Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging, micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing and more. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.
Participating in social media doesn’t take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off. Before launching a campaign, you should have a firm grasp on what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting more ezine subscribers? Having more people download your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want to work on your company’s brand image. Whatever it is, you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there”. Have your game plan intact before getting started in marketing yourself, or your company with social media.

There are many different forms of social media, so it’s impossible to use them all. Pick three or four, and funnel the majority of your efforts there. Even if you won’t be working them all, at the very least you should claim your name or company name on as many social services as possible. You don’t want to find out later that someone has the user name that you want. If you need to see if your chosen user name is available try Namechk.com which checks dozens of social media networking and bookmarking sites all at once to see if it’s available. Claim your name now so you won’t end up being sorry later.

So how do you monitor all the buzz? How do you monitor your brand and protect your hard earned reputation? There isn’t one fool-proof method but there are many services and tools out there that will make it easy to see who’s talking about you online. Some are free and others will make you pull out your wallet.

These “online reputation management” tools, as they’re often referred to, will help you to define keywords or phrases you wish to track and then watch for any mention of your company name, products, or services. It’s important to defend and monitor your online reputation. Similar to High School reputations, protecting your image online is the name of the game, and just as in real life, everybody has one to maintain.

Let’s take a look at some of the measuring and tracking tools at your disposal:

1) BackTweets.com : A search engine for Twitter. See who’s tweeting your links and more. Can also sign up for email alerts of new findings.
) Addictomatic.com : A little different than the others, you type in a keyword, topic or phrase and out it goes searching the top blogs, news sites, Google, Technorati, Ask, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Topix and more. You’ll be given a personalized results page to bookmark with everything it finds related to your topic.

3) Buzzoo.net : All about Internet buzz, it tracks several different websites to bring you what’s “hot” right now.

4) Surchur.com : Search for the latest and greatest on topics that are popular right now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs, social news sites, photo and video sites for your chosen topic.

5) Commentful.Blogflux.com : This service watches for comments on blog posts, Digg, Flickr, and others and notifies you of any findings.

6) AlertRank.com : A better way to organize and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what it finds.

7) BoardTracker.com : A search engine just for forums. Monitor discussion boards and be notified by email when a thread matching your search terms is discovered. Free to use.
8) Google.com/alerts : I’ve been using this “secret weapon” for years. Simply type in your name or company name and receive daily emails of results found. They do the work, you receive the links. Free and nice.

9) BrandsEye.com : An online reputation management tool with a real-time, concise overview of your online reputation. Multiple levels of services and pricing available. Starting at $1.00.

10) Twazzup.com : Another Twitter search engine.

11) SiteMention.com : Type in your url and find out what’s being said about you. The results returned are gathered from Google Blog Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Delicious and many more.

12) Brandwatch.net : This service tracks your brands, companies, even the competition. Sign up for free weekly updates on any brand. Their detailed reports break down what sites like you, your most talked about features, weekly summary of all blogs and forum activity. Very similar to the old “press clipping” service.

13) Trackur.com : A tool that scans many websites, including blogs, news, image and video sites, forums and notifies you of any mention of your brand, products/services. Easy to use and affordable. Prices vary depending on need, a personal account is just $18.00 a month, corporate account $88.00 a month with other options also available. Try a “personal” account free for 14 days.

14) FiltrBox.com : This one searches online news sources, Twitter and others to find out what’s being said about you or your company. Pricing is based on the number of users, but there is a free version that provides “5 filters” and 15 days of what they call “article history”.

15) SocialMention.com/alerts : Just like Google Alerts but for social media. Enter your keyword phrase and email address to be notified of any new findings. Searches blogs, microblogs like Twitter, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos and more.

16) BlogPulse.com : A search engine that searches just for data posted to blogs. Enter your keyword, hit submit and off it goes to gather results.

17) BackType.com : Billing itself as a “conversational search engine” they index millions of conversations from social networks, blogs and other social media.

