Last week, Jeff discussed the Good versus Evil of using hashtags for social media measurement. This week, we’re focusing specifically on the hashtag fail. Brands use hashtags on a regular basis to engage their communities around their marketing campaigns and track the conversation. While some hashtag campaigns are a success, others aren’t so lucky. Here are some ways brands can prevent hashtag fails, as well as strategies for dealing with a hashtag crisis once it arises.

How to Prevent a Hashtag Fail

What better way to deal with a hashtag fail than preventing it in the first place? Here are some points to consider before you hit the tweet button.

Do Your Research

If you tweet a hashtag without doing your research, your brand could find itself in a lot of trouble. You don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or inadvertently involve yourself in a conversation where you don’t belong. Before you decide on a hashtag for your campaign, look it up on Twitter to see if it is already being used and in what context.

Be Wary of Trending Hashtags

While it might be tempting to include a popular hashtag to get your campaign noticed, don’t align yourself with a topic that doesn’t fit with your brand or that is sensitive or controversial. For a great example of how to incorporate trending hashtags successfully, check out this tweet from the Red Cross.

We may not collect #tigerblood, but we know our donors & volunteers have fierce passion for doing good! #RedCrossMonth

— American Red Cross (@RedCross) March 2, 2011

Timing is Everything

Even if you’ve carefully researched your campaign hashtag, consider the timing. If your company is already going through a difficult situation, an ill-timed hashtag could cause more problems. Consider how the hashtag could be perceived by your community and anticipate all possible reactions. If you have any doubts, postpone your campaign or take another course of action.

Be Consistent

Keep your brand messaging and tone consistent for your customers. Before you launch a hashtag campaign, ask yourself if it is in line with your brand identity. Likewise, make sure the tone of the hashtag fits your brand. If your brand is known for being more on the reserved side, a silly hashtag might not jive with your community.

How to Handle a Hashtag Fail

You’ve launched a hashtag campaign and it isn’t going as planned. While you can’t take back your hashtag, here are some strategies to deal with the situation effectively.

Be Quick to Respond

The longer you go without taking action, the worse the situation will be. Decide if and when you will stop promoting the hashtag and implement your backup plan. Also, acknowledge the reaction of your community, both positive and negative. You can respond individually or send out general tweets, like Qantas Airways did in response to feedback around its #QantasLuxury campaign.

Wow! Some very creative tweeps out there. Keep the entries coming #QantasWeHearYou

— Qantas Airways (@QantasAirways) November 22, 2011

At this rate our #QantasLuxury competition is going to take years to judge.

— Qantas Airways (@QantasAirways) November 22, 2011

Apologize

If you have caused distress or offended your community, an apology is necessary. Be clear on why you are apologizing, be sincere, and don’t make excuses.

Find the Lesson to be Learned

You’ve heard the expression “every cloud has a silver lining.” As stressful as they might be, hashtag fails can give you valuable insight into your community and the areas where you can improve as a brand. They also present you with an opportunity to engage with your detractors and potentially turn the situation around.

Hashtags can be a valuable addition to your marketing campaigns if used wisely. While nothing can guarantee you won’t find yourself in an awkward or downright unpleasant hashtag fail situation, the above pointers and some common sense will help with your peace of mind.

What are some of your suggestions for avoiding the hashtag fail? How do you think brands should react when a hashtag campaign goes awry?

The State of the Union address Tuesday evening brought a large amount of social media conversations to Twitter and many other social channels. We’ve looked at this data over the past few weeks revolving around the 2012 Election primaries and decided that digging in to the conversations around the State of the Union would be another interesting topic to cover.

Some of you may remember the work we did in 2011 around the Twitter Townhall with the Whitehouse which hit home the fact that the United States is definitely a social nation. Looking back at that report and comparing it to what we saw during the State of Union mentions over the past day, here are some interesting facts we found.

•  Female gender in the conversations was 6% higher during the State of the Union
• The top age bracket was constant at 25 – 34 year old for both events
• @barackobama & @whithouse were the top 2 retweeted usernames for both events
• In event time frame, The State of the Union created approximately 7 times more social mentions (Approx. 518,000 to 70,000 social mentions)

If you are interested in learning more about the findings we had, you can download the full State of the Union report here.

Using social media takes some good common sense. It does not have to be convoluted or complicated. Since your social media presence can make or break your business, here’s 13 things everyone must know.

• You don’t have to have it all figured out to get started.
• Pick your name wisely, it’s your brand.
• Be consistent across social networks. (With your name, logos and branding.)
• People WILL judge you by your profile picture.
• Even MySpace isn’t MySpace anymore. Everything changes, learn to adapt.
• Slow and steady wins the race.
• What you share on the Internet, lives forever. Ever, ever, ever…
• Don’t create and abandon. Start with one social media presence and build on it.
• Ask lots of questions. It’s a great way to learn, meet people and build a community.
• Unfriending is much harder than friending.
• You are what you tweet, facebook, +1, etc.
• What you get out of your social networks depends on what you put into them.
• Social media isn’t free. You’re investing your time and that’s a valuable commodity.

The bottom line is that social media should be taken as seriously as you would any other business endeavor. Would you start a business without a business plan? I sure hope not, so don’t treat using social media any differently.

What advice do you have for businesses diving into social networks? What do you wish someone told you about social media? What would you add to this list? 

“My kids, if I ever accidentally have some, will not go to school. They will start twitter accounts and learn from the people.”– Paul Bissonette, Phoenix Coyotes

It’s tweets like these that have made Phoenix Coyotes’ enforcer Paul Bissonette generate a healthy following on social media. And there is something to be said about how athletes engage on social media.

Most sports fans know their favorite athlete’s height, weight, jersey number and noteworthy statistics. But that trend is changing as more and more athletes dive into social media and fans around the world subscribe to their every tweet.

Just like in business and other industries, professional sports organizations are seeing the vast promotional potential of social media. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has even announced that he would dish out $240,000 towards improving his fighter’s followings. How’s that for incentive? Paid to socialize, sign me up.

So what is it about social media engagement that fans really enjoy?

Accessibility: Fans want to gain access and connect with athletes. Social media has made that a possibility. Whether it is a brief exchange about last night’s game, insights into fitness regimens or injury updates, all of these provide something meaningful to the fans. People connect with athletes through social media to learn more than they would get from the radio and television. Takeaway: Be accessible to your following. Make them feel special.

Be Human: The public sometimes forgets that athletes have significant others, children, and even a life outside the game. Interacting with fans via social media shows a human side that online communities desperately want to see. My personal favorite is Paul Bissonette, the professional hockey player mentioned above who has amassed a following of 211,686, despite only tallying 5 career NHL goals. If you’re looking for personality, he’s your man. Takeaway: Crack a joke, admit you were wrong, or thank your social followers for pointing something out. Show you are human.

Insight: Just like someone who works in law, business or education, athletes have a significant level of insight about the sport they play and can build their community up by educating their audience. Takeaway: Whether you work for a sports related brand or not, share your knowledge so the rest of us can take it in.

Relationships: Social media gives athletes and their fans a chance to connect and deepen relationships. Your audience is constantly evaluating the strength of their relationship with you so take the time to show them you value their support. Takeaway: Show them love and it will come back 5-fold in long-term support.

Regardless of who you are or what you do, make your audience feel valued.  Give them access, show your personality, and provide any insight you might have. You can manage the relationships by consistently WOWing your audience. For Bissonette, that is providing humor and insight that fans don’t expect to get from professional athletes.

To learn more check out the top 100 tips to live by via @darrenrovell. Can you think of any other methods to engage with your following? Share below!

With so much social media data flowing past our eyes every day, many companies use hashtags to try to understand their own small piece of the conversation. A hashtag is a word or phrase (with no spaces) preceded by a pound or hash sign (#). When added to tweets, this connects the conversations around a single topic. It is a functional bit of text and when you click on a hashtag in most Twitter clients, it brings up a search result of tweets with that hashtag. It can help companies watch the spread and reach of their ideas. Sometimes you see them around newsworthy topics (#jan25), companies (#radian6) or even events (#bwela).

The Good of Hashtags

Adding hashtags to tweets makes the most sense for online and offline events where you can share the hashtag with participants. Some of the best uses of hashtags are offline events because it creates an online connection of people who are in the same physical space. See our analysis of Blogworld Expo LA, based on their hashtag #bwela. If you are conducting a webinar and you want to know how many people share your ideas with their followers, encourage them to use a hashtag. You can capture these tweets in a tool like Radian6 and look at the volume of hashtag mentions, dig deeper into the conversations to understand what topics were most talked about, as well as who was talking.

Reviewing all this data lets you set conversation goals around the event. If you want to grow the attendance at future events, increasing the volume and presence of the current event draws attention to your events. A simple way to increase hashtag use is to include it on slides. Sample tweets also drive hashtag use. The data lets you see what resonated with participants. You can find influencers in the data, and see how engaged they were with the event. This can include new and known influencers. You can use your understanding of what caused people to tweet to improve for next time and reach your goals.

The Versus of Hashtags

Hashtags are used by a subset of participants talking about a topic. When tracking conversations and looking at data that supports your company initiatives, make sure you include terms besides the hashtags to get a complete picture of the social chatter. This is especially true when looking at consumer-driven events.

To social media veterans, hashtags are a natural part of how they tweet. Have you even been at an event where someone asks what the hashtag is? Less savvy presenters fumble to come up with something. If it is not something that has been pre-planned, you may not be prepared to track it. Or you may not know if it has been used for another event or ongoing conversation. It is always a good idea to plan a hashtag for any event, even if you don’t think your audience is the type to use it.

Many companies use hashtags on every tweet they put out. No matter what the tweet is about. This doesn’t create the brand awareness that they think. While straight retweets will pick up their hashtag, when they look at the data of usage, they will find that their #companytag is used almost exclusively in their tweets. This offers very little value. Hashtags that are about ideas are more likely to spread. If you encourage people to talk about a topic in your industry ask them to use a specific hashtag. This will let you promote something for the community, but also capture volume, preferred topics and Twitter users.

The Evil of Hashtags

Hashtags are open and public conversations, like most of the social web, that anyone can join. If a spammer or unscrupulous marketer sees a popular hashtag, they will start using it to promote their “offers.” In a study by Argyle Social, it was determined that hashtag stuffing doesn’t help a message spread or drive clicks.

If you are searching and tracking hashtags from a particularly large topic, like #socialmedia or the #superbowl, to find people and conversation topics, you are going to have to wade through a tremendous volume of hashtags mentions, as well as lots of irrelevant tweets. You definitely need to be prepared to do some heavy lifting, either with people or technology, but you should approach these efforts with more specific objectives and terms to make it a more manageable process.

Have you used hashtags to aggregate conversations around your online or offline events? What are some of your biggest challenges around digging into the data of hashtags? Learn more about measuring data in this month’s ebook.

There are trends that come and go and there are classics that span the test of time.  When it comes to social media influence, your goal is to be the crisp button-down or the little black dress – not the Hammer pants and fanny pack.

Calling Yourself a Guru

Calling yourself a social media guru is like sporting a fake Rolex. Everyone’s eying it, knowing it’s not the real deal, yet no one wants to tell you to your face. Let your work speak for itself. Flashy titles don’t mean much. Great testimonials and referrals do.

Auto DMs and Spam

Members Only jackets used to be cool. Don’t be the last member wearing one. Auto DMs are just like that. They’re no longer cool. In fact, they’re an abuse of trust.  If someone takes the time to follow you, don’t spam them with an auto DM to visit your Facebook page or download your ebook. Instead, start a conversation and give them a follow back.

Begging for Follows

The mullet is one of those fashion don’ts – as in don’t do it – ever. It’s the social networking equivalent of begging for likes and buying followers. Though it might seem like a great idea, it ain’t pretty.

Obsessing Over Numbers

You could step on the scene dressed to the nines, but unless you have style and grace it wouldn’t mean much. The same is true when it comes to the number of followers you have on Twitter or Facebook or whatever your social network of choice happens to be. Though at first glance that may seem impressive, you must dig deeper. You can’t deem someone an influencer based on sheer numbers: content and context must be considered as well.

De La Renta, Lauren, Chanel, and Dior all know it. It takes time to build influence and doing so means producing consistent, quality content, time after time. There’s no easy button. New fashions will emerge as well as ways people will suggest to value influence. Stick to the classics. The classics never go out of style.

Can you think of an additional social media (or fashion) faux pas I left out? What would you add?

When it comes to engaging on social media, the opportunities are endless. From asking questions to contesting to sharing links, there are so many ways to have a conversation. But when it comes to grabbing attention, brainstorming smart approaches will go a long way. Time to turn the heads of others in order to grow your community and brand awareness. Here are some ways to get there.

Thank you for the criticism

If you have a repeat critic, or detractor, do your reserach to understand them better. Once you have the background information, respond in public whenever possible. Yes, hit the issue head on in public. Even thank them! It will start the process of changing their demeanor and show your community that you’re transparent and open to feedback.

$%#!!

Okay, maybe not as wild as this headline, but controversial subjects can provoke strong emotions in your community and inspire discussion. Don’t be afraid to discuss topics relating to your brand or industry just because they’re hot-button topics. Passion invites interaction and engagement.

Hello, we’re here when you are!

Use specific tools, such as 14blocks.com, to find out when your audience is most active on Twitter. Then tweet and engage during those times to reach more of your followers. Surprise and please your community by being present when they are!

Great content. Can I share it?

Promote others more than you promote yourself, such as Chrisn Brogan’s 12:1 ratio. Oftentimes consumers feel that following brands means they’ll be inundated with sales pitches. Show that your brand is not a marketroid.

I’m making a Pinterest board

With hundreds of social media websites out there, think beyond Facebook and Twitter and look at two things: 1) what makes the most sense for your brand, and 2) where your audience is talking. Perhaps your time is better spent chatting on forums, sharing boards on Pinterest, or voting on StumbleUpon.

Hungry? Let’s eat!

Many think of retail when it comes to Cyber Monday but all that online shopping can make anyone hungry. Pizza Hut knew this and used social media to share a special 20% off promotion for online shoppers. If you think about your consumers needs, you can deliver something appetizing too.

What surprise moves do you have up your sleeve? Have you seen any examples of smart ways to grab social media attention? Learn more about engagement in this month’s ebook, 30 Ideas for your 2012 Social Media Plan.

Social media can be used to bring people together to help a cause, to unite protesters, to aid a revolution and even to support an uprising. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man ahead of his time. He had an amazing vision, that through hard work, perseverance and the ultimate sacrifice – came to fruition.

 In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., I thought it would be fitting to think about how he’d use social media today:

• He’d follow you based on the content you share, not on what your avatar looks like.
• He’d use YouTube to share his sermons and speeches and grow his community.
• He’d use Twitter to share motivational quotes and spread love.
• He’d use FourSquare to note which establishments had the best service.
• He’d use Instagram to share photos throughout his travels.
• He’d encourage people to upload relevant photos to his Civil Disobedience Flickr group.
• He’d connect with his peers on LinkedIn and write recommendations for them.
• He’d be listed in WeFollow, tagged with minister, activist, and civil rights.
• He’d be influential on Klout for topics like Civil Rights, Activist, Leadership & Georgia.
• He’d share all his favorite books on GoodReads.
• He’d use Plancast and Eventbrite to share his events and find events he’d be interested in attending.
• He’d use Pinterest to show that we have more things in common, than we don’t.
• He’d use Google+, Facebook and Twitter to crowdsource, share thoughts, spread his message, gather followers and rally people together.

Most importantly, I believe that Martin Luther King, Jr. would want us to use social media to lead the change in 2012 and go forward in ignoring the divisions of the past.

How do you think Martin Luther King, Jr. would use social media today? Which platforms do you think would have been his favorites? How do you think social media will continue to play a part in shaping the history of the world we live in? Add your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting on Twitter with Steven Frischling (@flyingwithfish), Airline, Aerospace & Travel Social Media Consultant. The conversation came about as a result of my recent post, 12 Tips to Talking Travel on Twitter, where the use of hashtags was my number one tip. @flyingwithfish felt it was rather generic, and he was right. It sparked this post, and possibly will contribute to future #traveltuesday posts.

@jenn_seeley OK, #Travel chatting on #Twitter (1) Use the hashtag #Travel (2) Participate in #TTOT on Tuesday & #TNI on Thursday #SMtravel — Flying With Fish (@flyingwithfish) January 6, 2012

So let’s look more specifically at some of the best hashtags for travel conversations on Twitter.

#Travel – Begin with the obvious. Travel. Just keep in mind that a search for #travel is going to yield a broad return of results. By that same token, it’s an excellent place to start.

#SMTravel – Want to be a bit more focused? #SMTravel is more specifically ‘social media’ and ‘travel.’ Just like with #Travel, you’ll see these hashtags used frequently.

#TT – Instead of #traveltuesday, go for the more succinct (and less character hogging) #TT instead. Of course, I still plan to call today what it is – Travel Tuesday. Learn more about Travel Tuesday here.

@jenn_seeley (6) Skip #TravelTuesday and use #TT as a hashtag, it is more widely followed & gives you more space to tweet. #smtravel — Flying With Fish (@flyingwithfish) January 6, 2012

#TTOT – In long form, it’s Travel Talk on Twitter. According to @traveldudes, it is THE travel hashtag to use. Twice every Tuesday at 9:30 am & pm GMT, travel professionals and aficionados alike gather at the hashtag to talk. Discussions, questions and even the ability to suggest topic ideas are facilitated here and at the Facebook group.

#CruiseChat – Another Tuesday chat (at 2pm EST) is about all things cruising. Thank @AvidCruiser and @CruiseBuzz for getting this one going. Similar to #TTOT, a question and answer format keeps this chat hopping.

#LuxChat – Pamper yourself and join @LuxeTiffany for luxury travel conversations on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 pm EST.

#TNI – Set time aside Thursdays at 3:30 EST for the “Travelers Night In” weekly Tweetup. @ZipSetGo brings us a fast paced, conversation-packed chat. With 10 topical questions zipping by furiously while travel tweeters add in a new question every ten minutes, this is an excellent opportunity to network and find like-minded travel enthusiasts.

*bonus* #NUTS - While not specific to travel, it seems that many travel folks are enjoying a “Not so Usual Therapy Session” brought to you by Midlife Road Trip. This week will be my first convergence upon the hilarity that takes place. The great travel conversations in midst of a reprieve from every day stresses and the fun I keep hearing about that is #NUTS. I hope to see you there on Tuesdays at 3:30 EST!

While some of these hashtags appear to correspond with a specific scheduled tweet chat, people still tend to use any of them when they are relevant, regardless of the day on the calendar. Try not to tweet without them. Hashtags can play a significant part in making new, lasting connections.

