Social Media

Did you try? A Look at the data from #SMWsmac [InfoGraphic]

February 29, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

What can you do in 16 days? Try!

With just under a month before Social Media Week 2012, it came to our attention that NYC did not have a daylong event that was tailored to teach the small business owners and professionals how Social Media is and can be used. On Feb 1st, 2012 dbmei authors decided to launch Social Media Action Camp! The event which a few days later became an official part of Social Media Week was set for Feb 16th 2012 at the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC.

Data provided by Synthesio , and a few other sources .

The event tag #smwsmac generated over 1,000 tweets! Which represents about 5% of the social media activity in New York City. The Social Influencers reached over 116,000 followers and generated tweets in 15 countries globally!

In addition to the info from Synthesio, we also know that:

102 people attended throughout the day
128 viewers at one time on LiveStream
976 views on the Live Stream Channel
1484 tweets to date #smwsmac
71 check-ins on foursquare to the Roger Smith Hotel

The Official Social Media Week event page hosted on SocialMediaWeek.org generated 177 Facebook “Likes”, 250 “shares” on LinkedIn and 834 tweets that did not feature #smwsmac as a tag. Making the event the most socially shared event for ALL Social Media Week 2012 globally!

The Social@Olgivy Movers & Shakers platform supported by Kred featured organizer @BasilPuglisi as the top influencer for Feb 16th and both @BasilPuglisi and @dbmei as the top 5 influencers for the following day Feb 17th 2012.

The event was a mix of speakers featuring some of the digital names like Google, Klout, Synthesio, StumbleUpon, EmpireAvenue & Constant Contact. The event featured digital media professionals like David Meerman Scott, Amy Vernon, Mardy Sitzer, and Lujure’s Nathan Latka. Lisa A Burns, representing Corning Inc., spoke about the wonder of how a Fortune 500 Company used YouTube to capture more than 17 million views. Then the dbmei authors Bill Corbett Jr., Jeff Ogden, Craig Yaris and Basil C. Puglisi contributed their take on using social media to generate action!

The real success resulted from the response that the attendees reported. The mix of content and style presented, generated useful information in many areas with actionable advice and solutions.

“The diverse group of presenters offered extremely valuable best practices and actionable advice. It was also nice attending a social media event that didn’t cater to newbie’s or skeptics” said David Gise

The event exemplified the point that “you don’t know till you try”, and while we have a long list of things we can do to make the next event even better, it’s an important point for dbmei as well as the individuals involved to say not only did we try, but we succeeded. If you take nothing else away from the article, we hope that when a opportunity presents itself, you be so bold as to try and make it happen.

Social Media Week Made Manhattan Move for #SMWsmac

February 29, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 2 Comments

An attendee at our event submitted a wonderful poem about his experience at the Social Media Week Social Media Action Camp event. #SMWsmac

Social Media Week Made Manhattan Move

By Serge Zenin

Social Media Week made Manhattan move;
Networking and negotiating, we never grew numb;
Give out a business card and go with the groove;
I’ll friend you on Facebook, wherever you’re from;

Developers need diagrams drawn by art directors;
Bloggers benefit as they beckon a bigger crowd;
Consultants collaborate with crafty data collectors;
Programmers pick projects that make guru’s proud;

Puglisi Consulting prudently puts people together;
Implementing inactive ideas with inherent passion;
If a logo looks cold let’s lightly add a little leather;
If a fangate’s too flashy let’s frame it with fashion;

Social Media Week electrified the wire that conducts;
It’s about providing solutions, not selling products!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXfJQLVPsXA&feature=youtu.be]

Serge Zenin is the founder and director of BD at Media Contours, an NYC based PR and marketing company. When he’s not working, Serge enjoys writing poetry about relationships, love, modern phenomenon, and various other topics. If you would like Serge to poetically capture the essence of your business or your event, please contact sergezeninpoetry@gmail.com with your request.

Is Social Media the Cure for Writer’s Block?

