Lisa tells the story of BlogHer, the fifth largest blog network.  She also shares insights and tips for successful blogs and current trends for women bloggers.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• How blogging changes the voice of women
• Why blogging is the perfect tool for women
• Why you should find a community when you start blogging
• How to build your blog community
• What the popular topics are for women bloggers
• How to manage an online community
• How to set up your blog to drive revenue
• Examples of blog-to-book stories

Connect with Lisa on Twitter @LisaStone and Google+. And be sure to check out the BlogHer community.

Do you belong to a blogging community? What tips do you have to share for women bloggers? Please leave them below.

This article will tell you what you need to know to create a privacy policy for your website.

Why a Privacy Policy?

As online professionals and entrepreneurs, you know that collecting information on visitors to your (or your client’s) website can help tailor goods and services. It offers insight that previously could only be gathered through expensive research. Today, though, data collection can be easy and inexpensive.

But with this type of information, businesses face a daunting task of protecting the data and telling visitors and/or consumers what will be done with the information. Regardless of whether site visitors read the terms and conditions, companies can’t overlook the creation of policies that set out how such information will be used.

Example of a well-placed privacy policy and descriptive link. Disney Muppets website.

Interestingly, except for regulated industries, there is no federal law requiring an online business to have a privacy policy. More importantly, no company has ever been sued for not having a privacy policy. But, for those businesses located in California or those that do business in California (many online companies!), there is a California state law requiring the posting of a privacy policy.

As professionals in the online world, often we’re expected to know all of the rules and regulations when it comes to what a company can and cannot collect or do with the information that is collected. Marketing wants to collect certain information and use it as a competitive advantage, but the company as a whole may want to convey a different sense of privacy, which creates internal conflict.

Privacy and personal data collection are areas where consulting with legal counsel may be necessary if your industry is regulated or if you want to be very aggressive with the data collected. The collection methods also need to be confirmed with the IT professionals who create the back-end tools.

In addition, following the policy set forth is imperative so there is no risk of sanctions. This is why having a policy custom-tailored will always be better than using a stock policy or cutting and pasting from what you find on the Internet.

The Elephant in the Room

It wouldn’t be a complete discussion about online privacy without mentioning Facebook and the recent ruling by the FTC that the social network deceived consumers by telling them their information was private when in fact the data was exploited beyond what was agreed.

While Facebook was not fined, the settlement is quite strict and obligates Facebook to undergo third-party reviews for 20 years.

Sometimes young companies learn the hard way. Facebook.com

For a platform that relies on users sharing information, Facebook turned a blind eye to the disparity between what they agreed to do and what, in fact, they did. But consumers are very savvy and complaints ignored by the company were taken to the FTC.

The social network faced the potential for millions of dollars in fines. Ultimately, though, that may have been a lesser punishment than what was agreed upon because of the length of monitoring.

Unlike for most companies, users of Facebook are highly involved and very vocal. Even though the company is still in its infancy, this big stumble was likely a wake-up call. Not just for the social network, but also for the online business community as a whole. Consumer deception is becoming a bigger concern, and Internet users are savvier with each passing day.

Creating a Great Privacy Policy

When you think of the policies and disclosures that belong on websites, it should come as no surprise that big companies have them drafted by a team of lawyers. If you’ve ever read them, you’d agree.

However, when it comes to a privacy policy, sometimes the best thing to do is write it out yourself first. You know best what you’re doing with the information. When it’s done, run it past an attorney.

What to Include in a Privacy Policy

First, and foremost, write it in plain English (or if your primary language is something else, then that language). Determine what information you would be gathering—email, cookies, subscription information, credit card, login, gender, age, etc.—and make sure there is a legitimate reason for collection. And once you have all this information, identify what you are doing with it.

Next comes putting it together—all it takes is 8 easy steps to an awesome privacy policy!

1. Write in language that is easy to read and understand.
2. Explain what information will be collected and whether it will be identifying or anonymous. If it’s both, say so.
3. Without getting into lengthy detail, explain how it’s collected (such as search terms, sign-up, log files, clicked links, cookies).
4. If you’ll share information with affiliated, partner or other sites, be clear about this. Most people are concerned with who else is getting their information.
5. Simply state that if compelled by law to disclose, then you’ll comply with such orders.
6. Give readers the option of verifying, correcting, changing or removing personal registration information. I suggest having a separate email for this purpose so you know exactly the nature of this communication.
7. Provide a way for people to opt out of future communication. If someone wants to be removed, make it easy. Having a “privacy policy email” allows for these types of communications to be routed for easy handling.
8. State that the policy will be updated periodically and how you will communicate such changes.