I plan to be present in these conversations whenever possible. What about you? Do you attend regular travel tweet chats? Do you have a favorite not on this list? Let’s hear about it!

Jenn Seeley tweets, talks and blogs about Travel, Entertainment and Leisure. Follow her on Twitterand check out her most recent posts here.

As 2011 comes to a close, I look toward the future and ask my friends, followers and colleagues about their #SocialMediaWish for 2012. Their responses were eclectic; a virtual mixed bag of social media requests, covering everything from personal goals to pleas for more engagement from businesses and each in 140 characters or less. Take a look at these 44 social media wishes for 2012 and see if any resonate with you.

General Wishes

1. @MikeFraietta Avatars with human faces.
2. @MartijnLinssen For less dynamics in existing Twitter clients and the API offered by Twitter, and more in new Twitter clients and new API service providers.
3. @rhappe A better UX for controlling your privacy on Facebook (#TooEasy)
4. @LinkedMedia #SocialMediaWish mine is 4 Facebook to step up to plate and put a real team of ppl in place for cust/serv for parents. #gnarly
5. @phillymac  Google+ integration into Tweetdeck.
6. @joshhinds I wish twitter would let us more easily delete DM’s (i.e. in bulk) so I could actually use DM’s rather then avoid it because all the spam.
7. @celivingston  One tool to rule them all. Especially from a CM perspective.
8. @kirstenwright I wish for an end to spammers and link hackers.
9. @swhitley I want to see the end of #TeamFollowBack.
10. @PreppyDude ohhh! My #socialmediawish is for facebook to add an edit button and for Twitter to get it’s head out of it’s {bleep} re: spam
11. @richpalmer @PreppyDude @Dayngr I’ll second that #socialmediawish.
12. @AdamLeithP I have one wish, an “anonymous ‘like’ button for Facebook. No one can see who has liked it. An “up vote” if you will. #facebook
13. @MeganCynaumon An answer for #socialmedia ROI!
14. @paulswansen that somehow it will all make sense.
15. @ChrisFHFX Voice to tweet, please.
16. @AgustinaP To win my boss a Webby.
17. @dimensionmedia To use my network to sell out #wcmia in Feb.
18. @MelanieAThomp To have time to blog daily.
19. @vargasl My 2012 #SocialMediaWish is that every organization have a social media policy that makes sense to workforce and cmty.
20. @DollarVersity I wish these companies would bring something dramatically new/different to the table rather than a few subtle changes to old product
21. @KGoetterman My 2012 #SM wish would be that companies approach it’s #SM with caution, thought and purpose as they do with all medias they choose.
22. @evanhamilton Less focus on the next shiny thing and more on stepping up our game on existing networks.

Social Media Engagement Wishes

23. @PRntheCity RT’s for all!
24. @christinelarade Continued engagement by large companies.
25. @jo_cheevers for brands I follow to actually respond when I ask them something through #SM #SocialMediaWish
26. @jasonkonopinski An end to performing. More being real.
27. @Tojosan a social network w/more actual networking.
28. @TheTinyJEWELBox I wish for folks NOT to forget that social media is SOCIAL!! Engage and interact.
29. @imgarysmith for people to interact with me.
30. @zodot Since it’s almost my 1 yr twitterversary, my wish is to make more amazing connections. I’ve “met” so many fantastic ppl this year.
31. @PeggyDolane More great conversations!
32. @raveonstudio  I wish more people would use it.
33. @Julie_Meredith Yes! I’d love for more #Finserv companies to get on the ball with #SM! No excuses!
34. @chrisgalton More CEO’s to support Social Media monitoring & engagement activity within their businesses. It’s #2012 not #1912

Social Media Related Jobs

35. @jimmiebjr A social media job.
36. @SkiGarmisch Yes! Me too please. RT @jimmiebjr: A social media job.
37. @Sean_OHanlon I plan to be the Analyst/Commentator the media turns to for all things. #Algae #Biomass & #Biofuels
38. @brodigan A job doing social media.

Wishes for Social Media Good

39. @shashib 2012 is crucial for the country’s future. Hope people will use social to find the right candidates and causes to support
40. @Ponderful my #socialmediawish is that through #webcitygirls platform, I can continue spreading positive, educational & kind msgs
41. @ctiedje To help a non-profit grow.
42. @NataschaOS To be able to create real communities based on social media communities for the Hispanic population! #latism #WHenFL #parranda
43. @vicequeenmaria I want #heartcamp to be a great thing for the community.
44. And finally, my #SocialMediaWish: More people helping each other through social and using it for good.
    

    Did any of the social media wishes shared strike a nerve with you? Did you find any like-minded individuals to connect with in our post? What’s your social media wish for 2012? Please share it with me in the comments below or tweet us at @Radian6 with your social media wish and be sure to tag it #SocialMediaWish.

One of the ways to spot trends in social media is to compile year-end lists. What were the top conversations? What were the most shared posts? Unless you work for the largest consumer brands, this top-level trend data, although interesting, may not be the most relevant to your business. But this is the perfect time to start searching and planning what conversations will be the tops in your industry. Creating and sharing content can help your company be part of those conversations online.

Twitter Hot Topics

Instead of presenting its top 10 most tweeted topics, Twitter compiles its data by category on its Hot Topics page. Below are the top entries from 10 of the most interesting topics. While sharing news is an important part of Twitter’s appeal, much of the conversation focuses on pop culture events and celebrities.

1. Hashtags: #egypt
2. World News: Mubarak’s resignation
3. Soccer: Wayne Rooney
4. American Football: Dallas
5. Television: Pretty Little Liars
6. Movies: Thor
7. Actor: Charlie Sheen
8. Actress: Elizabeth Taylor
9. Music: Rebecca Black and Friday
10. Food: McLobster

Social Media Marketing Takeaway: Even though the top topics are pop culture and celebrity-related, the best way to separate the signal from the noise is to build a Twitter following that is relevant to your business. This way you will get more relevant incoming messages and your outgoing messages will spread to more interested followers.

Facebook’s Most Shared Posts

Facebook created a year-end list that highlighted the platform as a means for sharing third-party articles with your network. These are the 10 most shared posts by US Facebook users. This list contains tragedy, family stories and zodiacs and shows why consumer companies have been successful connecting with their fans on a personal level on Facebook.

1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York Times)
2. What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN)
3. No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed (CNN)
4. Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (CNN)
5. (video) – Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)
6. At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)
7. You’ll freak when you see the new Facebook (CNN)
8. Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble (Yahoo)
9. Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines (Yahoo)
10. New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post)

Social Media Marketing Takeaway: When connecting with customers on Facebook, make sure you understand what they talk about and share on the social network, and what they expect from brands. This recent survey offers some insights on the topic.

LinkedIn’s Most Popular Stories

LinkedIn is a much more business-focused social network, so it’s no surprise that the list of most shared stories on LinkedIn is also business-focused. While all of these stories are from mainstream publishers or top blogs, it does show the kind of articles people share on LinkedIn. They are career-related, with a dash of technology, and many offer how-to’s in the form of lists.

1. 9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money (Inc.)
2. Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success (Entrepreneur)
3. Steve Jobs: How To Live Before You Die (TED Talks)
4. The World at Seven Billion (BBC)
5. Four Destructive Myths Most Companies Still Live By (Harvard Business Review)
6. 5 Things to Do Every Day for Success (Fast Company)
7. Tech Firm Implements Employee ‘Zero Email’ Policy (Yahoo News)
8. The Org Charts of all the Major Tech Companies (Humor) (Business Insider)
9. Here’s How People Look at Your Facebook Profile — Literally (Mashable)
10. 5 Ways To Keep Your Rockstar Employees Happy (GigaOM)

Social Media Marketing Takeaway: Even though it is the smallest of these three major social media networks, it is easier to promote business-related content. Leverage your employees and encourage them to share company blog posts with their networks for some extra oomph.

What other takeaways do you have from these most popular lists of topics and conversations on the major social media platforms? Do they confirm or refute your own company’s experiences?

Step-by-Step Guide to Tracking your Twitter Stats

If your company is small, it probably means that – you’ve heard this before – “you wear many hats.” Perhaps one of your tasks is to analyze the effectiveness of your social media efforts.

When I joined Assistly, I found myself with a big hat closet. One of my duties was to create and manage our social media efforts. Without the luxury of procrastination, I dove in. But I didn’t want to be in the dark about what was working and what wasn’t.

I needed stats.  I needed to see if my efforts were paying off. I needed a light on in the hat closet.

The path I took for our small company would work for anyone. All it takes is a bit of organization and the will to take a few minutes every day to document your progress in a spreadsheet.

Open a Spreadsheet and Dive In

Open a new Excel spreadsheet. Think about what Twitter metrics you want to understand. I wanted to see the progress of all my efforts on Twitter so I could report on them and make adjustments to my category techniques. In general, metrics for social media generally fall into four categories:

• Activities –  my total tweet count
• Engagement – clicks, comments, retweets (actions your followers take)
• Size – number of followers
• Reach –  “mentions” others make of your company

Asking Questions: The Important First Step

Your questions determine the categories of data you will collect. For example, I wanted to know:

How many people were clicking on the links I tweeted? How many were retweeting? What kind of posts did they retweet? How many people were following Assistly? How many followers were we losing? Were we getting mentions? How many lists were we on?

Your column headings come from these questions. Here are some headings from my working spreadsheet:

Gather Actionable Stats with Helpful Tools

There are an intimidating number of tools available for social media activities and analysis. These are the four categories that were most important to help me answer my questions:

Twitter - Obviously, for Assistly, our Twitter account is the one-stop way to track total followers, accounts followed/following, total tweets, and lists.

Twitter is also an important visiting point every day in order to see our new followers, and decide who to follow back. It’s easier to keep ahead of this by checking every day, because the number of new followers each day is manageable (unless you have hundreds of new followers every day, in which case …mazel tov! Everyone should have this problem!). Following people back is an art and a science. You can be discerning or all-inclusive, but I heartily recommend avoiding the “junk” followers that are just there to advertise. I block them, without guilt.

A Tweet Shortener: I use Bit.ly for shortening Twitter links. Bit.ly also gives you analytics for daily clicks, and clicks per link. (Tip: If you are using multiple shortener methods in your tweet posts, you will need to add them together for accuracy on link clicks or daily overall counts.)

A Tweet Scheduler – Tweet schedulers not only get you set up for scheduling tweets in advance. They also track Twitter mentions and retweets and let you easily follow hashtags and specific words or phrases of interest to your organization.

“Unfollowing” Tools – Unfollowing on Twitter is normal. A lot of accounts come and go. It’s really only important to me whether people I follow are unfollowing our Twitter channel. That’s information that would alert me that I needed to correct course. For this, I use Who Unfollowed Me? It is so easy; just sign in with your Twitter account and get a look at who has unfollowed, and whether or not they were followers of your Twitter account.

Key Takeaways for a Small Business Using Social Media

Look for Patterns

Very quickly, you will begin to see patterns and adjust your tweets accordingly. Tracking social media in this simple way has given me a way to see the direction our social programs are going. When I look at the numbers, most often they are going “up and to the right” – and that’s the way you want them to go!

Check Your Ratings

Periodically check your ratings using services such as Klout. They couldn’t be any easier to use. They give you lots of great information about how you are doing compared to competitors, and the information is presented in appealing graphics. They help you up your game. Give your score a column on the sheet every quarter or so.

Take The Long View

Collect stats daily, and plan to add a row to total up each week and each month so you can see the bigger picture of progress over time. Every time you add a social channel, add a sheet to your Social Statistics Spreadsheet. Like an apple a day, it will help keep your business healthy, wealthy, and wise.

How did you develop your process for documenting Twitter progress? Do you use Twitter for customer service and support? Why or why not? What would your ideal Twitter tool look like? How do you use the metrics you collect? Do you have a specific format for reporting? Any stories about the impact Twitter has had on your company?

Alyson Button Stone is a member of the Assistly team, editing the Assistly Blog and managing the social media program. She has been “drinking out of the firehose” for startups for several years. Alyson is also on her second decade serving as a trustee for her public library.

This is not meant to be a by-the-numbers top five list. It’s a handful of examples of shows and networks that pushed the envelope in terms of integrating social media engagement within their properties. Social TV has been largely defined by the development of second screen applications and the market is buzzing. Less has been said about the value of engaging with the communities of fans that exist. This list highlights some examples of the growth of social media engagement during the fall television season.

I want to say thank you to my followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ for their suggestions – a few of which ended up on this list.

1. Community on Hiatus? What about #SixSeasonsAndAMovie?

When NBC announced it was putting Community on hiatus, fans of the show flocked to social media sites to politely (and sometimes not so politely) suggest that the network had most definitely “Britta’d” that decision. There isn’t anything new about fans banding together to put pressure on a network to bring back a cancelled program or keep them from cancelling it altogether. What is different about this example is that the stars of the show have taken part in the social media campaign, reaching out to some of the Twitter accounts trying to keep the show on the air like @SaveCommunity.

2. CBS Social Premiere and Sweeps Week

CBS carried out two promotional events this fall season. They started off the fall season with a series of premiere live-tweets allowing fans of the shows to chat with the talent. I blogged about this during the premiere week as it showed a spike in social conversation volume during the premiere of the Big Bang Theory in relation to other programs that aired in the same time slot. During November sweeps week, CBS turned their social media properties over to their stars and creative teams. The result was a whole lot of behind the scenes and candid photos, live-chats as well as question and answers sessions. (I blogged about this experiment as well.)

3. Prominently Displaying and using Hashtags

This year, every television program had an official Twitter account and an accompanying hashtag. This helped facilitate conversations among fans and has also made it much easier to find fellow fans of your favorite TV show. More interesting – as this New York Times article points out – is the number of shows that are teeing up an Internet afterlife with meme-ready content. The New York Times notes Parks and Recreation’s “Treat Yo Self” episode as an example. One can just as easily point to Community’s use of memes and hashtags like Troy and Abed wearing t-shirts printed with #AnniesMovingDay when the three characters became roommates.

4. Twitter Voting on The X-Factor

At the end of October, The X-Factor announced that it was partnering with Twitter to allow fans of the show to vote for their favorites signing contestants on FOX’s talent show beginning November 2^nd, 2011. Voting via Twitter for shows like this was inevitable but I’m including it as a social TV first.

5. Using Character-based Twitter Accounts            

Ok, so technically for this one I’m stretching back to the summer. HBO’s True Blood created a number of Twitter accounts based on the characters in the program. The accounts were incredibly social and added to the viewer experience. I thought the program took a risk on something that could have gone either way but the experience was great. It definitely deepened one’s immersion in the show’s storyline and the world these characters inhabit.

While these were social TV highlights, there are lots of examples that I didn’t include here. What social TV events and moments caught your attention this fall?

On this #traveltuesday, it’s no secret that social media plays a big role in travel for the adventurer and travel distribution company alike. And while Twitter is the tool of choice for quick travel interactions, many people are still learning how to make this micromedia site sing.

Here are a few tips to ensure smooth sailing on the social seas!

For the Traveler and Travel Brand alike:

1.Use hashtags. Find and use the hashtags where others are talking about the same travel topics that interest you or are relevant to your brand. To get you started, Flightster put together this top five list of travel related hashtags. (If you’re not already well versed in the world of hashtags, the Twitter help center does a good job of explaining their use here.)

2. Ask questions. Posing a question to your followers can jump start travel conversation, help you to gather insight or find the answers you’re looking for. However, questions thrown out to the Twitterverse are only as good as the followers who are reading your tweets. To better amplify your queries and improve better engagement, see #1 – use hashtags!

3.Jump in on conversations. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or you make a living selling services to travelers, being part of travel discussions – even when there is no immediate need to know or share anything – will help you grow your network. Having the right friends and followers nearby when you have questions (see #2) will improve your chances of timely and on-point responses.

4. Share. Sharing happens at the speed of fast on Twitter. People are quick to retweet great material, and you should be no exception. Just remember not to make it all about you. Mix up your tweets so you are sharing questions, retweeting great advice or interesting articles and catering to a broader audience. Share places you’ve been and ask for recommendations. Or share an article that features your brand if you’re in the travel biz. Today I saw this fun share on Twitter:

RT @2cre8: ✈ 6 Largest Indoor Water Parks in the World vsb.li/PgMaMl #Travel #Vacations RT @Flipbooks #travelTuesday

— Michelle Mangen (@mmangen) December 13, 2011

Notice how Flipbooks has more than one retweet? Apparently @2cre8 and @mmangen found it interesting enough to want to share further. (Also, notice the use of hashtags!)

For the Traveler:

5. Search. Maybe before you take off on your travels you wish to get recommendations from other social media users like I did in Vegas. Or perhaps you are looking for conversations about the city you will be traveling to. Try searching for keywords such as Disney World to see how people are talking about their recent experiences. You can even save the search so you can come back to it time and time again. (The latest Twitter facelift has a new search functionality called Discover where you can enter keywords or hashtags to help find topical conversations. Have a closer look at the new redesign here in Shannon’s great post.)

6. Follow travel services and companies. Start with the obvious ones. The brands you already know and love.  Companies you are familiar with may be using Twitter to share news, exciting features and additions, events and even discounted rates.  Using Twitter’s Discover, search for brands you know less about or places you plan to visit. If brands are smart, they’ll ensure they are easily discoverable. To assist in making travel plans, try searching for your desired destination/city and selecting ‘people.’ This will show you Twitter handles with the destination/city in the handle itself or in the bio. I searched for Orlando and found @VisitOrlando for example.

7.  Follow like minded people. Using similar logic as #’s 5 and 6, take the searching one step further and make friends with the people who are talking about the very things you’re interested in experiencing through travel. They’re going to be able to offer helpful tips when you finally get to that resort you share in common.

8. Chronicle your travel. Similar to #4, this is where you can give back to your friends, followers and advice-givers by giving them a snapshot of your vacation. After all, you have gleaned the advice of others in preparation for your trip and they most likely are interested in the outcome. Just like you searched for tips and tricks, someone else may now benefit from you giving back. Twitter makes it easy to share photos and videos. Go nuts!

For the Travel Brand:

9. Engage. Travelers are talking about you, reaching out directly to you and planning how they will spend their vacation when nearby your awesome attraction. There are many opportunities to engage with your would-be customers, and not just with hashtags or in direct conversations. Searches are a great start to listening, but there are great monitoring platforms and tools available to help you better manage the flood of tweets just waiting to be mined like diamonds.

