Alex Brown’s love of horses started long before he launched the blog, Alex Brown Racing, but it was Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro that pushed the blog into prominence — and eventually established it as a site dedicated to the welfare of horses. Along the way, Brown learned many things about creating and nurturing an online community using tools, including Wikis, Facebook and Twitter, and following certain principles, such as: Be authentic, be transparent, be consistent and build trust. Brown, one of whose goals is to rescue horses destined for the slaughter house, talked with Knowledge@Wharton about his strategies for bringing attention — and money — to the cause. Transcript can be found at: knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Twitter has featured heavily in the news of late, from twitterers breaking news stories ahead of the news wires, to the power of the user community making and hurting brands.

Marketing professionals instinctively know they need to be in this space, but how; in what capacity; with what investment and what are the returns going to be? These are all valid questions and all deserve attention.

So, let’s take a step back and look at how Twitter is currently making an impact and some things to consider when deciding when to tweet.

The Golden Rules:

1. Don’t Sell

First and foremost, Twitter, like any other social media channel is about community. The individuals that are there are not there to be sold to. So, rule number one is: Don’t push sales through this channel. First and foremost, this place is about communication and community.

2. Get Involved

Although following users might provide companies insights into what the Twitter community is talking about, the point is to give information as well as receive it. Posting useful news about your brand or sector might end with your company gathering a host of followers that could very well become, depending on what you have to say, your brand advocates.

3. Add Value

The point of using Twitter is to offer information. If your friends are following you, you might feel comfortable talking about your morning walk into work. If a brand does that, users might find it a bit odd. So if you’re going to post information, which by all means you should, make it useful and relevant to your business, whether it’s about your company specifically or something relating to your industry. Twitterers tend to follow people that “tweet” about things they’re interested in, so keep information up to date and relevant.

4. Respond

Like most things, there are rules of etiquette that should be followed. When people follow you it’s because they’re interested in what you have to say. When they “re-tweet” what you’ve said it’s because they’ve found it valuable enough to share. When someone takes the trouble to comment on what you’ve tweeted, it’s only polite to respond, even if you don’t necessarily like what they have to say.

This is where the real opportunity for user engagement lies. You can set up alerts that go straight to your in-box letting you know when people are talking about your brand. Whether the conversation is negative or positive, you can use this as a tool to reach people on a real personal level. But whatever you do, do not try to stifle the conversation. Allowing people to have their say is what Twitter is based on.

5. Watch your mouth (or be ready for the consequences)

Last month an ad agency representative was flying into FexEx Global Headquarters in Memphis to present on digital media on behalf of their agency, Ketchum. Upon his arrival, he sent out the following tweet:

“True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say ‘I would die if I had to live here.’”

The tweet was picked up by a FedEx employee who promptly emailed it to all Directors and management within FedEx. The result was an angry letter to the offending twitterer regarding the amount of money spent with his agency and how offended FedEx was at the tweet.

The moral of this story is be careful about what you tweet and be prepared to react to any negative response.

6. Be patient, be persistent

Engaging in social media takes time and commitment and the effects are not always immediate. However, through adding value to the community, you can start to see the audience grow. What you mustn’t do is neglect this channel once you get started, otherwise, your followers will get bored and “unfollow” you. So, being consistent is important. Over time, you may see more and more individuals following what you have to say, responding to you and giving you insights into what is happening in your marketplace. So, direct financial ROI might not be apparent, but by being a long term contributor to Twitter, you can be doing your brand a world of good. (As long as you pay attention to rules one to five)

Other Elements to Consider:

Measurability

One of the statements I’ve heard a lot is, “It sounds good in theory, but I don’t think we’ll get anything out of it. If I can’t get a direct ROI, I can’t justify the investment.” 

I marvel at this attitude given that the volume of budget that is spent on traditional marketing where accountability is difficult (and in some cases) impossible to measure. With Twitter, you can monitor how many people are following you and set up alerts to tell you when your brand is mentioned.

You can add news pieces and blog posts to your tweets that can be tracked back to your site. Also, in some cases, people re-tweeting what you have to say can add to your overall link popularity if they include the URL. In addition, because Twitter is based on people following you because they are interested in what you have to say, it is permission based. Just don’t abuse this by trying to sell.

