LinkedIn, the world’s Largest Professional Network, will be one of the first Social Media sites to open their company to the public. The much anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) is set for May 16th and expected to bring in as much as $274 million, way up from the original $175 million.  LinkedIn is prepared to offer 7.84 million shares starting at $32, which some investors like Warren Buffet think is overpriced. The business social media site has more than 100 million users as of March 2011 compared to Facebook who has more than 500 million. The company will trade under symbol LNKD, so watch out for it as it should appear on the NYSE this month.

There is also talk of Facebook and Twitter following the same suit and going public sometime this year. It will be interesting to see how these financial developments change our sacred social media world.

Since the rise of social media, many people have questioned whether people are migrating away from TV to engage more in popular social media platforms. Recently, this theory was put to the test.

Major news organizations including, ABC, CNN, BBC, ITV, Sky and others have been working extremely close with Twitter’s Media Team on new ways to integrate live media coverage and Twitter. As of last week, Twitter experienced its widest television integration to date with live coverage surrounding the royal wedding. According to Twitter Media, Royal Wedding related hashtags dominated the conversation with over 5.8 million tweets in a little over four days, with peak activity at 16,000 tweets per minute between 5 and 6am ET on the wedding day. On-air integration of Twitter hashtags were made very prominent within the live TV broadcasting of the Royal Wedding events, turning normal viewers into engaged participants. As part of the new media marketing environment, it was very exciting to witness.

There are many other successful campaigns integrating Twitter and TV – the Royal Wedding was just one example that reached new heights. Twitter reports that they have found that when TV shows bring Twitter elements into a broadcast, there is a direct and immediate increase in engagement on Twitter – that can ultimately drive higher TV viewership.

These media platforms are finding ways to complement one another more and more every day. Broadcasters are eager to develop new ways to encourage engagement, and utilizing social media marketing is certainly one way to do just that.

As tornadoes continue to touch down over the U.S., having access to immediate information is so important. Once again, social media platforms, especially Twitter, are helping to spread the word about the devastating tornadoes, and are perhaps saving lives.

It is said that most deaths and injuries happen to people who are uninformed and unaware. Having access to social media can help you stay alert. To track the weather conditions in your state via Twitter, you can follow #(state abbreviation)wx. For instance, our Sage Island office is in NC, so we are following the hashtag #NCwx very closely. We hope everyone stays safe until these storms pass!

So you recently created a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account or branded your very own YouTube Page. Now What?

Your next step should be to track what “social customers” are saying about you and your company. Monitoring and engaging these conversations will allow you as a business owner to keep your finger on the pulse of the market, and make quick business decisions.

Facebook Insights

Facebook’s analytics tool, also known as Facebook Insights, provides you with important metrics specifically related to your company’s Facebook Fan Page. This tool allows you to view a comprehensive dashboard highlighting top level metrics around the posts and visits to your company’s Fan page. By understanding and analyzing Insight’s metrics, marketers are better prepared to respond to customer feedback and needs.

Within Facebook Insights Dashboard, you will see both User Insights and Interaction Insights. User Insights allow you to view monthly active users, total and new page Likes, Likes from referring sites, user demographics, tabs views and photo views. In addition, Interaction Insights allow you to track daily comment views, mentions within status updates, reviews, wall posts and video posts surrounding your company.

Monitoring the total number of new Fans or Likes is a valuable metric to consider. At what point did you receive the most Likes? How were you engaging these “social customers”? What content were you pushing on your Fan Page? Once you have defined the factors that contributed to this growth you will be able to cater your marketing strategy accordingly. Aside from new Fans or Likes, it is also beneficial to know the average number of comments you typically receive on any given post. Measuring this engagement metric will allow you to increase the number of posts around topics based on your fans interest. These insights gather data comparable to what you would receive from a focus group, but they are totally free.

YouTube Insights

YouTube offers a similar reporting tool known as YouTube Insights. Much like Facebook Insights, this tool allows you monitor your company’s branded YouTube Page. You can check out who is watching your videos, see what referring sites and keywords continue to drive traffic to your branded page and what videos are the most popular. You can also drill down within a specific video to see what portion particularly sparked viewer’s attention and where the interest dropped. These metrics help you understand what content your customers like, enabling you to promote related content and grow your audience.

Twitter Analytics Dashboard

With millions of tweets occurring daily, it seems only natural that you would want to monitor any conversation surrounding your brand on Twitter. While much newer than Facebook and YouTube, Twitter has several applications that allow you to monitor when people mention or follow your company. Last quarter Twitter announced a launch of a new official Twitter analytics dashboard. This dashboard highlights real-time data regarding which tweets are spreading and which Twitter users are influential in your network. The emphasis of Twitter’s analytics is focused on the fact that the data is truly real-time, allowing for branding adjustments and marketing strategy decisions to be made on the fly.

