(DIGITAL x BRAND)/TRANSLATE

How to use Linkedin for your business! Arm yourself with these Tips and Tricks.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:37:44 -0600

Every business needs a Linkedin page! Let me say it again, every business needs a Linkedin Page. While companies and brands saturate Facebook and Twitter pages with "Brand Conversations" they tend to overlook the core sales values of Linkedin. I know, its not as sexy as other Social Media opportunities but it has become the preeminent "Business Social Network" and may add more long term revenue to the bottom line than all others combined! According to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn’s U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December.

KEEP IT IN THE SALES DEPARTMENT! I used to have a Boss in a Promotional Marketing Agency who would yell at us every morning and say "Any Sales guy that is at their desk this morning is not out there selling! Now get out of here and close something" In fact, He didn't even give us offices just for that reason. Well that's not true anymore is it Mr mean Bossman? I recommend you do one less boring Convention this year and use that budget to assign a "Business Social Czar" and have He or She lead a company wide "Business Social" effort each day from his office and you'll be astounded with the results. I would suggest having a Junior Sales Manager head the effort with your Corporate communications, Human Resources and Marketing group! Part of what is driving all the activity is people looking for jobs, and networking with business partners and unearthing market opportunities. TIP: Senior People looking for jobs often have major client contacts they can reach out to. These are great opportunities!

LinkedIn should be at the top of your list of social marketing efforts. Create a company profile, connect with colleagues, have conversations with customers, today! LinkedIn has great tools for connecting you to customers, prospects, and industry thought leaders alike, and many marketers are under-utilizing the functionality available to them due to simple lack of awareness.

Company product and service recommendations are up 65 percent since December, says spokesperson Kay Luo. LinkedIn’s improved people search, which it launched at the end of November, is also driving a lot of "New Business" activity on the site. The company is seeing a 50 percent increase in activity on the new search platform!!

While setting up a Page on Linkedin is simple here are 33 tips on how to use it effectively plus a 12 page book by Hupspot to download!

Follow these tips today and mount your "Business Social" Offensive assault.

Fill out your profile completely to earn trust.
Use widgets to integrate other tools, such as importing your blog entries or Twitter stream into your profile.
Do market research and gain knowledge with Polls.
Share survey and poll results with your contacts.
Answer questions in Questions and Answers: show expertise without a hint of self-promotion.
Ask questions in Questions and Answers to get a feel for what customers and prospects want or think.
Publish your LinkedIn URL on all your marketing collateral, including business cards, email signature, email newsletters, web sites and brochures, so prospects learn more about you.
Grow your network by joining industry and alumni groups related to your business.
Update your status examples of recent work.
Link your status updates with your other social media accounts.
Combine your social media approach: when someone asks a question in Twitter, respond in detail on LinkedIn and link to it from Twitter.
Use the search feature to find people by company, industry and city.
Start and manage a group or fan page for your product, brand or business.
Research your prospects before meeting or contacting them.
Share useful articles and resources that will be of interest to customers and prospects.
Don’t turn off your contacts: avoid hard-sell tactics.
Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts.
Request LinkedIn recommendation from happy customers willing to provide testimonials.
Post your presentations on your profile using a presentation application.
Check connections’ locations before traveling so you can meet with those in the city where you’re heading.
Ask your first-level contacts for introductions to their first-level contacts.
Interact with LinkedIn on a regular basis to reach those who may not see you on other social media sites.
Set up to receive LinkedIn messages in your inbox so you can respond right away.
Link to articles and content posted elsewhere, with a summary of why it’s valuable to add to your credibility.
List your newsletter subscription information and archives.
Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blog or speaker at your event.
Post discounts and package deals.
Import vCards and contacts from other applications to find more connections.
Export your contacts into other applications.
Buy a LinkedIn direct ad that only your target market will see.
Post job listings to find qualified talent.
Look for connections related to a job you want.
Find vendors and contractors through connections.

Which brings us to Hubspots new How to Use LinkedIn for Business ebook!

Along the lines of Hubspots previous How to Use Facebook for Business ebook, this document walks you through actionable tips for using LinkedIn to get found and engage your best prospects. This free ebook includes everything you need to know from building and optimizing your personal profile, to starting and managing a LinkedIn group, to using LinkedIn for lead generation.

Just getting started with LinkedIn? That's great! Straight from the ebook, here are 5 Tips to Build Your LinkedIn Network:

Start with the people you know: friends, colleagues, relatives, and business contacts will help you build the first layer of your network.
Find people by searching the Companies section to find employees working in your industry.
Start participating in LinkedIn Answers - this will help you interact and connect with others in your industry, and position yourself as a thought leader.
Update your status often, since this appears in the LinkedIn Network Updates email to your connections and invites others to take notice of your activities.
Connect your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, further feeding your status updates and inviting connections from either site to engage with you on the other site.

