I Love Internet Marketing Through Social Media!

What can I say? I love social media! I love Internet Marketing! That's how I make my living. I pay my bills and bank money that flows in from all the sites that I'm listed on.  People always ask me how it's possible to make an extra income online. I always respond with this:

Making Money Online is easy. It's just time consuming at first, but if one sticks with it, the end result is worth the hard effort. It takes persistence, resilience, and mental fortitude. It takes branding one self, sharing knowledge with others that help benefit them!

The process is repetitive most times. I've taken steps to make things much simpler through automating many of my posts through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc...otherwise it would take up much of my day. With a little bit of study, anybody could do the same.

I teach others how it can be done, for a fee of course. No self respecting marketer works for free, matter of fact, nobody works for free! Email me at andrewcallegati@gmail.com if interested.

How would you like to make an extra income online in your own spare time?

It works for me, just using social media! I don't even have a personal website yet! Granted I will in the near future, once I up my game...

I've been sharing tips and tricks on how to effectively use social media for years now. I've taught others how to do it, and they're now making a decent income from their efforts! Why can't you do the same? I say you can. The real question is, do you want to?

The 5 Pillars of New Media Strategy: There is no box!

While you may read success story after success story, we cannot make any great assumptions in how they’ll impact your work.

There is a great myth that a winning formula exists for success in social media; that if you deconstruct the most popular case studies, you’ll find a winning recipe for your social media strategy.
It’s easy to get caught up in the creative examples we read about. Many times however, they feed the very impressions that can work against you.

- If we can introduce the right viral content we can get more views or friends.

- If we can maintain a rhythmic editorial calendar we can spark conversations that create a social effect.

- If we can develop the most amazing app, we can rise to the top of our customer’s attention span!

- If we get our company in social networks, we can build better relationships with our customers.

Rather than seeking shortcuts, we should see these examples as inspiration. In the end however, we each have our own question we need to answer…what do successful relationships and experiences look like in social media for our customers?

The formula for success in social media begins with first defining what success is and how it will be measured. This is one of the most important steps in any social media strategy, yet it is the first step that many businesses miss. The truth is that there is no formula for success. It requires something special for each strategy and it’s dependent on the people you’re trying to reach, their expectations, your business objectives and how this engagement ties specifically to your organization (sales, marketing, service, products, etc.)


To help, let’s put social media strategy into an approachable framework. Begin by organizing the most important themes to form what I refer to as The 5 Pillars of Social Media Strategy. This will contribute to a meaningful social media presence as long as you revisit this approach through every step of the strategy process.

1. Listen, Search, Walk a “Daily in the Life” of your customers.

Research is critical in understanding how your connected consumer makes decisions, how they’re influenced and where they engage and learn. This is the dynamic customer journey. Here, you’ll learn that your social customers are not at all like the traditional customers you know. Please note that they’re still important, but a new approach is required to expand your reach. Essentially here you discover new touch points and decision-making cycles. You’ll learn that this isn’t just about social media at all. In fact you’ll see how social, mobile, digital and other traditional channels need to work together to guide a complementary, integrated and converged journey. Think of it as customer journey optimization (CJO) or customer journey management (CJM).

2: Rethink your Vision, Mission, and Purpose.

When’s the last time you read your company’s vision or mission statements? Did it or does it speak to you? Would you Tweet it? Take this time to redesign customer experiences and articulate your vision for how you will use social media to improve customer experiences now and over time.

3. Define Your Brand Persona

Take some time to answer the following questions…What do you want people to see and appreciate? What do you want customers to hear, see, think and feel? Who are they engaging with? What do you stand for? Defining your brand persona will humanize engagement and make takeaway impressions and value consistent across every network and in every scenario.

4. Develop a Social Business Strategy.

Make your presence matter. This isn’t just about concepting the next Facebook Like or Twitter Retweet campaign. Based on the first 3 steps, develop a business-level strategy that meets the needs and expectations of your connected customers. As you’ll learn in step 1, new touch points emerge. If you are not part of the awareness stage of the decision making cycle, you will not benefit from consideration nor a decision in your favor. They key is to also tie social media back to key business objectives while investing in the necessary roles to engage customers at the functional level (service/support, sales, marketing, collaboration/innovation, etc.)

5. Build and Invest in Your Community.

Don’t just think about social media as an editorial or marketing program. That’s just table stakes.  In fact, don’t just limit this to social media at all. This is a chance to rethink the entire engagement strategy and the customer journey. Ultimately, you’re setting the stage for something more meaningful and substantive…the experience. Community isn’t defined by Likes or followers. Those are essentially “in the moment” actions. We’re talking about human beings. Community is much more than belonging to something; it’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter. Participate in the communities that you host and also the communities that host the conversations that are important to your business. That’s the secret to earning a lasting affinity the contributes to you becoming a trusted resource.

By repeating steps one through five over time will help you achieve empathy, which will inspire meaningful strategies to earn relevance.  It’s important to remember is that in social media, mobile, and in the face of innovation, there is no box to think outside of. In fact, there is no box. There is only a blank slate and a series of unanswered questions that separate you from your connected customers.

10 Social Media Marketing Strategies In 2013

Social media is growing very rapidly and anyone cannot afford to ignore the power of social media marketing. Therefore, it is necessary that you strategize social media marketing for 2013 in advance.
In coming year, you have to learn from your mistakes in the past and plan for the future. So here are 10 social media marketing strategies for 2013.