Actually, we already have the new FTC Guidelines which came into effect on Dec. 1st of 2009, but how these new rules are enforced will play out in the coming year as test-cases are brought to court. Basically, these new rules call for absolute disclosure and full transparency regarding Testimonials and Endorsements when a product or service is being offered for sale. Any business (monetary) relationship between the endorser and the company must be made known to the potential buyer. Obviously for those in online or affiliate marketing this could have a great impact if these new rules are strictly enforced. Just imagine all the website owners and bloggers who slap a few banners or affiliate links on their sites to cover hosting or operating costs… will they now have to disclose all these business arrangements?

For professional affiliate marketers and the companies/products they’re promoting, these new guidelines could cause potential headaches and/or legal ramifications since a general blanket disclaimer on their sites will no longer be suffice. To help solve this problem, many of the major companies are now placing an “affiliate” tag on all their banners and making it obvious a business relationship exists with its affiliates. In addition, many online marketers are placing additional disclaimers, affiliate seals and in other ways making it known certain links are indeed affiliate links and a relationship does exist with the product and/or services being promoted.

With these new guidelines, another big issue is email marketing, one of the major marketing techniques of most online marketers. Will a full disclosure be necessary for every email sales pitch? Savvy web marketers know the key to increased sales is in the “follow-up” and the “cookie-ing” of potential buyers; how will the new Guidelines affect this very effective marketing practice? How all these new rules or guidelines play out will make next year a very interesting one for marketing on the web.

Despite this, perhaps the greatest cause for upheaval in the coming year will be Google. There are countless reasons why Google will be a major game changer in 2010 for online marketing. Ever since Bing and more recently the potential Bing/Yahoo competition, Google has gone into complete overdrive, implementing new changes and debuting new programs like there was no tomorrow.

First, we have Google Caffeine which Google is introducing (full force) early in the new year. Google Caffeine, which is a major overhaul of its search engine, will no doubt cause many a marketer some sleepless nights as the total fall-out becomes evident. Other Google updates in the past (Florida Update comes readily to mind) have wreaked havoc on many top ranking sites, but this time Google is doing things a little differently and have even given webmasters a beta version of the new search engine. Still, rightly or wrongly, many online marketers are bracing themselves for the full impact of Caffeine. Will it mean smooth sailing or a stomach sickening roller-coaster ride for marketers and webmasters?

Second, we have the introduction of “Real Time” search which will be featured in Google’s SERPs. This will make the social media sites like Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace… much more important. Again, the implications for online marketers could be enormous since many can now reach the first page through a different route. Will it also mean more “Real Time” spam? But more importantly, will it mean a greater marketing opportunity for the online marketer who exploits it?

Third, we are seeing Google moving more and more towards “Visual Search” with the introduction of Google Goggles for mobile phones. Just take a picture and you get the Google results instantly – no typing, just point and click. Just envision countless clueless teenagers or more importantly helpless shoppers suddenly being empowered with knowledge and wisdom. Could do more for education since the invention of the printed word and the info-commercial combined. Talk about scary! But will the implications for web marketing be just as revolutionary and enlightening?

Fourth, Google has made it known through its spokesperson Matt Cutts, that site-loading times will be a ranking factor in the new improved Google. Also, proper and correct page coding will also be more important if you want your site to be at full advantage. Broken links will be a big “No-No”, while linking out to important related sites a big plus. All this is only logical, Google’s main product is and has always been its search results, anything which improves those results and provides a more pleasing experience for the Google user should be front and center. Obviously, one way for Google to stay on top, is to provide the best search results to its users.

Fifth, in order to please the end-user, Google is also moving more towards “Personalized Search” which will make SEO and ranking in the top spot for your chosen keywords a total nightmare for many professional SEOs and online marketers. If everyone can choose their own top results, isn’t SEO more or less, a lame duck? Again, the ramifications of personalized search will further play out in 2010, but will professional marketers like what they see?

Finally, while no one would argue Google is King of the Hill when it comes to online search, will all these new changes strengthen or weaken Google’s grip? Will the combined Bing/Yahoo be able to give this giant some much needed competition? Or will Google’s main competition come from an unlikely source, such as big name multi-national corporations who are moving their operations online. Can these big-name keyworded domains start directly pulling in the majority of the web’s traffic, making all search engines secondary? As people become more web savvy, will they go directly to what they’re looking for on the web, bypassing the search engines altogether – including the mighty Google? Such a scenario could have greater consequences for the affiliate marketer since a direct line to a company’s site or product will obviously mean less sales for the online marketer, who really works in coordination with the search engines, either through organic search or PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in these same search engines.

