If you recently were on Tipd.com, you saw SocialMarketingExpert has been added as a new user. Thanks for checking out our page.

Tip’d is a community for financial news, ideas, and tips. It operates as a social media platform, meaning the community (you) decides which news stories and investing tips should be published on their homepage. Tip’d users vote on stories they like by clicking the ‘Tip it’ button that appears next to each story, and then can comment by pressing the ‘Discuss’ link below the story.

They’re pretty flexible about what kind of stories appear on Tip’d: it’s really the community’s site, after all. So just about any story or article relating to investing or finance is fair game. It’s then up to the Tip’d community to decide if the story is good enough to be voted onto the homepage. The types of articles include:
Business
Commodities
Currencies
Economy
Entrepreneurship
Funds and ETFs
Green
Personal Finance
Private Equity and VC
Real Estate
Stocks
Tech

Twitter has attempted to pull a fast one by introducing the next level of Twitter in Japan. It’s called Twicco.  

A new and improved version of Twitter, dubbed Twicco, rolled out with the highlight being the group and community feature that allows users to create and follow the tweets of a group rather than an individual account.

Groups are important for many reasons.

Clay Shirkyon states on What businesses need to know about social media… “What do businesses need to know: Businesses need to know that the old simplicities of dealing with their customers are disappearing, because customers are now able to coordinate their actions in groups. The old model of engaging with your customers involved two modes — en masse and personal. Messages were sent out over mass media, in hopes of affecting the behavior of individuals.

Now, thanks to social media, customers are part of active groups, groups that form and dissolve quickly in response to people’s interests or needs — most messages in this media flow within social groups, rather than from businesses to individuals.” 

Twicco fits that space very comfortably. Try it out sometime.

Twitter launches groups in Japan

Can you generate enough traffic to make it worth your while in terms of sales? Look over what Starbucks did with Facebook as reported in The Election, Starbucks and Social Media Marketing by DrakeCooper 

“Starbucks set up a straightforward Facebook event that looks to be created and administrated by someone inside the company. I am betting this is about an hour investment of their time – max. And…they have garnered 423,792 invitations from people on Facebook just forwarding it around to their friends. Also, 164,883 people have said they will attend with most of the rest still awaiting response. There is also 13,187 wall posts and tons of pictures, etc. That is pretty heavy duty work for a social media campaign - driving a ton of traffic to them on FB – which also has other things for people to do, like see the commercial, participate in the “My Starbucks Idea” section and more. I would love to see their web stats today. If you are on Facebook check it out here. ”

You can read the whole article at http://www.drakecooper.com/news/2008/11/electiion-starbucks-and-social-media.html

There are times when you do this type of Social Media Marketing work…in fact many times, you feel alone. Dependent upon the size of your company (and budget) you work hours on end doing the needed “grunt work” that must be done to achieve success in Social Media. You do this not only for your clients, but also for yourself.

So it’s nice to get a nod from your peers…some type of recognition. I have received some recognition that I am very honored to have. Ron Hudson came out with the companion to his 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media with the …wait for it… 50 Most Powerful and Influential Men in Social Media list.

I snuck in and made spot number 50. I will be the first to say that there are a number of people that should’ve been on that list that aren’t…but hey, Ron went throught he same “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” on the womens list.

So I will just say THANK YOU Ron and those who nominated me and voted for me. I will continue to strive to learn and grow and help others. It’s an industry tha is filled with many amazing people. ANd frankly I’m glad to be in the group.

So here’s the list of the 50 Most Powerful & Influential Men in Social Media:

1. Michael Arrington | www.techcrunch.com
Rank: 4076 | Linking in: 26,705

2. Pete Cashmore | www.mashable.com
Rank: 6,977 | Linking in: 15,105

3. Darren Rowse | www.problogger.net
Rank: 45,859 | Linking in: 8,734

4. John Dvorak | dvorak.org/blog
Rank: 46,169 | Linking in: 2,009

5. Frank Kern | www.masscontrolsite.com
Rank: 69,096 | Linking in: 180

6. Aaron Brazell | technosailor.com
Rank: 78,019 | Linking in: 1,123

7. Jason Calacanis | calacanis.com
Rank: 87,831 | Linking in: 2,813

8. Steve Rubel | www.micropersuasion.com
Rank: 87,428 | Linking in: 4,232

9. Willie Crawford | williecrawford.com/blog2/
Rank: 90,848 | Linking in: 387

10. Jeremy Schoemaker | www.shoemoney.com
Rank: 101,291 | Linking in: 3,153

and 50. G. Wayne Clayton | socialmarketingexpert.org/

To see number 11-49 visit 50 Most Powerful and Influential Men in Social Media list.

