Together with LMC, who is hosting the event at the Bertrand Crossing Campus in Niles Michigan, we at SocialMarketingExpert.org  were keen to share our enthusiasm for this new communications channel and highlight the opportunities for organizations and businesses of all sizes and in a range of industries.
Managing Director Lizz Clarke said:
“We’ve been working with social media for some time now and have been delivering real benefits to our clients. We wanted to get involved with Social Media Day and know that there are still so many people who want to know more about social media but are uncertain where to start, or what will work best for their business. Our morning seminar will help to demonstrate how to integrate social media into a communications strategy, and offer case studies of successful projects as well as provide a chance for delegates to ask questions and share their experiences.”

We are finalizing the dates for the four events, so if live around the South Bend Indiana area, and you are interested in attending these social media webinars, contact Wayne Clayton @ socialmarketingexpert.org – PH: 5764-514-5095

I am going to touch on 5 social media practices: forums, social bookmarking, blogging, article submission and social networking sites. Not everyone will agree that all of these topics fall into social media, and that’s fine. The way I see it, all of these topics deal directly with people and therefore fall into the social media category. But enough of that and on to the subject at hand.

1. Forums
Forums are a great source of information. You will find a wide range of expertise on the subject matter of your choice, from beginners to gurus, and all levels of people use forums to share their opinions and knowledge.

Generally, there are a few things that you need to remember when using forums:

- You may only be using them to try and find information but they are a great way to get your brand out there and get some backlinks – that doesn’t mean you should spam them with replies or threads that don’t really contribute or are merely for advertising purposes. Start threads that will entice people to reply or click the link in your signature, when you reply, reply with something helpful. Ask your own questions. Using forums in this way builds a good reputation for you and your brand, earning traffic as well as links. If you spam the sites people won’t give your contributions a second glance and you may even get banned.

- You should read the rules for the forums that you join, that way there is less chance of you being banned for something you might not have known you were doing that is wrong.

- If you do have links to your websites in your signature, try not to list more than 3 otherwise it looks spammy. I’m more inclined to only list 1 as it is more “authentic” but most forums suggest no more than 3.

- The most important thing to remember is that it’s not just about getting the links, this is a good opportunity to find regular traffic and learn new things, make it count.

Some good forums are webmaster-talk.com, www.irishwebmasterforum.com and webproworld.com.

2. Social bookmarking
This is another good way to get links and if you use it, the right kind of traffic too. Social bookmarking is simply telling bookmarking sites that you like certain articles or stories, and sharing those articles with other members when you submit them. You can vote on stories that you like or don’t like and leave reviews.

Of course you can submit your own blog posts or article submissions, but if people see only submissions relating to your site, you could lose valuable traffic because you look like you are spamming the sites.

There is no “trick” to using this kind of social media – all you have to do is not “pretend” to look authentic…but actually be authentic. You will receive worthwhile traffic and build a good reputation this way. Submit interesting articles you read, or blog posts you find funny, include a profile picture…do anything a real user would do – because that is what you should be. There is no quick fix. You need to act like a human in order to receive human interaction with your site.

Some sites you can use are StumbleUpon, Digg and Sphinn.

3. Blogging
By owning a blog you get to share your thoughts, ideas and business with a huge audience. If your content is useful enough you will get links and loyal followers too.

The trick here is to not make the blog about you, make it about your audience. If you have specials running, sure, share it with them…but don’t make your entire blog about specials your company is running. That will encourage…nothing. No links, no loyal followers and no comments.

Make your content relevant and interesting to read. Comment on other blogs you find interesting too – people read those comments and you may get some extra traffic if you contribute something worthwhile, maybe even a link from the blogger whose post you are commenting on – if you get their attention. Interaction is key to making your blog successful.

Other ways of getting more traffic and links in this social media category is by guest posting on other blogs and sponsoring competitions (you will earn links from the bloggers running those competitions etc).

Some good blogs for SEO are mattcutts.com/blog, seobook.com, seo-scoop.com and www.interleado.com/blog.

4. Article submission
There are many online article submission sites you can use to showcase your articles. As with blogging, if they are interesting and helpful enough, they will earn you links and traffic.

Most of these social media sites require an article length of around 500 words – this is to help to ensure that the articles that are submitted are worthwhile reading. As with the other mentioned social media categories, making an article all about a special you are running won’t earn you anything and will probably not be published – most sites have a waiting period of up to 7 days so that the articles can be reviewed.

There are many free article submission sites online such as eZineArticles and ArticleBase. You will be able to find lists of these sites on forums and in blogs – all you have to do is search.

