I’ve had 3 Facebook accounts. As I write this, I only have one active account remaining – and it’s hanging by a thread. I’ve started, built, activated, deactivated, and deleted multiple Facebook “pages” for businesses or the like. I had a MySpace account before anyone around me did. I was a little later to the show with Facebook. Currently, I use Twitter to connect to everything in my social media world, including Facebook – but more on that later.

Facebook and I have never really had a good relationship. It never was bad, per say, but it never was good. It was a lot like that person you dated because it was convenient to do so. The relationship was nothing special, but until something better came along, there was no really good reason to end it either.

When Facebook showed up, shortly after MySpace became the craze, I was leery. The elitist attitude that boldly proclaimed, “you can’t join our network unless you are a part of this group or that group,” was not one that I really took fondly to. I was a part of multiple social circles, many of which had nothing to do with the schools or groups that were “allowed” on Facebook. If I was going to take the time to join a social network, I wanted it to be one where everyone I knew could take part.

A shifting attitude about your privacy (and not in a good way)

Eventually, as most people know, that all changed. The elitist attitude, however, has not. It is still running rampant, making Steve Jobs and Apple look like a tepid child. This is clearly understood by a quick look at the sweeping changes in their approach to privacy as outlined here by the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2005:

No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2006:

We understand you may not want everyone in the world to have the information you share on Facebook; that is why we give you control of your information. Our default privacy settings limit the information displayed in your profile to your school, your specified local area, and other reasonable community limitations that we tell you about.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2007:

Profile information you submit to Facebook will be available to users of Facebook who belong to at least one of the networks you allow to access the information through your privacy settings (e.g., school, geography, friends of friends). Your name, school name, and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the Facebook network unless you alter your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa November 2009:

Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to share your information with anyone you want. You decide how much information you feel comfortable sharing on Facebook and you control how it is distributed through your privacy settings. You should review the default privacy settings and change them if necessary to reflect your preferences. You should also consider your settings whenever you share information. …

Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, may be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), is subject to indexing by third party search engines, may be associated with you outside of Facebook (such as when you visit other sites on the internet), and may be imported and exported by us and others without privacy limitations. The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa December 2009:

Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available to everyone, including Facebook-enhanced applications, and therefore do not have privacy settings. You can, however, limit the ability of others to find this information through search using your search privacy settings.

Current Facebook Privacy Policy, as of April 2010:

When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. … The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” … Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page. If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing (or not making) the connection.

Your data on Facebook (status updates, pictures, etc) is not really yours

The most recent action by Zuckerberg was to make access to your information on the site publicly available, whether you like it or not. The new privacy controls do 6 major things with regard to connections you make using the Facebook “connect” feature (that should piss most people off, though it won’t because they are probably oblivious to them):

1. Facebook will not let you share any of this information without using Connections. You cannot opt-out of Connections. If you refuse to play ball, Facebook will remove all unlinked information from your profile.
2. Facebook will not respect your old privacy settings in this transition. For example, if you had previously sought to share your Interests with “Only Friends,” Facebook will now ignore this and share your Connections with “Everyone.”
3. Facebook has removed your ability to restrict its use of this information. The new privacy controls only affect your information’s “Visibility,” not whether it is “publicly available.”

Explaining what “publicly available” means, Facebook writes:

“Such information may, for example, be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), be indexed by third party search engines, and be imported, exported, distributed, and redistributed by us and others without privacy limitations.”

1. Facebook will continue to store and use your Connections even after you delete them. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. Even after you “delete” profile information, Facebook will remember it. We’ve also received reports that Facebook continues to use deleted profile information to help people find you through Facebook’s search engine.
2. Facebook sometimes creates a Connection when you “Like” something. That “Like” button you see all over Facebook, and now all over the web? It too can sometimes add a Connection to your profile, without you even knowing it.
3. Your posts may show up on a Connection page even if you do not opt in to the Connection. If you use the name of a Connection in a post on your wall, it may show up on the Connection page, without you even knowing it. (For example, if you use the word “FBI” in a post).

Zuckerberg’s offer that you can’t refuse

Facebook has become so interconnected with our daily lives (the 400 million of us that are on the site anyway) that the leverage they have to keep us on the site is overwhelming. People are using the site for a lot more than just catching up with old high school friends. They are playing games with their friends, sharing pictures of their life, and so on.

