People who are serious about their social marketing via Twitter use some sort of tool to be able to send tweets from their smart phones like Tweetdeck or Twitterrific, both awesome tools that I’ve used extensively over the past few years.  These serious Twitter users may also use a desktop application of some sort to organize their tweets, users, etc., and quite often a tool to integrate all their social media to update statuses across multiple networks at once like Ping.fm.

Then there’s the next level up of “serious” for social marketing. These people use Hootsuite. Hootsuite has both free and paid versions, and is a complete social media interface to organize all your social networks into one place, as well as organize tweets, followers, track statistics to the level of the stats of a single tweet, to see what kinds of tweets get you the most followers, etc.

For companies that have multiple social media accounts with multiple users, all can be added to Hootsuite and tracked…multiple users, multiple social networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping.fm and WordPress. This is the most robust social media tool I’ve found, so I definitely felt it was worth mentioning.

The difference between the free and paid versions price-wise is negligible ($6 a month) and depending on your company’s size definitely worth it. If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for ways to make social marketing more efficient, as it’s VERY easy to make updating your social networks, tweeting and commenting a full-time job. So there you go, just trying to help.

This new image format, WebP will be able to produce image files 39% smaller than other formats currently online.  This frees up a huge load off of everyday server use since about 65% of content requested online are images.

This should make loading pages while web browsing a snap, even if you are on using your mobile device to surf the web.

To improve on the compression that JPEG provides, we used an image compressor based on the VP8 codec that Google open-sourced in May 2010

said Richard Rabbat, a product manager for Google, who wrote a blog post all about this new WebP image format.

With most all files still currently being encoded as a JPEG format since 1992, it leaves me wondering if this new format will solve the image clarity issues when encoding or re-encoding.  Support plans are already in place for Chrome and the WebP in a Webkit.

So since this is so new and not very many browsers even support this new smaller WebP image format as of yet all we can do is the usual and start the reesearch.  With Google’s always handy “Frequently Asked Questions” you can find out everything you need to know about Google’s WebP Image Format that allows 16383 x 16383 maximum size files.  Once this new image format is supported by all browsers it will really speed things up with loading images to your social media and networking profiles, which is long overdue.

Maybe now we can share our smaller images with out sacrificing the clarity, I did hear this format will now be giving us the option and options are nice.

“People can much more quickly grok the context of a tweet.”

So, I have to admit that I was like, what the heck does “GROK” mean.  Well Wikipedia says,

“To grok is to share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity.”

Interestingly enough an Author by the name of Robert A Heinlein coined the term a little while back… but anyways, Twitter is the hot topic here.  With them launching a full redesign earlier this week we can now see how their tweet platform has changed.   Now it is capable of using app-like features to make it a more interactive  social networking site.

Now Twitter’s full site redesign is available to everyone, if you haven’t noticed the changes already.  Now when you click on other peoples  tweets of updates, TwitPics, videos, ect. you will be able to see it split screen to the right with your streaming tweet updates still to your left.  It is a really smart and attractive layout that I think mostly everyone will actually enjoy.  When you are not viewing the full size app-like features you have a full dashboard, which is  super popular way to navigate through most types of social accounts.

On your dashboard you can see some new perks like, pending topics, who to follow suggestions and the recent activity of who you are already following.  I know it showed some of this information before in an alternating type fashion or on other pages but this new layout is really nice and easy on the eyes to look at as well as use.

One of the things I thought was pretty neat was the ability to show the short Bio of the person whose tweet you are checking out.  Sometimes it explains allot.

So even tough they did just kind of pull the popular features for their other type of platforms, we should have kind of figured that was why they were making things like Seesmic and Tweetdec in the first place.  Now they offer options like tweeting from the old fashion box or using the icon for a pop up window, which ever you may prefer.  I find that I tend to go back and forth on this option, so we will see.  Hopefully they keep both of these options just in case not everybody is happy with the pop ups.

To top it off they are now using keyboard shortcuts like apps to affect your time line and retweets.

So if you are a die hard Twitter fan ten you really need to check it out to learn more about how they track and place your lists as well as how you can now save your searches.  Make sure to read up on the technology they are using to do things like bypass the rate API limit of 20,000.