10. Be easy to find. Travelers are searching (see #5) for things to do in the towns and cities they’re visiting. They’re looking for recommendations of services that you may offer from a place to rest a weary head, to the actual method of getting from point A to point B. If you fail to fill out your Twitter bio, using terms and keywords that would catch the attention of tweet-savvy travelers, you may miss the boat, so to speak.

11. Cater to your audience. Deals are great and tips about your brand are helpful, but there comes a point when you can talk much about yourself and risk losing the attention of your followers. Listen to the conversations people are having in relation to what you offer, and add personal touches when possible.

12. Follow back. I saved my favorite for last. I understand it is not possible or useful to necessarily follow the entire twitterverse, but two things stand out to me regarding brands following back. The first thought is personal preference and so I can’t really fault a travel company entirely, but when a brand follows no one at all it appears to me as though they are more about themselves than their community. A quick click to their Twitter stream may prove otherwise if I see lots of direct engaging with other Tweeps (Twitter users). Second, if you plan to engage via DM (direct message) at all, you NEED to follow back. I could write an entire post on cases where brands have direct messaged me and asked for more information, only for me to have to @reply to explain to them how the DM works.

What about your Twitter travel tips? I’m sure you have some and I would love to hear them in the comments below.

Jenn Seeley tweets, talks and blogs about Travel, Entertainment and Leisure. Follow her on Twitter and check out her past posts here.

Traditional media still has an important role to play. You’ll continue to see those Times Square billboards flashing day and night. But with social media as a growing medium, marketing and PR should consider the different ways to blend the online and offline space. Can billboards work with Facebook? How does television and Twitter work together?

Here are 10 simple ways to integrate social media into your traditional media efforts.

1. Use traditional media as a social driver. Use print, outdoor, radio and other traditional media to promote your social channels. Take it beyond including the Twitter and Facebook icons and add some information as to why consumers should join the social conversation. Do you have special offers? Contests? Helpful tips?
2. Converse in the traditional space. Could a customer’s pleasant comment on Facebook be your next headline? Use these positive mentions and comments as testimonials on your website, headlines, body copy, etc. It will excite the customers that wrote the message (ensure you get their permission) and demonstrate your great brand in a peer-to-peer format.
3. Use traditional media as the prize. Develop a contest on your social media channels. It could be photos, videos, telling a joke on the Facebook wall, etc. Showcase the winner in a TV spot, print ad or on your website. It will generate buzz in both the online and offline space.
4. Continue the story on social media. Traditional media may reach the masses, but you’re often limited in your print and billboard space or your television and radio running time. Capture the audience with your story using traditional media, but continue it online. Maybe it’s a web series or a series of blog posts. Intrigue consumers to find out more.
5. Be open for feedback. With social media, communication is two-way. Your audience can provide thoughts and opinions about your campaigns. Welcome them! Let traditional media spread your message while social media captures the feedback. Make sure to take those opinions into consideration as you modify your campaign efforts.
6. Promote online content. As experts in your industry, you likely have a lot of great content to share. Use blogs, eBooks, webinars and other online avenues to share this helpful content with your audience. Then, set aside part of your traditional media budget to promote the content. Paid search and online display advertising are perfect for this effort.
7. Redefine the landing page. Oftentimes your traditional media efforts use your website as the call-to-action. Much like point #1 above, that doesn’t have to be the case. If your campaign is about creating a conversation, welcoming feedback, encouraging the story to continue, etc., Facebook, Twitter or your blog might be a better landing page option.
8. Respond with traditional media. If you’re listening on the social web and you’re discovering some repeating complaints, engaging in social media is a great way to learn more and dispel any rumors. However, you can make your message louder by using traditional media. For instance, if you’re getting negative feedback on your customer service, use traditional media to talk about it. How are you solving the problem? This approach shows that you’re taking these complaints seriously.
9. Organize offline events with online media. Traditional media can also include conferences and events. Hold meetups, tweetups and presentations at your offices or conferences and promote them via your social channels.
10. Test with social media.  If you have a new product, campaign idea or service to share, consider tapping into social media. Use offline channels to promote it and gather feedback and insights from your fans on the social web. Let them know from the beginning that you’re looking for feedback so the conversation can start right away.

No matter which way you chose to integrate traditional with new media, make sure to continually engage with your social following. They are talking about your campaigns and would love to hear from you.

What other ways are you integrating social media into your traditional media efforts? How has social media changed the way you communicate with your audience? Learn more about integrating social media into successful campaigns with this month’s eBook.

Side note: Social media can fly solo with smart social strategies that have tremendous results. Even $500,000 worth! Let’s Get Ready! won second place in the Chase Giving Awards and took home $500,000, to help students obtain post secondary education. This was purely a social media effort by Viral Technologies and Let’s Get Ready! (See the case study.) Share your story with us on Twitter at @radian6.

Whether prospective or current, students love the social web. They’re spending increasing amounts of time online, so it only makes sense for you to take your messaging to them. Online interactions give the perfect opportunity to answer questions about registration, or let sports fans know how to lend support to varsity teams. Connecting online also provides another way to develop chapters of alumni and share news about events.

If you’re already highly engaged, or a school that’s looking to dive deeper into social listening, there’s no better time to learn more.

Social media has been helping travelers solve customer service issues, get questions answered quickly,  and even interact with their favorite travel brands. It is no surprise that many people on the move pull out their mobile devices and seek recommendations while vacationing or traveling for business. Whether asking directly via Twitter, or searching out reviews on apps such as Yelp, today’s travel consumer is looking for that social connection that links them to the experience they are about to have.

For today’s #traveltuesday post, I thought it was fitting to reach out via Twitter and ask for recommendations of my own. As a result, I’ll share three specific thoughts with you. First, let me set it up.

The idea began a week ago as I was preparing for another trip to Las Vegas. (Thanks to Melanie for the suggestion!) I was going to tweet to my followers requesting suggestions of what to do while in Vegas. I knew that someone would be listening. Or would they?

#1: For the Traveler

I kept the tweets fairly simple:

Perhaps I should have used more or different hashtags to be more effective. Although I did get 15 unique suggestions in all, it would have been helpful to be more specific in my requests. Try specifying what you are looking for. Are you asking about the best places to shop? Maybe you are hungry for a certain dish (or beverage)? Of course, it is also possible you are simply in need of lip balm and blister bandages, so turning to social media to find a local pharmacy is also a good plan.

#2: For the Recommendation-Maker

Thankfully, my friends and followers who shared great (and goofy) ideas with me today were not simply doing a Google search on my behalf. When your friends ask for a recommendation, they aren’t asking you to answer for the sake of answering. They genuinely want to hear your experiences. Social media has allowed us to share personal stories. Let your friend run the search engines themselves, and give them your honest recommendation. I got great suggestions from people who either tried something and loved it, or heard of something fun and knew they would like it and felt I may too.

Both @kchipphoto and @j_barrak sent me wandering off to Paris. I had Crepes Suzette at La Creperie earlier in the day…

… and then back for a trip up the half-scale Eiffel Tower at night. The views of the Vegas Strip from the 541 foot tall tower were breathtaking!

Goofy colleagues got in on the action, too! Mark suggested I get married - or have my picture taken with Elvis at the very least. And Mel is big on #halfface pictures and seeing how she has always wanted to see the incredible fountain show at the Bellagio, that was her request.

(The Bellagio picture is also almost a #silhouetting shot, which is another one of our silly community team memes.)

I wish I could have made it to Fremont Street or taken a ride on the roller coaster at New York New York. I also missed out on going to The Chandelier Bar today, although I have seen it before and it IS impressive. All in all, I had great success from my Recommendation-Maker followers. Thank you!

#3: For the Travel Service Provider

Today, I was surprised at the lack of response from random local companies just actively listening for average people seeking fun things to do while in Las Vegas. Without using any direct mentions of brands via Twitter, I did not experience engagement of any kind from anyone who may hope to make a buck off me. This tells me that there are still many opportunities for social media monitoring and targeted listening on the Vegas Strip. Had a helicopter tour company suggested I check them out, or a bar tweeted me recommending their specialty up-all-night-writing-a-blog cocktail, I might have been intrigued enough to listen, share the recommendation and then write about it here. The last time I visited Vegas, I had several interesting companies pick up on my upcoming visit and pitch their product or service to me.

Because you never know who you are engaging with, it is possible that many opportunities to reach a broader audience are missed. A simple place to start would be to listen for commonly used words – such as ‘Vegas’. If you’re a travel company of any type, and are not already looking for ways that you can converse about what you offer just by monitoring keywords, drop your questions in the comment box below.

All in all

I had a great day in Vegas. I took many pictures not shared here, and even visited a few places not suggested via social media, like the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, and Hash House a Go Go for a gigantic breakfast. I think I will watch out for the next few days to see who is asking for recommendations just like I did in the hope that I can offer my experiences to a random stranger. Social media makes travel fun!

What about you? As a traveler, have you sought recommendations via social media for travel tips and ideas? Have you dished out your own advice to friends and followers in need? Or, if you are a travel service provider, is targeted listening and engaging part of your social media strategy?

Jenn Seeley is a Community Engagement Specialist who uses social media for recommendations on sights to see while traveling with Radian6. Tell her why you love social media for travel insight by tweeting @Jenn_Seeley.

House Party makes it easy to have a party in your own home and get exclusive access to awesome products for you and your friends. Their parties are sponsored by the brands consumers love, such as PlayStation, McDonald’s, Kraft Food and Ford. By hosting, you and your guests get to try their products and receive an incredible Party Pack chock full of goodies. And with the use of social media, all you have to do is provide feedback to House Party on the products you had a chance to try.

The team at House Party has been keeping very busy; their clients see the value and benefits of having customers try their products and share that experience with friends and families. And now with the power of social media, party hosts are now able to share their feedback with their social media followers as well. Twitter has given House Party that chance to connect with party hosts, potential hosts and fans. And by using Radian6, the team at House Party is able to organize these conversations, engage with followers, gain additional insight and findings that have proved invaluable for their clients.

Check out our latest case study on how House Party is using Radian6 and social media.

Sarah Carver is Public Relations Manager at Radian6. She is always inspired by great customer stories. Find her on Twitter at @sarahcarver12.

If you’re like me, your social media feeds are a massive mashup of news, comments and conversations. But culling through all that social media stuff can reveal findings as monumental as Charlie’s golden ticket to the Chocolate Factory. Social media is a hub of hot topics with some great insights for your business. Shall we explain? Here’s one example.

This Thanksgiving many are cooking up casseroles, but Mashable shared a slightly different and more engaging concoction. A new #LiteraryTurducken hashtag by publishing company Doubelday takes classic novels and turducken to engage followers in a game of combining classic works with the turkey+duck+chicken dish. Not only did it result in pure hilarity with these submissions, but it grabbed the attention of CEOs (including Twitter) and publishers.

What takeaways does this story deliver for your business? Chew on these.

The chicken: To enhance brand perception, go where consumers play and join the fun.
As you listen and understand the social media environment, you’ll start to see various trends. Hashtags, Twitter chats and Facebook games are just a few activities social media consumers use on a sometimes-daily basis. What are your customers and prospects using? Tap into these fun outlets with variations of your own. It shows that you’re interested and engaged with your consumers while demonstrating your brand as a fun, finger-on-the-pulse organization that enjoys spending time with customers.

The duck: Use timely content to create interest around your brand.
There are a few ingredients that led to the tasty outcome of this social program. Besides tapping into a place where consumers go and being a creative, unique idea, it was timely. This generated interest, excitement and a sense of urgency. Consumers may not have realized it, but they wanted to respond quickly to avoid missing out on the holiday fun. Besides, who doesn’t want to talk about food and our favorite reads? When developing your social strategy, consider how time can be on your side.

The turkey: Find new influencers and grab their attention with an engaging concept.
This truly was the icing on the cake. While it’s likely that the goal of this program was to engage consumers, it wound up grabbing the attention of some heavy hitters. If your goal of your social media program includes an infleuencer strategy, consider tactics that are unique and engaging. Influencers like to have fun too! But moreover, they want to engage with, and be part of, the buzzworthy content.

This was a simple, low-cost program that generated quick interest and excitement. While it may be tough to tie it to ROI, I think we can all agree that the buzz and positive vibe is priceless.

What unique social media efforts did you plan in 2011? How have they worked for you? Share your stories here.

Amanda Nelson is a Community Content Manager at Radian6. She is an avid writer, content curator and border collie fanatic. Find her on Twitter at @mileigh13.

Since 2005, consumers have been flocking online in huge numbers to shop on the Monday following Black Friday. And so, Cyber Monday was born. Over the past six years, Cyber Monday and online shopping has continued to grow in popularity. It has been reported that this year 40% of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, and 39% plan to shop online this Cyber Monday. With the steady growth of online shopping, it is no surprise that more and more retailers are using social media to help share the details of their sales and promotions.

The potential of Cyber Monday spans beyond the traditional retailers, and Pizza Hut saw this opportunity. Using social media to share a special 20% off promotion, the digital team at Pizza Hut is taking advantage of the increase in online traffic to show customers that ordering online at PizzaHut.com has a lot of great advantages. Pizza Hut has become a socially-engaged enterprise and they are using Radian6 to make the most of opportunities like this.

Learn more about Pizza Hut’s Cyber Monday promotion here and if you are looking for some great pizza on November 28^th after a busy day of online shopping, check out Pizza Hut on Twitter or Facebook to take advantage of a great deal.

Where will you be shopping this online season- in the store or online? Let us know how you tackle your holiday shopping.

Sarah Carver is Public Relations Manager at Radian6. She is always inspired by great customer stories. Find her on Twitter at sarahcarver12.

Even before social media, family vacations were a lot of fun when I was a little girl. One of the ways I remembered my trips and archived their special moments was through scrapbooking. Not the new-fangled-way of scrapbooking, with embellishments and ornate stickers, but the good old fashioned slap-something-on-that-manila-page and call it done kind. I collected brochures of the places we visited, snapped pictures to be processed when we returned home, and collected little pieces of memorabilia that fit nicely between my pages – and I shared the book with guests who came to visit.

Social Media Scrapbooking

While many people still scrapbook today, even more are sharing their adventures electronically. You probably remember the early days of digital photos and email, and that friend who always tried to email, large download-limit-breaking, photos to you of beaches and theme parks. Now, social media has made photo sharing much easier. Travelers are embracing the variety of options at their fingertips to share their pictures and stories across the social web.

Sure, the average guest at your resort may not be a professional photographer, and they may not be a “travel industry influencer” across social media channels, but they’re posting images of sunsets, landscapes and beach-time fun. They’re already broadcasting their good times about you, and your business, and you didn’t even have to ask.

How You Can Use These Unsolicited Social Media Shares To Grow Your Travel Business

Certainly, some friends and followers of social media loving travelers may limit themselves to vicarious living, but others are paying close attention. On one occasion, I recall being so captivated with the snapshot of a beach my friend had posted on Facebook – I made it my screensaver. Months later, I asked her to remind me where the photo was taken. She excitedly shared every detail of her stay at The Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, right down to the patio she was sitting on as she snapped it from her iPhone. Though, I haven’t made it to Bermuda yet, her travels now fill a book of must-see destinations I otherwise would have never known about.

How you can leverage social sharing:

• Create an environment or even a distraction from the norm. Maybe you don’t have Cinderella’s Castle for the background shot like Disney does, that’s alright. Search for something iconic and make sure you point it out as the perfect picture opportunity. Guests are already showcasing your property, so come up with something clever that will generate plenty of discussion and will create a connection to your brand when people see multiple images popping up across the social web.
• Have a monitoring platform, and a strategy, that includes coverage of shared media – such as videos and images. Be on the lookout for the organic images your guests share.
• Be present and involved in online communities, where sharing is fun and easy. Create accounts on video and photo sites built for easy sharing like Flickr, YouTube and even Facebook. Encourage your guests to share their images and videos with you across these social platforms. Then, reward them for being part of your unofficial PR team with points, coupons, bonuses, etc. – you get the picture!
• Talk about their experiences with them. Engage them in conversation across the social channels they frequent, such as Twitter. Your guests tell the story of staying with you, or visiting you more authentically than any brochure will. Let them help point people in your direction.

At the end of the day (or the end of their stay), your guests are going to share what moves them, what inspires them and what makes their vacation enjoyable. Travelers haven’t changed much, despite the change in media – they still love to share their travel experiences. Though the sharing is primarily electronic now, brochures are the equivalent of links back to your location, and personalized pictures with the smiling faces of friends set the stage to draw more new friends to your destination – it’s still up to you to provide the compelling experiences and surroundings. Once you’ve got that covered, then you can leave the electronic scrapbooking up to your guests.

Discussion: Have you visited a location because of social media shared content from friends, colleagues or family? Do you have a story about how photo-sharing online, drew new business to your destination?

On a lighter note: For those of you who like to get creative with photography on your travels. Check out this great travel photography flickr group and the 10 best travel photography websites for inspiration!

Jenn Seeley is a Community Engagement Specialist who travels vicariously through the many bloggers, tweeple and travel aficionados she engages with on a daily basis. Tweet your travel & social media stories with her at @jenn_seeley!

I was putting together a presentation yesterday on how social media has changed business communications and included the five most tweeted moments. I did this to illustrate how social media has woven itself into the fabric of society at many levels. Business communicators need to care about this because their prospects and customers live in this world where Twitter is a communication tool used by many. Each of these moments also provide some lessons for developing social media strategy.

Here are the five most Tweetable Moments, starting with least to most tweeted, based on data released by Twitter. It’s measured as tweets per second (tps), with a brief strategy takeaway for marketers for each. And you’ll likely be surprised by the most-tweeted moment.

5. Death of Steve Jobs – 6,049 tps (October 5, 2011)
Strategy Takeaway: This is the highest ranking technology moment, and it is a human story about one of the most innovative business leaders. It shows that Twitter users have transcended well beyond the technology-focused, early adopters and that stories that resonate are larger than products and companies. Consider adding a human element to your brand to create a connection with your community.

4. New Year’s Eve 2011 – 6,939 tps (December 31, 2010)
Strategy Takeaway: This is a large global event and very mainstream. People like feeling a part of a big event, so if you can tie social media efforts to holidays or local celebrations in an organic way, you can provide some visibility.

3. Brazil Eliminated from Copa America – 7,166 tps (July 17, 2011)
Strategy Takeaway: Soccer (or football) is the world’s most popular sport and Brazil is one of the biggest names in international soccer. Their rabid fans show their support in a loss, but this volume was likely based on the unbelievability of it. Keep an eye out for big stories that don’t go the way of expectations. Controversy also drives more engagement, so if you’re an advocate of the opposing side, consider sharing that point of view.