We are all social creatures. We like to be popular, we like to have friends, we like to be able to reach out and connect with someone when we are lonely. This nature of connectivity in humans is a foundational principle on which Facebook’s success is built. And right now, the closest thing to providing a better solution is Twitter – which almost everyone has heard of, but almost no one understands how to use. Because of this, there are 10 main reasons, according to Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider, that you’ll never quit Facebook even if you think you want to:

1. You’re not going to go back to waiting an hour to send an email to 30 people with 40 photos attached.
2. How will you remember anybody’s birthday?
3. How will you stalk your college boyfriend’s new fiancé?
4. Without Facebook what are you going to do when you don’t have a friend’s email address or phone number? Facebook messaging blows. But at least you know you can reach anybody who has a Facebook account.
5. Forget Facebook. 80 million of you are addicted to Zygna’s Facebook game, FarmVille.
6. It takes 2 seconds to “join” a new site through Facebook Connect. It can take a good 10 minutes doing it the old way.
7. How will you hear about parties? How will you remember where and when those parties are? Evite?
8. You don’t care about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s sometimes sketchy past.
9. Sure, Facebook has privacy issues, but you don’t care about privacy anymore. Remember when you wouldn’t use your real name on the Internet?
10. You’ve never quit before. Remember News Feed? Beacon? You didn’t quit then and won’t now, either. Not even if you want to.

You may balk at some of the above suggestions, though I’m pretty sure you won’t say you disagree with all of them. On the chance that you do, and you decide, screw this, I’m going to leave Facebook just in spite, know this: Facebook doesn’t like to be dumped, as a matter of fact, they are kind of Super Ex-girlfriend psycho about it. Read this article describing what happens when you deactivate your Facebook Account.

Oh, and by the way, deactivating your account is not the same thing as deleting it. Your information is still on the site, all you have to do is simply login and it is like you never even left. They don’t make that very clear, and I don’t think many people even realize this fact. If you have decided you really do want to delete your account, use this link to do so, not the “deactivate” link provided by Facebook. Note: even when deleting your account, Facebook, to further portray it’s elitist attitude, tells you that your account will not be completely deleted for 14 days, basically saying, “we know you don’t really want to delete your account, you’ll be back.”

Zuckerberg thinks you’re a moron, and he’s probably right

Ironically, a private IM conversation between a friend and Zuckerberg reveals Zuckerberg’s mentality about the users of Facebook. The naivity of people online is the reason Facebook continues to swell. People simply do not know that they are revealing their information to the world. Take the following story:

I have a close friend who just bought a house. Before he bought the house, he decided to research the seller. He had never met the seller, and all he had to go on was a name. Using that name, he was able to find the seller’s wife’s Facebook profile, which was publicly displaying multiple details regarding their lifestyle and the luxuries they maintained.

Now, my friend is a decent person, and would never use his advanced computing skills (he’s a very talented programmer, with his name on a few software patents) for evil, but he was able to learn more than enough about the person he was buying his house from to feel comfortable with the transaction.

At the closing, my friend did the good deed of informing the seller that he was able to find out many details of his life through his wife’s Facebook profile. Noticeably shocked at the information my friend had about him, the seller was a little more than annoyed that my friend knew so much about him.

People demand privacy, but they don’t even know when their privacy is being violated it. They are oblivious to how openly revealing they are through their own actions. No one really reads privacy policies (Facebook’s is now longer than the United States Constitution). And who would want to? We just want to get online, share some pictures, write some witty ’status’ updates and stay as permanently connected to our friends, loved ones, and complete strangers as possible.

Marketing is the root of Facebook’s evil

Companies are realizing the massive marketing potential that Facebook provides (which is, of course, where all of this really stems from). They are increasingly gaining insight on how using Facebook for business and marketing is a low-cost, and in most cases, incredibly effective tool.

But, and this is important, we saw this happen with MySpace. Companies were using MySpace URLs in their advertising instead of their own websites. The same thing is happening with Facebook. The difference? Facebook has provided businesses with a platform for interactivity – something MySpace didn’t really ever figure out.

Something will change. The question is what/who?

Facebook has very publicly called an “all hands on deck” meeting to discuss the recent backlash to their privacy policy changes. I doubt anything is really going to change, however. The vast majority of people are not even aware of the fact that Facebook has changed their privacy policies, much less how the changes really affect them, personally.

Some users have organized a “Quit Facebook Day” for May 31, 2010 in an attempt to both educate people about the negative privacy policies Facebook has implemented, as well as to encourage people to boycott the service.

Where do you stand?

Will you keep your Facebook profile? Will you make adjustments to your privacy settings? Will you remove your account all together?

