The Ultimate Social Media Profile

Valued at $104 billion, Facebook broke all records with its recent debut on the stock market.



With such phenomenal success, other social networks are even more determined to carve out a niche in the market place. With fierce competition for your profile page, viral and covert marketing methods may no longer be enough. These companies, unlike Facebook, are stepping out from behind the screen and into the physical world of advertising.

Two social networks in the realms of social gaming and dating have made 1,000 people’s profile a little more prominent.

Zynga,  founded in 2007  is the company behind the popular Facebook games such as Farmville, Cityville and Hidden Chronicles and with a user base of over 250 million users a month is a major player in the world of social media.

Badoo is a dating focused social discovery website that was founded in 2006 and now boasts over 150 million members and is growing at over 150,000 users every day. It is now the 59th most visited website in the world.

Zynga’s “I Love to Play” Campaign

In the run up to Christmas 2011, Zynga (gaming social network) users could upload their photos into a billboard game which were then displayed on digital screens in Times Square, New York.  Zynga commented that ‘I Heart Zynga’ was simply a ‘game’ to ‘celebrate’ their players but it also cleverly captured the essence of their brand; a gaming platform with people who ‘Love to Play’



It gave a personal touch to their advertising and graphics of the most popular games were also displayed, giving the general public a true sense of their network.

Badoo’s Ultimate Profile Campaign

Badoo, the fast growing online dating site, uses a similar method of integrating user’s pictures into their adverts. Initially the ‘Badoo project’ photographed 1000 New Yorkers (who had to sign up to Badoo) and picked 26 winners ‘based on personality, energy and individuality’ for their billboard campaign that was launched in April 2012.  This campaign was displayed on billboards, taxi tops and underground trains.



The Badoo blog states that for these 26 users who will be plastered across New York.

‘it’s like starring in the ultimate profile picture.’

The number ‘150 Million’ is just as important as the photos. It gives Badoo ‘the world’s largest and fastest growing social network for meeting new people’ a sense of value.

It encourages others that there will be a perfect match for them in this large population. Building on this idea, they also have a counter on their home page, showcasing how many people are already using Badoo.

Of course this is a prime example of the network effect theory; in essence, the more people that use the service, the more valuable the service is to the user.

Building a Community

Both Zynga and Badoo are creating value and a sense of community by choosing ‘real’ users to represent them.  It’s especially interesting how Badoo invoked a sense of excitement amongst their audience through the potential of being picked for an advertising campaign. They’ve included their users at every step and this is vital – they have got their feedback, created a buzz and made their audience feel part of the campaign which translates into more log-ins and viral chat.

What can we Learn from These Campaigns?

Buying premium advertising space in New York might not be in your budget but how could you adapt these techniques to your own business?

• Just as Badoo highlights the size of its membership to create credibility don’t be afraid to display your credentials (such as number of followers, awards etc) to the world. Even simple elements such as share buttons that display the number of “retweets” and Facebook “likes” provide social proof that does get noticed.
• All businesses should have ‘followers/fans/friends’ via a Facebook page and blog, so why not test out some potential campaign ideas? People love to give their opinion and even more so when it’s taken on board.
• Could you pick a ‘follower’ of the month? Ask them some fun questions about themselves and dedicate a day to them. Give them a higher platform within your business. It gives your website a personal touch.
• You might not have 150 million people on your website but be proud of the number you do have, make your audience feel valued. Thank them! Remember 100,000 followers started with 100 of them. 
• Hold a caption competition where clients could tell you what your brand means to them. Could you reward them with a discount or a gift?

Is there an interesting (and cost effective) way to present your brand and profile  to the world?

Think how Zynga used gaming, how could you be innovative with your business?

What About You?

Despite millions being spent on eye catching logos, platform design and compelling copy, both businesses and social networks need to grab the attention of a public who, having been inundated with data requests, aren’t now so easy to convince.

Could you unlock some refreshing marketing initiatives with techniques that involve your existing audience?
Look forward to hearing you ideas, stories and experiences.





























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10 Social Media Secrets from the Social Scientist

There are some secrets regarding social media that I’d like to share.





I’m a bit of a hard-core social media user and I’ve been doing web and content development for many years now. Because I have been online for a very long time (pre-graphical Web), I am pretty attuned to what constitutes authentic and cooperative behavior online.