Sometimes when sites do full updtes things are not always what they seem or end up being more difficult, but I think this full site update makes Twitter make allot more since.

I hear too often:

“Is social networking important for a business? Is it something  I really have to do?”

“Do people really pay attention ?”

To you I answer this “YES” !

Social Media is has woven itself directly into the fabric of our culture.

Check this out . Starting Sept 5th 2010  Target will begin selling gift cards that can be used on Facebook!

ref: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6803HU20100901

How much more mainstream can you get than Target?

And really how much more mainstream can you get than Facebook?

Social Media is here to stay and grow and change our world in ways we haven’t even imagined yet. The future will be shaped through the social networks.  And businessmen beware, your future lies here also!

In a very good article :  What does 10 million Facebook fans mean?

Bryant Simon professor of American history and culture at Temple University states:

“Facebook helps, then, to affirm brand loyalties. And Facebook does serve, as Howard Schultz suggested, as a barometer of Starbucks enduring value and its customers’ fidelity. So do the numbers. Last week, Starbucks announced a 9-percent quarterly jump in sales and 6-percent hike in store traffic. But these numbers pale in comparison to the company’s soaring fan count on Facebook.”

As my good friend Bill McIntosh has been saying for years, ” The world is going Social, Mobile and Local.”

Jason Hirschhorn: What Do Goodfellas, Social Media, MTV, The …

Entertainment and technology is not only a hobby; it’s been my job for 15 years. That love is rooted in my admiration for the creativity and art that propels all forms of the industry — music, television, movies, video, games and apps.

Publish Date: 09/01/2010 5:33

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-hirschhorn/what-do-goodfellas-social_b_701181.html

Google Buys SocialDeck: It’s form of Social Media Marketing …

Dawn Kawamoto writes for DailyFinance about Google’s social media deals. Now they have acquired social games developer SocialDeck, Angstro, which gathers search results from social networks, and Slide, a developer of photo sharing …

Publish Date: 09/01/2010 6:01

http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20100901/google-buys-socialdeck-its-form-of-social-media-marketing/

The 50+ crowd flocking to social media – Holy Kaw!

Social media may be seen as a trend among young people, but more and more older adults are using the sites as well, according to a new survey by Princeton Survey Research Associates on behalf of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. …

Publish Date: 08/31/2010 23:46

http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-50-crowd-flocking-to-social-media

Making Social Media Worth Your While

Is social media really worth all the effort? That’s the question that many CEOs ask their marketing teams. It’s hard for the C-level executives to understand where the true value of social lies since the results take time and are not always in dollar…

Article by Carlos Gamez

Business Development Manager

McIntosh Marketing

Carlos@mcintoshmarketing.com

Image by: Ben Stein

There are many theories about your brain getting fried because of the Social networking. Or Losing your sanity because you are obsessively connected to your devices… Phones, Laptops and tablets.

I don’t think it’s true outside the foolishness of texting while driving.

The social nature of modern technology is opening up channels of communication between business owners and prospective new clients and customers that have never existed before and that make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.

Yes it is the Business owner that is investing in building a social presence to help promote his company but in the end it is he consumer that makes out the best. He can now find whatever he is looking for in whatever configuration at his finger tips.

I believe that the more involved in Social Networking and Marketing business owners get the better it will be for consumers . I love it when I want something that I can access my smart phone ask a question and instantly get recommendations for what I am looking for.

If you are a business owner try this link for a great Social Media Marketing resource.

How to Use Social Media to Make Make Money | Social Media Marketing

Do you know what social media marketing is and to go about making money with social media? First of all before you can make money at something you need to know.

Publish Date: 08/11/2010 3:48

http://www.socialmediamarketing.co.cc/social-media/how-to-use-social-media-to-make-make-money

Social Media Marketing Tips for Beginners | Webmaster 9

If you are familiar with words like Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin etc then understanding the concept of social media marketing is not a big deal. It is one of the.