1. Review what you did in Year 2012

First thing to keep in mind, while strategizing a marketing plan, is to introspect your past. You need to learn from all your mistakes that you did in year 2012.
You have to analyze why your social media marketing failed or didn’t do well as you expected. A serious brainstorming is required from all of your team members.
You need to identify all those points that led to the failure. It is of utmost important that you do not repeat same mistakes in the New Year.

2. Set-Out Targets for 2013

Social media is vast like an ocean. There are small nitty-gritty associated with it that you cannot come to know in few days. You need to understand all the dimensions of social media marketing and it cannot be done by one person.
Hence, you need a team of experts with a responsibility to set-out targets for 2013. On a white board, you have to chalk out plan in a right manner.
Whether it is reaching out to customers or clients you need to have a well laid-out strategy. Therefore it is better to set targets that you will achieve in a limited time period.

3. Humanizing Social Media with Your Personal Presence

Normally, while marketing on social media, companies and marketers commit very obvious mistakes, like they tend to overlook the importance of human touch while running a campaign via Facebook or Twitter.
They usually forget or neglect the human aspect of marketing through social media. Therefore, you must create your personal brand on Facebook and Twitter.
When people come to these websites they must feel that they are interacting with a person with human touch rather interacting an autopilot program or software.
Hence, start building a personality and give a feel to people that you are listening them.

4. Exploring all Your Local and Targeted Social Networks

You need to try your best to find out all Local social networks in your niche. Social networks which are more local to your city and town give you an idea what is going on to the streets.
For social media marketing, it is very important to know what people are talking on the ground and the best way to know it is through engaging with local social networks.
Secondly, you can target other social networks in your niche. It will help you to know the exact competition in your niche. Moreover, you can join them and market your product or services more effectively.
Hence local and targeted social networks are very important to know while marketing on social media.

5. Creating Synergy Between Online and Offline Advertising

Now this is one more important aspect of social media marketing. This year you need to bring together the online and offline advertising together.
All your advertising campaigns whether online or offline must develop a synergy. Hence, it means your left hand should know what your right hand is doing.
This year your team of marketers should run all advertising campaigns online and offline in tandem.
Bring both form of advertising together to get best out of social media marketing.

6. Creating More and More Viral Content

If you want to get more traffic to your blog or website then you have to create content that goes viral. Creating viral content has always been a great challenge.
This coming year you have to put an extra effort to create viral content because it is not that easy. You need to set a goal that how many people will be visiting your content in one day.
You have to learn from others how they are creating content which goes viral. Recently, Gangnam or “Charlie bit my finger” videos went viral on internet; you also need something like that.
Viral content needs a lot of research and fact finding.

7. SEO Optimization for Social Networks

I know SEO optimization is an old trick and you will say you do not need to do anything extra. But my dear friend, for social media marketing SEO is bit different than for ranking in organic searches.
To rank high for social media you need a great presence on social media. Your SEO team should know how to rank high in organic searches through Facebook or Twitter.
Therefore, this year you have to re-strategize your SEO plans for social networks.

8. Incorporate all Possible Multi Media Tools

To make best use of marketing efforts you need to incorporate all possible multimedia tools. It means your content should be dynamic and vivid only then your marketing could stand out.
These tools could be gif images, videos, info-graphics etc. You need to use these tools to make your content more relevant. You can also use certain apps and extensions from chrome web stores.
As a social media marketer you must always be looking for new tools that are coming on the Internet. They can be paid as well as free to use.

9. Keeping an eye on Mainstream Media

If you want to learn marketing then you have to look how the big boys like MNC’s are doing through mainstream media.As we all know social media is going to replace mainstream media but still later one reaches out to the masses much effectively than former one.Hence, in social media marketing you have to include the strategies that MNCs are doing through mainstream media.So this year in 2013 follow mainstream media and advertising running on them.

10. Finally, Going beyond Facebook & Twitter

Finally, this year in 2013 you need to go beyond Facebook and Twitter for social media marketing. You have to explore other venues through which you can reach out to people.
You can try paid medium for getting more exposure. It could be expensive but still you should prepare your mind to try everything in the store.

Social media is not your saving grace: Experiences Should First be Defined and Supported

Social media experts will tell you, and they’ll make a pretty good case too, that it is the golden key to unlocking meaningful customer relationships and the gateway to surprising and delighting them over time. So how does social media do this? Well all it takes is to listen, be part of the conversation, curate great content, run native advertisements, and oh yeah, be transparent and authentic. Done and done.

Well, wrong and wrong.

Social media isn’t going to save your business nor is it going to make it. This may sound commonsensical, but to succeed in business takes much more than a Facebook or Twitter account. Hostess baked over 400,000 likes on Facebook and yet the iconic American brand is now shut down. Even small businesses are not immune to the real world. According to the SBA, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first five years. Social media isn’t saving those businesses either.
Michael Ames author of Small Business Management, assembled the top 8 reasons that contribute to small business failure and you’ll notice not embracing social media isn’t one of the contributors:

1. Lack of experience
2. Insufficient capital (money)
3. Poor location
4. Poor inventory management
5. Over-investment in fixed assets
6. Poor credit arrangements
7. Personal use of business funds
8. Unexpected growth

From experience, there are two other ingredients that serve as harbingers to the future of any business, under scoping or underestimating sales and marketing and underemphasizing product quality and customer experiences.

