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If you’re engaged in Social Media Marketing, you should be equally engaged in Social Media Monitoring—the listening side of the conversational web.

You can listen for your name, your brand, other brands, your company, your competitor, or any number of terms.  Though, no matter who you listen to or what you listen for, it’s important you listen strategically and converse actively.  I listed some Social Media Monitoring tools. Some of them have free versions, so go ahead and peruse.

Social Media Monitoring Tools

Jive Software Radian⁶ BrandsEye PostRank BuzzGain SM2 Buzz Logic

Trackur Visible Technologies ReputationDefender Sentiment Metrics Brandwatch

StepRep CISION ScoutLabs Sysomos ListenLogic Vocus Social360 PivotLink

Questions to ask before listening

• Why do you want to listen to what people are saying (market research, customer relations management, etc)?
• What are you going to listen for (Name, brand, etc)?
• What mediums/people are you going to listen to (Find out where the most relevant conversations are and listen to those)?
• Are you willing to spend time and money to listen and respond?  If yes, how much?  If not, is it really worth your time? (There are plenty of free tools, but you don’t get what you don’t pay for).

Do you know of any other Social Media Monitoring tools, or do you have any other suggestions of what people should consider?  If so, comment, e-mail me, or Tweet me.

I believe in niche social networking site.  Since I am a writer, this week’s blog is a listed of various literary social networking sites.  Now, before you join all of them, find out which ones fit you best.  And after you join, become an active part of the community.  Be sure not to get into the habit of putting up profiles just to gain an extra link to your site.

Writers have a bad habit of being recluses who only network with other writers.  We need to network with our readers as well.  It’s all about finding your audience (Tribe).  I’ve put asterisks next to a few of my favorites literary social networking sites.  I don’t yet have profiles on all of them, but here are links to my RedRoom and San Diego Writers profiles.  If you have a profile on either of those, I’d love to connect with you.

Good Reads­ – This is a great site to read your friends’ reviews of books they’ve read.

Authors’ Den – * This is a great place for readers and writers to connect.

Shelfari – This is a great place to keep a list of the books you’ve read and want to read, as well as to see your friends’ lists.

weRead – You can get personalized book recommendations, share your ratings and book reviews, and connect with people with similar reading tastes.

Library Thing – This is a social networking site for book lovers where they can catalogue their favorite books.

Absolute Write – This isn’t really a social networking site, but they do have a forum.

filedby – * You can discover great new books here, as well as readers and writers can connect.

Internet Book List – The name says it all.  This is not really a social networking site, but they do have a forum.

CrimeSpace – This is a Ning site for people who like to read and write Crime fiction.

Book Marketing Network – This is also a Ning site for book authors and Publishers to connect.

Readerville – Another literary non-social networking site with a forum.  Though their forum focuses on bringing in weekly authors that people can begin conversations with.

Writing – This is a place where writers of all levels can build their writing portfolio and connect with other like-minded people.

Reader’s Circle – This is a great place for readers who are looking for a book club.

Critique Circle – As the name suggests, this is a place where writers can critique one another.  There is a ToolChest that offers great aids for writers.

For Writers – This is a great place to find writers groups.

Chick Lit Writers – This is a great place for women (okay, maybe some guys too) who write Chick Lit.

Forward Motion for Writers – This is a forum for writers.

Writing Forums – Another forum for writers.

editred – They offer a forum, as well as you can build your readership.

Red Room – * This is simply the closest thing writers and readers have to Facebook.

IndieBound – This is a great place for readers who support independent bookstores.

Nothing Binding – This is a place where writers can connect with other writers and promote their work.

She Writes – This is a Ning site where women writers can connect with each other and their readers.

San Diego Writers – If you’re a writer or reader in or around San Diego, or you just want to connect with San Diego writers and readers, this is the place to go.

If you know of any others, please comment.

Erick

I’m not a publisher, agent, or published author. I’m an aspiring author, who listens to the wisdom of those who have gone before him and pays attention to literary trends. With that said, please do not take this blog as authoritative or having come from first hand experience. Rather, take it as a student of the written word passing on what he has learned to you.

Almost 40 years ago, Dan Poynter couldn’t find a publisher, so he went straight to the printer and started the trend of self-publishing. Four decades later, self-publishing and the Internet have led to e-publishing. Now, websites like FastPencil, iPadPublishing, and Blurb help people self-publish their books in paper or as e-books.