Do you believe that you have a right to privacy when using a free service online? Do you believe those that reveal too much personal information on social networks are the ones that should be blamed for their own information being put out there? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Go do a search on Google for the term “social media expert” without the quotes and you’ll find that Google has indexed 83 million pages that it believes could be relevant to your search. Put the quotes back in and you’ll find that Google believes it has about 1.2 million pages that could be relevant. That means that there are approximately 1.2 million pages on the web that contain the exact phrase “social media expert” somewhere within their content.

Think about that for a minute, 1.2 million.

That is a whole lot of “expertise.” Especially in a field that is only, at best, a couple of decades old (10 years is really even a stretch). To really make you go, “hmm” search for either “marketing expert” or “advertising expert.” Before you actually do, though, take a guess at the results you’ll have returned to you. Do you think they will be more or less than the social media variant?

Go do the searches (in a new tab/window of course). I’ll wait here.

What did you find out? You most likely were shocked at the extreme variance between so-called “social media experts” and “marketing/advertising experts.” I know I was a little surprised.

With so many people claiming to be the expert when it comes to social media, it begs the question: how do I know who to trust to help me learn how to apply all of this social media stuff to my business, my life, or whatever. The truthful answer is this: you don’t. The reality is, no one really, truly knows how this whole “social media thing” really is going to work in the future. No one really knows how it will actually exist (if at all) in 10, 5, heck, 1 year down the road.

Remember MySpace? That dinosaur of a social network? It’s hanging on for dear life, and it gained peak popularity no more than a few years ago. Twitter has already exploded and leveled off – no one in the media really seems to care anymore. It’s reached the same level of recognition as Facebook, but only a few people actually use it.

So, back to the point:

Who do you trust to help you learn more about social media and how it applies to you?

Well, think about this. If no one really knows what the right answer is, then logically, no one really knows what the wrong answer is either. Take comfort in that.

Granted, there are plenty of things that have been done by people that are considered “wrong,” just like there are plenty of things that people have done that are considered “right” when it comes to social media. The answer to knowing who to trust is to observe and learn from the people that seem to never do those “wrong” things. Or, if they do, they have the humanity to own them, learn from them, teach/share with the world (since sharing really is what social media is all about), and move on.

Use common sense; use good judgment; ask yourself if you think some of the stuff these so-called experts are trying to sell/teach you makes sense. And if you are thinking about paying one of these people to help you with your own social media efforts, ask for and actually check their references.

If you’d like a head start on people that I think know what they are talking about and are doing it as right as possible when it comes to social media, check out some of these people:

• Chris Brogan (Twitter, Site)
• Ed Shahzade (Twitter, Site)
• Calvin Lee (Twitter, Site)
• Ann Handley (Twitter, Site)
• Scott Stratten (Twitter, Site)
• Lauren Fernandez (Twitter, Site)
• David Spinks (Twitter, Site)
• DJ Waldow (Twitter, Site)

There are plenty of others that I’m sure I have noticed are doing it “mostly right,” but I can’t remember them right now. For some really good questions and some amusing reactions to the wrong answers for interviewing and potentially working with social media experts, take a look at this “10 Questions to Evaluate a Social Media ‘Expert‘” post by Ian Lurie.

The moral of the story?

Be careful who you trust to teach you about social media. There are literally millions of people that claim the title, but only a select few that have earned the title (oh, and here’s a hint: most of the people that have earned the title and deserve the respect to be called social media experts, don’t call themselves social media experts).

For the past couple of days, there has been lots of buzz around Google’s latest attempt at social media. There have been countless reactions to the new product, from glowing praise to raving anger.

Google has dipped it’s toes in social media before, and has in most cases, completely missed the mark. Google Buzz, however, some felt, had/has promise. At the very least, it has been regarded as Google’s best attempt at social media to date. While this may be true, I think Google is being awfully Microsoft-esque about it.

There were numerous headlines on blogs and news sites that made claims similar to “Google Buzz: Twitter and Facebook Killer.” This couldn’t be further from the truth.