Being part of the Twitter community is about communication, engagement, value and trust. As long as you remember this when stepping into this channel, you can soon start to see the benefits of the rapidly growing network.

When you think about it, there are only 2 things that people are looking for in Social Media. It does not matter if you are in real estate, mortgage banking, insurance, or even in marketing of some type. People are always looking for something.

You just need to make sure that you know what those things are.

Most people in the Social Media arena are progressive thinkers and progressive people. Most are ahead of the curve in the web 2.0 world, and most have a focus of being ahead of the pack. The early adopters of Social Media, which I am one, started on the Social media scene 5 years ago. There as not much there, but what was there, was used as best as it could be used.

People then, and people now, are still the same. They always will be. But in the Social media arena, they are looking for 2 things that will help them.

Help them feel better about whom they are. Help them feel better about what they do. And help them feel better about where their life is going. All people are in some way looking for that forward focus. That is why in the social scene, there are 2 things people seem to be seeking more than anything.

Only two.

1) CONNECTION.

Most people in Web 2.0 ville are looking for Connection. They want to connect with people, information, new ideas, new trainings, new events, new groups, new videos, but whatever they are looking for, they want to CONNECT.

Connection is part of the culture we grew up in. People in real estate understand the person want to feel emotionally connected to a house before they purchase it. People want to feel connected to a car before they decide to buy it. And people want to feel connected to something before they start building that bridge of trust with you. You must make an effort to connect in a way that they will respond to in social media.

IN Social Media Marketing, Connection is NOT Correction as so many people think. They are NOT looking to be told that their life is not any good, or is lacking. They are not looking to be told their home is too small for them. They want to Connect to something or someone that will make them feel better about themselves and where their life is headed. You do that in conversations on twitter, facebook, myspace, orkut, moli, LinkedIn, and the like.

They want to feel GOOD about a conversation with you, no matter the social network. They want to feel FOCUSED ON and Tied into a conversation that will help them feel more a part of something that can increase and enlarge their life and future.

CONNECTING with people is simply reaching out and taking their hand over the internet and letting them feel PLUGGED IN to something and someone that can help you connect to new possibilities and to new destinies.

THAT is simple and the truth. Keep the Connection authentic and real, and they will listen to what your conversation is about and start drawing closer to you and your message.

2) Elevation.

People want to feel like they are being lifted higher in their life. They want to feel like their life is going somewhere and means something. We all do. We all are looking for that special feeling that we are special, and as trite as that sounds, it is the truth.

What can you do to create that feeling that they truly believe they are walking on air?

Life them up by noticing something g they said that has helped you.

Compliment them.

Give them a kind remark about their efforts in what they are doing in Social Media.

Ask questions they might know the answer to show you appreciate their knowledge..

Send them new ideas on their passion.

Notice something about their conversation that you can totally appreciate and let them know about it.

Empower them with encouragement.

Thank them for learning something from them.

WHY?

It will make them glad they talked to you in Social Media. And they will remember you the next message, tweet, or conversation. They will move from the Awareness stage, to the Appreciation stage in Social Media.

As a realtor, you will see that they can start to trust you, and even start referring possible clients to you as people they know are moving out or into – your area.

Remember- it is NOT what you said. But how you made them feel by Connecting with them and Elevating their hope and future in the Social media Marketing arena.

blessings…doug

Twitter is the current top “hot property” on the Web, but its popularity and how to use it has mystified many business owners. Many people think that they want to, or should be using Twitter, but simply do not understand the platform, its use, or its place in building web exposure. This article will demystify Twitter and help you to learn how to use it in the workplace and to promote your business.

First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a “must have” application for anyone who wants to make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro posts) to be shown at any one time, and also allows you to remove all Tweets you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter search on a topic makes sense.

Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter newbie, visiting your own Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the forefront of what is happening in your industry and on the Web.

