From Next Web -

I’ve been in the social media space now for quite a few years and I meet with at least 5 companies each week who have understood the importance of utilizing social media for their businesses but are still afraid of entering their brands into the new media age.

What are they worried about? Here are the top five concerns that I’ve heard from executives and my response to them:

1) They’re afraid they’ll lose control of their brand and open themselves up to negative feedback.

When you open a business and start marketing your services and exposing your brand to others, people will start talking about your brand. And this is what you wanted right? This is why you exposed them to your brand in the first place. People are going to be talking about your brand no matter what.

I’ve been in the social media space now for quite a few years and I meet with at least 5 companies each week who have understood the importance of utilizing social media for their businesses but are still afraid of entering their brands into the new media age.

What are they worried about? Here are the top five concerns that I’ve heard from executives and my response to them:

2) They’re afraid they’ll lose control of their brand and open themselves up to negative feedback.

When you open a business and start marketing your services and exposing your brand to others, people will start talking about your brand. And this is what you wanted right? This is why you exposed them to your brand in the first place. People are going to be talking about your brand no matter what.

The question is:Do you want to be a part of the dialogue or do you want to just play ostrich and ignore what people are saying? If a person is dissatisfied with your services, do you prefer he opens up this discussion in a “I hate ” group opened up by another hater or do you prefer that he come to your page and post the complaint there allowing you to respond appropriately and even perhaps win him back as a client?

Social media didn’t create the dissatisfied customer – it only allowed him a platform to express his frustration. If you don’t give him the stage to speak, he will do it elsewhere and believe me, it will cause a great deal more damage to your brand if you’re not there to respond and open to criticism.

When we speak of social media, we speak of conversational marketing – listening before selling, opening a dialogue with the user and not just throwing a blinking banner in his face. Brands need to make that switch in their heads and understand that social media is SOCIAL. Many conversations will be positive and you will have these nice messages recorded for everyone to see publicly – your bosses, your investors, your customers and potential customers:

Some conversations may be negative but these conversations should be seen as welcomed opportunities to regain customers. If you utilize social media effectively and are alert to what people are saying about you online, then you can also respond in a timely and intelligent manner. When you’re dazed and confused and too afraid to see what people may be saying about you, that’s when the conversation can get out of control and your branding and positioning can go out the window. Companies who understand social media know that by using social media they are increasing the number of positive responses to their brand and making sure to control and decrease the negative responses by showing people that they actually care about what they have to say.

3) They don’t understand it

Companies fear social media because they don’t understand what to do with it, what to talk about, who to turn to. They often time try to do it in-house without the appropriate guidance, fail miserably and then say that social media doesn’t work. Don’t hire your friend’s son who is very active on Facebook to do your marketing strategy for you. Just like you wouldn’t fix your car in-house or do your PR in-house, neither should you start doing social media on your own without having a social media guru at your side. And when I say guru, I mean someone who has had a good track record in creating successful social media campaigns for other companies in the past. Once you have such a guide at your side and you begin to understand what social media is all about, then you will not be afraid of it anymore and you will start to recognize the infinite number of amazing opportunities that social media will open your brand to.

4) The effectiveness of social media is hard to measure

Since social media is still in it’s diapers, it took a little while for tools tracking the ROI on social media campaigns to emerge, however today we have a suite of different tools that allow companies to track even the most minute details in the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.

Tools like Google Analytics which allow us to track the traffic coming into our site as well as where it’s coming from has existed for years. Google alerts which allow us to see the blog posts and other sites linking back to our site have also existed for a long time. And we are now seeing an influx of services that not only allow you to easily monitor what people are saying about your brand but also see who are the top influencers, opinion leaders in your industry and more. There are numerous services that allow you to see the top influencers on twitter such as: Twitter grader and twitter analytics services such as Twitalyzer . Facebook also provides its own insights to page admins and enables admins to view information regarding the demographics of their fans and also how many interactions, comments, wall posts, etc. were found on the page. The more we learn about social media, the more tools we get to measure it.

Not only are our efforts in the social media realm measurable but social media campaigns also allow us to target specific campaigns to specific niches like no other media today.