Overall, the new FTC Guidelines and recent changes to Google, will make next year one of the most interesting times to be pitching anything online. Throw into this the full effect that a combined Bing/Yahoo might bring to the table, and you have the recipe for a tumultuous white knuckle ride, until the dust finally settles and marketers make adjustments like they always do. Until then, hold on because things will probably get a little hectic for many web marketers before we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My idea was to pull together a list of hot applications; some that I use a lot and some that I wish I could use more. Well, in the process of doing the research I found that Guy Kawasaki did a post on his Favorite Apps on the Open Forum blog. “RATS!”, I thought. ”He beat me to the punch.” Undaunted, I started looking for another twist.

So now, I’m exploring the top trends and apps that YOU think marketers and small businesses can’t do without!

Leave a comment below with your ideas.

So far, I’m listing Google Wave (c’mon people register and start using it, it’s no fun being there all alone!) Virtual collaboration will only start getting bigger and better.

Location-based applications like BrightKite were floundering and maybe before their time. Now FourSquare has gotten into the mix. I’ve registered and posted a couple of things, but still don’t see how it will replace Twitter.

Augmented Reality Apps are getting popular on the Andoid systems and iPhone. I’ve been asking around about how a small business can be sure that they are included when potential customers are scanning the area with their phones.

So there you have it — send me your ideas and links. Don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so I can give you credit!

1. Get on Your Soapbox: A solid brand position is rooted in a passionate commitment to the customer. What do you believe about your industry, product or service? What possibilities are you creating for your customer? What’s your customer’s burning issue and in what ways does your company solve it. Get on your soapbox, speak and write passionately about it and your ideal customer will be drawn to the message.

2. Update Your Site and Start a blog: If it’s been more than three years since you’ve updated your site – it’s time to take a fresh look. Have you started a blog? These days, web sites and blogs are almost interchangeable. They can be hosted for free and often come with free high-end design templates that only require you to write content. Look at your web site and blog as free or low-cost advertising to your prospects and customers. Use the blog to tell them about the latest new products or services. Have you solved a customer or technical problem – share your experience on the blog? Customers will love the extra information. Prospects will have reasons to choose you.

3. Create a social media policy: Social media is not a fad any more. It’s time to stop experimenting and start managing your social media strategy. Create a policy around social media, even if you’re only a one-person operation. Your social media policy should include your objectives for each site and any rules you have around posts, articles, pictures, etc. Creating this policy will eliminate employee confusion, problems and PR and potential digital reputation management nightmares.

4. Build and Combine Lists: You probably have some kind of customer list (or three) lying around. This is the year to combine these names into a single customer list. Start with a basic spreadsheet and then start grouping your customers into segments or categories. Now do the same with your prospects. Having one, updated master list will make communicating with customers fast and easy.

5. Market Directly: Why spend thousands of dollars on advertising that you can’t control? If you know where you customers live, you can reach out to them personally and directly. You’ll find your marketing spending power double or triple by simply diverting your advertising dollars to direct marketing.

6. Do Videos: If you have a product or service that shines in demo mode, then videos are an ideal and cost-effective marketing tool for you. Open a corporate YouTube account and upload demos and live presentations for your prospects to find and customers to access.

7. Productize Your Services: It’s much easier to understand and purchase something that looks like a product. Notice that even software downloads or e-books actually look like a tangible product so that people can have a sense of what they are purchasing. Turn your service into a product by giving it a name, describing your process as a specification and then charging a flat rate instead of by the hour. You’ll find that it’s easier to sell, easier to buy and more profitable for your business.

8. Mobile Marketing: Globally twice as many people use text messaging than e-mail. Chances are your customers interact more with their PDA than they do with their computer. Mobile Marketing Programs allow your customer to opt-in and request certain kinds of messages and updates from you. If you’re a restaurant, use mobile marketing to update customers on specials. Mobile marketing is currently a wide open space. Use it to market to hard-to-reach customers.

