Allen Stern wrote a very interesting post recently about how people such as Robert Scoble use Facebook and Twitter as more of a publicity network than a social network to brand themselves and expose their videos, posts. Currently Scoble has 6,892 followers on Twitter and 4,892 friends on Facebook. He has been complaining about the fact that Facebook limits him to only 5,000 friends.

When looking at Mashable’s account on Twitter, we also see Pete Cashmore twittering only new posts on Mashable and nothing else. As Allen points out:

“A social networking tool becomes a publicity tool when “I speak, you speak, I reply, you reply” becomes “I speak, you listen”.

In all honesty, while at first I used Twitter for social purposes, now I find myself twittering mostly about my latest blog posts and using Facebook mainly for my social interactions with people. For me Twitter has become quite a difficult platform to interact with friends as random thoughts and links are being continously thrown on my screen. Facebook on the other hand allows me to interact with my friends in so many different and interesting ways that I hardly need an additional platform to do that. With all due respect, Twitter has merely become for me one of the many applications that I use on Facebook.

It is true that many bloggers and site owners use both platforms (and others) to expose their posts/messages to the world. As Allen writes:

“Are these new publicity networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) the new press release? Think about it for a second, a press release is sent out to x journalists, news providers, etc. These new publicity networks do the same thing except in a quicker, more efficient way. In fact, Marshall over at RWW says these publicity networks are paying his rent. Naturally I am not suggesting that everyone uses these networks in a publicity-oriented manner, but it seems many of the smart marketers are doing so. As long as the people attached to your account (personal or business) understand that’s the use, then it’s a perfect marketing opportunity. In fact, these publicity networks may just overtake RSS in the long-term. And if you are working with a social media consultant who isn’t leveraging these new publicity networks where appropriate, you need to find a new consultant.”

I agree with Allen. All these social networks are vital tools for any marketer today. However, marketers must remember that conversation is a crucial part of the marketing process today. You must offer friends relevant and interesting content in order to catch their attention. Therefore whatever way you use your networks, make sure to continuously offer them content that interests them and serves their needs as well as yours. Choosing your friends based on common interests (such as Web 2.0 for example) is one way of ensuring that you are delivering news that will probably interest them and serve their purposes as well.

Many of us hold different accounts in various social networks, but do we use these networks effectively? When we enter different social networks, we must remember that we are entering live communities made up of individuals much like ourselves. These communities serve as platforms for us to share details about our own lives and meet other people who interest us professionally or socially. Therefore what we must do is embrace these communities and become real, genuine members of them.

When you start creating your profile page on each network, don’t be afraid to let people know who you are. Let them know your interests, your hobbies, your favorite links, movies, and books. Fill your page with content.

Upload photos of yourself so that people can see you and know who they are connecting with – this is very important. People don’t connect with text. They connect with people. Once someone has a visual image of you in their head, it is much easier for him or her to become your friend.

Upload videos of yourself if you have any – this is also a great way for your online friends who haven’t met you in person to see what you’re like in real life.

Write some blog posts on your profile or if you have a blog that you update regularly, add your RSS feed to those networks that allow you to do so, such as Ning. On those communities that don’t have this feature, you can copy/paste your blog posts from your regular blog. Some people may not be webaholics like you and I and will not be exposed to your posts unless you place them there. These posts will let people know a lot more about who you are and what interests you.

If the community allows it, integrate profiles from other networks that you’re a member of. Facebook for instance allows you to update your Twitter right from its own site. It also allows you to add your Flickr pics, your recent Digg and Delicious bookmarks right to your page. Mybloglog also allows you to show your Twitter updates, and Yedda which is a knowledge sharing community allows you to show your activity on its site right on your Twitter page. Displaying your activities in each of these sites will greatly enhance your profiles.

In each community you’d also like to get to meet as many interesting people as you can. Search through other users’ pages, read about them and add them as contacts. Many communities such as StumbleUpon for instance will let you find friends that match your particular interests. It’s important to get to know your community and make connections with people who have similar interests to yours. Don’t just add friends randomly. Just like in real life, you want to meet people who you can have long, lasting relationships with.

Whatever you do, be genuine and don’t be afraid to show the community who you really are. Just like in real life, some people may literally digg your personality and others may not. But that’s life.

Now some of you may ask: What’s the best way of making online connections? Is it through blogging? Thru Social networks? And my answer is, through both.