2. Japan Beats US in Women’s World Cup – 7,196 tps (July 17, 2011)
Strategy Takeaway: This happened the same day as the Brazil event, but it was even bigger. This was an underdog story with a huge human element. It wasn’t just that Japan beat the favored US women’s team, but they were carrying a whole nation on their back following the devastating earthquake. Underdog, sports, unexpected outcome and humanitarian story are a powerful combination. Incorporate storytelling into your social media approach and share your experiences to intrigue your audience.

1. Beyonce Baby Bump on Video Music Awards – 8,868 tps (August 28, 2011)
Strategy Takeaway: When singer Beyonce revealed that she was pregnant on MTV’s Video Music Awards show, Twitter went crazy. There are lots of takeaways about television, music and demographics, but here’s the biggest one: It’s about the second and third screens. Keep in mind that this was almost 9,000 tweets per second. That means when Beyonce revealed her baby bump, people tweeted. Immediately. They didn’t have to go to the other room and log on to a computer. They did it from their laptop, smartphone or tablet while watching TV. People always have their devices and can always respond and engage. Businesses need to understand that their customers are always looking at their phones and compelling information can connect at times you might not expect.

Business communicators need to watch for societal trends that are much larger than their companies and industries. Not only are your customers part of the larger world (even global in this case), but they are telling you how they participate in social media by their actions.

Are there other takeaways from the most tweetable moments? Have their been other big moments that helped you learn about engaging and interacting with your customers?

Jeffrey L. Cohen is a social strategist at Radian6 and the coauthor of the forthcoming The B2B Social Media Book. You can follow Jeff on Twitter at @jeffreylcohen.

The 2011 World Series had conversations that extended past the ball fields and into the social web. This Radian6 infographic looks at conversations across multiple social media channels to provide the top conversation topics, hashtags, player buzz and more. Who generated more conversations – the Rangers or the Cardinals? Which players scored a home run when it came to social media buzz?

We’ve got the details in this exciting infographic.

Click to View Full Size

In this case study, find out how Relish Gourmet Burgers is using Social Media channels as cost effective, small business alternatives to traditional marketing and media.

You’re smart and savvy and you know your business, but do you know your social customer? We’ve discussed who your social customers are not; now let’s think about who your social customers are.

Your social customers are smart, and savvy too. You can’t fool them. They know when you’re pitching them. Stop pitching and start focusing on getting to know them.

It’s all about relationships. If you think you don’t have the time to spend on building relationships with your social customers then consider how much it might cost you if you don’t. Take some time to read their stories, visit their websites and comment on their blogs – and have fun getting to know them along the way.

Your social customers are communicators. They want to talk to you, and they want you to talk to them. They also want you to listen. Not just listen quietly but acknowledge that you’ve heard them and care enough to discuss their suggestions, comments and questions further with them.  If you’re invested in your social customers, they’ll be invested in your brand.

Your social customers are frugal. They’re on FourSquare, Groupon, Facebook and Twitter – and they want discounts and perks. They want to feel like VIPs without having to spend the big bucks. Show them they’re valued by giving them something they’ll value. Don’t just roll out random discounts and perks either, but perks based on their interests and discounts on the things that would be useful to them.

Your social customers are busy. They don’t always have time to sit on hold for customer service when it might be faster to send a tweet. They can’t always wait until they get home to call about that issue they’re having. They need to deal with it now while they’re stuck in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. Be ready for your social customers to reach out to you across social networks and make it easy for them to do so.

Your social customers are on the move. They go from home to work and travel the globe. They want to be able to bring up your site wherever they go and they want to do it on a variety of different devices. They want access to your brand on their tablets, on their mobile phones and on their laptops. Make sure your social customers can get the information they need from you while they’re on the go.

Your social customers aren’t all that different from the customers who walk into your brick and mortar storefront. They come in all shapes, sizes and financial flavors and each has the ability to help make or break your brand. Each one is unique and each is an influencer in their own word-of-mouth network and therefore should be treated as such. Value them, get to know them and build relationships with them and you’ll be well on your way to having social customers for life.

Do you know who your social customers are? Do you think they differ from your customers who aren’t engaging on social networks?

Trish Forant is a Community Manager at Radian6. She blogs about social media, life in South Florida and has a Yorkshire Terrier named Sebastian Bark. Connect with her on Twitter at @Dayngr.

We’re interested in engaging on the social web, but unsure of how we could measure our online success. How do you measure the ROI of social?
When it comes to measuring the ROI associated with social listening, you might consider shifting your focus away from the value of a sale, and instead consider the life time value of a customer. Engaging with your audience on the social web will enhance brand loyalty, and encourage them to become increasingly involved with your organization – which could influence their purchasing power. Learn more about measuring ROI on the social web at our social strategy blog.

We’ve noticed that many people aren’t just using Facebook and Twitter to discuss our products; they’re also using blogs and forums. Do you cover those areas, too?
We’re happy to cover over 150 million data sources each day, including: blogs, mainstream online news, video and photo sharing websites, micromedia – including the whole Twitter firehose, forums and discussion boards, blog comments and Facebook public discussion forums. If someone is talking about you on the social web, we’re more than likely already tuned in.

We’re a B2B company that doesn’t receive a lot of brand mentions – is their still value in social listening?
Just because you’re not dealing with your customers directly does not mean that social media monitoring isn’t for your organization. B2B companies can use the social web in many of the same ways as B2C companies, including uncovering industry trends, researching target markets, and monitoring the activities of your competitors. Sure, the way you provide outreach might be a little bit different, but there’s still a lot to learn online. We wrote a whole ebook on the topic of social media monitoring for the B2B world, so be sure to check it out for a more in-depth discussion on making the most of your social listening strategy.

Get Started

Radian6 is the social media monitoring and engagement platform used by more than half of the world’s Fortune 100 companies.

Learn how we can help your organization succeed in social media by watching this short demo about how a customer like “GNC Live Well” might use Radian6.

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What happens in Vegas does not need to stay in Vegas!

If you’re a traveler, a travel industry expert (or interested in all things travel) and you tweet, you likely already know about the #traveltuesdays hashtag. To add my own ‘social spin’ to #traveltuesdays and join in on the conversation, we’re starting this weekly post all about the travel industry and the social web.

To kick off, I begin with the EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2011 in Las Vegas, also known as #eftamerica. This popular and well-attended travel event is perfect for connecting with industry folks in the travel, transport and leisure world as it relates to social media.

My self-imposed goals were simple. Listen, measure and engage. Oh, yes I know, those are the same three golden rules of social media that we keep whispering in your ear. But this time, I took these steps a step further and engaged with these industry experts IRL (‘in real life’).

I listened in on great sessions and discussions (more to come in another post), measured the conversations happening around #eftamerica and I engaged. Oh boy, did I EVER engage.

As we have been talking a bit around the Radian6 blogosphere lately about social connections and social talent, I thought it was only fitting to share my first hand experiences in that arena.

To start, I began tweeting about the conference before it happened. This established my presence before I even entered the event and by keeping up with the tweets, I was able to start establishing relationships upfront.

By the end of a two day conference, almost all of the 600+ attendees recognized my face and Twitter handle. I was also awarded a lovely prize from EyeforTravel for most/best/craziest tweets (actual title can be disputed).

The ROI of tweeting at a conference = a bottle of nice champagne.

Social connections online are incredibly important when we venture into the face-to-face interactions. As we expand our networks and grow our true reach, it is no secret that having a following is crucial. Everyone is vying for your attention online, so how are you planning to get the right attention?

In-person social connections enable you to meet people you might otherwise have never had the pleasure of engaging with – even online perhaps. Those bigger-than-140-character-or-less conversations are valuable to create and deepen relationships.

There were 1,636 tweets at #eftamerica. (And only 254 of them were from me!) @CravenTravels hit 175, and #eftamerica’s very own @Rosieakenhead had a whopping 119 tweets.

Merging online with in-person connections is valuable. I have formed new travel relationships that I believe will be solid for a long time ahead.

Jenn Seeley is a Community Engagement Specialist in the worlds of travel, transport, leisure and entertainment. She still gets excited every time she flies. You can tweet with her as @jenn_seeley.

Did you attend #eftamerica this year or in years past? What were the most valuable connections you made? Please share!

Airline Frequently Asked Questions

We currently manage multiple social media accounts – how can you help make this easier?

Our Engagement Console pulls all of your Twitter handles into one easy location, helping you to keep your finger on the pulse of your brand. You can even pull in your Facebook account to stay connected with your fans there, too.

We also allow your team to work collaboratively on projects together with our workflow capabilities, so not only can you manage multiple accounts – you can work with your team to ensure that all questions and comments get replied to as quickly as possible.

We’ve been monitoring the online activity of our competitors – now what?

If passengers are discussing experiences they’ve had with other airlines on the social web, now’s the time to take their comments and critiques and turn them into actionable results. Think of these comments as potential sales leads – they’ll give you the opportunity to understand what your competition is doing, and allow you modify your offerings accordingly. Check out our applications section to learn more about the power of social for generating sales leads.

Our customers are travelling all over the world – how many languages do you track?

Radian6 currently tracks 17 languages, including: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

We’re hoping to use the social web to reach out to customers about flight cancellations and delays – do you monitor in real time?

Everyday we work to return over 8 million relevant results to you, so that you’re always in touch with customer conversations.

Our customer support teams work around the clock – do yours?

We’re pleased to offer 24 hour a day support, five days a week. Call, email or ping us on Twitter and we’ll have you back on track in no time. Click here for more information on our support hours, and all of the ways to reach out to our team.

Have more questions about our platform? Check out our comprehensive FAQ here.

Contact Us

Charlie Sheen has had a rather interesting year, both personally and professionally, so when he joined Twitter on March 1^st, 2011 it was not surprising to see that he quickly gained followers (you can find him @CharlieSheen). Everyone was anxious to see what he would do or say next.  But few expected that after only 25 hours and 17 minutes on Twitter he would have one million followers. Sheen now holds the Guinness World Record for reaching one million followers faster than anyone else in Twitter history. And as I write this, Sheen has over 4.8 million followers, and counting.

Social media has played a big part in Sheen’s recent notoriety, he has trended on Twitter a number of times, he made #winning and #tigerblood household expressions, and there are thousands of blog posts and various parody videos on YouTube. It made Sheen the perfect candidate to be roasted on Comedy Central’s Celebrity Roast series. The Charlie Sheen Roast aired on September 19^th and according to Inside TV, brought in 6.4 million viewers – making it the most watched roast ever.

Comedy Central and Omnigon worked together to add a social element to the Charlie Sheen Roast  and the results were fantastic, check out our Charlie Sheen case study on how they were able to make the roast a social and #winning event.

How Can Airlines Leverage Social Media

The airline industry is all about forming communities. Many of your travellers are regulars, people who log countless hours in the skies for business or pleasure. The social web is a great place to interact with these frequent flyers, gather their feedback on where you’re succeeding, and where you could stand to make some improvements. Your customers will appreciate your willingness to connect, and putting a customer service agent on the front line ensures you’ll be reacting to situations before they turn into bigger issues.

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Up, up and away.

We’re Here to Help

People are continuously using the social web to discuss your airline. They could be tweeting from an airport with questions on flight delays, or maybe using Facebook to celebrate their great experiences with your in-flight crew. Use the social web to reach out to ensure that they’re having the best experience possible each and every time they take to the skies. In much the same way that you turn to Sabre for their expertise in the field of airline solutions, Radian6 is here to help you manoeuvre through the social web.

Monitor Competitor Activity

Listening on the social web won’t only be beneficial when it comes to conversations pertaining to your brand – it’s also helpful for figuring out what people are saying about your competitors. Want to see what’s causing people to sing the praises of a rival airline? Maybe you’re hoping to gain insight into why their last marketing campaign was such a success? Social media monitoring can help you uncover these stories, and more.

Handle a Crisis Situation

Interacting on the social web can be invaluable for connecting with your passengers during those hectic times, especially when the weather is causing delays and cancellations. Check out our case studies section to learn how Air Canada overcame potential weather-related flight cancellations by reaching out to their passengers via Twitter.

Interact with your Passengers

Social media monitoring should not be used only in crisis situations. Tuning into routine passenger conversations is a great way to provide outreach, not to mention stellar customer service. Maybe you’ll discover they’re discussing your in-flight entertainment and suggesting ways to make it better. Perhaps they want to congratulate your team for another job well done. No matter what they’re saying, these are discussions you don’t want to miss out on.

Enhance Customer Loyalty

With your passengers hanging out on the social web, there’s no better place to perform a little customer outreach. Facilitate giveaways, and reward your customers for using check-in services while waiting for their flights. It’s just another way to create a stronger community surrounding your biggest fans.

Get Started

There is a very distinct and dividing line in social media. In one corner we have those that firmly believe that there is a definite return on investment from social media, and in the opposing corner those that firmly believe that there isn’t. Articles pop up on a weekly basis defending both sides and the discussion goes on. Naturally, ROI will need to focus on different numbers and metrics. On the one hand you have the cost of resources such as a person’s time spent managing or reaching out on social networks, and the cost of using software. On the other hand you might have metrics relating to the bottom line such as sales. Tracking sales resulting from social media doesn’t just help to justify the time or investment spent. It can also help identify what networks are the most valuable to a brand.

Lead Generation

Before looking at sales let’s take a step back and look at lead generation. Social media can be an extremely effective tool to drive interest, leads and potential sales. Social media monitoring and monitoring of online media provide the ability to track express needs, giving companies the ability to reach out proactively and pick up a request and action it in a matter of minutes. Beyond just monitoring, social networks can be an additional shop window, providing prospects with an avenue for inquiry aside from a website, the phone or a store. At relatively little cost companies can use social media to diversify their presence to a greater extent. However, much like real shops on the high street, these too need to be managed in order to ensure inquiries don’t land in a black hole never to resurface. As such, a conscious decision to be present on social network ‘x’ over social network ‘y’ must be drawn from previous research in conjunction with active oversight and management of these social networks.

Seeing It Through

If finding potential leads is at one end of the spectrum, conversions and sales are at the opposite. Understanding the link between both can go a long way towards ensuring that an investment and commitment to social media is valuable and is positively impacting the bottom line. Going beyond awareness and likes and retweets, companies may also consider traffic resulting in inquiries or purchases that were directly fed through to their site from social networks, which can be determined using web analytics tools, paid for or free. Whether social media traffic is diverted or not before a real opportunity substantiates, diligence in tracking the beginning to end process will go a long way to helping to make the case for social.

One of the first questions to ask should be how are leads tracked outside of social media? While some might use Excel, for large organizations this is likely achieved in the form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. These CRM systems or (even spreadsheets) will host contact information, history and sales but also leads and the source for these leads. So when tracking ‘website’ inquiries one can just as easily track ‘social media’ or ‘Twitter’ as another lead source. This will make it easier to track new leads as a result of either a DM Twitter inquiry or a Facebook wall post through the sales cycle, starting at the point of entry. Analyzing this type of data at the end of the month will provide a clear picture of exactly how many leads the various social sources have generated, if they have closed and if so the amount of the sale.

Rocket Science

Tracking leads through all avenues including social media is not complicated, but often times proving social media ROI means you don’t see the wood for the trees. The conversation around ROI needs to become more specific. It isn’t necessarily about social media in and of itself but the overarching objectives that are to be achieved through social media (in addition to other mediums or initiatives). Simply put, social underpins and can help achieve or supplement sales, leads or outreach. There is no need to reinvent the wheel and apply a whole new set of measurements for social media when it comes to sales. A diligent process and tracking system will be a good start to providing ‘real’ numbers, helping brands make informed decisions on their social strategy.

What do you think? And which side of the dividing line do you stand on? Can you define a clear return on social media engagement? As always, we appreciate your thoughts, please leave your comments below.

You’ve had a long, exhausting week and as you’re getting ready to shut your computer down for the evening you notice you’ve got new mail. Try as you might to resist, you decide to check them out, only to realize that you’ve got a handful of requests to connect from the same person across several social media networks. An even closer look reveals they are from a guy you chatted with briefly during a Twitter chat. You don’t really know this person yet, but already he’s looking to take it to the next level. To make matters that much more awkward, there isn’t even a note attached as to who he is or why he wants to connect.

Just because you’ve connected with someone a few times on a social network, doesn’t mean you really know that person. That takes time and doesn’t always happen if you’re limited to screen time.

We All Do It Differently

Each of us uses our social networks in a way that is unique to us – one man’s right is another man’s wrong. Some people add anyone and everyone to their public Twitter account while keeping their Facebook profile private, connecting only with close friends and family. There are so many variations on how public or private we can be across social networks that it’s nearly impossible to know everyone’s individual comfort level. Sometimes we have clues showing us how open or closed someone may be to connecting, but most of the time it is a guessing game that requires us to take some chances.

Beating the Odds

If you are interested in connecting with people across social networks without looking like a bit of a cyber-stalker, consider asking them if it’s alright to reach out to them on those particular networks. Let them know why you’re interested in connecting and if you haven’t been chatting with them long enough for them to know you well, give them a little information about yourself when you ask. Ask for what you want and you just might get it.

How Soon Is Too Soon?

We’ve heard that social media is a cocktail party, so if you were at a cocktail party and you just met someone would you follow them home? Probably not. Though some people might be flattered at the gesture and even find it endearing, many might be creeped out. The same could hold true for social media. This is not to say that you can’t connect soon after meeting, but it’s probably a better idea to take some time to get to know people before you reach out to connect with them across social networks.

Perhaps a better way to connect with the people you would like to get to know better is to invite them to connect with you instead. A simple status update, with a link, letting friends and followers know that you’re interested in connecting with them on Google+ (or your network of choice) is usually all it takes to start connecting the dots.

What’s Your Motivation?

The reasons you’d like to connect across platforms should really be about building relationships and providing value. Are there benefits to this? Absolutely! Ask yourself why it is you’re connecting and be honest with yourself. Is it a numbers game or are you truly interested in getting to know the people you are reaching out to? Being authentic is an integral part of social etiquette so make sure that transitions over to your social media efforts as well.

Is there such a thing as connecting too soon? How comfortable are you in connecting with people you’ve just met? Do you connect with the same core group of people across multiple platforms or do you have a different community for each social network you’re on?

Do you love sharing links on Twitter? Content and link sharing on social sites has skyrocketed in recent years. According to a recent eMarketer report, “60% of all messages on social sites are links to published content.” On Twitter alone, this is almost 60 million links to published content everyday!