Conclusion

Putting up a sign may work for your garden, but not for your online business. Image: freedigitalphotos.net

Privacy policies are often not given the attention they deserve. Many companies churn them out, not realizing their true importance. While not everyone will read the policy, it’s these types of policies that say a lot about what the company stands for and what it wants to achieve. Information is key to future growth. It provides insight that can’t be replicated in other ways.

Most companies don’t have the resources or reputation that the largest social networking site has, and being singled out for deceptive practices could easily crush them.

Success tomorrow depends on not just doing the right thing today, but doing it every day. Most of us want our information kept secure. And our most valuable asset—our customers, users and community members—do too.

What do you think? Have you written a policy for your business? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

* This article does not specifically address policies regarding children under 13. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) will be addressed in a future treatment.

Disclosure: While Sara Hawkins is an attorney, this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice.

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are you wondering how to add social media to your email communications?

Email and social media marketing go together like Batman and Robin.

They both can be effective on their own; however, when combined, their (super) powers can save the city and exceed your marketing goals.

Is Email Dead?

In this article I’ll show you how to combine email marketing with your social media efforts.

In a recent StrongMail survey, ”More than two-thirds of business leaders (68%) say they plan to integrate social media with their email marketing efforts in 2012″ (as reported by MarketingProfs on December 12, 2011).

As a guy who lives, breathes, eats and sometimes dreams email marketing, I was thrilled to see email getting some mainstream love.

You may be thinking, “Hey, isn’t email dead?”

Think again. I mean, sure, there are certainly case studies of companies forgoing email and replacing it with social media. I’d argue that these are exceptions, certainly not the norm.

This blog post and infographic on the value of email by SmarterTools will quickly dispel the “email is dead” myth.

Need one more proof point that email is not dead? How many times have you checked your email this week? Today? Since you started reading this blog post? Okay. Now that we are all in agreement, let’s continue.

9 Ways to Integrate Email Marketing and Social Media

Before we dive in, it’s important to understand the distinction between social sharing and connecting:

• Social Sharing: This is when a marketer includes an option for the subscriber to share the entire email or a specific content block with their social network(s).
• Social Connection: This is what we tend to see most often—asking your email subscribers to like your Facebook page, follow you on Twitter, subscribe to your YouTube channel, etc.

Below are 9 ways to integrate email marketing and social media for maximum effectiveness. One thing to note: I consider “old-school” social networks like blogs and SMS (texting) to be social media.

#1: Include Social Icons in Emails

While this may sound like an obvious one, it’s important to include social icons in your email campaigns. To be clear, I’m not talking about slapping a tiny Facebook or Twitter icon somewhere at the bottom of an email. Nope. Say it loud. Say it proud. Like the Huffington Post Media Brief.

A good example is this email header from the Huffington Post Media Brief.

#2: Ask Email Subscribers to Share and Connect

Sometimes just including social icons is not enough. Remember: While many subscribers recognize the Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn icons, not all know what action you want them to take when they see them in an email. Don’t be afraid to tell them! See how WineAnthology shares.

In this example from Wine Anthology, they invite their subscribers to share the email.

Of course, if it fits with your company image/brand, you can also use a bit of humor like BustedTees does here.

Busted Tees asked their subscribers to "stalk" them on their social networks.

#3: Send a Dedicated Email Campaign

There are times when including some links or buttons—asking your subscribers to socially connect or share with their network—is not clear enough. If you are not having much success, try sending an email that is dedicated to a particular social network like Copyblogger does here.

In this example, Copyblogger tells subscribers why they should follow them on Twitter.

#4: Provide Incentive

As mentioned in #3, if you want someone to connect with you on other social networks, sometimes you need to provide an incentive—tell me what’s in it for me!

I really like what Hydro Flask did in this email below, asking email subscribers to invite their friends to like them on Facebook. Notice the incentive that benefited everyone—”the more you like, the more you save.”

"The more you like, the more you save" email campaign from Hydro Flask.

However, your incentive does not have to be financial. You can also try what Chris Penn did here in his email newsletter. (Note: red box is mine.) He offered two subscribers a chance to be featured in his next email—the one who shared the most and the one who generated the most click-throughs.

Give your subscribers a reason to connect, a reason to share.

#5: Promote Email Sign-up Via Social Networks

If you have a strong following on a particular social network, don’t hesitate to ask for new email subscribers via that channel. See what C.C. Chapman did in this tweet.

Ask for your Twitter followers to opt into your email newsletter.

You can also promote your email sign-up page on Facebook, as Cruise Deals did in this example.

The key here is cross-promotion—leverage each channel to promote the other.

#6: Include “Retweet This!” Snippet in Email

Another great way to cross-pollinate email marketing and social media is to highlight a particular tweet in your email campaign. MarketingProfs is one company that does this in many of their emails.