There are things that set apart the altruistic contributor (check out this cool thing!), for instance, from the self-serving ones (buy my stuff!).


If you do nothing else this year, consider shifting your social media strategy to encompass increasingly pro-social guidelines. The more you give, the more the community will give back, but it needs to be done with a sensitive hand. Think of communities as gardens to be cultivated, and your social media activities then have structure, focus and value. Without a doubt, value is the currency on the Web, and the more value you create, the more people will flock to you.


Here are ten ways to create maximum info value with social media:

#1. Make your social media more about you.

Make your social media less about them and more about you.
This is a very counter-intuitive principle, but it’s an important one. You can opt to use social media as tools for yourself, your organizations and your followers – to enhance communication, meme sharing, bonding, etc. It is okay to promote yourself and the things you love, but do it sensitively and with thought to the value you are creating for your community. If they are a community of gut-busting punners, then by all means, pun all day. But if it’s a professional community, it’s best to be very judicious. I frequently lurk for a while to get the vibe before I start making contributions myself.


I use Twitter and Pinterest primarily as social bookmarking tools. This goes back to my love affair with Delicious, an early social bookmarking and meta-tagging app.

Twitter:

I’m an info slinger, so managing info is a big issue for me. Twitter’s hash tags are super easy and allow me to expand the potential relevance of a find to much broader groups of people. Twitter is also great for creating transparency around internal organizational dialogue (the positive and potentially public bits) regarding project themes, methods, etc. It’s also great for demonstrating how well you know the space you occupy, just by virtue of knowing who’s who and what’s what. This lets you leverage other people’s contributions and that promotes them and saves you work. I have one or two Twitter presences that I really only use to retweet as a way of archiving and sharing.

Pinterest:

I love Pinterest because I can unite a bunch of interests in a visually pleasing way. Exactly like those scrapbooks of pretty papers, pressed flowers and ephemera that the ladies used to make and share. I used to use Google Notebook a lot, but it had nowhere near the level of visual appeal that Pinterest does. Just the sheer uniformity and quality of images on Pinterest sets it apart from nearly every other user generated content spaces I have encountered. Remember those early MySpace pages and the love affair with animated GIFs? The Web was formerly a pretty ugly place. Pinterest applies order to chaos with elegant results.

#2. Create orbits

When you think about your social media strategy, think of yourself establishing orbits around things you love and creating magnetism (good contributions) for others to orbit you. Document your finds and your learning journey into primers for the uninitiated. I have infiltrated a couple of communities by using that strategy. The Web quickly rewards people who create value and fresh perspectives. Leaving comments in blogs, tweeting, sharing, etc. are all pretty low effort ways to establish yourself. It’s important to use a consistent identity, though, and avoid the flame fests at all costs.

#3. Share more

Something we humans have been doing for a very lone time. Online it translates into share, share, share, and share some more. But make sure that what you’re sharing is relevant to your audience.


Your childhood friends (Facebook, most likely) care about adorable videos of your children – your Linked In colleagues? Not so much. But Linked In can be a great vehicle for establishing cred quickly in a space. You can ask questions or answer them, post useful updates, comment in groups, etc.

#4. Join the social network nirvana

There are a couple of best kept secrets in the social media verse and Quora is one of them. It’s certainly not everyone’s bag, but for generalists it’s Nirvana. The quality of contributions tends to be very good, there is a “Be Nice” policy, and a real names only policy, and moderators who occasionally step on toes. But something about it seems to work, in the creating-order-from-chaos kind of way.


Information chaos is one of our biggest challenges and having a place where you know the cream rises can be very handy. It’s also the place where you can ask literally ANY question and expect a reasonable response from VERY knowledgeable people.

#5. Engage

Internet people crave opportunities to engage.


Everyone loves rewards. We should be thinking more about how to reward people for their contributions online, both tangibly and intangibly. Pinterest contests get people pinning your content. A $40 gift card can go a LONG way in motivating semi-volunteer content developers and community managers. And it goes a long way towards letting them know how much you appreciate them.

#6. Leverage yourself

Think about how to inter-connect your social media outlets and efforts. Facebook, Twitter and Linked In all offer easy integration with each other, and there are many widgets available such as widget box, that allow you to embed your real-time streams into other locations.
This is great because it keeps your content fresh, without having to do a bunch more work.

