Social media is always changing or, as some would say, evolving. I am not I sure I approve of the latest changes to the social media landscape.

Sphere is my first target today. The content being ’sphun’ is often pure spam now and not very well disguised, if at all.

What has, in the past, been a good site for professionals to interact on has now become rather stale and spam ridden. I noticed one conversation complaining of the lack of new, fresh content and that life on Sphere had become ‘boring’. I notice the person making that statement didn’t have anything else that was fresh and interesting to bring to the table.

I should point out that like most social media sites, it is powered by the people, that means you and I, so if there is a lack of fresh content to digest, we are the ones to blame - not the site.

The other change in the social media landscape is the demise of del.icio.us and its rebirth in the form of delicious.com. It was probably on a matter of time before it took on a dot com role, however the trendy del.icio.us was distinctive and very brandable. I am not so sure of the new name.

They do have their reasons and many of them understandable. The old url will continue to work, however, you will need to login and refresh your cookie to continue to use them. Times are changing.

The last six months have seen many changes to the landscape of social media many with many others touted. Some changes haven’t and probably won’t come to fruition (Digg/Google). Many others will.

It’s a competitive world. Social media has come to a point in its development where there will be restructuring, rationalizations and overhauls. Hopefully, in the long run it will be to our benefit.

Part one I talked about how pitch can burn you so here is the next step in what you can do to lessen the pitch and use marketing more…. Do you know what the most highly missed opportunity that most Bloggers overlook in marketing their blogs? Email list building! Gathering e-mail addresses is still king and the MOST important feature in your site for three reasons.

1. First of all the purchase to visitor percentage rate on the internet is 1%, that means out of a 1000 visitors, only 1% will buy, meaning 10 sales per 1000 visits. That is a best case scenario with all the pieces in place.

2. Second the market average says most visitors will need 7 to 8 exposures to your marketing, before you can make a sale.

3. Third, what do you do to kick off that new product you just added to your website? Easy! Contact your e-mail opt-in list of thousands that you have built over time. This list already knows and trusts you. When you think soda, you think Coke or Pepsi. When you think fast food, you think MacDonald’s or Taco Bell. When you think jeans, you think Levi’s. When you think social marketing you think Social Marketing Journal. When you pass by McDonalds or Taco Bell you already know what they offer. You probably grew up in Levis. You KNOW them. That’s product identity! That’s image branding! Like it or not, you KNOW what you are going to get. Most of us can’t afford enough advertising to be everywhere, producing product recognition and personal identity. However if you can give your visitor a good reason, even during a surf visit, he/she will gladly turn over that e-mail address in return for your promise of information.

It works like this:
Free Social Marketing Training and newsletter by e-mail. Enter your address, and I will send you the download! By making a powerful offer, that is only available by e-mail, you not only gather the e-mail address, but leave a reminder of what you have TEN times more powerful than any bookmark / favorites listing can offer. As your readers get to know and trust you, because you are going to give them honest, usable content, you remind them of what you have to offer. If you are really positive you can’t write alluring e-mails like the big boys do, I’ve got that covered. All that you have to do is send out a broadcast email letting your subscribers know that you have a new blog post. Include a reason to click thru both in the headline and the email body. Also it is important to use keywords that pertain to your subject. In my newsletter the words Google and or Digg get more click thrus than anything else. But whatever you do, get those addresses now; later you can worry about the finer points. You must have a serious interest in the Internet and your site’s mission, or you wouldn’t be here. You obviously have enough passion about your site and its content to take the time to have read this far. Ask yourself this: “Just who is it you are trying to sell your product to.” If you are trying to “sell” anyone you have already LOST THE BATTLE. If you are trying to “sell” a product, you are putting the focus on you, your product and your profits. If you are putting the focus on yourself, you lose your leads interest. Realize these truths, and take them to heart. Let’s say you are selling a lawnmower. Joe Surfer doesn’t care about “YOUR” lawnmower; “HE” only cares about “HIS” lawn. His/her focus in on his lawn. Your prospect could care less about you. Don’t sell the drill bit, market the hole. Sally Surfer doesn’t care about your golf clubs. She only cares about HER golf game. Don’t sell the golf club; sell the 5 shots it will take off her 18 hole game. Your lead does not believe anything you say. Your lead will NOT, repeat NOT ask himself: “Is this guy honest?” He WILL, ask himself: “Is this guy a liar.”

