Facebook has grown up a lot since it was first started in Marc Zuckerberg’s college dorm. A site that was once limited to students is now a worldwide phenomenon. In it’s early days, a  key seperator between Facebook and Myspace was how it controlled who you could access in a network. Facebook kept you fenced in to other users in your region, business or school.

Unleash the Hounds

Facebook will now remove regional networks in it’s entirety so people can connect around the world. I am sure this is also tied into their new online translation efforts. Facebook started removing regional networks a few months ago, but some new privacy settings will also be incorporated that should help you maintain the seclusion you are accustomed to. In fact, you will be able to limit what types of posted content is displayed on a friend by friend basis.

Here is the Entire Press Release from Marc Zuckerberg:

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Our previous entry in the Internet Marketing Strategies focused on creating a Marketing budget. Today, we continue with Strategy #2.

Strategy #2: Researching the Marketplace

Let’s face it. The Internet is too vast to market effectively to every corner, so targeting your message delivery to key locations is critical.  How to find those key locations? Fortunately, there are many tools that can pinpoint those locations. A few tools listed by MarketProfs include:

1. Google alerts http://www.google.com/alerts – Sends an email whenever a key word or phrase is mentioned in online content

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With any emerging marketing channel, it takes time for the stakeholders in your business to recongize it’s value. Social Media is one such channel. As a marketer, you recognize it’s value but how do you convey this to stakeholders who are responsible for your bottom line?

Know your budget constraints:

If you are prepared to discuss the financial and personnel resources required for a social media strategy, you will look educated and more credible when stating your case to stakeholders.

Here is a list of common items to budget for when planning your social media campaign:
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Given that it’s Friday, I thought It would be appropriate to discuss Twitter’s follow friday phenomenon.  Follow Friday is nothing new. In fact, it started in Mid-January of 09 by the Tweeter Micah Baldwin.  I am often asked about it’s use by Twitter newbies, hence the reason for this blog post.

So what is Follow Friday anyway?

Simply put – a Follow Friday Tweet contains the usernames of other Twitter users that you think your followers should follow. (Say that 10 times fast…). The Tweet usually contains the hashtags: #ff or #followfriday so that users searching those hashtags can monitor the day’s reccomendations.

Why would you want to reccomend people to follow?

Well executed social media campaigns make building relationships a priority. If you recongnize someone you are following as valuable with a Follow Friday Tweet, it can only strengthen your current relationship with them. It will also strenghen relationships with your followers if you provide quality reccomendations (see below).

Here are some guidelines for your Follow Friday Tweets:

• Don’t reciprocate Follow Friday Tweets unless you genuinley want to. Spammy Twitter accounts often send out Follow Friday mentions with the intent of receiving a reciprocation for exposure.
• Don’t arbitrarily choose your Follow Friday mentions. Briefly explain why your followers should follow your canditates in your Tweet.
• Don’t feel pressured to send out a Follow Friday mention every Friday. If you did not engage with any new Twitter user’s this week, wait until you do. Remember, quality over quantity counts in your Tweets.

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Previously, we discussed the creation of this series, Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies for Beginners. Today, we continue our series with Strategy #1.

Strategy #1: Start preparing your Marketing budget

You wouldn’t expect that launching a new television or radio advertising campaign to be free, would you? Of course not, but many businesses are under the mistaken impression that since a web page can be changed with the act of typing, the cost of Internet marketing is free. Or management may say “The intern can handle it by himself, we don’t need to pay for that.” Such notions are common and must be held up for scrutiny. A MarketingProfs study suggests there just a few of the costs which could arise in an Internet Marketing campaign:

• Time and personnel used to create professional, compelling content on a recurring basis ( you wouldn’t let just anyone create a TV ad for you, so why trust that job to the intern?)
• Training of personnel to use social media tools
• Time spent in addition to normal duties to push out new content
• Advertising dollars
• Giveaways, promotional tie-in items

Once the hidden costs related to Internet Marketing are recognized, they can be assessed and refined as you start focusing on the creation of your marketing content and the delivery of it through the Internet.

Check this space again for Strategy #2 in our series, Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies for Beginners.

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A recent study conducted by Penn State University has concluded that one in five (20%) of Tweets are brand related.

According to MarketingVox, the study examined the value of micro-communications and it’s value of a word of mouth medium. Over half a million tweets were analyzed.

 The study specifically searched and analyzed tweets that mentioned brands in an effort to discover why the brand was mentioned in a tweet – whether it be an invitation for a product review, inform others etc.

 “Businesses use micro-communication for brand awareness, brand knowledge and customer relationship,” said Jim Jansen, associate professor of information science and technology in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at Penn State. “Personal use is all over the board. It may be right up there with e-mail in terms of its communication impact.”

 The study also revealed that this fairly high percentage of brand related tweets provides companies with a “rich source” of information regarding their wares.

 “People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with these products and services,” said Jansen. “Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services.”

 This is interesting evidence given the fact that half of communicators think that Twitter is just a fad and that most tweets are “pointless” babble. It shows that Twitter, when used right, can help build a respected brand, enforce an existing brand, boost sales and provide insight to customer perspectives. How has your business used Twitter?

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