I have written about this topic previously and some bloggers disagreed with me saying that visitors who enter your blog and read your posts make more of an effort to get to know you. However I believe that the reason people think this way is because too often we see that members of social networks have grown somewhat accustomed to just adding contacts randomly without really making an effort of getting to know these people. I believe that if you invest as much time in your networks as you do on blogging, you will find that you can make great friends in your communities. Write your contacts messages, comment on their profiles, show some interest in them and I promise you that you will gain many friendships.

I think that a great problem many social networks are facing today is an over-saturation of social networks that are very much the same. People feel a constant need to get on every network possible, without even filling in all their details, and this is just wrong.

What we end up with here is a bunch of online communities filled with people, but no good content or interaction. This is why I believe that those networks that will be the most unique and do the best job in encouraging their users to really get more active and involved, will outlast the others. Facebook for example makes it so easy for you to get active and create a rich profile because you can so easily integrate many applications onto your page.

Now if you are a company and not an individual, you should still follow the same rules that I’ve pointed out. Chris Heuer asked a very interesting question a while ago on LinkedIn:

“Which companies are really authentically engaged in the conversation? What are the characteristics of an authentic company/brand?”

Many of those who answered the question said that they rarely see businesses reveal anything other than what they feel is in their own best interests, and this is true for most brands.

Therefore if you are a company and are planning to market your business using social media tools, make sure that you are honest with your community. People prefer the brutal truth over deceit. Don’t make false promises and if you’ve made mistakes, admit them. People appreciate that. In addition, have the ability to laugh at yourself. Create a funny video promoting your brand and post it on YouTube. Interact with other members of the community and make sure you reply to each and every question you receive as personally as possible. The more personable you make your profiles, the more people will relate to them. Put in as many pictures as possible of employees in the company, company events, and so forth. Get socially active by joining different groups and causes. People like companies with good, consistent values who don’t only say that they support good causes, but are actually active in helping to make a difference. Also, adding rich media to your profiles, such as podcasts will allow you to emphasize your message even more.

Finally, I want to discuss the topic of private vs. public identities, which I have written about in the past. Due to the whole premise behind Web 2.0, the borders between our personal and professional lives online are slowly disintegrating and to my belief, this is a good thing. When I upload pictures to my Flickr page, I upload professional pictures, but I also upload pictures of me, just hanging out with my friends, or traveling to interesting locations.  When I update my status on Twitter, I may update regarding the latest post I just wrote on my blog but I may also twitter about an interesting article I just read or the latest movie I just saw.

I know that some people try to keep a certain professional façade online because they are afraid of what other professionals may think. So they don’t post personal pictures of themselves from their daily lives or add too much detail to their profiles and I think these individuals are only putting themselves at a disadvantage.

People like to connect with other people who are open and genuine. The more you allow people into your world, the more people will allow you into their own. By creating a rich profile you are only showing others that you are an active member of the community and that you have a multi-dimensional and unique personality of your own.

Thanks to Polle for the pic.

With the growing power that social networks are gaining, we’re seeing a lot of companies and figures leverage the popularity of these networks to gain exposure for their brands. Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John Edwards have all been vigorously spreading their campaign messages on Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Friendster and Second Life. Many companies such as: Apple, Joost, Nike, Adidas, Nikon, Nintendo, just to name a few, have also been using the different social networks to speak to and understand their customers.

Yet many marketers just don’t realize how to use the enormous potential of these social tools correctly. Twitter, MySpace, etc. all constitute channels that marketers can use to communicate with, and better understand their customers’ needs. Yet instead, many marketers view these platforms not as a way to better understand their customers by interacting with them, but as a means of reaching their target audience and spamming them to death with dull content. Whether you are a public figure or a company, here are a few tips on how to market and build your brand correctly using social tools:

1) Create a profile

It’s important to have a profile on a few of the most popular social networks out there. Profiles allow you to share information about your brand, with the rest of the world. Remember to be genuine and open. The more genuine your profile, the more it will appeal to people. Also, the more customizable the profile, the better. Customization allows you to add backgrounds and color schemes that match your brand.

2) Network

Become an active member of the community. Connect with other members. Go through different profiles and see who interests you. Add them as contacts, send them messages, and leave comments on their content. You should also start/join groups, participate in forums and chats that relate to your brand. This will show everyone that you’re really a part of the community, and not just there to promote your brand. Remember to engage in conversation with the people in your community and not “sell” to them. Talk TO them, not AT them. Make sure you read comments that have been left on your profile and react to them. Never be rude to someone even if that person disagrees with your views. Turn debates into something positive.