February 27, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 2 Comments

The growing world of social media means that everyone is now a writer. There are status updates on Facebook that could rival a short story, and the creativity required in order to twist that status update into 140 characters on Twitter can rival that of a poet, indeed inventing a new phrase, “twaiku”. These new ways of communicating have not only made everyone a writer, but they’ve opened up new doors of inspiration for working writers.
As a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time writing for various websites and blogs. There are times when the subject is dealt to me, but most of the time it is my job to think of a new and original idea. Aside from my freelance writing, I also write two blogs. And as any writer knows, it takes a lot of creativity, imagination, and determination to spend your days constantly writing about fresh, original subjects.
In Steps Social Media…
Just like so many other procrastinators, Facebook, Twitter, or some other form of social media often distracts me while I am trying to do my work (writing). Rather than hindering me, though, the updates and information I read on social media often inspires ideas for later.
Facebook as a Resource
One of my jobs as a freelance writer is to complete articles on various subjects. These subjects are usually out of my general-knowledge-range and require some research to complete. In some of these instances, I’ve begun using Facebook as a source. I recently was called upon to write an article on Global Warming, including facts. One of my Facebook friends is constantly posting news articles and videos dealing with global warming, so I utilized these posts to my advantage when writing the article.
Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon as Inspiration
Writing for your own blog can be very rewarding, but it can also be stressful if you want the blog to be successful. A successful blog is one that is always fresh and has something different than other blogs. They require a lot of work and new ideas for posts daily. I keep a list of ideas that I’ve come up with, but when I get stuck, I regularly flip through Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, or any other social media site to get some sort of inspiration. I recently wrote about an article that a friend posted on Facebook, was inspired by a photo from StumbleUpon, and am continuously adding ideas to my lists from information I see through social media.
While the Internet evolves, it’s important for an internet-focused writer to evolve, too. Finding new areas of inspiration and information is one of the most helpful and rewarding ways that a writer can become and stay successful. Luckily, with the way that social media is constantly moving, there are no shortages of subjects.
Author:
Megan Campbell has a degree from Clemson University in Graphic Communications, and is currently living in Germany during a Gap Year abroad, working as an au pair and freelance writer. Her degree set her up for a great interest and knowledge of social media. You can find her on her blog, balancewithadashofcrazy, or contact her via email at meganecamp at gmail dot com.
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New Facebook Ads Platform Goes Live on February 29th

February 26, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru... — Image via CrunchBase

Facebook plans to release a new ad platform on February 29th that may profoundly change the way business is done on this social media network. Peter Corbett of iStrategyLabs, a social media marketing firm, recently said the following,

“The company expects the new ads to perform 40 to 8o percent better than its previous product”

That is a serious and significant increase in ad performance. Peter also posted a helpful PDF and Slideshow that seem to have come from Facebook that introduces the new ad platform.

Facebook Premium Ads Overview

[scribd id=82289675 key=key-1labfziiyerffsz1rkus mode=slideshow]

Facebook Premium Ad Guide

[scribd id=82289681 key=key-ml1e2c124st5qe456l0 mode=list]

Expected to be released at the fMC Marketing Conference, both documents reveal that Facebook’s plans to provide advertisers the opportunity to take any type of content and turn it into an ad. The new system will replace many of the classic premium options as well.

Premium Events
Premium Likes
Premium Polls
Video Comments

However, Marketplace Ads and Premium Ads will still be available.

The new Premium Ad platform will make content that is posted viewable to your Fan pages fans and subscribers, as well as adding the ability to target any Facebook user, even non-fans.

The slide above shows us that Facebook is directly sharing with advertisers that they can expect at least a 40% increase in user engagement, while gaining 80% in branding, with 16% in fan rate increase from the soon-to-be released Premium Ad platform.

Ways to Use the New Ads

Advertisers will be able to do a few more vital tweaks on the new ad platform.