So how do you get started with Twitter? Well the first thing is to start on Twitter yourself to understand what you like to read, who you like to follow, and to clearly identify what you like about Twitter. For me, it boils down to this: I like to follow people in my industry who say something of value, who provide a link to a new application or point me to an interesting new article, video, or blog site that I should review but may have never have found myself. Based on what I like, and the people who I find interesting to read, I now write my Twitter posts using this same formula to grow my own Twitter audience.

What I also like about Twitter is that the people who I follow also know how to show their true personality in their Tweets. Ye,s I do like to know what Danny Sullivan (famous search engine marketing guru) ate for lunch, but better yet is the link to the video he thought was funny. I love following Ashton Kutcher (movie star married to Demi Moore who just hit 1 million Twitter followers in April). Man, that guy is really funny and is having a ball with Twitter. His posts are great and he has just earned the status of the user with the most followers. This is why you can’t hire someone to “Ghost Twitter” for you. It’s about showing the real you – you can’t fake that!

So how can you use Twitter for business? Twitter is an excellent tool for linking and this is the real value for businesses. By using Twitter to point people to content on your website, articles you have written either on or off your website, or by linking to a service you want to highlight, you drive traffic. On top of that, Google actually indexes Twitter and so your Twitter page can appear in the organic search results so make sure your bio is well thought out. Don’t waste time using Twitter to point to blog posts, use TwitterFeed to post your blog posts directly onto Twitter. If you have a blog or website, you’ll get new Twitter followers by posting your TwitterFeed right onto your web pages. People who may not have known your Twitter ID can simply click the bottom “follow me link” and start following you on Twitter.

What’s important to be successful in using Twitter is to identify what you personally like about this new media and then deliver the same type of things that you like back to your own followers – work to provide value not drivel! So you’ve got to play with Twitter and learn how to use it first before you can really become successful with it for your business.

So how do you get followers? Well, I started by following everyone (who I found by doing a Twitter search) who had the last name McCord. Then I searched for web design, search engine optimization, and pay per click. Any site profile that looked good, I clicked to follow the writer. It was that easy. Many times people who you follow yourself will choose to follow you. That’s how you initially build up your Twitter base. Over time you will start to identify your “Twitter voice” and refine the type of Twitter presence you want to have by changing your content style and the things that you Tweet about. As you refine your presence, you will build a following.

Another cool Twitter use is that you can reply to any of your followers by simply putting an @ in front of their Twitter ID. For example to send something to my attention use @mccordweb at the very front of your Twitter posting and click enter. Just remember that this post is seen by all followers on my site and on your Twitter site. If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using TweetDeck you can click on a follower’s Twitter ID icon and then select to send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.

For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests. As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a link to your beta version for their testing.

How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter. Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting and have some fun.

Currently I am following 204 people and 183 people are following me on Twitter. Personally I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what’s happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see it in the newspaper. That’s the real power of Twitter; you share, you find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.

For those of you clicking in from my e-newsletter the rest of the content on Twitter applications and uses follows.

Below are some of the Twitter applications that I like and use regularly for my business.

Twuffer – I love this one, it is a Twitter post scheduler. Some people feel that Twuffer defeats the immediacy of Twitter posts or Tweets, but I like it as I will schedule Tweets on days that I am not blogging to keep my followers advised of things I find important. It is easy to use, allows you to Tweet ahead, and lets you select a posting schedule by day and time. If you are pushing content on a service or product this is an excellent tool to use. Set your Tweets up one week or one month at a time and feed your content to readers in addition to your regular Tweets. Make sure to use www.TinyUrl.com to change any long URLs you point to in the Tweet to a Twitter-friendly short version to save space.

Twitter Feed – This is another one of my top favorites. TwitterFeed allows me to show my blog posts from “The Web Authority” directly onto Twitter. It also allows me to post my Tweets back on my blog (by installing a widget) in my blog template – very cool cross interaction! I pick up many Twitter followers with this technique. Readers come to visit my blog and then choose to follow me on Twitter.

Twitter Grader – This one is a vanity application that allows you to see where you stack up against other Twitter users. Twitter Grader measures the power of a Twitter user based on followers, number of updates, and posting frequency.
 