There are three major flaws to Google Buzz, right out of the gate:

1. You have to be a Gmail user. Lame. Admittedly, I’m a Gmail user, but – and this is a big but – I do not give it out freely and I certainly don’t want to just so I can use this service. I’m convinced I’m not the only one that feels this way. One of the greatest things about Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn is that they have established their network around the concept of a profile instead of an email address.
2. Google has completely disregarded people’s desire for privacy by making you follow all of your Gmail contacts automatically as soon as you sign up for the service. On top of the fact that you may not want to follow all of these people right out of the gate, Google ruins it even more by displaying the people you follow on your public profile without so much as a mention that they are going to do so. For more on this read this great article by Business Insider: WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw
3. Google is exposing your home address. And you probably didn’t even know it. Sure, when you’re on your iPhone or other smartphone and you’re playing with Google Buzz it asks you if you are okay with letting Google Buzz use your current location; but I don’t think most people realize that Google is going to take that location and turn it into an address. I know I didn’t really think of it that way at first; my initial thought was that it would just be a general proximity, whoops. I looked at all the buzz activity that was near me and discovered that I could stalked by just about anyone who wanted to, if they were so inclined and I decided to actually use Google Buzz. That’s just creepy. No thanks.

Definitely not a Twitter/Facebook killer if you ask me. People already fear Google’s overwhelming ability to invade people’s privacy. With Google Buzz and the unfortunate methods by which Google has released it without being more proactive about protecting people’s privacy, I believe Google has yet again proven that it doesn’t know what the heck it’s doing when it comes to social media. Even Yahoo! got the chance to punch the big kid in the nose, stating on Twitter: “Two years after #Yahoo! launched #Buzz, Google follows suit. Check out the original: http://buzz.yahoo.com/”

This is a situation where Google should learn from it’s “evil-doing” nemesis Microsoft, and listen to Business Insider when they say, “Enough, Google — Just Buy Twitter Already.” Microsoft owns a portion of Facebook - smart, especially considering Facebook is giving even Google a run for it’s money when it comes to daily traffic. If Google really wants to stir up the social media world, they’d invest in a platform that has proven successful already – Twitter.

People Don’t Want or Need Another Social Network

I don’t have the slightest clue how many social networks have been started and/or failed in the last 10 years – and I’m not interested in taking any time to do any research on the matter, either. I do know this, though, of all the networks out there, only three really seem to have been successful enough to find their way into smaller communities like Lubbock.

See, in Lubbock, I am given a front-seat view of which trends will stick around and which will die. I consider the local adoption of new technology a good way to read the pulse of the long-term potential of a new thing. Sure, the Texas Tech students jump on the bandwagon early with a lot of things. But the business owners, working professionals, and the stay-at-home parents are usually very late to the party. Twitter has already passed the peak of media promotion, and yet, there are still numerous people in Lubbock that don’t even know how it works or what it’s all about. They’ve heard of it. They’re learning about it, and they are joining the party, but we are well past the curve compared to bigger metropolitan areas. The same goes for LinkedIn. Facebook caught on quite early though.

When I talk to my clients about social media, I can mention companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (and in that order) and generally get at least an acknowledgement of having heard the names. If I mention Google Buzz, I suspect I won’t find anyone that has even heard of it for at least the next 3 months (unless they are friend or in the industry). To me, that is the measure of a social media success – how fast the normally late-adopters join the party.

People are already worn out by the existing social networks. Google has arrived late to the party, and not in the “guy that shows up just in time to get ready for the after-party” kind of way either. Google has arrived when all the cool kids have already left for the after-party and now they look like a big dork.

Overall, my prediction for Google Buzz: yet another Google social media fail. Unless, of course, they make some drastic changes and/or I’ve completely missed something. What are your thoughts? Have you messed with Google Buzz yet? Do you think it will kill Twitter/Facebook?

Chris Brogan is a highly respected social media veteran; he has posted a great video of a discussion about social media between himself and Joe Sorge, who runs AJ Bomers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a few other restaurants in town.

Original post by Chris Brogan here
Direct link to the video here

Restaurants, Bars and Social Media – A Match Made in Heaven

Built by Twitter

Joe Sorge, in the video, matter-of-factly proclaims, “AJ Bombers was built by Twitter.” He explains that AJ Bombers and some of the other restaurants and bars he runs owe most if not all of their success to the power of Twitter. He uses Twitter to promote specials, and to promote his other restaurants for those people that may not want to come out to AJ Bombers that night.