Event Advertisement – Advertisers will now be able to create hype around their upcoming business events.
Update Engagement – Any update will be capable of conversion to an ad. Questions, polls, and other media updates can be very engaging ways to improve your ad campaign.
YouTube Love – Video ads can have very positive results. Send extra traffic to videos by building a comment base.
90 Characters – Only the first 90 characters of the new ads will be visible to browsers. You will need to optimize on those as much as possible. Find a skilled copywriter if you are not sure how to do this.
Strategic Updates – Fashioning a fan page that helps to encourage followers to leave positive reviews on your products or services will enable advertisers to use those updates as ads. This provides a level of social proof in advertising.

It definitely looks like Facebook ads are going to undergo some improvements. DBMEi will stay current on the successes or failures that advertisers will experience once the new ads go live.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Group Commerce for Publisher-Based eCommerce Solutions: #SocialCommerce

February 19, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Recently, I sat down to an impromptu interview with the CEO of Group Commerce, Jonty Kelt, to learn more about what publisher-based ecommerce solutions can offer to more traditional form of media that may be lacking digital presence.

What is Group Commerce?

Group Commerce is a platform for publishers who want to integrate ecommerce into a successful element of their business. Group Commerce serves three groups that help to make their ecommerce program work.

Consumers
Merchants
Publishers

Group Commerce’s technology was designed to support, from the ground up, the unique lists of needs that brands and media companies require. Their enterprise-grade platform doubles as a command center for a publisher’s ecommerce program as well. There is nothing else like it anywhere. Group Commerce understands exactly what it take to succeed. The professional services offered provide all of the needed elements to ensure that their publishers succeed in ecommerce.

Founded in 2010, Group Commerce is backed by several popular names such as Carmel Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Spark Capital, and Bob Pittman. Group Commerce has some top-notch clients in names such as Chegg.com, Boston.com, CBS Local, DailyCandy, the New York Times, and many more. Based in New York City, Group Commerce now has over 100 employees in 11 major cities.

When asked about the publisher based ecommerce solutions provided by Group Commerce, Jonty Kelt shared with me, “We created group commerce with a mission to enable audience owners, to succeed in ecommerce. This is anyone with an audience, website owners, newsletter businesses, TV, radio, print and more. The brands have to engage with intelligence and integrity, so that they add value to their relationship with their audience. This can give traditional or ad based media companies more revenue stream, more engagement with their audience, attract new audience members and for some solid media based businesses, it can give them more relevance in a digital world.”

Before we wrapped up our interview I definitely had to pose to him a question that is near and dear to publications like DBMEi.

Since there is such a huge market now for content relating to the practices of digital marketing, social media and other similar services, how do you see Group Commerce fitting in for the smaller publishers? How can you begin to monetize platforms such as multi-blogger sites like DBMEi?

Jonty Kelt: We currently have an initiative in our engineering department focusing on building a ladder of service solutions which will enable smaller publishers such as bloggers, smaller websites and audiences to turn ecommerce onto their sites as well.

How Can I Get in on Group Commerce?

Group Commerce is rather picky about the publishers they work with. For the most part, applicants must have several of at least six unique qualifications.

Verticality
High brand engagement
Strong local voice
High user transactional intent
Size
Locally segmented

Since its launch, Group Commerce has raised millions in funding and Kelt plans to continue to expand the company’s reach into 2012.

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What Klout is Doing with User Data and #SocialCommerce

February 13, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Over the last few years, we have all observed as friends and followers found themselves virtually up-in-arms about privacy issues on just about every social network. Each one seems to have gone through its own growing pains when it comes to sometimes questionable sources declaring user’s information is being utilized in a variety of suspicious manners. However, most have come to terms with the fact that data is not so often sold as it is aggregated and measured for many marketing purposes, includes those that benefit the user.

Now that we are using so many social networks simultaneously, we have not one profile, but a fine, long, and continuously growing, list of them.

