5 Emerging Social Media Sites to Watch in 2010

By Peter Wylie
Published March 9, 2010

Just as marketers are getting a handle on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, a fresh group of social media networks are poised to make a splash in 2010.

These networks have not reached mass adoption yet, so it’s not necessary to get active on all of them immediately. But remember, Facebook only took 6 years to reach 400 million registered users. You should keep an eye on these five upstarts to see if their innovative services attract large audiences in the near future.

Why You Should Pay Attention

Learning the ropes on new services before they gain mass traction can help you get value from them faster once they catch on. Monitoring the innovations in the social media space also gives you an indication of how the market is changing and will evolve over the next few years. Marketers should stay abreast of broader market trends to assure their messages stay relevant.

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13 Ways to Move Your Facebook Fans to Action

By Mari Smith
Published February 23, 2010

Perhaps you have a Facebook Fan Page and even some fans. But now what? How can you encourage your fans to act and interact?

In my prior post I covered the various sources and types of content you can post on your Facebook fan page. I also talked about the importance of consistent updates.

However, just like the “Field of Dreams” – if you build a fantastic fan page with plenty of quality content, will they come and will they stay?

They will come and they will stay if you give your fans good reason to engage.

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7 Tips for Driving Targeted Traffic With Twitter

By Chris Garrett
Published February 16, 2010

Social media has many uses—from making contacts to performing customer service—but driving quality traffic to your site is Twitter’s secret weapon. The big question is this: How can we get more of that lovely attention we crave?

As my recent poll shows, generating incoming traffic is the number-one need that people have right now, and for good reason. Traffic translates into:

Attention, engagement, conversation and recognition
Spreading your message far and wide
Prospects and subscriber opt-ins
Customers, increased sales and leads
Media and interviews, which lead to more attention

… and last but not least, an ego boost.

In a previous article here I mentioned the many benefits of Twitter for your business. Now here are seven key points you need to know if you want to get more targeted traffic from Twitter:

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Is Real-Time Search Good for Businesses?

By Michael Brito
Published January 28, 2010

Real-time search is bringing social media to search engines. And that means a whole new dynamic for businesses using the social web.

With Twitter and Facebook updates appearing in Google search results, many businesses are trying to figure if this is good or bad—and what to do next. Ziff Davis featured this blog post a while back. It got me thinking about the implications of the real-time web and how businesses can navigate through these rough waters.

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9 Ways to Get More From Twitter

By Chris Garrett
Published January 19, 2010

If you talk about social media, invariably someone is going to say something I’m sure you’ve heard a lot: “I don’t have time to chit-chat. Time is money, and I don’t care about a bunch of nerds’ opinions anyway.” …or something along those lines! Twitter is often the target of such criticism.

Now, reading Social Media Examiner, you might be surprised to hear that sometimes I think people who say this have a point. Sometimes.

Fact is, if you see Twitter or any other social media service as a venue for chit-chat, and that’s how you use it for hours a day, then you’re likely better off doing something more productive with your time.

On the other hand, there are ways to get a lot of value out of Twitter. As with most things, it all depends on how you use it.

We programmers have a saying: “Garbage In – Garbage Out.” This essentially means you get out what you put in. If you put in chit-chat, don’t be surprised if that’s all you see in return!

Here are nine benefits I’ve personally seen through my couple of years of Twitter usage.

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Five Facebook-Only Strategies For Business Success

By Jason Falls
Published December 29, 2009

It’s hard to find a business participating in social media that isn’t doing something on Facebook. In fact, “I want a Facebook fan page,” has replaced, “I want a company blog,” as the single most heard request from clients in the social media world these days. With 350 million accounts and growing, it’s no wonder.

Facebook is one of my favorite places to recommend for businesses for a lot of reasons. The primary one is that Facebook offers almost of all the various social media tools that companies can apply to their brand.

Facebook allows you to participate without having to spend time or money on your own website. Still, few companies are using Facebook well. One example of a business doing it right is Ernst & Young Human Resources effort (brilliant). But for every good Facebook presence there’s a brand page we like to call a “campground.” Not because lots of people hang out there, but because all you hear when you visit is crickets.

To give you a leg up on getting smart with Facebook, here are five facebook-only strategies for business success.

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7 Ways Posterous Improves Your Social Media Presence

By Cindy King
Published December 21, 2009

Posterous is a social media platform where it’s very easy to post just about anything—photos, videos and words. You can set up your account and publish content simply by sending an email. Yes it’s that simple!

Posterous is known as the most “social” networking place of social media. It’s also the ideal solution for sharing content that’s too long for a tweet and too short for a blog post.

There are many different reasons and motivations to create a free Posterous account. Let’s have a look at the 7 most common reasons for businesses to use Posterous.

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5 Creative Ways To Use Your Twitter Favorites

By Mari Smith
Published December 15, 2009

If you look at most Twitter users’ Favorites, this feature is often completely empty or seldom used. Many people simply don’t know the power of this tiny tool! There are so many creative and useful ways to get mileage out of selecting tweets to favorite (others’ and your own).

With the constant stream (river!) of information rushing by on Twitter, here are five fun ways to capture your favorite tweets and have a way to archive/refer back to them.

First, let’s make sure you know how to favorite tweets, what types of tweets to favorite, and where to find your Favorites URL/RSS Feed:

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How to Conduct a Live Video Broadcast With Multiple Talking Heads

By Michael Stelzner
Published December 8, 2009

Can you see me now? Yes, seeing faces is really at the core of social media. New tools have recently emerged that allow you to broadcast multiple live talking heads over the Internet.

Here’s the cool part. They cost next to nothing and allow you to instantly communicate with hundreds of people. The marketing upside is huge here: quick video chats with groups of prospects, organized events and much more.

We conducted four live multi-guest video broadcasts for the launch of Social Media Examiner. In this article I’ll explain how we did it and share the tools we used so you can do this on your own.

How it Works

Are you launching a product or service? Looking to create a big social media splash? A new and powerful marketing idea is live video broadcasts with multiple guests. Think videophones with multiple people who the entire world can see. Then add public chat and integration with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

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