seobridges.com

In this scenario, Facebook is Tiffany—the popular cheerleader—and the new Facebook “Send” button is what it’s wearing. Klout is that nerdy student who knows everything about everyone. Klout knows who’s talking to whom, what they’re talking about, and who’s listening.

Yesterday, a day after Facebook introduced the new “Send” button, Klout rolled out the beta version of the New Klout. Google “Facebook’s new send button,” and you’ll get more than 10 million results. Google “Klout Redesign,” and you get less than One million.

For those caught up in the gossip of Facebook’s new “Send” button, you may have missed the news about Klout’s redesign.

Here are some new Klout fatures:

Perks – Influencers will be invited to take part in special offers they can then tweet about or share on their Facebook pages. Though, one’s acceptance of those offers or decision to talk about those offers does not effect one’s Klout score.

Lists – Create lists of people to better watch their Klout scores.

Influencers – See what topics anyone is influential about, who influences whom, who influences you, and whom you influence. (This is one Klout needs to work on, as a person is not necessarily influenced by a person just because they thank them for a mention or a retweet.)

Comparison – Compare your Klout score to anyone else’s or even those of two other people to give you a chance to study how to raise your Klout score.

They’ll roll-out more features, and they’re open to receiving feedback, so check out their blog and chime in.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

#QR#Codes connect print media to digital media by allowing smart phone users to scan them like bar codes that send them to a Web page. When programming them, consider your audience’s whereabouts and needs. They’re most likely not at home or near a computer. They’re probably at a bookstore, library, book reading, or coffeehouse.

Ideas of how to use your QR Code:

1. Offer online coupons.

2. Send thank you message for attending an event and offer coupons for their next purchase.

3. Offer coupons only applicable for purchases at that event.

4. Post a video or podcast about you, your book, or places or characters in your book.

5. Post a book trailer.

6. Send an SMS message thanking readers for buying your book.

7. Set-up a Web scavenger hunt or other mobile game.

8. Set-up an app that updates readers about upcoming speaking engagements, book signings, or other events.

9. Offer coupons to restaurants, movies, or other places.

10. Point them to your Facebook fan page, Twitter feed, or other social media site.

11. Embed them throughout your book. Point them to longer URL in your footnotes or endnotes.

12. Point them to quotes or short reviews.

13. Help potential readers purchase your book online.

14. Preset it to go to a video of an event you’re at, and upload a video later.

15. Offer a recommended reading list.

16. Offer your newsletter.

17. Offer video interviews about you.

18. Embed your contact information. Ask readers to send comments or questions.

19. Set-up an augmented reality webcam of a weekly book chat.

20. Set-up your own social networking site.

21. Set-up a survey and offer coupons for completing it.

22. Set-up a questions page and answer questions in upcoming video chats.

23. Set-up a photo sharing site and upload photos from an event.

24. Allow your readers to sign-up for group messaging and schedule group chats.

25. Offer Groupons for purchasing your book.

Can you think of other book marketing ideas for QR codes?

Stay social my friends,

Erick

In order to understand the future of social media, one must understand the future of technology. Check out this video, which shows how Pranav Mistry’s SixthSense integrates the digital and physical worlds.

Using SixthSense, I foresee we will point to an article in a magazine and “Like” it. Two people will “friend” each other on Facebook or follow each other on Twitter by shaking hands. People will converse, one will mention they enjoy Italian food, the other will mention a great Italian restaurant three blocks away, and the first will “Like” it by smiling.

The aesthetic value of social media (interdependent value based on physical interactions) has existed since the world’s first social interaction. Current technologies (Facebook’s “Like” button and Google’s +1 button) rely on an augmented value of social media (value based on the use of artificial intelligence). SixthSense will integrate these two values by encouraging people to exchange ideas and emotions through human interactions they can further exchange in the digital world.

Think of it this way, when investing money, it is better to invest in that which gives the greater return over the longer period of time. Apply that to relationships. There is usually greater emotional return in developing relationships with people we interact with in the physical world. For that reason, one should invest more time in the aesthetic value of social media than in the augmented value of social media.

In other words, get out there, shake some hands, and smile.  You’ll add greater value to your life and the lives of those around you.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

It’s not how many people read your blog, hear you speak at a conference, become your Facebook friends/fans or Twitter followers, or anything else. The basic element of social media is that element of social media that allows social media to exist. Or at least to function properly.