Social Media Promotion Ideas

• First, make sure you include your Twitter address everywhere your name appears: menus, blackboards, websites (where you have a link to your Twitter and Facebook pages), Facebook pages (and you should put a link to your Facebook page on your Twitter page), put it everywhere.
• Offer a prize for people who follow you. For example: “Follow us by 5pm cst to be entered to win a free dinner for two on us!”
• Promote a Twitter-only special.
• Promote a Facebook-only special.
• Ask followers for feedback on something specific. You could ask them if they liked the new menu items, or if they would like to see a particular band come and play.
• Promote a happy-hour event, a new or returning band. The key here is to make these different each time. If you promote the same thing every day, people will tune you out.
• “Twitter Tuesday” is an easy to remember slogan that can be very powerful to use
• Use your businesses name as a #hashtag and encourage everyone to use it. Put a monitor up on the wall in your location and stream mentions of your businesses so that everyone in the place can keep up while they are there.

Your Own Social Media Community

A really cool way to encourage a community following via Twitter for AJ Bombers was to let people put “Twitter graffiti” on the walls and tables of the bar. People wrote their Twitter names and all sorts of self-promotion, names like @ironcupcakemike and @jungbow are all over the walls at AJ Bombers further engraving the concept of the tight-knit community of people that have been or regularly go to AJ Bombers.

If you aren’t comfortable letting people write on your walls, find some other way to encourage your patrons to connect with each other outside of your location. A great way to do this is to come up with interesting to-dos on Foursquare – a new social media tool designed specifically for the purpose of connecting with other people in the same geographic area. Come up with Foursquare Mayor Specials and promote them on Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.

Interact, Involve, Improve

The critical factor to successfully building a social media community is to make sure you reach out to your customers. Ask them questions. Thank them when they mention your business. Give them helpful suggestions. And even more importantly, listen to what they are saying. Involve them in your future planning; what items should you put on your menu, what specials they would like to see, etc. Improve you business by interacting with your community, involving them in the future success of your business.

Not Just Food Service

Retailers, hair and nail salons, department stores, grocery stores, even specialty designers can take advantage of forming an online community using social media tools. Take this example of Rebecca Minkoff, a designer and founder of Rebecca Minkoff handbags. She posted this message to Twitter:

And 3 minutes later she posted this message to Twitter:

Considering the fact that most of her items sell between the $300 and $500 price, she was able to produce at least $750 in sales (minimum) in a span of 3 minutes. That’s the power of Twitter and social networks.

What About You? How Are You Building Your Online Community?

Have some other creative ways you’ve seen Twitter/Facebook used to generate business through the use of a community? Add to the conversation in the comments below.

In a recession-driven economy, when other competitors are cutting back on their marketing plans because they are costing them too much money, you can take advantage of their slow-down by increasing your efforts – and with these free ideas, you can do it without spending any more money.

1) Start a Blog

If you do, or if you don’t have a website, a blog is a great way to provide useful information to your existing and prospective customers – or just people that may be interested in your business or industry. Blogs are powerful tools that search engines love; when they are updated frequently. Dread the idea of having to write? No problem, if you can at least come up with useful topic suggestions, you can outsource the writing to  a copywriter that will turn your topic ideas into blog posts (this part wouldn’t be free, but it would still be worth it if you hate writing).

Great resources for learning about starting a blog:

• Problogger
• Blogussion
• Copyblogger

Places to find an inexpensive copywriter (or just Google ‘copywriter’):

• Writers on Guru.com
• Writers on oDesk.com

2) Join Social Networks

Unless you’ve been locked away in a time capsule, you’ve heard about social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Even if you don’t quite understand their usefulness for your specific business at this point, join the networks anyway and start listening to what your customers and prospective customers are saying about your industry and about things in general. Learn what they like, what they don’t like, and modify your marketing approaches accordingly. Then, when you see an opportunity present itself, start engaging people through the networks.

3) Make Sure you’re listed on Local Search Engines

Sure, everyone knows that being at the top of Google is the holy grail of business. But many businesses don’t realize they have the ability to control how they show up in the local searches (these are different than regular search results listings) as well. You know, where they list multiple businesses in the area on a map (do a search for your business with your city name after it and you should see what I’m talking about if you don’t know already). Google, Yahoo!, and Bing all offer this ability; if you’re not taking steps to make sure you show up in these results the right way, you’re taking the chance of letting something else control it (i.e. that misprinted phone-book listing from 3 years ago that you can’t seem to get the phone book company to fix).

• Google Local Business Center
• Yahoo! Local Listings
• Bing Local Listing Center

4) Give Something Free, Volunteer or Perform Pro-Bono Work for Non-Profits

One of the best ways to get your name into the local community is to provide your services and/or products for free to local non-profits. Most non-profits are managed by a board of directors which typically consists of local community leaders and business owners – people that would be great for spreading the word about your business! We all know how great a personal recommendation from a friend is. Imagine the influx of business you would receive if a respected city-council person told their friends about your wonderful catering services or how knowledgeable you are in your field because they saw you in action at the last charity luncheon.

