Finalists: Top 10 Social Media Blogs 2012
We received over 570 nominations for our third-annual Top 10 Social Media Blogs contest (the blogosphere’s biggest contest for social media blogs).
The list of 20 finalists is pretty impressive! Take a look for yourself below.
The Judges: Our judges include Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing & CEO, SocialMedia.org), Rick Calvert (CEO, BlogWorld) and Michael Stelzner (CEO, Social Media Examiner & author, Launch). They are currently finishing up their reviews of these sites.
Here are the finalists (in alphabetical order): 
7 Reasons to Rethink Your Blogging Strategy: New Research
Is your business working with bloggers?
Do you blog?
This article examines new research that shows blogging is here to stay.
Like many social media tools, blogs have seen a steady increase in numbers and influence over the last several years.
Note the growth charted by Invesp. On Dec. 2, 2011, that number was 178,637,835 (according to BlogPulse).
Number of Blogs Grows
14 million blogs were added since July 2011 (as of 12/2/2011).
Win the Small Biz Dream Contest: Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever!
*UPDATE: Congratulations to P.J. Jonas of Goat Milk Stuff and Erica Conroy of Coupsmart, the grand-prize and second-prize winners in the Small Biz Dream Contest. All 10 winners won a free pass to Small Biz Success Summit. P.J. also won 3 hours of consulting from John Jantsch. The top winners also won a library of marketing books and John Jantsch’s Complete Small Business Marketing System. Go see the winning entries.*
Do you own a small business?
Would you like to win free private coaching from the world’s foremost small business expert?
A creative photo can get you there.
Social Media Examiner is hosting the “Small Biz Dream Contest.”
The grand prize includes private coaching from John Jantsch (author of Duct Tape Marketing) along with free tickets to Small Biz Success Summit 2012.
What is the contest?
It’s fun and simple. You simply take a photo and post it on our special Facebook page. We used Strutta to create a contest that complies with Facebook’s standards.
This is Mike Stelzner's dream in 2012 (and yes he drew the sign).
26 Promising Social Media Stats for Small Businesses
Is your small business “all in” with social media? New research shows incredible opportunity for small businesses.
Keep reading to discover why social media is changing small business for the better.
Six months ago, I highlighted many benefits of social media for small business, but several new research articles add urgency to this message.
Swiftly Changing Landscape
Social media marketing is a rapidly changing environment, as we all know. But the good news is that your customers are embracing social media as a normal part of their lives. Even the over-50 population is adapting at staggering rates.
6 Ways to Measure Your Social Media Results
How much time are you spending on social media? Can you tell if it’s helping sales?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a framework for measuring the impact of your social media efforts?
That’s where Susan Etlinger’s new research for the Altimeter Group comes into play. Susan did qualitative research with 60 social media marketers and vendors to understand how businesses currently measure their social media performance.
Her goal: to develop a framework for tying social media performance to business goals.
NOTE: Because Susan’s original research targeted enterprise-level companies, I interviewed her to add some small business insights. The following comments combine results of the research and that interview.
9 Facebook Marketing Success Stories You Should Model
Are you curious what other companies are doing to achieve success with Facebook marketing? You’ve come to the right place.
This article highlights nine companies (big and small) that have transformed their Facebook presence by implementing innovative Facebook marketing practices.
You’re guaranteed to find inspiration for your Facebook marketing efforts here.
These tactics will work for just about any business—large or small, B2B or B2C. So let’s dig in!
#1: Cheese & Burger Society
The Cheese & Burger Society is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. This page is an innovative way to promote Wisconsin cheese by talking about something many people love—burgers and grilling.
Win Free Tickets to Facebook Success Summit 2011
**UPDATE: We have announced our two winners. The winner of the comment/blog portion of the contest, receiving two tickets to the Facebook Success Summit is Theodore Sturos, read his comment here. The winner of the Twitter contest is Kim Isles. Thanks to everyone who participated in the event. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks!**
Want to win a free ticket to the largest online Facebook marketing event of the year?
Social Media Examiner has worked hard to bring you our second-annual Facebook Success Summit. It’s even better than last year! And we’ve come up with a fun way to get you involved.
First, what is this event?
Facebook Success Summit 2011 is an online conference dedicated to helping businesses master Facebook marketing. More than 900 businesses have already signed up, including Sony, CNN, Hewlett-Packard, Smucker’s, Zealand, Virginia State Parks, Hampton Inn and hundreds of smaller businesses.
