The social media marketer must write and distribute authoritative information in order to attract an audience, and then they must continue to write and distribute authoritative information that is useful to their audience’s common denominator. The traditional marketer goes into an established culture, identifies an established common denominator, and integrates their message to appeal to those establishments.  The social media marketer must identify their attracted audience through social media monitoring and set themselves up as being the most useful brand by writing and distributing the most authoritative information.

Since the investment of traditional marketing is to identify with an established audience and appeal to the common denominator of that audience, the return on their investment is that they will become part of that audience.  Since social media marketing requires a social media marketer to attract an audience that can and does change, they must adapt their message to their audience’s whims.  So, what’s the difference in the returns?  Just as the investment of one is established and the other is changing, the return of one is established and the return of the other is changing.

In quantifiable terms, since the traditional marketer identifies an established audience and an established common denominator, the return eventually levels off into a predictable pattern within a set of measurable parameters.  The quantifiable measurement of social media marketing is that just as social media marketing must attract an audience and determine ever-changing common denominators, the return on the investment of social media marketing must be measured according to the whims of people, using social media monitoring.

Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, but in social media marketing the exception to the rule is the rule.

Here’s a few more social media monitoring services.

Infegy

• See who your brand influencers are
• Measure real-time results of any given topic or trend
• Experienced analysts will notify you via e-mail of changes in your brand’s message

Collective Intellect

• snippet-level analysis enables you to determine who your brands key influencers are
• Receive customizable alerts according to predetermined dimensions
• Receive reports that highlight key findings through social media metrics and qualitative analysis

Note: There are videos on their products page.

LogicBowl

• Logicbuzz tracks consumer generated content
• Logicbeep is a real-time online reputation management alert system that is available to any authorized person anywhere
• Logictrends monitors Web trends by monitoring search engines queries across various channels

Stay social,

Erick

ViralHeat

• Discover new Twitter leads and potential Facebook fans
• Follow conversations about your brand or product as they happen
• Set up alerts that allow you to monitor your brand, topic, or product

Crimson Hexagon

• Measures statistical patterns in words used in blogs, forums, Tweets, etc.
• Monitor real-time, global conversations that affect your brand
• Monitor the ROI of online marketing and PR investment

There’s also a video on their site.

Visible Intelligence

• Monitor wikis, video sharing, and custom RSS feeds
• Monitor what people are saying in over 50 languages
• Monitor historical trends going back to 2005

Imagine paying thousands of dollars for an advertisement during the David Letterman Show. You can use a service like Nielsen Rating to conduct a study of your potential and actual audience based on demographics. The problem is that just because a certain population set’s televisions are on doesn’t mean they’re watching or paying attention to the commercial. Web analytics gets a little more personal, in that it not only allows you to monitor the segment of a given population that comes to your website, but you can also monitor things like bounce and click rate. Therein lies the problem that people Web surf like they channel surf. Social media monitoring allows you to identify specific people within a given population who engage with your message, how they engage with your message, whether or not they engage with your competitor’s message, and much more.

Traditional marketing measures potential ROI according to what has and has not worked. Web marketing measures potential ROI according to the Web statistics of anonymous users’ computers. Social media marketing monitors actual ROI according to the ability to engage with one’s audience through the social Web. While all three forms of marketing require financial and time investments, traditional marketing and Web marketing require greater financial investments, whereas social media marketing requires a greater time investment.

In many cases, people are so used to the greater financial investment of traditional and Web marketing that they can’t imagine that free or low-cost social media marketing would have long-term ROI.  Those who are skeptical of the value of using social media marketing must understand that since the values of the investments are different, the returns on those investments are also different.

Come back tomorrow, and I’ll tell you more about those differences.

Stay social,

Erick

Well, now that we have the Social Web, we love to socialize with anyone, anywhere, at any time.  On-line games allow people to compete with one another.  Foursquare is not only a Social Web game, it is a Social Web game that allows people to compete for popularity.  People sign up on Foursquare, go to Foursquare registered venues, and let the world know when they arrive.

