Is Facebook promoting Google’s Gmail Connect service as a way to get more users onto Facebook? Or is Google taking out ad space to promote their connect tool? More than likely it’s an internal Facebook effort as the logos of Yahoo, AOL, Windows Live and Gmail are all represented in the ad. So why now?
As Mashable and GigaOm both report Facebook’s growth is slowing. As they both point out Facebook has refocused their strategy by eliminating regional networks in place of a global focus and added new products such as Facebook Lite and Facebook Touch Mobile. One thing is for sure – the users Facebook already has aren’t going anywhere, as there are no clear alternatives to the socialnetwork behemoth (at least in the US).
The question on my mind is this – will Facebook start creating ads to start pulling in your Twitter and LinkedInfriends to your Facebooknetwork? They’ve created a fan page post to Twitter tool so it’s not that far of a stretch, especially concerning the strength of their network. Only time will tell but this is a move that Facebook would clearly benefit from if they implemented it.
What do you want out of socialmedia? If you’re looking for fun then it doesn’t really matter where you begin. If you are looking to utilize it to network professionally in some capacity then there is a very specific place to start with it.
Of course socialmedia can and should be used as a reflection of your offline life, so more than likely you will have a good mixture of both pleasure and professional. That being said, here’s a great place to start if you’re looking to grow your professional network:
Sign up to Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in. Add relevant profile/bio info on all of them. Use your universal avatar on all of them. Since these are my three main social networks I generally change my avatar on all three to show an updated recent acceptable photo. All of my other networks have the same exact photo of me that isn’t the most recent one.
The most important thing to add to social networks is a clear, close photo that people can relate to. This isn’t the time to be creative or artistic. You can do that in other photos that are not your avatar. This is the photo that draws them in. Any other photos show your personality.
If you function online professionally you must have a professional link. Whether it be your website, blog or even JUST your Linked-in or visual cv link, you MUST have a link that allows the viewer to find more information about you.
Once you’ve put all your information in your socialnetwork bios I would double check it for grammar, cadence and keywords. Keywords are important- ESPECIALLY on Twitter- because this is how people find you in searches on these sites. For example, if you’re in construction management you would put those two words plus any major relevant words in your bio. In your Twitter bio you only have 160 words to tell people who you are so it’s EXTREMELY important to get to the point and just list the major things you do with the specific keywords.
On Twitter it’s also important to talk about these topics often but not in a robotic manner. Be aware of your conversations and how you are saying something. There are people out there monitoring keywords in search.twitter.com for real-time mention of them so they can connect with like minds. There are also people who automatically add anyone who mentions certain keywords. There are many tools to monitor keywords mentioned in real time but I would start with a simple search.twitter.com search to add people who are talking about what you’re interested in.
Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and become active in them. Once you meet new people in Twitter add them on Facebook and LinkedIn to further extend your relationships. Also, be sure to build your local connections (or connections where you travel often to) because nothing is more important than extending online relationships offline. Also, besides just extending online relationships offline, extend offline relationships online. Find out people’s socialnetwork information and add them right away if you can.
This is a beginning. You’ll learn more as you go. Just remember that your social networks are only as valuable as the time and effort you put into them. Every network changes as your relationships blossom. Cultivate them and soon enough you’ll begin to prosper.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
Facebook recently released a touchscreen optimized interface for phones such as the iPhone and android models. It’s interesting that even though Facebook is one of the most downloaded socialnetworkingiPhone apps thatFacebook is still continuing to optimize the mobile web on many different fronts.
Considering they just launched their newly redesigned homepage in a more streamlined newsfeed focused way it makes me wonder if this addition is within their overall brand vision for their user interface and user experience.
One thing I DO like about the new Touch interface is the Phone section (Also notice the new notifications red icon in the upper left corner). It focuses on who you can call, as opposed to the mobile interface which focuses on all your friends and pointing out who has their phone number listed with a phone icon.
What do you think about the differences? Not enough? Too much? What other changes should be made?
