in place to track or propagate positive word of mouth among customers. In addition, only 29 percent said their companies rate highly in their ability handle and resolve customer problems or complaints.

The CMO Council study underscores critical deficiencies in the way companies measure, optimize and leverage customer experience to drive loyalty, improve brand value and increase business performance and growth, including:

• Insufficient availability and aggregation of real-time customer experience data across touch points that should be shared across the organization
• Poor use of customer interactions to collect insights and intelligence or maximize up-sell and advocacy opportunities
• Lack of Internet processes and systems to track online word of mouth and drive customer advocacy
• Intermittent or deficient monitoring of customer experience that fails to provide true and timely insights into problems and opportunities
• Too few compensation programs tied to customer experience, loyalty and satisfaction gains

"Customer experience is one of the most critical determinants of brand strength and business growth. Yet, most organizations and senior marketers suffer from major blind spots and gaps in the way they interact, handle and respond to customer issues or problems," said CMO Council executive director Donovan Neale-May. "CMOs must assume ownership for the customer experience and establish enterprise-wide measures and disciplines to ensure continuous improvement. We are missing a major opportunity to turn customer pain into competitive gain at every touch point through better use of web and contact center technologies and processes."

Customer listening, learning and leveling are critical qualities that need to be part of an institutionalized corporate culture, notes the CMO Council. Yet, survey data demonstrates that most companies are not taking advantage of these opportunities to drive company-wide performance improvement and business growth. Instead, most companies treat customer interactions around service situations and incidents only as a problem that needs quick resolution:

• Only 38 percent of companies gather customer insight from customer engagement situations.
• Just 32 percent look for ways to turn problems into new sales opportunities, and only 15 percent introduce new products or services to further monetize the relationship.
• Merely 17 percent use the opportunity to identify and cultivate potential customer champions and advocates.

While companies have a long way to go in turning detractors into brand advocates, senior marketers are clearly aware of the importance of customer experience. In fact, 83 percent of respondents said it is either "essential" or "increasingly important" in driving brand advocacy and business performance. In addition, 84 percent said positive customer experiences and word of mouth have helped their brands and businesses grow. There were 44 percent of respondents who admitted that high-profile negative customer experiences had at some time compromised their brands.

Only 31 percent rate their company's commitment to customer listening highly, but another 35 percent say it is "getting better." Although 34 percent of respondents said their companies have made no changes to the way they track and analyze customer experience in recent years, it can be seen as a positive development that 45 percent of respondents say their companies have taken steps to better integrate and analyze customer data. Another 39 percent said they have increased personalization and intimacy in their customer communications, 20 percent say they have embraced intelligent Internet analytics and 18 percent are capturing real-time information at the "point of pain."

"Companies must become more sophisticated and committed to both leveraging customer experience as a key business metric and instituting company-wide processes that drive improvement," said Laura Brooks, Ph.D. and vice president of research for Satmetrix. "The Net Promoter Score has been proven to be the most reliable customer metric for business growth, but measurement is not an end in itself. Companies need to commit themselves to understanding the key determinants of their score and continuously strive to improve their customer experience competitiveness." Brooks is co-author, with Satmetrix CEO Richard Owen, of a new book, entitled "Answering the Ultimate Question," that offers a new operating model for NetPromoter success.

Other key findings of the study include:

• Nearly two-thirds of companies do not have a formal Voice of Customer program in place.
• Only 13 percent of companies have deployed real-time systems to collect, analyze and distribute customer feedback.
• While 74 percent say they receive customer feedback via e-mail, only 23 percent say they track and measure the volume and nature of these messages.
• Customer voice has gone online, but only 14.5 percent track word of mouth on the Internet
• Only 12 percent are using a word-of-mouth marketing platform to drive online customer advocacy.

For more information about the Giving Customer Voice More Volume study can be found on the CMO Council web site at www.cmocouncil.org.

