*808 Girl Media*

In the article, it states that 60% of B2B marketers plan to spend more on their content marketing strategy, but only 27% of them are actually doing so.

Last year’s Google’s Panda update attempted to separate the “good” content from the “bad”, and those creating high-quality content are seeing improvements. So, how are you creating more “good” content for your site?

Social media is not as influential a source of product recommendations as previously thought, according to a survey by online advertising company ARAnet, conducted by Opinion Research Corp. According to the poll, only 18% of respondents indicated that they prefer to receive their recommendations for products and services. In comparison, 60% cited they rely on information gathered from colleagues, 40% rely on TV broadcasts, and 39% find their recommendations through search.

Clearly, the respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer, which leads me to ask a follow-up question. If so many people are part of social networks, wouldn’t gathering information from your Facebook friends count as “information gathered from colleagues?”

Sure, in the case of “professional” social networking, LinkedIn still reigns supreme, but there are many Facebook users who connect with business colleagues as well. In this case, many of them hold recommendations from business and industry contacts in high regard.

Read the entire article on BtoBOnline.com, and let me know what you think. Would you consider product information gathered from social networks to be “information from colleagues”?

LinkedIn is definitely an underused social network. Sure, it’s more of a “professional network”, but it is still social nonetheless. Let’s examine the 6 LinkedIn marketing tips featured on SocialMediaExaminer.com:

1. Boosting Your Search Engine Optimization: LinkedIn gives you the option of customizing the three website links that appear on your profile. I believe the defaults are: “My Website”, “My Company Website” and “My Blog.” Instead of leaving the default verbiage intact, pick a short keyword phrase that describes how people search for your company. For example: a client in the “directory” space might want to link their URL to a keyword such as “Local City Guides”, instead of their company name.
   
2. Promoting Your Blog Feed: Widgets are an easy way to get your blog content in front of LinkedIn users. If you are use (or plan to use) WordPress for your company blog, there is a WordPress plug-in for LinkedIn that will sync your blog posts and display them on your LinkedIn profile. If you aren’t using WordPress, you can use the “Blog Link” app on LinkedIn to import your blog posts. The “Blog Link” app supports TypePad, Movable Type, Vox, Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org, Blogger, LiveJournal and many more. Continue to cultivate your brand on your “professional homepage” on LinkedIn.
3. Creating LinkedIn Ad Campaigns: LinkedIn has its own direct ads campaign that is targeted to the professionals who use LinkedIn. When you create a LinkedIn DirectAds campaign, you will be able to market your business to 57MM+ professionals with a median income of $108K/year. And who could forget targeting? You can target your ad by industry, job function, company size, and more. You also have the option to set up your campaign as CPC or CPM, and you can get started for as little as $50.
4. Utilizing Events to Engage Clients: One of the great things about LinkedIn events is that you don’t have to be the event coordinator/organizer to create an event. You can create an event and send out invitations to your network, in hopes of meeting face-to-face if they’re attending. Possibly the best feature of LinkedIn events is the ability to view all upcoming events in your network from the homepage.
5. Using Groups to Connect with People: Sure, we’ve all joined groups on LinkedIn with no or little intention of participating in them. Sad to say I’m one of those people. On the flip side, starting a group can be a great way to have access to email and to keep in touch of your growing group of followers. Remember that, when people from your network join your group, that action is visible to others in their network, which might pique an interest…and so on and so forth.
6. Getting Recommendations to Attract More Clients: There is no better way to market your business and services than to have a glowing recommendation from a past/current client or partner. Recommendations ARE what sets LinkedIn apart from the other social networks - peers recommending the work or services of their colleagues. “How do I get recommended?” you might ask? Answer: “Give, and you shall receive.”

Read the article in its entirety on SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Another informational post from Mashable! This post also originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable is a regular contributor.

As more and more brands/businesses ride the social media marketing wave, one does need to stop and think: “what value am I offering my customers with these soluctions?” More specifically, Mashable poses the question: “What kind of value does a custom Facebook Fan Page offer?” Here are 5 things you should think about when promoting your company on Facebook:

Interactivity
Don’t just put yourself up there so you can say “My business is on Facebook!”. Bad idea. Instead, harness the interactive nature of social networks and offer interactivity on your Fan Page. Facebook is all about sharing, so your Fan Page landing page shouldn’t be passive - your users are going to want to do something on your page. First example: Baby Gap implemented a simple splash page that allows fans to upload pictures of their babies wearing their favorite Baby Gap apparel.

Second example: Home Depot harnessed the sharability of Facebook actions and created the “DIY Gifts App.” When you grant the Home Depot app access, you can share your gift purchases with the recipient and your Facebook friends. Hmm…this could be a good way to ask for help from your friends on DIY projects! :)

Full Website Experience Within Facebook
Example #1: adidas created a fully-fledged multimedia hub on their Facebook Fan Page, complete with photos, videos and events based on your region. Sure, the page is built entirely in Flash and isn’t super interactive, but it sure does look cool. There’s something to be said about experiencing a cool-looking rich media experience without leaving Facebook.