Over the last decade, because of social networking, it seems agents and publishers have turned their attention more toward finding marketable writers with compelling stories. And it seems the success of writers has been determined more by writers’ writing good content and reaching out to readers.

Now, the advent of e-books and e-publishing will cause a new literary trend. Self-publishing and e-publishing have lowered the publishing bar, and because of that people can’t assume a book is good simply because it has been published. They need to rely on that book’s content. But they won’t know anything about that book’s content unless others who have read that book give them their thoughts.

From my vantage point, I foresee e-publishing causing the roles of the writer, agent, publisher, and even reader to change.  Ever hear that saying, ‘Everyone’s a critic’? The role of the publisher and agent will merge into one marketing entity (publishing consultants). The writer will reach out and listen more to the reader through traditional and social media marketing. And the reader will become like the agent, reading critically, and passing on their opinions to other readers.

All of this means that rather than the writer trying to seek the approval of a few people in the publishing industry, they will have to find an audience and seek the approval of their audience. And as that author’s audience approves more and more or less and less, that author will need listen to their audience (or the lack thereof).  I foresee the writer’s insurmountable publishing mountain will become a daunting literary mine field. Tread carefully, fellow writer.

Whether you’re a writer, agent, publisher, or even a reader, I’d love to hear from you.  How do you think the advent of e-books and e-publishing will change the literary world? Do you think lowering the publishing bar will even the playing field, forcing writers to write more well-written content and compelling stories? Or, do you think a lower publishing standard will simply water down good content, allowing anyone to become an author? I encourage your thoughts.

For more on me and my literary endeavors, follow me on Twitter @ErickWrites, befriend me on Facebook, or just e-mail me and ask.

Erick

For this week, I would like to explore the ethical issue of e-book piracy, so please read and respond to this blog with your thinking caps on.

Books lose their value due to wear and tear; but it is the e-reader, rather than the e-book, that loses value due to both wear and tear and new technology. Since what causes a physical book to lose value does not cause an e-book to lose value, the issue of e-book piracy is a two part issue. First, it is an issue of what we as readers allow to determine the value of literature. Second, it is the issue of what determines the deterioration of the value of that literature.

If it’s not considered stealing to rummage through a used book store’s free book bin, is there a point that an e-book, perhaps 20 years from now, will also lose value? What will cause it to lose its value? If a I can borrow a physical book from a library, shouldn’t I be allowed to borrow an e-book from a library? If I cannot borrow e-books from libraries, why should I buy an e-reader? For me, convenience is not enough.

Perhaps, with e-books, publishers will come out with a technology that allows friends and libraries to transfer e-books provided they agree that e-book be erased from their computer or e-reader. In the case of author royalties, perhaps authors, publishers, and distributors should raise e-book prices, thus accounting for waste and theft.

I am of the persuasion that literature is created to be shared not hoarded, but never stolen or pirated. How should authors and publishers handle e-book piracy? Should they raise e-book prices to adjust for potential piracy? Should they shy away from selling e-books much like so many would be authors never publish because of fears that someone will steal their ideas? I’d love to hear any thoughts or suggestions.

Again, my question is not about what defines e-book piracy, rather it’s where do the ethical lines of what is e-book piracy begin and end, as well as what determines the value and the deterioration of the value of literature? It’s obviously stealing to walk into a Barnes & Noble, take a book off a book shelf, and walk out of the store without paying for it. It’s not considered stealing to go to a library and borrow a book. If authors have a right to expect readers not to download pirated copies of their books, readers have a right to expect that they can share that author’s information with other readers in an ethical way.

Perhaps, aspiring authors, such as myself, can take a lesson from names like Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky who determined the value of literature according to strong content that caused people to think and change society rather than fluffy literature that did nothing more than allow people to further delude themselves from the ills of society.

Next week, I’ll explore the issue of e-publishing, so make sure to come back.

Erick

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my snide remark about the Kindle’s black and white screen. I think I said something about it being 2010, not 1910.  Let’s just say, they’re a little behind, asthetically.  Since it’s too late for Amazon’s Kindle to lead the charge, they at least need to take the hint and catch up.

For now, there’s a new kid . . . er . . . I mean e-reader on the block, and this one rivals the iPad. Or as I like to call it, the iFad. I’d like to introduce ‘Novel‘ by Pandigital.