Undoubtedly, as Twitter matures we will understand who in our community shares quality content and who is essentially, spamming Twitter. If you are new to Twitter you may wonder how to get more followers. Well, this is a bit confusing because most Twitter spammers often have over 25,000 followers despite their lack of quality content. It may be an attractive option to setup automated twitter feeds for content, however I believe that Twitter spamming links isn’t a great long-term strategy.

Linking to Bad Content

Linking to content that was written by a ghost writer in 10 minutes isn’t providing anything for your followers. The term “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” can apply here because it may only take once for you to lose the trust of your followers. Half the battle is attracting your followers to actually click your link, you don’t want to mess it up by giving them content filled with fluff. Make your content exciting, emotional, and informational. Any less, may cause you to actually lose Twitter followers.

Linking to Crappy Looking Landing Pages

We all know this guy. The guy who shares his, “Make Money Now” landing pages on Twitter. This guy is usually great at getting people to click on his links with actionable questions, facts or strong opinions in the headlines. What does this do? It drives traffic short term, but cannibalizes his long term social media strategy. I know of at least 20 people I follow that push me to the same landing page with every link. Subsequently, I don’t click their links anymore, and unfollow the people who send me there.

Self Promotion

Every social media guru will tell you social media channels, especially Twitter, are not for blatant self promotion. Self promoting products or services on Twitter will cause you to lose your community, fast. Say for instance you are linking to product pages with a tagline “check this out.” It may work the first 50 times, but you will lose credibility as a thought leader in your space. You are “That Guy,” the one who isn’t afraid to give a sales pitch to the father of a girl you are dating.

Now I’m not saying that you can’t promote yourself, if you are tactical and PR savvy, you can word your tweets to actually give your followers something of value. For example a great way to cross promote would be, “Today’s a hot one here in sunny SoCal, check out our blog post on how to beat the heat.” You then would write a blog post which hints at one of your products helping beat the heat. Perfect? I think so.

There is definitely a fine line you must walk operating business on Twitter. To be completely safe, stay away from trying to “show off” your company. You can humanize your brand, give industry news, and chat with your community but please don’t try to sell me anything!

Radian6 adds: What do you think? Have you ever link baited anyone on Twitter? Or felt a backlash when you retweeted content that you didn’t actually read, and found out it was spam? Have you found that magic way to both self promote, yet provide compelling and interesting information to your followers? We would love your thoughts on this subject!

Matt Krautstrunk is a writer who specializes in startups and social media. A native of Chicago, he moved to California for a new experience in the world of search engine marketing. His work has appeared on Search Engine Journal, Smart Blogs, and Convince and Convert. He also delves into topics ranging from social media marketing to SMB consulting for Resource Nation; an online resource that provides advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs. You can find him on Twitter, and on LinkedIn.

Image Credit: Switched.com

He has a lot of names. He has a fun avatar. He teaches the future of America. And he knows social media etiquette. His name is Dr. William J. Ward, a.k.a. Bill, a.k.a. DR4WARD. But this multi-alias, social media connoisseur sports more than a bow-tie. He is a dedicated Social Media Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, a blogger, speaker, and one of the top marketing professors on Twitter. So what if he writes the word “forward” like this: 4Ward? He’s got personality.

So what is DR4WARD’s school of thought about social media etiquette? Open your books and read on.

As a devoted professor of social media practice, what inspired you to get where you are today?
I’ve always enjoyed learning, sharing, and discovering what’s next. I started my first business selling night crawlers at nine so I used this experience and my 4Ward Philosophy of looking ahead when I first got into Social Media out of necessity.

I took the first student delegates to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2007 as part of a Study Abroad Program I developed. I helped several students to receive scholarships to attend. One of the requirements to receive the scholarships was that the students needed to share their experience daily during the conference by posting to a blog. I had to learn to blog to teach the students.

While attending Cannes Lions in 2008 we needed a way to stay in touch with each other during the conference in real time. There are many great seminars and workshops at Cannes Lions occurring simultaneously and we needed a way to share what we were learning. I thought Twitter was a great way to accomplish this so we became one of the first to live Tweet from Cannes Lions.

It seems like teaching and engaging with your students enabled you to see the value to social media. What does social media practice mean to you today?
Using Social Media, we were able to share with each other as we learned from the best industry pros in the world. Social Media enabled us to share with students, colleagues and alumni back in the U.S. The students and I experienced the potential of Social Media to become part of a teaching and learning paradigm shift as the world literally became our classroom.

I see Social Media practice as continuous learning and collaboration. To have credibility I need to practice what I preach so I have open, transparent, socially interactive classes in real time. Social Media continues to help my students learn and collaborate with each other and with the best thinkers from around the world.

You created a great presentation on social etiquette (thanks for letting us share it!). Why do you feel social media etiquette is important?
Social Media Etiquette is a requirement for 21st century digital literacy and a necessary part of being connected in the global marketplace. Social Media Etiquette is crucial to getting and keeping a job today. Using Social Media incorrectly can get you fired and not using it can ensure you do not get hired in the first place.

More and more, students and the general public are exposed only to the negative impact that Social Media has on our culture: scandals in the government, corporate mis-steps, and cultural insensitivity, and too much personal sharing. Students and professionals need to realize that their personal and professional lives are no longer separate with Social Media. I want to teach them how to use Social Media correctly to build trust and professional credibility.

What is the most important takeaway when it comes to social media etiquette?
Just because a reality TV star says something, doesn’t mean that someone who wants a job at a professional organization should be sharing it. The context for a personal comment can be easily misunderstood or harshly judged. When in doubt, don’t post it.

Social Media is not private communication. It is a professional communication and networking tool that requires strategy since it can be seen by everyone around the world instantly.

Social Media Etiquette doesn’t happen overnight, it requires training and thoughtfulness, and a willingness to consider multiple perspectives.

Do you have any advice for businesses regarding social media etiquette?
Overall, businesses (and Higher Educations) do a poor job of Social Media training. There is a talent, training, and social media crisis due to a lack of training. According to a 2010 Manpower Survey only 29% of companies have a formal Social Media Policy. It should not be any great surprise that with a lack of training and no Social Media Policy, we have etiquette problems.

My advice for businesses is to provide Social Media training, have a Social Media policy, create incentives and provide measurement and monitoring. Management needs to lead by example and practice what they preach by using Social Media. They also need to provide incentives and reward employees for using Social Media well. Larry Page, CEO of Google has it correct by tying employee bonuses and compensation to how well Google does with Social Media. I have to monitor students’ use of Social Media, give them detailed instructions, provide feedback, and give them incentives (a grade). It is surprising how many companies don’t do this.

How should etiquette be implemented across integrated marketing communications?
Social Media etiquette needs to be included in cross training across business silos and integrated across all marketing communications. It should be both external facing (B2C and B2B) and part of an internal enterprise tool. Done correctly, it will create a cultural shift to a more dynamic, open, and fully engaged organization.

What’s next for you in the world of social media? A Google Plus study? A book? A trip to Twitter headquarters?
I’m looking forward to my new role as the Social Media Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. I enjoy learning about new tools and technology, but even more, I like to watch the change that a student goes through after making professional connections on Social Media and seeing their hard work pay off. They are often surprised by how quickly they get positive feedback, and I look forward to each semester to see what job offers the students will get through their Social Media connections.

My goal is to help individuals, business, and Higher Education understand and embrace the cultural shift that Social Media makes possible. Classrooms are as big as we allow them to be. Keeping up with change and innovation requires constant hands-on experimentation. I want to create a sense of fun and adventure to help people be fearless in trying new things and by seeing trial and error as part of the learning experience.

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We want to thank DR4WARD for spending time with us. Hopefully you’re inspired by his school of thought. Do you have any social media etiquette thoughts to share? What is your point of view on social media etiquette and Higher Education? Raise your hands!

Etiquette across social networks, like social networking itself, is not much different online than it is off. Good common sense can take you far. But social media etiquette is a bit subjective. Each of us has our own way of doing things and what feels like second nature to one person may feel incredibly awkward to someone else on the same social network. The beauty of this is that it is ok. We’re human and we aren’t always going to agree on every nuance when it comes to etiquette across our social networks.

However, there are some basics everyone should know (LIKE KEEP THE CAPS LOCK OFF).

Regardless of whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or a Blog, always use your common sense. If it isn’t something you would say to someone face to face, it is safe to say you should not be saying it from behind the computer screen. Be respectful of others and conduct yourself appropriately.

Bring value. Make sure you’re taking the time to share the things you find interesting. You don’t need to play to an audience, that isn’t natural. That new social sharing site, adorable photo, clever video and that article you loved – share the tidbits you come across with your friends and followers and you’ll probably attract like-minded individuals.

Create conversations, ask questions and dive in. It shouldn’t be all about self-promotion all the time. Use your status updates to invite conversation. Get to know the people in your stream or newsfeed. Find out what projects they’re working on and if you’re interested, how you might be able to participate. Take the time to promote others more than you promote yourself. That’s always good etiquette! One example of someone doing this right is Becky McCray. She does a Brag Basket on her blog “Small Business Survival” and it is a big hit.

Keep automation to a minimum. As a general rule, Auto DMs are frowned upon. Can you get away with them? You might be able to, but there’s a fine line. A good rule here is if you’re going to use them, they’d better be about the person following you and not about promoting your stuff. Also, if you plan to use Auto DMs you should also use Auto Follow and a platform to help you control it all. It’s a dead giveaway when someone tries to respond to your Auto DM and they can’t because you’re not following them back.

When is it ok to use automation? It’s ok to schedule posts some of the time but don’t make that the rule, keep it as the exception. For example, if you’re in the Atlantic time zone and you’ve already said good morning, it’s acceptable to schedule a few good morning tweets to catch people coming on and starting their day in other time zones. The key is to be ready to engage and follow-up once those automated posts go out and people begin to reply. No point in scheduling a discussion point to post at 3 AM if you aren’t going to be around to discuss it.

Review before you retweet. Heck, review before you tweet. This doesn’t just apply to twitter, this goes for all sharing. Make sure what you’re sharing is actually something you want to share. Take the time to click through and visit the link or read the article, etc. to determine if it is something you really want to share with your community.

Also, double check your status update before you hit send or share. Can it be taken out of context? If you aren’t sure, have someone else review it and give you their opinion. When it doubt, don’t send it out.

Keep a cool head. I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve been guilty of breaking this etiquette tip when it comes to customer service. If you have an issue with a company, rather than attack them, reach out to them for resolution. Remember, there’s a person behind that logo. Nothing is going to get resolved if all you’re doing is venting. If you’re truly looking for resolution, take the time to reach out and explain the issue you are having. Then, be ready to take it to private messages or offline altogether if necessary. The same can and should be applied for discrepancies with individuals!

What do you think? Do you agree with these social media etiquette tips or do you take a different approach? What would you add to this article?

It used to be considered a violation of etiquette to cut your salad with a knife, because vinegar would discolor pewter blades. Now that knives are made of stainless steel, that rule has gone by the wayside.

Twelve years ago, when I was marketing communications manager for a small software company, I suggested we all add our booth information for an upcoming trade show to our email signatures. One of our IT guys (who rocked a wolf shirt long before it was cool) complained; he said it was a violation of “netiquette” to have an email signature longer than four lines. When I asked why, he said it was a holdover from the early days of limited bandwidth. We did it anyway, and as far as I know, he was the only person who minded.

Etiquette evolves, as does online etiquette. But if you’re a social media practitioner for an enterprise company, you probably already know the basic rules of social media etiquette; at the core, they’re the same basic rules we know from face-to-face interaction. (Jim Tobin summarized this concept nicely in his book Social Media is a Cocktail Party).

Unless you’re a really rude person in real life too, in which case you’re hosed.

I asked my networks, using Twitter, Facebook and Google+, to share with me their examples of the most egregious violations of social media etiquette they see perpetrated by companies. I’ve incorporated their answers in this list of:

Top 10 Enterprise Social Media Etiquette Fails

10. Not following back

You want people to follow your company on Twitter, right? Then how do you respond when they do? Don’t just leave them hanging. If a customer takes the time to follow you, thank them by following them back.

9. Being faceless

We all know that companies are made up of people. We all know that your corporate social media presence is handled by hard-working, smart (and often especially good-looking) people inside your company. Don’t hide them. Tell us the names and show us the faces of the people with whom we’re engaging.

8. Clueless cross-posting

Corporate social media practitioners are often overworked and trying to add social media to a long list of other duties. It can be tempting to link all your social accounts so you can post one update and have it appear on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. That can be a dangerous practice. People engage differently in each channel. Plus, when you see a hashtag in a company’s Facebook status update, you know they’re phoning it in.

7. Being a robot

It’s easy to automate replies in channels like Twitter, or pull from a list of canned responses. Doing that sends the message that engagement is not a high enough priority for your company to put a human being on it.

6. Not keeping your comments house in order

When you put something out there and invite people to respond, you’re in essence inviting them into your social media “home.” Is it a nice place to visit, or are your social media channels overrun with spam, profanity or worse? Are people asking questions that vanish in the void? It takes work to moderate the comments section of your corporate blog, your Facebook comments, your LinkedIn groups, but it’s the mark of a good host.

5. Acting like you know me

Engaging in a personal way can be a tricky task. Some people say it doesn’t scale, and there’s a point to that. If you’re a corporate social media practitioner, you can engage one-on-one with only so many people. Some companies take a tone in their social media communications that is too familiar, too intimate. If the relationship doesn’t exist, don’t pretend it does.

4. Inconsistency

One day you’re all over my Facebook stream, then I don’t see you for two weeks. What message does that send about your company? Make thoughtful decisions about your bandwidth and resources and create a posting routine you can stick to. A content calendar that ties all your communications (social media and otherwise) to your quarterly business activities and objectives is a great way to do that.

And there’s another element to inconsistency, which I would call Not Walking the Talk (but then this would become a Top 11 list): if your company is in the social space, or makes products for it, or is attempting to create a social media niche to market to, you had better get your own social presence ready. Do you have social sharing enabled on your blog? Are you posting regularly and engaging? If you claim social media expertise, you’d better be showing it as well.

3. Engaging and ignoring

A cousin of inconsistency, this occurs when companies ask a question or make a comment in their social media channels, then fail to follow up. If 20 of your fans respond to a post, show them you heard them. Even if you can’t respond to each person individually, “Thank you all for your feedback” is better than the ghost town many corporate social presences become.

2. Talking like a marketroid

One of the challenges of enterprise social media is learning how to communicate in an authentic voice, while still representing your company in a professional manner. It takes practice, and there are lots of good examples out there. Many people go wrong by falling back on their PR or marketing habits. What might sound good in a press release is going to sound stilted and silly in a status update.

And the number one enterprise social media etiquette fail:

1. Being pushy

It probably comes as no surprise that this still sits on the top of the list. More people mentioned it that any other issue. For many companies, social media engagement still means a weekly tweet with a link to a press release. Your fans want content that addresses their needs and makes their lives easier. Give them a lot of that, and they’ll accept a little of your own messaging. Give them nothing but your message, and they’ll go elsewhere.

Are there any we missed? Let us know your enterprise social media pet peeves.

Thanks very much to everyone who shared their thoughts in preparation for this post, including Morgan Siem, Chris Barger, John Doyle, Greg de Lima, Keith Burtis, Will Staves, Colin Dodd, Michelle Ton, Selden Smith, Tammy Young Heck, Rebecca Law Stone and Andrea Zimmerman.

The great potential of the digital world is that we can build and maintain relationships with more people, more efficiently. The general thought is that those good at relationship building in the real world are also good at relationship building online and vise versa. However, the mechanisms of online relationships are different than real world social mechanisms and that does results in different social cues. Some individuals are better adept at understanding the cues in one environment than in the other so relationship-building skills in one environment does not necessarily translate to the other. Online, I call these cues digital body language.

We are all familiar with face-to-face social cues:

• Eye contact
• Smiles, frowns, quizzical looks, passive facial expressions
• Leaning in or out, straight or slumped
• Type of handshake
• Where someone sits or stands in relation to you

What are the social cues online?

• Silence, especially after you respond to them directly in a comment thread or on Twitter
• How quickly someone replies to a direct request (this is obviously influenced by many things but over time you can get a sense of how important others feel it is to respond to you)
• How often someone replies to a post/update that is not specifically directed at them
• Reciprocation of follows or acceptance of friend requests in various networks
• Placement of others on public Twitter lists or blog rolls
• Mentions of others in blog posts, discussion referrals, or status updates

These cues are critical to understand if you want to effectively build relationships. Positive cues tell you that you can escalate and develop the relationship further. Negative cues tell you that you should step back, assess, and rethink your approach or expectations if the relationship is important to you.

Good relationships require equality of interest from both parties and it is critical to match the other person’s interest level – too little attention and they back away, too much and they feel stalked. All too often we try to build good relationships too quickly, peppering people with information and communication long before they have ever shown any reciprocal interest. But constant contact, if unsolicited, turns from neutral to harassment to stalking very quickly. No one likes to feel trapped into a relationship in which they have no interest and we have laws both online and off to prevent this in the most drastic circumstances.

The lesson for social media and community managers working to build relationships is this: Start slowly, gauge interest levels from digital body language, and move forward together with the other party. A relationship takes initiative on the part of two parties and it is impossible to force. The hard truth is that not everyone that you want to have a relationship with will want one with you. Use your time to invest in those people that do want to move forward together.

Rachel Happe is a Co-Founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable, a peer network for social media, community, and social business leaders. She has over fifteen years of experience working with emerging technologies including enterprise social networking, e-commerce, and enterprise software applications. Rachel has served as a product executive at Mzinga, Bitpass, & IDe, and as IDC’s first analyst covering social technologies.

Radian6 Adds: Stay tuned later this month for a yet another – different – take on digital body language!

Foiled Cupcakes, an online cupcake-to-order shop from Chicagoland, delivers more than their proclaimed “shiny happy goodness.” They sprinkle each and every cupcake with the utmost social media etiquette. To these bakers, it’s all about relationships and connections. Through multiple touch points with the customer during the purchasing experience, the cupcake shop ensures that satisfaction is reached each and every step of the way. In addition, the company communicates multiple ways including email, phone, in-person contact, Twitter and even a personal, hand-written note.

Byron Gordon from the SES YouTube Conference Channel chatted with Mari Luangrath, owner and head cupcakeologist of Foiled Cupcakes, about their their business model.

As Mari notes in the video, it’s not easy to find the cupcake eater audience (I don’t know about you, but I sparingly sport my “I love cupcakes” t-shirt). Therefore, developing a community upfront creates the opportunity for interest, trust and new customers.