How you conduct yourself will influence the buying decision.
• NOT THE PRICE
• MORE THAN YOUR PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
• MORE THAN YOUR PRODUCTS FEATURES

More often than not, making the sale will depend on:
• WHO YOU ARE
• HOW YOU BEHAVE
• WHAT YOU SAY
• HOW AND WHEN YOU SAY IT

Ever watch King of the Hill? Wouldn’t you buy a lawnmower from Hank Hill? Hank knows lawns and he would not use anything but the best lawnmower. True it had better come with a cup holder, but shouldn’t they all? Would you buy a grill from Hank Hill? OF COURSE YOU WOULD! Hank knows propane and propane accessories. Don’t tell me how great your grill is. Tell me how great your grill makes my family’s cookout! Be Hank Hill and you will sell more of whatever it is, that I can guarantee you: without pitch (it’s hot, it burns you) and without selling (we all hate salesmen). Retain your subscriber’s trust and email address and if you do, you can sell him his next grill, and the next, and the next….

Humans are social creatures so when given an opportunity to socialize, we generally get involved. If you access social sites to undertake a social marketing program, you may find yourself getting involved in the social more than the marketing.

It can and does happen to us all. There are two strategies that you can put in place that may help your social marketing achieving its goal.

The first may surprise. Go with the flow. If you are a social person then be social. What you need to keep in mind at all times is your end goal. Watch what you say and who you say it too. Although you are being yourself while socializing, the old war adage that loose lips sink ships can be so deadly accurate when it comes to social media.

Being social and being yourself can often lead to more sales than going in with the hard sell. Your ‘trust’ factor will be that much higher as others will not see you as a social marketer.

The second option is harder to achieve and often doesn’t have the same results. Control is the name of the game. Control and focus. You need to focus on why you are socializing and what your goals are. You need to maintain strict control over what you are doing and not allow yourself the freedom to wander off in different directions. Your ‘trust’ factor may not be as high depending on how others perceive you. If you can display a real social nature whilst maintaining strict control then that perception may be as a friendly participant.

To say that your socializing is getting in the way of your social marketing can show a lack of understanding of the social media around at present. The focus is on being social with the marketing is a side benefit. Go forth and socialize - the social marketing will occur naturally.

Any site with a community environment, or one that uses media to interact socially, can be included in the term ’social media’. For many people, particularly website owners, their goal is to use these sites to create a buzz about themselves, their website or their products.

Is there anything wrong with that statement? No, a major portion of all users have the same aim, particularly the buzz about themselves component. Whilst frowned upon many site owners, these activities have become the accepted norm - within reason.

Creating a buzz is nothing new whether in marketing or in personal interaction. There are those that what to stand out from the crowd, be seen, be heard, be the center of attention. Likewise, there are those that want to stay in the background. They don’t want to lead and they certainly don’t want to be the center of attention.

The problem with the first group; over time their loudness becomes a nuisance. To retain their ‘center of attention’ status they start to pull crazy stunts, get louder and often more obnoxious. On social media sites, it doesn’t take long for the ‘buzz’ that has been created to turn into a ‘buzz off’ - and don’t come back attitude.

Social marketing and social bookmarking is exactly the same. You can stand up and be seen. You can become the center of attention. You can even create that ‘buzz’ that has everyone talking about you. Just don’t overstep the mark and turn that popular buzz into a buzz off.

I came across a new social search today which impressed me just a little. It needs to be investigated a little more but the concept; look and feel and the results were quite impressive.