Facebook
Twitter
Google +
Foursquare
Flickr
Yelp

As each of our most favored networks have grown, they have also steadily increased their focuses on the type of user data that is cultivated, and how it is shared.

Klout

Klout has been a terrific way to integrate our profiles, and then run them through an algorithm that will display the various details of your own social media influence. Klout currently supports 12 different networks and as their developers continue to add more, your social influence can continue to climb.

Using Klout can have more benefits than simply the benefit of having the most Klout. Users are treated to a wide variety of Perks that can be anything from several months of free trial on a notable website or service, to a free sample of the latest and greatest body wash. Sometimes a user can sign up for selected Perks, and just as often, Klout will extend exclusive offers to users based on their social influence rating and common topics.

12+ Networks and Growing – Where is my data being used?

Recently, a representative from Business Insider visited with Tim Mahlman, the Chief Revenue Officer for Klout. He wanted to share exactly what Klout does do and does not do with their user’s personal data.

Klout is not selling your data. Even though Klout does have a rather complete picture of you and your personal choices and preferences, this information is never sold to advertisers or brands.
Klout does leave the virtual door open to trying out new revenue models, they also plan to ‘keep their users first according to Mahlman.
There is only one element of Klout that any brands have access to and that is a user’s Klout score. Klout is the gatekeeper between their users and any influential brands.
Pinterest is one new network that Klout is highly interested in.

Since Klout already has 12 current networks and a list of networks that are in development, they are always in on the market for a new fast growing network to add to their social influence algorithms.

Author:

Sources:

Is Klout Crossing the Line When it Comes to Privacy?

What is Klout Doing with User Data?

Klout and Big Data

Empire Avenue Missions for Increased Social Engagement

February 8, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Empire Avenue is doing it again. They are mixing fun with social networking and engagement with impressive results. On Empire Avenue, users are encouraged to and rewarded for participating in social activities. In the past this has meant:

Sharing and trading ‘stocks’ on individual users
Participating in group discussions
Earning increased value through usage of your integrated social media networks

While we were all happy playing in the social network stock market, Empire Avenue developers were working hard to give us even more opportunities to create our own fun social engagement opportunities.

Empire Ave Missions

Empire Avenue has implemented Missions for their users. Stockholders can now create missions that require the user to carry out a social networking activity. So how exactly do you create an Empire Avenue mission?

Once you have the hang of creating missions, you may wonder what benefits you can enjoy by using them.

You can build brand loyalty among existing fans
You can drive web traffic to your website, Fan Page and more
You can attract new followers and increase your audience
You have a fun way to do all of the above

Currently, Missions are still in the beta testing phase. However, if you want to try out a mission of your own, simply request access to create your own mission.

Check out what some of Empire Avenue’s current users have to say about their mission system.

“Shareholder Missions increase engagement beyond what can be accomplished in even the most entertaining conversations over stock transactions… Very powerful and compelling new feature.” – Kevin Strehlo, (e)MARATHON

“I was honestly surprised that offering rewards yielded a far greater amount of engagement from the same audience.” – Chris Pirillo, (e)PIRILLO

Take the time to request and create a mission of your own and see for yourself how much fun you can have while increasing awareness and social engagement for your brand.

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Social Media Week: Social Media Action Camp #SMWsmac [Event]

February 5, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

This will make the fourth official year of Social Media Week’s return to New York. One of the world’s most unique and innovative global platforms for a large selection of interactive conversations and information on new trends in the social and mobile media industries.

Global Promo for Social Media Week 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXLIL0VMt1s

Why Attend Social Media Week?

There are quite a few compelling reasons to attend Social Media Week.

They include:

Free Attendance ~ Due to a generous outpouring of support from partners and sponsors, the events that are hosted by Social Media Week directly, are free to attend.
Community Content ~ The program is curated in a unique manner allowing coverage for every new and emerging trend, areas of technology, and the industry sector.
Unique Venues and Locations ~ As with any other learning experience, those that organize #SMW understand that environment can be detrimental or conducive to retaining knowledge and understanding. Thanks to many strategic partnerships, as well as the venues that donated space and time, places such as the New York Times, MoMa, and the Paley Center for Media will help to enhance attendee experience.

