In the midst of all of the national media frenzy over ?quantity? of connections or followers, I find myself starting to think that Twitter and Social Media in general may be starting to lose the essence of what made it cool to use; a way to connect in an online social setting with people that you have an affinity with, to expand your reach and influence beyond your local markets using the Internet. Don?t get me wrong, I think it is great that people are connecting with each other and using Social Media tools because that is what it is all about. However, I feel strongly that it?s not a good idea for people to start chasing followers just to have followers or start to use Twitter or any other Social Media website just because it is the ?IN? thing to do. I believe that by doing so they may start to lose that sense of individual and group connectivity or ?quality? that attracted everyone to Social Media in the first place.

So, in the midst of all of this media frenzy you may have heard or gleaned that you should establish a Social Media marketing strategy. What you may not be hearing is why? I know that what I?m not hearing is that an effective Social Media Optimization (SMO)* strategy should be all about increasing your website visitor traffic and helping you sell more. Why else would a Small Business Owner invest all of that time, energy and money? Right? But, you have to be subtle about it and you should be a giver, not a taker?

As you may already know, Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a set of strategies for generating publicity, creating viral marketing and increasing incoming website visitor traffic by using existing social media, online communities and social networking websites. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, and incorporating third-party community functionalities like images and videos into your website.

SMO is related to Search Engine Marketing (SEM), but differs in several ways, primarily because the focus is on creating website visitor traffic from sources other than search engines. Improved Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings and higher Google Page Rank could also be benefits of a successful SMO strategy. This is very important to Small Business Owners because if you don?t show up on Page One of a Google, Yahoo or MSN-Bing search then 90% of the people who are interested in the contents of your website may never find it or you. Plus from my experience the number one organic (non-paid) search engine result listing tends to get 40-50% of the click thus to their website from that potential buyer?s Internet topic search.

Additionally, Social Media Optimization is sometimes related to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through a presence on social media, social networking, social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way posting blogs achieves the same effect by sharing content through the use of RSS Feeds in the blogosphere and special blog search engines and directories. For most owners blogging could be a natural fit for expanding your marketing efforts.

So, focusing on generating more website visitors is why I create a triangle diagram for my Internet Marketing Clients to simply explain an SMO strategy and show the interrelated aspects of SEO (at the top of the triangle), Blogging (on the bottom left) and Social Networking (on the bottom right) and the resulting benefit that should equate to more website traffic (in the middle of the triangle).

In my Small Business Coaching practice, creating a clear focus on driving more visitor traffic back to your website is why I set-up SMO campaigns. In my own case, using SMO strategies I have been able to increase the monthly visitors to my website by 500% in 6 months. I work with my Internet Marketing Clients to develop actions plans so that their SMO strategies integrate with their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns. Then we execute the SMO action plan by establishing or improving their social media accounts, blogging, adding RSS feeds, pursuing ethical link building, social bookmarking and launching viral marketing strategies. Finally, we evaluate the SMO results monthly to monitor the Return On Investment (ROI) and to identify areas of improvement.

* According to Wikipedia, Rohit Bhargava was credited with inventing the term SMO. His original six rules for conducting Social Media Optimization are:

1. Increase your linkability

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy

3. Reward inbound links

4. Help your content travel

5. Encourage the mashup

6. Get communities connected

Dave Westfall, MBA is an experienced internet marketing eBusiness Consultant with DewPointe Ventures LLC. His areas of expertise include Lead and Sales Pipeline Development, Pay Per Click (PPC- Google, Yahoo, MSN-Bing), Email Campaigns, Website Analytics and Landing Pages, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Article and Blog Writing and Social Media Optimization (SMO) viral marketing campaign management. Visit my website http://www.dewpointe.com for your Free SocialNetomics whitepaper.

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[ [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], ’28924649′, ’0′ ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], ’28811216′, ’0′ ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], ’28805461′, ’0′ ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], ’28771014′, ’0′ ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], ’28759848′, ’0′ ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], ’28747556′, ’0′ ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], ’28744868′, ’0′ ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], ’28746030′, ’0′ ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], ’28731764′, ’0′ ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], ’28723797′, ’0′ ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], ’28712293′, ’0′ ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], ’28687424′, ’0′ ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], ’28667224′, ’0′ ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], ’28660934′, ’0′ ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], ’28647343′, ’0′ ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], ’28630306′, ’0′ ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], ’28493546′, ’0′ ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], ’28413590′, ’0′ ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], ’28413590′, ’1′, ‘Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ‘, ‘on Yahoo! Music’, ‘http://music.yahoo.com’ ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], ‘videoID’, ’1′, ‘overwrite-pre-description’, ‘overwrite-link-string’, ‘overwrite-link-url’ ] ]

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New Job Apps

LinkedIn is often billed as the premier professional networking platform with more than 150 million members as of February 2012. But in recent weeks I’ve seen more evidence that?Facebook,?with “845 million monthly active users at the end of December 2011,”?might be a useful professional networking tool ? beyond the social (i.e., stay in touch with friends) reputation that it is perhaps best known for. Here are several of the apps that aim to increase this kind of usability.