So, let me tell you about some of the cool features. Starting with the built in dictionary. One of my pet peeves is when authors insist on using big words that require dictionaries. Apparently, Pandigital gets frustrated with that also, because this e-reader comes with a dictionary.

Another great feature is for people like me, who actually enjoy 19th century Russian literature (i.e. Doestoevsky), but sometimes get confused with the names and places (not the words, though). Just search for a name or place by keyword and Novel will let you know who’s who, what’s what, and where’s where.

Okay, so you want more, and this e-reader gives you more. Pandigital teamed up with Barnes & Noble to bring you over 1,000,000 e-book titles to select from Novel. Each title includes a book summary, plot overviews, and more.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you can’t go for long without checking your e-mail and various social networking sites. Pandigital understands it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in the world of social media marketing, so they equipped this e-reader with a Web browser. And some of the features integrate your experience with social media.

Among a few of the other features of the Novel is the built-in camera, digital audio player (yes, there’s a place for your headphones), and more.

For now, if you really reall really must have the latest in technology, you might want to get the iFad, because the Novel by Pandigital won’t come out until sometime in June.

But, here’s the good news for those who can wait. It runs on Google’s Android, and it starts at just $199.

For more information, check out this great vid by Cnet.

Throughout the last several years, programmers have developed WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web design platforms, allowing everyone to take their piece of the Web. Among the most popular of those are WordPress, MovableType, and Wix.  I believe that of all of those sites that allow everyone their piece of the Web, one will revolutionize the way in which we interact with each other through social networking.

For the past couple of years, ever since the iPhone went on the market, everyone has wanted the latest app. In fact, the saying goes, “There’s an app for that.” A while back, Evan Williams (CEO of Twitter) referred to Twitter as being part of a social networking environemt. If sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others are part of a social networking environment, then people who use those sites and connect them to their websites responsibly are social media environmentalists.

During the evolution of websites that allow people to develop their own websites, third party developers have added apps and widgets that allow people to integrate their websites with various social networking accounts. Those third party apps must be supported by that site; though, people want more security in knowing that the apps and widgets they put on their sites won’t harm their sites or their computers.

Finally, one WYSIWYG platform (Squarespace) has developed their own apps, giving everyone the ability to design their own website and the confidence in knowing where their apps came from. And because of this innovative WYSIWYG platform, I believe 10 years from now, we will look back on the Internet in the 2^nd decade of the 21^st century as the decade of Social Media Environmentalism.

In the future, I hope to see Squarespace develop apps and widgets for various other social media sites. And I hope sites such as WordPress, Movabletype, Wix, and others will follow.

For now, we the people of the World Wide Web want apps for that and everything else, and we don’t want to have to worry about our security. Squarespace just started a new trend—Social Media Environmentalism—and those who build their sites using Squarespace can pride themselves on being some of the very first Social Media Environmentalists.

Let’s get a conversation going.  Let me know your thoughts.

Erick

I want to start by thanking those who made the all new SEOBridges.com a reality. Thank you to Renee Johnson of DevotionalDiva.com, who introduced me to Michael Forney—CMO of Ignition Garage. And thank you to Michael Forney and the team at Ignition Garage—Tim Engstrom (redesigned my site) and Sheila Cowley (designed my new logo)—for making this happen.

Onto the future of SEO Bridges.   We are discontinuing our blog on open source software; though, you can read those blogs below this blog or in our articles section.  Moving forward, I will personally blog about SEO content and Social Media Marketing (SMM), as it pertains to our audience. Of course, we will also have guest bloggers from time to time.  In the near future, I will launch a charitable arm that will benefit San Diego’s literary community.

With that said, I extend my thanks to those who have worked with me, supported me, or just clicked through my site. I anticipate working with many of you and serving your needs.

Erick Pettersen

SEO Bridges, Principle

Every week, I try to bring you Open Source software for you social media marketing endeavors that I am able to test out first. That, of course, means it must be simple enough for someone like me to use. This week, I am going to tell you about a program that I am not going to download, but I hope to give you an easy-to-use tutorial that will help you get started with it. Elgg is a powerful Open Source social networking platform. Well, that is what they claim to be, but I am going to take their word for it.

For those who like to read and explore for themselves, here’s what’s in Elgg according to Elgg (that means they wrote it, and I am giving credit to them):

Profiles

Elgg comes with default profile fields that can be extended or completely customized by the site administrator.

