Latest Social Media News

The Personalized Power of Google+ Plus Ones

good effects on plusses. 

* recommended posts on the streams

* recommended posts are shown to your circles, but can also be shown to your extended circles

* CTA to add the person to your circle 

* last but not least, the posts plussed by your circels will score better in your google search result 

=> more than ever, googleplus tries to put people that don't know each other in contact and that's what I love with them compared to Facebook, the simple notion of circle instead of friend : you "connect" instead of "friend"

Social Influencer Sites: How Relevant Are They?

My 2 cents: They matter if you're in social media or marketing, but obsessing about your score is pointless. Focus instead on your social media activity and ENGAGEMENT and score will follow.

Brands are often trying to find someone who has a high social ranking to pass on the brands message. However if there message is given to a person with a high social ranking but has no connection to the brand then there is little point in using them, in fact a brand could get into trouble by doing this and completely miss their target market. For example Justin Beiber has a very high social status with thousand of followers on social media sites such as twitter however I doubt he would be used to advertise Mercedes. It is important to have a market maven who is relevant to your brand, like when ford gave free cars away to those most influential in the auto industry.  People are more likely to spend time with people with similar interests and outlooks to them. Happy people are more likely to spend time with other happy people, same as unhappy people surround themselves with unhappy people. This makes it crucial for brands to research who they are using to connect with. Companies may give a message to be passed on, which is then read in a completely different context when said by someone else and therefore wasting resources on people who wont deliver a successful outcome. 

3 Things You Can't Know, Until You Know
Apparently I've entered that "professor emeritus" space that befalls all Ecommerce Directors as they age (lol). Before I link off into the sunset here are three things I could have told you back when I was an Ecom director only on pain of death (yours or mine :). 

1.  Internet Marketing Isn't What You think
I wrote a piece about how misinformed most people are about what Internet marketing IS:

http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/why-internet-marketing-isnt-what-you-think-it-is/  

Internet marketing is the extension, amplification and feedback loop every marketer depends on. For every moment you obsess about look and feel you lose money because THEY (your customers) will tell you everything you need to know if you only LISTEN. 

Oh, and make sure you LISTEN to Google too. Good to do what the KING tells you to do WHEN she tells you too. 

2. Everything Balances and Dances Until There Is A Wobble
Metrics are tied to each other. When your traffic goes up chances are your bounce rate will inch up too. When your time on site goes up because you've created great gamification or video marketing your SEO gets easier, you generate more Facebook LIKES and life is good. 

Then there is a wobble. 

Wobbles are inevitable so staying calm and carrying on no matter how severe the wobble is the only way to be an Internet marketer (otherwise you end up jumping off the roof LOL). 

Wobbles can come from Google, competitors or the war in Iraq. Death, taxes and that there will be costly wobbles in your Internet marketing future are life's new immutable truths. Your Internet marketing will dance again after a period of rehab and if you stay calm and carry on. 

3. The Secret Is There Is No Secret
I spent valuable TIME trying to find the FREE LUNCH of Internet marketing, the silver bullet, the one action that would solve all problems. Some may be able to do so, but someone wins the lottery too that doesn't mean it makes statistical SENSE (lol). 

Your best Internet marketing bet is to:

* DO THE WORK.

* LISTEN to the responses.
* Rinse and Repeat. 

The MAGIC of life and Internet marketing is in the JOURNEY not the destination no matter how rich it makes you. In the end your money goes into a trust or to your children, so what matters is what is happening NOW, this MOMENT.

If you are doing the work, no matter how "bad" you think it is, you are ahead of many. If you LISTEN you are ahead of more and if you relentlessly rinse and repeat you will be at the far right of Internet marketing's bell curve. 

Good luck to all the Supermen and Superwomen out there thinking that surely their head will explode if they have to learn one more thing (it won't) and never trusting they are really THERE (they are).

You NEVER need anything MORE than what you have as you read this. You are fully armed and ready right NOW to change the world, to change YOU. 

Do the work. Listen. Rinse and Repeat.