#7. Aggregate your social streams

If you are one of those people or organizations who is heavy into social media, there are a whole crop of tools that make stream management so much easier. About.me lets you aggregate your streams in one place for easy viewing (by you or others). Some are focused more on publishing (TweetDeck), others on analytics and other influence/reach metrics:

#8. Don’t get too attached to any one platform.

It’s pretty likely we have no idea what the Facebook-equivalent social media site will be in say, 2020. Our excitement these last few years is that many of the tools have also allowed a range of social phenomena we have really never seen before.


One of the lovely things about humans is that we will adapt a new tool to many anticipated and unanticipated outcomes. Early movers (celebrity tweet auctions, etc.) can sometimes find a massive advantage with one clever idea. Things occasionally go viral and enchant millions. This is a level of reach and connectedness we have never known. Obama sends me emails and Lady Gaga posts Facebook messages telling me what TV she is watching.


What’s incredible about social media is what they enable in our culture, not whether it’s called Facebook or Twitter. Just because you have a hammer, it doesn’t make everything else nails and thinking it does will limit you from acting nimbly on new opportunities.

#9. Some industries suit social media

Certain industries really benefit from social media and are natural innovators as a result. If you’re looking for ideas, check out sectors like food & beverage, travel and video games – anything with a passionate following that can be leveraged into a vibrant and self-sustaining community.

#10. Make social media your front line

Social media networks are your front line to your most wired communities. Getting to know those people via comprehensive observation can help you find opportunities to engage and enchant, in ways you’ve probably never thought of. But those people can also be your biggest advocates and informants, even the grouchy ones. Listening and converting (by responding to questions, requests and concerns) are incredibly powerful tools in building a community that is enthusiastic about you. But there are also many practical benefits, like the ability to provide quicker/better support, educate potential customers, promote causes and efforts that are meaningful to you. These are magic tools in the right hands, but their mastery requires a lot of trial and error. In this case, the best way to learn is to jump in. Social media coordinators are great, but even better if you are the CEO or someone working on potential products/services.


Many real life empires rest on social media these days. But try thinking about the people whose info needs you serve, and win by serving them better and better, a bit every day.


































































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5 Ways Social Media Is Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition

 

Sajjad Masud is co-founder & CEO of Simplicant, a cloud-based social recruiting platform transforming talent acquisition and making enterprise-level recruiting technology accessible to companies of all sizes. Connect with Sajjad and the Simplicant team on Twitter and Facebook.


The way we communicate with each other has evolved rapidly over the last decade. Social media has further intensified the departure from traditional communication methods to redefine how people and businesses interact with each other.


In fact, more than half of companies on social media fail to have a social media strategy and in doing so, risk ignoring an increasingly dynamic and expanding audience. Recent social media stats show that more than 60% of adults are connected to one or more social networks, while 23% of online time is spent entirely on social networking activities.


While social media has seen rapid growth at the consumer level, the gap between consumer and corporate adoption is widening. Businesses are continuing to figure out optimal ways to harness the reach of social media and translate its usefulness into results.


One area where the benefits are already beginning to outshine older methods is talent acquisition and recruiting. The sheer number of active users on sites such as Facebook have made social recruiting extremely advantageous. With so many people using social media, especially for employment opportunities, companies are expected to use social media to recruit for more than 80% of job openings in 2012.


So just how does social media benefit the environment of talent acquisition? Here are five shifts that are taking place now.

1. It’s Personal

Hiring has always been concerned with people, and the relationships formed through social media between candidates and employers are even more imperative.


While candidates can reach out to key recruiters, companies form entire networks or talent communities to connect and engage with candidates. Social media is a tool that caters to sharing interests and engaging in conversation, making it easier to find a suitable candidate early on. After all, we do it so much everyday that it becomes a natural process.

2. It’s Transparent

Social media users tend to be self-aware of their brand because of how visible their activity and interests can be. Because of this, we must always anticipate some sort of reaction or feedback. No longer are your strategies and tactics a secret from those outside the company — they are fair game for criticism, even by the candidates themselves.