If you meet someone, tell that person where you work or what you do, see that person a week later, and they forget what you told them, are you offended? Probably not. If you meet someone, tell that person where you went to college or the name of your favorite sports team, see that person a week later, and they forget what you told them, are you offended? Probably not. If you meet someone, tell them your name, see them a week later, and they forget your name, are you offended? Not necessarily. However, if that person forgets your name more than once, you might get the impression that if the basic element of your identity (your name) doesn’t matter to that person, you don’t matter to that person.

The ability to identify with one another’s likes, interests, personalities, and more allows us to build relationships. A person’s name is the basic element of a person’s identity. Therefore, since social media is about building relationships, names are the basic element of social media.

Tips to help you remember names:

• Ask them to repeat it.
• Ask them to spell it.
• Repeat it.
• Spell it out loud.
• If it’s an unusual name, ask them to pronounce it. Then, repeat it until you pronounce it correctly.
• Listen actively. (Don’t think about what you’re going to say. Maintain eye contact, nod, and repeat what they say to yourself.)
• Develop a pneumonic device.
• If it’s a client/customer, look at something with their name on it (credit card, document they signed, etc.) and make a mental note of it.
• If all else fails, and you do forget, ask them.
• If you’re uncomfortable asking them, ask someone else.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

Twitter tools come and go. There are some worth using and others worth no more than a cursory glance.  Throughout the last few years, we’ve said goodbye to several Twitter tools, and we’ve said hello to new ones.  Here’s a top ten list of great Twitter tools worth checking out:

ManageFlitter – (Paid/Free) Find out who on your list doesn’t follow you, hasn’t tweeted in 30 days or more, and more.

The Archivist – Enter a keyword or username to discover stats on top users, tweet vs. retweet, top words, top URL, and source.

Back Tweets – (Paid) Discover how influential a Twitter user is, how influential a certain message or keyword is, and more.

TweetStats – Enter a username, click “Graph my Tweets,” and discover how often a person tweets, the time of day they tweet, whom they interact with, and more.

TwitterCal – Add events to your Google calendar just by sending a direct message to @gcal.

Trendsmap – See a real time map of popular terms on Twitter according to location.

Twingr – Create a micro-blogging community for you and your friends, co-workers, or like-minded tweeters.

SocialOomph – (Paid/Free) Schedule tweets, track keywords, view mentions and retweets, create a Twitter search engine, and more.

Hootsuite – (Paid/Free) A social media dashboard that integrates Twitter, Facebook, Linked and more (includes analytics).

Klout – Enter a Twitter username to discover how influential that person is, what kind of a tweeter they are, the topics they tweet about the most, and more.

Are there any other Twitter tools you would add to this list?  I’d love to know.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

Think of social media monitoring tools like garages where you can store social media boxes (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). You no longer need to worry about outside elements, but the social media garage does not take away the social media clutter.

Let me explain. When I move, which is sometimes more often than Jason Bourne, I often think I should list specific items in those boxes. I never do. Even though my boxes are in a garage, their location does not solve the problem of needing to dig through them to find specific items. The location of the boxes just makes the boxes easier to find.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge proponent of social media monitoring tools. If you would have asked me a year ago about the future of social media, I would have said social media monitoring sites need to offer ways for people to listen and respond. While that is still true, another component of the future of social media is apps for smart phones that use voice recognition technology to allow people to update their social media status by talking.

If I wanted to go George Orwell on you, I’d blog about technology that allows people to update their status just by thinking. That technology will happen. For now and the foreseeable future, apps that allow people to update their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media statuses by talking is the future of social media.

Voice recognition technology has been around for at least 25 years, companies have integrated it with the World Wide Web for at least the past ten years, and those and other companies have integrated that technology with smart phones and social media sites for the past few years.

So, why do I say this technology is the future of social media instead of just telling you it exists? Because while that technology exists, other technologies, including social media sites, social media aggregation sites, and social media monitoring sites should integrate with those voice recognition apps to offer more seamless ways for people to listen, respond, and integrate with social media.