8 Ways Actions Sports Brands Can Tap Into Social Media

From 5ones

1.) Understand the concept and the demographic: There’s Social Media and there’s Social News. Social Media is all about connecting on a personal level with your audience. The stuff they don’t get to read about in the mags. It makes them feel like they are a part of your crew. FaceBook, Twitter etc. can all help with reaching out and communicating with your following.

Social News on the other hand is all about sharing photos, videos, articles, etc. It’s the sensational side of what you’re doing and getting your peers to share and promote the content via sites like, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Twitter. Think Ken Block busting gaps, Shaun White killing it in slopestyle, Bruce Irons perfect 100 at Wiamea, Travis Pastrana busting double backs on his dirt bike.

2.) Don’t sell out, just tweak the approach: A lot of people think they need to do something risque or something that doesn’t represent their brand in order to do something viral. That couldn’t be further from the truth. What good is a viral campaign that projects your brand image in a light that you don’t really want to be seen in?

In Action Sports especially, there is so much going on that’s already viral in nature just the way it is, you just need to package it right and know how to share it. When Ken Block hit up DC Mtn Lab in the snow in his Subaru, we were one of the last to cover it here on 5ones. But no one submitted it or promoted it via social news, so we did it almost a month later and received over 90k unique visitors in less than 2 days. Don’t you think Subaru and especially DC would have loved that exposure instead of us? (were not complaining though)

3.) Personal communication/blogs and twitter: Have your FaceBook page grab your Twitter feed, and have your Blog link to your FaceBook and Twitter accounts. We plan on releasing a blog post specifically talking about Twitter and Blogs in action sports and how to connect them all so this will be brief. I was just cruising over at Shaun White’s blog and it has some super good stuff on there. He’s on Twitter as well and he would get a lot more followers (which is personal branding for Shaun) if his blog linked to and promoted his Twitter profile. Also, every time you write a new blog post, make sure you announce it on Twitter. Interact on Twitter too, imagine how stoked a grom would feel if he/she got a reply in blog comments or on Twitter from their Idol rider. That would be a fan for life.

Brands can hold contests on Twitter to interact with and attract new followers, PacSun just did this and I think it worked really well. Also, brands that have riders bio’s on their sites should link to those athlete’s blogs and Twitter profiles. It’s building personal relationships with each individual customer and it’s very effective.

4.) Hire someone with good social news accounts and background: Please hire someone to take your Blogspot blog and move it to a Wordpress blog that is hosted on your own domain. Please hire someone to design your blog in PHP/HTML and not Flash. Please hire someone that knows what they’re doing and has powerful accounts at social news sites or knows other people that do. Until you do, we here at 5ones we will continue to reap huge traffic rewards from submitting your cool news ourselves.

There are a lot of PR firms that say they understand social media but they don’t. There are a lot of your current employees that say they have a FaceBook profile and can easily fill that slot you have to run your social media campaign but they can’t. You don’t sponsor a rider just because they own a board. You want someone who can represent your brand and build an online community around your brand and athletes with the same ability that your top riders promote you through their shredding. You need a social media shredder. They are out there and who knows, maybe it is a current employee, if it is you need to lighten their load that takes them away from social media and let them be creative and let them be involved with the web team and let them talk to consultants. I CAN’T EMPHASIS THIS ENOUGH, LET THEM HAVE A DIRECT EXPRESS PASS THROUGH LEGAL. So many companies get held up because of legal departments. Social media waits for no man. Social users digest hundreds if not thousands of articles, videos, and pics a day and if yours is old news then don’t even bother. Make sure those people in charge of your social media campaigns get a “pass go and collect 2 hundy” straight in and out of legal.

5.)Test and try. Rinse and repeat: If you get a ton of traffic to a rider who is busting out, then make that a common bit of content. If you get positive traffic, links mentions, or comments from a behind the scenes video of an athlete, interview, or contest, then work that into a regular schedule. The best thing about web business is analytics and knowing exactly what works, why it works, and when it works. It’s unlike any other business in that regards. Use Google Analytics, or BLVD Status, and if you have dough, Omniture Analytics.

