I learned how to drive 36 million pageviews to web properties through social media platforms by employing three levels of adoption. The Social Trinity is the foundation of a social media policy that allows you to use communication tools on digital networks for the purpose of building your own community. Once you gain an understanding of the true value of each contact feature on a digital network, you can adapt the use of social platforms, formulate your social media strategy, and communicate with your target communities and to make them part of your own community.

The Social Trinity

1. Identify all points of exposure for your digital assets.
2. Identify all points of private contact.
3. Study popular sections and past successful campaigns launched on the digital network.

For instance on Twitter, a point of exposure can be an @reply, hashtag, comment on a wall, link to external website over which you have control. Points have exposure leave your footprint on an action performed on a social network. When you @reply a person your conversation exchange is viewed by everybody who follows you and that person and people who find your conversation through a search engine query. Naturally, the more you @reply people the more you are exposed to their followings. Similarly, on Digg when you vote for content, you leave a link pointing back to your profile; thus the the more you Digg the more exposure you receive to your digital asset on Digg – your profile.

Points of private contact will allow you to work out collaborative arrangements with other users of the platform. Peripherally, you should also learn how the culture on the digital network shapes the way private means of contact are used. I know of many people with large followings that typically ignore direct messages; an alternative way of contact would be to follow the link in a Twitter user’s profile to load up a person’s blog or other website that may have an email or other point of contact to which a person may pay more attention. Some people more frequently use the Facebook private messaging system.

Some platforms have popular sections such as the Digg front page and Twitter trending topics. You could study these popular submissions and adapt your submissions to cater to the community members’ interests. When popular entries are hard to find, google terms such as ‘twitter case study’ or ‘[social network]‘ + ‘case study’ or ‘[popular tactic]‘ like ‘contests, sweepstakes, viral campaigns.’ Once you learn of popular and successful campaigns you can try a similar campaign adapted to cater to your target community; you use your points of exposure and points of private contact to communicate with other people on the platform required to execute your campaign.

Neal Rodriguez discusses social media marketing tactics he has executed to meet his and his clients’ business objectives on nealrodriguez.com. Subscribe to Neal’s feed to stay abreast of his updates.

Since the evolution of communicating online and the formations of social networks, many businesses have shut down the access from their locations. Some might say it is due to the prevention of wasting time and improving time management. Others might be weary of hackers or phishing scams that could possibly be associated with the social networks. Regardless of the reason, blocking access to social sites is hurting your business.

Why It is Important to Establish your Business Online

You need to begin branding your name. Branding is a way to reach various audiences and demographics that may be interested in what you have to sell. Firstly, you must remember that they are people, not customers. Establishing your name on social networks will already alert your fans of who you are and since the various social sites provide places such as info tabs, bios, hours of operation and more, there is no urgency to then turn your social networks into a constant feed of what it is you do. Just make sure that you have filled out all the information areas that each social network provides and those keywords will help people find you online. More importantly, in order for them to find you, you must exist and you must be active.

Why it is Important to Maintain your Social Networks

Many businesses think that if they have the links out there then people will come. This is not only wrong but can hurt your business. Yes, having Social links with your business’s name on them will have your name stretched across the internet and of course people will be able to find you. However, once they do and all they see are empty shells of what they thought would be a community, they will be disappointed and move on. People aren’t impressed with ghost accounts; they want interaction, knowledgeable information, and life breathing from these sites.

That does not mean that pushing links that are related to your business 100% of the time is going to be anymore effective than the empty accounts. Many businesses lose the fact that social networking is to relate and communicate, not to advertise like a pest, and than hope for the best. If you truly want your business to be valued you have to provide value.

Create a welcome video, find article’s online that pertain to your industry and not just your products (even write articles yourself), create a dialogue by asking questions, questions at the end of everything you share is one of the best things you can do. This way people have a choice to engage the page or not, and more so than not, they will.

Opinion’s Matter

The people that you are interacting with are those that could potentially be your current or future customers. They can even possibly be an advocate for your business if they like what they see. You must remember to listen to what they have to say and take the time to respond. The only time you should ever delete a post by a fan is if something is posted to your social sites that have nothing to do with your business. Other than that, whether it is positive or negative feedback you must respond to that customer whether you believe that they are right or wrong. Do not continue the problem by making excuses, choose your post response wisely and always with a solution in hand. Do not just post and not respond. As a fan of whatever social sites you are on, they will want to be heard and the only way they can verify this is by you responding. Remember, their opinion is of great value to you, so you need to be invaluable to them by always putting them first which will validate that you are in fact paying attention.