Social media was the hinge Foiled Cupcakes’ virtual doors. The shop utilized social media to research the market and build relationships for months before baking a single cupcake. That way, when their site went live and the ovens blazed, an existing community was there to take the cupcakes from their racks. And it didn’t stop there. A post by 435 Digital noted some socially-staggering numbers about the tasty shop.

• Revenue exceeded 2010 projections by 600 percent
• 93 percent of all sales came from social media
• 30 percent of sales were from Facebook
• At least 50 percent of sales came through Twitter

Besides the cupcakes themselves, for Foiled Cupcakes, their success lies in their research, relationship development and their etiquette with customers to keep relationships strong.

Mari Luangrath shared a few words with us. “I honestly think that social media etiquette is no different from real world etiquette. If someone says something nice to you, would you acknowledge that with a ‘thank you’ or an authentic return compliment, or ignore it? One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten regarding social media etiquette was,  ‘If it’s something you’d feel comfortable saying at a cocktail party among friends, then it’s probably appropriate to say on social media.’”

How has social media etiquette influenced your business? Do you use it on a daily basis? And most importantly, what is your favorite Foiled Cupcake flavor?

You spy each other across a crowded twitter chat and it’s magic right from the start. There, in your Twitter feed is the brand that you’ve been dying to talk to. You check your twitter handle, make sure it’s looking just right, then head their way to tell them a thing or two about yourself. It’s a good relationship, you laugh, share some smiles and talk about what’s really important to you. Then it feels like they are growing distant. They never tweet anymore and you feel like they’re checking out all those new follow fridays. It may seem like the perfect time to air all of your grievances toward that brand out of frustration, but keep in mind that even a brand has a person behind that corporate logo. As brand ambassadors many social media managers, community managers and employees often struggle with wanting to be there for their clients while trying to deal with frustration sometimes directed their way. Even corporate logos have a heart and sometimes building a positive social media experience for all is much like the foundations of a good relationship. Today, let’s do a little couples therapy on the brand-consumer relationship to talk about what’s needed to make the relationship a success.

Getting to Know Each Other
When you are first starting to get to know someone you need to go on a few dates and learn their habits. As a corporate brand we need to make sure that we are trying to connect to people on a one to one level, asking them those initial questions. There are some great articles out there about how we can accomplish this by humanizing our brand and growing that relationship. If you need some places to check out, give a read to Brian Solis, Jay Baer, or Jason Falls.

As a consumer, we need to be up front and honest about what we expect. If you expect answers within 10 minutes, then tell your brand that. It’s that information that the people behind the brand logo can use to adjust their social strategy to your needs. In return, we brands need to answer back with honesty so that all the cards are on the table and no one feels like there’s a hidden motive in the tweets.

Build the Respect
Once you’ve gotten to know each other, before you start building to that next level you need to be able to respect each other. Respect is a two-way street. Brands need to respect their consumers’ needs just like consumers need to respect that their brands are trying to work for them. If we completed the honesty phase well, we probably have a strong basis for how each other likes to be treated. Take that knowledge and grow with it, by adding the please & thank you’s, giving a heads up when there are issues and appreciating the time each puts into the conversations.

Live in the Trust
Trust is something that can’t be earned overnight. There is no formula or smiley avatar that will ever make someone trust you right away. It takes time and hard work. If as brands we’ve taken the time to understand our consumers and we respect their voices and opinions we’ll be on the right path towards trusting that they are going to be there for us when other people ask what they think of us. As consumers, by respecting what our brands can and cannot do for us we’re going to be able to trust in them when we have issues or ideas that we want to be heard. Once you are in the trust phase it’s less about the “If” someone will respond and more about the “When”. It’s less about the “If” your issue will be fixed and more about the “How”. Once we’re at this phase we all need to work hard to keep getting to know each other, respecting each other and going deeper with that brand-consumer trust.

Enjoy the Experience
One of the best parts of a relationship built on respect and trust is getting to enjoy the benefits it brings. Once you’ve taken the time to get to know each other, take a step back and enjoy the experience of communicating. Brands, ask your main advocates who you trust to participate in special programs. Get their feedback, and experience what open communication can bring. Consumers, go to your brands and voice those new ideas and opinions. Help them to further understand your experience so that they can see things from your eyes.

By trusting and respecting your brand and consumers, you’re bound to build a long term relationship that won’t be broken down easily. Just get out there and remember that behind every avatar, consumer or brand, is a living breathing person with a heart ready to share social media experience.

What ways are you engaging with your brand? How are you respecting each other on a day to day basis? What does it take for you as a consumer to trust a brand?

When it comes to social media, perception is reality. It’s a “what you see is what you get” kind of environment, so you want to make sure that you’re always representing yourself in the best possible light. Think of your time online as building your personal resume – a resume of information that gives people insight to who you are, at a glance. Sometimes a glance is all it takes for someone to form a first impression. What impression do you think people are walking away with when they check out your profiles?

Who’s The Boss

Whether we like it or not, potential employers are checking us out online. In December 2009, research commissioned by Microsoft found that 79% of U.S. hiring managers and job recruiters reviewed online information about potential job candidates. Additionally, they found that 70% of U.S. hiring managers had rejected candidates based on what they found online about that person.

You’ve known this was important and you’re probably pretty careful across most of your social networks to customize your privacy settings. But come on, with the speed at which social networks like Facebook and Twitter update in real-time you’ve probably thought at least once that it can’t be that big a deal if you let a rogue tweet or status update fly right? Maybe it wasn’t before but you might want to think again, now that the FTC has given a company called Social Intelligence the o.k. to run background checks of your Internet and social media history. Social Intelligence can go as far back as seven years into your Internet history. Were you as Internet savvy 7 years ago as you are today?

Speaking of Privacy Settings

Your privacy settings should be customized based on how and why you use each social network. If you’re interested in sharing photos with family members on Flickr, then you’ll want to make sure your settings match that criteria. If you’re interested in becoming an authority on glass etching then perhaps it would be best to keep your Twitter and Facebook accounts open and searchable – or even consider creating a Facebook page rather than using your personal profile.

Google+ is a great example of a social network with customizable sections. If you weren’t already aware, you customize your privacy comfort levels for almost every section of Google+. There are some exceptions but for the most part, it’s pretty flexible.

Say What?

Recruiters and job seekers aside, it is still important to be aware of what you are sharing across your social networks and how it may be perceived. Sarcasm doesn’t always translate well in text and can easily be misconstrued. Plus, in the text based world of social networks, tone can be hard to interpret so a good rule of thumb is to proofread before you hit send or share. If there’s anything that could potentially be misunderstood, it’s safe to assume it will be! Err on the side of caution and keep your updates as conservative as possible – all of this is, of course, assuming your brand doesn’t call for otherwise.

Meetups, tweetups and all sorts of assorted social media gatherings are becoming increasingly popular. You can bet that the people you’re meeting at these events are going to take the time to check you out across social networks if they’re interested in remaining in touch with you. Though it isn’t fair, once they’ve pulled up your social profiles you may be judged based on the groups you belong to, the comments you’ve made, the jokes you’ve shared and the photos you’ve chosen to display. Assumptions may even be made about your username and or avatar. With that in mind, does the online representation of you match the offline version you share?

Google This

Chances are, sooner or later, you’re going to be Googled. The good news is, the majority of people do not click past page 3 of a Google search result. The bad news is, the majority of people don’t click past page 3 of a Google search result. That means you’re going to want to treat your user-names and name like your brand and be vigilant in monitoring them. Sign up for Google alerts and receive email updates when your name appears on the Internet.

You might even want to sign up for Internet Shame Insurance, a very simple Google Chrome extension that adds privacy reminders to Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail to help you avoid the most common online communication faux pas.

Shape Up

When it comes right down to it, people (for the most part) believe what they see and that perception becomes their reality. It may not be fair to be judged on such limited information but it certainly does happen. However, you have the ability to shape that perception by controlling what you share, how you share it and removing what you can that doesn’t represent you well.

Now it’s your turn! What do you think? Do you agree that we’re often judged based on what people see on our social profiles? Or do you have a different point of view? Do you keep your information locked down or share without much care or concern? Let us know in the comments below.

Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.

~Mark Twain

If you’ve ever stopped by any of my online imprints (Twitter, Facebook, my blog – RedheadWriting), it’s evident from the get-go that I have a certain affection for blue language. Grandmothers and god-fearing folk the world over blush and click away when they land in the Danger Zone, and occasionally the hate mail flows (more on that in a bit). When Radian6 reached out to me to pen a guest blog on the use of profanity on the interwebz, I knew two things right off the bat:

I was going to have a s**tload of fun writing this post.

and

My branding message was clear to those who watch me do whatever it is I do on any given day.

A simple glance at my Twitter bio will tell you what I do for a living – I work with companies to help them develop clear and distinct personalities. When companies meet me, they’ve usually stopped by my online presences and blog and either love what they see or want to run screaming – and that’s exactly what I want them to do. Love me, hate me…just don’t be indifferent. And whether you decide to use profanity in your online communications is a choice only you can make, but in this post, what I hope to do is show you how we can:

1)    Talk about profanity without using it.

2)    Explore reasonable considerations (and consequences) as you ponder the linguistic line in the sand.

3)    Have tools to make better decisions about your brand’s personality, whether you’re an army of one or 1,000.

Know Who You Are

Strangely enough, I remember the day I dropped my first f-bomb on Twitter. I expected crickets. I watched the screen for a potential backlash. But the opposite happened: I got retweeted. Four times, even! I’ve never been one for saying things in conventional ways and what I’d inadvertently done is built an audience who appreciated my true vernacular.

No matter what the size of your brand, understanding who you are as you enter the social web is imperative. I’m frequently asked by clients whether I’m going to drop the f-bomb on their blogs, Facebook pages or in their Twitter streams. My answer? It depends. Does that fit who you are? Every brand has a personality. If we admit that from the get go, we understand why we don’t expect headlines about Berkshire Hathaway to mention the shizzle in your nizzle and on the contrary, why Slim Jims aren’t being hawked by an iconic Clorox mom.

This is, quite possibly, the most important consideration as you determine whether profanity has a place in your communication repertoire.  Know who you are and know before you go. That makes the process of building your audience and understanding them a boatload easier.

Know Your Audience

It’s the part B of the equation: whom are you trying to reach? I’m looking for other upbeat, short-fused, irreverent souls like myself who are out to make a difference on this big blue sphere. If you ask yourself about your ideal audience (and honestly), the question of using profanity will pretty much answer itself. Brands looking to build community have to be a part of the community they wish to create. That means adopting a vernacular that those people will find familiar. And yes, sometimes that means dropping a word or two that others might find uncomfortable.

Embrace Offense

Words have incredible force, no matter how few letters they contain. I spoke at the onset about hate mail, something I’ve come to love and cherish. Here’s the bottom line: no matter whether you use profanity or not, people are going to take offense at something you have to say. What brands have to understand is that not everyone is their target customer and if you tick a few people off along the way, that’s okay!

There are few things in this world that have the ability to polarize an audience like politics and profanity. In your personal life, you have your views. Brands should have views and voices as well. Don’t be hypocritical – we think it’s jazzy when we hear bleeped-out lyrics slip through our car speakers as the latest pop ditty plays from the radio. In my opinion, radio stations do a half-baked job of walking that middle-of-the-road line: we all know what the lyrics are, and bleeping just makes them seem more taboo. I’m sure radio stations get more hate mail than anyone, but here’s where there’s a lesson to be learned: you’re never going to please everyone and there’s always the option to (gasp) change the channel.

The Consequences

A public relations colleague of mine has consequences down-pat. During media training with new clients, she talks about roadkill. You’re safe on the left shoulder…the right shoulder. Wander out into the middle of the road? You’re going to get killed. Successful brands pick a ditch to die in. This applies not just to the decision to use profanity in your communications, but to communications in general. Middle of the road voices fade into the ether while outspoken ones – ones with distinct personalities – shine brightly. Profanity is a character trait of a more comprehensive branding strategy, not a defining characteristic.

Sure, you might find some prospective audience members peeved about your choice of words. That’s fine – they’ll go elsewhere. But along with this exodus, you’ll find an influx of advocates who are picking up what you’re putting down. For brands that have to justify messaging to a larger internal audience, it goes back to personality. The voice you use online might not be how your CEO sounds in the boardroom, but if it’s true to the personality of your brand and product, no one is going to argue with the results that a powerful online presence can create.

Go Bleeping Be Something, Would You?

While profanity can be clever, using it as a tool to get to where you need a brand to go is even smarter. There will always be the people who want to tune you out. Heck, I’m irritated that every time I get to partake in an In-N-Out Burger delight, there’s a Bible verse on the bottom of their cups. And while that’s not profanity, I consider it pretty ballsy. Yet, it doesn’t keep me from going back for something I dig – and perhaps your decision (or not) to use profanity in your brand will ultimately attract the right audience – and deter those who will be better served elsewhere.

Radian6 adds: What do you think? Agree or disagree? Is there a place for periodic profanity in your brand’s online profile? Please leave your thoughts and comments below!

This month we are discussing social media etiquette, a topic you’ll want to be familiar with if you plan to engage across your social networks. We’ve shared how everything you need to know about social media etiquette you learned in preschool, the importance of tact and diplomacy along with why a simple please and thank you go quite a long way. Now, let’s think about our social circles and how we handle them.

Social Circles

Social circles are the hot topic now that Google+ has made its debut but they’ve always been an area of contention for many. Often, social media circles can be a bit like the cliques you remember in high school. Back then it was the cool kids, the geeks, the drama club, etc. In social media it’s the A-List and the influencers. If your social circle online is a large one, there is a good possibility there are people in it that you don’t know as well as others, some perhaps not at all. Yet, you are connected to these people through a follow or friend request. Who are they? What was your motivation for connecting with them? Were you merely reciprocating the follow or were you genuinely interested in getting to know that person and what they had to share with you?

Geoff Livingston has shared his thoughts on the topic in his post about the A-List conversation and Chris Brogan recently discussed reciprocal behavior in social networks and shared some of the responses he received when he asked people in his inner circle what their take was on it – both are an interesting read. As social media shifts gears from being in the new media category to being more mainstream and accepted, your social circles will grow and how you choose to handle them will be as personal a decision as who you have in them.

Don’t Be Exclusive, Be Inclusive

Everybody wants to feel included. But, the truth is, many of us jump on Twitter, Facebook or our social network of choice and just interact with that select group of friends with whom we feel the most connected. It’s natural and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, consider being more inclusive rather than exclusive. Make a point to review your friends/follower lists frequently. Set some time aside each week to manage your following/follower ratio on social sites like Twitter. It’s ok to step outside your comfort zone and broaden your horizons when it comes to connecting. Each person that took the time to connect with you was interested in you for some reason. Consider investing in that relationship, everyone has something to offer and not everyone you connect with has to be like-minded. Remember, diversity breeds inspiration.

Be sure you are reaching out to people you haven’t connected with yet. One way you can do this is to regularly invite new followers/friends to reach out to you. Make it easy for them by sharing the best ways they can connect with you. You can build that information into your bio or profile across your social networks so new friends and followers will be able to reach out to you easily. Of course, don’t forget to reach out to those whom you haven’t had a chance to communicate with for a while. When you do, you will make your new followers as well as your old friends, feel welcome and valued – and everyone likes that!

Help Connect

Connecting people together is another great way to be inclusive. Introduce like-minded individuals and help others build their networks both online and off whenever you can. An example of how you can do this online is by using email to connect two or more people together. Try leading in with something they have in common as a starting point for discussion. For example, “Bob, I’d like you to meet Joan. You both work in the nonprofit sector and have an interest in using social media for causes. I think the two of you will have plenty of ideas to share with each other.”  Naturally, you can do this directly on social networks like Hashable, Twitter and Facebook as well.

Just remember, if you are going to use email for introductions, be sure that you have permission to share the email addresses of the people you are connecting. These days, sharing an email address is like giving out a telephone number. Check to ensure both parties are on board before you share or you may find yourself committing a social media faux pas.

What steps to you take to make sure that your friend and followers feel included in your conversations?  What’s your take on reciprocal behavior in social networks? Did this article strike a chord or do you have a completely different point of view? Your thoughts and opinions on this topic are welcomed and we look forward to reading them in the comments below!

When’s the last time you gave someone an enthusiastic thumbs up? Come on, do it. Right now. Big thumbs up. It’s a happy thumb, isn’t it? That thumb is almost smiling it’s so positive and happy. But, did you know that the thumbs up gesture in some parts of the world is viewed as obscene? Like, middle finger obscene. Not so happy now, are you thumb..?

Body language and body gesturing are the most basic and fundamental forms of expression that humans use to communicate with each other. It is, rightly or wrongly, the mechanism behind our ability to make snap judgements about people. In fourth century BC Greece, you knew an upper class man from his upright, ‘firm’ stance and leisurely long strides. In Classical Rome, strict and limited gestures were viewed as indicators of an even tempered and self-controlled character – definite must haves of the day if you were a Roman aristocrat and orator.

For most of us, body language is unconscious. When you give the OK sign after falling and hurting yourself, for example, you don’t stop and think “Hmmm, should I give this OK sign with my right hand or left?” You just do it. Most of us aren’t consciously aware when we squint, or where our hands instinctively go when we are uncomfortable, but for those in certain fields – government, security, business – the science of body language is a gold mine of information.

According to ex-FBI agent and author Joe Navarro, people begin to show signs of discomfort when communicating by furrowing their forehead and crinkling their nose upwards. If someone squints, covers or rubs their eyes — that’s a sign of discomfort. If they compress or bite their lips, or touch their neck, that’s another giveaway. If you spot any of these behaviours it means there’s an issue that needs to be addressed, and you should immediately try to identify the problem.

That’s all well and good, but communicators today are facing something historically unique. The rapid advancements in mobile technology and the explosive growth of social media has changed how we communicate. According to Neilsen, one out of every two Americans will have a smartphone by December 2011, compared to just one in 10 in 2008. Today, we have ‘friends’ who we’ve never even met. So, how are we adapting to this faceless, body language free method of communicating?

Well, anyone involved in social media marketing and engagement today should find this next bit of anthropological information extremely interesting. Scientists have found that when the traditional markers of trust, such as voice intonation and body language, are hidden and only text is available, participants judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond.

Take for example, Southwest Airlines – vs – Kevin Smith. When the filmmaker was famously bumped from a flight because of his bulk, he immediately took to Twitter. Southwest Airlines responded to him – via Twitter – at 11:14pm on a Saturday evening. Their behavior towards Smith notwithstanding, that Saturday night response showed them to be responsive to customer complaints, and most likely earned them some Brownie points.