Publish Date: 08/11/2010 15:54

http://www.webmaster9.com/2010-08/social-media-marketing-tips-for-beginners.html

Social Media Marketing Case Studies « Piranet

A great resources for finding Social Media Marketing Case Studies around the web. Related posts: Services Marketing Case Studies| Marketing Case Studies In Management Source: http://www. ibscdc. org / services-marketing-case studies. …

Publish Date: 08/11/2010 5:04

http://www.piranet.com/case-studies/social-media-marketing-case-studies/

By jimmywarren1 at 08/11/2010 16:45

Social Media Revolution

Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

Author:Carlos Gamez

Business Development Manager

McIntosh Marketing

carlos@mcintoshmarketing.com

Image by Mark i Geo

Since Google is trying to continue to dominate the “online world” of social media networking they must attempt to acquire any company that can provide a service that can help them compete with Facebook.  Although that is not what Google is stating.  On the contrary, Google is focused on coming up with something so different that it will not even compete with Facebook but will make Facebook obsolete.

The New York Times is confirming Google’s acquisition of Slide for a hefty sum of around $228 Million.  With many observers saying that it seems to support the rumors of Google creating a casual gaming site, aptly named “Google Games” but at this point, no one knows for sure.

Almost confirming the merger in a recent interview, CEO Eric Schmidt said, “We have understood for a long time that social stuff is very important. The question that’s in everyone’s minds is why are we trying to create a competitor to Facebook, and the answer is we’re not going to create a competitor to Facebook. It’s something different.”  Since Google has already invested over $150 million into the successful Mafia War/Farmville company, Zynga, this comment from Eric Schmidt really adds fuel to the fire of ever constant Google gossip.

This just leaves us with one more question…   Is this the birth of Google Me?

Over the years I have heard complaints about people spending so much money on marketing and not getting any sales.  The traffic is there, the product is great and they even put the time and effort into blogging and article marketing.  Sometimes they even go the extra mile and actually pay an online marketing company to drive more traffic, yet still the same results.  So these site owners continue to rack their brains as to what could possibly be the cause of such results?  Or should I say, lack of results?

Poor site navigation is usually the key!

I was reading this article in the “Search Engine Journal” about how imperative it is to have proper site navigation on your website.  It not only explains the obvious reasons of why it is so important to have navigation on your website that works properly but also why it is so important on the back end ranking with the search engines.  I really like how it breaks down how you wish your pages are given authority to the search engines.  With a simple chart to show an example of the break down you don’t even need to know everything about navigation to understand all of the aspects of this article.

Not only does Alan Bleiweiss break down these important factors of integral site navigation but he goes into immense detail of the huge role the user experience plays in this aspect.  In his section “Navigation As a Means of controlling UX”, UX standing for user experience, he covers some really important tips on how your navigation can find users information as well as being able to dictate where people go on your site. It also mentions what not to do on your landing pages for organic visitors and these are just a few things he covers that can start making a difference in converting your traffic into sales today.

So now you understand the dire need for navigation for your online business to successfully convert traffic.  Unless of course, you would rather just pay a reputable online marketing company to do all of this navigational design work for you.   : )

deep linking – linking to a web page other than a site’s home page.

description tag – an HTML tag used by Web page authors to provide a description for search engine listings.

impression – a single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.*

interactive agency – an agency offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting.

keyword research – the search for keywords related to your Web site, and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI).

search engine optimization – the process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.

By taking the time to learn these terms you will not only become more knowledgeable of Internet marketing but just by reading them you will start to understand more and more of what actually goes into your marketing.  I feel this list is pretty thorough list and can help even the beginning marketer to understand the terms of the online marketing world better.  Not only will you be able to learn more about the terms but once you start to understand them you will learn more about how marketing is actually done!

I used the Flock browser for a while a few years ago, and liked the way I could blog directly from the browser and drag my flickr photos straight into my blog posts. Plus I had a friend who worked at Flock, so that always made it cool to use their browser, wear my Flockstar tshirt, etc.

At some point, the excitement died for me, I got busy with my art career, and did less blogging, and I went back to Firefox. But today, after reading the ZDNet review today, I was inspired once again. The fire was re-ignited and I downloaded the new version 2.6 Flock browser.