Check out this example below from a recent email. What I like about featuring a particular tweet is that it fits nicely with the “share your community’s stuff” mantra.

MarketingProfs features a tweet from their community that is relevant to their audience via a "Retweet this" block.

#7: Build an Email Opt-In Form on Facebook

Facebook allows you to embed an email sign-up form as one of your apps. Take advantage of this great opportunity to encourage your Facebook fans to opt into your email list.

Here is a great example from the Park City Mountain Resort’s Facebook page.

Park City Mountain Resort makes it easy to sign up for their email list via a form on Facebook.

I also really like this December Holiday Promotion from Crocs on their Facebook page. Notice how they also provide an SMS option. More on that in #8.

Notice how Crocs simplifies the email opt-in form on Facebook. They also provide a text-to-subscribe option.

Note: Many ESPs provide this email opt-in on Facebook functionality. MailChimp (an ESP) details their Facebook sign-up app in this blog post.

#8: Don’t Forget SMS (text)

One of my favorite (creative) cross-promotion techniques is from Southwest Airlines. The next time you fly SWA, be sure to look at your cocktail napkin. I snapped this picture of mine a while back, but I’m pretty sure they are still doing it.

Notice how you can text your email address to a unique number to opt into their email campaigns. Cool, huh?

#9: Promote Email Marketing on Your Blog

One often-overlooked integration option is using your blog to mention, link to and ask for new email subscribers.

Chris Brogan does this occasionally in his blog posts. (Note: the red box/text is mine.)

If you have a strong network of blog readers/subscribers, take advantage of it!

Conclusion

So there you have it. Batman. Robin. Email. Social. It’s time to start using email marketing to power social media and social media to power email marketing.

What do you think? Have you come across examples of companies effectively integrating the two channels? Have you found success? Do you have other tactics to add to the list? If so, please share in the comments box below!

Many people either love or hate YouTube’s platform facelift.

Whatever your preference, in this article I’m going to outline some of the best ways to optimize the new YouTube layout.

Frankly, YouTube’s new design is turning out to be a step in the right direction.

YouTube has managed to add a layer of user experience and brand factor, which are only getting better. This evolution will soon prove highly beneficial to YouTube channel owners.

YouTube's social home page power.

Here are 5 tweaks you can make to improve branding on your YouTube Channel.

#1: Add Your Custom URLs in the Newly Placed Description Area

This option is now at the top on the right of your video. Talk about brand power. Previously, only partners could take advantage of this prime channel real estate.

However, you don’t have to be a partner to place your URL links in plain sight to the right of the video. Before, your links were drowning below the fold (scroll down) to the left. Now your channel description area is to the right of the video above the fold. That means a higher potential click-through rate to your outside sites.

Plus you can add your social media links in the description area, such as Facebook, Twitter and now Google+.

Brand juice for non-partner channels.

#2: Add Overlays to ALL of Your Videos

This is a huge opportunity! Most people don’t know about this feature. YouTube promotions are a vastly under-used resource for traffic generation (98 of AdAge‘s Top 100 advertisers can’t be wrong).

Previous YouTube guidelines required you to promote your videos in order to take advantage of YouTube’s self-branded overlays.

However, YouTube has changed that requirement. You don’t need to have a running and approved promotion for a specific video to take advantage of overlays.

Now you can simply create the promoted video, pause the campaign and still have the power of the branded overlay.

Create a custom ad for your overlay.

#3: Prevent Other Ads from Showing on Your Video

In order to keep all other ads from showing up on your featured video player, check the box that says, “Prevent ads from showing in my videos on this page.”

This is of course useful and necessary once you add your own branded and clickable overlay to your featured video.

Also, if you opt to have your newest video as the featured video, then you’ll only have to make this selection once and it will apply to all of your featured videos. Simply click on the Edit button found directly over the featured video.

Click the Edit button above your featured video.

From there, you can edit the information. Check the "Prevent ads from showing in my videos on this page."

While you’re here, I would also suggest making sure the auto-play option is also checked to have your featured video start playing right away when visitors come to your channel. (This is the only way your overlay will actually show right away.)

#4: Check “Always Take Subscribed Users to the Feed Tab”

It allows your existing subscribers to see your latest videos and the comments you make on other channels and videos (as well as any updates that you mention). The “Feed” tab not only brings your subscribers that much closer to seeing your channel comments, but they’re more likely to dive in and start commenting themselves to keep up with the conversations.

This can be found in the Edit Channel feature.

Click the Edit Channel button to begin editing your channel.

From there, go in and click the “Info and Settings” tab, which will show you where you can check the “Always take subscribed users to the feed tab.”

Once in Info and Settings, check the "Always take subscribed users to the feed tab."