7.) Set up alerts: Google Alerts, RSS Alerts from Google News, Google Blog Search, Twitter Alerts, any and all other alerts. If someone else does an interview or awesome article about your brand or your athletes, it’s your job to find that and promote it. I absolutely loved the Fast Company article on Shaun White. I loved the business side of it and the little bit of insight into his team and his business decisions as I have often questioned his leaving Volcom and going to Target (that is for another post). However, I see no links to that article from any of his sponsor’s sites or even his own personal blog?

Use alerts to monitor your brand as well so you can watch what is being said about your brand. That way you can interact and comment and take control of the conversations that are happening ( and they’re happening whether you’re a part of them or not). I consult with huge companies concerning Online Reputation Management and one of the biggest things I can never emphasize enough is; being responsive and being transparent.

8.) Tweak the press release: You are all press release whores, submitting your news to Transworld, Surfline, and other more traditional outlets. Press releases are fine to post on your site but you should tweak them for the social audience. If you mention Kelly Slater won the world title for the 9th time, then also show his winning wave and his victory walk onto the sand and embed a video of all his perfect 10’s from that year. If you’re sending out a press release about an acquisition of a company or a new product line, tweak it for your site with a demo video or pictures. Then use that URL to promote socially, not the PR News Wire text heavy and picture lacking URL.

Social Media is an incredible tool to promote your brand and engage with your audience online. And it can be very easy to play in after you have tested it out for a while and you understand how it works. You will build strong, loyal followings and a sense of community around your brand with social media. You can reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions of new people that you had not reached prior. We’ve had single articles on 5ones that have been viewed over 100k times thanks to social media. To me, social media and action sports are a match made in heaven.

Follow us on Twitter: @50nes, @chrisbennett, @factive

The Unforeseen Consequences of the Social Web

We discussed this in class last fall - the fact that you do create a "Digital DNA" that follows you everywhere in the new Web 2.o. Companies and individuals need to be aware of this...

Meltdown on Twitter

Last week, the Applicant blog talked about a hypothetical human resource bot in an attempt to persuade its readers of the importance of being aware of what they post to the Web. It was predominantly written to encourage readers to consider the ramifications of outbursts on the Web as applied to career and employment.

The very next day Twitter user Astrospace suffered an online meltdown which was captured as an image and posted on Applicant, giving their hypothetical post a great big shove into reality. "If I were an employer this certainly wouldn't be my ideal applicant, and at this point their brand is without a positive brand image," the Applicant post says.

While Astrospace may have had good reason for his rant (as most of us do), his outburst has now been captured and will possibly remain online for a very long time.full article here

Twitter to hit the big time with explosion in microblogging

If you aren't on twitter yet, you may want to consider it now:

Twitter, the fast-growing microblogging and social media site, is about to change gears.

The service where users post short updates about what they are doing has received an explosion in visitors, both in the UK and the US. Twitter has become the communication tool of choice among early adopters and the tech community, a worldwide first alert news medium and a nascent marketing and customer services tool as it has thrust itself into the mainstream.

Twitter is just about to make the biggest shift in its short history by integrating its search functions into the home pages of users.

Until now if users wanted to search the outpouring of updates or "tweets", say for updates about a stock price or football team or a hotel, they had to go to a separate website – search.twitter.com – or use one of the many independent search applications that have sprung up on the web. More here

40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

Many of you know that this blog has become a resource for students, former students, and the public on all things social media. Here's a fantastic post from Mashable on brands on Twitter:

Smart brands use Twitter in meaningful ways, and most of them use their brand name as a way to make sure customers can find and recognize them. This piece, and the knowledge I learned from the incessant hours invested, demonstrate why brands do belong on Twitter. No other medium gets you inside a business or brand quiet like Twitter. Read the list here

Four Ways Social Media is Changing Advertising Agencies New Business

Interesting post I came across from Michael Glass on Twitter. What would you add to the list?