5) Incentive Programs for Current Customers

Word-of-Mouth is by far the greatest weapon in the marketing arsenal – for better or worse. It has been said that a happy customer will tell 3-5 people and an unhappy customer will tell the world (or something like that). Both have incredibly lasting effect on the success/failure of your business. Encourage the happy customers to do more of the talking by doing two things: 1) be awesome at what you do, and 2) give customers that have actually paid for your product or service an exclusive incentive to promote your business. Send a direct mail piece only to them, or an email that is only for them, and if you have the technical wherewithal, setup a login only page on your website for them to access and get more information about the incentive program.

6) Setup Google Analytics and Quantcast Tracking on your Website

It’s incredibly difficult to organize a successful marketing campaign when you don’t know how your customers are finding you now. When you have information about where they come from, how they heard about you, and what demographic sub-group they are from, your marketing campaigns can be markedly improved. Both Google Analytics and Quantcast are free services that provide more data than the average business would ever have the ability to consume about their customers and prospective customers that visit their website and/or blog.

• Google Analytics
• Quantcast

7) Setup a Callfire or Similar Phone Call Tracking Service

Phone book companies may have tried to sell you on tracking numbers, you may have even bought one; what if you have a listing or ad in multiple categories in the phone book, that one number doesn’t help you know which ad is actually generating the most calls. With a service like Callfire, you are able to setup an inexpensive tracking number – both local and toll-free numbers are available – for ALL of your individual marketing pieces. This will give you incredible insight on which promotional products, billboard ads, newspaper ads, social media campaigns, etc are actually generating calls to your business.

• Callfire Call Tracking

BONUS: What are your ideas?

Seven is a fairly short list. What FREE marketing ideas do you have or have you implemented successfully? Add them in the comments below.

A good friend of mine who also happens to be an up-and-coming MMA insider, has recently started actively using Twitter – partly, I claim, because of my constant prodding. He brought up an interesting point today: should you use “teaser” tweets to get people interested in something you are working on? Or are teaser tweets simply an annoyance in the already clogged data stream that is Twitter?

Personally, I don’t like teaser tweets, simply because I value my time dearly. I want to read what the people I follow on Twitter have to say – if I didn’t, I wouldn’t follow them, but I don’t enjoy reading messages that don’t carry much meaning, which, in my opinion is typically where teaser tweets get categorized.

I am an instant gratification type of person – if I don’t get it right now, I probably won’t get it. My wife accuses me of this all the time – I’m impulsive, I’ll admit it. I’m impulsive in both directions, though. If I want something bad enough, I get it right then. However, on the opposite hand, if I don’t get something right then, I tend to believe “it wasn’t meant to be,” and/or “I obviously don’t want it bad enough to actually get it,” so I typically let that thing fall off of my radar – at least for a while.

This is particularly true for information/news/blog posts. If it isn’t available right now, I am not (typically) going to go to the effort to setup a reminder for myself to catch it when it becomes available later.

That’s me, though. What do you think? Are teaser tweets a good idea, or a bad one? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

You wouldn’t go to a party with duct tape on your mouth, so why would you make your Twitter account private?

Twitter is a social media network. Granted, social can mean a private social club, but that isn’t what Twitter is all about. Twitter is about connecting with the world, whether that’s people in your local neighborhood, or people across the planet.

It’s about being approachable, not snobbish

That’s right, I said snobbish. I think people that have private Twitter accounts are snobs. They think that the conversations they have with their “friends” on Twitter are too exclusive to share with the world.

If you’re on Twitter, you’re theoretically there to take part in the community Twitter has created. The concept of sharing information, resources, and bits of life is the foundation of Twitter’s success. If everyone suddenly decided to make their accounts private, the success of Twitter would come to a screeching halt.

For work groups, private accounts do make sense

Okay, so there is one good reason I can come up with for people to have a private Twitter account – if they are using Twitter to communicate within a work group. If your private account falls into this category, then apologies for calling you a snob.

If your organization is using Twitter in a work group, I would actually be intrigued to see what impact it is having on productivity. Is it helping with productivity, or is it hurting? Do your employees like using it, or do they simply revert back to traditional “get up and go talk to the person” actions?

What do you think?