On October 15, 2008, bloggers everywhere will participate in the second annual Blog Action Day by blogging about poverty and by aiding poverty relief efforts. Several of the world’s most popular blogs have agreed to participate. In 2007, more than 20,000 blogs participated, along with many major corporations and international organizations. Anyone may register for free at http://blogactionday.org.

Utilizing mass participation, the day aims to provide a platform for bloggers to discuss and act on a pressing issue

Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) August 15, 2008 — On October 15, bloggers around the world will discuss poverty on the second annual Blog Action Day. Anyone may register for free at http://blogactionday.org.

The non-profit event began in 2007 as a way for many blog publishers to view a pressing issue from distinct perspectives at the same time, thereby increasing awareness and creating a global discussion.

Bloggers can participate by publishing at least one blog post, podcast or video about poverty on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 and/or by contributing to Blog Action Day 2008 partners TheGlobalFund.org and Kiva.org.

“Utilizing mass participation, the day aims to provide a platform for bloggers to discuss and act on a pressing issue,” said event co-founder Collis Ta’eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com. “This year we hope to grow on the success of 2007’s event, and bring the innovative and oftentimes personal publishing style of blogging to bear on the critical issue of poverty. With thousands of individual thoughts, ideas and actions, we aim to mobilize audiences everywhere.”

Already, 13 of the world’s 100 most popular blogs according to Technorati.com have agreed to participate in Blog Action Day this year, including TechCrunch.com, Readwriteweb.com, Mashable.com, SmashingMagazine.com, Problogger.net, GigaOM.com, Copyblogger.com, ZenHabits.net, Inhabitat.com, VentureBeat.com, Mentalfloss.com, PronetAdvertising.com and TorrentFreak.com.

Other Blog Action Day 2008 supporters include Elena Valenciano, a prominent member of the Spanish Parliament, and Ben Rattray, CEO of Change.org.

The first Blog Action Day in 2007 focused on the environment and more than 20,000 blogs participated, along with many major corporations and international organizations including - the United Nations Environmental Programme, EU Commissioner for the Environment, Google, Wells Fargo, eBay, Yahoo!, BlogTV Brazil, BlogAs Lithuania.

About Blog Action Day:
Blog Action Day is an annual non-profit event that asks bloggers to simultaneously discuss a single issue each year on October 15th. The aim of the event is to trigger widespread discussion around a global issue through niche-focused articles that appeal to their respective audiences. The event began in 2007 when a group of bloggers asked each other, “What would happen if …?” and then decided to find out.

Contact:
Easton Ellsworth, Assistant Event Coordinator
Email: easton @ blogactionday.org
Phone: +1.970.372.6630
Website: http://blogactionday.org

SocialMarketingExpert research shows some recent findings in the Boston Globe study entitled “Most Americans Want to See Companies on Social Sites” indicate that many, if not most Americans (93%) want to see companies on social sites to help them better understand their brands. Here’s an excerpt from that study:

According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

“The news here is that Americans are eager to deepen their brand relationships through social media,” explains Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone. “It isn’t an intrusion into their lives, but rather a welcome channel for discussion.”

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/09/study_most_amer.html

The death knell was rung for e-mail a year or so ago. Too much…much of it bad.

Then along came this thing called Social Media - Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. A funny thing happened while this phenom continues to grow right before our eyes, e-mail has all of the sudden become “better.” To prove the point, please read this post by Nicholas Einstein with Datran Media.

As Social Media Grows, Effective E-mail Thrives
Over the past two years, the rapid adoption of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace has transformed the way many consumers interact on the Web.

