I found a great article from Business Week warning businesses about the hype of social media. Because internet marketing and social media have boomed this year, there is definitely a fine line between utilizing social media successfully and just jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else has.
To read the full article, please visit Beware Social Media Snake Oil.
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With the majority of Twitter updates and interactions done on other applications besides the actual Twitter website, along with updates to other social media sites via text, mobile social networking is becoming more and more popular as more people get internet-ready phones that allow them to check their accounts on the go.
Mobile Websites
Mobile websites were the first attempt at adapting the internet for cell phones. Now they have become more and more regular and many websites can now detect if a user is accessing their website from a mobile device and can display the mobile version of their website instead of the ‘regular’ internet browser version.
Mobile websites usually are text-only versions of sites and contain easier navigation and sometimes less content. However, some websites give you the option to switch to the ‘regular’ version if desired.
Mobile Applications
Companies have recognized this trend and have attempted to adapt accordingly. Many social networking sites like LinkedIn and Yelp have created mobile applications for smart phones like the iPhone and the Palm Pre that make it easy for users to use their website without having to be at a computer.
The growing popularity of mobile communication has helped Twitter grow more than 300% percent in the last year due to the instantaneous nature of tweets. It’s not uncommon for Twitter uses to tweet messages like, “On my way to the airport. Excited to be back in New York” or “Standing in line for the new Twilight movie.” These types of updates are allowing people share snippets of their everyday activities, instantly and from their cell phone.
In addition, phone manufacturers have welcomed the trend of growing ‘mobile dependence’ and are making it as easy as possible to use your cell phone for almost every digital transaction. Besides the ability to open and even edit some documents and spreadsheets, many phones can load regular webpages and some phones come pre-loaded with mobile versions of YouTube.
Services Built for Mobile
Besides websites and major brands building mobile applications for users to access on the go, a few web services have popped up that were created solely for mobile social networking. Two of the most popular are Loopt and FourSquare. With the use of GPS, these services allow you to ‘check-in’ on where your friends are and what they’re doing, see the latest reviews of restaurants and other establishments near you, and interact with friends who may be nearby.
As the idea of instant and constant open communication becomes more accepted, it wouldn’t be surprising for mobile social networking services to grow in popularity. Connecting with friends and family no longer has to rely on a phone call or random encounter. Loopt and FourSquare allow you to find out where your friends are, invite them to where you are, and even learn who else is using these services in the business you are in.
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Sometimes the best posts about our industry (social media and SEM) come from unlikely sources. One such example is this great article, entitled “Find out how social media can save you money” by Alison Brownrigg on nwsource, a shopping and fashion information portal owned by the Seattle Times.
Alison gives several tips to social media savvy-shoppers on how to use websites like facebook and twitter in order to garnish the best deals. One such tip is to search for different twitter hashtags (http://search.twitter.com) like #holidaydeals.
Be sure to read the full article and come back here to share more tips or let others know what you think!
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You’ve already got a great news site. Now all you need is more readers for those informative and topical articles you and your writers regularly put out. Getting your news site listed on Google News is great way to attract readers, but how do you get into their database?
The good news is, being included on Google News is totally free. Just send them your URL, cross your fingers, and hope they like what they see when they review your blog or website. If you aren’t sure your site will pass muster with Google News, there are some ways to ensure that it will.
Before being considered, there are a number of formatting issues your site must adhere to. Google News uses a crawler to search through their source sites, and thus they have specific URL formatting requirements.. You can see all of the technical requirements here, but below are the most basic points.
Google News requires that your URLS must:
[Editor's Note: The WordPress URL structure as seen on this site is also fine.]
While Google News does a great job of explaining all of the technical specifications you must stick to, they don’t give any guidance on what type of content will improve your site’s chances for inclusion in their directory. The best advice is to strive to have newsworthy stories, quality images, and a neat site layout.
Below are not requirements for inclusion in Google News, but they will certainly help your chances. Google news values sites with content that is:
Current and Original. Articles should contain up-to-date information, which doesn’t merely repeat what the other news sources are saying.
Linkable. If other sites start linking to a story you broke, Google News will consider your article more credible and newsworthy.
Written by Multiple Authors. One lone writer won’t get the attention of Google News as a viable source. If you’re currently a loner, consider asking other writers to help you with your content.
Before applying to Google News, try to optimize your site by doing the above. And once your site is accepted for inclusion, the work isn’t over! There’s a whole slew of things you can do to increase your story’s chances of rising to the coveted Google News top spot.
Sources:
How to Get Your Site into Google News
Google News Tips For Publishers
Aaron Couch is a freelance writer and musician from Kansas City. He has experience writing and designing press releases, as well as planning publicity campaigns.
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The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a great article about the social media channels you can use to drive traffic to your website. While this article may not be of much use for those of us who have already experienced the ins and outs of social media marketing, it is a good brief overview of the popular sites and how they can help your business’ website. I’d also like to point out that their advice about MySpace may not be worth the effort- MySpace, in my opinion, is a dying site and probably isn’t worth the effort unless your business is a bar or music/entertainment venue.
To read the full article, please visit Using Social Media to Drive Business to Your Website.
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