9. Referral system: Stop treating referrals like a happy accident. Run a referral program that includes regular meetings with people who agree to enthusiastically refer you. Start by creating a referral guideline that outlines what sets your business apart, profiles your ideal customer and describes what they might say that should trigger a referral to you. Put your focus on attracting “Centers of Influence” and “trusted advisors” who will refer you to their clients and customers. It’s like having a free salesforce!

10. Focus on Ideal Customers: Decide to only work with profitable customers. Identify customers who are happy with what you offer and refer you. Profile them in detail; what’s important to them, what are their 7 biggest frustrations? Outline in what ways your company gives them what’s important and eases their frustrations. Now go get more customers just like that.

Have you tried any of these tips already? What have been your results. Do you have some must-do marketing tips for 2010? Share them here!

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About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.

While the high-paying industrial and manufacturing job market seems to be disappearing right before our very eyes, there is a ray of hope still left to land that dream job that you have always desired. The only thing, it’s not going to be easy and a matter-of-fact, it’s going to require some legwork on the jobseeker’s part to locate the job, apply for the job and finally to get the job. Sadly, finding a good paying job in a country where quality jobs are disappearing and being replaced with sub-par service market jobs that usually only pay above minimum wage and offer little to no health benefits requires the jobseeker to rethink their employment searching tactics. Hopefully this article will help regenerate a new found hope of landing your dream job and if not, then possibility landing a good job that will keep you from calling a cardboard box “Home”.

Internet Employment Agencies
There are literally hundreds of thousands of new jobs being posted on the Internet by businesses everyday that are seeking quality employees to fill both low-wage jobs and high-wage or salaried jobs within their companies. While there are thousands of job employment websites popping up all over the Internet is really is a waste of valuable time trying to find and use them all. Most companies and corporations in North America rely on the most highly visible and visited job search engines such as: Hotjobs, Monster, Careerbuilder and Craigslist to find quality applicants to solve their employment needs.

Local Newspapers
For decades, the local newspapers have been a useful vehicle for local companies to use to solve their employment needs. Newspapers are still an important and somewhat successful way for companies to find quality employment applicants in the Internet-age, however jobseekers are not buying as many newspapers to locate employment much anymore and this is causing employers to find new ways to solve their employment problems. Still jobseekers should continue to use their local newspapers to locate their dream job, because some companies still only rely on newspapers to fill new employment opportunities that are available in their companies.

State Unemployment Agencies
In the United States there are governmental state unemployment agencies that are provided to aid each state’s unemployed populations from issuing food stamp benefits, unemployment checks and to aid in the re-employment of their unemployed workforce. These state agencies maintain an up-to-date list of local companies and out-of-state companies seeking to fill new employment opportunities that are available within their companies.

It is not uncommon for many large, well-known corporations to solely use these state agencies to seek out quality qualified job applicants through these state operated programs. Even through many such companies are not listed in the standard public job listings that is generally provided by these state agencies doesn’t mean that these types of companies and corporations are not currently hiring at any given time. Many times the state agencies will only share this type of information with jobseekers who inquire about these job opportunities by directly asking the state employed agents about the opportunities. So, it is important to ask and you may discover an employment opportunity that pays well and that you are qualified to do.

Internet Employment Opportunities
There are hundreds if not thousands of Internet based companies on the web and around the world that use only their websites to advertise internal employment opportunities within their companies. Not all of these employment opportunities are technical jobs, but many of these opportunities are geared towards the technically skilled applicant since they are in many cases solely Internet companies. However, some of the employment opportunities are marketing, customer service and data-entry positions that many jobseekers are qualified to do and these employment opportunities can be located and applied for through the company’s website.

Internet Social Networking
Social networks such as Myspace and Facebook have become excellent places on the Internet to look for new employment opportunities, because companies understand and realize that there is potentially thousands of jobseekers that are members of these social networking meeting destinations. It makes good business sense to employ these social networks to advertise the company’s employment needs and potentially find the quality job applicants that the company desires to employ, so to resolve the company’s employment void.