For more tips, download the free ebook now.

This free ebook includes everything you need to know to use LinkedIn for business, from building and optimizing your personal profile, to starting and managing a LinkedIn group, to using LinkedIn for lead generation. Download the full 12-page ebook here.

So my advice to Company's everywhere; go get em Sales Team! Bring them in but be smart, start at your desk and use this incredible technology that's in front of you everyday to drive opportunities! Follow up on the phone with that knowledge and qualify the sale before the meeting. When you get the meeting they'll already know you and you'll know them. Now, get out there and close something!

The Buzz on the Buzz around Google's Buzz....I just like saying Buzz.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:36:30 -0600

It’s official: Google() has just announced Google Buzz, its newest push into the social media foray. This confirms earlier reports of Gmail integrating a social status feature.

On stage revealing the new product was Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president for product management. While introducing the product, Mr. Horowitz focused on the human penchant for sharing experiences and the social media phenomenon of wanting to share it in real time. These two key themes were core philosophies behind Google Buzz.

“It’s becoming harder and harder to find signal in the noise,” Bradley stated before introducing the product manager for Google Buzz, Todd Jackson.

Here are the details:

Google Buzz: The Details

- Mr. Jackson introduced “a new way to communicate within Gmail().” It’s “an entire new world within Gmail.” Then he introduced the five key features that define Google Buzz:

- Key feature #1: Auto-following

- Key feature #2: Rich, fast sharing experience

- Key feature #3: Public and private sharing

- Key feature #4: Inbox integration

- Key feature #5: Just the good stuff

- Google then began the demo. Once you log into Gmail, you’ll be greeted wiht a splash page introducing Google Buzz.

- There is a tab right under the inbox, labeled “Buzz”

- It provides links to websites, content from around the web. Picasa(), Twitter(), Flickr() and other sites are aggregated.

- It shows thumbnails when linked to photos from sites like Picasa and Flickr. Clicking on an image will blow up the images to almost the entire browser, making them easier to see.

- It uses the same keyboard shortcuts as Gmail. This makes sense. Hitting “R” allows you to comment/reply to a buzz post, for example.

- There are public and private settings for different posts. You can post updates to specific contact groups. This is a lot like Facebook() friend lists.

- Google wants to make sure you don’t miss comments, so it has a system to send you an e-mail letting you know about updates. However, the e-mail will actually show you the Buzz you’ve created and all of the comments and images associated with it.

- Comments update in real time.

- @replies are supported, just like Twitter. If you @reply someone, it will send a buzz toward an individual’s inbox.

- Google Buzz has a “recommended” feature that will show buzzes from people you don’t follow if your friends are sharing or commenting on that person’s buzz. You can remove it or change this in settings.

- Google is now speaking about using algorithms to help filter conversations, as well as mobile devices related to Buzz.

The Mobile Aspect

- Google buzz will be accessible via mobile in three ways: from Google Mobile’s website, from Buzz.Google.com (iPhone and Android()), and from Google Mobile Maps.

- Buzz knows wher you are. It will figure out what building you are and ask you if it’s right.

- Buzz has voice recognition and posts it right onto your buzz in real-time. It also geotags your buzz posts.

- Place pages integrate Buzz.

- In the mobile interface, you can click “nearby” and see what people are saying nearby. NIFTY, if I say so myself.

- You can layer Google Maps() with Buzz. You can also associate pictures with buzz within Google Maps.

- Conversation bubbles will appear on your Google Maps. They are geotagged buzz posts, which lets you see what people are saying nearby.

- They just showed off a video for Buzz. We’ll have it up soon.

The Third Act

- Google’s philosophy on social is this: It wants buzz to be the paragon and poster child for creating a social destination in an open environment that adheres to open standards.

- It’s launching at 11:00 a.m. PT in its first wave.

Cisco's 23-per-cent rise in profits is a very good sign for all of us!

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:23:30 -0600

Its nice to see a large corporation who did not recieve "Goverment Bailout money" declare huge earnings! There is hope for our system afterall and this is great news for us! - Cisco's positive report came a week after other technology heavyweights like Intel, Microsoft and IBM all reported improved earnings and revenue, indicating that the worst of the recession is over. Cisco is one of the first major technology companies to report results that include much of January 2010. Its performance and outlook are an indicator for the rest of the technology sector, especially in business spending. Cisco Systems posted a 23-per-cent rise in profits yesterday as a growth in corporate technology spending boosted demands for the company's products.Thats a 1.85-billion-dollar profit, up from 1.5 billion dollars a year ago as revenue climbed 8 per cent to 9.82 billion dollars.