Though your recruiting activities can open a Pandora’s box of negative comments, it’s still a good way to find new perspective on what you may be doing wrong and how it can be better.

3. It’s No Longer Just For HR

Social media talent acquisition allows for entrepreneurs and CEOs alike to find candidates directly, quickly and with a reduced cost-per-hire — especially for startups that lack traditional HR personnel or funds for a recruiter. However, social recruiting is not to be taken lightly; just because you can find candidates on Facebook doesn’t mean you should throw away the rule book.

4. It’s Marketing

A solid plan, a target audience, metrics and data are all required for effective social recruiting. With the introduction of Brand Pages on Facebook, your organization isn’t any different from those selling a product — instead, you’re advertising a place of work.


Through brand management, content creation and engagement, candidates and employers alike see the value of social interaction for talent acquisition. It’s instantly measurable and targeted to something that older processes simply can’t match.

5. It’s Being Shared

Employees on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are contributing to the efforts of recruiting through their own posts and tweets. Not only are open positions getting distributed as pieces of content to vast networks of people, but it’s also facilitating the use of social referrals — one of the best sources of quality candidates. Job seekers are finding ways to take advantage of social referrals by keeping in contact and engaging with key members of companies.

Conclusion

Social media doesn’t need to be the absolute center of your recruitment strategy, but it would be ill-advised to ignore the trend completely. These five factors are changing and advancing the ways we approach finding the best talent and taking it to a more personal, open and collaborative experience.


What do you think? Does using social media mean less work for recruiting, or just more effective implementation of traditional ideas?
























































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5 Top Social Media Professionals on Google+

There’s been a lot of noise about Google+. First it was the meteoric rise of the new platform and social media types rushed to learn it and get those tips and tricks posts out. Personally I’ve got a love/hate relationship with Google+. On the one hand it’s got the best features of Twitter like immediacy and fast moving conversations with the added plus of being able to direct conversations to channels (Circles) of people who are actually interested in that topic and exclude the ones who could care less. It’s Twitter on steroids. They are also doing an amazing job of listening to what the network wants and adding new features to suit.

How cool is that?

Unfortunately the platform has quite a lot of downside too. I’ve noted before that the Google+ Business pages may not be for all brands, some have built their Google+ pages and done quite well, but maybe not well enough to ax that Facebook page just yet. The user interface is getting better but it’s still painful to get in and out unlike sites like Twitter and Facebook which are very manageable through 3rd party apps. Heck, even for this article many of us are confused about the name itself, is it G+, Google Plus, Google + or Google+??? The very fact that the + sign causes SEO problems speaks volumes about Google’s planning on this thing. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the fact that their own browser, Chrome, crashes Google+ regularly unless you disable their implementation of Flash. And STILL, I love it. I don’t use it as much as I’d like to, but every time I do I wish it was easier to use so I would use it more.

With the recent hoo-ha about brands abandoning Google + pages for Pinterest, I reached out to my network to ask some top social media practitioners what they thought. Here’s what they said:


Lee Odden

Google+ is full of twists and turns when it comes to evaluating its usefulness. I’m sure many in the search marketing world will echo the sentiment that Google+ participation has initially felt like an obligation because of the potential impact on search visibility.

Search Marketers must know the details to properly advise clients.

Some companies are using Google+ for that reason and others understand that Google+ users do indeed represent their target market and those who influence the target market.

Personally, I find Google+ useful for surfacing content that I don’t find on Twitter or Facebook. The traffic we get from Google+ also sticks longer than other social media referrals.

For brands and marketers deciding on Google+ or any other social site, I think you need to actually research, plan, use and measure in a meaningful way to determine the impact. Awareness, extended reach and building connections with niche influencers as well as longer term indirect impact such as an increase in search visibility are all valuable outcomes from Google+ participation. To me, services like Google+ are tools and tools are only as effective as the skills of the people using them.

 
Beth Kanter

Does Google+ have the potential to be a valuable platform for nonprofits or is it just another shiny object to distract nonprofits?

Should your nonprofit do more than simply set up a presence on Google+ and not invest any more time?

What is a productive way to experiment and learn to the answers to these questions without wasting time?

These were the questions that were going through my mind as I listened to a presentation on Google+.


