Check this out – a side-by-side comparison of the top 10 social networking websites compiled by Top TenREVIEWS. Although we assume Facebook and mySpace are the top channels – there are others worth taking a look at.  

For example, most social networking websites offer additional features:    

In addition to blogs and forums, members can express themselves by designing their profile page to reflect their personality.   

The most popular extra features include music and video sections. Members can read bios of their favorite music artists from the artist's profile page as well as
listen to their favorite songs and watch music videos.  

The video section can include everything from member–generated videos from hundreds of subjects to TV clips and movie trailers.

I will be anxious to see when they add Pinterest to this mix - stay tuned.

About Top TenREVIEWS: 

TopTenREVIEWS gives you the information you need to make a smart purchase. They make a recommendation for the best product in each category. Through their side-by-side comparison charts, news, articles, and videos, they simplify the buying process for consumers.  

What a great website and I would highly recommend it to you as an ongoing resource.

Best
Denice MacDonald

Attracting Facebook fans is easy. Keeping them, engaging them and mobilizing them will present more of a challenge. Begin by maximizing Facebook’s potential with a conversation strategy.   

Down to the basics

The reality is that few people on Facebook are looking to fan a brand. That is, unless they truly love a certain brand, they are unlikely to hit the ‘become a fan’ button. Moreover, almost ninety percent of fans never go to a brand’s fan page. They engage via their news feed.  

Less window dressing – more conversation

The most obvious conclusion is that you will want to put less time in window dressing and more into a cohesive and targeted conversation strategy. Only when your conversation strategy is solid will integrated advertising make sense. 

Take to heart what Facebook recommends everyone do on a monthly basis

Facebook provides solid recommendations to make your conversation strategy by telling you to gather your marketing team and map out product, advertising and promotion plans for the month. Set realistic priorities and determine a compatible conversation strategy that avoids excess promotion and creates a balance of the following:   

1.     Questions that will stimulate reaction, feedback and even criticism 

2.     A mix of content (video, images, entertainment) that will be both useful and welcome

3.     Provide non-intrusive offers or incentives that can be engaging, shared and tracked 

Once you have run the above, closely scrutinize metrics and recalibrate where necessary. Start small – redefining and reframing the conversation as you go. 

It’s only a matter of time before everyone you want to connect with is on Facebook. You may want to get better at finding them, attracting them and engaging with them.  

Resources | Product

Social Media Software - Know what's being said about you everywhere.
Listen to customers and prospects. Find influencers. Monitor social conversations, mentions and trends. Engage your public.

Vocus Cloud Based Marketing and PR Software: http://www.vocus.com/content/social-media.asp

Best

Denice MacDonald

With social media on the rise, many marketing professionals are in the midst of explaining, emulating and selling social media to management and/or clients. Why not consider infographics - visual representations of social information, social data or social knowledge?

Specifically, infographics provide statistical relevance, digital integration not to mention future payback that words cannot convey.

The following are great links with various infographics:

35 Great Social Media Infographics by Pat Dyer of Pamorama – 35 great infographics that have been cropped down for viewing – linking to the original graphic.

10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics by Grace Smith of Mashable – Similarly to Pamorama’s collection, this grouping concentrates on both social networking sites and twitter – also linking back to the original graphic.

Social Media Infographics from Slideshare – Tons of infographics – 50 in total.

These social media graphics will help convey your message – quickly.

[Infographic courtesy of Elliance]

Enjoy!

Best

Denice MacDonald

Online marketing continues to evolve while traditional media is waning. The result is that many organizations are embracing social media as an effective way to engage and collaborate with consumers through social communities.  

LISTEN -- ENGAGE -- INFLUENCE 

Unlike traditional marketing, social media allows a two-way communication with consumers. People are talking about brands all the time. Companies need to evaluate if they are ready to start active listening and engaging in conversations with their customers and prospects with an effective strategy that will build personalized, lasting and meaningful connections. 

This connection will prompt viral exchanges, call to action scenarios and brand lift for a number of organizations that are stuck in traditional strategies that are no longer effective. 

There are a number of excellent resources that will aid organizations that are ready to embrace social marketing. Here are a few great resources to get started:  

Online Retailers Rank SEO and Social Media as Top Marketing Tool by CIO (Social networking, improved site content and utilising analytics are the top areas CIOs need to be looking at in the online retail space)

Mashable: The Social Media Guide (Learn the various components of social media - realizing that social interaction is 1 to many, not just 1 to 1)

110 Ways Retailers are Using Social Media Marketing (Leverage this detailed listing of organizations that are doing it right the first time)

Internet Retailer: Growing Importance of Social Media (Don't underestimate the growth potential - Internet Retailer has it all fared out for management disbelievers)

Best

Denice MacDonald

[Image Courtesy of http://www.valleyprblog.com]

Whether it’s starting a social media campaign, integrating social media into your advertising or simply setting up a Facebook fan page, it is always wise to seek out experts who have proven experience (and metrics) to help guide you in your social media initiatives.  

