Archive for the ‘Social Media Marketing’ Category
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April 1st, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Blogging, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, facebook, twitter | 3 Comments » |
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Cyber criminal activity is growing and social networking sites are leading the pack in helping spread this activity. No, not intentionally but by virtue of the fact that social networking sites allow ease of sharing content, malware is easy to pass around.
According to a new report released by Blue Coat, a cyber security firm, cyber criminal activity is spreading so rapidly that security solutions providers are unable to keep up and continue to play catch-up.
Blue Coat reported that online storage and software downloading sites were two of the most common sites where malware was hidden. However what was most concerning in Blue Coat's report was that since social networking sites accounted for 25% of top internet activity, that's where most of the cyber attacks are happening. When networking on popular networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, opening links that contain malware is the leading cause for the spread of malware.
We've seen such attacks on Twitter where a user gets a tweet asking him or her to change their password and the minute they do so, their account is hacked into.
Some simple, common sense steps will help you from falling victim to malware and cyber criminal activity:
- Change your passwords on a regular frequency
- Make your passwords complicated enough so they cannot be guessed. Trust me, "password" is NOT a good password.
- Use tools like Tweetdeck for Twitter where you can "preview" links before opening them.
- Do NOT click on links sent to you via Direct Message (DM) on Twitter from someone you know
- On Facebook, use caution when accepting friend requests from people even if they are connected to others in your network
- Think before you post ANYTHING, and I mean anything. Sharing vacation plans online, is a strong no-no.
- Use caution when providing your information on new sites, you can't know how secure or not secure they may be.
Social networking requires MORE not less caution than before. Before, all we had to worry about was spam in our emails. Now, it's real-time information that's out there for anyone and everyone to see. Prevention is better than cure when networking online; so prevent the "bare-all" behavior and you'll be fine.
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March 17th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Free Speech, Social Media Marketing, facebook, twitter | No Comments » |
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Interesting! A two-day London summit had social media activists from across the globe exploring ways to combat extremism using popular social networks. The event was organized by Jason Leibman who is the co-founder of the Alliance for Youth Movement and who stated that popular social networks like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter are critical tools to fight extremism.
He reiterated the point that we always tell our prospects and clients – which is that social networks provided a wider reach at lower cost and allow the spread of powerful messaging in an easy manner.
I found that there are many ways people are using social networks for political awareness. Twitter was used to protest Iran's censorship on the Internet, people in Nigeria are using their phones to help people learn more about the next elections, and we ourselves know that the biggest social media success story is our US president Barack Obama who systematically created an outreach that is unparalleled anywhere, through popular social networks.
So the uses for social networks continue to grow and surprise some of us. We, the hands-on practitioners of social marketing feel that it's time for a lifestyle change for businesses. Businesses need to embrace social media today because that's the only way we'll all be able to remain viable, current, and engaged.
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March 7th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Mobile Phones, Mobile Shopping, Social Media Marketing, facebook, twitter | 1 Comment » |
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Move over computer, you are becoming extinct; well at least slowly moving into oblivion as far as social networking sites go. Comscore, a company which reports web metrics found that 1 of 3 smartphone users accessed social networking sites through their mobile browsers. Facebook saw a 112% increase in mobile users and Twitter saw a 347% increase.
Comscore senior VP of mobile thinks that "Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."
The mobile social media access numbers reported by Comscore are staggering when you think about it. Over 25 MI Facebook users and approximately 5 million Twitter users logged in using mobile browsers.
Here's some food for thought for all business owners out there:
You know that mobile users aren't just logging into Facebook and Twitter through their mobile browsers. They're doing other browsing too; from buying quick ticket items to ordering food.
Are you ready with a "MOBILE" compatible website for these mobile users?
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March 3rd, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Social Media Marketing, facebook, twitter | No Comments » |
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79 percent of Fortune Global 100 companies are at least on one of the following four social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or a Corporate Blog.This according to Burson-Marsteller, a company that conducts studies on social media usage.
However, the same study found that Asian companies are shying away from Facebook and Twitter, focusing more on using local platforms that are used in their country or region. Those social networks include Mixi in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Baidu Spaces and Renren in China. These Asian companies appear to limiting their usage of Facebook and Twitter only to communicate with consumers in international markets. They prefer the local social networks for reaching their most targeted audience.
According to Burson-Marsteller, Asian companies are more concerned about time, money, and measurement of their social media involvement thus making their use of social networks much more conservative.
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February 26th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments » |
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The Global Social Media Check-up is yet another social media usage study released by Burson-Marsteller. The study shows that:
- Globally, 65% of Fortune 100 companies have active accounts on Twitter
- 54% have a Facebook fan page
- 50% have a YouTube channel
- 33% have a corporate blog.
Overall though, only 20% of Fortune 100 companies, globally, are using all four platforms. Only 20%!!! What are they thinking? If they can do one or two, they can certainly do all four.
But the good news again is that Twitter is the platform of choice for 65% of them. So get yourself on Twitter and make sure you are focusing on balancing quality AND quantity of your Twitter participation. What I mean is be sure to have "Quality" content while you continue to build the "Quantity" or number of followers who will read your tweets.