5) They’re afraid that employees will be on Facebook and twitter chatting all day.

Facebook today has around 350 million users. If Facebook was a nation, it would be the world’s third most populous after China and India. Your employees are there anyway. Why not utilize the fact that they are there to help your cause? When you need to spread the word on Facebook, why not enable your employees to help you or when you finally open that fan page on Facebook, why not allow your employees to become fans and encourage them to take part in your social media activities. Dell for example, who is well known for their great twitter strategy (a strategy which has earned them $6.5 million to date), has around 200 employees working its twitter account, responding to people.

In addition, not allowing your employees to have access to the vast amount of information that can be found on social networks as well as not enabling them to use these networks as research tools nor to network with people in the industry also puts your company at a great disadvantage to your competitors who do allow their employees (and even encourage them) to use social media tools.

6) Social media is costly.

This last fear is not only something that companies should not fear but it is also not true. If you consider the millions of people that you can reach using social media as opposed to the cost of buying an ad on TV or buying a banner, you’ll see that social media is one of the most cost efficient ways of reaching your target audience today.

To anyone who still thinks social media is a fad, WAKE UP. It’s not. Social media is here and it’s here to stay. If you took a look at the latest report that came out of Davos regarding social networks, you’ll see that Facebook is now the second most popular site on the internet after Google and that according to Nielsen since February 2009 people have been spending more time on social-networking sites than on e-mail, and the lead is getting bigger. The question for your brand is no longer whether to be there or not to be there. The question is WHEN will you be there and the longer you keep your head in the ground, the more you’ll lose touch with what’s happening out there in the real world.

Great Ostrich pic credit: http://blog.karmona.com

Tags: brands, social media fears, social media takeover

Google Science and what gets seen.

Reprinted from Mashable. What is it that the web user really sees, and what is it that gets overlooked? This article delves into some of the science of usability.

We already know that Google is obsessed with their own speed and efficiency, but the search giant is also trying to make everybody else faster on the web as well. Google Site Performance, for example, provides tips from Google on how to speed up your website, while Speed Tracer increases the efficiency of web apps by tracking performance.

The company is once again tackling the realm of website efficiency with a new tool that doesn’t track site speed or app performance, but the size of the browser window. The app, Google Browser Size, aims to help website owners solve one of the most fundamental problems in web design: How should I lay out and design my website for higher engagement and conversions?

Browser Size is very simple: It overlays a transparent image on top of any website, displaying what percentage of users (on average) will see your content without scrolling. Because people use various browser settings, monitor sizes and screen resolutions, it can be tough to know when a key button, like a “Donate” or “Subscribe” button, is visible and easily reachable by your users.

On the top and left are numbers depicting the length and width of the screen, in pixels. In the middle you’ll notice an array of colors and percentages. Based on research the company did during the 20 percent time of several engineers, they were able to extrapolate at what pixel height and width Internet surfers could see the page without scrolling, from 99 percent to essentially 0 percent.

What the company did to gather this data is rather fascinating (you can read more about it on the, but the end result is a deceptively useful tool that will really tell you if you’ve designed your website efficiently or if you need to move key buttons around.

Try Browser Size out on your website, and tell us about the results. Will you be changing anything because of this tool? Let us know in the comments.

Linked In Tips by Kawasaki...

Recently saw this over at the LinkedIn FAQ area... There were a few more pertinent to job search, but these were the best tips for Sales and Web Strategy.

5 Profitable Ways to Use LinkedIn - Guy Kawasaki

How can I use LinkedIn to my advantage?

The following text is a blog article titled 'Profitable Ways to use LinkedIn' by Guy Kawasaki. Numbers have been modified to reflect more current membership.

Most people use LinkedIn to 'get to someone' in order to make a sale, form a partnership, or get a job. It works well for this because it is an online network of more than 40 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 170 industries. However, it is a tool that is under-utilized, so I've compiled a top-ten list of ways to increase the value of LinkedIn.

1. Increase your visibility.

By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they're searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results (which is a major plus if you're one of the 67,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.

1. 
   