The Goal Here Is Engagement

YouTube is a social network site (many of us forget that). That being said, treating your YouTube Channel as your traffic filter to your external links can only work well if there’s solid engagement on the channel page itself.

From the Feed tab, you can choose to click through to comments only or channel activity.

For instance, if you’re trying to build engagement within YouTube, commenting on other YouTube channels is a great way to get them to come back to yours.

Ask questions. Engage in thoughtful conversation.

Nostalgia Sets in for the Old Layout

As far as the new layout goes, channel commenting is one of the only features that seem a bit lacking from the user experience and engagement point of view. You can still comment; and actually, I like where the comment is structured on the channel (the top to the right of the video).

After leaving a channel post, you can view your post as well as others' posts.

But it is more of a “submit your comment” box and not a place where you can read the comments that are coming through the channel. (In this regard, I prefer the old layout.)

In fact, the only way to see the comments is from either the feed section or after you’ve submitted a comment.

With the new design layout, new users coming to your channel can certainly watch a series of videos with a more fluid user experience than before. However, from the channel page, the only way to read existing interaction on the channel is by going to the Feed tab and clicking through to “comments only.” (Seems counterintuitive to the flow that YouTube has fine-tuned.)

#5: Prioritize Your Favorite Channels on your Home Page Using the Pinned Subscribers Feature

The recent home page changes mean big things for YouTube. Social is what’s on their mind—and the home page, having more personalization, reflects that.

• The channels you’re subscribed to are in list form under your profile on the left.
• The middle column shows all the activity of those whom you’ve subscribed to.
• And the Pinned feature allows you to take your top 10 YouTube users and have their information fed to you first.

Home page secrets.

So How is this Powerful?

The benefit is that you can scan the activity of those YouTube channels within your same niche to discern if their patterns on YouTube are successful or not. I don’t have to look too far to know what someone I subscribe to is doing. It’s right there in front of me. Not only that person’s upload patterns, but also the frequency of his/her communication—video commenting and channel subscribing—ultimately, how he/she is using YouTube socially to establish relationships.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WlRpHChQpE

Closing Thoughts

YouTube will not stop with their changes. They’ll continue to make the platform more social user–based. That, coupled with their push for more original content, may mean that they are not yet out of the social race. They might not win this year. But if you think about Google+ integrating fully with YouTube, you can definitely see a powerhouse to be reckoned with.

What do you think? How do you feel about the changes to YouTube—both from the marketer’s and the viewer’s points of view? Please leave your questions and comments below.

Our third-annual social media blog contest generated nearly 600 nominations (almost twice as many as last year’s contest).

Our panel of social media experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing the quality of their content, the frequency of posts and reader involvement (among other things).

With that in mind, here are ten blogs that need to be at the top of your reading list.

#1: Social Mouths

Social Mouths, the brainchild of Francisco Rosales, provides deep and honest looks at social media marketing and trends that impact our industry.

The site contains detailed posts with real-world examples, and addresses new and difficult topics.

#2: ViralBlog

ViralBlog provides a daily stream of social media trends and inspiration through case studies and other interesting articles.

The site has excellent content with useful tips and advice.

#3: Jeff Bullas

Jeff Bullas takes a close look at how businesses can get found online through social media.

The site has excellent content with solid social media insights.

#4: Hubze

Hubze has built an audience by focusing on social media trends and tips on social media marketing tactics.

The site contains a nice variety of media, including articles and podcasts.

#5: The Sales Lion

The Sales Lion from Marcus Sheridan is a blog that seeks to build community around inbound marketing, blogging, business and life.

The site fosters strong community with great participation through comments.

#6: Pushing Social

Pushing Social from Stanford Smith provides practical blogging tips and resources from a fresh perspective.

The site contains creative, informative and readable posts with deeper-than-average advice.

#7: Heidi Cohen

Heidi Cohen provides intelligent insights on social media tactics and trends, all while making the complex simple.

The site contains comprehensive and thoughtful content.

#8: MarketingTech Blog

MarketingTech blog provides a technology-focused approach to new media marketing.

The site covers a variety of topics and media, including radio and video.

#9: Likeable Media

Likeable Media keeps readers current on industry trends and new tools while also providing strategies and tactics for using Facebook and social media marketing.

The site contains very current information on new tools and platforms.

#10: SplashMedia

SplashMedia provides interesting takes on strategy, tips and trends, while their SplashCasts offer some great success stories.

The site features great use of a video show as well as diverse postings with good in-depth content.

Congratulations to the winners! Be sure to check out these amazing blogs.

The badge of distinction: If you’re a winner, you can post the image you see here on your blog and please link back to this page.

A special thanks to our judges: Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing and CEO, SocialMedia.org), Rick Calvert (CEO, BlogWorld) and Michael Stelzner (author, Launch and CEO, Social Media Examiner).