Voice recognition apps that integrate with smart phones and social media sites:

Optimus 7 by LG Shoutout by Promptu Vlingo Lighthouse SQ7 MID IM+ by Shapeservices

Blogs I’ve written on social media monitoring:

The Omission Factor of Social Media Monitoring Branding Your Identity with Integrity

Playing the Social Media Market Identifying Your Audience’s Common Denominator

The Value of Monitoring the Social Web: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

Monitoring the ROI of Social Media Marketing

Using Google Analytics as a Social Media Monitoring Tool

Listening to the Conversational Web Techrigy Allows You to Play e-God (Techrigy’s Alterian)

Stay social my friends,

Erick

Authors, book reviews are a great way to let people get to know more about you and/or your book(s). Readers, if you’re an aspiring author, there are places online where you can post book reviews; and they’re a great way to let people get to know more about you. Here’s a short list of sites where you can read and post book reviews.

Amazon – For you readers who want to let people get to know you even better, Amazon lets you post video reviews. You can go through and edit your reviews at any time, and Google indexes reviews.

Goodreads – Whether you’re an author, aspiring author, or an avid reader, this social networking site should be one of your big three (Facebook and Twitter being the other two).  Not only can you write reviews, but you can also follow people and their reviews.

Barnes and Noble – They offer editorial and customer reviews.  Rather than only allowing you to give books a bulk rating, you can rate books according to 15 categories. They don’t connect with any type of social networking sites, but Google indexes reviews.

Powell’s Books – Along with editorial reviews, you can add reviews. The bad news is only editorial reviews connect with social networking sites. The good news is Powell’s Books connects with several social networking sites, along with Facebook and Twitter.

There are other Book Review sites, but those are the best ones where writers can market their books online for free and aspiring authors can begin marketing themselves. I’ll give honorable mention to RedRoom, but RedRoom is to GoodReads what Bing is to Google (a nuisance).

Stay social my friends,

Erick

Earlier this week I went to a client’s house to discuss social media with him and his wife. When they asked me if I would come over, they gave me some days and times that would work best. They said after eight in the evening would be best because they put their kids to bed then. That’s out of my normal consulting hours, but since they’re also friends I gladly obliged.

Toward the end of the night, I told them I appreciated how they raised their children. I appreciated that they made sure their children went to bed by eight. They told me they needed that time alone with each other.

Whether your children go to bed by eight or you allow them to stay up as late as you want or you have children is not the issue. The issue is time management. Do you manage your time, or do you allow people and circumstances to manage your time?

It’s easy to get caught up in social media and lose track of time. It’s easy to go from Twitter to Facebook to other social media sites, checking and replying to messages.

Sometimes, I Tweet people, and I get a response right away; other times, I don’t get a response for several hours or a few days. Sometimes I respond to people right away, and other times I don’t. When it comes to time management, of course there’s an app for that. When it comes to self-discipline, there’s no app for that.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

#Social#Media #1984

I have a #Facebook account for my business and social acquaintances, and then I have another account for my friends and family.  Last night, someone unfriended me on my personal account.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a comment on a friend’s wall, and then a friend of his “Liked” my comment.  The friend who “Liked” my comment did not write a comment or e-mail to me, rather they followed their “Like” by sending me a friends request.  Again, no ‘Hi, I really liked your comment and thought we could chat’ or any other message.  I accepted their friend request and sent them an e-mail saying I looked forward to getting to know them.  Last night, after six days of friendship via Facebook without an e-mail or comment from them, they unfriended me.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell wrote of Newspeak—a government manufactured language, such as the word CrimeThink, meant to cause the deterioration of independent thought.  No, this person “Liking” my comment and sending me a friend request did not signify the deterioration of independent thought; though it did represent the deterioration of the value of communication and relationships in our society.

While we haven’t quite entered Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four, and we don’t yet speak a government manufactured language meant to cause the deterioration of independent thought, the more we allow our relationships to diminish into a series of “Likes,” friend requests, check-ins, and other clicks of the mouse the more in danger we become of the extinction of communication and relationships.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

In this video Brian Solis talks with Guy Kawasaki about his new book, “Echantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions,” in which Kawasaki uses the examples of Virgin America, Apple, and Zappos to talk about enchantment being about emotion. He says the three pillars of enchantment are that a company must be likeable, trustworthy, and have a great product, service, or idea.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

Click the book for more info!