Activity Streams

The granular activity stream feature ensures you keep up to date with all site activity.

Blogging / Microblogging

Blogging and microblogging functionality that is both powerful, yet simple to use.

Pages

Create documents collaboratively with full control over read and write access.

RSS / JSON

All content – such as blog posts, activity streams and group discussions – is available in both RSS and JSON formats

Widgets

Add widgets to user profiles.

Video

Search for your favorite videos on services such as Youtube and add them to your Elgg video gallery.

Social bookmarking

Share your web resources with others in your company, group or course.

Groups

Collaborate around specific topics via public, private or hidden groups.

Access controls

Control who can access your content.

Web Services API

Expose functionality through the REST API by building a plugin and either publish the API for other developers to build clients, or provide your own.

Documents

Upload and share documents with the rest of your network.

Photo Gallery

Using the powerful Tidypics plugin, let your users create their own photo galleries.

For those who would like to know more about how they  can use Elgg for their social media marketing, there are plenty of plugins to explore, including plugins for events, photos and images, widgets, games, site and user admin, and more. There is also a forum for those who want to know the latest about what is going on in the world of Elgg. For those who want to download Elgg, it includes bug fixes and security enhancements. For those who want to experience Elgg, but do not want to download it, they can sign up for more information here.  For those who need help uploading it, here is a great video. (Video coding and me ain’t getting along too well this week).

Okay, so that’s it for this week. Enjoy. And please tell me what you like or don’t like about this blog. I’ll try to get a live video on here for all you visual people. Oh yeah, thank you all for your comments.

Erick

Welcome to my final blog about open source for Mac. This week, I am going to look at two of the coolest open source programs for Macs. I am excited about both, and I am sure you will be also. So, let’s dive right in.  The first one (NeoOffice) is a great way for SEO content writers to write and check content at the same time, and DockSpaces will help anyone, including the social media marketer, stay ahead of the game.

NeoOffice

Yes, we started with an Open Source office suite called Open Office, and this week we’re going to end with another open source office suite. For those Avinash Kaushik faithful out there, I am sure you are at least familiar with NeoOffice. And for those of you who aren’t, I am going to give you a brief tutorial.

With NeoOffice users can create Text Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, databases, formulas, and they can use templates. I’m going to go through each one and give you bullet points of the most significant aspects of each.

Text Documents

1. In the center of the Text Document pane there is an icon of a compass, which is under the word Neo. With that, users don’t have to search for various types of formatting throughout their docs. For example, if you want to find how many hyperlinks there are throughout your doc, just select Hyperlinks and the navigator will find all of the uses for you.
2. File > Preview in Web Browser: If you want to see what your document would look like live on the Internet, NeoOffice allows you to do it in a snap.
3. Tools > Add-ons > Grammar Checker: That’s right. With NeoOffice you can check your grammar, as well as your spelling.
4. NeoOffice Mobile: For some of us, we don’t necessarily care too much about this feature, but for those unable to do that NeoOffice does it for you.

Spreadsheet

1. Tools > Detectives: Okay, so I’m not a spreadsheet guy, but this is pretty cool. With this you can trace or remove precedents or dependents. One of these days, I’ll learn what that means.
2. You can also use NeoOffice mobile with this.

Presentation

1. Insert > Slide: Makes it simple to create a powerpoint type of presentation.
2. Slideshow: There’s plenty of things you can do here after your ready to test out your creation.

Okay, I am going to stop there, mainly because much of it seems redundant, and I don’t want to bore you. The coolest thing about NeoOffice is that it is available for your cell phone. For that, there is an Open Source version, and there is also a paid version.

Now, moving onto what I consider the Grand Finale of Open Source for Mac, presenting . . . wait for it . . . Dock Spaces! This is simply Awesome! Though, to tell you about it wouldn’t do it justice. Let’s just say that it will help you to organize your life. Simply said, Mac users can now have up to 5 docks on one computer to help them organize their days and their lives. With that said, here’s a pretty good vid that explains what Dock Spaces is and how to use it.

Okay, that’s it for my series on Open Source for Mac. I hope you’ve found software or apps you like and can use. For those PC users out there, NeoOffice, and of course Dock Spaces, is only available for Macs. Again, if you have any questions or comments about this or any of my blogs, I would love to hear them.

Erick