A Friend of A Friend Networking
One of the tried and true methods of finding employment is to network through friends and family, because many times some of the best employment opportunities are found through the people that the jobseeker already knows on a personal level. Some companies even prefer to hire a person based solely on whom they know and on the information that their friends and family tells the employer about the jobseeker. Usually this is the case if the company that the jobseeker is currently seeking to be employed by already employs the friend or family member.

Search The Obituaries
Located in most of the major metropolitan newspapers there is a section that is used to make announcements of local deaths in the area. Now this job seeking tactic maybe regarded by some people as morbid, but if a working aged person dies, then the company that the individual had been employed by, will be left in the position to fill a newly available employment position left empty by the deceased. Many obituaries announcements will give the name, age and family members who are left behind by the deceased and where the deceased had been employed prior to their death. This is the information that the jobseeker needs to have to be able to locate the employer and apply for the recent job opening, just try to avoid mentioning the deceased during the application and interviewing process.

Place Your Own Help Wanted Ad
An excellent employment seeking tactic is to place your own help wanted ad in your local newspaper, Internet classifies message boards, blog and/or website. Making a public announcement to your community regarding what type of employment you are seeking can potentially attract the attention of employers seeking the skill set that the jobseeker has to offer to their company.

Telemarketing Your Job Search
It is a cold hard fact, that about 70% of all employment opportunities are never publicly announced or advertised and most of these jobs are either left unfilled or filled by jobseekers that are known by someone already working for the company. One of the most productive methods (albeit time-consuming) is to call local businesses using the yellow pages or blue pages phonebook to identify the businesses that have employment opportunities currently available. After these businesses are identified, then the jobseeker can email, fax or mail their job resume’ to those employers that are hiring.

Distribute Personalized Business Cards
Have a couple of hundred personalized business cards printed with your name, phone number and/or email address and a short message saying something like “I am a hairstylist and I am available to work for your company – call me” or “I am looking for employment in the education field – Call me if you are hiring”. Pass out these business cards to anyone that your believe may be in the position to help you land a job or put you in contact with someone who is looking to hire someone like you. Potentially, everyone that a person comes in contact with on given day could be the one who either knows someone that might hire you and they may be in a position to hire you themselves, so it is very important to try not to judge someone if they are not dressed well or doesn’t appear to be anyone important, because even those important people do dress down every once in a while.

(Originallly written by Nelson Doyle)

Whether it is content distribution, article submissions or promotional consistencies a repeated message is being sent out to consumers. Invariably these messages are relating you to a theme, niche or level of quality. Over time this message eventually becomes embedded in the consumers mind and at that point the brand development is complete.

But before any branding strategies can be developed a determination must first be made of what in fact the brand is. This initial step is very important since business branding is much like a tattoo; you CAN NOT just wake up and wash it off if you do not like it.

You need to be right on target as to what it is you want consumers to associate you with. And on the ‘flip’ side you best represent what it is you are trying to impress people that you stand for.

Here are 5 questions you need to answer, and honestly, before you can determine exactly what your branding strategies should be.

What is it You Do?

What type of product or service do you offer? For example do you sell weight loss products or do you offer a computer programming service? Are your products physical or are they digitally delivered to customers? Perhaps you offer consultation or advice in a particular field.

Do you work within a clearly defined niche or do you offer a broad base of products or services? Is your focus short term or do you long range plans within this niche?

Determining exactly what it is you do is your first step towards developing a sense of what your brand should be.

What Sets You Apart?

Considering the products or services you offer, what makes them different or unique to the customer as opposed to comparable products. Do you have a ‘unique selling point’ you can emphasize in your branding strategies?

Why Would Customers Care?

As far as the product(s) you offer and considering any uniqueness they may have why would a customer care? Is there something about what it is you do that would make a difference or impact in the life of the customer?

Why Would Customers Buy from Me?

Assuming that there are similar products available to what you offer why would anyone want to purchase from you? How would they benefit? What makes you special or different from your competitors?

Can you list any reasons as to why you standout? If so make a list and the longer the better!