But we all know that responding quickly can sometimes be dangerous. You reply in the heat of the moment, or you react to something based on the mood you are currently in – and your message is misunderstood, or worse, ends up accidentally offending people.  Here are a few easy things to think about, to ensure that your message is clear and concise and free of any passive aggressive undertones.

• Check your tone. If there’s any way that what *you* think is tonally funny could be misinterpreted, then delete and rewrite your message.

• Think about who you are communicating with before hitting send. Your boss or another member of the CSuite might not ‘get’ your written subtleties the same way they might if you were speaking face to face. Remember that an eyebrow arch or a smile, cues that you would use in person to illustrate irony or humour, are missing in text.

• Read your message aloud before sending. This is a really easy one, but incredibly effective. Tone tends to be evident aurally, and chances are you’ll hear harsh wording or unintended sarcasm before you will sense it by reading alone.

• Step away from the keyboard. Especially if you are responding to a contentious issue or a difficult colleague. Urgent or not, once you’ve written your response, take an extra minute or two to clear your head prior to hitting send. Take some deep breaths. Then re-read (out loud!) and re-word if necessary.

What do you think? Have you ever been called on the carpet for an email or text that was completely misconstrued (I have!)? Or have you been the one who misinterpreted someone’s tone or intentions? What did you learn from those experiences? How do make up for the lack of visual and aural cues when communicating with people online? We would love your thoughts on this subject.

For the last few years, the hottest debates in social media have centered around metrics, and how to prove the value of your activities. Two years ago, we were debating whether or not we should even bother trying to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of our social media activities. Some people argued it was impossible, others that ROI wasn’t the point.

We’ve come a long way in the last two years, and people like Katie Paine, Keith Burtis, Olivier Blanchard and Christopher S. Penn have shown us not only that we can measure the value of our social media activities, but how.

Even so, as with many business buzzwords, there’s still some confusion about what we mean when we use the terms listening, monitoring, measurement, analytics and ROI. Some people, I fear, use them more or less interchangeably. At the MarketingProfs B2B Summit in Boston two weeks ago, ROI was a pervasive topic. I was asked to contribute two imperatives to a list of 10 that would be presented at the final session. One of mine was, “Understand the difference between monitoring, measurement, analytics and ROI.”

(Two things: I’ve since added “listening” to the list of terms, so there’s a bonus for you, dear reader. Second, as an English major, I have a niggling doubt that, grammatically, it should be “Understand the differences among…” But I’ve been in marketing for 20 years, so I’ve learned to quash any qualms about mangling the mother tongue. Extensible. Actionable. Feature-rich. Cross-platform.)

Listening

Listening is the first step in the ladder. I think of listening in social media as the process of learning what people are saying about you and where. People and companies may use free tools like Google and Bing, Twitter search and Google Blog Search to find mentions of themselves, their companies, competitors and topics of interest. If you’re just looking for information, setting up free listening tools may be enough for you. The danger lies in allowing your listening to be passive and inconsistent; especially if your company doesn’t get a high volume of mentions, you might miss the one you most needed to see.

Monitoring

I see monitoring as one step beyond listening. Monitoring adds the 24/7 component to listening and attempts to make sure you capture all relevant mentions. There are free tools like Google Alerts that can help, as well as any number of paid tools that feature monitoring as an essential component. Monitoring solutions can also include alerting as a key function; if something happens at 3:00 a.m. or while you’re on vacation, how are you going to find out about it?

Measurement

Measurement is the first step toward integrating the results of your social media activities into your larger business processes. In my experience, companies set up listening and monitoring first, then inevitably someone wants to know, “How are we doing?” Are we improving, are we ahead of our competitors, are we doing enough? In order to be able to quantify (and justify) your social media activities, you need measurement. That can be as simple as establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and benchmarks that are relevant to your business. Are we getting more comments on our blog than this time last year? How quickly are we adding Twitter followers?

The danger here comes in getting stalled at this stage and seeing measurement and KPIs as an end in themselves. So, 10,000 people have liked your Facebook page. But what good is that? This leads us to…

Analytics

How are your social media activities supporting your bottom-line business objectives? Does having 20,000 Twitter followers translate into more awareness, more leads, more sales? What’s the value of a Facebook fan? These are not easy questions to answer, despite what some might lead you to believe. Understanding the analytics of your social media activities is no different than understanding the value of your PR or marketing activities; you have to do the hard work to tie your activities to conversions, whatever that means for your business. Then you can see how your social media metrics tie to your business goals. In other words…

ROI

Frankly, I got tired of the ROI debate a long time ago. For the people I’ve had to influence in my career, ROI has only ever meant one thing: how much we spent compared to how much we made. It’s no different in social media. ROI in social media is thorny, in part because some people expect it should be easy to track because it’s online. You can, but only if you do the work of building the connections. That’s why lots of smart marketers are having more luck tracking the ROI of campaigns, rather than their social media activities as a whole.

Suppose, for instance, you wanted to increase attendance at your next event and use social media to help. You could tweet about it, create a Facebook event and write about it on your blog and in your LinkedIn group. But how will you know if anyone signed up as a result? Create a landing page where people can sign up for the event. Create a shortened link to the page. Add a call to action to all your social media mentions driving traffic to that site. Your web analytics will tell you how many people came to that page from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. From that point, calculating the ROI of that campaign is a matter of understanding how much time you spent creating it, how much you increased attendance as a result of the campaign, what the dollar value was of the increase, and how that compares to the value of your time spent creating the campaign.

Trivial? No. Easy? Not necessarily. But in the long run, you’ll probably spend less time building the process to track your ROI than you would otherwise spend trying to justify why you haven’t.

So, what do you think? Have you mastered the metrics muddle? Please leave your thoughts and comments below. And for more nuts-and-bolts information you can put to use right away, check out our Resource Library.

Have you ever stopped to consider how much information you might be giving away to your competition through your personal or professional profiles? It’s probably not something many of us think about but it is something you should seriously consider. Just like the information your company shares can potentially be used by the competition to gain competitive insight, the information you’re sharing on your social profiles can as well.

Giving Too Much Away

What you may be revealing might surprise you. If your social profiles are not completely private, then you are sharing plenty of information that might be beneficial to the competition. Twitter and Facebook allow others to see who you are connected to – perfect if someone is trying to get an idea of who you are networking with. If you’ve created public lists on Twitter, everyone can see who’s on those lists and how you’ve categorized them – Marketing Team, Sales Department, Influencers, etc. That means if you have a list of everyone in the office, you’ve just given your competition the same information.

While promoting your professional accomplishments, you might be clueing in the competition. Take LinkedIn for example, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet where users can add achievements and experiences in a resume style format. Earlier this year Sharon Machlis, online managing editor at Computerworld, was able to do a simple search on the site and found out that more than 300,000 iPads were available in sales channels on launch day, Apple shipped 2 million iPads in 60 days, and that between 2003 and 2008 Apple had 5 full-time employees moderating discussions and monitoring activity in its online communities – and she did it in about 20 minutes. Fortunately, that information was shared after the fact by former Apple employees, but if you’re updating your profile with a project you’re currently working on you’ll want to ensure you’re not giving too much away. Imagine that type of information in the hands of your competitors.

What Story Does Your Facebook Profile Tell

Do you know everyone you’ve connected with or did you let a few people slip in under the radar without being fully aware of who they are? If so, you might want to rectify that by creating friend lists and limiting who sees what. The groups you join and events you RSVP to tell a story.

Your company has been planning a big reveal, one that’s going to blow the competition’s mind. You’re the company’s most well known developer on the social media scene and you’ve recently joined several Facebook groups relating to developing mobile apps. You’ve also started RSVPing to Facebook events around the same topic, all at the same time your department has been working on a top secret mobile app for your company. Don’t forget all those check-ins with Facebook’s new geotagging feature, Places. Guess what? You might be tipping off the competition to your company’s next big move.

Geotag This and Bookmark That

While we’re mentioning geotagging, think about all those Gowalla and Foursquare check-ins as well. Though those services may be the first that come to mind, remember that many applications and platforms also have geolocation options built in. Twitter now allows you to set a location for each tweet and Flickr lets you tag your photos with locations.

You and the rest of the C-Suite execs flew out to Colorado. The photos you may be innocently sharing on your lunch break, could reveal you’re located a stone’s throw away from that organization your company’s been denying rumors about partnering with – coincidence? Maybe, but the rumors are really flying now. Oops!

Do you use social bookmarking sites like Delicious? If you haven’t privately bookmarked your items you might be sharing what you’re researching, reading and reviewing. You wouldn’t want to tip off your number one rival to the fact that you’re planning to scoop them on their next story, would you?

New Social Sites

New social networking sites are being introduced to us at breakneck speeds and each has a new draw to get us registered and interacting. One example of a newer site is Hashable. Hashable is a fun site that lets you track relationships, meetings, and calls publicly or privately using hashtags. Now think of these interactions from a competitive intel point of view, who you’re meeting with could be very telling over time.

Naturally, you have privacy setting options on all your social profiles. You’ll want to be very aware of what boxes you’re checking when you’re setting these up and what applications you’re interacting with. Take the time to check the privacy settings for all your social profiles and customize them to your comfort level. Doing so will help to ensure you won’t be the person who gives away a little too much inside information.

Do your social profiles reveal too much about what’s going on at your company? Will you be taking another look at your privacy settings? What would you add to this post? We value your comments and would love to hear your thoughts on this  topic. Kick off the discussion below.

Martian: “E.T.?”
Kermit: “No, no, not E.T., Kermit THE Frog!”

Sesame Street might be the world’s best known address, trumping even 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and The North Pole. What was born from a 1966 Manhattan dinner party conversation - yes, even then parents were concerned about how much TV their kids were watching – and finally launched in 1969, went on to become a worldwide phenomenon. The original series has been televised in 120 countries, more than 20 international versions have been produced, and Sesame Street has received more Emmy Awards than any other program. Who would have thought that an 8 ft tall canary, a miserable garbage can dweller and an invisible (but not) Snuffleupagus would so enthrall and engage children? Jim Henson, for one.

Henson realized that children are often frighteningly smart, scathingly direct, darkly humorous and twisted little creatures – oh, and that they get bored easily. Children need to to be taught what to adults seem to be the most mundane things – that even crotchety and crabby Oscar the Grouch has feelings, that C is for cookie (that’s good enough for me!) and why a book is not a phone. He realized that the sharing of information and knowledge could be funny – preposterous even – and still be smart and engaging.

Which brings me to the point of this post, and how it relates to social media. I had a short, early morning, Sesame Street related Twitter exchange this morning with a colleague. Being, ahem, of a certain age, I mentioned the Phone Martians. Said colleague, being of, ahem, a much younger age, responded that he didn’t know who the Phone Martians were? As the kids say these days – OMG! I immediately launched YouTube on my phone, found the clip, and Tweeted it to him. It made my day – because I still laugh at the absurdity yet sheer brilliance of the Phone Martians – and it made his day, because he was introduced to something that he hadn’t experienced before, to which he promptly responded “Trippy!” Believe me, everyone needs to experience the Phone Martians – if you haven’t clicked on the link yet, please do so now.

There are a number of social media lessons learned in our little exchange. We live thousands of miles apart. We were able to communicate quickly and easily at an ungodly hour of the morning, via PC and Smartphone, and we used Twitter and YouTube effectively to exchange ideas and content. But it eventually boiled down to one core thing. Inspiration. Those of us who create content – which you should be doing by now, as you have your staff all trained and eagerly embracing social media – are often asked how we find inspiration. Ideas. Jumping off points. Well, let’s take this post as an example:

• One of the most successful television shows in the history of the medium was born of some chatter at a dinner party – I guarantee no one at that dinner party had a clue what that chatter was going to inspire.

• Jim Henson kept it simple, and found the inspiration for many of his most iconic characters in simple, even obvious things – a cookie, an inchworm, a trashcan, a big bird. He saw the world with an open, unbiased eye, and I doubt he ever said “that won’t work” or “that’s too silly” or “what if people don’t like it?” I mean seriously – the man made TV gold out of two bathmats with antennas on their heads. And a rotary phone.

• I woke up this morning wondering what I was going to write about today. Truth. It happens. And within ten minutes of a friendly Twitter/YouTube exchange, I had my inspiration – inspiration itself!

People love social media because of the non-stop flow of knowledge, ideas and inspiration they can access in the cloud. Without inspiration, you won’t create anything. And if you don’t create anything you have nothing to share with your community. But don’t let the very idea of inspiration hobble you before you’ve even left the starting gate. Feeling blocked? Allow yourself some space and breathing room. Read a good article. Have an exchange with a friend or colleague. Take a walk. Marvel at how that bumble-bee manages to stay airborne! Think tangentially. Don’t look for the obvious connections. But most importantly, don’t think too hard about it. Inspiration strikes at the oddest times, and more often than not, when you are least expecting it. Like Sesame Street. And Phone Martians.

What tips and tricks do you utilize when you’re looking for some inspiration? What’s the oddest thing that you’ve found inspiration from? As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback.

Social media is all about, well, being social! And what could be more social than a cocktail party? The room’s abuzz, laughter tinkles through the crowd, you grab a Dirty Martini – extra olives please – and begin to mingle. Suddenly, you find yourself in a small pod of people, you introduce yourself, and as expectant (tipsy?) yet friendly faces look to you for a bon mot or some interesting trivia….you freeze. Your brain shuts down and your mouth turns to paste. You’ve broken the golden rule of cocktail party going: always come prepared with some conversation starting statistics or an eye opening, maybe even controversial, tidbit to inject into the mix. Then you remember reading this blog post earlier in the day, and your heart rate begins to return to normal. “Did you know,” you say, as heads lean in to listen “…according to ads from Vogue magazine over the decades, that in 1937 a woman with a 32 inch bust line would have been considered a size 14!?  By 1967, she would have been an 8, and….wait for it…today she is considered a size zero!?” You reflect for a moment on what a size zero even means, as the woman in your group look at each other in acknowledgement, nod their heads and roll their eyes in solidarity, and slug back the dregs of their drinks.

Ready to wear women’s wear is a relatively recent innovation. And almost since it started, companies have been engaging in what the industry calls “vanity sizing” – lowering the sizes of women’s clothing to appeal to consumers’ sense of vanity. Nowadays, while men can pretty easily still buy off the rack “a 32/34 pant, please!” – most women try on ten pairs of jeans to find the one pair that fits. You can be a size 6 at one store and a size 12 at another. The problem is that there is no industry standard.

Social media is a bit like that too, especially when you’re just starting out. There aren’t “industry standards” to guide you as to which social media platform you should or shouldn’t embrace. It is an ever changing beast, with new apps, platforms and startups appearing virtually every day. Some will become the next big thing for awhile, and quietly fade away, while others will become the next big thing…and really be the next big thing! That’s why keeping your finger on the pulse of social media is so important. That said, social media, much like the clothing industry, is not “one size fits all”, and you don’t need to have a company profile or presence on all outlets.

Here are a few suggestions and things to think about when trying to narrow down your social media strategy:

Evaluate and nail down exactly what your company does, and where you will get most return on your company’s social media investment: For example, say you run a small but successful construction company. You specialize in building additions, but you also have an award winning landscaping division whose work deserves to be shown off. Twitter might not be the best outlet for you to invest company time in. You might take a pass at LinkedIn also, save for a company listing in order to share your credentials and trades licenses. Facebook, however, will allow you to reach out to past clients and their contacts, and allow you to showcase photographs and even videos of your work. So will YouTube.

Don’t be afraid to be the big fish in a small pond: Maybe what you do is somewhat niche. You only can afford one employee to ‘manage’ your online social media presence. But, you know exactly where your relatively small client base – and potential client base – ‘hangs out’ online. It’s ok to focus your energies there, and aim to expand your social media strategy in line with your company growth.

Don’t overextend yourself by trying to be all things to all people: You’ve spent valuable time – and money – training your employees and setting up an internal team of social media experts. But if you can’t deliver, if your customer’s tweets are being ignored, your Facebook fan page is stale and outdated, and no one has written a company blog post for weeks – or worse – months, your social media strategy is not working. Social networks are not fun and games (although you can have a lot of fun on them) – they are customer service tools that help you connect with your consumer base on a very personal and up-close level. And those consumers are exceptionally savvy social media users themselves. If you’re so overwhelmed that your company’s online presence starts to smell stale, all the expertly trained staff in the world won’t be able to help you.

Remember this: one size does not fit all. Even if it looks like it might. What works for one company will not necessarily work for you. Try a few things on for size, before you invest in something that just doesn’t fit you or your company culture. Because you can’t return a bad social media ‘purchase’ and get your money back.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? Have you narrowed down exactly what your best fit is when it comes to social media engagement? Have you recovered from a bad purchase, or know someone who has? What lessons came from the experience? As always, we love to hear your comments and feedback.

Remember high school? On any given day walking through the hallway you would hear murmurs of he said, she said – gossip. To many of us, it was aggravating and left us  wondering what they were they saying, who were they talking about……me?

If you are new to Twitter it can be a similar type of feeling – tweets fly by in the blink of an eye, and if you’ve missed two or three out of a conversation, you’re lost. But from a business perspective, Twitter is an amazing pipeline. Now when someone talks about us, we can – and should – know about it within seconds! When customers are discussing your brand/products, it’s bad business to ignore them, right? And traditionally, marketers flock to where the market and customer base is present. Well, today, when upwards of 72% of internet users are active on at least one social network, you can put money on the fact that a considerable number of those users – and your customers – are on Twitter.

To say social media is simply a fad could prove to be costly from a business standpoint. In the old days, to be acknowledged by a company with a response after writing them a letter of concern or complaint was extremely satisfying – though it usually took months. So now, when your client base is expressing their concerns or complaints in less than 140 characters, and in real time, you should be prepared to extend that same satisfying feeling to them, in that same ‘real-time’, where possible.

Customers, prospects and influencers are already engaging with one another in relation to your brand, it’s time for you to become involved as well. If you are new to social media and ramping up your staff and/or colleagues, start slow and begin listening to what these individuals are saying and gain some insight into who is talking about you the most. Stop the guessing game and you are on the fast track to incorporating this new means of customer service to your existing traditional tactics. This means of communication can be intimidating to many, but by stepping back a bit and taking the initial step of listening and monitoring how these conversations are playing out, you will adapt and fit right in.

Relationships with our customers have long been recognized as a crucial element to a company’s success. In the past, these relationships were traditionally created through advertising, telephone surveys, eventually emails, and any number of other faceless encounters to ensure customers knew you cared and were meeting their needs. Being an active and engaged organization on Twitter provides you the EXACT same opportunities. Except with an ease and immediacy to action that has never been available before.