Why is this important to us? It means that Corporations are rapidly investing in infrastructure growth, rapid data transfer systems and mobile communications for the future! They realize that innovative technology is the key to competing in a Global market. Corporations will run leaner but be far more efficient. Those of us who are in the technology business will benefit, of course. Those who are not will need to adapt and learn as much as possible. We will pull out of this recession sooner than we all think! Im excited.

Cisco designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and communications technology and services. 'Our outstanding results exceeded our expectations and we believe they provide a clear indication that we are entering the second phase of the economic recovery,' said Cisco CEO John Chambers. Cisco has more than 65,000 employees and annual revenue of $36.11 billion as of 2009.Chambers also said he expects to hire 2,000 to 3,000 people in the next few quarters, showing Cisco has emerged from a cost-cutting phase.

Note from Grammys to Oscars - envelope (old school) iPad (new School). I dare you, do it.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:50:44 -0600

Apple CEO Steve Jobs should be happy with Stephen Colbert for what he did in the 52nd Grammy Award. Colbert opened an iPad instead of an envelope in the ceremony. That’s nice marketing for Apple iPad if they were involved. (they were) I dont think Apple paid for that Grammy Awards placement. It's a possibility, I suppose, but given the power Apple wields in the music industry, I highly doubt it. I hoped the iPad was going to be used the entire time to announce winners instead of very old and tired " Envelope" - The Envelope please? Sounds ancient. Next year - iPad. OK? To CBS's credit the winner graphics and bumpers were very good and resembled some digital interface and I liked it. Drop the CBS watermark and it would have been even better.

I love Colbert when he jokingly turned to Jay-Z and said “Did you not get one of these in your gift bag?” Jay-Z's face was priceless...no he didnt. Cobert asked his own daughter, also in attendance, if she finally thought he was cool. My daughter would have killed me either way for even admitting that I was her father at the Grammys and putting her on TV. I would have had to make a personal introduction for her to the Jonas Bros backstage to make up for it. He then presented the award, using the iPad for “Song of the Year” to Beyonce and team for “Single Ladies.” - love it, (not the song) but the use of the iPad. Note to Oscars - Do it, I dare you!

Comedian Stephen Colbert is hosting the Grammys, and to mark the occasion of "Song of the Year", he pulled out his shiny new iPad.

Here's Colbert begging for an "iTablet" on January 26th, the day before Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad: Link to YouTube here.

Colbert got his iPad.

2010, the year for Social Media ROI and new job titles like "Social Media Metrician"

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:40:02 -0600

Im as tired as anyone in our business regarding monetizing social media as we have not seen any real ROI metrics or analysis! Creating a valuable relationship with a customer is hard to value if it isnt directly linked to driving revenue or at the very least converting visitors to leads and leads to customers! Lets face it, it's still uncharted water and Now Social Media ROI is in Demand!!We as digital marketers and professionals will need to get a better sense of it this year and fortunately Connie Bensen (former Social Media Consultant now "Community Strategist) breakdowns the following trends for 2010 as it relates to this social media ROI. This will help move the ball forward!

She says this year:

Companies will expect ROI from their Social Media efforts.
The Social Media Specialist (Community Manager) position will become mainstream.
Cultural shift inside of companies will emerge.
Social Media Monitoring will be a necessary component
Agencies and companies will hire data analysts
Integration of platforms and processes will be critical.

Read Connies full article here:

http://conniebensen.com/2009/12/19/2010-the-year-of-social-media-roi/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ConnieBensen+%28Connie+Bensen%29

Thanks Connie!

Forbes Study: CMOs More Bullish on Social Media than Mobile Apps or SEO

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:55:46 -0600

I follow Steve Rubel, SVP and Director of Insights for Edelman Digital. I have great respect for the folks at Edelman and we have the pleasure of working with their Health Care Group on social media efforts and collaborative systems for the major clients we share. While most of us are tired of last years "Social Media" boom, CMO's are now beginning to understand its value, oversee its implementation and by the looks of Steve Rubels insights, focusing their marketing dollars heavily on it this year! During a recent meeting with Forbes they shared a summary of their recent survey of Chief Marketing Officers (embedded below) with Steve and the gurus at Edelman. Social Media is alive and well in brand marketing and will now have the budgets to back it up!

