Bestbuy are looking for a Sr. Manager - Emerging Media Marketing. The first point of note is how businesses are recognising the need to understand social media and how they need to learn how to connect with their consumer base.

However, the amazing part of the Job Description is found under the skills and qualifications that they are looking for

Basic Qualifications:

· Bachelors degree Liberal Arts, Marketing, Interactive Marketing, New Media, Business Administration or related

· 2 plus years of mobile or social media marketing experience at an Agency director level, strategist level, or brand interactive director level

· 4 plus years People or resource leadership experience

· 1 plus years of active blogging experience

Preferred Qualifications:

· Graduate degree
· 250 plus followers on Twitter

Although this is one advert it shows that how your social media connections are becoming a currency in the job world. Businesses recognise the worth of social media activity. Best Buy are recognising that old business techniques are coming into play…namely that a larger community is important…it makes me think is this the new style of business acquisition??

Each Friday we publish articles from around the web to help grow your social media and social networking knowledge

Andre Gomez presents How To Use Social Media Sites To Grow Your Business posted at QualityNetworkers.

Anna presents Social Media is like Building A Town posted at The Engaging Brand

Robert Alan presents Features of Effective Shopping Cart Platforms posted at Sell It on the Web, saying, “For bloggers or site owners who might want to start selling products directly from their websites, we’ve provided a list of features to watch out for when looking at shopping cart platforms.”

Entrenova presents Will social network MySpace survive? posted at EntreNova.

Paramendra Bhagat presents Netizen: InRev TwitIn Now Does People Search posted at Netizen

Ray presents Declutter Your Life By Getting Rid Of Junk Mail posted at Money Blue Book.

Ace presents Discover 5 Proven Techniques To Quickly Get More Targeted Traffic posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Alvina Lopez presents iKnow: 100 Best Reference Tools for Your iPhone posted at Online Degree Hub.

Ace presents The Benefits Of Creating And Marketing Information Products posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Mike Mitchell presents Website Promotion; Google Optimization services,SEO improve your websites search engine optimization position get free traffic posted at SEO Services - Search Engine Optimization, saying, “Discover why website promotion works, learn about Google Optimization services, SEO, web promotion articles and lots more”

Emma Taylor presents 100 Awesome iPhone Apps to Work and Study from the Beach posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form.

Google has announced on their Official Google blog a new initiative All For Good saying

“it’s not simple to search across opportunities from a variety of places to find what’s right for you. We have some experience finding relevant information from among many scattered sources, and when we learned that President Obama and the First Lady were making community service a top priority even before taking office, we thought we could help make a difference…. a group of “20%” engineers, designers, and program managers from Google and other tech companies began work on All for Good, a new service to help you find volunteer events in your community, and share those events with your friends.

All for Good provides a single search interface for volunteer activities”

On the site itself there is a YouTube video with this message from Michelle Obama

Why I love these kind of initiatives is that it really puts the social into social media. The web can bring people together with shared interests, it can create a community, it can inspire action. So often we can see ‘pure marketing techniques for business profit….and of course there is nothing wrong with that….but this is using social media for profit purposes rather than pure social benefit.

I believe governments across the world could really learn from the Obama approach, they seem to really understand the art of connection rather than the art of brainwashing

Networking is not just about gaining connections. So often people look for quality over quantity. I believe great networking is a two way process and it is about connecting not connections. Connecting in three ways

• Connecting others. Think about how you can introduce others, that provides value to your network.
• Connecting ideas. Think of how you can share knowledge and help others within your network.
• Connecting to new ideas. I believe social media can make you insular if you are not careful. I believe that each day we should try and connect with new people, new areas as a way of widening our experiences - thereby adding more value to your existing connections.

Each Friday Buzz Networker posts tips and tricks for people who want to get the most out of the web and who wants to know more about social media. Here are this weeks articles

Anna presents Social Media is like building a Town posted at The Engaging Brand

Andre Nilsen presents Using Social Network Websites to Grow your Business posted at QualityNetworkers, saying, “Marketing online is changing rapidly. A short time ago no one cared anything about the social network websites, at least not as far as business promotion is concerned. The world has changed…..”

Sheila Scarborough presents Are blogger fam trips a good idea or are they Jurassic PR? posted at Sheila Guides You to the Good Stuff, saying, “When bloggers are invited on fam trips/press trips/fam tours by tourism organizations, they may not realize some of the minefields that come with that invitation, starting with disclosure issues and content reputation.”

Missy Diaz presents Twitter Tees: How To Nominate A Tweet posted at G34 Media

Ace presents Adding A Profitable Online Solution To Your Offline Business: Your Website Part II posted at Internet Marketing Ace
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isabella mori presents twitter rant posted at change therapy, saying, “i’ve been using twitter for over two years. lately, two things really get my goat: mysterious replies and unsolicited DM’s.”

Alvina Lopez presents 100 Useful Twitter Tips & Tools for Web Designers posted at Web Design Schools Guide.

Alvina Lopez presents 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Locking Down Your PC posted at e-Justice Blog.