Here’s an interesting statistic – 58% of tweets about bad brand experiences will fall on deaf ears. If your company’s customer service department was reporting percentages like that, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t be happy about it. Consider Twitter a key extension of your customer service strategy, and you will have the advantage of dealing with those complaints and concerns before they have a chance to fester – or worse yet – are shared among thousands.

That said, be sure you are prepared. Those 140 characters don’t allow you much wiggle room, and remember, tone and previous tweets that might change the subtlety of what you ‘think’ you’re dealing with are extremely important. When the opportunity arises to respond, it helps to ensure all involved within the enterprise are on the same page. Have your social media staff collaborate with colleagues company wide to outline questions and processes to consider when engaging with your customers – this will dismiss any confusion. You have just created a strategic monitoring and engagement playbook! Compile and distribute this playbook amongst all of your employees. It is vital to continually manage – and change if needed – this content to ensure consistency across the enterprise. Once this element has been tackled, have your social media team debrief, report and keep track of your progress in your Twitter account engagement and how it reflects on your overall presence within the whole of Social Media. This is far from an overnight process, but a well managed Twitter presence can be a huge and relatively easily developed first step towards building effective relationships and rapport with customers.

Individuals are forming and sharing opinions with or without you! These public discussions about your brand are there waiting to be tapped into, in order to leverage and build upon traditional means of customer service. Incorporating tactics relayed over this month of internal training tactics and tips will allow you to create positive relationships and ultimately expand markets, build brand awareness, spark demand, and create loyalty and advocacy all in a mere 140 characters or less. By capturing these conversations you will know exactly what people are saying – good and bad – and who is talking about your company.

Tell us what you think? How important is your Twitter presence within your social media food chain? What things would you add to a strategic monitoring and engagement playbook?

Mark Burns is a Training Specialist at Radian6 where he works to develop course content, delivering open training sessions as well as custom closed sessions for clients. Follow him on twitter and connect with him on Linkedin.

“Our social networks, both the old-fashioned type in real life, as well as the new constructs created by social software, give us the ability to do amazing things for ourselves and for others. But it does require some thought and consideration.”  Chris Brogan

One of the best ways to set your team up for success is to arm them with great resources. Continuing this month’s series on “Training Your Company for Social Media” we thought we’d give you some ideas on how to build a resource library both physically and virtually that your team can begin to familiarize themselves with.

Laying the Groundwork

Resources will help your team grow more knowledgeable about what’s going on across the social web, as well as give them a good foundation to build upon as they go forward. How do you go about finding resources? Where should you look? Consider event sites like Plancast and Eventbrite that help you track events on the topics and locations that interest you. You can even use these sites to make note of conference speakers and thought leaders on particular topics and connect with them across your social networks.

Other great places to gather resources and learn who’s who on the social web are local clubs. One in particular that comes to mind is the Social Media Club. The Social Media Club connects media makers from around the world to promote media literacy, industry standards, and ethical behavior and to share the lessons they have learned. With over 200+ chapters, covering 6 continents, there’s sure to be a chapter close to you. While you’re at it, check out Podcamp and WordCamp as potential places to learn, grow and connect with others in the industry.

Twitter and Facebook can be great resources as well in a number of ways. Since you can ask questions and get immediate feedback, these platforms can be great sources of information. For example, if you’re looking for great books on understanding ROI (Return on Investment), ask your community what they’d recommend. You can do this to find great blogs to read on a particular topic, too.

Don’t forget the search option either. Both Twitter and Facebook give you the ability to search, Twitter has an advanced search that is quite useful as it allows you to  search people, places, hashtags and even sentiment.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

There are already plenty of great resources available to you that others have created. Take Mashable’s twitter lists for example or the Huffington Post’s. These lists are broken down very specifically to include listings by city, state, and cover a wide variety of topics across several niches.

Naturally, not all of these resources will strike a chord – that will vary depending on your business, but they should whet your appetite. Make note of the ones that resonate with you and discard the rest – or better yet, create your own lists and share them with your team internally.

It’s also important to encourage your team to seek out social media resources on their own. To reinforce this, consider a reimbursement policy so employees can take courses, classes and buy materials that will help them build a stronger social media foothold without the constraints of finances getting in the way.

Don’t forget, there are plenty of free resources as well, your local library should have a social media section and you can also search the web for white papers, eBooks and case studies. Most are relatively easy to find with a simple search.

We know embarking on this social media journey can be a bit intimidating at times. Therefore, we’ve taken that into consideration with our upcoming posts. We’ll talk about cutting through the chaos of information overload, as well as help you focus on tips, tricks and resources to help internally share knowledge so you’ll be able to determine what works best for your company. Knowledge is power and we want to you to be prepared as you begin your social media strategy toward success.

Now that you’ve got a pretty good idea of where to start when it comes to building your own resource library, what are some of your favorite resources and what would you add to this article? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Your company is ready to go! Everyone is on-board and excited to begin using social media. Your team has a copy of our eBook “Training Your Company for Social Media” and they’re thinking what’s next? Perhaps the best place to start is by making sure that everyone’s on the same page.

Educate and Inform

If your social media team represents several different departments within your company then you’ve got a great head start. Each person has an opportunity to educate and inform the rest of the team about how their department could use social media advantageously. This way, no matter who’s speaking on behalf of your brand, they’ll be able to respond to questions, comments or concerns intelligently, especially if it’s their area of expertise. It’s also a great way to stay informed on what’s going on in each department. We’ll be talking more about internal sharing, why it’s important, and ways to achieve it, in a later post.

What if your social media team doesn’t represent a variety of departments? That’s alright, too. Arm each department with knowledge. Then, appoint one person (maybe the most social media savvy of the group) as the knowledge bearer. That way, your staff is able to easily and efficiently access information, if your social media team is not available. Also, it’s important that your team knows your company’s social media guidelines, and is able to reference them whenever they need to.

Consider Your Brand’s Profile

Now that you’ve taken care of getting everyone on the same page across departments, you can begin to think about your brand’s social profiles. Let’s use Twitter as an example. There are a few things you’ll want to think about before you go public: will your team will be engaging from their individual accounts or from one corporate handle? If they’ll be responding from the corporate handle, will they identify themselves with proper names like Dell’s team does, and will you include that in the bio like we do or somewhere on the page as Comcast has done?

Also, since your company profile will be seen by everyone interacting with your brand you may wish to incorporate what your company does, what type of information you’ll be sharing and even some traditional ways to reach you, like MindActive does, in your profile’s background.

If your team will be using individual accounts will they need to use the brand name within it (ex: BrandNameBob) or can they use their own names as long as their bio identifies their position within your company? Can they be creative or do they need to be more corporate? How open is your company to allowing your team members to find their own voice and tone? It might not seem like a big deal but allowing people to feel comfortable is the first step to authenticity while representing your brand.

It’s important to remember that there’s no right or wrong decision but rather what decision works best for your company’s corporate culture.

In closing, here are a few other things to keep in mind before you go public:

• It’s a conversation
• Be open and honest
• Be considerate
• Be accurate
• Add value
• Own your words
• If you make a mistake, admit it

You can review even more tips and see how some of your favorite brands handle social media at the Online Database of Social Media Policies.

We hope you’re feeling that much more confident about taking the leap into social media. What else would you like to know? What can we delve deeper into to give you a better understanding about corporate social media? Please let us know in the comments below.

“Time is the great equalizer in the field of morals.”  H.L. Mencken

Time magazine ran a thought provoking article this week titled “To Tweet or Not to Tweet”. Written by Zachary Karabell, who calls his column “The Curious Capitalist”, he puts forward an interesting thesis summed up roughly as this: the haves still have, the have-nots still don’t; and right now, the have-nots are those who aren’t reaping the myriad benefits of social media.

He breaks it down roughly as follows: Though the economy is still troubled, there is one area that is thriving, and that is social media. You can’t swing a cat these days without hitting a startup or an angel investor; money’s being made hand over fist; and industries as unique to each other as education is to home electronics are embracing social media and actively engaging their peers, their employees, and their communities. Hooray, right? Not quite. Because for all the benefits that social media can bring professionally and/or personally, there is an underclass that are being left behind. Society’s low wage earners, and the less educated.

He calls it “economic bifurcation”. Those that can afford the best, get better. Those that can’t, don’t. And he quotes a recent Pew Foundation study which found only 45% of American adults making less than $30,000 per year have access to broadband, which is an issue, he says, because broadband is an essential component to accessing content-rich social media effectively.

True, it’s difficult to physically pinpoint the return on the explosive growth of social media. Whether or not it is directly improving the economic prospects of your country/citizens or company/employees is often hotly debated. But what are we really to make of the statistic quoted above? And haven’t there always been deep divides – that were eventually bridged – when game changing advancements in technology and lifestyle occurred? Let’s take a look at a few of the biggies.

When the automobile started rolling out the factory doors, its popular adoption created an ease of mobility and spin off opportunities on a scale never known before. Yes, making cars put money into many other areas of manufacturing, and put a lot of people to work. No one would argue that once reliable, affordable transportation became the norm, people’s living habits and social customs were changed forever. But, the automobile began its life as a rare toy for the very rich. It took decades before the Ford Motor Company developed the affordable Model T. Once they did though, it sold in the millions, and the family car became as commonplace as owning a telephone is today.

Many people compare the rise of social media to that of the telephone. Twitter and Facebook are often seen by naysayers as nothing more than a vehicle for nattering with your pals about the latest gossip. Which is exactly what the telephone was once derided as being. It’s ironic that most people are Twittering away today on their smartphones! But, it took decades for the telephone to become as ubiquitous as it is now. At the turn of the 20th century only 1.4 million telephones served a population of 76 million Americans, even though the technology was introduced commercially over 20 years earlier. In fact, the telephone took nearly 60 years to become commonplace. Of course, some of that lag was due to difficulty in developing the infrastructure, but some of it was also due to simple accessibility. People in rural or outlying areas  – an entire class of people – were generally the last to benefit from an innovation that provided security, safety, and the ability to communicate in real time with others. Yet today, you would be hard pressed to find a household that didn’t have a telephone (or three!), no matter where you live or what your income.

The article’s title, “To Tweet or Not to Tweet”, is an obvious hat tip to that great English bard, William Shakespeare. And William Shakespeare’s works wouldn’t be torturing high school students today had it not been for another innovation that enhanced the world socially and economically – the invention of the printing press. While people since the beginning of time had used various archaic methods of ‘communication’, Gutenberg’s 15th century press changed how people became informed about issues. Prior to mass printing, the common man relied heavily on the church, government, or the ruling classes for news. This new way to access and share information allowed people to make up their own minds about what was going on in the world around them. It gave them knowledge, which gave them power, and ultimately, a certain freedom. But, having something printed was an expensive endeavour. When Gutenberg’s famous printed bibles were sold at a Frankfurt book fair, they cost the equivalent of three years pay for the average clerk of that day. Again, a revolutionary medium of communication and opportunity was reserved – initially – for the wealthy and well connected.

Fast forward to our day and age now. Karabell himself touches on the similarities between today’s new world of social media and the “new world” of the World Wide Web some 20 odd years ago. Back then people questioned whether Netscape and the web were enhancing the economy – and by extension society – or just providing a new way to goof off at the office. For those who had an office to go to, of course! In 1990 only 3 million’ish people worldwide had access to the internet. But, in less than 20 years, the number of worldwide internet users surpassed one billion.

So what’s the moral of all these comparisons and statistics? Time is the great equalizer. Historically, the latest and greatest advancements have always been available first to the wealthiest or best connected. It may not be fair, but it’s fact. But these days, as technological advances continue at such an astounding rate, the pace of the catch-up game has gone from turtle to breakneck. And the so called ‘have nots’, in the world of social media at least, won’t be lagging behind for long.

What do you think? Agree or disagree, we always appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

“Mundane” is such a strong word, isn’t it? We hold it in a bit of contempt at first thought, despite the fact that our day-to-day lives are really pretty mundane. Much of what we do to keep our health and sanity is considered mundane, but these “bland” moments flow through our days in a steady stream and build the foundation of our lives. Maybe we don’t think those moments are worth talking about, but it turns out that, when given the opportunity, we will talk about them, and with fervor. Even more amazing is the fact that we often connect with others over these simple moments.

This not-so-phenomenal phenomenon is something marketers are beginning to take note of and tap into, as was shared in this AdAge article about what type of conversational content is truly relevant to people these days.

In the article, author Matthew Creamer shares a couple anecdotes about BlackBerry and the company’s penchant for simple conversation. Essentially, BlackBerry has made a few “mundane” references and asked some simple, non-brand questions of its followers and fans on Twitter and Facebook, and has received much stronger response to those comments and questions than was expected.

While the monetary result of this type of conversation is up for debate, the truth is that there is value in simple conversation. Where brands need to be strategic with this simplistic style, though, is in making informed decisions as to where it makes the most sense to invite those conversations, and what “simple” conversation is within the context of the brand.

Some additional questions you need to ask when considering the value of online conversation to your brand (and the type of conversational style you might want to adopt) include:

1. What is your brand personality? In the article, Creamer offers up another example of a simple conversational style, sharing how Oreo uses it to connect with its fans on Facebook. For Oreo, a fun and lively, yet light conversational tone matches its brand personality, making it easy for fans to hop into the fray of cookie chatter without having to make a large mental leap from brand personality to execution. Oreo poses questions that match its brand personality and let fans share a bit of themselves and their experiences with Oreo products.
2. What are your goals for online engagement? Yes, we’re hammering the goal setting principle home here. What the heck are you trying to achieve by talking to your customers online? Are you engaging with them to provide customer service? Are you aiming to improve the recognition and reputation of your brand? The type of conversation you inspire ties directly to your goals for engagement, which means this type of light-hearted, “mundane” conversation really might not be a good tack for your brand. Explore what it is you’re trying to do, in detail, to see if this conversational style is truly right for your company.
3. Who will be creating and managing these conversations? If you read through the Oreo cookie example, you’ll see that, despite the free-flowing feel of their conversations, their chatter is planned carefully and executed by a group of folks skilled in connecting brands with people. To get the voice and conversation where you want it to be, you’ll need to have the right people in place.

There’s so much more to this conversation than what fits in a single blog post. Keep it going in the comments, please? Tell me what you think — is conversational, “stream marketing” the way of the future? Where does it fit?

We have been focusing on customer service this month and in light of of several posts on how to lose your Twitter followers effectively, we thought it appropriate to highlight some key tips on how to provide bad customer service through social media and what steps to undertake in order to turn it around.

1.    Ignore Your Customers

If you are looking to frustrate customers before they even pick up the phone then this might be appropriate. Conveying the image of an organisation seemingly plugged in but then ignoring requests or questions from customers in social media does not help your cause. If you don’t plan on communicating with your customers via Facebook, then is a Page really necessary? Likewise, if you don’t think Twitter would be of use to your business don’t pretend to use it.

If you are not sure of what might work then listen first. Understand what is being said throughout social media; an integral part of any social media implementation plan and strategy. Find out exactly what your customers are saying, where and to whom, understand which avenues of social media would provide added value to both your company and your stakeholders. Once you have tracked this, make sure the knowledge gained is shared throughout your customer services department in order to focus your efforts.

2.    Pretend to Answer Questions

The only thing worse than not responding to your customers is to confuse them even further. Ensure that what you say counts, especially on Twitter. Make those 140 characters work for you even if this means taking five minutes to draft your tweet. If the problem is more complex then make sure you steer the conversation offline to the phone or email in order to provide the additional assistance necessary.

A lot of businesses deal with queries raised through social media by referring them to their website which more often than not does not resolve the problem. What customers are seeking is for someone to solve their query. If the only route to doing so is to jump from channel to channel then this does not usually lead to customer satisfaction but rather to customer frustration.

3.    Don’t Cooperate or Communicate

If you are using a social media channel to complement your customer service strategy make sure that you are connected to the wider business. This can mean using an appropriate CRM system, having a social media policy and ensuring that you have your social media channels included in your customer service objectives. You will find that handovers will run a lot more smoothly if social media is seen as part of the business and not an aside.

In some instances you may need to hand over a query to a more specialised department, but if they are not aware of the social media funnel this may drop off the radar. Alternatively, if there is no agreed system for logging enquiries, customers will find themselves needing to explain the same problem over and over. Therefore, getting the necessary buy in, understanding and having a clear process of communication will save your business considerable time.

4.    Never Escalate Problems

Don’t assume that because the query has come though social media—a channel only you might be responsible for—that you always know the answer. The end objectives of any customer service should be to resolve your client’s problem. While a community manager, often the first one to come across a query, should be well versed in all that concerns the business, they may not always know the answer, or the problem might be severe enough to demand the involvement of a senior manager. To this end it is essential that a proper escalation process is communicated and included in any social media policy.

5.    Don’t Be Proactive

Your customers might not always know where to find you, so take a proactive step to assist your customers. Monitor what is being said in order to provide the assistance necessary when appropriate. Contrary to what has recently been in the news, we have noticed that customers who are provided assistance even when not explicitly contacting a company tend to appreciate this approach. In addition to picking up mentions and questions, having a listening strategy and tool will go a long way to providing key metrics around engagement success, campaign sentiment, or product issues, as well as understanding where within the various social media channels customers are most prominent. All this helps to focus your customer service.

6.    Don’t Personalise

Our earlier post this month showed that adding a personal touch when communicating through social media has a positive effect. While customers might find it easier to communicate via the internet this does not necessarily mean that they don’t want to talk to a real person. Adding a name to a bio conveys the idea that a query or problem is being taken seriously and is being dealt with. Also, doing so will ensure that your representatives are accountable and part of the wider business.

What experiences have you had with customer service in social media? Good, bad, feel free to share.

Learn how Jessica Watson’s family and brand managers have been using social media monitoring tools and channels to monitor and share her journey to become the world’s youngest person to sail around the world by herself, unassisted.

Clegg fever seems to have gripped social media over the last week following his performance in the leaders’ debates. There is no doubt that his profile has been lifted within the online community. As a result Nick Clegg is enjoying a trending status on Twitter, which leads one to wonder how much of a social media profile Mr Clegg had before the leaders’ debate relative to his competitors, and how this has developed. Using Radian6 to do some social media research we can analyse the level of Clegg’s increase in popularity and also uncover where he is being talked about.

Gordon Brown was the most discussed leader running up to the first debate. The share of voice pie chart below shows he had a 48% share of the conversation. At this point, Nick Clegg had the lowest at just over 22%.

Figure 1: Share of voice between the party leaders in social media prior to the first debate

Gordon Brown was the most talked about leader over these three days. Given his current position as PM this is not surprising.

However, following the first debate the data shows a total shift in this landscape of mentions.