Click here for Steves Blog and insight:

Forbes Survey of Chief Marketing Officers

I've long championed PR, great copy writing and story-tellers when developing digital projects for our clients. Some clients listen and find the creative funds to support the content process and PR brand effort. Most don’t or don’t want to bring the PR group into the project as it may slow it down (and it will but for good reason). Over the past 15 years we've seen copy come in from all sources and departments. We have very skilled copywriters and editors that smooth out the copy and inject SEO friendly words and phrases in accordance with the Search engine strategy we've defined but with a PR agency involved it validates and extends the entire effort to more meaningful level particularly in the Social space.

In the past, PR would sit in many departments such as corporate communications. Now it is more closely aligned with marketing and under the close radar of the CMO. This is an important shift and proves that Copy, Context and Corporate Culture are critical to all digital marketing initiatives especially in Social. It seems that the trend will continue, which is good news for any PR agency or copywriter... and for we at Networks as well! Thanks Steve. Great article.

Apple iPad - killer device for Business Pros but just another thing to carry around for the Consumer.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:50:37 -0600

Opening Statement: Steve Jobs is my personal hero. Apple is one of the greatest companies in the world, BUT I think the challenge with the Apple Tablet is that it really doesn't replace anything for the consumer. I do see opportunities in the B2B professional space, as a mentioned above, especially in field legal services, education, health, manufacturing, inventory management etc and we at Networks, are going to spend time looking for opportunities to build Apple iPad Apps along with our Mobile app efforts. This will be a good business. For the consumer, unless you are a news Junkie or consume a good amount of Printed material, the Apple iPad is just one more thing you have to carry around. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about e-reader devices and it goes without saying, that the digitally frustrated newspapers or magazines will be the biggest supporters of this Apple iPad and any e-reader devices in the future. They have to be. Newspapers and magazines that have gone digital to stay relevant in our digital-obsessed culture have seen print advertising revenue evaporate as citizen media is freely indexed and shared online. (Kind of like this little blurb) E-reading devices have become popular. Its important to note that Kindle sales are expected in 2010 to be better than ever, and Amazon sees Kindle unit sales hitting 2 million, up from previous estimates of 1.5 million! That little Kindle device and book sales will total $1.6 billion for 2010. That's 5% of Amazon's total sales! I do love the notion of printed media and information on a tablet but for me, only when I travel. Then again, I like to watch movies when I travel. I suppose I could do that on the ipad…might be cool..nah..well? If it had my personal flight app on it, maps of my itinerary..subscription to USA today, Fly, Rod and Reel and Cowboy magazine and my latest PPT deck for meetings or Airplane Seat pitches..I guess Id like it! Would fit nicely in my carry on of course, my phone fits in my pocket and does everythign and more...?! Arghhh...what to do!? A personal note to Steve Jobs to say God speed with the iPad and continued success and innovation at Apple. Thank you for everything you have done for the world and while the iPad may not be a killer device yet, once again, you have certainly pointed the way for good things to come in the future for us all!

Is Google afraid of Facebook? Yup.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:48:27 -0600

Why? Social Networking could soon pass search. It's often said these days that Google and Facebook are major rivals, but how could that be if one is in search and the other, social networking? It’s funny, I was at a cocktail party full of Digital folks last week, namely some of Chicago's Top Digital attorneys and we were remarking how "Social Media" is over and how anybody who is a "Social Consultant" is changing their title now to something else more in vogue. It’s good for a laugh and I’m guessing Mobile/iPhone App Consultant is next. It is for us anyway, the difference being , we actually do produce iPhone apps. Nevertheless, I don’t agree that SM is over by any means but the hype has worn off as companies begin to understand its value and determine its monetization values. But what does it mean in the big picture? That picture is very interesting to look at. Check this out.

Marshall Kirkpatrick reports that traffic analyst firm Hitwise provided one very clear clue tonight when it published new numbers for web user activity in Australia. For perhaps the first time ever, social networking sites have surpassed the traffic search engines receive, Hitwise says. There is reason to question the company's categorization of web traffic, but the trend is worth examining none the less.

Social networking climbed fast this year, and Hitwise says it just peaked over search for a few days during the communication frenzy of Christmas. Take that, Larry and Sergey - Mark and Ev are right behind you.

The biggest problem with Hitwise's numbers is that the company appears to include YouTube in the "social networks and forums" category that is challenging search. That's a questionable categorization of (Google's) YouTube, a site that some people call the 2nd-largest search engine on the web. A person certainly can use YouTube as a social network - but we'd guess that far more people use it as a search engine. If YouTube is growing (and this analysis says it is) then search is growing. You wouldn't think search would have much room to grow, but YouTube demonstrates nicely that there can emerge new kinds of search at any time. Some people argue that real-time search is the next type that will emerge as a growth industry for the search market. Others point to social search and that kind of amalgamation could throw our search vs. social networking equation entirely!

