Jul 29

Face to face Networking vs. Social Networking

By Ken Liebeskind Optimize, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media No Comments »

The advent of social networking has reduced the need for face to face networking but certainly hasn’t eliminated it. Business executives relate the rise of social networking, from Facebook and LinkedIn interactions to trading Twitter posts, but they also note the importance of face to face networking remains solid.

“The point is that meeting face to face is absolutely effective and vital to building strong relationships with clients. People who are wrapped up in the virtual world still have a strong desire for personal relationships,” one executive wrote.

By the way, face to face meetings aren’t limited to personal appointments, they can take place at live events, trade shows and conferences. There are numerous opportunities for face to face meetings that will enhance your business.

Social networking allows you to make contact with perfect strangers that lead to face to face meetings, so the two can work hand in hand.

Successful endeavors in the interactive world combine social and face to face networking. Take advantage of the latest social networking opportunities, but don’t avoid face to face networking that many executives consider to be crucial to success.

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Jul 14

Will ‘Google Me’ Overcome Facebook?

By Andy Scherer Facebook & Twitter, Maintain, Optimize, Social Media 11 Comments »

If you talk with any web developer or social media expert, they will tell you that the world revolves around Facebook and Google.  While Facebook covers the full spectrum of social networking venues, Google is the authority of website development and ranking (amongst other things).  However, in the very near future the folks at Google may be challenging Facebook directly with the release of “Google Me”.

Google Me1 Will ‘Google Me’ Overcome Facebook?In the past couple of weeks, Google has invested hundred of millions of dollars into Zynga (the creators of Farmville and other casual gaming sensations that can be found on Facebook), and will be able to provide their users with a unique gaming interaction within their social networking platform.  As this is one of the largest gaming investments that Google has made, there are now several other casual gaming application creators that are attempting to work with the Google crew.  With the strategic move from Google, the question now stands: will Zynga pull their popular games from the Facebook platform?  If they do, the effects could be significant in favor of the future Google Me release.

A second possibility is that Google Me will capitalize on Facebook’s inability to maintain people’s privacy.  This has been one of Facebook’s biggest faults, and could potentially be one of the very large selling factors to draw visitors and loyal users to the world of Google Me.  It is rumored that Google will completely avoid the term “Friend” and “Connection” to detour any comparison to LinkedIn or Facebook, and will most likely gear towards a professional feel with “Groups” of predefined descriptions (i.e. family, colleague, etc).

Third, and most intriguing is the potential for Google Me to tie into all of Google’s other applications.  They could incorporate some of the Google Docs, Picasa, Google Checkout, Google Products, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and GMail (among all of the other Google feature programs).  Along with this, they can enhance some of the features that Buzz brings to the table.  Finally, and most importantly, Google Me will be able to bring search engine optimization to the highly trafficked world of social networking.

Overall, this could potentially be one of the biggest releases in Google’s history if it is done well.  Keep your eyes peeled for more news, updates, and information on Google’s potential release as this could significantly rock the world of Facebook and the rest of the social networking world!  For more information on how you can capitalize on current social media please contact Impact or leave a comment below!

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Jul 12

There’s No Stopping Generation Y: Their Social Networking Future

By Andy Scherer Optimize, Social Media 15 Comments »

Nothing can stop Generation Y from social networking.

That is the recent consensus in a study done by Pew Internet, and as surprising as it may seem to some, it is absolutely not a shock to the Gen X internet and social networking community.  While Generation X has developed the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and many others, it is Generation Y that has taken the full advantage of the services of full personal disclosure.  With that said, let’s take a look at the reasons why they will or will not continue maintaining an openness throughout adulthood for those Generation Y’ers out there:

Why They’ll Stop
  • Time Is Of The Essence — Maintaining an utterly open and honest means of communication through the vast social networking venues is extremely time consuming.  As the Gen Y folks out there grow into adulthood and professional careers, they will have less and less time to devote to their Tweets, Status updates, and other connections.
  • Written Warnings — Many companies are adopting website codes of conduct as well as internet personnel policies to enforce what has been a large amount of venting within social networking platforms.  On a daily basis, I (personally) see over 50 people spouting off that they cannot stand to go to work which, obviously, doesn’t bode well for the company.  The businesses are making an attempt to detour any of this online behavior as they try to enhance their corporate and branding image.
  • Keeping It In The Family — There is something to be said about those people out there who do not have a personal Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking profile.  They have extreme dedication to keeping their family business intimate.  I have several “Friends” on Facebook that do not have a personal page, but have built a professional page to take advantage of the traffic and popularity of that particular venue.  So, as Generation Y starts developing their own families, they could potentially take a turn down the “keep it it in the family” road.
Why They’ll Continue
  • Habits Die Hard — Gen Y will have an extremely hard time breaking their updating habits, and there will be a solid majority (according to Pew Internet) that will continue their social networking updates due to pure habitual behavior.  This is apparent in the new phones that are out which specifically connect to social networking platforms to enable a little more of that habit-forming behavior.
  • Get Connected and Stay Connected — Everyone innately wants to know what everyone is doing; it’s the minute piece of voyeur behavior that we don’t like to admit we have.  We love to share what we are doing because we know that we love to see what everyone else is doing (so why not help the never-ending cycle).  The ability to see and compare what some of your friends are doing is one of the biggest draws to maintaining a social network.
  • The Circle of Life — Gen Y folks will want to stay connected to the “now” social networks because that will be what their kids use to share their lives.  As karma typically goes, look for a repeat of their behavior from their children (though it will be modified with their technology), and keep an eye out for their Gen Y parents to maintain a social networking account to monitor their kids (and share what they are doing as well).