In any one of these scenarios, social media is not your saving grace—regardless of business size, number of followers, or however many viral videos you’ve introduced.
Am I saying that social media is useless?

No.

It is after all where connected consumers are spending a significant amount of time these days. Nielsen recently found that Americans spend 121 billion minutes per month in social networks, which is significantly up from 88 billion just one year ago.

I do believe that many experts are however taking their eye off of the ball in the name of social media. But, success takes design, intent, and the relentless pursuit of opportunities even when they are elusive. As a digital analyst and also an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve learned that technology is always going to introduce new channels for engagement. And, that’s a good thing. But they are not in of themselves channels for necromancy. The ability to surprise and delight customers starts with the ability to understand how to exceed expectations. And, even before that, it takes an understanding of what expectations are and where they’re met or missed.

So, here’s where social media can help...

Listening with Intent

Listening is among the most valuable ways to use social media for business relevance and ultimately success. However for it to offer true value begins with the questions you chose to answer. For example, in addition to asking, “what are people saying about me or my competitors,” also ask, “what are people saying or seeking in to improve what they’re doing today?” It’s the difference between information and insight and also listening to and hearing customers in a way that inspires innovation or iteration.

Designing the Experience

To deliver exceptional customer experiences takes experience design. You have to articulate, thoughtfully, what you want people to feel, say, and share. This is more than defining differentiators and value propositions. Businesses must think through how products and services evoke the original inspiration for starting or joining a company and the ongoing aspirations necessary to exceed expectations in the future. Social media then represents a series of open windows to engage customers during each and every moment of truth before, during and after transactions to reinforce experiences and desired sentiment. Think marketing, sales, service, support, and word of mouth.

Paying it Forward

If social media is about conversations you can bet that much of it is based on people asking questions. People are often looking for answers or direction. Rather than “Googling It,” it’s easier to ask those you trust. In this economy where trust is fleeting and transparency is elusive, there’s a tremendous opportunity to become the resource in your community. Don’t sell…instead; sell through the art of reciprocity. Customers feel a sense of appreciation for those who help and provide value.

The Power to Tell

As my good friend Peter Guber says, storytelling or Telling to Win helps people align with your mission through aspirations or solutions. Don’t sell just on price or features. Make your customers the hero by helping them see what they can accomplish simply by aligning with you. If you use social media, don’t just post questions, polls, or random pictures, unleash a gravity that pulls customers to you because they can clearly see that you “get” them and the things they struggle or hope to accomplish with or without you.

These are just a few ways to think about social media. But, there are many many other initiatives that you can consider that deliver value during each moment of truth. You have to consider though, that social media represents a series of new channels that complement other avenues that define your digital and real world opportunities. There is no one way to reach all of your customers and prospects.

Mobile.
Web.
Digital signage.
Geolocation.
Social.

And that’s what makes these times so challenging. You can’t assume however that building a distributed presence is good enough. You don’t have time for that. Growth and success are intentional, which means you can’t afford to stumble your way around them. There are customers to earn now and yes, technology is changing how you’ll reach them over time. See, the people who represent your customers 10 years from now are not the people who you reach today.
Ten years you say!?

Well, perhaps that’s too far to appreciate. The same is true though for three and four years from now.
Start with getting to know who your customers are and what they need…and how to help them. Then let it inspire you to create meaningful marketing strategies, relevant products and services, and desirable engagement channels in the moments of truth in the medium of preference.
If you don’t continually invest in the awareness of your value or experience you cannot benefit from consideration.

You are now perpetually competing for the future. Social media is one of the channels that now present you with yet another opportunity to truly engage with your customers. In the end, you have to think deeper about this opportunity. Just because you’re in business doesn’t mean you’ll stay in business. If you stop competing for attention and relevance you by default stop competing. This is your time to not just survive but thrive.

Six Social-Digital Trends for 2013

Originally published on Harvard Business Review

It's that time of year again — time to take a stab at what's going to matter in the year ahead as technology continues to influence how we work and live. In previous years, I've looked at trends under the "social media" lens because that has been the major disruptive force, creating both opportunities and threats. This year, I'm using the umbrella term "social-digital" to broaden the focus. First, a quick re-cap from the last year:
While I didn't specifically connect it to the election, social sharing was a trend I cited and one that many of us felt because of the election. You couldn't get away from Facebook posts and streams of tweets from friends who were all too happy to leverage their networks to talk politics, often sharing posts and memes in support of their candidate (Big bird, binders and bayonets anyone)?
And social TV, another trend I saw growing, has continued to gain steam, though interestingly enough it has been TV itself fueling the trend. For example the popular series The Walking Dead has been experimenting with simple Twitter hash tags for each episode in addition to the official one connected with the series. Social entertainment platforms however like Get Glue, which was recently acquired for 25 million in cash have yet to go mainstream.
What has gone mainstream, however, is the micro-economy fueled by once unknown entities such as Kickstarter. Individuals are now raising thousands and even millions of dollars without a middleman thanks to crowdfunding. On the flipside, gamification has lost some of its luster, taking a backseat to useful functionality. A recent Gartner study urges us not to "believe the hype." I may have been too caught up by the promise of making experiences sticky via serving up rewards, when this comes at the expense of raw utility.
The cult of influence continues to attract a following with new digital influence measurement services like Little Bird receiving funding, followed by studies crowning the most influential CMOs.
So what can we potentially expect to see next year? In no particular order, here are six social-digital trends to watch in 2013:

The Content Economy Content may become your company's most valuable asset in 2013. For years Google has been refining it's algorithm cracking down on unsavory tactics that compromise the quality of search results. The algorithms are good enough now that the most compelling content dominates search results. Organizations must create compelling content to exploit this. Some already have, including companies like Coke and Intel, who launched groups focused purely on content. Separately, Facebook is making it's own changes, forcing companies to rely on both creativity and spending (promoted posts) to ensure their content is seen and shared. Brands like Oreo may have unwittingly set the bar for content creation for other organizations by pioneering a form of "content marketing" putting out one piece of timely, relevant and highly creative content every day as part of a campaign. In 2013, content will not only be king, but queen, prince and jester, too.

Cyborg Central Think your mobile phone is making you part computer? Now it has accomplices. Gadgets like "fuel bands" and Google Glasses are just a preview of what we'll see more of in 2013 as we begin to mesh machines with humans. There are already ski goggles which display a tiny screen which lets you not only sync to your mobile device but helps you determine where you are and how fast you are going. As we move into the next year, the phrase "personal computing" will begin to take on another meaning.

The Smobile Web Social + mobile = "smobile." While there's no real insight in pointing out that both mobile and social are going to be big in 2013, I believe they're becoming co-dependent, and most businesses aren't ready for that. A smobile Web means your customers, coworkers and colleagues expect their digital experiences will be optimized for mobile/social sharing and as a result spend less time tethered to a PC or television.The technology for this is evolving rapidly. Near field communication, or NFC technology, for example, allows you to transfer data to your mobile device via a touch rather than scanning a QR code, which seems cumbersome in comparison. While Instagram developed for smobile before the traditional web, Facebook is still playing catch-up, but by the end of 2013 it may become one of the leaders. Will you be ready for the smobile web?

Six Social-Digital Trends for 2013 from David Armano

Sensory Intelligence Sensors will get smarter and become more pervasive. We already have cars that can help us parallel park and seats that vibrate if we're too close to another vehicle. We have thermostats that learn based on how you use them, eventually programming themselves. In 2013 there will be sensors built into athletes' helmets that measure the impact of blows and provide real time data outputs thus potentially preventing further injury. Sensors will be everywhere, in our homes, transportation, technology, and clothing. They will become a part of our lives and will tie into our existing devices and networks, If our plants need water, we'll get a text or tweet, and even a note of thanks. Now that's smart.

Social Commerce In many ways, social has mirrored the original digital revolution. And when digital took on transactions and financial exchanges, things really picked up. So it will go for social as we begin to buy each other gifts through social networks or even set up a storefront. The idea of social commerce isn't new, but signs indicate that 2013 may be the year it actually begins to coalesce.

Data Surplus, Insight Deficit  Facebook has already begin rolling out its "Photo Sync" feature which automatically downloads photos from your mobile device to Facebook (privately). Some see this as a land grab for data but it's not the only one. "The cloud," "social data," or the overhyped macro label, "big data" will dominate the tech conversation. While it's true that more of our data is being collected, mined and stored, that doesn't mean people know what to do with it. There aren't enough qualified human beings (analysts, sociologists, strategists, anthropologists etc) to mine all this data. But this won't last for long. 2013 may be the year we focus less on data and start thinking about how to understand, interpret and make good use of it.

Online Marketing News: Sins of Site Design, Google+ Communities, Twitter Photo Filter, Holiday Spending

8 Deadly Sins of Site Design

This recent infographic from Nexus Themes targets 8 common mistakes that drive customers away from your website.  These sins include:

• Bad Navigation
• Too Many Ads
• Bad Content Structure
• Obtrusive Use of Audio & Video
• Registration Requirement
• Boring Content, Boring Design
• Poor Legibility
• Lack of Frequency

Yahoo Has More Users Than Gmail – Introduces A Faster, Cleaner Email Interface
Yahoo has begun pouring effort into updating their email platform across all platforms.  A more modern design is being implemented in hopes of attracting users to actually use their Yahoo! Mail account, instead of using it as a repository for junk mail.  Via Marketing Pilgrim.
First Look At Google+ Communities: The Importance For Brands, Search and PR
If you have used Facebook or LinkedIn Groups for business, you’ll be interested in Google+’s new feature.  Communities is another step by Google towards building authority around individuals related to a particular subject.  Via Econsultancy.
Twitter Adds Instagram-Like Photo Filters
Last week Instagram pulled Twitter Cards support from its app, meaning that users who shared  their images were relegated to simple links.  Twitter has teamed up with Aviary to provide it’s own series of photo filters.  Via Mashable.
For Email Marketers, List Segmentation Is a Top Priority
Finding a way to harness big data is a priority for many digital marketers.  For email marketers, segmenting consumers based on a series of characteristics and finding ways to target those consumers is no longer a stretch goal, it’s a reality.   Via eMarketer.