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February 21st, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Google, Social Media Marketing, facebook | 1 Comment » |
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Well, if you have a Facebook account, you know how much time you spend on Facebook and you also know how much time others are spending, right? Now we have statistics that show that Facebook is the 2nd most popular site from a total number of visitors perspective.
Compete Inc, (a company which publishes research data on these kinds of interesting web & other stuff) published results that showed that Facebook's 134 million unique visitors in January bypassed Yahoo's 132 million unique but was just short of the 147 million unique visitors on Google.
Another statistic reported by Compete was that users spent 11.6% of their web time on Facebook which is more than double the time they spent individually on Yahoo or Google.
I think that Facebook's popularity is largely due to the connectivity it offers which no other site currently offers. Even Google Buzz just doesn't have the same "connectivity" and interactivity which I feel Facebook offers.
Will Facebook bypass Google in traffic sometime soon? Well, given the January 2010 numbers reported by Compete Inc (shown above), I think that that could happen sooner rather than later. It's not just the sheer volume of users interested in networking with family and friends that will make Facebook the number one site. I think it's also because Facebook offers personal and business interactions; what with the fan page and group participation opportunities that no other site offers. LinkedIn and Google's Buzz have a few features that may grow over time but I feel that they have a while to go before they catch up with Facebook.
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February 9th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Google, Social Media Marketing | 3 Comments » |
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Fed up with its lack of success and progress in the Social Media space, Google recently hired social media evangelists such as Chris Messina, Will Norris, and former Plaxo executive Joseph Smarr to lead a new "Social Web Team".
Is Google unsuccessful in the Social landscape because the giant itself doesn't have it's own social media strategy?
Google's social web products like Orkut, Google Friend Connect, OpenSocial, Google Profiles, and even Google Wave haven't had much acceptance on the social front. None of these products have resonated with the public or the developers that architect the social-networking technologies. Coupled with the shutting down of acquisitions DodgeBall and Jaiku due to budget cuts, Google suffered another social-media blow when its attempt to acquire Yelp failed.
Google's biggest and probably only success in social networking is YouTube. However, the core of it as well as its initial base of mainstream popularity preceded the Google buyout.
Other than that, what exactly has Google contributed to social networking?
So what will the big dogs Messina, Norris and Smarr do for Google? Hopefully a focus, new product ideas, and a way to take on Facebook???
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February 2nd, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Blogging, Social Media Marketing | No Comments » |
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What's blogging without comments? A blog means two-way dialog; one person posts, several comment, right?
Well, Engadget, a technology blog has stopped allowing comments on their blog because they felt that the tone of the comments had "really gotten out of hand."
Engadget editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky said in an announcement that "We know you like to have your fun, voice your opinions, and argue over your favorite gear, but over the past few days the tone in comments has really gotten out of hand,…."
Topolsky went on to say that what is supposed to a fun environment for their users and editors had become mean, ugly, and in some situations, threatening which was "just not acceptable".
And it ended with something to the effect of "everyone cool down" and that Engadget will allow comments on their blog again when they feel that things have settled down some.
Websites which allow unfiltered comments from users is a very common problem faced by many sites including most of the newspaper and television blog sites.
This "unfiltered" commentary is a growing concern for most of us who like to play in the online networks. Should all comments be monitored? Should websites which serve as an informational source be setting up a whole "comment management" team?
More to come……….
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January 30th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments » |
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Here we go again…..another new platform for us to play on: www.buzz.com by AT&T. Buzz.com allows people to find out the best local businesses using recommendations from friends and family.
David Krantz, president and chief executive of AT&T Interactive, says that "through Yellow Pages, AT&T already had a wealth of information about local businesses and a large local advertising business.But the company realized it could attract more visitors and more advertisers if it could make its local business searches "deeper and more relevant."
So on buzz.com, a user looking for a carpet cleaner or xyz product company in Orlando could poll friends and family on the site to find the best option. Buzz.com will also be able to suggest experts on that topic based on user "favorites" and comments.
Boy is the data from buzz.com going to be completely skewed or what? I mean, this will not be "neutral" data; it'll be emotional based on personal preferences and uses. And "expert" recommendations? Come on, everyone's an expert these days!
Buzz.com is currently in "alpha" testing phase with about 500 AT&T employees testing buzz.com. Buzz.com will go public in a few months and then we'll be playing on that platform too, for you.
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January 29th, 2010
Posted by Nick Trimarche | Posted in Social Media Marketing, facebook, twitter | No Comments » |
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Alterian company's 7th annual survey in which 1,068 marketing professionals around the world were surveyed, found that two-thirds are planning a social media marketing investment within the next 12 months.
Over 67% of those surveyed identified Social Media as either "critical to success" or "increasingly important" and about 40% said they would spend about 1/5th of their traditional direct marketing budget for social media activities.
This makes a lot of sense right?
Social media provides direct, instant, global access to hundreds of thousands of people. So it makes me wonder when I hear people tell me that they are still relying on the yellow pages for their leads or when people give me "we're a local company" as their reason for not engaging in social networks.
Come on folks. Lets get real here.. Social media marketing is not just important to the viability and long-term success of your company, it is becoming IMPERATIVE.
Stay in front of your customers and prospects and remain in business or else……(you fill in the blanks).
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