2. Improve your connectability.

Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it's an executive bio, so include past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.

You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as an attachment.

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3. Improve your Google PageRank.

LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you. To do this, create a public profile and select 'Full View.' Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile's URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web. For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.

3. 
   
4. Enhance your search engine results.

In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like 'My Website', 'My Company,' etc. If you select 'Other', you can modify the name of the link. If you're linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to 'Full View.'

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5. Perform blind, 'reverse,' and company reference checks.

LinkedIn's reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data. Companies will typically check your references before hiring you, but have you ever thought of checking your prospective manager's references? Most interviewees don't have the audacity to ask a potential boss for references, but with LinkedIn you have a way to scope her out.

You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you're interviewing for. Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck 'Current titles only.' By contacting people who used to hold the position, you can get the inside scoop on the job, manager and growth potential. By the way, if using LinkedIn in these ways becomes a common practice, we're apt to see more truthful resumes. There's nothing more amusing than to find out that the candidate who claims to have caused some huge success was a total bozo who was just along for the ride.

Talkshoe on Runner's Podcast

I've wanted to do a local Cincinnati show covering the Runner's Community. Hearing this frequently produced "Ning" podcast effort inspires me to want to forge ahead. This was a Talkshoe group podcast. I listened and it sounded pretty good.

PodCamp Ohio - My 2 Cents...

As an exercise to prepare for Saturday's "What I learned at PodCamp Ohio2," I'm putting to pen the most significant bytes of value and information that I stored away from the day.

First and foremost, I'm glad to be a part of the fraternity/community of podcampers and would like to go on record to say that you can't beat the value of these offline Social Media gatherings with anything else out there.

I was a little confused most of the time trying to figure out which seminar to sit through. There was so much good stuff, that I found myself catching 20 minutes of this one, 15 of that one, half hour of the podcasters, etc. Equally cool was that it was on campus of "The Ohio State University," and the facilities were fantastic---and so was the hospitality. I don't know who came up with the Mex Cuisine, but that was equally excellent.

I'd like to comment briefly on the atmosphere which I liken to almost "fellowship," status. I've not met a nicer group of individuals who seem genuinely interested in everyone else's well being. I guess it goes hand in hand with other Web 2.0 stuff that "free" is okay... although Jason Falls has some great thoughts about why "Free" may not be so good in the end.

Alright, here's what I personally chased around @ Podcamp...Podcast Consumer 101 by Michael Dell ( http://www.mikedell.com/), Creative Commons by Michelle Lentz (http://www.wine-girl.net/), Audacity Hands-On by Lumpy Lemke, Enterprise Blogging by Alison Bolen of SAS Institute, Live Podcast w/The Guys, Why your Digital Sucks w/Michael McDermott of BashFoo, Usability & Utility by Carol Smith of Midwest Research, Recording & Editing by Daniel Lewis (The Ramen Noodle) & Barely, Online Video Distribution with Sheila English, Missed in Digital Revolution w/David Esrati of New Wave, and wouldn't have missed Cliff Ravenscraft of Podcast Answer Man- Getting the Right Equipment "The First Time."

That's who I saw, here's what I learned(abbr.) - I now understand Creative Commons(sorta), Audacity is cool, you can be a "Thought Leader," or "Community Builder," Podcasting is "Flipping Fun," Blog 200 words if blogging everyday --- plus, follow and join blogger conversations, Develop websites in iterations, Optimal web videos are around 90 seconds, If you're not Web 2.0-ing, you're a dinosaur, and finally if you want to do podcasting, call Cliff Ravenscraft. There, that's what I learned at Podcamp Ohio.

I heard this week from Debba Hauppert that Podcamp Pittsburgh is coming up in the fall, and that's two days... Double awesome.

Oh yea, thanks to the Blogger's who told me to take the Websitetology seminar from Dave Esrati which I just got back from... You can quote me, "That was a good tip."

Jim

Social Media Made Easy!

This is a very good demo on the big picture of social media. It doesn't get caught up in the use of which tools are best, or how to use them. It just enlightens as to the power of these new methods of marketing and on-line community building.