The arguable mischaracterization of YouTube seems to throw a big monkey-wrench in Hitwise's usually fabulous market analysis, but as a general trend social network is undoubtedly growing. At 2% of web use, according again to Hitwise, YouTube is a major player - but lets think about the rise of actual social networking sites relative to search.

What would it mean if social networking over-took search in terms of sheer visits online? It would mark a sea-change on the internet. No longer would our dominant use of the web be seeking out web-pages built by HTML web-masters! Now we would all be publishing tiny little updates that perhaps only our friends and family care about. We'd be subscribing, more than we ever did by RSS, to syndicated updates from organizations of interest, large and small. It would be (perhaps will be) a very different era and, to be frank, it's going to be harder to monetize. There will be privacy battles. There will be new platforms for innovation.

It's a pretty big deal. Things will really change if current trends continue and social networking rises to the top. That's not as clear as this traffic analyst firm argues that it is, but it could happen. And that's a big reason why Google and Facebook are rivals.

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:59:11 -0600

Should YouTube start charging or not?Starting this weekend, YouTube will start.

This behavior follows a trend I've noted in traditional media outlets. First, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said no more freebies for search engines, then the New York Times hinted (and today confirmed) that users would have to start paying for a certain amount of access to articles. Now, YouTube is partnering with the Sundance Film Festival and filmmakers to charge users around $5 to view a range of movies from the 2009 and 2010 festivals. It's still cheaper than a movie ticket - but is this a direction users will follow?

As Benjamin Wayne is CEO of Fliqz reports; According to a report by Credit Suisse, YouTube is on track to lose roughly $470 million in 2009. No matter Google’s $116 billion market cap: a half-billion dollar loss on a single property, even one as large as YouTube, is a bitter pill to swallow. Even Eric Schmidt, talking to the New York Times about the YouTube acquisition, was quick to say that, going forward, Google would “be more careful with potential large expense streams, which are of uncertain return.”

Credit Suisse estimates YouTube will manage to rake in about $240 million in ad revenue in 2009, against operating costs of roughly $711 million, leading to a shortfall of just over $470 million. This half-billion dollar loss comes after more than a year of feverish experimentation in various forms of advertising, cross-product embedding, licensing and partnership deals. YouTube is adamant that ultimately they’ll find an advertising solution that will enable the ungainly behemoth to reach profitability. Looking at the math, it doesn’t seem likely.

The economics are hard to overcome. Assuming YouTube delivers the 75 billion streams that Credit Suisse projects for 2009, and assuming YouTube manages to slot an ad for every stream (which is practically speaking, impossible, given the nature of much of their content), YouTube would have to achieve a $9.48 CPM for every video impression shown. Presumably, the videos YouTube is already monetizing represent the best content available, with diminishing returns as they reach deeper and deeper into a repository rife with copyright violation, the indecent, the uninteresting, and the unwatchable. Hulu claims to be charging a $30 CPM, of which roughly 70% goes to the copyright holder. Averages for other proprietary content hover around the $10 CPM mark. CPMs for user-generated content, assuming you can attract the advertisers, tend to be measured in fractions of a dollar.

What are Google’s options? They seem unlikely to sustain a billion-dollar annual experiment with no path to revenue, no matter how much they paid for the original asset. In an organization feeling the sting of layoffs, is this really where Google wants to spend its money? It all depends.

Google could take a lesson from its neighbor, Hulu, and focus only on proprietary content with existing consumer loyalty and real monetization prospects. With its massive audience, this is a viable option, and a direction in which YouTube has already taken some baby steps. Axing user-generated content would seem to be anathema given the site’s roots, but it may be the surest way of putting the business into the black.

Personally, I dont have a problem paying for YouTube or Hulu. I find it utterly entertaining and informative on a daily basis and I cant imagine a future without a single source of endless video. With that said, there are more than 300 video sharing websites in total to date as listed in REELSEO if you still want it for free. http://www.reelseo.com/list-video-sharing-websites/

Mark Wilhelms, Digital Addict — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:00:29 -0600

RANT:Leno retaking the Tonite Show is like eating cold, left over pizza still in the box from the fridge...desperate with no options. Not that Conan was great in that slot. He wasnt. Jimmy Fallon should get the show but it may be too late when he does. Late night Internet shows will begin to surface now, fragmenting the audience even more. Global Internet ready HD screens introduced at CES this year will start moving off the shelves integrating Computer and TV and within 3 years that will be that for the NBC/TS and Television as we know it. I hope Im right! Sounds like a damn entertaining future!