5. Social networking sites
These sites put you in touch with people of similar interests. You are able to create groups that you can send updates to, network with other members and on some sites post articles that the members of the groups may find interesting. Some examples are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

The thing to remember with social media is that pretending to be involved isn’t enough to earn you the traffic you need. If you are interested, people will be interested in you – show them your interest. Let your audience know that you have opinions and knowledge to share, or questions to ask.

More importantly – make sure your business will benefit from this aspect of SEO as it is time consuming and hard work needs to be put in. Articles and blog posts need to be optimised for the search engines, profiles needs to be created, forums and blogs need to be checked and contributed to. But what’s anything without a little hard work?

YouTube available at www.youtube.com, is the most widely known of the video sharing sites. YouTube is now owned by Google who purchased the social media site within 1 year of it’s launch. Besides just uploading video, YouTube has a robust interaction system allowing other members to rate and comment on your videos, as well as dedicated channels for regular video producers. The downside to YouTube is the inability to download videos. YouTube specializes in video uploading and sharing.

Google Video available at www.video.google.com is currently in it’s beta stage. Despite buying YouTube, Google is venturing into the video hosting arena with it’s own brand. The best feature of Google Video is that the allow video files of any length and size. Google video specializes in video uploading and sharing, but is one part of Google’s many services. (EDIT: Google Video has gone the way of the dodo bird.)

Tinypic available at www.tinypic.com follows the same basic guidelines, but also allows unlimited photo hosting. Tinypic is a Photobucket company and promotes using there hosting services to easily place photos and video on other sites or blogs. Tinypic specializes in video and picture uploading and sharing.

Yahoo Video available at www.video.yahoo.com has the same basic options as YouTube, but with links to all of the other Yahoo services spread throughout the site. Yahoo video specializes in video uploading and sharing, but is one part of Yahoo’s many services.

Revver available at www.revver.com is less popular at the moment, but is stepping into the revenue sharing field. The Revver videos are embedded with advertising, and the revenue is split between the video producer, Revver, and the person sharing the video. Revver specializes in video uploading and sharing.

Opcot available at www.opcot.com is just out of beta testing and has the same basic functions wrapped into a social network. Like Tinypic, Opcot creates instant widgets to help you place your videos on other sites and blogs, and includes revenue sharing.. Opcot specializes in social networking with video uploading and sharing as a feature.

Crackle (formerly grouper) available at www.crackle.com can be hard to navigate, but is rich with options including the ability to download Crackle videos to your pc, iPod, or PSP. Crackle specializes in video uploading and sharing.

This list will get you a good start on video sharing, for more video hosting sites try a Google or Yahoo search for ‘video uploading’, ‘video sharing’, or ‘video hosting’.

About TrackBig

TrackBig.com is a provider of quality Xanga utilities like Xanga tracking service, Xanga modules, Xanga layouts and images. It provides the following unique features:

• Visitors Photo

• Xanga Layouts

• Last 10 visitors

• Tracker Statistics

• Personal messages to your visitors

• Email alert when a friend visits your Xanga page

• Blocks unknown users

• Disables right click

• Graphs, IP statistics, Visitor Statistics, Referrer Statistics, Pageview statistics and much more!

How does TrackBig work?

Xanga members first need to create an account, which comes absolutely FREE. After the account is activated, they need to login and install two codes into their Xanga page, namely the Tracker Code and the Module Code.

The Tracker Code is a JavaScript code that tracks the Xanga users who are visiting the Xanga member’s Xanga pages. The code is available in the ‘Xanga Tracker’ Section.

Another code which needs to be installed is the Module Code. It is available in the ‘Xanga Module’ Section. This is also a JavaScript code which provides the features like

• Displays the recent 10 visitors in their Xanga page.

• Displays visitor count stats in their Xanga page.

• Shows personal messages to their visitors.

• Sends email alerts to you when friends visit their Xanga page.

• Blocks unknown users from visiting their Xanga page.

• Disables right click ability on their Xanga page.

Contact Us

Website: http://www.trackbig.com

Most of us trying to optimize our sites for search engine traffic know one of the single most important ways to get our sites listed higher on search engines is through obtaining incoming links. For Google, the quality of the website providing the incoming link is also important. It’s very important to get incoming links from high page rank (PR) web pages. Most search engine optimization ( SEO )articles mention this importance. However, many search engine optimization articles do not go into specifics about how to obtain these links.

Avoid Excessive Link Exchanges

A simple way is to have a link exchange whereby websites swap text links from their index or other pages in an attempt to build links. This system used to work very well in the past until Google decided that it didn’t like websites exchanging links simply to perform better in Google’s search algorithm. Google’s position now is that link exchanges are alright as long as they are not excessive. It is unclear how Google defines ‘excessive’.