What do you think? Share your questions and comments in the box below.

What’s New This Week?

Google+ Allows Nicknames: Over the next week, Google+ will provide “support for alternate names—be they nicknames, birth names, or names in another script—alongside your common name. This name will show up on your Google+ profile and in the hovercards which appear over your name.”

To add an alternate name, go to your Google+ profile, click Edit Profile, select your name and click on “More options.”

New Google Accounts Generate Both Gmail and Google+ Accounts: Signing up for a Gmail account now automatically creates a Google+ account. This could impact how users use and network on other Google platforms such as YouTube and Google Docs.

New Gmail accounts also generate Google+ accounts.

Google Updates Privacy Policy: This update takes effect on March 1. It simplifies all privacy policies and makes it clear that if you’re signed in, Google “may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGghlPmebCY

YouTube Hits 4 Billion Daily Video Views: This is a 25% increase over the last 8 months. “Roughly 60 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube every minute.”

Say Hello to the New Vimeo:  Vimeo gets a new design and puts a greater focus on your videos, which makes Vimeo easier, faster and more fun to use.

Vimeo has bigger videos and gives you more ways to discover things you like.

Here’s a social media tool worth noting:

AgoraPulse: An all-in-one Facebook marketing and CRM solution. Check out their unique comparison feature to see how your Facebook business page compares to your competitors’ pages. (This feature is only available to paying customers.)

AgoraPulse's competitive analysis of Social Media Examiner's Facebook Page.

Here’s an interesting infographic:

How to Get More Clicks on Twitter: Check out Dan Zarrella’s latest findings to improve your Twitter marketing results.

Use these insights to get more clicks on Twitter.

And don’t miss this (starting next week!):

Social Media Examiner presents Small Business Success Summit 2011! (online conference)

Join 25 experts, including including John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Faster, Smarter, Cheaper), Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses) and Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking)—just to mention a few (scroll down to see full list)!

Go here to learn more.

What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

Chris shares how Google+ can help small businesses and reveals the strategies he uses to get business leads. You’ll also learn how to adapt your content strategy on Google+ to select the people you want to work with.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• Why Google+ changes everything
• How to get your content indexed quickly
• Discover Chris Brogan’s Google+ strategy
• How Human Business Works uses Google+ to get business leads
• Why you should share personal stories on Google+
• How to show potential clients who you are
• What content strategy to use on Google+
• How businesses can use Google+ Circles for both outbound marketing and lead generation
• When to choose Google+ privacy settings
• How Chris uses Twitter differently than Google+

Connect with Chris on Google+ and learn more about Google+ here.

Do you use Google+? If so, what’s your Google+ strategy? Please share your Google+ tips below.

With the growing number of social networks, it can be a pain to keep on top of them all.

Below I’ve highlighted three tools to help you manage your various social networking accounts from one neat dashboard.

#1: Alternion

Just recently out of private beta testing, Alternion packs a punch with the number of networks and social profiles you can manage.

Each profile or account is added by logging into the original site and allowing Alternion to access your account.

From blogging to bookmarking, image-sharing to shopping, Alternion will cover more of your accounts than any other dashboard I’ve tried so far. For business and marketing purposes, you’ll find most of the accounts you would need: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Vimeo and YouTube are all here.

Alternion also places an emphasis on user privacy, with sharing options available for each linked account (perhaps having learned a lesson from Facebook’s privacy fumbles). You can decide whether to display a link to each account on your Alternion profile, and who can see your updates from a specific network.

Alternion's privacy settings are simple and easy to change.

The main dashboard page is a little reminiscent of Facebook’s once-simple layout—the blue and white design and clean structure make it easy to focus on your data and the task at hand.

Two sidebars keep your main news feed or message stream uncluttered.

Alternion offers three main viewing options: your social news feed, which pulls in updates from your social networks; messages, which allow you to interact with your various email accounts; and contacts, which is fairly self-explanatory.

One great feature that I was surprised to find is the ability to not only edit your Facebook and Twitter lists, but also to create brand-new lists from within the contacts tab.

Alternion also creates a user profile for everyone with an account. On your profile page, you can see updates you have made to any linked social networks, links to your various social profiles, photos and videos you have shared and some basic stats about your activity (number of profiles, number of updates, etc.).

The profile sidebar shows an overview of your activity from all accounts across the web.

#2: LiveGO

Unlike Alternion, LiveGO focuses on a smaller number of popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It also incorporates email accounts and instant messengers such as Gmail’s GTalk and AOL Instant Messenger.

LiveGO aims to be a simple way to communicate with others through email, social networks or instant messages.

LiveGO has several viewing options, allowing you to get an overview of everything at once or focus on a particular area. The standard inbox view shows your email inbox at the top, with mixed social network feeds underneath. Your instant message accounts live in a sidebar to the right, which can be hidden when not in use, giving you more space for other tasks.