How to Attend

If you are interested in attending Social Media Week events you can head to their page and create an account if you do not already have one. Once registered, visit the scheduling page to locate the events that you are interested in. Remember that all events are free unless otherwise stated. When you find the events you want to be a part of, click the Attend button to the right of it and you are registered. You must register to attend each event individually.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il9AQu8BlN4]

What is Social Media Action Camp?

The Program Schedule will be released the day before the event. At that time you will be able to plan your day. The time for each session is being held due to the need to allow our VIP guests and teachers to make arrangements to attend and participate in Social Media Action Camp.

Speakers include:

Elliot Nix – Head of Mobile, Google
Bill Corbett Jr. – President, Corbett Public Relations
Jeff D. Goldberg – President, JG&A
Maria Prieto – CEO, The Hispanic Network
Mardy Sitzer – President, Bumblebee Design & Marketing LLC
Amy Vernon – VP Strategy, Hasai
Jeff Ogden – Host MAD Marketing TV
Garth Holsinger – VP Global Sales & Business Development, Klout
Basil C. Puglisi – Executive Director & Publisher, dbmei.com
David Meerman Scott – Author, The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Anthony Napolitano – Director, StumbleUpon
Ellen DePasquale – Director, Constant Contact
Nathan Latka – CEO, Lujure
Dupleep Wijayawardhana – CEO, EmpireAvenue

And more, including two surprise speakers yet to be announced.

The Social Media Action Camp, or #SMAC, is a one day conference that is focused on providing a environment that encourages small business owners, entrepreneurs, and media enthusiast to increase their knowledge on the benefits of helpful social media practices. The camp will feature a range of learning sessions created with a focus on actionable information. Every session lists a set of learning outcomes attendees can expect.

Why Attend Social Media Action Camp?

Attendees can expect to take away vital information on some very important topics.

Business Collaboration Practices ~ Attendees can expect to learn how to supply services equal to the power of the big guys, while fashioning a social business presence that only a small business can create.
Collaborative Blogging ~ This session offers a look inside the practice and the purpose behind collaborative blogging including how those efforts can truly pay off via the share factor on social media networks.
IRL Networking ~ This session will help small business owners learn how to create the most effective strategic alliances that help to generate real-time buzz about your business, products, and services.

In addition, attendees can expect to walk away with functional knowledge on how to create a successful social strategy, a greater understanding of the four major social networks, and a larger box of digital social media tools that can be used for monitoring statistics and updating campaigns.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vVRRApncEo]

How to Attend

General Admission for #SMAC is $99 and for students $39. As a DMBEi subscriber you are entitled to a 25% off discount when you head to the #SMAC home page from here and enter the discount code dbmei25 during the registration process.

The Social Media Action Camp will be held on February 16t^h, 2012, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM at the Roger Smith Hotel, 501 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10017.

Digital Brand Marketing Education is the event organizer. Please feel free to contact: @BasilPuglisi – info@dbmei.com – 631.909.7360

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Timely the Talented Twitter Tool

February 2, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

As Twitter continues to become a most popular source of networking, communication, and aggregation, the list of tools available to help fully manage one or more Twitter accounts continues to grow. Although there are several options available online that are very similar, Timely seems to have refined all of the best available options in social media management, and added them to this one smooth aggregation tool. Never fear, Facebook personal and Fan page integration is also available on Timely.

Timely Features

Timely is another tool on the growing list of tweet schedulers that assist users in setting their tweets to launch based on the time of day when the probability of a click or re-tweet is highest. Timely uses an algorithm that helps to determine the best time of the day or night where most of your followers will see the tweet. This not only increased the chance of clicks, but also helps encourage re-tweets.