The site, me.dium.com/search has a strange feel to it, probably because of the white and orange and not the traditional Google or Yahoo set up. The search results are also a little different. They are returned in three columns (you can change to two columns). However looks are one thing. Performance is another. It is slow but does return a lot of entries. On the down side, on some of the search terms I used, particularly entering domain names without the extensions, you get hundred or even thousands of results, most being sites that link in to that website rather than the website itself.

However, for a youngish site its overall performance wasn’t too bad - just don’t expect Google like results, in terms of look or results.

It is however a social search site more than, for example, a product search or information search site. me.dium.com itself is a cross between a search site and a social bookmarking site.

The main difference is that rather than bookmarking and referring to friends, you connect with friends and surf the net together sharing what you find along the way. It comes with it’s own toolbar.

I don’t know if I would use it although I can see its use when it comes to group projects. College kids may find a good use in that area. I certainly don’t need another tool bar cluttering up what is already cluttered.

It is an interesting concept and over time it may even win over a few people. However, in this crowded social environment, it may struggle to find a place. It is well worth checking out.

LinkedIn is a popular social network of more than 20 million professionals from all over the world, representing 100’s of different professions. Joining is not simply a matter of filling in a few details and away you go.

Because of the site’s nature, ie, it is for professionals, you are expected to have a complete and professional looking profile. This is the start of your personal branding and should not be ignored. If you do ignore this aspect you will find that many users treat you with disdain.

Add a picture: a picture puts a face to the name and creates a more personal profile.

Personalize your URL: when you join you are given a computer generated url - change it and personalize it.

Create an email signature file: the signature file is written in html but you can personalize with your own details.

Summary and specialties: you can write your own summary so make it an important part of your profile. The specialties can be important when it comes to searches. Your details will be shown in the relevant search results.

To complete your branding you need to participate in discussions, ask questions and, most importantly, provide answers to questions in your area of expertise. Branding yourself has become the key web 2.0 success.

Facebook and Microsoft have reached agreement to extend their advertising partnership by placing Live Search on Facebook. LiveSide News Blog included an email from Microsoft which read in part:

As part of the deal, Microsoft will work with Facebook to bring its customers Live Search-powered web search and search ads by the end of the calendar year. Facebook will work with Microsoft to design the best search experience for Facebook’s customers and advertisers.

This is a big step forward for Microsoft. With search results being returned within Facebook, Live Search is sure to add to Microsoft’s income. With the millions of users coming through Facebook each day it may even boost Microsoft’s share of search results - only marginally, however as Microsoft spreads its wings and grabs all these little margins, they eventually add up to being a big margin.

For once, it may even be Google that loses a little search traffic. For Facebook users, it may be a plus. Then again it may be the start of a much broader advertisement placement throughout Facebook. Either that or a Microsoft takeover. I am not sure which is worse?

Social marketing is not necessarily a difficult task. Many people would like to tell you differently, however the actual tasks involved, rather than being difficult, are just time consuming.

Because they are time consuming, many website owners engage experts to undertake the social marketing aspect of their site management. This is fine and can often be quite cost effective. However, even though you have an expert carrying out your social marketing campaign, that doesn’t mean you cant add a little DIY social marketing yourself.

As a business owner, part of your management role should be to spend a little time each day or each week roaming the web and checking on your competition. You should also be familiarizing yourself with what is new within your business niche.

Blogs are big part of today’s business world so you should always be on the lookout for new information provided through blogs. I even advise either bookmarking sites of interest, or signing up to receive newsletters and RSS feeds, even from your competition. What better way to watch your competition - they provide you with all the information!

The DIY side of marketing comes forth whilst you are visiting sites and blogs. I suggest you leave your footprints where ever you go, even on your competitors sites. Leave a comment, add to a conversation, perhaps even provide and opposite point of view. Other visitors will see your comment and perhaps even come to your site to see what else you have to say.

More importantly, particularly on related sites, you can build a rapport with that blogger that may overtime add to the success of your site. At worst, you will receive a back link from your comment. Even better, you may receive a link from others who appreciate your content.