 
Steve Farnsworth

So, should business be on Google+ now? Absolutely, but your customers may not be there yet. I tell clients to only build and support social platforms where they find their customers and prospects currently. However, Google+ is a beast of a different color that will have a deep impact on how your business gets found on the world’s biggest search engine for the foreseeable future. Brands need to hedge their bets. You need to be watching and developing your Google+ presence or risk getting lost as the next generation of search passes you by.

Google has already made several announcements signaling their clear intention to integrate Plus content and comments in results. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Plus is owned by Google. They will use Google+ content and serve it up in search results, and give it preferential ranking like they do now with YouTube results. It is probable-unless the courts are successful making an anti-trust action stick-that Google will exclude Facebook and Twitter results in favor of their platform.

 
Irene Koehler


While there is much focus on which social networking site will ultimately reign supreme, it is, to a large extent, a pointless conversation. There are unique strengths and opportunities to each. A critical part of any successful social strategy is an understanding of these unique elements, and tailoring content and engagement with them in mind.For me and millions of others, Google+ has proven to be an incredibly powerful platform for discovery of new and relevant people and brands.

Is it easy to accomplish this? Definitely not, it takes a great deal of planning and hard work – just as it does anywhere online. I hear almost as many people dismissing the possibilities of success on Twitter or Facebook as I do Google+. It’s too early to discount any of them as the social landscape is changing rapidly.

 
Debra Askanase


I love the interface and interactivity that Google+ offers. The platform enable threaded, in-depth conversations that other platforms (including Facebook Pages) lack. The conversations on Google+ are more interactive than any I’ve encountered on a Facebook Page or on Twitter.

Google+ is also set up to easily explore and find others for conversation and connection. Google+ has become one of my favorite social media channels for in-depth topical conversation and exploration of ideas and new contacts.































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Social Media Day Is June 30. How Will You Celebrate?

Social Media Day is exactly one month away!  On Saturday, June 30, digital enthusiasts will hold meetups across the globe to celebrate the one thing that unites us and keeps us in constant contact: social media.

Whether you’re an obsessed Instagram photographer, an endless Pinterest pinner or a ten-times-an-hour tweeter, Social Media Day is a time to recognize the digital revolution that has changed how we live.

How Will You Celebrate?

Social Media Day will be a truly international event. Mashable community organizers are already hard at work planning events in hundreds of cities worldwide.

The meetup in Swindon, U.K. will feature presentations about social media strategy as well as a speed networking session. Thousands of miles away in the United States, a celebration dedicated to startups will be held in Detroit.

We want to know: How are you celebrating Social Media Day? Will you organize a Foursquare scavenger hunt? Attend a fast-paced panel discussion about social media branding? Play Pinterest-inspired hopscotch? The possibilites are endless, and we want you to get creative!

Tell us what you’ve got planned for Social Media Day in the comments below.  We look forward to hearing what you have in store!

































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Women Are Bigger Fans of Social Media than Men, Survey Says

If social media sites ceased to exist, you would miss them — unless you’re a man living in the U.K., according to a recent survey by British Telecom.


More than 2,000 Brits were questioned for a survey commissioned by BT about the social media habits of men and women. The results showed that more than half of the women surveyed (54%) use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, compared to 34% of men.


And of those social media users, more women than men reported they would miss those sites if the Internet ceased to exist.


The survey also debunked a common misconception about Internet usage. Turns out, slightly more women than men reported playing online games, according to this survey.


It’s no secret that women tend to use Pinterest more than men. Women are also more likely to have a blog than men. And the usage of social media by women influences advertisers and shapes web content.


Do you think this survey got it right? Is it applicable beyond the UK? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
































































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The State of Social Media in 2012 – Brian Solis Video Interview

We’ve spent the last months, if not years, talking about influence.


As social media use increased, so did the need for tools that could measure how effective our online activities actually were, especially in the case of brands who included social in a more structured marketing strategy.


In this interview by Maria Petrescu of  Intervistato.com she asks Brian crowd sourced questions on a wide range of topics that essentially skims, dives and delves into where social media is in 2012 and its role as a change agent in society and business.

Does Klout Measure Influence?

During this interview with Brian the matter of influence has been discussed in detail, starting from the very definition of influence and what these tools really measure, which is, in Brian’s opinion, social capital as it relates to how someone might interact in Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.