What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses?

Assess your strengths and weaknesses regarding your expertise in the field and your ability to conduct business in a professional and reliable manner. Take into consideration how this would impact the customers overall buying experience including any necessary activities involving customer service.

Once again by compiling the results of your assessments in a list it will be easier to work them into your overall branding strategy.

Developing a business brand online makes you more credible and identifiable within your niche. Online branding is very effective at improving your ability to do business on the internet.

It is very important however that before you attempt to implement any brand development strategies you need FIRST to determine what your brand is or should be.

The 5 questions we reviewed above that need to be answered should better clarify for you what you stand for in the eyes of the consumer. Once you have determined that you have also determined you brand.

Resolve to give your online marketing efforts a boost this year by recognizing areas for improvement and putting in place a plan to make positive changes.

To help you get started, TopRank Online Marketing has come up with New Year’s resolutions for 5 different online marketing channels: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Email Marketing, Pay-Per-Click and Mobile Marketing.
1. SEO:

I resolve to focus more on maximizing visits and conversions from organic searches.
With SEO efforts, it’s easy to get caught up in one goal: getting found via the search engines. But ranking in the search results is only half the story. If potential customers aren’t clicking through to your web page – or other piece of digital content – the ranking doesn’t mean much. Plus, due to variances in what each of us sees in the search results for the same query, rankings as metric are no longer as useful. Personalized search results according to location and web history means your site might rank high for one person, but not another.

Maximize the success of your online marketing efforts by analyzing your metrics report to determine which pieces of digital content are highly visible but producing less than ideal traffic results. Then take some time to ask yourself these questions:

* What competitive search results are your potential customers seeing? Assess the title tags and meta descriptions of competitive search results. Are competitors offering customers a free case study or a complimentary product sample? Then consider ways to make your own title tags and meta descriptions out-entice the competition.
* Does your content live up to the promise put forth in your title tags and meta descriptions? Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: When you first visit your web page or other digital content from an organic search, is the content you find relevant? Potential customers don’t want surprises; they want a solution to the problem that caused them to search in the first place. And they want it as promised.

Not only will searchers respond more favorably to customer optimized titles and meta descriptions, but the increase in clickthroughs will, no doubt, be noticed by search engines and may influence subsequent rankings.
2. Social Media:

I resolve to set goals and track the results of my social media efforts.
There’s no denying that social media is more difficult to justify in terms of ROI compared to other online marketing strategies. But that’s not to say it’s impossible – or that tracking results should be placed on the back burner. And without goals, it’s pretty difficult to measure success. In 2010, put forth even more effort to set goals for social media participation and tie results back to specific tactics.

There are a host of free or near-free tools available to gauge brand mentions and traffic from social media channels. In December, we highlighted 5 of these social media monitoring tools.

Tracking results via social media monitoring tools is just a start. Those results must be tied back to business goals. Potential goals might be:

* Develop better customer relationships
* Reputation management
* Identify and energize brand evangelists
* Increase brand awareness
* Increase relevant visitor traffic
* Improve standard and social search engine visibility
* Build up a list for email marketing
* Increase leads or sales

Without setting specific goals upfront, social media efforts can’t be definitively quantified so be sure to implement a Social Media Roadmap and all or social bases will be covered.
3. Email Marketing:

I resolve to integrate my email marketing with other online marketing channels.
Regardless of what the naysayers may say, email marketing isn’t going to disappear as a result of social media in 2010. In fact, email will continue to play a significant role in most online marketing mixes this year. A study from Silverpop found nearly half of marketers surveyed plan to increase email marketing budgets in 2010.

That’s not to say email marketing efforts shouldn’t evolve with the times. Integrating email with social media is on par to be a popular resolution for 2010: A recent eMarketer report found 40% of executives surveyed will make integrating the two tactics their top marketing initiative this year. Another 25% of respondents have already implemented an integrated strategy.