Each of your accounts has its own button on the left, with a pop-up menu that makes it easy to switch to specific feeds; for instance, Twitter mentions or email drafts. A menu across the top of the main feeds panel offers different areas of each network, giving you full, integrated access to your account.

The Facebook-specific view has menu options for your news feed, photo albums, messages and more.

Each Twitter account has its own panel as well, showing your main feed, your own tweets, favorites, mentions and direct messages.

LiveGO's integration with Twitter includes the ability to favorite and unfavorite tweets, see conversation threads and follow or unfollow users.

A constant update box sits at the top of the screen, allowing you to update any of your social networks with ease. Choosing the account you are sending from is clear (something I have had issues with in other dashboard apps), and sending the same update to more than one account is an option.

Finally, a couple of unusual features that caught my attention: First, the ability to add special characters (music notes, hearts, arrows) to your updates. Admittedly, this is not something I use often, but is an interesting addition to the update box, especially considering an “add media” button is conspicuously missing. Second, a feature I have never seen before: an automatic collection of updates from the same person. See the image below for an example.

Two recent tweets by the same person were linked automatically by a bracket to show that they came from the same author.

#3: Netvibes

Netvibes is more of a monitoring dashboard than an integrated updating tool. With the ability to add several social networking accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (yes, really) and email accounts, it offers a good overview of your networks. Its focus is more on monitoring your brand across the web than communication, however.

Netvibes aims to be "everything that matters to you" collected into one dashboard.

With the ability to add several “dashboards” to your account, Netvibes offers a comfortable way to keep different areas of your work separated; for instance, personal and professional accounts or different brands you are monitoring.

Various widgets allow a huge degree of personalization to your dashboard.

Each dashboard view lets you choose widgets to add, which come as specific as the calculator, weather or to-do list widgets, and as indistinct as standard text or HTML widgets.

Social widgets allow you to monitor your email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

Each social networking widget offers standard functionality, such as replies, comments, retweeting and other sharing options. The email widget, however, is disappointing in its lack of features, offering essentially an inbox monitor and nothing else.

Adding widgets is a fairly simple process, with categories to browse at the top of the page. Each widget can fit into different areas of your dashboard, and change size and shape accordingly.

Widget previews show user ratings, image previews and the number of users who have installed the widget.

The one thing Netvibes really does differently is the integration of RSS feeds. With RSS widgets, you can quickly get an overview of recent headlines, and open these in a reader view to see the full article.

RSS feeds can be read without leaving the Netvibes dashboard.

This integration makes Netvibes the perfect place to monitor specific topics across the web, without actually “traveling” across the web.

If you prefer to view the actual website, you still don't have to leave your dashboard.

Netvibes also offers the most extensive personalization options of these three apps, with several themes available to choose from, and color options available for each separate widget.

The Verdict

As always with these roundup posts, your needs will determine which app is of the most benefit to you.

What do you think? Let us know which dashboards you’ve tried, and what you like best. What features would you like to see added to your favorite dashboard?

Together, social media channels and your website should work seamlessly to promote your online brand.

However, if you’re like most businesses, you’re probably missing out on potential interactions, impressions and ultimately sales.

In this article, I’ll dive into a quick how-to guide to ensure your business website and social media platforms are working together to maximize your online exposure.

I’ve included examples from small- to medium-sized businesses that specialize in a whole host of fields to illustrate that you don’t have to be one of the big players to take advantage of these simple tips.

#1: Include Visible Social Media Buttons

This seems like a no-brainer, but double-check. Best practices suggest that social media buttons be displayed on the top, bottom or along the side of your home page. Links or buttons that remain in your navigation as the user moves from page to page are optimal.

To ensure that users don’t exit your web page altogether, you may want to create the buttons or links so that they open your social media pages in new windows.

Also, do not feel obligated to link out to all social media channels you’ve created or dabbled in. If you’re fonder of Twitter and have completely abandoned your Facebook page, there’s no reason to link to any outlet that is not being actively managed. In fact, linking out to inactive channels can ultimately cause more harm than good.

There are several ways in which to display your buttons or links and none of them are wrong. In this case, it is more of a design preference focused on how the user will be interacting with the site.

Below are some examples of ways in which websites have successfully displayed their social media outlet(s).

Big and bold button catches your eye.

This eCommerce site specializing in alternatives to dog and horse supplements only links out to Facebook and chooses to do so in a big and bold manner.

Subtle buttons suit some sites well.

This farm credit services business subtly displays their social media buttons at the bottom of their page.

Front-and-center buttons ensure visibility.

This artist decides to feature his along the top.