Here are some great resources you should bookmark or subscribe via RSS: 

Learn How Human Business Works — Beyond Social Media
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

Web Strategy, Social Media, Web Marketing
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog

Brian Solis
http://www.briansolis.com/

Social Media Strategy Blog and Social Media Consulting — Convince and Convert
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/  

Social Media Explorer — Social Media Consulting, Public Speaking and Education
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/

Seth Godin’s Blog
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Conversation Agent
http://www.conversationagent.com/

PR-Squared
http://www.pr-squared.com/

Online Marketing Blog
http://www.toprankblog.com/

Social Media Examiner, Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

Social Media Today
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/

Web Ink Now 
http://www.webinknow.com/

MarketingProfs Daily Fix
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/

Hubspot Internet Marketing Blog
http://blog.hubspot.com/

Search Engine Land — Search Marketing & Search Engines
http://www.searchengineland.com/  

And lastly, Top 100 FREE Social Media Marketing Resources from my LinkedIn group "Social Media Marketing": http://tinyurl.com/6esq5kp 

Best
Denice MacDonald

If you want consistent social media success, you have to understand what social media users crave. For social media content, that means understanding the type of content social media users want.        

Next, determine who your audience is—are you going for success on big social media sites or are you looking to engage customers on niche sites within your industry?

If you want the full scoop on how to develop consistent, relevant, eye-catching content, check out a recent SlideShare by Sara Meaney of Comet Branding.

The SlideShare presentation covers the gamut from creating compelling headlines to call to action scenarios that get users coming back for more.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

The new reality: brands can now be strengthened or damaged by social media. Online networking sites are being used as a means for immediate feedback. Advertising has lost its grip on influencing consumers being replaced by ‘peer’ opinion sharing through Twitter and Facebook.   

Bottomline: if you aren't using social media in your business strategy, you are already behind your competition. 

Explore how the concept of "Socialnomics" is changing the way businesses produce, market, and sell.  

Consider “Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business” – a must-read for anyone wanting to learn about -- and harness -- the power of social media, rather than becoming obsolete by it! 

BTW - this book is currently on sale at Amazon.com - get it here now.

I got my copy through the Kindle store here!

Jeremiah Owyang recently presented a slideshare at the Gilbane Content Management Conference on Your Corporate Website Can Be Relevant Again – a roadmap for the social corporate website.   

The highlight of this timely slideshare is simply: Be Deliberate! 

Jeremiah outlines a roadmap strategy that is simple, direct and to the point.

In summary:    

1.  Although a new and experimental medium, brands should plan a roadmap.

2.  The future of web experience will be based around people – not products.

3.  Take inventory of all corporate web assets and identify where they are in the framework. 

4.  Next, identify the desired state, and then build a plan against it. Start small and slow, and be sure to have a strategy.

5.  Don’t arbitrarily jump into the social marketing space without measureable KPI’s. Be deliberate in your actions.

A special thank you to Kristen Wright, Vice President, Provade for this shared learning. View Kristen’s Linked Profile or connect with her via Twitter.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

Sensidea, a digital media consultancy, has launched an amazing social monitoring tool called “socialseek.” 

According to Sensidea: “With wide reach, cool charts, comparing topics, and exporting results and charts, socialseeks makes it simple and easy to understand your social status, track against the competition, and make decisions to stay in the scene...and do it right from your desktop.”

The application includes the following features:

>Seek Blogs, Tweets, Videos, Images, and Events 

>Add any site you want to track, no problem

>Real-time automatic updates and notifications

>Track all the chatter by city or anywhere

>Find something interesting? One click away

>Compare topics to see what's making more noise

>Quick charts to see trends and track what's hot

>Export results to CSV & PDF

>Brands Track yourself against the competition

>Windows & Mac Compatible 

Get socialseek here now.

To learn more about Sensidea, an incredible, upcoming digital company, go here.

Best

Denice MacDonald

According to Gavin O'Malley of Online Media Daily, LinkedIn (a professional-focused social network) is poised to debut a network catering to business-to-business market researchers. 

The LinkedIn Research Network has already partnered with six market research firms - including Phoenix Marketing International and OTX - to conduct targeted B2B primary research among its network of some 30 million professionals worldwide. 

How it works: 

For the LinkedIn community, involvement in the research will entirely be opt-in, and is expected to actually make participation in the community more attractive. LinkedIn users will receive invitations to participate in market research surveys four times a year. In the future, members will likely have the opportunity to participate in research surveys as often as once a month. 

What does this mean to B2B marketers: 

"Users will be offered rewards to share their behavior like cash incentives, donations to a charity of their choice, and merchandise," said Dan Shapero, director of business services for the LinkedIn Research Network. "The other reward is that this research might be used to improve the industries they work in."  

Become a LinkedIn participant: 

I use LinkedIn for connecting and resourcing with other marketing professionals. I belong to several groups and enjoy participating in Q&A with other like-professionals. I strongly suggest that you sign-up if you haven't already. 

Best,

Denice MacDonald

LinkedIn Debuts B2B Network

(Credit: Online Media Daily)