Let go of the ego, diminish the sell, stop thinking in numbers, and start talking with people, sharing with them and listening to what they are saying to you. The page can be fun and creative and certainly not always about the business. Find a balance between social and professional interactions and success will ensue.

Be Genuine.

Don’t fake it to make it. Share your personality, devote time and effort into the content that you share and find out what it is that your fan base wants. Businesses often lose site of being authentic while utilizing their social networks to push onto people what they think their fans want. Instead ask them. Don’t be afraid to take some risks or to follow through with some suggestions from your fans. Be fearless with ideas and prepare for their failure if that is the case, as the cliché goes “it is better to have tried than not at all”. Your sincerity will be seen and your ability to try again will be appreciated. The only time you can fail is by not giving it a try at all.

It is vital to spend more time on the fans you have (especially the loyal ones) than spending time on luring new fans. If you have a special offer, allow the loyal fans to know first. You can even create a fan of the month to show them how special they are. New fans will find you, maintaining the ones who have stuck by you should always be a priority. Be genuine and honest with your fans and you will earn their respect and build credibility within a long lasting community for your business.

Commit, Don’t Quit

As you can see, a responsibility comes with setting up, maintaining, and monitoring your social networks. It is imperative that you make the choice to commit and to set a plan in motion that you are able to update your pages at a minimum of 1-3 hours a week. Devotion is important and taking the time will work in your favor, as long as you work it into your day. No matter what products you sell people will most likely look for it online prior to approaching your business offline, so it is not only important to create social sites for your business but even more critical to remain as active as you can and to never quit. If you get busy and distracted by other things, remember to always go back and continue the relationship with your fans, even explain where you have been, or have another employee take the control of the sites if you are not available.

Take Control, by Losing Control

Fearing social networking at work is bad for business. You need to lose control. Trust that the same employees that you hired to help run and maintain your business can do so online too. Allow access for your business’s location to social networking sites so you can implement a strategic plan with your employees on how to brand your business online. You can’t do it alone, you need their help, and it will look inviting to your potential fans to see that you have a strong community within your business already. Allow your employees to post, comment, and share opinions. Incorporate them onto your social networks as you do everyday at your company. Make the process and transition between offline branding and online branding easier with allowing access and by encouraging your employees to take part and share the sites with people they know.

Adapt or get lost in the Shuffle

The change has happened. The way we communicate is no longer the same and this goes for businesses as well. You can not stand by and not take part in the new medium of Social Media; it will impair your business. You need to adapt and perform accordingly to be an effective part of this communication shift. You must take time to research, incorporate your employees, maintain your pages, and be genuine. If not, you will get lost within the shuffle.

Take Action

Social Media is an outstanding opportunity to connect and build relationships with your fans. It is of significant importance for you to establish yourself on the variety of social networks that are available to you. Resistance is never helpful when change has occurred and can ultimately damage your hard earned reputation. By not taking action, you run the risk of being over shadowed by your competition, so don’t be idle, get out their and get social. Embrace the change that can now allow you to embark on the new form of relationships between business owners and their customers, not to mention exposing your business’s name to the world, but also a chance to demonstrate just how great your business truly is.

Do you think Social Media is important for business?

Erin Ryan has a passion for Social Media and is currently working within the industry as a Social Media Specialist. Contact Erin on Twitter @4u2wear2

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Read more on this social media blog.

Those who have embraced social media have, for the most part, truly embraced it.

Those who haven’t, haven’t.

This great video by timetogetsocial gives an “in your face” version of reasons to care about social media as a business. Watch the video and then see the transcript of the reasons after the jump.

Here is a breakdown of the reasons listed in the video:

1. Social media is now the number one online activity, beating porn and personal email to the top spot.

2. Because 2/3 of the global Internet population visit social networks.

3. Because time spent on social networks is growing at 3X the overall Internet rate, accounting for 10% of all Internet time.

4. Because online, including social media, has become the most influential source in helping consumers make purchasing decisions.

5. Because millions of people are creating content for the social web.

6. Because the next 3 billion consumers will access the Internet from a mobile device.

7. Because Facebook is now the operating system of the social web.

8. Because Twitter believes it will have 1 billion users by 2012.

9. Because one way marketing has had its day.

10. Because in almost all cases social media is free.

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Read more about being social on this social media blog.

The debate has been raging for ages (at least in Internet time).

Facebook was once the “contender” against MySpace. That didn’t last too long, but soon Twitter emerged as a pseudo-social-network-competitor-thingy to Facebook and the competition heated up again.