In essence, the same things that make “Reality” T.V. shows popular—people’s collective temporary popularity mentality—make Foursquare popular.  Though, just as kids eventually outgrow the need to have the coolest shoe or most popular video game, and the Paparazzi only stalks those stars who subconsciously yearn for mass attention, people on Foursquare will tire of the desire for popularity and the to desire to be followed.

The things that made the 80’s and early 90’s popular faded away, and those fads they made popular faded away.  Right now, online games are popular because “Reality” shows are popular and unemployed people are bored with unemployment.  According to Gallup, the national unemployment rate in Aug. was 9.3% and underemployment was 18.6%.

So, I admit it.  In theory, Foursquare is a good idea.  It fits the basic model of supplying to people what they demand—popularity and a cure for boredom.  When people check in to Foursquare registered spots, they earn points, and those points are redeemable for rewards and popularity.  Though, when people stop demanding popularity, Foursquare will either fade away or they will have to restructure their business model to fit a new fad.

So, Foursquare has its charm, but so did Myspace until Facebook came along.  If Foursquare wants to survive, they need to combine the ideas of Yelp and OpenTable, but don’t make it a popularity contest. Give it another five years and you’ll see.  If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.  But I predict that if they don’t prepare for the collective popularity mentality and boredom factor to fade away, Foursquare will be remembered as the poofy hair of the World Wide Web.

Let me know your thoughts.

Stay Social,

Erick

The Anti-Facebook: Ironically Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is losing popularity with people his age and younger.  Maybe all of those people will make the move to Diaspora.

Google goes on a social networking spree: Due to their dwindling shares in the search market, Google bought SocialDeck, Angstro, Jambool, Slide, and Like.  I wouldn’t mind a Google buy-out.  I hear they pay pretty well.

Apple races Google in the social networking spree: Apple bought Ping and is integrating it with iTunes Genius.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7: The long awaited Windows Phone 7 is off to cell phone makers.

Gmail introduces priority Priority Inbox: Think of this innovative feature as Google mail meets Pandora or Gmail uses a similar technology as Pandora.

Foursquare hits 4 million users: This article should be retitled, ‘Foursquare identifies 3,000,000 of the world’s most bored people and those who want to know when they’re not home so they can rob them.’  Perhaps I’ll eat my words in five years, but I foresee Foursquare as being the MySpace of the second decade of the 21st century.  Just another social media fad.

Okay, so those are just five of the biggest things that have happened over this past week in the world of social media.  If you know of any other major moves over the past week, post the URL in the comments section.

Stay social,

Erick

Moving on . . . . If you want to drive traffic to your website, try writing a blog.  It doesn’t have to be everyday, but write one at least once a week.  Don’t just let it sit there.  Tell the world.  If you just write your blog and expect search engines to do all the work for you, you won’t get many views.

Various social bookmarking sites and niche social networking sites integrate with sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  That makes it easier for social media gurus, ninjas, and connoisseurs to let the world know about their blogs and other pertinent information.  Also, those Twitter clients I mentioned yesterday integrate with larger social networking sites.

Think of it like standing on a stage in the center of an NFL football stadium filled with tens of thousands of people.  The football stadium represents Twitter, Facebook, and whatever other social networking sites you use to attract your audience.  The audience . . . well, they represent your audience.  You can shout your message and a few hundred people may hear you, but several thousand won’t.  You’d have a much easier time getting your message out to those tens of thousands of people if you set up microphones and speakers.  Social bookmarking is like those microphones and speakers that allow you to get your message out to a wider audience.

Any thoughts?  How do you use social bookmarking?

Stay social,

Erick

TweetDeck

While you can manage multiple accounts, the incessant number of columns we had to create to do so drove us mad.  We sent them several direct Tweets, but they continually ignored us.  Ignoring one’s audience is never good for any person’s or company’s social media marketing campaign. We don’t recommend them unless you want to waste time.

Seesmic

We found it easier to manage multiple accounts on Seesmic, but we could only manage one Facebook account.  We didn’t like this, so we didn’t stick with them for long.  Though they recently announced integration with Google Buzz and Ping.fm.  They have some useful features, but we don’t recommend them as a primary Twitter client.

Hootsuite

Just like TweetDeck and Seesmic, Hootsuite allows users to manage multiple accounts.  We also found it more convenient to switch client tabs instead of setting up client columns, and users can schedule Tweets with Hootsuite.