1. A paradigm shift for how new business is acquired. According to a recent CMO survey, 80% of decision makers say they found the vendor, not the other way around. Instead of finding your prospects, the “new” new business paradigm for Marketing 2.0 is to help your prospective clients find your agency.
2. SEO is now a critical part of new business strategy. According to Marketing Sherpa, 80-90% of business to business transactions begin with a search on the web. That means that SEO is a very important component to your agency new business program.
3. An agency blog is a necessary component for marketing your agency. It wasn’t that long ago that it became understood, every business needed a Web site. Today it’s, every business needs a blog. This is especially true for ad agencies. We’re suppose to be leading not following our clients.
4. The growth of new media mandates agencies participation. Social media is now mainstream, your agency’s credibility is suspect if it isn’t walking the walk, not just talking the talk. I can’t imagine ever advising a client to deal with an advertising, PR, or interactive team that doesn’t get social media. One of the best ways to demonstrate your agency’s participation is to incorporate new media into your new business program.

Combining Web 2.0 & ad agency new business, provides a powerful, inexpensive and highly effective combination for your agency’s self promotional efforts.

FREE Webinar on January 29 Featuring McDonald's, MasterCard, and Pepsi

Reputation Monitoring is a place many corporations begin their foray into social media. I wanted to post this notice of a FREE webinar you might want to attend on the subject. Looks like a good speaker lineup:

Establishing, defending, and managing your brand's reputation has never been more important or challenging. The internet has created a huge mechanism for consumers and customers to share their points of view about your company, its leaders, and your products and services. Online sites including Google, Twitter, Facebook, and many others impact the way the market perceives your brand every day. However, it's not all about online. According to The Reputation Institute; social programs, management practices, and employee relations contribute to more than 40% of a company's reputation. This webinar will discuss the relationship of the emerging field of online reputation management with the best practices of traditional reputation management.

Moderator: - Anthony Johndrow, Managing Director, The Reputation Institute Panelists: - Jeff Dahncke, Director, Public Relations, The Pepsi Bottling Group - James Issokson, Senior Business Leader, Reputation & Issues Management, MasterCard Worldwide - Chris Johnson, Founder, dna13, Inc. - Allison Murphy, Product Manager, Media Monitoring and Measurement, PR Newswire - Heather Oldani, Director Communications, McDonald's US Communications

Title: Brand Reputation Management - Best Practices Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009 Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/206471309

100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn

Recently, a business friend asked me, "Why should I use Linked In?" Interestingly, this person's attitude is quite common. I just found this link on Twitter and thought it useful:

This resource is intended for people who…

• …are new to LinkedIn and wondering how to use it to help you in your business and career
• …have been using LinkedIn a while but felt like you haven’t really been accomplishing anything with it
• …are trying to persuade their friends to join LinkedIn and want to communicate the value proposition
• …think there’s no real value in LinkedIn (and those who want to rebutt them)

No matter how much I know about using LinkedIn, 10 million users (or some subset thereof) are collectively going to know a whole lot more about it than I do. In May 2007, I kicked off a group writing project called “Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn”. What follows are the results of that project, plus some writings of my own, plus various blog posts and a couple of articles that fit the intent of this collection. It is a dynamic, growing collection, so if you have anything you would like to add, please contact me and I’ll add it.