#2: Integrate Social Where it Makes Sense

If you use social media to keep your customers or clients apprised of your recent happenings and are actively managing your outlets on a daily or bi-weekly basis, it might be wise to showcase your Twitter feed or Facebook posts directly on your website.

Linking out or displaying inactive social media channels will only cripple your online efforts. If you choose to go this route, it is important that you maintain your presence.

Below are two examples of how vastly different businesses (a web design firm and an online gift card site) have integrated their social media feeds into their websites.

On this site, tweets are visible along the right-hand side throughout the website. Tweets vary from deals and contests to interactions with followers and customer service responses.

On this B2B site, recent tweets are found at the bottom of the homepage and are mostly comprised of industry-related blogs, recent events and projects in which they've participated.

These businesses vary significantly in what they do and the way they make use of social media, but both have found a logical method of incorporating social media into their sites.

#3: Include Up-to-Date Buttons

Social media changes fast—dare we say in real time? So if you added your buttons a year ago, they are probably palling around with the dinosaurs. Facebook fans morphed into Likes, group pages died, +1 is spanking new and LinkedIn improved significantly. Do research to find the most current social media terminology so you don’t get caught mumbling about “The Facebook” and “The Twitter.”

Social Media Examiner stays up to date.

In order to maintain credibility within this ever-changing realm, it is important to stay with the times. However, staying up to date with your terminology does not mean that you need to jump on every platform that springs up. It is important to be tactful with your social media choices and do your research before blindly forging into unknown territory.

#4: Include Share Buttons

If you sell a product or run a full-fledged eCommerce site and you haven’t added share buttons to your product pages, you are missing out on a whole host of potential social impressions.

Share buttons should enable website-goers to seamlessly share or recommend a product.

If you find yourself hard up for a broad solution for this, check out AddThis or ShareThis. Both provide efficient and easy-to-use solutions for social media sharing across eCommerce sites with the added benefit of analytics to see how the content is getting shared.

As illustrated below, these buttons are easy to see.

The easier you make it for customers to share your product, the better.

Similar to eCommerce sites, if you have resources, articles, a blog or other valuable content on your site, you should attempt to make it as simple as possible for readers to share it with others. Social media share buttons should be displayed somewhere easy to see. Nicholas Creative does a decent job with this, as seen on their blog below.

If you enjoy an article, you won't want to keep it to yourself.

#5: Use Analytics

Pay attention to the way in which individuals are using your social media buttons by tapping into Google Analytics. How many people are actually clicking on your outbound social media links?

An easy way to explore this is by setting up Event Tracking in Google Analytics. If you’re unfamiliar with Event Tracking, Google provides a step-by-step guide on how to incorporate the correct codes into your site.

Google Analytics allows you to track the number of individuals who click on outbound links by setting up Event Tracking.

If you find that few individuals explore your social media outlets once landing on your page, perhaps your social media buttons aren’t in a convenient location. It’s always best to have actual numbers to back up your choices.

#6: Pay Attention to Terms and Conditions

This goes hand in hand with staying up to date and knowledgeable, but I continue to see major brands using social media in ways that violate platforms’ terms and conditions.

You cannot use Google+ for contest entries, a personal Facebook page shouldn’t be used to operate a brand and there are certain rules to adhere to when running a promotion on Facebook.

The way you use social media reflects on your website, as well as your brand as a whole. If you’ve accidentally violated some terms and conditions in the past, delete those pages and do not link out to them even in the interim.

I'm not sure what Pita Pit is doing with this personal Facebook page or if it was created by an unaffiliated party. Whatever the case may be, steer clear of using a personal page as a brand page.

#7: Don’t Over-Do It

You want to make sure that compelling information is easily shareable, but littering social media share buttons all over your webpage isn’t the way to go. Before adding share buttons to a page, ask yourself, “Is there information here that people would find worth sharing?”

If you find yourself on your “About Us” page and don’t see any added value to website-goers being able to share your administrative assistant’s contact information, then forgoing buttons in this instance is totally acceptable.

#8: Stay Knowledgeable

Don’t get it twisted. With the changing social media landscape and array of rollouts these days, it is easy to confuse social media features. Keep in mind:

• You won’t be directing individuals to your Facebook page by installing a Facebook “Like” button on a specific website page. Instead, you are allowing individuals to “Like”/share the information, content or product that is found on that specific website page. There is no correlation between Liking a specific website page and directing users to “Like” your branded Facebook page.
• Similarly, directing individuals to your Google+ brand page is different than adding a +1 button to a page. At this time, there is no correlation between the two.

As illustrated below on this pool supplies website, social media pages and social media share buttons can be found on the same page. Verbs such as “Tweet” and “Share” often help distinguish between share buttons and social media pages.

Be sure you know the difference.