• BranchOut:?Advertised as “the #1 professional network on Facebook,” this app is just two years old but has 25 million registered users. According to Mashable, the interface is similar to LinkedIn and allows users to submit their own employment profiles, receive recommendations, and connect with friends of friends.?My quick tour of the app also revealed search features that make it easy to find out where your friends work and access related company pages.
• BeKnown: Part of the Monster.com collection of resources, this app promises ways to “connect professionally on Facebook without mixing business and friends.” After setting up your user profile, you can search company information, review recommended job postings, and make connections. This system offers additional features, including badges that are based on your work history and education, as well as participation in networking activities.
• The Who? Button: This is an evolution of CareerAmp, from the CareerArc Group, which aggregates information your friends have shared about their employment and presents activities that help you to make new connections based on your career interests. This one includes some game-like elements and quizzes.

Beyond specific apps for career-related information, The Unofficial Facebook Blog reported earlier this week that 58% of Fortune 500 companies have corporate Facebook pages. Businesses and organizations are building their presence on multiple social networking sites.?And for students, it’s more than just considering Facebook’s potential for employment information as colleges and universities are also actively using these platform. This has been the case for years as schools increasingly embrace social media and networking sites for community outreach and recruiting initiatives. Facebook’s Groups for Schools is for educational institutions and accessible only with .edu email accounts. This new endeavor is designed to “serve as hubs for campus-related groups.” The Facebook social network is, and has been, expanding beyond just friends and family.

Balancing the Personal and Professional

How do we balance the need to conduct professional business and conversations online within the venues where we share our vacation pictures and personal family updates? This is a question many of us are struggling with as more of our lives ? work, school, and family ? are shared via social networking tools.

I recently commented on a thoughtful post by Ellen Bremen (a.k.a The Chatty Professor) responding to the related issue of Facebook Between Students & Profs:

“There are multiple variables to consider when connecting ? via social media, and [I] agree that setting some ground rules before engaging is important. I have connected with online students via Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, all of which are accounts I decided from the beginning would be more professional in nature. And while I do have a Facebook account, it?s where I connect with a handful of friends and family. ? it seems too personal for use in a public way, however, I am contemplating the value of creating a separate Facebook account for more public/professional communication.”

Creating a separate account is one strategy moving forward, and the one that I have recently embarked upon. This allows me to respond to comments on this blog via Facebook, (have you seen OnlineCollege.org’s new Facebook page?) and continue to discuss issues of online learning with so many others as with LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+. This split personality approach to social media?is not uncommon, but also not easy to manage.

For those actively engaged in a job search, it will be particularly important to protect the privacy of your personal accounts, while establishing a professional online presence.?Take the time to review all account settings and privacy options before selecting new apps and sharing your information online. A recent article from The Wall Street Journal also urges us to research each app, before we sign up, to find out what it may do with all of the information we enter beyond helping us find out about jobs.?Set some ground rules for yourself and how you’ll manage your use of social media as you seek out your next career move.

What are your thoughts on using Facebook for professional networking and job search purposes? Share your recommendations and techniques with us here.

Image credit: west.m, Flickr, CC-BY

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Samsung’s line of excellent NX-series mirrorless cameras is getting packed with the Wi-Fi features the company’s been offering in point-and-shoots for years. Sharing your photos between devices and on Facebook made easy—but is it a feature that these cameras need? More »

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PlayUp is a new application for Android that wants to improve your sports watching experience by making it much more social.

Currently, if you're watching a live sporting event, you can text or send various messages to friends, but there hasn't been one unified app to aggregate everyone in.  With PlayUp, you can choose the sport and the specific game, gather with friends or just like-minded fans whom you've never met and start trash talking!

Here are all of the features of PlayUp:

• Free instant messaging around sport
• Live scores and stats for 25,000+ live games
• Invite friends from any social network
• Hangout and message in private with friends during the game
• Share posts with Facebook and Twitter
• Push notifications and friend alerts
• Join public discussions with other fans
• Make friends with like-minded sport fans

PlayUp is a great concept because if there's one thing about sports fans, it's that we're a passionate bunch who always have an opinion. To be able to talk to other people who share our interests right from our mobile device is a great feature. The app is free and available from the Google Play Store, please find links after the break.

read more

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Do you ever wish you could have a news ticker on your TV, regardless of what channel you’re watching? Neither do we really, but we’re sure there’s someone out there who does. If that person also happens to own a Samsung Smart TV or Blu-ray player, well then, have we got some Breaking News for you. (See what we did there?) The premiere, primarily Twitter-based news aggregation service Breaking News now has an app in the Samsung TV Apps Store. Just install it, launch it and enjoy while breaking headlines are fed to your screen, regardless of what you’re watching. You’ve even got the option to have a constant stream of headlines or only alerts for seriously breaking news. Fire up the Apps Store to download it now.

Breaking News gets a TV app, channel-agnostic news ticker originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 03:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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