An alternative approach to building incoming links apart from simple link exchange is to have an A-B-C link exchange. In this scenario site A links to site B. Site C links to site A in exchange for the link to site B. It is widely held that Google’s algorithm is aware of this situation and accounts for it. 

Obtaining One-Way Incoming Links

The vastly superior way is to have one-way incoming links. One-way links are links which point to your site without you having to link back to their site or set of sites. This is clearly the superior method for building incoming links. However, this method may take a long period of time as external websites find your web pages useful and link in to them. No matter the quality of your content it takes time to build natural links in. Such natural links may come from web directories or sites related to your topic which find your website useful and link to your site without being asked.

This SEO article is written specifically to address the problem of building one-way links to your website. By taking some short-cuts it’s easy to get high Page Rank websites to provide one-way links to your website. One of the simplest and easiest ways to gain incoming links is by taking advantage of social bookmark sites. These social bookmark sites include high page rank social bookmark sites such as ma.gnolia.com, simpy.com, furl.net, and del.icio.us.

It’s free to signup and start using these various bookmark sites. Most of them will require that you install their icon into your web browser toolbar. Once installed, simply click the bookmark icon when you’re on any web page which you’d like to have bookmarked. Ideally you may wish to bookmark all the web pages of your site. You can use these bookmark sites to create a URL containing all your own website links.

Once you have the URLs containing your websites then submit these URLs to Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines of your choosing. Place links to these URLs on your own websites or on other sites such as within blog comments.

Once these newly created bookmark webpage URLs get indexed and search engines crawl them then your websites will benefit from having quality one-way links.

Importance of Anchor Text

Always remember that the anchor text used to link to your site is extremely important as search engines such as Google attribute the anchor text to your website. The anchor text is simply the hot-linked words that refer to your website. If for example you operate a car dealership then for anchor text you may choose something like “cars for sale” or “buy cars”. It’s good to use adjectives sometimes when choosing anchor text. Continuing with the example above you may choose anchor text such as “autos for sale” or “buy automobiles”. It’s a good idea to vary the anchor text and not use the same anchor text for all incoming links. Keep this in mind when naming your websites as you manage your bookmarks.

* Brand/promote your company to millions of people across the world

* Use it as a recruiting/human resources tool for your company – find new employees or clients

Plaxo makes it easy to connect with both new and established business contacts. Plaxo is similar to other social networking sites but offers unique features such as:

Pulse – Main dashboard page allows you to see and interact with your contacts. You can post status updates, messages, etc. This is the hub of Plaxo. Suggested friends and your contacts’ birthdays are also shown on your Pulse page.

Share photos, videos, links and reviews with your contacts. You can maintain your own privacy and control what others can and can’t see on your page.

In the Profile section, you can add and share websites that you frequently use (such as Flickr, Digg, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)

Set up your profile and you decide what to share with others. This is a great marketing tool because you can also add your company name and bio information.

In the More section, you can sync your address books to your Plaxo account and add your business contacts (you have the option of connecting them as either friend or business contact)

Add Calendars from Yahoo, Google Mail and Outlook to Plaxo – helps keep you on track during your busy work week! It’s also compatible with Mac.

Set up Pulse and the address book on your mobile phone – network while on the go!

Ryze is a great way to build business contacts and increase company sales.

Business networking home page

* Re-connect with business contacts/colleagues you already know

* Interact and send personal messages other Ryze members

* Join specialized Networks according to your niche/industry, location and/or interests.

* When you sign up, Ryze sends you links of other business contacts in your geographical area (country, state, etc) to check out.

* Over 500,000 members in 200 countries

* Publicize company events, products and services on Networks

Naymz boasts over million members to help expand your professional networks. If you want to expand your business or career, this dynamic professional social networking platform does it all!

* Exchange ideas, status updates, etc. in “real time”

* Reputation Assessment/RepScore – Asks members to fill out assessment of contacts and score each other – encourages trust and relationship building amongst members (add ONLY quality contacts)

* Network Activity – Sends updates any time your contacts make changes to their profiles, etc.

* Reputation Monitor – Keeps tabs on your reputation. Sends you updates when your name/company name is cited on blogs, websites, social networks, etc.

* Visitor Reporting – Alerts you when someone visits your profile and allows you to see who’s interested in you/your company.

BizNik appeals to entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to help each other succeed. Biznik puts business contacts face-to-face with other in the virtual sense.

Biznik’s features include:
* Members use their real names and company information – allows for a stronger, reputable online presence

* Join appropriate niche/industry-related groups – allows you to interact and send direct messages to group members

* Write professional articles and share with other members in your industry – position yourself as an expert in your field

* Connect with business contacts specifically in your city (based on geographical locations/regions)

* Add company events to the “Events” Section (cross-promote special events, etc.)

