1. Social Media Examiner
2. Mashable
3. The Next Web
4. Entrepreneur.com
5. American Express Open Forum
6. Social Media Today

Twylah is an easy and effective tool that can be useful to organizations that use Twitter as a main part of their social media marketing strategy.  Twylah organizes tweets according to topic and presents them in a visually engaging way.  Topics are assigned by Twylah and based upon keywords within the tweets themselves.  Beyond that, Twylah displays rich media content from the links within tweets.  The results are clean and professional in appearance.

While it is still in beta, your organization can request an invitation.

Once you receive an invitation, it is possible to organize the topics that appear on your page.

In addition, Twylah offers an option to create a “Power Tweet.” Basically, this creates a special landing page for your tweet and directs twitter followers to it.  The function that makes this so effective are the links to additional trending topics (right) and related posts (at the bottom).

Twylah boasts that the “Power Tweet” boosts engagement by 4000%. While this number is no doubt exaggerated and heavily dependent on the tweet content, Twylah’s interface has the potential to boost engagement significantly.

Finally, you can host your own Twylah page on your server.  Create a subdomain (tweets.yourdomain.com) and follow the detailed instructions to set it up.  After you are hosting your Twylah page, you can request instructions on how to customize the look of your page.

Some other resources include a bookmarklet and badges for your website.

Overall, Twylah is a very useful service that is easy to use and makes your tweets easy on the eyes!

Check out Looking Further on Twylah

Need help with your social media strategy and/or management?

This video is an organization’s beginners guide to using Social Mention for their Social Listening Strategy. Businesses, personal brands, non-profits and churches should all use Social Mention for relevant topics. Listening and awareness of online conversations about your organization/brand is vital to responding appropriately.

Social Mention Defines itself like this:

Social Mention is a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user generated content from across the universe into a single stream of information.

It allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. Social Mention monitors 100+ social media properties directly including: Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google etc.

This tool should be included in the social media toolbox of any organizaiton!

More about Social Mention

This video is an organization’s beginners guide to setting up Google Alerts for their Social Listening Strategy. Businesses, personal brands, non-profits and churches should all have Google Alerts setup for relevant topics. Listening and awareness of online conversations about your organization/brand is vital to responding appropriately.

What are Google Alerts? Here is Google’s definition:

Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results — such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs — that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web. - Source

Google Alerts Tips

It isn’t uncommon for people to ask me, “What is that LinkedIn thing? Do I need one?”  As businesses and nonprofit organizations have begun to seek the potential benefits of social media for their organization, they have reluctantly started creating social media profiles.  Finding the right mix among several different platforms is necessary to a holistic strategy.  Unfortunately, one key element that is frequently overlooked is LinkedIn.  It is one social network that could potentially take your marketing to the next level.

LinkedIn is a vibrant, professional network that offers significant benefits.

Facts

• As of November 3, 2011, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 135 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
• More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.
• LinkedIn members are sharing insights and knowledge in more than one million LinkedIn Groups.
• As of September 30, 2011, hundreds of thousands of job applications have been submitted using Apply With LinkedIn.

LinkedIn offers 4 primary benefits for you and your business/organization.

1. Establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Not only does LI offer the ability to create a personal profile, but it enables you to converse with and network with other professionals in your area.  Through the “Answers” section, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field through producing “good” and “best” answers which are displayed on your profile.  Your intimate and authoritative knowledge of your area will shine to your network and open doors for future opportunities.  Recommendations are yet another way for you to establish yourself as a leader rather than a follower.  Simply ask your customers and colleagues to share their experience working with you.  Positive feedback may be the encouragement potential customers need to hire you today.

2. Build the Credibility of your Business

Taking your company to the next level includes creating a LinkedIn business profile.  This is imperative if you are a B2B company.  Not only can you share your news online, but the profile enables the business to post its services and receive recommendations from clients.  Initiating and creating positive and consistent interactions with the LI community establishes you as a credible presence. In addition, upcoming events can be shared with the LinkedIn Community with the goal of increasing your scope of engagement quickly and effectively.

3. Engage and Identify potential clients

Engaging “Answers” enables you to become an industry expert, but it also facilitates connections and conversations with potential clients.  Through their comments and questions, they share valuable information about their strengths and challenges.  This just might be the doorway needed to establish a profitable relationship in the future.  Likewise, LinkedIn groups provide forums for more in-depth conversations and are a platform for prolific sharing. Get into the mix and look for the individuals and companies that you might be able to connect and collaborate with.