Sometimes not everything goes according to plan. When Tagged.com recently changed their registration process traffic to their site spiked. In this case study I take a look at the spike in relation to the circumstances surrounding it. I answer whether or not the spike was a reaction to events or the spike itself affected Tagged.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that the state of Texas had reached an agreement with Tagged, Inc., a socialnetworking site that was accused of tricking users into providing access to their address books. As part of the agreement, Tagged has to pay $250,000, which includes the cost of the state’s investigation.
After Tagged had access to a user’s address book, the socialnetworking site sent messages that appeared to come directly from the user, offering to share photos with the recipient. When a recipient tried to view the pictures, which often didn’t even exist, they were prompted to sign up, giving Tagged access to their address book and continuing the deceptive practice.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
I started this 30 Days To A Better Brand series with the intent to write an article everyday for 30 days. Sometimes intentions can not be synced up with actualities. My business started getting much busier so I had to decide what was more important- sticking to the plan or going with the flow. This is also the decision your brand must face in business.
I personally decided that doing what I had to do for Esultancy (my new socialstrategy firm with Oz Sultan and Khayyam Wakil) was of more pressing importance than sticking to a regimented posting schedule. This is a valuable lesson for all brands. When an opportunity presents itself that is more pressing you should shift to accommodate it.
The main criteria I gauge how I deal with situations are based on how pressing it is, how opportune it is, if it’s “on brand” and if it will net more money in the short run than the other project being displaced. While blogging can be lucrative and elevates your profile thus leading to money, unfortunately I don’t blog for money.
So I decided to focus on getting my business off the ground. We’re so enamored with the content creation and sharing products that we tend to forget that we’re here to make money. Regardless of using socialmedia for fun, everyone has a personal brand and socialmedia usage can affect you.
Everyone has social equity. What we do in the public eye shapes people’s perception of us and ultimately affects how much money we make. Referrals, appraisals, partnerships and promotions are formed over time. Do what’s right for you and your brand and in the end you’ll do what’s right for your pocket.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
While it may be your brand you do not actually own it. Your public owns it. Your customers decide what your brand means to them. Once you put your company out there it is now in the hands of the public.
The fact that your audience has final say in whether your product thrives or dies doesn’t change the fact that you still have the last say in the decisions implemented. If a majority of people purchasing your product decide decide they don’t like something either you must change it, change their opinion or become a victim of change.
Changing your brand based on feedback alone is shortsighted. Although there is wisdom in the crowd you ultimately are the professional. Your years of experience coupled with thorough knowledge of the category definitely weights your opinion. Just remember, you don’t pay your bills; they do.
So what do you do?
• Survey your customers with key questions
• List all potential pros and cons at hand
• Compare with competitors and other businesses who may have had the same issue
• Create a mindmap of your business / product / situation landscape
• Map out the best possibility to completion
• Implement your plan in timely phases
• Gauge for feedback
• Adjust accordingly
Not all situations are created equal and neither are your customers. By being aware of your capabilities, your customer’s savviness and the clarity of mind to know the difference between the two, you should be positioned to dominate in any situation you encounter.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
Socialmedia isn’t just one thing to everyone- it’s everything to everyone.Socialmedia is marketing, PR, advertising, customer relations, branding, influence building and most of all, social. To focus only one area for your brand is extremely short-sighted yet ultimately it may be your best move.
Admittedly as a brand you should be proficient and well represented in all of these aspects of socialmedia. That IS what should be happening but let’s face it- most brands are really great at one thing & need help at all the rest. So what does one do?
You could do a couple of things:
• Be a Jack of all trades, master of none by continuing to spread your valuable resources and energy over many areas.
• Hire a competent professional (employee or agency) to head up the areas that your brand isn’t so savvy in.
• Focus on the area your brand is amazing in and just kill it. Be the number one at what you and over time your other areas will pick up because of how great you are in that niche.