Each of these monitoring tools will provide you with a wealth of knowledge about our company. When deciding which tools are best for your brand, remember to always keep your end goal in mind. Utilizing these tools will help you better understand how people interpret your brand, and allow you to respond quickly to customer’s needs.

Since Google has introduced Realtime Search, it has become ever-so-important to understand social media feeds and the value behind posting on Twitter. Below are a few best practices that our team at Sage Island follows, that may be beneficial to your business as well.

1) Establish trust:

To be successful on Twitter, you have to build a reputation for being a trusted source. You must become your industries leading source for up-to-date and timely information. This will help you build a strong following on Twitter. You can establish this trust by referencing articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.

2) Link to your website:

Integrate your current Twitter URL into your website by placing a button or call to action on all pages within your website. When tweeting, provide back links that redirect to your site to help gain traffic to your site. Make sure that when promoting your company’s URL, that you have provided added value once they arrive. Both integrating your Twitter URL and linking to your site – will help drive your Twitter URL up in the search engines.

3) Be responsive and reward followers:

You won’t win over the twitter population if you only use twitter as a self-promoting platform. While providing one way marketing messages about your product is okay, it is preferred if you instead ask questions and engage followers in a more casual, conversational approach. Share other peoples content in order to let the “Twitter-sphere” know that you are participating in the conversation. Engaging followers, thanking followers for following and responding in real time will help you build your customer engagement.

4) Don’t forget about your keywords and character limit:

When possible, write keyword rich tweets. Beginning your tweets with a primary keyword will allow you to leverage the realtime and long-term index relevance across search engines. Also, make sure your tweet’s character limits allow for “retweetability.” It is best to keep your tweet under 120 characters in order for your followers to easily add your RT@name in front of their tweet.

5) Measure and monitor what people are saying:

Utilizing tools such as HootSuite and Radian6 will allow you to monitor, track and gain insights regarding your Twitter traffic. Similar to Google Analytics for your website, these sites provide data regarding your Twitter visits, demographics, referring site visits and specifics on individual tweets that you have sent.

Understanding these 5 Twitter tips is only the beginning. Knowing who to follow and the important hashtags for your industry are important as well. Keep your eyes out for more insightful Twitter and social media tips to come in the next week. If you have any questions, or want information regarding other social media opportunities, please contact Sage Island today.

In the past year, social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook have shifted from kid stuff to major marketing tools. With about 5,000 new accounts created each day, Twitter is the fastest growing social network on the Web and the third largest.

Twitter is a great way to reach out to your target audience for conversation, marketing, and customer service. But social media outlets require a big time investment, and with ROI still not certain, many businesses choose to invest their time elsewhere.

Here are some of the key points for business owners who want to use Twitter to their advantage but are short on time:

Determine a strategy.

Twitter allows users to follow information in real time. That means instant access to your customers to listen to what they’re saying about your brand, share information with them, and offer instant customer service. Decide which of these objectives you want to accomplish, and develop a strategy to achieve it.

Choose your audience.

Build a network of customers, competitors, strategic partners, experts, colleagues, and other people within your industry circle. Start following them to get their attention, and maintain constant conversation.

Choose your tone.

While traditional marketing is formal, Twitter allows you to converse with your network casually and personally. Don’t just focus on marketing and PR, and don’t automate your conversation. Automated direct messages and tweets make followers think you’re a robot. Social media works best when it involves people connecting with people. Talk to your customers, listen closely to what they’re saying, and keep it casual.

Decide who will represent your brand online.

Twitter and all social media is an online representation of your brand. Be careful when choosing who will represent your business and how. Whether it’s the CEO, an employee, or an in-house community manager, be sure they’re putting the right face on your company.

Start talking.

Initiate conversation about your brand, listen to what people are saying, and be proactive in responding to @ replies and direct messages. Offer information that customers and other people in your network will find interesting — not just marketing and PR messages. Don’t toot your own horn too much, and don’t bombard users with links or repetitive marketing messages. Just like any conversation, these common mistakes will make you boring or annoying to followers.

Twitter tools

Build your network:

Twitter Search (search.twitter.com) – Search for your brand name and key phrases associated with your industry to find users who are interested in you and your products.

We Follow (wefollow.com) – User powered Twitter directory helps you find users that may fit in your network.

Just Tweet It (justtweetit.com) – Another Twitter directory where you can find followers.

Mr. Tweet (mrtweet.net) – A Twitter networking client that helps you discover new people in your industry, find relevant followers, and track usage stats.

Use Twitter:

Tinyurl.com, bit.ly, is.gd and countless other URL shortening services shrink long URLs to Twitter-friendly sizes.

Monitor your conversation & brand:

TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) – The Twitter client of choice for many busy users, this free program allows you to track your feed, specific searches, and replies in one window.