So far, it seems way more awesome than it used to be…and it was awesome then too. Here’s why:

1. By clicking on the “People Sidebar” you can log in to all your social media accounts, and have the updates appear on the left side of the browser. Let’s say you choose Flickr. From that sidebar you can check your flickr mail, click on a friend, see his/her photos, view their profile, send them a message, etc.

3. There’s also a clipboard feature that allows you to drag and drop text, photos or links to save for later use in blogging or uploading to one of your social networks, etc.

4. Flock still has the awesome blog editor tool as well, which was always my favorite feature. And with all the other features, new and old, it’s even easier to find the images and links you need, save them, drag everything into your blog post right from the browser without having to even open new tabs or windows or anything.

5. Things about Flock that I’m just discovering:
photo uploader tool
Twitter search widget
instant messaging with facebook chat
webmail
7 social network apps
3 media sharing apps
7 different blogging apps

I’m just playing around with this right now while I’m typing, so there’s a lot I haven’t figured out yet. But I can already tell you that if you are serious about your social networking, and also about saving time by not having to log into every single social account or blog you have, you should give Flock a try. You can see your Twitter friends, feed, trends all from your browser with no additional Twitter app needed. Same with Facebook, Myspace (if you still use THAT one), Youtube, Digg and Bebo.

Yeah, I’m going to be checking out these features for a while. There are a LOT of them to go through. I suggest you do the same.

Get Flock here. And if you want to see the ZDNet article that renewed my enthusiasm for Flock, here it is.

PS: To Will…I’m sorry I strayed. It’s nice to be back. <3

1. Attempt the direct sale – “Buy my product”
2. Practice the “Give and you will Get”
3. A little of both

“Buy My Product”

Most businesses coming from the offline world try and fail at the direct sale approach on Facebook. You can liken this technique to the offline world of telemarketing. Call and ask enough people to buy your painting and eventually someone will. Many others get upset by your phone call, but you rarely hear from them after you hang up.

Where this idea REALLY breaks down on Facebook is that now everyone you upset has a voice and a place to air their grievance. Ask enough people to buy your product in a way that upsets them, and you will find yourself spending more time dealing with the ill effects of your marketing than actually shipping products.

Give and You Will Get

A technique that has far reaching possibilities is the “give and you will get”.

In theory it goes like this: Find the public that likes your products. Give them information, love, care, a friendly face, images, whatever – something that they would like to have. There are any number of ideas for this – it just needs to be free, something that they would really like and spreads goodwill about you and your company, and gets them to tell others about you and your work.

Eventually, with the amount of buzz and eyeballs that you attract by “giving”, someone will buy a product of yours and you will “get” money.

Now, in reality, this varies greatly by industry and idea. If the products are only for teenagers in Boston, it may take longer than if your products are beloved by all Newsweek readers. But if you are giving them what they like, they are your correct public, and they are telling others about you – you WILL sell products.

A Sprinkle of Both

Once you have sowed goodwill amongst your public, and you continue to give them great content and help, remind them from time to time that you have products for sale.

You don’t even have to hit them over the head with it.  Simply putting a notification that you just got in a new product will remind them and will get sales.

But no matter what, you should at some point ask them to support you by buying your products in a way your public likes to be spoken to.  If your public are people that expect everything to be free and think “why pay when you can steal”, you may have to be a bit more clever by saying words like “donate” or “help support me so that I can keep giving all this free advise away…”.

A Real Life Example

A friend of mine is a fantastic painter and she wants to use social networks to help sell her painting. Her public could be moderate to wealthy people.

• So she goes on Facebook and invites everyone she knows. She tells other people that love art and support art to “like” her.
• She could give or make Christmas or Birthday cards for her fans to use. Heck, she could probably even customize some of them.
• Of course, she is super friendly, and she herself reciprocates and helps support and promote other artists.
• Maybe she holds a contests or allows people to vote on what subject she should paint next.
• Maybe she raffles off a painting or a custom drawing to her fans for exchange for telling others about her.
• When she finishes a new painting, she let’s everyone know about it, and makes sure everyone knows that there is only one, and first come, first serve.

These are just a few examples off the top of my head. In reality, this painter has used social networks to her advantage, and continues to. (She also works with us, so she understands all this already!)

You can Buy dreXel’s original paintings on etsy