The first solution is never the answer because all of the areas suffer when you just half-ass it. The area that your brand naturally shines in is losing out because you have to take away from it to give to the others. You can only split up 100% so many ways.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
I know we’d all like to think our brands are original, given to us by divine inspiration – but they’re not. Regardless if youre just starting out or have been in business for many years, we all are influenced on a day to day basis.
All of your past experiences, biases, likes, dislikes and predispositions all affect your decision making process. You also must account for anyone else who influences the brand. This includes key internal players in messaging, imaging and managing among others as well as external influencers of customers, competitors and partners. Add all of this to the influence of pop culture and media consumed and you have a tremendous amount of influence.
With all the forces vying for dominancy what can you do?
• HUMANIZE: Start thinking about your brand as a human. Each and every human has a personality with likes and dislikes.
• PERSONIFY: Create categories where you can list your brand’s preferences in music, art, literature, movies etc. The sky’s the limit here.
• SPECIFY: Give your brand specific attributes. If it were a human what would it’s demographics be? Gender, age, race, income etc
• ANALYZE: Analyze all of these attributes and figure out what feeling your brand conveys. Is your brand a posh upper east sider that comes from money and summers in the Hamptons?
• ATTRIBUTE: Based on your brandpersonality analysis what clothes should your brand wear aka what are it’s coloring, styling & imaging attributes.
• SYNC: How do others regard your brand? How do you want your brand to be received? Now that you know how your brand looks & who your brand is you need to make sure that the words coming out of your brand’s mouth syncs up with your image.
We as humans are always changing. New influences come into out lives daily and must be acted upon. Your brand functions in the same way. It’ll always be the same “person” at the core but it must be flexible adaptable and aware of decisions to change on a concious level. Remember, you are what you “eat”.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
Go look at something. What’s your first impression? That’s what counts. When people say first impressions are the most important this needs to be paid attention to, especially for your brand.
Your potential customer takes in everything about your brand at the point of contact. Your colors, fonts, wording and text shapes, and graphics all affect their purchase decision. What message is your brand conciously and subconsciously conveying?
Is your target market accurately receiving your message visually? What is the feeling your are looking to convey? Designing a brand that communicates your message effectively is so much more than colors text and image.
The most powerful brands know how to strike a balance between all of these elements. Any designer worth their salt knows that there’s a limit to the amount of colors, fonts, graphics and the scale and placement of all of these elements. The Golden Ratio is a good guideline to test this crucial balance.
People are generally intuitive. If you want to know how it feels to your custom er put yourself in their shoes. Envision yourself AS them, down to the precise specifics of their demographics. Are you a stay at home mom with 3 young kids concerned with family values and on a budget? Well now you are.
Separate your head from your heart then bring them back together. How does your brand feel to you? Now how does it seem to you logically? This is exactly what your potential customer is going through.
Take the time to account for your brand’s intangible qualities and you’ll see tangible reults in your bottom line.
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
While most of you were obsessing over the Kanye West meme taking the internet by storm, Twitter quietly rolled out an update to their brand image. They killed off the Spam Owl and replaced him with their happy-go-lucky mascot Twitter bird. This comes right on the heels of an update to their TOS many of you have already received by now.
This most recent change is just an extension of their homepage image revamp that focuses more on search and trending topics now.
One thing we know for sure with Twitter is that most of what they implement is done without fanfare in stages. Just as the TOS has been implemented over the course of the last week, the default avatar isn’t changing all at once. In fact, it’s changing over time into many different flavors: purple, dark blue, baby blue, lime green, dark green, orange, dark red so far.
Even with the staggered rollout, established users with their own custom avatars are already having issues:
We’ve already seen the Fail Whale go the way of the dodo in place of a generic 503-error page. Only time will tell what images will replace the other now iconic characters of Technically Wrong Robot, and Maintenance Caterpillar & Chill Ice Cream Cone. What other image changes and default avatar colors have you spotted?
For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.
While most of you were obsessing over the Kanye West meme taking the internet by storm, 