Example #2: Dell integrated a fully-fledged mini-website on their fan page, which presents fans with an integrated site that allows them to customize their new Dell computer without leaving Facebook.

Offer Deals
What will make you successful on Facebook? Having the ability to push out content that your fans and their friends would be interested in. A good way to keep this dialogue going: deals and coupon codes. Walgreens created a landing page that is nicely branded and simply promotes “Exclusive Offers for Our Facebook Fans”. The promotions/coupons are in their actual updates - leaving the deals to Facebook’s built-in functionality.

Of course, the examples in Mashable’s article are for large companies/brands that have vast technical resources - far more than most small businesses. Which highlights the need for an internet marketing consultant. :)

Click here to read the entire article on Mashable.

An article posted last week on Pat Flynn’s blog, SmartPassiveIncome.com, lists 10 quick and (somewhat!) easy tips you can try NOW to help improve your online business or blog. Take a look:

1. Re-Evaluate Your Goals: figure out where you want your business or blog to be in one year and write those goals down…on PAPER. Yes, paper.
2. Visit Your Homepage for the “First Time”: as we all know, first impressions are extremely important, especially online. Since you have less than 10 seconds to convince a new visitor to say, run through the following: (1) What do you notice first?, (2) Do you know what the site is about WITHOUT clicking or scrolling?, (3) Have you seen similar sites in the past?, (4) How easy is it to navigate?, and (5) What’s missing?
3. Check and Correct Crawl Errors: use Google’s Webmaster Tools to see if there are any errors on your site that you can fix immediately.
4. Grade Your Website: use Website Grader (it’s FREE!) to see what your “score” is. Enter your site and it will give you a informative (yet lengthy) report on what can be done to make your site better.
5. Ask Someone a Question: don’t be shy. Shoot a question over to an experienced someone to get answers you need!
6. Shoot a Video: shoot a 5 minute, unedited video, and upload it to YouTube. Make sure you put relevant keywords in the title and tags section, and make sure your entire URL is in the first line of the description. Then, send away!
7. Spend 5 Minutes to Thank 5 of Your Customers, Subscribers or Readers: go the extra mile and spend 5 minutes to thank 5 people for no particular reason. They’re likely to remember you a little bit more.
8. Test Something: you should always be testing something on your website or blog. Always. Use Google Optimizer to split test something important on your site…whether for subscriptions, opt-ins, or conversions.
9. Turn Off the Distractions: first, understand your distractions; then conciously make an effort to turn them off, only turning them back on when you’ve accomplished or finished something.
10. Follow Up with Your Audience: you can always benefit by asking your readers what they’d like to see improved.




Read Pat’s article in its entirety here: SmartPassiveIncome.com

In a February 8th, 2010 article posted on Technorati, Julie Weishaar addressed some of the questions and concerns that surfaced after her original social media article, “Social Media Marketing: A Necessary Evil”.

What it really boils down to is that larger companies and big brands are really looking for data to back up what social media marketing tactics are boasting. The main concerns covered in the article are:

1. “Social media isn’t supposed to sell, it is supposed to influence.”
   Weishaar’s response looks at Ford as a case study. Ford is the leader in the automotive industry when it comes to influence on decision-making.
   
   
2. “SMM increases your brand and product visibility.”
   This is not an easy one, as making a brand stand out among the social media marketing crowd is a daunting task. But it can be done. An example Weinshaar refers to is Atari’s social media marketing strategy for Star Trek Online.
   
   
3. “Social media is about conversations, not conversions.”
   Weishaar basically says that, if you expect to see a direct path to conversion via social media marketing, you will be disappointed. Social media marketing IS about conversations, it’s an advantage because your customers are already having those conversations when thinking about a purchase.
   
   

Essentially, the one takeaway I got from this article was: “Social media marketing increases your product and brand visibility by influencing conversations.” The real question is, do social recommendations have more value than other types of product recommendations?

Bottom line is, more and more consumers are turning to the web before making any decisions (whether it be buying a new car or looking for a new place for dinner). They are turning to the reviews of their peers for advice and guidance, especially regarding things/purchases they are unsure of. As Weishaar states, “social media marketing, used optimally, is a very effective marketing tool.” So true, but isn’t that the case for most tactics?

Click here to read the full article on Technorati.

”Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” is my recommended social media marketing read:

Google announced on Monday, February 22nd that they have developed new ad-serving technology for online publishers. This new technology will be available in two different versions: DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP - replacing “DART for Publishers”), aimed at larger websites, and DFP Small Business, a lighter, free version for smaller websites.

It doesn’t seem as though new information for the products is posted on the DoubleClick main site; however, the BtoB article states that Google will be upgrading current DART for Publishers customers to DoubleClick for Publishers over the next year. In addition, Google Ad Manager customers will be migrated to DFP Small Business in the coming weeks.

Also, Google has their third option, AdSense, aimed at publishers who do not want to take an active role in ad management on their websites.

Click here to read the article in its entirety on BtoB.