#9: Use Social Media Insights Alongside Google Analytics

Many types of software allow you to see your social media insights alongside your web analytics in order to pick up on trends and to better understand the successes or failures of campaigns.

SproutSocial allows users to compare web analytics and social media reporting information from specific timeframes side by side. Being able to see the way in which your social media and website analytics relate proves useful in establishing goals, measuring successes and identifying areas in which you can improve.

Here's an example of the correlation between website traffic and a social media campaign via a SproutSocial report.

There you have it—a quick-and-dirty guide on immediate steps you can take to make your social media and business website play nice.

Do you have any tips or things to avoid at all costs? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Right now Timeline is currently limited to personal profiles and with no schedule set or promised for brand pages.

However, given Facebook’s history with design changes and how changes of this sort first get released to users and later on get applied to brands, it’s likely that Timeline is on the horizon for business pages as well.

This article will explore what the timeline means for marketers.

Timeline for Users

User profiles have been completely overhauled into a sleek new page with large cover pictures, featured actions, certain aggregated information and more.

At its core, Timeline is a chronology of a user’s life on Facebook, with items automatically appearing based on an algorithm intended to capture a user’s most important life events.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Some objects are grouped together, such as all things a user Liked in a given month.
• The more engaging an action, the more prominently it will appear and remain in the Timeline.
• Users can manually add, remove, feature or de-emphasize Timeline events. In his keynote address at F8, Mark Zuckerberg enthusiastically demonstrated how a user can go back to the year of his birth and upload a baby picture.
• Although historically, major profile changes have often been followed by similar brand page changes, there is no official word yet on whether brand pages will also be redesigned.

Objects get grouped together at the end of the month, such as all the Likes I subscribed to myself in November, and the friends I added.

Open Graph and Custom Actions

Last year, Facebook rolled out Open Graph, allowing brands to connect to a user’s Facebook social graph. This year, it rolled out significant changes, allowing app developers to create custom actions using any verb and object related to the activity taking place on the app.

These so-called “lightweight” activities can be defined by the app creator and pushed throughout the Facebook experience.

Here are the highlights, and how the actions affect Timeline:

• The Open Graph integrates with the News Feed, Ticker and Timeline, making the app a key part of users’ and their friends’ Facebook experiences.
• As users engage, the custom action appears on Facebook News Feed, and remains on the user’s Timeline; e.g., Jane cooked a recipe from Best Recipes app.

Changes to the structure of permissions allow a user to give permission one time for an app to post about that user’s activity on the app thereafter.

This is how you’re seeing so many more postings about what your friends are listening to, for example, if they’re using a social sharing music app like Spotify. It even gets its own designated spot in the Timeline and displays a running list of what the user is listening to.

Changes to the structure of permissions allow a user to give permission once for an app to post about that user's activity on the app thereafter. This is how you're seeing so many more postings about what your friends are doing.

What Should Marketers Do?

Now that we know what changes Facebook has made, brands and marketers need to figure out what they mean for social media marketing.

Based on Wildfire’s extensive experience running over 150,000 social media campaigns, here’s our take:

• Likes are still very important. This is the way brands build their audiences, with whom they can communicate directly, and promotions are the best way to encourage Likes. Sweepstakes and instant-win campaigns are best for generating Likes; while contests, trivia, group deals and engaging pages are best for fostering engagement.
• News Feed vs. Brand Pages. There had been recent talk of apps/tabs/pages decreasing in significance. Now deeper, more engaging actions are the ones that will appear in Top Stories and Timelines and are therefore more persistent within the social graph. Now the “lightweight” actions have been removed to the fast-updating Ticker. In this way, the more “important” stuff, like meaningful interactions with branded content, will remain in the “Top Stories” and Timeline.
• Open Graph Connections are easier than ever. Facebook plugins, which are readily available for all domains, are easier than ever to use to increase your brand’s earned media.  Decide which plugin(s) work best for your domain and install them to all relevant company properties, like your website and blog.  Watch as visitors share the news of your brand for you on their own Timelines!

Having Facebook plugins well-integrated into your business domain increases the opportunity for brand advocates to spread the word about your brand, such as how Alain's Timeline reflects his activity on the Wildfire home page and blog.

Final Thoughts

Facebook Timeline is the newest development in Facebook’s quest to make over the Internet, integrating a social layer into every interaction and information node available. With Timeline, users have an increased ability to broadcast their lives (including any activity with brands, businesses, applications and services) to all of their friends.

These highly personalized interactions and the newly organized way of sharing them serve to lessen the friction among users and the connected Internet world. Preparing your brand to take advantage of Timeline is every savvy marketer’s first step in enhancing earned media potential.

Your Turn

Now that it is available to the public, what do you think of the new Timeline? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments box below. We’d love to hear from you!