Whether or not that competition is valid is arguable since:

1. Twitter incorporates the communication and sharing aspect of social networking but is in many ways easier defined as a microblogging news aggregation site, sort of.
2. Facebook has nearly 10 times more users, hundreds more features, and thousands more apps.
3. Twitter has a clear business model, but only a dozen people in the universe know exactly what that is, while Facebook has dozens of business models, but nobody in the universe knows exactly what they are.

Still, these and many other glaring differences do not take away from the human need to compare the two and argue about them since they are the biggest “buzz” in social media right now (sorry Google).

Here, you will find several pieces of content that take the argument in one direction or another. Some bring up MySpace, LinkedIn, or other social networks. Rather than rehash them, I’ll give them to you to decide what goes where. Why rehash when we have the power of “link and regurgitate”? After all, that’s the way of the Internet today.

Facebook vs Twitter Infographic

(via Flickr)

Articles that (attempt to) Answer the Question of “Twitter vs Facebook”

• Web Strategy Matrix: Google Buzz vs Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter (Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang)
• Moving Pixels: Facebook vs Twitter (Pop Matters)
• Facebook vs. Twitter Clickthroughs: More Bang For Your Buck (htmlist)
• Twitter Versus Facebook, A Comparison Of The Top Users (AllFacebook)
• Sharing on Facebook vs. Sharing on Twitter (Digital Inspiration)
• Buzz vs. Facebook vs. Twitter and Us (The Relationship Economy)
• Fight: Facebook vs Google vs Twitter (iTWire)
• Web Faceoff: Twitter vs. Facebook (Mashable)
• Twitter vs. Facebook Analysis: What Users Want (Internet News)
• Twitter vs. Facebook – Battle of the Social Goliaths (Inventor Spot)
• Twitter versus Facebook: Should you Choose One? (Twitip)
• Facebook vs. Twitter: How will you stream your world? (CNet)
• Twitter vs. Facebook: Who Will Win in Real-time Search? (Mashable)
• Tools of choice: Twitter vs. Facebook (Social Media Today)
• The Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision (Business Week)

Twitter vs Facebook Cartoon

(via Hubspot)

Facebook vs Twitter on the iPhone

Another Facebook vs Twitter Infographic

(via TheNextWeb)

It doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of preference. Most Twitter users use Facebook. Most very active Facebook users are on Twitter now or will be sometime this year. Whatever it takes to enjoy, share, learn, and engage, that’s what is important. Who will win in the end?

Us.

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Read more about Twitter and Facebook on this Social Media Blog.

A new segment of the Social Blade Show was launched this week. The “Social Blitz” portion of the show goes over some of the news from the week in social media in a short, overview-based report. Here’s the first. What do you think?

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Read more about social media on this Social Media Blog.

A Guest Post By Erin Ryan

First off, this is not for those mainstream New Media folks that already know that Digg is a news site or why Twitter has nothing to do with a bird. This is meant for those who are new to the Social Mediaverse and are unsure, skeptical and maybe even too old fashioned to be persuaded.

As a twenty-eight year old growing up in the so-called “Tech Age”, as computers revolutionized and “the internet” was the coolest thing on the face of the earth, even if dial-up took 3 hours, my generation didn’t care, we would sit there and watch the little earth icon spin, for we knew that soon enough, our page that we requested would magically appear.

As seasons changed, so did the way we used the computer, we got to say bye bye to dial up and witness a birth given to higher speeds and faster bandwidths. This encouraged us to make webpages and blogs that people could subscribe to and leave comments, forums  were built on subjects that we cared about, e-mails changed the way we worked and the “IM” (Instant Messaging) began to change the way we socialized.

Gone are the days that “The Internet” is a scary place, for we have taken over the world with our choice to communicate via the web, and since we spent so much time here, the next logical step was a thing called Social Media.

What Is Social Media?

Social Media is an umbrella that covers your various activities and integrates technology, social interactions, videos, pictures and words. Not all of the above mentioned needs to be shared in one spot, but a few examples of such places that utilize these functions are most likely places you are either using or have heard of, such as; Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Mixx, YouTube and countless others. Social Media is the new-aged Media. It has traveled past radio and television, to allow us to connect globally in an interactive way. The difference between Media and Social Media is that we can receive information (what ever form it is in) in real-time and be able to share it with others in a fast fashion. The most significant difference is the social aspect, we are able to be heard, to share our voice, opinions and in some ways become the reporter.

