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You might think that Facebook is the silver bullet for today’s marketers, but a recent study shows that most large companies are finding that using range of social media as part of their business and marketing strategies is the way to go.
According to a study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, 71% of companies used Facebook in 2010, up from 61% in 2009. Twitter, at 59% in 2010, and blogging, at 50%, are also still high on the list.
Companies engaged in social media marketing are seeing …

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In 2011,  social networks are likely to surpass one billion unique members, according to a report by international consultant Deloitte.  Also, they may deliver more than 2 trillion advertisements.
However the data shows that advertising revenues directly attributable to social networks may remain relatively modest compared to other media.  With per member annual advertising revenue of about $4, that implies total 2011 advertising revenues of about $5 billion.
This is a divisive issue. Some people see social networking as the technology sector’s “next big thing” that will overtake search advertising. Others take …

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There are plenty of social media monitoring tools out there, some free, others can be quite expensive. And,
although many are very clever, tests have shown that none can be trusted to accurately reflect and report on the sentiment of conversations online.  That’s because they lack one important feature that is absolutely necessary to do the job well…a human brain! That’s why I’m introducing Sherrilynne’s social media analysis.
Order now to find out who is saying what about your brand on the social Internet!

Is sentiment positive?
Is social …

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It’s that time of year again..time to look back over the past 12 months then to look ahead to the next year.  Here’s a summary of this blog’s most popular posts of 2010.
10.  Facebook profile, page or group? This post explains the various ways to have a presence on Facebook. People are really confused about the options and choices.
9. Free report: who’s talking about you in social media? This limited offer for a short social media sentiment analysis sure did prove to be popular.
8. How to handle feedback This post …

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Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

Exclusive to subscribers of my monthly newsletter Social Media News, I’m offering a free social media analysis to the first 10 respondents.
Now is your chance to find out who is saying what about your brand on the social Internet!

Is sentiment positive?
Is social branding strong?
Is your social reach wide?
Who are your most passionate advocates?
Where are the conversations important to your brand taking place?
What are three top priorities to improve your brand’s social media engagement?

Contact me now by email or leave a comment here.  Only the first 10 …

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Image via Wikipedia

Today’s shopper has fundamentally changed and wants a new buying experience.  Trust in big brands is low.  People want to gain confidence in what they buy from their friends and insight from their community.  Social technologies are enabling this shift in shopping habits. They are maturing from being social for the sake of being social in marketing, to a new and transformative phenomena.These are the finding of a recent study, The Rise of Social Commerce,  from from the Altimeter Group.
The study included 123 retailers and consumer …

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Image via CrunchBase

Search users have responded positively to Google Instant as evidenced by increased engagement with search.  This is the key finding of a study released today by Marin Software, a provider of a paid search management platform.
On average, impressions and clicks rose for large advertisers following the launch of Google Instant, with costs-per-click falling slightly, resulting in increased volume and improved campaign ROI for advertisers.
Launched in September, Google Instant is a new enhancement to Google Search. With Instant, Google now predicts search queries and begins showing results …

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Image via CrunchBase

Research shows that both the use of images and multiple mentions in query results encourage clicks.  In a survey from Perfomics, 48% of respondents are more likely to click on a search result if it includes an image; 53% are more likely to click if a company name or brand appears multiple times on the search engine results page.
More importantly, 88% of respondents are more likely to click on a result that contains the exact search words or phrases; 26% are more likely to click on a result …

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More than a thousand marketers turned up at Montreal’s Palais de Congres last week to learn the latest thinking from a slate of all-stars and I was lucky enough to be among them.   The line up included:

Mitch Joel
Seth Godin
Avinash Kaushik
Max Lenderman
Andy Nulman
Jeffrey Gitomer

Mitch Joel, known as one of North America’s leading digital visionaries  kicked off the event with an insightful one-hour talk on how the Internet is changing the way the consumers behave.  While he didn’t say anything incredibly groundbreaking, his talk set the scene for the day’s discussion.  His …

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Image via CrunchBase

You might have noticed a change on Google today…results show almost as quickly as you type in your search terms. It’s called Google Instant and the aim is to make search even faster.
According to Google, “Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.”
Now you can adjust your search ‘on …