Pledge to take email marketing to the next level by encouraging email subscribers to not only forward content via email, but also to get social with email and share it via Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other sites. Conversely, conduct a poll on Twitter or your blog, and encourage followers and readers to subscribe to your e-newsletter for the results.
4. PPC:

I resolve to maximize conversion rates by testing different versions of my ads and landing pages.
Most companies using self-serve pay per click programs fall victim to “set it and forget it” habits. They’re busy with numerous other marketing activities or don’t have the time to really get to know the native bid management platforms and test/refine campaigns. Even if PPC efforts are reaching set goals in terms of conversion rates, there’s always room for improvement. You’ll never know until you try.

Consider these three ideas for testing different elements of your PPC campaigns:

* Test multiple ad versions that highlight different benefits of your product, service or company. For example, one could tout cost-savings benefits, while another emphasizes a convenience aspect.
* Use A/B testing to try out two different headlines on your landing page. Again, each could speak to a different benefit (i.e., cost savings vs. convenience). Google Optimizer is a great tool for this.
* If you’re targeting a competitive search term with many competing ads, consider launching two different campaigns simultaneously. Each could offer a distinct piece of fulfillment – a free case study and a product coupon, for example.

A few tools for testing include:

* A/B Testing resources: (Google Website Optimizer, 7 Free Resources)
* Multivariate Testing service: (Omniture)
* Heatmap & User Testing tools: (CrazyEgg, Clickdensity, Clicktale, userfly andEyetools)

5. Mobile:

I resolve to rethink my website design for mobile users.
If your site isn’t already optimized for handheld devices such as cell phones, now is the perfect time to re-assess your site design and how users find your site through mobile search – particularly for B2C companies.

In October, ABI Research forecast that mobile sales of physical goods in North America would reach $750 million by the end of 2009, a 117% annual growth rate. Consumers are doing a lot more than purchasing downloadable cell phone ringtones and games from their mobile devices. These days, clothing, electronics, books and a host of other items are being purchased through mobile commerce. Additionally, social network participation through services like foursquare, Facebook and Twitter are growing dramatically, creating additional opportunities for promotion and traffic to the mobile version of your company web site.

When optimizing web pages for the mobile web, consider a few tips:

* Keep fonts in their most basic format
* Eliminate advertising to conserve screen space
* Take out images unless they are absolutely necessary
* Remove Flash, Java or any plug-in content unless absolutely necessary

Online Marketing Efforts in 2010
As you make your own personal New Year’s resolutions to drop a few pounds, start a savings account or join a gym, don’t forget your online marketing efforts. Each year provides a fresh start and endless possibilities, so take advantage.

What resolutions do you plan to make in 2010 to improve your online marketing efforts?

Branded content will become an important part of PR in 2010

Branded content is essentially a fusion of advertising and entertainment, says Wikipedia. Marketers upped the dollars spent on branded content in 2009 – double what was spent in 2008. Branded content snagged 32% of overall marketing, advertising and communications budgets. And the numbers are expected to jump significantly in 2010.

So what is branded content and why will it be a PR trend?

The notion of an advertiser or company producing some engaging content for the consumer in order to sell something is nothing new. That’s why soaps and sponsored radio shows did so well back in the 60s.

The Web 2.0 world is about permission and attention. People don’t want to have messages thrust at them. But they do want to communicate with companies and brands so they can get information they want or need.

The idea is to listen to online conversations and establish what interests your community. Is there a need for certain information? Can you creatively provide that info in an engaging way? Storytelling in articles, with images and video, is one of the best ways to produce branded content. And that’s a PR skill.

GroupM has partnered with Yahoo! to produce branded video content – 5-10 minute “webisodes” that usually feature story lines around a specific product (a show about someone driving cross country in a Toyota Hybrid, sponsored by Toyota, for example) with plenty of product placement.

Being able to creatively brand interesting and valuable online content that attracts readers and viewers might just turn out to be the best way to the consumer’s hearts and minds.

* The Future of PR *
Social Media is no longer a fad, or something to try out. It will become an integral part of PR programs in 2010. And PR people have to master social media and use it strategically to be effective.

Nothing backs up predictions like cold, hard facts.
SMPR graph

Joseph Thornly posted this graph from Google Trends that shows searches for public relations have been declining since 2004. Interest in social media and social networking started to pick up in 2006, grew slowly through 2007 and 2008 and really gained ground in 2009. In December 2009 searches for social media and social networking passed the number of searches for public relations.