3) Keep it fresh

In order to get users to remember your brand, you’ll need to actively update your profile, upload pictures, videos, blog posts. Be creative! This will spark a continued interest in your brand and keep people coming back for more. Keep your profile interesting and fresh.

4) Widgets

If you create an exportable widget with content related to your brand, you are encouraging people to place the widget on their profiles or sites, allowing them to expand the recognition of your brand. It’s always better to have a widget which will add some value to those who place it on their own pages, like the MyBlogLog widget for example.

5) Promotion

Promote your various profiles on your main site and offer RSS feeds for them

Simply placing your profiles on every social network isn’t enough. You have to do some PR for them through strategic tagging, linking, and having others point to them, in order to spark the viral potential of your brand.

In conclusion, social networks provide a powerful tool for you to engage with the world. We are living in an age that marketers could only dream of. Never has there been a better time to spread your message to the public. Make sure you do it right.

Thanks to Mandy for the pic.

Technorati tags: branding, social tools, social networks, community, barack obama, hilary clinton, john edwards, twitter, myspace, youtube, friendster, second life, apple, joost, nike, adidas, nikon, nintendo, videos, blog, widget, mybloglog, promotion, rss, tagging

In the last few months we’ve seen more and more politicians embrace the world of online social media and use it to engage with their voters and gain visibility for themselves. Barack Obama can be found on Twitter and Friendster, while John Edwards is also twittering and on Second Life. Hilary Clinton, who can also be found on many social networks, has followed in the footsteps of Tony Blair and turned to the YouTube community to help her choose her campaign song.

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) recently released a series of research findings from the first comprehensive study examining both the growth and marketing power of online social networks. The study was conducted in partnership with Isobar and Carat USA. It incorporated feedback from approximately 3,000 U.S. Internet users, as well as MySpace clients for in-depth case studies. Results from the study, show the following:

• Social networks have caused a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with media. 70%+ of Americans 15-34 are actively using social networks
• Brands such as adidas and Electronic Arts attributed more than 70% of their marketing ROI to the “Momentum Effect” a new metric coined by Marketing Evolution, quantifying the “pass along” power consumer-to-consumer communication.
• 40%+ of social networkers said they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products that they like
• 28% said at some point a friend has recommended a brand or product to them.
• U.S. social networkers chose interacting on sites such as MySpace as their favorite activity online or offline, ahead of television viewing and on par with cell phone usage.
• Social networkers spend on average more than seven hours per week on social networking sites. More than 31% of online social networkers claim they spend more time on the Web in general after starting to use a social network. They were also more inclined to engage in other entertainment media and activities including listening to music, playing games and talking on the cell phone.
• Social networkers use the sites not just to improve their online lives, but also to make their offline lives richer and more exciting. 48% said they are having more fun in life in general and 45% said their lives are more exciting as a result of spending time networking online.

So there you have it. The marketing power of social media is growing at an extremely fast rate. Many brands have already figured it out and are using these social channels to talk to and understand their customers. See these examples:

What about your brand? Have you figured it out yet? If you haven’t yet started using these tools to interact with and expose your brand to the world, you’ll soon be left out in the cold. This is an amazing time for marketers to spread their word out there in an original and creative manner. Embrace these new tools and use them. Remember though that each of these channels constitutes a community. Do not just try to “sell” your product. Be unique, offer something different, and listen to what those in the community have to say.

Technorati tags: social media, social network, barack obama, john edwards, hilary clinton, twitter, tony blair, youtube, fim, isobar, carat, myspace, adidas, ea, marketing evolution, brand, web, nintendo, nike, wrike

There are many different ways a company can increase traffic to its site. In today’s digitalized world online promotion possibilities are endless. Successful online marketing depends largely on your ability to identify those channels that provide the best opportunity to reach your target audience. Online social networks, forums, blogging, SEO are just some of the ways that you can increase your site’s traffic.
Here’s a list of 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic to your site.

Social Media Marketing is a great way to let people know about your site. Promoting your site on Digg or Delicious can increase your site’s traffic by a few thousand visitors per day but be careful. These sites are community oriented and if you only get on the site to promote your business and don’t contribute anything meaningful back to the community, the community will turn against you.
I am a big believer in the power of all these new online marketing strategies. I definitely feel that companies that will not take advantage of these new marketing strategies, will be at a great disadvantage to those that will.