TopRank Team News

Evan Prokop – Traveling in Australia?  Don’t Use Apple Maps, or You May Die, Warn Australian Police
Apple Maps has garnered plenty of criticism since its launch, but the recent warnings from Australian police are certainly the most severe.  Due to incorrect directions, several people have been led to remote areas far from access to food and water, leading Australian police to advise against relying on the service.  Via Search Engine Watch.
Jolina Pettice – 5 Ways Social Media Will Change The Way You Work in 2013
Last year 73% of Fortune 500 companies were active on Twitter. What does 2013 hold for social media and business? Read on to find out.  Via Forbes.
Thom Craver – Google Makes Structured Data Easy with Data Highlighter
Rich Snippets are an excellent way to provide semantic data to search engines. In practice, however, it has been a tedious and technical process to implement.  Google Webmaster Tools has added a new tool to help make the process easier by highlighting text on a page. It only works for events at the moment, but it’s a good start.  Via State of Search.
Brian Larson – It’s Not Just for Landing Pages – Split Testing In Twitter
While most marketers don’t need to be sold on the benefit of conducting AB or multivariate tests on their webpages, very few are taking that scientific approach to social. The first question to ask re this epidemic  (that may be overly dramatic) is ‘Why’.  I’d venture to guess the reason is that most marketers have not developed the processes to address the ‘How’. Luckily, Social Media Examiner has the laid out the game plan to address that very question.  Via Social Media Examiner.
Rob Bayne – Social Media and the Boardroom: Much Work Remains
The role of business and social media has changed from something only the online marketing department was concerned about, to something that impacts companies in a multitude of ways.  Only 14% of companies are regularly engaged in monitoring social media sentiment, is yours one?  Via Social Media Today.
Mike Odden – Arrests Over $850M Facebook Botnet Crime Spree
10 suspects in a Facebook cybercrime ring have been arrested in the US  UK and other countries  around the world.  Facebook users had been targeted since 2010.  Via BBC.
Miranda Miller – U.S. Online Holiday Spending Approaches $27 Billion
Online spending is up again this year, continuing a steady year-over-year growth trend as more consumers take to doing their holiday shopping online. comScore reports $26.6 billion has been spent in the first 37 days of the 2012 holiday shopping season, up 13% over the same period last year.  Via Comscore.
Mike Yanke – Holiday Traditions Falls As NORAD To Track Santa With Bing Maps
A long-standing holiday tradition, dating back five years now, will fall in 2012 as NORAD’s Santa Tracking will be supported by Bing Maps rather than Google.  Does this mean that Bing Maps are emerging as victorious in the online map wars – or does it mean that Google hates Christmas?  Because it can only be one or the other, after all.  Search Engine Land reports.

The Human Algorithm: Redefining the Value of Data

The onslaught of real-time social, local, mobile (SoLoMo) technology is nothing short of overwhelming. Besides the gadgets, apps, social networks and appliances that continue to emerge, the pace of innovation is only outdone by the volumes of data that each produce. Everything we share, everywhere we go, everything we say and everyone we follow or connect with, generates valuable information that can be used to improve consumer experiences and ultimately improve products and services.
While the amount of personal and ambient information churned out by SoLoMo is often inundating or even perplexing, it is this “big” data that will help businesses evolve and adapt in a new era of connected consumerism. More importantly, the study and understanding of relevant big data will shift organizations from simply reacting to trends to predicting the next disruption and adapting ahead of competition—thus, marking the shift from rigid to adaptive business models
From business to education to government and everything in between, without studying how the undercurrent of behavior is evolving, organizations cannot effectively adapt to new trends and opportunities. Change though, cannot be undertaken simply because of pervasive data.
Without interpretation, insight and the ability to put knowledge to work, any investment in technology and resources is premature. But, by investing in human capital to make sense of would be ominous data, organizations can modernize the role of business intelligence to introduce a human touch. SoLoMo analysis becomes the sustenance that feeds the insights for more informed and inspired innovation. The result is nothing less than relevance and a significant competitive advantage.

From Information Paralysis to Analysis

You’ve heard that old saying, over analysis leads to paralysis. In the face of big data, it’s easy to see the tidal wave that can result from the influx of inputs and sources. Equally, the lack of governance, support and transparency can lead to stalls and or the abandonment of new efforts altogether.
The reality is though that how organizations connected with customers yesterday is not how customers will be served tomorrow. Meaning, the entire infrastructure in how we market, sell, help, and create now requires companies to not only study data and behavior but also change how it thinks about customers. This is a bona fide renaissance and to lead a new era of customer engagement requires knowledge acumen. I refer to the confluence of data and interpretation as the human algorithm—the ability to humanize technology and data to put a face, personality, and voice to the need and chance for change. Data tells a story, it just needs help finding its rhythm and rhyme.
On the surface, social, mobile and other disruptive technologies are valued for the communities of people they bring together. Open a window to look inside and you realize that the undercurrent of transformation is information. To adapt and ultimately lead change requires an official role to not only listen, but study.
Today many businesses use any one of the myriad of social media management systems to monitor conversations, track sentiment and measure share of voice. That’s not intelligence however. Much of what we see today is important, but it’s measuring activity not translating behavior into creativity or strategy. Part of the problem is that social media lives in a silo unto itself. Indeed, organizations employ business intelligence and research teams today. The reality is though that BI too sits in a silo. Either way, information or the lack thereof is either held prisoner within one part of organization or it’s under valued and not in demand among the very teams that can benefit from it.

