Original Post by Niamh Arthur

Obviously everybody these days is on some form of social media online. It’s the new way that we communicate and work together.

People are essentially social. Gone are the days when we trusted big companies and brand names, now we prefer to know who we are working with or giving our money to. We want to know their stories, their likes and dislikes, we like to work with people like us.

Using social media tools for marketing allows me to simply be myself online, provide valuable information and content to anyone who is looking for it, and I attract people who share common interests and feel that they already know who I am, to my business. The benefit is not just that they know who I am and what I’m about, but I get to deal with the type of people I want to work with. I want to work with people like myself and my team, big-thinkers, positively motivated, want to be a force for good. Nothing is more frustrating in business than wasting your time with people you just do not resonate with. It’s frankly depressing when you try to deal with people who are negative and pessimistic.

When you advertise you have absolutely no control over the type of people who respond to you. You know nothing about them, and quite often they have a “show me” attitude. They approach the interaction with suspicion because you are a stranger to them. When you attract people to you using social media they already know that you provide value, they know that you are a moral person, and that you are genuine. These people only contact you if they feel they would like to work with you, so by the time you are spending time with them they simply have to decide if they like what you are offering, they already know they like you.

For several months now I have not advertised my business at all. I have not placed any ads (well, apart from ones on Craigslist, which is also a community). By only using social media tools for marketing the difference is now I get to collaborate with others, I get to provide a service, I get to find the people I want to work with and who want to work with me. One of the best parts is…it’s absolutely free! You just have to spend some time to create good content for people and to make connections.

This is a great video that outlines some of the statistics of social media tools. It goes a bit fast…but you can pause to catch some of the stats. Really fascinating… ”

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Original Post by Niamh Arthur

Using Social Media Tools for Marketing is the best thing you can do for your business. To see why see my post about Why I No Longer Advertise My Business. Social media marketing is about spending time getting to know others and letting them get to know you. Providing good quality relevant content to others around the web.

Here are my top ten social media tools for marketing (in no particular order):

1. Blogs
My absolute favourite (obviously)! Blogs are a place where you can really establish yourself, stretch out, make it your own. The downside of blogs is you have to drive traffic to them. I use other social media tools for marketing my blog. I make connections on the sites and then when they get value from and want to learn more about me they go back to my blog to check it out.

2. Article Marketing
Great way to get your content out online. You can submit articles to directories, use social bookmarking sites, put them on your myspace or facebook page, submit them to other blog posters for content, etc.

3.Microblogging
The obvious example is Twitter. Connect with others who have similar interests, keep them updated on what you are up to, any new content you’ve produced that they might be interested in, etc.

4.Videos
Create informational videos. A lot of people hate reading or learn better from a video than from a post. You can also demonstrate things on video. This is great because people get to see and hear you, making you even more real and less anonymous.

5.Podcasting
If you’re a talker, talk your content. Interview people in your industry. Create a series of podcasts that relate to your area of interest and again provide good info. Distribute it to podcast directories. I listen to podcasts ALL THE TIME. If I have busy work to do online, putting a video together, etc, I like to listen to good quality content and keep my brain working while I do.

6. Events and Meetup sites
Taking online networking offline. Find people in your area who share a common interest. Making connections and real friendships offline can be really beneficial for your business because the people really do know you. It can also be a great way to meet people to mastermind with, or if you feel your current social group is holding you back this can help you meet people who share your new and improved mindset.

7.Social Networks
Find people you know or with similar interests, join groups, fanpages, share pics and videos, let people know what you’re up to. This would be Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, etc. This is one of the best ways to let people get to know you.

8.Professional Networks
Such as LinkedIn. Don’t make the mistake of viewing this as a social network. There is a different tone to this type of network. People here are more interested in your professional qualifications and expertise than in pictures of you and your family. This can be a fantastic place to promote yourself. Be sure to be respectful and professional, and provide relevant information.

9. Discussion Boards and Forums
Great place to find people who share common interests. Again the key here is to provide useful and relevant responses to the questions people are asking. Don’t blatantly market yourself, again be present, be consistent, and be relevant; provide your website details and let people come to you.

10. Social Bookmarking
Putting it all together. Connect people to your information online, get links to your content all over the net. Make sure you put a relevant blurb or excerpt so people can see what information to expect. This is helpful for search engine optimization as well because it creates high quality links to your site.

Most importantly: Link it all together! Link your social networks to your blog and microblog, link your videos to your articles, let people know where you are and where your content is.

You must be consistent, you must provide quality, and be genuine. This is not advertising, so don’t sound like an ad and don’t try to sell yourself or your business. Attract people to you by what you provide. Have fun, and happy networking!”

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The ColdFusion in NC (CFinNC) conference was held last weekend at the N.C. State Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC. My earlier post questioned whether the latest version of ColdFusion (CF9) would be its last hurrah or the start of a new beginning.  The answer to this question, like most others in IT is “It depends.”  Hats off to Adobe for solid investment in new CF development tools, ORM integration, language enhancements and sharing of services such as PDF and image generation.  However, I believe the conference exposed fatal weak points in Adobe’s strategy to take back market share in the application server market.

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In the maturity phase of a technology, it either becomes a legacy to be appreciated for its past accomplishments or morphs into something new that compels the world to take another look. ColdFusion has now been around for 14 years (a century in Internet years), and in its 9th incarnation. What started as a simple alternative to CGI scripting is now a full-fledged application server platform. But is ColdFusion with its HTML roots still relevant in an increasingly Rich Internet Application-driven world? Does ColdFusion still have legs as a presentation medium, or will it slowly be relegated to heavy lifting behind the scenes on servers far away from the eyes of Internet users? The CFinNC conference to be held at NC State University this weekend may offer clues.

This exciting two-day conference will showcase a veritable whos-who of the ColdFusion world, each offering not only their technical expertise but also their own vision of ColdFusion and its shiny Rich Internet Application cousins, Air and Flex.  Can’t make it you say? You can follow the event live on twitter via @Jason_Jasura  as I post all of the happenings that you just won’t find in any of the posted presentations.  It’s bound to be a great conference. Hope to see you there!

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According to a recent study by comScore, one in 10 Internet display ads served are targeted to a local market due to their efficient allocation of dollars.

The study was aimed at Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC and indicated that between 9% and 11% of display ads among all publishers sites were aimed at local online consumers.

The study broke out results based on all publishers, the top 100 publishers and regional/local publishers. Not surprisingly, in the regional/local site category – which includes sites such as Yahoo Local, Citysearch and Yelp – the share of display ads that were locally targeted was substantially higher, at between 23%-33% among the four markets.

“Locally targeted ads are an increasingly important component of the digital ad landscape because they represent a more efficient allocation of ad dollars,” said comScore vice president Brian Jurutka.

Earlier this year, the Yellow Pages Association tasked comScore with a research endeavor that revealed that a 58% surge in the annual growth of local search far outweighed a 21% growth of overall web search in 2008.

So what does this mean for your business? If you have not started to utilize local Internet marketing, it’s time to get started before your competitors do.

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