* Biz Talk forums allow you to introduce yourself to other members, ask questions and share your professional experiences.

If you liked this article, please tell your friends about it. If you really liked it, feel free to publish it on your blog or website (please don’t forget to mention www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog as the original source).

Small business owners know the value of networking – it increases awareness while enabling them to meet new clients, vendors, and potential employees.  As networking contacts evolve into business acquaintances and friendships, they become trusted sources for problem solving and introductions to a wider network.  And that’s what an online networking site helps you do.

What it is:  Remember the expression ” It’s not what you know but who you know”?  Online networking sites are designed specifically to help businesses and jobseekers make connections. In other words, they help you leverage ‘who you know’.

LinkedIn has 20 million users, according to their website.  The site’s concept is much like “Six Degrees of Separation”.  You create a list of your trusted connections on the site.  Many of them will likewise have a list of their own connections.   And so on.  You have access to your direct connections as well as their connections (two levels deep).  So, the site offers a way to tap into the people you know, and also get access to the people that THEY know. Here are some ideas for how you can use those contacts.

Sales leads. For example, suppose you know the name of a business that you would like to call on. But you don’t know have a contact within the business. You can search your network of connections to see if anyone currently or previously worked for that target company. They can help you with that contact information. Even better, your contact may be willing to make an introduction.

Service providers and partners. If you’ve got a project and you’re not sure who the right vendor for the job might be, you can use your network to get recommendations.

Promotion. There are a couple of ways you might promote yourself via the site. When you join LinkedIn you create a profile. It includes your work history, affiliations, etc. Naturally, you’ll want to list your achievements, experience, and areas of expertise. Others will find you when keywords they search for are found in your profile. LinkedIn also has a space for contacts to recommend you. It’s visible and accessible by visitors. A third way to self-promote is by providing answers to questions posed by others. That can boost your credibility and establish your status as a subject matter expert. Reestablish former contacts. Include the names of your employers, colleges, and professional associations in your profile. You will then automatically be informed of possible connections to contact. It’s a nice way to quickly reestablish relationships and fill them in on your current business. Get answers. Business people can pose questions, so consider asking a question to find a new vendor, ask for new ideas, or test the market for your product concept. Company research. For example, if you’d like to understand a company’s buying policies, you might contact current or former employees of a company to get the scoop. LinkedIn can also be used to find or fill a job.

What you should do:

Take some time when creating your profile. Choose words to describe you and your business carefully for a complete, accurate and favorable impression. Care should be taken when creating the profiles to include meaningful key words, so that people can easily find you when they search.  The profile is the on-line equivalent of your 30-second “elevator speech”. Make sure the contacts you have a good relationship with the contacts you list in your network. Allocate time to work it. At first, expect to spend 30 minutes or more to create a solid profile. Then, spend a few minutes per day checking out your contacts and learning the power of the site.  Building your network will take several visits. Ask for recommendations.  The system makes it easy to ask for testimonials.  And that will significantly strengthen your profile.

Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, “The Father Of The Internet” and VP, Chief Internet Evangelist for Google shares with ogilvyone Singapore on how brands can tap into the social media phenomenon. For more enquiries, email socialmedia.apac@ogilvy.com

Mashable.com is one of the largest and most trafficked blogs on the Internet. It keeps track of such social networking giants as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube and Bebo, plus many other social networking sites. When a new social networking site is created, when an existing one adds a new feature, when there are problems with a networking site, Mashable reports it.

There is a lot to be said for using social networking sites to promote and sell your real estate. Social networking sites are home to millions of users, some of which, it must be allowed, are searching for property. The social networking phenomenon is a relatively new one, though, so it pays to keep track of what applications and updates can benefit you as a realtor. This is where Mashable comes in.

A casual search on Mashable.com for keywords relating to real estate nets articles about Trulia.com integrating their search with Google Streetview, Zillow.com’s funding being now worth $87 million, and the introduction of propertyqube.com, a new social network for people interested in real estate. And these are just three examples of information relating directly to the real estate industry on a popular blog that doesn’t target it as a subject.

For the busy realtor, a site that keeps track of innovations in the social networking scene can be invaluable for taking advantage of the latest and hottest sites, features, and applications. If you’re using multiple social networking sites to promote your real estate, it can be time consuming to keep track of the latest innovations and websites.

Mashable isn’t just a passive information repository. It also has an active community, a web-related marketplace and hosts a huge social network grid where you can search for fellow Mashable members on popular networking sites.

Finding out what potential clients are using to keep connected and how to connect to them is a crucial element of using the Internet to find property buyers. Mashable.com makes a great shortcut and is a huge repository of information for the social network-minded realtor.