I didn’t want to leave out a few posts that I came across recently, so I’m going ahead and posting these for you, even though they’re later in the day than normal. There was a lot of conversation over the weekend about the BlogWorld Expo, with some good information coming out of that. Try searching #bwe09 on Twitter if you missed it.
3 Ways for Businesses to Take Full Advantage of Facebook
Here’s a great listing of three different ways you can use Facebook for your business. John gives some good ideas on how to make the best of your Facebook experience.
Internet …read more

By now, most businesses know that in order to have more reach, and improve their online marketing, it is necessary to become involved in social networking. It’s all part of reaching out to clients and customers, and making connections that attract people to their web sites and places of business. But what do customers do once they are there?
One thing that businesses can do is create their own social network. Social networking technology can help customers make connections with each other on a business web site. It can also make it easier for businesses to integrate their own social media …read more

If you are your brand – and for many small businesses, the owners are – your actions affect your brand. And it can be hard for your customers to separate the two. I’m not all that into building a personal brand, but I realize that as a writer I almost have to. So what I write on the web, whether personally or professionally, follows me around. And what you do follows you, too.
And that means you need to think about what you post on Facebook. And Twitter. And on your personal and business sites or blogs. And in comments on …read more

If you are wanting to learn more about Twitter marketing or Facebook marketing, SocialMediaExaminer.com is putting on a free event that may be of interest. The event will take place on Oct. 12 and features five experts: Michael Stelzner, Denise Wakeman, Chris Garrett, Jason Falls and Mari Smith.
Said Stelzner: “Our ‘Ask the Social Media Dream Team’ event is for every business owner or marketer who wants to know firsthand the best ways to use social media.”
Viewers will be able to ask questions during the SocialMediaExaminer.com event and get live answers.
“Just show up on Monday at our site and type in …read more

Friendster, which was once upon a time one of the fastest growing social networks, recently announced that it was awarded another patent. The social networking patent is called “Method for Sharing Relationship Information Stored in a Social Network Database with Third Party Databases”.
This is the fifth social networking patent Friendster has been awarded. The first such patent was awarded in July of 2006.
Said Richard Kimber, Friendster’s CEO: “Friendster has continued to build and own a significant patent portfolio, since launching in 2002 as the first online social network.”
Today, Friendster has more than 110 million members. Though it’s regarded as a …read more

As you venture into the realm of social media for the first few times, it may overwhelm you. But don’t fear, you can learn some simple things that will help you manage your social media efforts. As you learn these things, you will be able to master social media and use it effectively.
Being new to social media, I thought it would be helpful to give you a few tips to get you going:

Start with something simple like Twitter or Facebook. All you have to do is complete the sign-up form that takes a couple of minutes. After sign-up, one of …read more

Originally, I wasn’t a fan of Facebook. We had MySpace, why did we need a new social networking site for young adults. I first learned about Facebook before it was even available in most places – my college wasn’t in the first wave of colleges to get Facebook access. I thought it was a dumb idea that I’d never use.
Man, was I wrong.
Yes, Facebook is similar to MySpace, but it has grown to be so much more. The interface is just better, and it is more focused on information, rather than customizing the design of your page. You’re automatically part …read more

Facebook has faced a lot of heat in recent years after it launched its Beacon marketing program. Beacon, which tracked user activity around the internet, drew controversy due to privacy concerns.
In agreeing to end the use of the Beacon marketing program, Facebook also agreed to a $9.5 million penalty to settle a lawsuit. Part of the $9.5 million will be used to create a foundation that helps promote privacy, security and safety online. Although a federal judge still has to okay the terms, industry experts believe that is just a formality.
Said Barry Schnitt of Facebook in a statement: “We learned …read more

As you use social media to build your online presence, one of the things that you should have in place is a way to monitor your progress. As you measure your progress, you can see where your efforts are successful and where they are not working. Then make adjustments to your social media strategy as you see fit according to your monitoring results.
To help you find a social media measuring tool, I thought it would be helpful to provide you with a list of tools that are available:

Google analytics: allows you to add code to your website so that you …read more

While checking my Facebook feed this morning, I saw an interesting video posted on the feed from Oprah’s show. Basically it showed the Black-eyed Peas and Fergie on stage singing in front of a crowd as the crowd was doing the same dance movements.
I found it interesting because it fits into the affect that the Oprah show can have on people. As people congregated to participate in the Oprah event, they waited with excitement. Because they knew that something big and great was going to happen during the event. They were expecting to have a great time, see music stars …read more