The Human Side of Information

The human algorithm is part understanding and part communication. The ability to communicate and apply insights internally and externally is the key to unlocking opportunities to earn relevance. Beyond research, beyond intelligence, the human algorithm is a function of extracting insights with intention, humanizing trends ad possibilities and working with strategists to improve and innovate everything from processes to products to overall experiences.
The idea of the human algorithm is to serve as the human counterpart to the abundance of new social intelligence and listening platforms hitting the market every day. Someone has to be on the other side of data to interpret it beyond routine. Someone has to redefine the typical buckets where data is poured. And someone has to redefine the value of data to save important findings from a slow and eventual death by three-ring binders rich with direction and meaning.
One place where the human algorithm can have an immediate impact is in social media listening. In addition to tracking simple data signals such as conversations, sentiment, share of voice and service inquiries, data can present insights into preferences, trends, areas for innovation or refinement, R&D, co-creation, et al. Even though sophisticated tools can help track data points that can lead to these insights, it still takes a human touch to surface them and in turn advocate findings within the organization. It’s the difference between insights, actionable insights, and executed insights.
The truth is that a community or social media manager is not tasked with this type of responsibility therefore, insights largely remain undiscovered. It takes a new role that unites the disciplines of business intelligence and social media with the perseverance of a change agent. Without it, all of the insights capable of leading organizations to the next big thing will meet its long time arch nemeses fear and skepticism.
Big data is just that…it’s big. While the profusion of information today can lead to analysis paralysis, by listening with intent, organizations can tune-in the signals that will direct opportunities to adapt to and lead this new era connected consumerism. This is about innovation—inside and out. Those who don’t plug in and invest in technology’s human counterparts are in turn making an investment toward potential irrelevance. But remember, data is just the beginning. Data must always tell a story and that takes a human touch to extract data, surface trends, and translate them into actionable insights across the entire organization.

Social Media as the Next Web, The New Internet

Over the years social media has been the darling of marketers and would be experts. It’s not without good reason. Social media is exciting and transformative. It is something that we embrace as human beings and equally as professionals, we recognize its impact and opportunity. And, social media along with mobile represent the greatest growth areas for the Internet right now. But there’s more to it than hype.
The undercurrent of social media is as powerful as it is personal. People are becoming nodes of the network and it is through engagement and shared experiences and moments that bind us and information together. As a result, the idea of HTML documents as destinations seems almost antiquated in an era where dynamic experiences and engagement are personalized and optimized in what I call the EGOsystem. It’s the difference between a destination web, the web as we know it, and that of an experience, the web as it represents people, information, and utility.

Utility versus Destination: The Social Web by the Numbers

Nielsen and NM Incite released the 2012 Social Media Report recently and in it is an obvious but important observation, social media is coming of age. If attention is a key metric, then social networks are where attention spans go to roam. According to the report, consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites.
20% of their total time online via personal computer (PC)
30% of total time online via mobile

Got a minute?
Most notably however is the sheer velocity of growth. Nielsen found that total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PCs and mobile devices increased 37% to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011.
The Internet Likes Facebook, but an open relationship is a reality.
Facebook is still axis to the social web as the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors) and mobile apps (78.4 mil). Even though Facebook is home to 12% of the world’s population, other networks are vying for consumer attention. Twitter for example is up 13%, Pinterest is pinning with 1,047% growth, Google+ is showing promise with 80% rise in unique visitors, and Tumblr continues to “tumble for you” with a 55% surge.

Now showing on the small screen.
The mobile (s0cial) web represents the future of online engagement. This is one of the reasons that Facebook was plagued by speculation prior to and shortly after its IPO. It’s mobile strategy wasn’t fully defined or articulated.  However, people are spending more time on mobile devices and the numbers speak for themselves. Mobile web usage is up 82% in 2012 over 2011 and mobile app usage has grown 85%. It’s interesting to note that time spent on PCs is down 4%.

Mobile Social Networking is the New Social Networking
Social media time spent still largely takes place on a PC. But time spent social networking in mobile apps now represents a third of overall social networking time, up from 22.8M in 2011 to 85.8m in 2012. As Nielsen notes, while social audiences on PCs declined 5% since 2011, time spent increased 24%, which suggests that users are more deeply engaged.

Now this is Pinteresting.
Yes. Pinterest is pinning with 1,047% growth. Nielsen found that Pinterest has experienced exponential growth over the last year. But this perhaps the last year we will see such spectacular growth from this fledgling. Nielsen also found that growth is leveling off. None the less, 2012 minutes spent across PCs, apps, and the mobile web is incredible. In terms of unique audience, Pinterest reached a high of 27 million unique users on PCs, 14 million on the mobile web, and almost 5 million via mobile apps.

How, where and why we connect.
The next web is mobile.
Proof is in the numbers of course. As we can see, consumers access social media from PCs mostly at 94% (down from 97% in 2011), mobile phones at 46% (up from 37%) and tablets at 16% (up from 3%). Surprise is an understatement when I think about how I felt when I saw the incorporation of toilets in the report. But, you can read more on that gem here.