During all this process, you are helping to spread the word about your business in a very social way - social marketing at its purest. I find it quite ironic; I can visit a competitor’s website and leave a comment advertising myself and my site while perhaps receiving a little link juice.

Sphinn has joined the ranks of several other social bookmarking sites by placing nofollow’s on all new links placed in the ‘upcoming topics’ area. Some SEO experts swear by social bookmarking sites for link building strategies - they may need to think again now.

If a submission makes out of the ‘upcoming topics’ and onto the front page then the nofollow will be removed. Consideration is being given to removing the nofollow once a submission has received a set number of votes.

Social bookmarking has been popular as an SEO link building strategy to the point that many sites have been flooded with content that is below acceptable standards. They have, up until now, still benefited from the link.

There are two issues to this situation. Quality is in the eye of the beholder so what I think is a good article may not meet your standards and vice-versa. Many good submissions will miss out whilst some not so good will sneak in, not based on quality but based on who you know.

Having said that, if submissions have no chance of accumulating sufficient votes to have the nofollow removed then perhaps the writers or their friends will refrain from submitting them. The overall quality of the links submitted will then improve which in the long run will benefit social bookmarking sites like Sphinn.

If your content is not really up to Sphinn’s standards, look elsewhere for social bookmarking.

Over the last eighteen months to two years there has been a sizable increase in the number of workers using the various social media sites as communication tools.

Facebook and Myspace where popular however micro blogging sites such as Twitter seem to be increasing in popularity. Some businesses are using Twitter as an internal mass communication system where short messages can be sent to the entire workplace instantly. For external communications, social networking sites allow for communication with others within the industry to receive up-to-date information.

Being able to access information from related sources and quickly disseminate it throughout an organization can be valuable particularly if a potential problem is rearing its head. Reputation management is an important aspect of the online world and being able to reduce or stop any potential problems early is important.

Managers have been slow to recognize the power of social networking and its ability to provide instant communication both internally and externally. As more managers accept new technology you can expect to see growth in the numbers of professionals using these social networking sites in their day to day business life.

With specialist sites such as Linkedin being developed on an almost daily basis, social networking is not going to go away soon. Professionals are either going to use them to their potential, or risk being left behind.

Linkedin has formed a strategic relationship with The New York Times to deliver targeted news articles to user pages.

The targeted articles are based on the industry and profession of the user. Linkedin will allow users to send articles to contacts and to start discussions based on those articles encouraging professional discussions on site.

Scott Roberts announced the relationship through the Linkedin Blog stating:

We’re glad to announce the launch of our strategic relationship with NYTimes.com that will allow readers to receive targeted news articles based on their unique attributes. In addition, they’ll also be able to share and discuss articles they read on NYTimes.com with other LinkedIn members in their network.

The New York Times has a prominent Linkedin badge on news story pages encourages readers to promote the story (and join) through Linkedin.

Since the New York Times receives around 17 million unique visitors each month it should provide Linkedin quite a boost in members over time.

As a professional network Linkedin is possibly one of the best. Every profession is catered for and the site can be quite busy with discussions on a wide variety of topics. This new relationship will enhance Linkedin’s popularity with professionals around the world.

Facebook has grown to be a fairly popular site for people of all ages and from all walks of life. One of the options within Facebook is to develop your own group/ This group can be based around any topic of your choosing.

For this reason many web entrepreneurs use Facebook as a form of social marketing for web sites, blogs or product/services. To do this successfully, you need to develop a strong profile and start a group based on that product/service or related subject.

These tips should help you to develop a successful Facebook group:

Get the basics right
Set it up right. Choose a title, category and description that is relevant to your product or brand. Enter as much information as possible about your group including contact info, location, purpose.

Add friends
Personally invite people - there is nothing like the personal touch. Include your friends who are already in Facebook. Your friends’ friends will then notice that they have joined a new group and may be interested in checking out the group as well.

Send invitations
Facebook allows you to send group invitations to all of the contacts in your Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo accounts, so don’t forget to invite everyone who’s not already a Facebook friend.