Do you use Twitter with a private account? If so, tell me why, maybe I’m completely off-base with this snob-thing. Do you agree with me? Do you think people with private Twitter accounts come off as snobbish? Let me know in the comments below.

Social media is quickly moving beyond the realm of “buzz” and is being recognized as a marketing landscape game-changer. Twitter has exploded, and Facebook had more traffic on Christmas day 2009 than Google did. To survive in this new marketing world, you better know how to navigate it’s waters.

The Power of Twitter

Twitter has become a powerful medium through which people all over the world are connecting to each other for a multitude of reasons. It has become the pulse of the online community – and indirectly the offline community. People are using Twitter as their up-to-the minute news source; getting all of their information about current events in a real-time stream of data that keeps them so informed that the only ones that know more than them are the ones reporting the news from the trenches. It is used as a stock-ticker, with people following financial institutions the provide real-time tweets about specific stocks. It is used in countless other ways.

Why Care?

With over 18 million adults in the US alone who access Twitter on any platform (web, desktop app, iPhone app, Blackberry, etc) on at least a monthly basis in 2009 – and a predicted 26 million by year-end 2010 – the numbers alone should be enough to care. But beyond the numbers is the powerful grassroots environment that give Twitter is foundational strength. By merging the best form of marketing a company could ask for (word-of-mouth) with a streamlined online resource (Twitter), companies that choose to ignore the social media up-and-comer will in the end be ignored themselves by the market.

By listening to what people are saying about you and/or your organization on Twitter you position yourself to learn from their criticisms and raves to improve your message, position, brand, etc. When you proactively engage your customers and prospects as they raise questions regarding you and/or your organization, they realize that you have enough interest in their concerns to listen to them and sometimes, that in and of itself is enough to turn a negative customer into a raving fan.

Find Out What People Are Saying

Twitter offers an incredibly powerful resource in it’s built-in, real-time search engine (http://search.twitter.com). Perhaps said best by Twitter itself:

Every public update sent to Twitter from anywhere in the world 24/7 can be instantly indexed and made discoverable via our newly launched real-time search. What was that loud noise outside your apartment? Did you just feel an earthquake? What do people think about your company, your product, or your city? With this newly launched feature, Twitter has become something unexpectedly important—a discovery engine for finding out what is happening right now.

Join The Conversation

People are probably talking about your organization/business, and if they’re not, they are talking about your competition, or they are undoubtedly talking about your industry. Listen to the pulse of those that are broadcasting their voice about you, your competition, your industry. Proactively engage the discussion participates, and learn how best to serve your market. Offer discounts via Direct Messages to people that have expressed positive comments on Twitter. Offer to do whatever is necessary to make right a wronged customer – again via Direct Message. Don’t directly engage specific customers via the public timeline as it may come of as self-serving, send them private, direct messages instead.

Have Class. Don’t Say Things You’ll Regret

When you speak, make sure you do what you can not to offend. Here are some resources for Twitter etiquette:

• A Brief and Informal Twitter Etiquette Guide – Chris Brogan
• Twitter Etiquette: Five Dos and Don’ts – CIO Magazine
• 10 Twitter Etiquette Rules – Norman Birnbach

Having the right conversion strategy will help you attain your online marketing goals. In the list below, I have outlined the key areas to focus on with websites that have non-ecommerce related conversion goals in mind, for example, getting a customer to call your business from your website, or fill in a form. I look forward to the ensuing conversations.

The following information will consist of 7 key areas in the online marketing world, each with its own sub-set group of strategies to consider.