So, as I said, we’re not ready to give up on Seesmic, but Hootsuite offers more of what we want in a Twitter client.  Do you have any thoughts?  BTW, here’s a chart that compares Tweetdeck, Seesmic, and Hootsuite.  All three have come out with updates since this chart was created, but it will give you an idea of what they do and don’t offer.

Nate Bal: The Difference Between TweetDeck, HootSuite And Seesmic

The other day, I talked to a Web designer whose clients we write Web content and handle the social media marketing for.  We talked about his latest project in comparison to a website he wants to model that project after.  He asked for my thoughts of what we could learn from the model site in integrating SEO into his latest Web project.  I’ll tell you what I told him and more.

Quick SEO tips for Web designers:

1. Make your text readable – It’s best to use simple black and white text, but just make it as readable as possible.
2. Buttons – Let search bots know where they should go.  If a link leads to your services, title it ‘Services,’ not ‘What we do.’
3. Use Bold Text – Tell the search bots what’s important about your site, but not too much.
4. Add a site map – An XML for the search bots and an HTML site map for your users.
5. Registration period – Okay, this one isn’t really Web design or SEO related, but it’s a good tip.  If you only registered your site for a year, search bots won’t consider you very serious.  Register your site for at least five years.

There are more, but those five should keep you busy for a while.

Any other ideas?

Stay social,

Erick

Among those modules is a poll module to ask your customer base what they do or don’t want. This module only allows users to ask multiple choice questions, but it’s a good way to listen to your audience in a fun environment.

Another popular module is the Amazon module, which allows you to become a virtual distributor of Amazon products. Let Amazon suggest products to sell or pick products out from a list. Either way, when someone buys an Amazon product through your Squidoo page, you receive a commission.

Also, you can pull from various Twitter feeds. Use Twitter Search to search for tweets by keyword, Twitter Follow to follow particular people, Twitter Storm to follow a debate, or Twitter List to follow your Tweets. There are many other feeds you can pull from, including Deli.cio.us, your blog, Yelp, Youtube, and more.

There’re so many other ways you can use Squidoo, but the purpose is to allow you and your audience to engage with one other in a fun environment. People may not want to sign up for various social networking services, find you on those websites, and follow you and everyone else. Squidoo allows them to engage with you on many of those sites without signing up for or logging into all those sites.

We’re busy creating lenses, so keep watching.

Stay social,

Erick

On Fridays I’m just going to post blogs about the week in social media and/or SEO content.  Whether it be articles, videos, or other, every Friday I will publish a blog about whatever’s happened that week in social media or SEO content.

For this week, here is a video on how to suggest a Facebook fanpage to your friends.  I know it seems like such a simple thing, but Facebook keeps changing the look and feel of their site.

Also, you’ll notice I added a ShareThis button to the bottom all my blogs.  Thank you to those who took the time copy my URL and Tweet it yesterday.  Now, you just need to click the ShareThis button, choose which social networking platform you want to share my blog on, type a message, and let the Internet do the rest.

If you have a WordPress site, you can add a ShareThis button.  Feel free to comment and please come back next week for more on social media marketing and SEO content.  I appreciate all of you.

Stay social,

Erick

1. Traffic Sources >> All Traffic Sources >> View Full Report (Located at the bottom of top traffic sources): Check your site’s bounce rate from people coming from social networking and social bookmarking sites. Stop posting to social networking sites where your bounce rate is the highest and more often where it is the lowest.

2. Traffic Sources >> Search Engines: Click on the search engines, and you’ll see which words people are searching for that are causing a high or low bounce rates. Change your blogging style according to your bounce pattern.

3. Content >> Content by Title: Look at which blogs people are going to most often and which blogs have the lowest bounce rates, and change your blogging style accordingly.

4. Visitors >> Visitor Trending >> Bounce Rate: On the right side, above the graph, select the clock: See what hours people are less likely to bounce from your site and post links to your blogs in social bookmarking sites at those times.

Are there any other ways you use Google Analytics as a Social Media Monitoring tool? I’d love to hear your suggestions.

Stay social,

Erick