With Media, there is a disconnect, we are the audience and we tune in to what ever news or entertainment news organizations that we’d prefer, with Social Media, whatever Social Network we belong to we can not only be fed all types of news, but we are connected with one another as a community, with “like” buttons, comment sections and tagging to what or whom we want. We are limitless and in this fast pace society we are enjoying the less time consuming approach to being in touch with our world.

Social Media without Labels

As I am sure you have come across many who claim to be Social mavericks, mavens or experts. In my opinion, there is no such thing. We are all capable of learning and understanding Social Media without labels. The industry is too fast pace and in a constant state of change that it is impossible, and in some ways irresponsible to have those believe that you have insider knowledge. Here’s the thing, Social Media is not a place to conquer but a place to be involved, to help shape the way we share and to be a member of a non-exclusive growing population.

Let’s Be Friends

So here’s to those that are New to Social Media, or to those who were unaware that the time they spent on Social Networking Sites was them taking part in this new form of Media. As you continue on your journey, let’s try and remember that the so-called “no0bs” or newbie’s are in fact people too and that we can all contribute to each others knowledge on how to better ourselves as we continue to grow within Social Media.

This is dedicated to all those who are a part of Social Media and didn’t even know it.

Erin Ryan is a Social Media Devotee, who is very active on various Social Networking sites. By day, Erin is a freelance image designer for various online stores and is currently a Social Media intern. You can contact her via Twitter http://twitter.com/4u2wear2

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Read more (or contribute!) to this Social Media Blog.
Image courtesy of BioJobBlog.

So, you’re not sold. You still believe that sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are passing fads that will fall to oblivion by 2010.  While I do believe that some sites will come and go, grow and dissolve, there is zero doubt that social media as a whole will continue to grow to the point that it encompasses most of our daily interactions.

It is ever-becoming a more important part of our lives. This video below puts it all into perspective. Thanks to @murnahan for showing it to me and @equalman for making it. Great stuff.

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Read more on this social media blog.

Is consolidation the road to Web 3.0?

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that I believe the “Web 3.0″ revolution will be ushered in by Social Hybrids. We are starting to see large Web 2.0 companies getting eaten up by the larger Internet powerhouses — AOL/Bebo, eBay/StumbleUpon, Yahoo/del.icio.us, etc — but there hasn’t been a true consolidation of web properties that combines social media with social networking.

Are we seeing the Genesis of it now?

During the last Digg Town Hall, Facebook integration was mentioned in a positive light several times. With rumors of Digg being bought, and those rumors subsequently fading away, is there a greater plan in store that would combine the largest social media site with one of the two largest social networking sites? If so, who would have deep enough pockets and large enough egos to undertake such a task? Microsoft? Google? Probably one of the two, but there could be a hidden sith waiting behind the curtain, ready to make the move when the stars and dollars align.

What about AOL? They already have Propeller, which is due for a major upgrade (that has been promised since it was called Netscape). Last month, they bought Bebo, the third largest social networking site in the world. Alone, both of these sites are on the outside looking in, a distant 4th and 3rd respectively in their chosen fields. Does AOL have something up their sleeves to stake claim to a true Web 3.0 Social Hybrid?

Lastly, there is the X factor. The unknown element. With several startups in the works heading in the direction of creating a hybrid, who’s to say that they won’t be able to put out a completely better product by building it from the ground up? The guys at OurSocieties have much of the framework in place — they’re just waiting for the “wealthy visionary” to come along and write them a check. The name, as appropriate as it is for a worldwide social hybrid, is long and hard to spell by most startup standards, but rumors are that they have alternative names lined up if testing shows the name fails.

At this point, all we have is speculation. Still, it can be easily assumed that someone is working on the next big thing. It’s just a matter of who and when.

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Read more about Web 3.0 Social Hybrids.

The Digg Town Hall Meetings so far have been like bad sex in a bad relationship. There’s too much time in between causing a buildup that has to be released. When the climax finally comes, it’s too short and completely disappointing.

Mashable.com, who hosted a live blog with the help of The Drill Down crew, put it very eloquently when they summarized the event:

If you were to sum up what we learned from Digg Townhall #02, I would have to say it was… er… well… Jay Adelson really, REALLY loves Vernors Ginger Soda.

They keep saying it’s coming. The changes are coming. Listening to the community is coming. In the meantime, the promotion algorithm seems to be in a regular state of flux — sometimes active members can’t hit the homepage with 200 diggs, other times they’re hitting 10+ times in a day.

Quality of the front page stories has been an issue. Fairness has been an issue. The glaring lack of a forum that should take a month for cavemen to develop is an issue. Issues, issues, issues. Rants, rants, rants.