1. Research
   1. Analytics – Make Full Use of the Power of the Web
   2. Keyword Research – Don’t Assume You Know What People Search For
   3. Customer Surveys – Straight From The Source
2. Landing/Funnel Pages/Post-Click-Marketing
   1. Conversion Goals – Knowing What You Want To Happen Is Half The Battle
   2. Predictive Paths – Customers Don’t Always Know What They Are Looking For, Help Them Find It
   3. A/B Testing – Just Because Tim Responded To Your Site, Doesn’t Mean Sally Will
3. Social Networks
   1. When, How, and Why to use Social Networks
   2. Facebook – Gaining top-of-mind awareness
   3. Twitter – Dialog (starting/maintaining conversations with customers)
   4. LinkedIn – Establishing/maintain professionalism and credibility
4. Usability/Design
   1. User Analysis – Understanding Your Site’s Demographics
   2. Flash vs. JavaScript – Does Your Site Really Need To Use Flash?
   3. Color – Black on White or White on Black? How To Use Color Appropriately
   4. Fonts/Typography – Using the Right Font At The Right Time
   5. Quality Assurance Testing – Just Because You Use Firefox 3.0 Doesn’t Mean Everyone Else Does
5. Search Engine Optimization
   1. Domain Name Research – Finding the Perfect Domain Name
   2. Content Development – If You Don’t Already Know: Content IS King
   3. Meta Tags – Don’t Forget About These Guys
   4. Conversion Tracking – You’ve Set Your Goals, Now Make Sure You Are Attaining Them
   5. Hiring An SEO Firm – What To Watch For, What Questions To Ask, and More
6. Search Engine Marketing
   1. Keyword Research – Sometimes You Have To Know Which Words NOT To Use
   2. Ad Relevance – If Your Ad Is For Shoes, Your Site Better Be Too
   3. A/B Testing – Some Ads Work Better Than Others
   4. Quality Score – Google’s Way of Making Sure Your Ads Don’t Suck
   5. Conversion Tracking – From Ad Click To Customer Action, You Should Know Who Does What
   6. Hiring A Pay-Per-Click Management Firm – What To Watch For, What Questions To Ask, and More
7. Lead Management & Customer Service
   1. Lead Management Software (CRM) – What To Look For in LMS/CRM Vendors
   2. Email Newsletters – Do It Yourself Tools To Make It Easy
   3. Support Ticket Systems – Customers Inevitably Will Need Help With Something, Give It To Them
   4. Online Chat Systems – Increase Retention, Improve Time-To-Revenue Cycles

Those of us that are in the internet and social media industries recognize the added value to our interactions that sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc bring to us on a daily, hourly, or every minute or so basis. My soon-to-be son, Caden, has his own blog; he is working on his first book about “The Solar System” and he has employed the help of 3 other classmates (employees as he calls them) to work on different aspects of the project; he has his own cell phone (though, not an iPhone); he plays guitar hero better than me; and by the way, he’s 8. Even being as “connected” as I am, he still amazes me. This probably doesn’t really surprise many though, as the recent ads by Microsoft have demonstrated the adept nature of our youngsters already.

What should be taken into consideration by everyone in the industry, however, is the influx of so-called boomers. According to a study conducted by The NPD Group published in September, 2008,

61% of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video (e.g. YouTube and TV network[s]), while 41% had visited social networks (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace).

This information alone may surprise some people, but it becomes even more enlightening when cross-compared to data put together by Pew Internet that indicates the number of boomer users that are on the web has increased from 40% in 2000 to 74% in 2008, <5% had broadband in 2000, whereas 62% had it in 2008, and 0% used wireless connections in 2000 and 43% connect wirelessly now.

The web is no longer a place for young people to rule. Within the last decade, boomers have proven that they should be taken into consideration in both the offline and online realms. Retailers can no longer afford to focus 80-90% of their resources on their retail front; B2C and B2B companies alike must recognize the growing demand for rich content on the web. Perhaps one of the most important factors to consider is that 81% of boomers that use the Internet use it to research products before they make a purchase, and 70% of boomers that use the Internet use it to buy products online.

This affects everyone. Designers, developers, retailers, businesses, schools, non-profit organizations, etc are ALL affected by this. All design and development should take into consideration that all demographics are now on the web, not just young users – even social media sites.

The companies that will make it through this recession are the companies that realize two key things: 1) that the companies that continue/increase their current marketing/advertising budgets will thrive; and 2) that the web is the new store front. It is quickly replacing the ever important mantra of “location, location, location.” Though location is still very important to business (especially retail/restaurants); it cannot go without consideration that people don’t just drive around to find things anymore. They simply Google it, or now, they may even Tweet it and get better information that even Google can provide.

Today provided a great example of this: Lynne and Caden were going to play tennis this afternoon after school. The court they first went to was full and Lynne called me to find the nearest open court. Within 60 seconds, I had a Google map listing every tennis court in Lubbock and the surrounding area. I was able to give her 3 locations to try, and within minutes. Another example: a few weeks back, my parents came to Lubbock to meet Lynne’s parents, and while we were out driving around town, we needed directions to a local winery. I opened Google Maps on my iPhone and within seconds I was routing our fastest path to Llano Winery.

The companies/organizations that do everything they can to empower their web presence will be the companies that we’ll be doing business with in the future. The ones that subscribe to the philosophy that it’s still business as usual are setting themselves up for failure. The Internet is officially a family venture, and it’s obviously not “just hype.”