Social Media News Roundup

Special Thanks to Mark VanBaale, Direct Marketing Manager, John Deere & Co, for forwarding these news stories on social media:

Social Media, Web 2.0 are challenges for b2b companies KoMarketing Associates - Waltham,MA,USA An even higher percentage, about 38 percent, found "social media development/integration" to be the biggest challenge, but at about 14 percent, ... See all stories on this topic

Why Social Media Is Worth Small Business Owners' Time BusinessWeek - USA (For background on social media, check out this story.) Activity in this universe has thus far been dominated by innovators and early adopters. ... See all stories on this topic

A winning resolution: Social media discipline SmartBrief - Washington,DC,USA Last month, we asked for your Social Media Resolutions for 2009 -- and you answered. We're running our top 10 picks from your answers. ... See all stories on this topic

DHS offers social media to boost preparedness FCW.com - Falls Church,VA,USA By Ben Bain The Homeland Security Department said today it will offer a series of social media tools to encourage people to prepare for emergencies. ... See all stories on this topic

Social Media Steals the Show in NY Plane Crash Internet News (subscription) - Fallbrook,CA,USA But the story broke first across social networking sites and through mobile messages -- giving social media a major coup that its fans are crowing about. ... See all stories on this topic

Former Cisco exec new Skytide CEO Silicon Valley / San Jose ... Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA San Mateo-based Skytide said O'Donnell was most recently president of social media at San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CSCO) Media Solutions ... See all stories on this topic

Social Media No-Nos Culture Buzz - New York,NY,USA For those of you not sure of social media protocol, we’re here to save the day. Well, rather than tell you what TO DO with social media, we’ve found a list ... See all stories on this topic

Social Media Still Belongs to Youngsters However, other age groups ... Softpedia - Bucharest,Romania By Tudor Vieru, Science Editor Although social media sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, are increasingly popular among Internet users of all ages, ... See all stories on this topic

U.S. Airways Crash Rescue Picture: Citizen Journalism, Twitter At Work

From SMM student Scott:

Hi Bev,
Maybe post this on the SMM website?.....not only was this twitter live from the site but it is the best photo of the drama that I have seen so far.....

Dan Frommer | January 15, 2009 3:47 PM

Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida posts the first photo of U.S. Airways flight 1549 on Twitter from his iPhone. Thirty-four minutes after Janis posted his photo, MSNBC interviewed him live on TV as a witness (see video below). News coverage at Google. Live video at Fox News. TV reports suggest that everyone survived the crash.

Here's the video of Krums talking on MSNBC.

A second photo from Gregory Lam on Flickr:

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6 Reasons Every Small Business Should Be Blogging… Are You Missing the Boat?

We discussed this in class and in fact asked students to start a blog to gain experience with what it actually takes to launch and maintain that communication channel. Business people want to know, "Who's going to keep it up, where does the content come from, copywrite issues, IP, policy, etc."

From Hubspot...There are 6 fundamental benefits to corporate blogging that should not be overlooked:

1) Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader
Each thoughtful post on your blog is a public demonstration of your thought leadership, personal integrity, humor, and professional insights. You don’t have to refute one of Einstein’s theories to get respect. For example, a summary of recent trends in your industry, or a reaction to a recent news article can be extremely effective blog posts.

2) Engage Customers in a Dialogue
If you blog using a solid blogging engine, readers will have the option to comment on each article. Folks who comment on your blog may be sales leads, or they may just challenge or support your views. Either way, comments beget comments, and you will soon be at the center of an industry-relevant dialogue with customers and partners.

3) Every Blog Article is an SEO Opportunity
The much-discussed “long tail” of search refers to highly specialized, low-traffic search terms that represent a significant amount of total searches. Translation: lots and lots of people are searching online for lots and lots of random things. You can’t realistically optimize your site for every long tail search term, but you can certainly write blog posts targeting niche keyword phrases that are likely to draw highly qualified prospects. For example, blog a reaction to a speaker in your vertical at a local tech conference. You may not draw much natural search traffic, but there is a good chance your blog will rank well very soon for searches like “vertical + conference + speaker + city”, and those visitors may be highly interested in your reaction to the speech.