TweetScan (tweetscan.com) – Alerts you when users mention your brand and related keywords.

TweetBeep (tweetbeep.com) – Google alerts for Twitter. Set it up to tell you when people are talking about your brand or industry.

Twollow (twollow.com) – Auto-follow users who mention your brand or products to build your network.

Qwitter (useqwitter.com) – Notifies you of the last tweet you sent before losing followers. Great tool to find out what you could be doing to turn off followers.

Twitterless (twitterless.com) – Graphs your followers and tells you who stops following you.

Engage your users:

TwtQpon (twtqpon.com) – Create coupons for Twitter to give users incentive to follow you.

StrawPoll (strawpollnow.com) – Poll your followers to find out what they think about your brand and pertinent questions related to your industry.

TwitPic (twitpic.com) – Share photos of new products, office antics, and other cool stuff they may find interesting.

Facebook, Twitter, blogging … in the past year, these social networking tools have shifted from kid stuff to major marketing tools. If you’re wondering how to use these tools to connect with potential clients, you’re not alone.

Social media is an easy way to connect with people on a personal level. If your website serves as your online business card, then social media can be a form of online greeting card, providing you with a more personal presence on the Internet and allowing you to interact with clients individually.

When done properly, social media is a fun, targeted way to reach your audience on a personal level with a wide range of positive results for marketing, search engine rankings, and traffic. Here’s a basic overview of the most popular methods and how to use them.

Blogging

Adding a blog to your website provides a personal voice to your business and allows you offer your audience useful information. It can even help your website rank better in search engines. It’s also the most time consuming method of social media and the most difficult.

Before starting a blog, come up with a plan. What kind of information do you want to provide to your visitors? Will you have time to write original content for your blog several times a week? Are you or someone on your staff comfortable enough writing to develop quality content? If the answer to these questions is yes, then a blog is a perfect start for your social media campaign.

If you’re ready to build your blog, keep these guidelines in mind: don’t blog from an outside website like WordPress or Blogger. Your blog should be a part of your website (http://www.yourdomain.com/blog), not part of an outside website (http://yourdomain.blogspot.com). Write fresh, original content regularly (at least three times a week), and keep blog posts under 500 words each.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social network on the Web. The website boasts more than 200 million active users with more than half of them logging on at least once a day. And it’s not just kids, either. More than two-thirds of users are out of college, and the fastest demographic is 35 years and older. If you’re not already a part of this huge community, now is the time to join.

The way Facebook differentiates between people and businesses can be confusing. Facebook does not allow businesses to build personal profiles. You have two options for promoting your business: building a business profile page and creating a group for your business. Use the page as a central hub for information about your business on Facebook, and use the group as a forum where fans and friends can interact with you and each other.

Remember, profiles are for people; pages are for businesses. Your business page will need to be connected to a personal profile if you want to reap all of the benefits of Facebook. Build your personal profile first, and keep it business appropriate. Then connect a business page to your profile.

Facebook is people oriented. The only way it’s going to work is if you’re willing to get involved in the conversation. Build a personal profile, seek out friends in your target audience, and participate in groups related to your industry.

For more information on Facebook pages, read Facebook’s help section for businesses at http://www.facebook.com/advertising/#/advertising/?pages.

Twitter

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) has quickly grown to become one of the most powerful social networking tools on the Web. According to data compiled by Neilson Online, Twitter reaches more than 13 million people in the United States each month. It’s also the social networking tool that many novices have the hardest time using. Twitter allows users to broadcast short, 140-word messages to other users who “follow” them.

It’s no use if your target demographic isn’t using Twitter. Do some research to determine if you can reach your audience through Twitter. Use the search tool (http://search.twitter.com) to search for terms related to your industry and find people who are talking it. Start following them and they’ll often follow you back. Use Twitter to share useful industry information, personal messages, and news about your business. If you have a blog, link it to your Twitter account so your followers will be automatically notified of new posts.

Initiate conversation about your brand, listen to what people are saying about your company, and be proactive in responding to @ replies and direct messages. Offer information that customers and other people in your network will find interesting — not just marketing and PR speak. Don’t toot your own horn too much, bombard users with links, or repetitive marketing messages. Just like any conversation, these common mistakes will make you boring or annoying to followers.

This is by no means a complete list of social media sites that can help promote business. There are hundreds of other sites and social networking tools. Social media marketing is like any other marketing: different tactics work for different businesses.

Spend some time exploring these websites to determine if they can work for you. Come up with a strategy for how to implement these tools and integrate them with your current marketing efforts. Be sure you’re using a network that your target audience is using.

If you’re unsure of where to begin, Internet marketing consultants can help you come up with a strategy, set up your profiles, and learn to use these tools effectively. Sage Island Interactive Marketing Agency offers a full range of social media consultation services from blog strategy and design to social networking training. Let us help you find the right social marketing approach for you!