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Have you ever had the joy of explaining Twitter to your non-tweeting friends? If you haven't crossed that bridge yet, get ready because chances are that with hundreds of thousands of new accounts being created every day, your first twitter elevator pitch is approaching faster than you can retweet @KanyeWest giving @JustinBieber props. I know that when I hear my mother, who is a complete social media novice, use the word "tweet" casually in conversation it's only a matter of time before the folks at Merriam-Webster make room for a new verb in their latest edition. I mean, I would expect for @MerriamWebster to get on that ASAP.  Just this week, Twitter CEO Evan Williams announced that the service has reached a whopping 145 million users worldwide. That is huge! Individuals, businesses and organizations are finding the value in and making use of the 140 character punch.

 

When describing itself Twitter says: 

Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.

 

But if you're on a first date with Twitter what does that really mean? I'd say Twitter sells itself short on it's initial intro as if it lacks "social" skills, but that is far from the truth. I explain Twitter to newbies as an easy way to pick up AND drop off information. It's give and take. It's teach and learn. It's inform and be informed. Twitter puts you in complete control of the information that you opt-in to. It allows individuals and organizations of all sizes that are using Tweets to spread their message, the ability to quickly publish valuable content to followers. One tweet can send your audience anywhere on the entire web.

Marriage has been has been proposed via Twitter. Astronauts have tweeted from space. Big brands are providing customer service support through tweets. If it's information that you want to give or receive Twitter is the place for you to be.

If you're on the fence about whether or not you want to step into the twittersphere and the idea of following and being followed kind makes you a bit apprehensive, I say give it a try! Take the first step and post that first tweet (of course after you come up with a crafty username). Use Twitter applications like Twellow and WeFollow to find and follow users with similar interest. Follow your friends by using Twitter's "Find Your Friends" tab. Before you know it, you'll be getting that first reply from a favorite celebrity and you'll be hooked like I was when @KidSister replied to me and we shared our mutual love for Selena. Or maybe you'll have a pleasant customer service experience like the time @BofA_Help helped me resolve a banking issue. Share and receive valuable content with people and businesses. Most importantly, have fun with it and start making connections.

 

 

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Share buttons have become common on Web content, but they’re also easy to integrate into e-mails. If your e-mail consists of multiple articles, make sure each points to a page on the Web, and that your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn share buttons are setup to share the URL of each respective article (note: you’ll want to stick to images and text links for your e-mail share buttons as opposed to JavaScript).

 

Beyond sharing articles though, make sure all of your e-mails include prominent links to your presence on various social sites. Calls to action in a sidebar or in the header like “Follow Us on Twitter” or “Become a Fan on Facebook” will help people connect with you on social sites and help build your audience on them.

 

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It's always fun to see companies bring their social media efforts into the traditional world of advertising. Trident went unconventional and brought the world of their Twitter fans to the pages of USA Today. They ran a full-page color spread headlined “The People have Tweeted” to promote their new Trident Layers gum.

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Social media, blogging and email marketing made SEO.com's top 10 list for best internet marketing strategies for this year. These same strategies will hold strong through 2010 as well, so be sure to incorporate online into your marketing budget for the upcoming year.

1. Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2. Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn

3. Keyword Research

4. Video Marketing

5. Online Public Relations

6. Link Building

7. Blogging

8. Conversion Web Design

9. Paid Search Marketing

10. Email Marketing

One of the great things about online strategies is once you start implementing a few you'll find they're interconnected and often support each other.

Via Marketing Charts.

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The majority of companies in a recent survey are planning to invest more in social media next year but are struggling to find the time and resources to manage their activity, according to a report produced by Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia.

The research found that an overwhelming majority of companies (86%) surveyed plan to spend more money on social media in 2010, and a further 13% are planning to keep the same level of budget.

The biggest barrier to better social media engagement for companies surveyed is a lack of resources, with more than half of companies (54%) saying this is a significant problem, the report said. Nine out of 10 businesses (90%) say social media is taking up more time internally than a year ago.

Have you incorporated social media into your budget for 2010. If you're not completely confident in your company's social future take a gander at our online marketing strategies.

Via Marketing Charts.

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Gary Vaynerchuck, on and offline business guru, hit a home run for me with this video.

Those of us in the online marketing biz relinquished the thought long ago that social media is just a "condiment" on top of normal business practices. Instead, we know it IS business, end of story. Email marketing and blogging can easily be added to the "IS business" category too.

However, not everyone has come over to our way of thinking yet. But as Gary points out, the companies who let the online media bandwagon roll-on-by will become exposed and transparent whether they like it or not. Consumers have the power to share their experiences, positive and negative, with the world in just a few clicks.

If your customers are out there talking about your company (which undoubtedly they are), it's not simply a conversation you SHOULD be a part of, it's a conversation you NEED to be a part of.

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Social search, demoed at the Web 2.0 Summit by Google’s VP of Search Marissa Mayer, combines results from your friend’s blogs, Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed, and a wide variety of other social media sites (so long as your friends have connected their social accounts to their Google will go live this afternoon, and can be found within Google Labs.

The experimental feature, once activated, will display relevant search results from your social circle at the bottom of the search results page. This could be travel photos from your friends, a recent blog post, a set of status updates, or other information Google pulls.

For now, the feature is opt-in, only affects certain searches, and appear at the bottom of the search results page. However with the relevancy of social media it won't be a surprise if we see social search results moving up the page.

via Mashable

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Coca-Cola is on a mission to find "Happiness Ambassadors" for their brand. The winners will travel all over the world in 2010 and document their adventures via blog posts, tweets, YouTube videos, and TwitPics.

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Pepsi released a new iPhone application called “AmpUp Before You Score” as a promotion for their Amp energy drink. The app is designed to aid men on their conquest to “score.”

There are 24 different types of women in the application and each comes with her own set of unique pick up lines, interests and links. Just figure out which stereotype your next lucky lady fits into, load up the app, and voila – everything you need to know about her is at your fingertips . . .

After putting the application to good use, users are invited to share their latest triumphs via Facebook, Twitter and email. This feature is described as "Get lucky? Add her to your brag list. You can include a name, date, and whatever details you remember."

Needless to say, the app “amped up” more negative responses than positive. After hearing about it from all corners of the web, Pepsi tweeted an apology on Monday (#pepsifail) – “Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback.” So far, the app has not been removed from Apple’s App Store.

 

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Who says social media has to be confined to cyber space? Northern Wisconson's Forest County Chamber of Commerce doesn’t.

The Crandon Chamber is taking their Facebook page physical with their new billboard on HWY 32, just south of Lakewood. The sign invites northbound travelers from Milwaukee and Chicago to “Become a friend of Crandon.”

The Chamber has tripled its friends on Facebook since the billboard’s debut in early September. A Twitter billboard may be next on the group’s social media schedule.

Would you promote your online presence with physical ads?

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