The news reference numbers are just as interesting. News about social media grew rapidly in the first half of 2009 and passed PR about mid year. Social media and social networking are neck and neck in news volume.

Of course we don’t know who does the searches, or exactly what they’re looking for, but it does give some insight into what people are currently interested in. And social media seems to be the winner.

The Econsultancy report on social media and PR revealed that only about half of the companies who participated in their survey are “satisfied” with their agency’s level of social media and online PR knowledge. Only 13% are “very satisfied”. More than one quarter are dissatisfied – 16% being “mildly dissatisfied” and 11% “very dissatisfied”.

It seems we need to up our game. A poll of 450 PRSA Counselors Academy members listed mastering social media as one of the most important things for PR practitioners to do in 2010.

* Companies will realize social media can’t be outsourced to PR *
As we move into the next phase of social communication online the idea of outsourcing your social media activity to a PR agency makes less and less sense.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do. Cluetrain Manifesto

So where does PR fit into this scenario?

An important part of social media success depends on how well you have listened to your audience. Do you know what their concerns and interests are? Do you have a content strategy that speaks to the needs of your community? Are you telling stories that resonate with people who might be customers? PR is good at doing those parts of the program. We can strategize and advise. We can find influencers and develop the content strategy. We can formulate and craft interesting pieces of content.

We know that the most powerful influencing factor today is a recommendation from ’someone just like me.” Dell’s campaign about the interesting entrepreneurs who use Dell products is a perfect case in point. It’s an integrated campaign that makes great use of social media. PR was very involved with picking the people to feature and crafting the stories.

Another good example occurred all of two years ago – clever PR content created $1million in leads for a downtown condo development in Kansas City. They profiled current buyers at the Metropolitan and created three human interest stories about the buyers that attracted like minded people.

According to the social media and PR report from EConsultancy.com only 13% of companies are ‘very satisfied’ with the social media services they get from their PR agency.

We need to figure out where we fit in the mix and do what we do well.

We can create the branded content that will pique the interest of the right people. Then it’s over to the company or organization to foster the relationships. People don’t want to speak to the PR agency. They want to speak to the actual people at the company.

“Learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about “listening to customers.” They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.” Cluetrain Manifesto.

Why is it so important to reach target audiences using major media outlets? Generally, media outlets such as television, radio, blogs, newspapers, magazines, social media networks, etc have massive followings. The topics and subjects featured is a guideline to determine if the media outlets would be a fit to connect with desired target audiences.

You want to focus this year on building more brand awareness and credibility. Connecting with target audiences through top media outlets is an organic method of communications. This enhances brand loyalty and influence to create a demand.

So which PR trends and predictions for 2010 will help skyrocket your publicity exposure? Here is my list of 2010 Five Smartest PR Moves and Trends to Start Now

Value Awareness

The urgency to build value awareness will grow. Establish brand value with a clear message that communicates what you represent. Value awareness reveals quality and superiority.

Branded Exposure

The biggest trend to watch will be branded exposure. Expect to see more branded content in a big way. Giving target audiences what they seek as interests through branded exposure. In social media networks even short URLs are being branded.

Real-time Exposure

All PR initiatives will be on targeting Google for real-time exposure in search results. This new practice makes it necessary for all press releases to be newsworthy, thank God! Even blog posts, Facebook announcements, Twitter tweets, etc need to be interesting enough to attract buzz in real-time. This is the best thing to ever happen in PR history, the playing field is officially leveled.

Social Engagement!

Social engagement will be the biggest focus for promotions. Social media networking is now considered a serious business strategy. It will be imperative to engage social media audiences for influence and brand awareness. Hint, how many friends and followers you have really, really matters today.

Event Effect

The Tiger Woods approach totally changed the game on how celebrity star power will influence brand loyalty. New trends will be to create events that leave lasting effects to influence brand loyalty. Now is an excellent time to even select a nonprofit event to raise awareness to support a charity cause.

Good luck with incorporating these five smart moves to jumpstart your PR campaigns.