Timely provides an easy user-interface that is minimalistic. Since many Twitter scheduler tools tend to be a bit chaotic, Timely’s smooth uncluttered face is a refreshing change.
Timely has a browser plug in that makes it even easier to grab content from the net and schedule it for Twitter.
Timely has a tab for Performance. Under this tab users can view their statistics on re-tweets, clicks, replies, and reach.
Timely’s scheduling algorithm automatically spaces your tweets apart to prevent your account being flooded too quickly.
Users can set up email alerts for Timely updates and Timely also sends friendly reminders to let you know you are running out, or are out of, scheduled tweets.
Automatic Bit.ly URL shortening tool.
Timely offers an unlimited amount of Twitter accounts, with unlimited tweet scheduling, to unlimited team members, for absolutely free.
Timely offers paid accounts for users who want 24/7 email support.

How Does Timely Stack Up?

Although Timely appears minimalistic, it is still a full-bodied and highly capable tool for scheduling post to Twitter, Facebook personal accounts,and Facebook Fan Pages. Account setup and additions are a matter of one click integration in all cases, and this tool requires zero getting used to since it is entirely self-explanatory for even the least savvy user.

Alexa does show a significant upswing in users in the past three months and demographics remain with a strongly Hispanic, educated, female user-base. Their US traffic ranking is currently at #5009 and their user’s onsite time shows that many are taking advantage of the zero-cost options that Timely freely provides.

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Scheduled Tweets with Timely

Crunchbase – Flowtown

Timely vs Buffer

Timely Video Review

Social Commerce Summit 2012 [Event]

January 31, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

It’s time again for the Social Commerce Summit and for the pros and experts that come together during this yearly conference. On Tuesday, February 7th, the events will swing into action once again for 2012.

All About the Social Commerce Summit

Since the immersion of social media into digital commerce, incredible opportunities and options have opened for business owners. Socially marketing your products and services can come with its own challenges though, so the Social Commerce Summit, or SCS, has a focus on presenting some incredible tips and tricks along with the best practices common to businesses successful in this form of marketing.

The SCS will provide the platform for experts in their industries to share their own best practices and ideas that have been built upon cutting edge trends and technologies and are the products of incredibly successful Fortune 500 campaigns and strategies.

The Agenda

The conference’s format is designed to encourage short presentations with short discussions following. This encourages speakers to get to the heart of the matter quickly so that additional points can be discussed and engaged as the conference rolls on.

Everything from product creation or discovery to social advertising deals are discussed to help educate those new to the business as well as those brushing up on current trends. There is also plenty of time to connect with colleagues and create new networking relationships for your business.

The Speakers

You can expect to hear from a wide variety of speakers who hail from a vast number of different types of industries with everything from BusinessInsiders own Nicholas Carlson, @nichcarlson, to Tim Mahlman, @tmahlman, at Klout. Speakers will include marketing, branding, and developmental executives as well as innovators and strategist with leading information on how to expand a business’s ROI. A few speakers include:

Margot Savell – @margotsavell
Margo is the digital measurement strategist at Weber Shandwick
Jason Ross – @JasonPRoss
The Founder of Jackthreads.com
Paul Lee – @ipaullee
The head of PLayboy Digital Ventures and an admitted Foodie
Chantel Waterbury – @chantelchloe
The Founder and CEO of Chloe and Isabel

In addition there are also reps from several major brands such as Martha Stewert Living Omnimedia and Battery Ventures.

Who Attends Social Commerce Summit?

Everyone! Everyone from the speakers themselves to anyone who is selling or promoting their own products, services, and ideas. You can expect to find investors and entrepreneurs who are involved in forms of digital commerce at the SCS.

Make sure to follow @BI_Events to keep up to date on conference information.

Lastly, remember that DBMEI subscribers also receive 15% off of the ticket price to the Social Commerce Summit. Simply register on site and include the code, dbmei15, in the discount code box on the left to get your DBMEi subscriber discount.

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