Some customer segments, especially younger ones, now spend an increasingly large percentage of their online time on these sites and primarily use them to communicate with their peers. These same consumers, according to a recent report from JupiterResearch, are apparently spending less time in their e-mail inbox and may be paying

less attention to the messages they receive there. This shift is causing some to question, perhaps prematurely, the future of e-mail as the dominant social networking tool.

In his report, The Social and Portable Inbox, David Daniels quantifies this shift in alarming detail and, according to Jupiter, it may not be isolated to younger segments. Nearly one-quarter of e-mail users reported using social networking sites in this way. Fifty-three percent of respondents age 18 to 24 reported doing so, and 42% of those 25 to 34 also reported using social sites instead of e-mail for personal communications. The reason for doing so was consistent across segments: Too much irrelevant messaging in the e-mail inbox.

I believe that e-mail marketers who ignore social media, especially those that target younger audiences, may be missing a real opportunity. As it turns out, the social sites are excellent places to share information with friends, family, customers and prospects — the trick is to communicate with them openly, honestly and in a human voice. If relevance is the key to e-mail marketing, authenticity is the key to marketing in social media. Social initiatives that leverage messaging interpreted by audiences as fake or overly promotional will never get off the ground and, worse, may negatively impact brand equity.

Marketers who are able to add value to the conversations within the social sites and who can forge honest, genuine communication streams that empower users to interact with a brand on their terms, however, will be well positioned to benefit from the social shift.

Is e-mail dead? Far from it. The future of e-mail looks quite bright. Daniels acknowledges that e-mail specifically remains the primary reason that consumers connect to the Internet. For many customer segments, e-mail is still the social networking vehicle of choice, and it shows few signs of abating. Publishers who deliver highly relevant communications through the e-mail inbox increasingly command premium CPMs from advertisers who realize excellent returns from their investments.

The recent sale of Daily Candy to Comcast for a whopping $125 million is just one of a myriad of signs that e-mail is alive and well. The social networks are helping to foster new conversations online, for sure, and I believe they can be extended and enhanced through e-mail - a ton of transactional e-mail messaging is already coming from the social networks in the form of updates and such things.

Consumers haven’t given up on e-mail; they’ve just given up on bad, irrelevant e-mail. So, while launching engaging, authentic social media messaging programs is an excellent idea for many online marketers, the other near-term imperative is to allocate the resources required to drive truly relevant, timely email messaging based on data intelligence. Incorporating demographics, click-stream data, e-mail response history and other behavioral factors are good places to start.

The era of batch and blast is officially over. With the conversation spilling out of the inbox, it’s no longer good enough.

Nicholas Einstein is director of strategic and analytic services at Datran Media.

You’ll recognize the classic painting American Gothic as the backdrop. American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood from 1930. Portraying a pitchfork-holding farmer and a younger woman (imagined to be his wife or daughter) in front of a house of Carpenter Gothic style, it is one of the most familiar images in 20th century American art.

Here’s our version of American Politics.

As we get closer and closer to Election day, it just seems to get more wild.

It’s nice when we can accept our political candidates and allow them to retain their personalities even after they take office.

Somedays it’s too easy. Who in their right mind in todays world (and being under the scrutiny he is under) makes a comment like this?  

“You can put lipstick on a pig,” Obama said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from his audience, clearly drawing a connection to a previous Sarah Palin joke. “It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.”

If I called my competitor a pig or fish, would my customer/prospect think that it was witty or would they take it as the insult it so obviously was meant to mean?

We must remember you never get looked down upon for taking the high road. Some comments are hard to live down years later…remember Jesse Jackson and his “Htmietown” slur?

An article in the Washington Post on Feb. 13, 1984, had Rick Atkinson reporting Jesse Jackson as saying, “the most attempts to disrupt this campaign have come from Jewish people.” At the end of the article Atkinson stated that “In private conversations with reporters, Jackson referred to Jews as ‘Hymie’ and to New York as ‘Hymietown.’ ‘I’m not familiar with that,’ Jackson said. ‘That’s not accurate.’ ”

That was twenty four years ago! Have we not learned anything?

See the pic on Flickr