Be Human
Welcome new members and send out periodic emails to your group. Don’t spam them with useless information - keep it focused on the topic of your group.

Keep the group alive by constantly adding information. Encourage others to do the same. Keeping it fresh and update will encourage others to return. Where ever possible promote your group including references on your web page, in your email footer and in your RSS footer.

Treat the people in your group as friends rather than potential customers and your new group will grow and expand - with it will comes the traffic and new customers.

If you watch teenagers these days they are forever texting each other. I dare not ask what about - but they do spend all day with their fingers on that keypad. Of course I am talking about cell phones and some reports suggest that teens spend more on text messages than on actual calls.

Social blogging seems to be the ‘grown up’ form of texting. It certainly has a big following with many of the top web identities having a ‘twitter’ or ‘plurk’ accounts. The difference between texting through a cell phone and social bookmarking is the audience.

Cell phone texting is generally one to one. Social blogging is one to many - thousands perhaps for some. Where social blogging is making its mark is in it’s ability to deliver visitors. Twitter allows the ‘twittering’ of posts from blogs via RSS feeds.

This becomes an instant message to the world that you have a new post and what the topic is. Those interested can immediately access that post. Is it important? In one way - very!

With respect to bloggers, particularly the big namers, getting an early advice on a new post means you can jump in, read the post and leave a comment - at the top of comments. Believe it or not this is important. If your comment is in the first five, every other commenter will most likely read what you have had to say.

If your comments are valid there is a good chance they will visit your site. Furthermore, comments near the top are more likely to get a response from the blogger than those lost in the 15 or 20 comments that come afterwards.

Social blogging is definitely here to stay. If you can learn to use is effectively you can benefit your site and your reputation.

If you undertake a search on the term ‘forum communities’ you will find around a million entries. If even 10% of those entries are actually forums, then you have over 100,000 forums to choose from and if you can think of a niche, there will be a forum.

Forums are effective for many activities. Networking is often hailed as a benefit in joining forum communities, however there are many more advantages.

If a major product fails you can bet it will hit Digg and other social bookmarking sites pretty quickly. You would be surprised at how many of those articles find their sources in forum communities. People gather in forums to talk on a wide variety of issues including what products work and don’t. What products people recommend to solve problems and how to tweak their products for better performance.

The first forums many years ago where IT based and where full of ‘how to’ tips. These ranged from how to upgrade your system through to how to access online information faster. They were also communities where recommendations where made on various products. Windows 98 received rave reviews initially through these communities. Every time a problem arose, guess where it was found first?

Forum communities provide social marketers with a number of opportunities. The first is simply as a feedback and trend watch tool. Listen to what is being said. What products are failing and in what way they are failing - does your product address that issue - if it does, market that fact.

Having a presence on niche related forum communities can also give you the advantage of establishing yourself as an expert in your niche. A reputation for solving problems will always draw attention and with it traffic.

They may be old fashioned and can at times be difficult to navigate until you get used to them however forum communities still represent one of the best value for time social marketing options.

As web 2.0 gets stronger and social media starts to dominate - or perhaps I should say - continues to dominate our online lives, will search engines use the information gathered from social media when ranking web pages?

There is a distinct possibility they already are. Whether it through social media or simply social interaction through commenting, search engines need to find new methods to determine the value of web pages. Using links as ‘votes’ has become corrupt over time despite the attempts of Google and others to discount activities such as purchased links.

Linking and keywords will still play a major role in how a search engine ranks a page. However where a visitors comes from, how long they stay on the page and where they go after they leave a page will play a far greater role in the future.

Social media that encourages voting such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Sphinn and others will start to play a greater role. To what extent is hard to determine as there will always be a question of reliability and working this media unfairly. However, when you have a voting public, how can they be ignored?

Many will argue that these sites relate more to blogging than traditional web sites, however many traditional businesses with websites are now into blogging as well.

Social media is area of the internet that all businesses with an online presence need to address. Participation in some form, even a simple blog, will ultimately help a business. This is particularly true if search engines such as Google start to include data from these activities in their search algorithms.