4) Blogs Are Link Bait
Very few websites or bloggers will link to the “products and services” page on a corporate website. People don’t link to corporate advertisements. On the other hand, a good blog article is an industry-specific insight or a thoughtful critique. Blog articles garner links because they are interesting, informative, and not overly corporate or sales-focused. The benefit to you is that more links means better search engine rankings and more site traffic, which translates into more sales leads.

5) Humanize Your Brand
Blogs offer an opportunity for a company to present its insightful, helpful, thoughtful side. Through a blog, prospects will get a sense of your company’s people, culture, and vision. Blogs are an opportunity to provide a less antiseptic view of your company that is more personal and less “corporate”. Blogs can humanize your brand.

6) In Google, Fresher Content = Better Website
Google will periodically crawl websites looking for new and updated content. In general, it is better to have Google crawl your site as often as possible. Sites that get crawled more often have more frequent updates and more authority. Blogging consistently ensures there will be fresh content on your site. More Here

Social Media Madness

From Hubspot - pretty funny!

Here Comes Everybody

Hi Beverly -

I was in your UCLA Social media class in Winter 08. I came across this article for a book by Clay Shirky about Social Media. Thought you would be interested. Thanks!

-Kathy

Sent to you by Kathy via Google Reader:

'Here Comes Everybody': What's Next On The Web

via NPR Topics: Books on 1/8/09

Social networking, user feedback and Tweeting are now common Web experiences. Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, isn't surprised. He knows what works online, what doesn't, and why — and he just might know what's next.

Beverly Macy on Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog

I am honored to be asked to contribute to Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog. You'll find my posts on Tuesdays, beginning tomorrow. Dan's blog was highlighted TODAY on CNN as the top job blog for Gen Y.

If you don't know who Dan Schawbel is, you are out of the loop. Dan is an amazing GenY branding guru who has taken the personal branding world by storm.

Here's a great video from Dan about the importance of Personal Branding. Watch and enjoy:

49 Amazing Social Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats

Very important statistics from Adam Singer in Web Trends and News

Blogosphere stats

133,000,000 - number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002

346,000,000 - number of people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)

900,000 - average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period

1,750,000 - number of RSS subscribers to TechCrunch, the most popular Technology blog (January 2009)

77% - percentage of active Internet users who read blogs

55% - percentage of the blogosphere that drinks more than 2 cups of coffee per day (source)

81 - number of languages represented in the blogosphere

59% - percentage of bloggers who have been blogging for at least 2 years

source

Twitter stats

1,111,991,000 - number of Tweets to date (see an up to the minute count here)

3,000,000 - number of Tweets/day(March 2008) (from TechCrunch)

165,414 - number of followers of the most popular Twitter user (@BarackObama) - but he’s not active

86,078 - number of followers of the most active Twitter user (@kevinrose)

63% - percentage of Twitter users that are male (from Time)

Facebook stats

150,000,000 - number of active users

170 - number of countries/territories that use Facebook

35 - number of different languages used on Facebook

2,600,000,000 - number of minutes global users in aggregate spend on Facebook daily

100 - number of friends the average user has

700,000,000 - number of photos added to Facebook monthly

52,000 - number of applications currently available on Facebook

140 - number of new applications added per day

source

Pay It Forward - Kiva Video

This is a good example of a non-profit using social media tools to get the word out. It works on every level because it shows the inner workings of the non-profit, it shows the use of the donation, and it's shareable.


A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

Social Media Study Shows 59 Percent of Retailers Now Using Facebook

People ask me if we are at a tipping point with social media, social networking, Twitter, etc. My answer is "not quite yet". We've got a way to go. Skepticism is still thick in corporate America and small business. Yes, the idea a communicating with and engaging the customer is intriguing but I believe it's the sense of lack of control that is holding most back.

At any rate, here's a tiny bit of good news in the retail space - ps a space that NEEDS help in terms of customer service....

Rosetta's findings show adoption nearly doubled over four-month period

PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosetta, the largest independent interactive marketing agency in the country, today released a social media study showing 59 percent of 100 leading retailers currently have a fan page on Facebook.