He also discusses influence measurement services like Klout and PeerIndex, that assigned a number based on several variables, from true reach to network size. It is arguable, though, whether this number actually reflects the influence we


have online. Most social media specialists say it doesn’t, because influence has a very precise definition, and that is the ability of changing behavior and cause effect, whereas the number these online influence tools provide is a mash-up of too many factors. Whether the individual factors actually make sense taken one by one, that’s another issue.


Olivier Blanchard, the author of Social Media ROI, says that even though the final Klout number isn’t very interesting, the other measurements are quite well done. The important thing is the use one makes of the data.

What is Happening with Content Curation?

Another topic Brian analyzed is the one of content curation and its adoption.


As the tools for content curation will become more and more effective and “glamorous”, they will see a drastic increase in use during 2012. There are several startups that are going in that direction, such as Searcheeze or Scoop.it, that are intended as content curation tools and that allow users to customize the page they put together from several points of view. For instance, Scoop.it offers a business plan that allows brands to insert their own logo on top of the page, instead of the Scoop.it one, thus creating a branded, personalized page that can become a great way to acquire customers by engaging with them in a new and useful way.

The Importance of Content in Advertising

On the matter of advertisement and media properties, Brian has a very distinct vision: “Ads are never the center of attention on web pages, every test shows that the most important thing is content”.


The natural conclusion is that advertisement must become so fascinating and clever that it actually becomes worth sharing by itself, thus turning into something completely new and different from what advertising meant until now.


























































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4 Reasons Why Brilliant Communities Are More Valuable than Your Social Media Strategy

Ever feel like you’re just going through the motions with your social media strategy?

You aren’t alone. Marketers are finally understanding the bigger picture: how many ‘likes’ you get doesn’t necessarily translate to more sales. As a result, savvy social media strategists are measuring engagement metrics—how often their audience members interact with posted content and each other through their channels.

But when it comes to Facebook and Twitter, you’re still presented with some pretty clear obstacles. How do you encourage more visits to your page? Even if you get visitors, how long will they stay before something else draws them away? Will users who engage with a status update or other piece of content continue to discuss after an initial post?

Social networks have an identity problem. Audience motivations and perspectives don’t always align with the expectations of a brand.

Online communities, on the other hand, arrange themselves around clearly defined goals, messaging and values. Imagine what a brilliant online niche community offers to the business trying to reach a clearly defined audience. Filter out the white noise and engage your target audience directly.

Consider the following four reasons a brilliant online community has more potential than your current social networking strategy:

1. Actual stakeholders willingly identify themselves.

There’s a mess of data on social networks. How do you sift through it to find your audience? Shouldn’t it be simpler?

Engaging the right online community ensures a prime selection of audience members—actual stakeholders who may be tied up in the topic on personal or professional levels. These are your key influencers—audience members with the potential to become brand evangelists or major customers. Within the walls of the community you’ll find a treasure-trove of behavioral and personal data.

2. Limit distractions and white noise.

Facebook feeds constantly update, cluttering your target’s attention with information that may or may not be related. You could be competing with a best friend, a comedian, a musician or another brand for that attention.

In most cases, a community newsfeed won’t update as rapidly. You know exactly why your audience visits: to network and converse around the community’s interest. Distractions are limited to content that doesn’t take your audience out of the mindset that makes them receptive to your brand.

3. Participate in targeted, unadulterated discussion.

An online community evens the score. It’s a venue where brands and customers can talk to each other on a personal level. With the support of the community, members are more likely to offer honest feedback. They feel protected by other members and expect fair treatment.

You have a clear opportunity to build a personal connection between your brand and your audience members. Inside an online community, you can engage on a more effective level around targeted content.

4. Members get a say.

The conversations aren’t the only pieces of content shaped by community members; in a strong community, members can shape the site as a whole. As a result, members have a stronger connection to the online community brand. Earn their trust, and your brand can enjoy insider status, too.

If you can’t find the right online community for your audience, you have an opportunity to create one. All it takes is putting the right communication tools in place and getting the word out.

Before deciding to build a community under the umbrella of your brand, consider the alternative. A brilliant community that represents the interests of your brand without explicit sponsorship means a level playing field and a true opportunity to engage with your audience.




























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