The Psychology of Social.
It’s pretty clear why we embrace social media. It is after all a platform for self expression. It’s where we can share our experiences. It’s also a place where we can connect with people not only because of relationships but also because of interests. But why else do we connect? Well, Nielsen asked. Most people connect because they know someone in real life or because they share mutual friends. Business networks also factor in to connectivity. Human nature also permeates engagement, albeit at a smaller scale, tying profile photos, attractiveness, and number of connections to why people decide to connect.

The social web is just that, it’s social. But more importantly, social and mobile media are becoming the next web. Mobile, apps, and PCs are the platforms for which people build networks around relationships, information, and experiences. While visiting web sites still play an important role in how people spend time online, they also concentrate attention on the essence of engagement. In the process, people place social ahead of destinations as they set the foundation for the future of the next web…an online experience that fuses people, information, and mobile access (on demand) access.

47 Social Media Facts (& What They Mean For Your Marketing)

Social Media Help For Your 2013 Budget

Social media continues to evolve and mature. As it does, so does the ways marketers use social media and how they integrate it into their marketing plans.
To maximize the effectiveness of your social media efforts, make sure that your goals are aligned with your business objectives and that you understand your target audience in terms of marketing persona and social media persona.
Here are 47 social media facts and what they mean for your marketing and your 2013 marketing plans.
Social media in general. Of course, it’s critical to understand why your prospects and customers are on social media platforms and what they’re looking for from your organization.  (Check out these five social media trends with charts.)

1. 9 out of 10 businesses use social media. (Source: eMarketer) What this means: Most businesses are on social media in some form and will continue to improve their use of this platform. Therefore to be competitive, you need to be there as well. 
2. Marketers use social media to achieve a variety of marketing goals. (Source: SEOmoz) What this means: Marketers use a mix of social media for several related objectives, specifically, content marketing, search optimization and branding. 
3. Blogs are the most important social media venue. (Source: Hubspot’s State of Inbound Marketing) Blogs support social media, content marketing, and search optimization. What this means: Blogs are useful as social media platforms to encourage engagement as well as an on-going source of content to feed social media. 
4. Roughly 90% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute their content marketing. (Source: Research by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.) On average these marketers use five social media sites to spread their content marketing more broadly through social sharing. What this means: Format your content marketing appropriately for each social media venue to broaden your reach.  (Here’s the link to the related Actionable Marketing chart.)
5. Social media drives sales. (Source: comScore) By providing platforms where customers discover information they need to make purchase decisions, social media supports the buying cycle. ) What this means: It’s important to be present on social media sites where your target audience congregates and seeks information. This is particularly true for LinkedIn and Pinterest.
   
6. Social media ISN’T free. The reality is that establishing a presence on one or more social media platforms requires both human and financial resources! The difference is that social media requires roughly 60% less than outbound forms of marketing according to Hubspot. (Here’s how to make the case for using social media.)  What this means: You must allocate budget to social media in terms of headcount and related marketing expense. 
7. Senior executives don’t participate on social media platforms. (Source: 2012 Fortune 500 Social CEO Index) This hurts customer trust. What this means: Figure out ways that your c-suite can engage on social media that’s not a time suck but provides real accessibility for your taget audience. (Here’s the full story on why senior executives don’t get social media.

Facebook. Social media’s 800 pound gorilla (but where’s the revenue?)

1. Facebook has 955M monthly active users, of which 58% are active daily. (Facebook, June 2012.) Over half of Facebook members use the social media platform regularly.
2. Average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages. (Social Media Examiner)
3. Less than 60% of Fortune 500 have Facebook page. (Grow)
4. 95% of Facebook wall posts not answered by brands. (All Facebook)
5. Facebook has 2.7 billion Like actions per day. (Source: TechCrunch)
6. Facebook is photography’s 800 pound gorilla with 300 million photos shared per day. (Source: TechCrunch)

YouTube. It’s the second largest social media site and the second largest search engine.  Consider how you’ll add video to your social media content offering.

1. Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month. (Source: YouTube)
2. Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube. Further, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (Source: YouTube)
3. 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US. (Source: YouTube)
4. YouTube is localized in 43 countries and across 60 languages. (Source: YouTube)
5. More than 20% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices. (Source: YouTube)

Twitter. It’s social media’s 24/7 conversation. (To help you, here are The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Twitterati.)

1. Twitter skews female: Women account for 53% of Twitter users.  (Source: Beehoove) What this means: Twitter has started to mature.
2. The average age of Twitter users has decreased. Over 70% of users are between 15 and 25 (Source: Beevolve). The data is based on participant bios and information in tweets. Since less than a half of a percent discloses their age, Beevolve notes that younger users are more likely to disclose their age than older users resulting in a bias towards younger users. This consistent with recent Pew Internet research that showed Twitter indexed high for US users between 18 and 29.
3. Twitter isn’t a social media community for most users. (Source: Beevolve) About three out four users have 50 or less followers on Twitter. The average user follows 109 people and one in ten people on Twitter doesn’t follow anyone. What this means: As a marketer, you must build your Twitter following to ensure that your message gets through.
   
4. Twitter isn’t a conversation. (Source: Dan Zarrella of Hubspot) Twitter  is a media platform that helps amplify your voice. What this means: You need to build your base on Twitter to leverage its power.
   
5. Create novel Twitter bait related to your topic to attract attention. (Source: Findings of Yi-Chia Yang of Carnegie Mellon) You need a laser focus to build your Twitter following.
6. Maximize retweets by tweeting later in the business day. (Source: Dan Zarrella of Hubspot) 

LinkedIn. Where business socializes. Further, it’s grown beyond being a job seeker’s ghetto.