The bottom line here is that social networking is here to stay, and everyone needs to take advantage of the current places that are frequented by Generation Y individuals.  Create those web 2.0 Facebook pages, figure out a way to strengthen your Twitter account, utilize great search engine optimization strategies, and remember that the current Gen Y kids are going to be your future marketing managers!

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Jun 21

Determine The Difference Between Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Mixx

By Andy Scherer Optimize, Social Media 12 Comments »

It’s no surprise that social media websites are some of the most frequented sites on the web.  However, with so many sites out there it is important to know the different features, purposes, and basic differences between them.

Digg

digg 150x150 Determine The Difference Between Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and MixxAs one of the newest editions to the top 100 sites (as ranked by Alexa.com in April of 2010), Digg has grown over the past 5 years into one of the most respected social networking/bookmarking websites.  The site revolves around the members’ abilities to vote blog posts and stories up or down, and the most prominently Dugg posts are displayed on the front page of the site, but that’s not all.  Check out these top features:

  1. Digg Recommendations — Using a specified algorithm, you are able to search for other Digg members who have Dugg the same stories as you.  This allows you to utilize a huge networking function and add people to your friend list with common interests.
  2. Digg Spy — Providing a real-time view of what is going on throughout the Digg site.  You can monitor and watch stories as they are submitted, voted, and move up in the rankings.  This is a great way for you to stay abreast with the current topics of all users as you can keep track of the current daily trends and adjust your stories to those topics.
  3. Blog Connections — With one simple click you can submit a story to the Digg community (as long as your blog is hosted by WordPress, Blogger, Moveable Type, TypePad, or Live Journal).  For everyone out there who is busy (almost all of you), this saves a significant amount of time and effort as you attempt to spread the word of your posts.
Delicious

delicious 150x150 Determine The Difference Between Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and MixxDelicious is one of those sites that it pays to be a part of; it has been around since 2003, has a ton of users, and is a great way for your to utilize the social bookmarking community.  Users have the ability to tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen indexing terms which help populate a “Hostlist” on the front page, and allow users to view the current trends of blog topics.

The top 3 features of Delicious include:

  1. Fresh Bookmarks and Hotlist — This, for me, is the be-all-end-all with Delicious.  These two tabs allow users to see what the current trends are throughout the blogosphere which is Delicious.  This means that business owners and management can monitor trends and if their field or topics relevant to any information pop up they can jump right on the band wagon and get involved.
  2. Share — When you share something you want it to get out there as easily as possible as fast as possible, and Delicious allows that with integration with the Twitter community.  This share feature also allows you to send your bookmarks to e-mail addresses if they are not affiliated with Delicious yet, and is an outstanding way for you to think outside the box when delivering information to potential clientele in relation to your services/product.
  3. Search — With the entire Delicious.com community freely tagging articles, you will most likely get the most accurate search results with long-tail keyword searches.  This allows you to narrow down all of your searches and find exactly what you are looking for within the entire community.
StumbleUpon

stumble 150x150 Determine The Difference Between Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and MixxStumbleUpon has one of the unique products out there on the web where you can input topics that interest you and web-surf.  In all honesty, you have to know that I spend almost all of my “free web time” stumbling through websites because I like to see how they are designed.  Stumble has several great features that truly make it worthwhile:

  1. Friends — You have the ability with StumbleUpon to invite and have friends within your social network.  This is a great opportunity for you to venture outside of the box with networking opportunities and truly get a sense as to what your sphere of influence has to say about their interests.
  2. Easy — I cannot express to you how easy this website is to use and enjoy.  When you decide to channel view, you are brought to an easy to use screen that is extremely easy to use and very very fun.  The toolbar at the top of the screen is great as it has key features for sharing the sites that you like as well as voting for the individual sites.
  3. Traffic — This is truly the bottom line for me as there is a definitive advantage to being a part of the Stumble community…driving traffic to your site.  The honest truth is that you can take advantage of a great resource, network, and share all of your content through a single site which, in turn, drives unique traffic to your website.
Mixx

Mixx is the new kid on the block in terms of social networking/bookmarking sites go, but is a very useful platform nonetheless.  Being user-driven allows people to find content from their peers primarily based on interest and/or location.  Take a look at some of their features:

  1. Personalization — The start page is customized to categories and topics that interest you, and are displayed on your very own “Mixx page”.  They also allow for a personalized profile page to help in your networking ventures.
  2. Search and Discover — Mixx has great search capability in that you can utilize keyword searches for images, all content, articles, etc.  Basically, it is a phenomenal way to narrow down search results without too much work.  The site also has a popular content section and a local section (which allows you to view content within a certain zip code).  This is a great feature for business owners targeting local audiences as they can see different trends in the local area.
  3. Overall Networking Experience — Since this is a user-driven platform, the users have full capability as to comments, groups, friends, etc.  You are able to award people “kudos” for their comments or label comments as “fighting words” to not have them displayed.

As always, it’s important for you (as business owners and business people) to get out there and hit the social networking websites.  With all of these features out there between all of the social bookmarking sites you are truly missing the boat if you are not involved, and make sure that you contact Impact if you need any help establishing your online presence through these networking sites.

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