According to the study, which was first conducted in April of 2008 and updated in September of 2008, 29 of the retailers surveyed added Facebook pages during those four months. These include Best Buy(R), Toys "R" Us(R), Kohl's(R) and Wal-Mart(R).

"These results support what we're seeing in our day-to-day client work, which is that we've reached a tipping point with Facebook among retailers," says Adam Cohen, partner with Rosetta's consumer goods and retail practice. "Social media sites continue to be an important source of community connection, and savvy retailers are reaping the benefits of Facebook's rapid extension into new demographics, such as Gen-X and seniors."

However, Cohen cautions retailers against a haphazard approach: "It's important that retailers don't just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook. An effective Facebook presence requires that you carefully consider what your customers are looking for, what you would like to communicate, and what role a fan page should play in your overall online strategy. If you take all of these into account, it can be effective in building customer loyalty. "

The study included 100 retailers with a significant e-commerce presence or brand awareness, evaluated strictly on the creation of a "fan page" on Facebook. For a full copy of the social media study, please contact Brenda Patterson at Shev Rush Public Relations.

Y&M PARTNERS LLC ANNOUNCES 'PAY IT FORWARD 2009'

Non-profits turn to Y&M PARTNERS for social media expertise

January 9, 2009 (Beverly Hills, CA) Every year Y&M PARTNERS LLC selects a pro-bono project. The company has performed consulting for a health care project for a Fortune 500 company on issues of diversity in health care delivery; another year the company helped a 'green' start up with a business plan; and Managing Partner Beverly Macy continues to offer free coaching and consulting to former UCLA Executive Marketing students as a way of giving back.

Social Media is ideal for non-profits and this year Managing Partner, Beverly Macy, is pleased to announce that the company is accepting submissions from non-profit organizations who are interested in implementing Social Media Marketing to further their brand building and drive donations.

Y&M will offer up to 20 hours of strategy advice to the non-profit that it determines will benefit most from the value the company brings to the table. The company says the response has been excellent. - especially via Twitter, the micro blogging site. Word got out on Monday and within hours the company had inquiries. Teaching organizations, large institutional foundations, as well as smaller non-profits and international concerns have so far requested submission forms.

"Pay It Forward 2009 continues a corporate philosophy we have that says our business health is insured by helping others," says Beverly Macy. "Pay It Forward is especially important in these hard economic times...some would say risky. Well, we're willing to take the risk and hope it benefits us in the long run."

Email Beverly at bmacy@ympartners.com for more information and submission form.

Resources

FREE Social Media Marketing Strategy Advice for Non-Profit

Related Links

2009 - The Year of Going Social

beverlymacy

@beverlymacy posted to Twitter: PAY IT FORWARD 2009 Free Social Media Marketing Advice for Qualified Non-Profit http://pitch.pe/2867

The WellsFargovia Blog: Social Media Meets Merger Communications

VERY interesting article - do you applaud the effort of the banks to communicate via social media? I like the conclusion at the end of the article: "It’s usually helpful to take the long view in gauging the success of a new social media initiative, and this blog is no exception. Allowing a frank dialogue between customer and staff is a good start. Only time will tell where it goes from here."

Jan 8, 2009 at 01:13 PM ET

In the 12 years or so that we’ve been monitoring the retail financial services landscape, we’ve witnessed firms merging, splitting, and merging again. Since we’ve had financial accounts all over the place (banks, brokerage firms, mutual funds, etc.), we’ve witnessed this evolution from the client perspective. Sadly, the only consistent thing among all the mergers has been the overall lack of quality communication to customers about what the merger will mean to their accounts, fees, and so forth....

While this time around the circumstances might not be particularly happy ones, the recent mergers are among the first to happen in the age of social media and thanks to Wells Fargo and Wachovia, we’re going to get a taste of how social media can assist clients during the transition. On January 2nd, the first business day after the approval, Wells Fargo launched a new blog on its public site that features posts from employees at Wells and Wachovia.