1. Approximately 2 new professionals join LinkedIn per second. (Source: LinkedIn 2Q2012) LinkedIn continues to grow. What this means: LinkedIn matters for your business.
2. 175+ million members in over 200 countries (Source: LinkedIn August 2, 2012) LinkedIn is where the world connects for business. What this means: You and your business need to be present on LinkedIn.
3. 38% of LinkedIn members are located in U.S. (Source: LinkedIn August 2, 2012) LinkedIn has diversified beyond its American origins. What this means: LinkedIn reflects an international business community.
4. 2+ million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages. (Source: LinkedIn August 2, 2012) What this means: Your firm, regardless of focus, should have a presence on LinkedIn to be competitive.
5. 1+ million unique publishers actively use LinkedIn Share button on their sites. (Source: LinkedIn August 2, 2012) Visitors share content across a range of social media sites. What this means: If the information on your website and/or blog are business related, add a LinkedIn share button.
6. 1+ million LinkedIn Groups where members share insights and knowledge. (Source: LinkedIn August 2, 2012) LinkedIn Groups are a way to find out more about your industry and other business trends. What this means: At a minimum, participate in those groups related to your business and where appropriate start a group.

Google+. As a part of Google, it’s important to stake your turf on this social media platform since it can influence your search rankings.

1. Two thirds of the Interbrand Top 100 have a Google+ brand page, a number that’s been relatively stable since the option was introduced in November 2011. (Source: Simply Measured) Of these, 43% of brands update their Google+ page at least three times a week. What this means: To be consistent and competitive, update your Google+ pages at least three times a week as part of your social media marketing calendar. 
2. The gap on Google+ between brands with the most circlers and other brands has widened while total brand circlers have increased steadily.  (Source: Simply Measured) What this means: It’s getting difficult to catch up with the top brands on Google+. Therefore, you must be on Google+ actively building your base for the future. 
3. Google+ gets mobile. Its app is preinstalled in the 900,000 Android devices activated every day.  (Source: Tweet by Google’s Andy Rubin on June 10, 2012.) Further Google’s Vic Gundotra confirmed that more users sign into Google+ with the mobile app than visit its desktop site.  What this means: Google+ is device indifferent.

Pinterest. As the image driven darling of 2012, Pinterest is poised to make significant changes to enhance its position and revenue generation

1. About 70% of US pinners have household income of $25,000-$74,999 (Source: comScore).
2. About 25% of Pinterest users have college degree or higher degree (Source: comScore).
3. About 60% of pinners are in their mid-20s to mid-40s. (Source: Experian Hitwise for 12 week rolling average ending December 17, 2011).
4. Establish your Pinterest presence.  (Source: Pinsights) Established retailers have between 30,000 and 35,000 account followers. What this means: The longer you wait to get established, the more likely your competitors will pull ahead. 
5. Micro-focus your Pinterest activity by using different boards.  (Source: Pinsights) On average, brands pinned to an average of twenty-five boards in the sixty day period. What this means: Think of your offering in terms of mini-niches and create a special board for each.
6. Leverage Pinterest’s strength based on topic. (Source: Compete) Think visual approach, specifically food, home, and crafts. What this means: Create visually appealing content around topics viewers actively seek. This reduces the work you have to attract prospects. 
7. Pinterest encourages viral activity as shown by the number of repins. (Source:  RJ Metrics) Specifically, over 80% of pins are repins. This makes sense since repinning is significantly easier than searching for new content, checking whether it can be pinned and writing a description.  What this means: To encourage pinning activity, minimize effort participants need to take by providing full description.
8. Pinterest’s high growth has eroded new user quality.  (Source:  RJ Metrics) Newer members now pin less in the first month. This makes sense since the base is broader in composition with less avid supporters. 
9. Pinterest is the best new source of traffic. (Source: Shareaholic) This has value for marketers using social media to drive lead generation.  What this means. Put your product into visually alluring images and post them on your Pin boards. 

Blogs. As a form of owned media that is also social media, blogs are an invaluable element of your social media strategy. (Here’s how to set up yours whether you’re a B2C, B2B, NFP or solopreneur.)

1. Blog two to three times per week for your blog to yield 75% of customer acquisition value. (Source: Hubspot)  
2. Blogs require fifty or more posts before traffic starts to grow. (Source: Hubspot) 

Miscellaneous options. Here are insights on the smaller social media sites and their target audiences.

1. Use Tumblr to reach younger demographics since their sweet spot is 18 to 24. (Chart: comScore) Tumblr has an engaged and loyal following. What this means. If you’re marketing to the teen-twenty-something market, add Tumblr to you mix.
2. Instagram makes everyone a photographer. (Source: Pew Internet Report) 12% of the adult Internet population use Instagram. 27% of this app-driven, social media image site’s users are 18 to 29.  What this means. Consider adding Instagram to your social media if your product is photogenic. (Note: Even GE’s B2B industrial products leverage the power of instagram.) 
3. Slideshare is B2B gold with 60 million visitors per month and 120 million pageviews per month. Skip this B2B site that’s owned by LinkedIn at your own risk! What this means. Incorporate Slideshare into your 2012 marketing plans to expand your reach and attract leads.