4. Entice new talent to your business

Business profiles allow companies to advertise job openings.  This paired with the ability to search LI’s massive database of professionals, creates a pathway to connect and entice new talent to your business.  Truth is, 80% of companies are using social media as a recruitment portal.  95% use LI specifically.*  If you aren’t tapping the potential of 120 million candidates, you should be.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool to consider in your social media strategy.  How else can LI be used to develop your small business or nonprofit?

Questions? Contact us  or setup a free consultation today.

* http://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-growth-of-social-media-an-infographic/32788/

Could the latest social media addiction in women be the next marketing opportunity for small businesses?  Although Pinterest began two years ago, the last few months have produced a 2,000% increase in pageviews (TechCrunch).  This growth has not only raised eyebrows, but it has captured the screens of millions of viewers.  With that punch, businesses, especially small shops, should give Pinterest more than a second look when considering it as a part of their social media strategy.

What is Pinterest?

Simply, it is an organization and sharing site for interesting content found on the internet.  “Pinned” items are clipped items from the web placed into categorized boards where other Pinterest users can view and share them with their network of followers (must include a photo or video).   The network is still by invitation only (if you need an invitation contact me here: ryan@lookingfurther.com). In addition, the social aspect is expanded so that “Pins” are able to be shared via Facebook and Twitter.  Read more about Pinterest

Who uses Pinterest

From Alexa:

Pinterest’s primary audience on the site is US women between 25-34 years of age. They have children, a college education and browse primarily from home.

Businessweek describes it like this:

Pinterest has become the favorite website of moms, do-it-yourselfers, home cooks, brides-to-be, and others not generally known for their obsessions with startup fads…70 percent of users are female…

In a recent survey by Hiscox, it was reported that nearly half of all small businesses in the United States are not using social media for their business.
The findings included:
- 47% of respondents indicated they did not use social
media for business purposes at all
For those that did use social media for their business:
- 19% are using Facebook
- 15% are using LinkedIn
- 4% are using Twitter
The businesses using social media also ranked the most important channels they used to grow and expand their business:
- 28% selected a company Facebook page
- 18% selected a company page / group on LinkedIn
- 8% indicated a company blog had helped them the most
When all respondents were asked about how they felt about using social media for their
business:
- 12% describe it as a must, they do it all the time
- 24% do it when they have the time
- 14% indicated they don’t know enough about it

If small businesses were asked why more businesses hadn’t adopted social media, there would likely be an enormous and diverse list of responses. However, the Hiscox survey shines some light on the root causes of why adoption of social media in small business hasn’t been more widespread. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents stated that either time or unfamiliarity with social media was a factor.

eMarketer responded to the survey stating social media’s value: “Uptake of social media marketing among small and medium-sized businesses has become widespread. Research has suggested it’s a cost-effective, easy-to-use marketing channel that can boost customer acquisition as well as fulfill other marketing goals. But most small businesses still don’t see social media as a necessity.” In fact, 43% of businesses don’t.

Social media marketing may not be effective for every business. However, it is developing a notable track record in the marketing industry for small businesses because of its cost effectiveness and ability to facilitate meaningful business relationships with clients.

Do you find time and unfamiliarity the most significant obstacle to social media adoption in small business?

Questions? Contact us  or setup a free consultation today.

Social Media refers to activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media. - Lon Safko “The Social Media Bible”

Social Media is an umbrella term, defining all of the activities that come together in a utility that uses multiple communication mediums’ of words, pictures, or videos to create visual displays, picture-sharing opportunities, connection points, and the creation of personal meaning and community building opportunities. Social media uses the wisdom of crowds to connect people and information in a collaborative manner. -David S. Peck “Media Psychology Review”*

Social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. – Erik Qualman“Socialnomics”

While the experts vary somewhat on how they define social media, the over arching truth is communication.  Today, people are using and find great value in the connectivity and conversation afforded by social media sites such as:

• Facebook – Social Networking
• Twitter – Microblogging
• Del.icio.us – Social Bookmarking
• WordPress – Blogging
• YouTube – Video Sharing
• Flicker – Photo Sharing