Food Trends for 2009

Part of marketing is to observe trends, so this article caught my eye. How does social media fit into the food world? Fun to think about.....

TORONTO (Reuters) - From recalled tomatoes to calorie counts on menus, food and health was a big part of the news in 2008, and it looks to again have a high profile in 2009. Here are five food-related topics and trends to watch for this year.

Custom Foods

Customization has been a strong consumer trend in recent years. Shoppers can now buy made-to-order versions of popular items like chocolate bars, coffee and granola online. You can create your own food and health products based on basic criteria like taste and budget, and many customized products are marketed toward addressing specific health or fitness concerns. With new products continuing to hit the market, like German start-up My Muesli, the trend looks set to continue this year.

Alternative Sweeteners

In December the FDA approved the use of Stevia, a naturally derived, zero-calorie alternative to artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose, providing a new option for people who are concerned about both calories and side effects from the non-sugar sweeteners on the market. Pepsi and Coke already had plans in the works to market drinks made with the sweetener -- Sprite Green and Odwalla juices for Coke, and Sobe LifeWater and orange-flavored Trop50 for Pepsi. But a UCLA study concluded that testing on the sweetener isn't yet accurate, leading the Center For Science In The Public Interest to voice its disapproval of the FDA's decision.

Agave nectar is another sweetener expected to show up in an increasing number of products in 2009 -- DataMonitor showed that 176 new products with agave were launched in 2007, compared with 56 in 2003. Agave is getting attention because of its low glycemic index -- that is, it doesn't cause blood sugar to spike, and therefore crash, as easily as refined sugars can. The vegan sweetener has a more neutral taste than honey and dissolves more easily in cold drinks. But whatever its benefits, it's important to remember that agave is still sugar -- it still has calories and will be still stored as fat if you don't burn it.

Food Safety

Food safety issues were at the forefront of the national consciousness last year, thanks to several incidents of food-related illness and death in North America and elsewhere. Tomatoes and peppers were recalled across North America due to a salmonella scare, thousands of infants in China became sick due to melamine in infant formula and 20 Canadians were killed by listeriosis in Maple Leaf Foods processed meats. The scores of illnesses and deaths underscored for consumers that the foods we eat everyday can be risky. This year, the much-beleaguered Food and Drug Administration will gain a new chief, who will manage the department's increased budget and new role in international food regulations; current Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach announced in December that he will resign when President Bush leaves office this month.

Recession Diets

The grocery bill was one of the first areas of consumer spending to get the squeeze last year. If the recession continues, increasingly frugal trips to the grocery store are expected to as well. A 2007 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that foods high in calories and low in nutrients were cheaper than fruits and vegetables, throwing health concerns in with financial ones.

The rapidly growing organic food industry could feel the pinch from tighter household budgets, despite years of double-digit sales growth. Organic foods tend to be higher priced than their conventionally produced counterparts, and organic fruits and vegetables can be two to three times as expensive. The Organic Trade Association said in August that sales for 2008 were projected to be $24 billion, and average annual growth of 18 percent should increase through this year and next. But a survey by market researcher The Hartman Group found that the use of organics began leveling off in 2006, a trend it expects to continue this year, and an Information Resources survey of 1,000 consumers in May found that 52 percent were buying less organics because of cost concerns.

Food Nanny State

In May 2008, New York City required chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menu boards, in an effort to curb obesity and its related diseases by giving people more information about what they're eating - significant in a country where about a third of meals are eaten outside the home. There is now a similar requirement in Philadelphia. In Los Angeles, the city council banned the construction of new fast food restaurants in certain city neighborhoods for a year. Now the state of New York is proposing a 15-percent sales tax on non-diet soft drinks that could kick in this year. With legal challenges failing to prevent these fat-fighting municipal and state measures from going through, look for them to spread in 2009.