No more rants from here. It stops now. I’ve given up. No, I won’t be quitting Digg any time soon because the community and the relationships that I’ve built there are strong and, quite frankly, it’s still fun to Digg even if it has all of these issues. More importantly, I won’t leave because there is still more to be learned from Digg.

What I will do is something pretty stupid. I’m going to lay a card on the table that should probably be held until the resources are in place, but hey, I’m mad and flustered and I could always delete this post in the morning if our partners slap me around.

We’re working on something. Something big. No, it’s not another Digg clone. It’s a transcendence. Something different. Something new. It is (or will be) the culmination of months of work by a well-qualified group of people dedicated to making the ultimate social media and social networking site.

As alluded to once before, we are building a social hybrid. Imagine:

• Digg, Reddit, or any of the other social media sites that is designed by the users.
• One that is designed from the ground up with the intentions of making a fair and robust promotion system with the features that people have been asking for.
• A front page with news that is still new enough to be breaking.
• Content that is promoted based upon quality and merit, regardless of how many friends someone has accumulated or how often the user has been on the front page lately.

Next, look at social networking. Imagine:

• Facebook or MySpace built with today’s and tomorrow’s technology and functionality.
• Real networking with masses of people that is separate from networking with true friends and relatives.
• A network that removes the annoyances, the silly junior high flirt techniques, the MLM scams, and the invasion of privacy.

Now, imagine a site that combined both – social media that TRULY meets social networking. Imagine:

• Having the choice to be as active as you want without penalty – participate in the network or not, engage with the media aspect or not.
• Being able to blog from one spot, then submit it to the masses from the same spot.
• Many different aspects and uses of the Internet accessible from a single location.
• Do you use search engines? Twitter or Pownce? Do you use IM? What about file storage and sharing? Order a pizza, buy a movie ticket, research a vehicle, or research a topic — all from one starting point.

Finally, imagine having your choice of advertisers. That’s right, advertisers. What if you could choose which companies you want displayed on your pages and which ones you don’t want to see. If the users choose their advertisers and the advertisers only pay when they are chosen, it eliminates the need to track user data. This part needs to be stressed:

A networking site that gives the users their choice of advertisers would eliminate the need to TRACK USER DATA.

Who you are and what you do is your business. We don’t want to know.

Imagine…

Web 3.0. A Social Hybrid. We have the plan. We have the right people in place. We have the research, the sweat, and a burning desire to offer something to the people that matches what they want.

All we need is the $10,748,000 necessary to make it happen. Investors welcome. Beta starting soon.

socialnewswatch@gmail.com

What is Web 3.0? What would you like it to be? Please express your opinions in the comments below.

Over the past several weeks, I have been privy to many projects in different stages of development. One thing that seems to hold true for many of them is that the developers’ idea of “the next big thing” is a hybrid of sorts.

Some are leaning towards social media mixed with social networking. Most of the social media sites have tried to head in this direction to some extent. All have fallen short. Most notably, the Digg changes a few months ago have turned from an attempt to socialize social media (with shouts and other features) into an unfair way to game the system. The results have been disastrous.

Social networking sites have each tried to crossover to other mediums. MySpace has been attempting (in vane) to offer portal-style integration, while Facebook had Beacon for a couple of weeks before realizing that becoming an advertising medium unlike any other had strangely predictable results.

StumbleUpon has been the only site to have some measure of success in trying new things, but that is at a scale. It isn’t that they have succeeded at anything outside of their core service. They just haven’t outright failed like the rest of the sites.

Enter stage left the Web 3.0 Social Hybrid. W3SH sites are all the rage right now because so few know exactly what will work and what won’t. The first wave of social sites, even the juggernauts like the ones mentioned above, all have glaring holes in them. User dissatisfaction is rampant, larger companies are considering them for buyout but not pulling the trigger because they don’t know how to make real money with them yet, and investors are lining up to start something without knowing what that “something” will be.

Of all of the ideas that I have reviewed over the past couple of months, only one really seems to have the legs, vision, and marketability to truly set the pace in 2008 and beyond. Only one seems to be a true contender to start Web 3.0. Sadly, I’m under strict orders not to discuss it here (or anywhere). Yet. Stay tuned though. If my gut feelings are correct, this one will really take off here in a few months.

Still, that’s not the purpose of this article. The main purpose is to hear from the peeps. What would you like to see in a true Web 3.0 website? What would make the best social media, social networking, or social bookmarking site? Is there a new type of site that we haven’t really seen yet? Please post your replies below.

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Read more about Web 3.0 soon on this blog.