Brian Terry presents How to make your subscribers love you posted at Big Selling Website Design.

Andre Nilsen presents Starting A Successful Business Online: Test And Track Everything In Your Business posted at QualityNetworkers

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Firefox Add-Ons to Create a Truly Brilliant Browser posted at Select Courses.

Jeannie Anderson presents My Journey with Gmail posted at The Writer in Me - Teaching, Writing, Living.

Ruoall Chapman presents Online Spyware Removal posted at Online Spyware Removal.

Christian Russell presents Your Internet Business is Just as Much Offline as it is Online posted at Next Level Blogger.

Christian Russell presents Use a Sales Funnel to Blow Up Your Blogging and Internet Marketing Sales posted at Next Level Blogger.

pankaj gupta presents Top 5 Open Courseware Collections in the World posted at Best online university reviews.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form.

Networking has many positive aspects, for me the positive aspects are learning, development, potential business, making friends but I am still unsure of how advertising and networking go together. There is part of me that finds the two incompatible and yet the numbers show that advertising works.

I was interested in research from Forrester who highlight that when it comes to reaching people and ‘advertising’ to people that the older techniques are still the most popular. The advertising results graph is here

The top 3 techniques currently being used are email, search engine optimization and paid listings. The 3 least likely techniques to be used are Online classified, display advertising through ad networks, paid placements in social media, mobile marketing.

I wonder how much these results are affected by a lack of knowledge of social media or even that people are using social media in a less direct way. Therefore, social media or online activity is not about advertising but about connecting or networking with people?

Social networking is about sharing and providing value to each other. So each week I publish blog articles that readers send in to help us on the web. Here are this weeks

Ace presents Internet Marketing for Beginners: Google Adsense and Adwords posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Anna presents Social Media Questions for Small Business posted at The Engaging Brand

Ace presents Internet Marketing For Beginners: Offering Expert Advice Online posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Ace presents Internet Marketing For Beginners: Offering Expert Advice Online Part II posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Professors You Should Follow and Learn from on Twitter posted at Associate Degree Blog.

Blog SEO Expert presents What is Onsite and Offsite Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? | BlogSEOExpert.com - SEO for Blogs posted at BlogSEOExpert.com - SEO for Blogs.

susan baker presents The Top Audio Visual Products for Schools, Universities and Libraries posted at Interactive Retail Displays.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form.

The interaction also gives you a feel for the level of interest in the services you offer which can be measured by the amount of click through’s generated by a link on a particular topic posted or questions you get asked while your on these sites. When i weighed the time required to do this against the benefits i soon found out it was time well spent.

The challenge as always is finding the time to do this.

If you know of anyone using social media in a different way or in an unusual industry then let me know at anna@theengagingbrand.com

Social media is often seen as a tool for the younger generation and yet the research shows that all ages are using the tools.There is a difference in how the generations engage with different social media tools.

Interesting that the Participatory Marketing Network released results of a new study showing that only 22% of Generation Y consumers are using Twitter and yet  99% of this same group has a profile on at least one social networking site.

Other results show the potential for marketing as only 29% of Gen Y Twitter users follow companies, illustrating how companies are failing to connect on an emotive level to the younger users. Maybe companies need to think about how to make their twitter account more interactive rather than conversational to attract Gen Y.

In terms of social networking sites, it is impressive that 99% of people surveyed have a profile on a social networking site and more than that - 89% of those users have downloaded an application. Applications include photos (89 percent), games (53 percent), entertainment (51 percent), news (32 percent) and weather (29 percent)

Lessons from this research for me are

1. To engage Gen Y a company needs to think engagement, needs to think less about conversation and more about personal entertainment.
2. Gen Y is a social demographic. Is Twitter a social tool or a connection tool?
3. The web is an interaction tool to engage - you need to be interactive for Gen Y.

Social media tools are changing everyday, so each Friday we post social networking tips and tricks to helps us all build our personal brands.

Anna presents Social Media Questions for Small Business posted at The Engaging Brand

twitterads presents Get Targeted Traffic To Blog With Twitter | How to Use Twitter and Get Money | Make People Follow You On Twitter posted at Glowicki ProBlogger - Blogging Tips, saying, “See easy guide how to get targeted twitter followers. Easy step by step and you can make money of twitter or just have many people following you”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Top 20 Dumbest Business Ideas That Made Millions…Or Not! posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thanks!”

Ace presents You Can Be A Bum Marketing Success posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Shaun Duke presents 7 Reason Why I Won’t Follow You on Twitter posted at The World in the Satin Bag, saying, “Some great tips on what not to do if you want people to follow you on Twitter.”

Ruoall Chapman presents Everything you need to know about how to Make Online Beats posted at Make Online Beats.

Shelley Greenberg presents My social media manifesto. posted at The Spotted Duck, saying, “A few rules of thumb as your traverse the social media superhighway.”

Kathryn presents How to Streamline Social Networking posted at Cyclope-Series Team Blog, saying, “Basic tips for streamlining social networking so it doesn’t reduce your productivity.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form.