TweetBeep – With this application, you can manage your online Twitter reputation. Alerts will be emailed to you whenever a Twitter user Tweets about your business, name, or domain. You select the alert criteria and what to watch for using TweetBeep. This is great for a business that is concerned about branding and online identity. PR professionals should make sure to use this tool to watch for comments about their clients.

Twitoria – Clean up your Twitter followers by finding out which people never use Twitter or post infrequently so you can delete them right from the Twitoria interface.

 Qwitter – If you want to know when someone stops following you, sign up for this service. Actually, this can be an excellent tool to find out what a reader hated that you posted about and caused them to “chop” you, so you can fine tune your message. If you get a flood of drops after a Tweet, it allows you to learn that people don’t like a certain type of Tweet – instant feedback at an anonymous level!

One big thing about Twitter that I have not even mentioned yet but is actually one of Twitter’s best features is the ability to text-in Tweets from your mobile phone. Although you can’t easily link to great content typically on the fly like this, the ability to connect with others without being tethered to a computer is an opportunity to show the “real you”. Maybe your followers do want to know what you are eating for lunch or about a seminar you just attended, just be kind and don’t vomit out Twitter spam using your Blackberry on meaningless drivel.

You can easily set up the ability to receive text messages from your Twitter account to your cell or Blackberry, but be careful as you may be inundated if you have a large following. I would recommend receiving Twitter updates via text message to your cell only from a small group. For example if you have a project team, set up a Twitter account for each member to allow them to post just to this small unique circle of team members. The value to track and interact with each other at anytime and anywhere using Twitter by computer or by cell phone adds real value for work groups and teams – particularly team managers. Twitter even allows you to make this type of group private.

Another feature of Twitter is the ability to add hashtags in front of keywords in your Tweets to help with sorting to allow others to find your important content. For example if you wanted to Tweet about a recent earthquake in LA you would use #laearthquake in the front of your Tweet.  By using hashtags you enable Twitter to return your information for topic searches on newsworthy Tweets. You can visit Hashtags.org for more information on the current hot hashtags that are in use for today so you can follow, add to the topic, or create your own. For example in Twitter World, Fridays are the day you post with #followfriday and enter in the Twitter IDs you want to recommend to others.  You would be amazed at the cool new people you can follow and interact with from recommendations of the people you follow.

In conclusion, Twitter is one of the hottest new mediums to arrive on the Internet scene since Facebook. Although it is not exactly “new”, Twitter has just recently become very high profile. If you are in business, Twitter definitely warrants your attention. Not only is it a very smart new tool to use in your marketing arsenal, but I think that the more you use it you will grow to love it and find it fun to use. The ways that you can use Twitter are endless:  for teams, for family members, for business networking, to stay at the forefront of news, to promote yourself and your services, and to just have fun connecting with others online. Just remember you can’t really make sense of Twitter for business without using TweetDeck or another similar aggregating and sorting application. Thanks for reading, see you on Twitter, you can reach me at @mccordweb or visit me at www.Twitter.com/mccordweb.

About the Author

Nancy McCord is the founder and President of McCord Web Services LLC which provides search engine marketing, web design, blog writing, and webmaster services globally. Since 2001, Nancy McCord has developed a national reputation as an expert on search engines, blogging, and how businesses can harness the power of Web for profit. You can visit Nancy and her firm at www.McCordWeb.com.

Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey. It has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide. It is often described as the “SMS of Internet”.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Twitter extremely valuable to any e-commerce site.

Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter’s success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple.

 Online business 
Most people shop online for convenience rather than customer service. And while inroads have been made into providing better customer service online, the personal aspect is often still missing. It’s the ability to have conversations with customers that makes Twitter extremely valuable to any e-commerce site.

Ø      Listen to Your Customers – One of the best things about Twitter is that it gives you a readymade platform, in which the online business can directly communicate with its customers; listen to their feedback & demands. Brick-and-mortar retailers have the benefit of physical presence of their customers when they are making purchases. But, e-commerce merchants may be unaware of customer problems or questions unless they are contacted directly or worse, if the customer publishes a complaint online. With Twitter, an e-commerce business can monitor what people are saying about its brand and products and respond with assistance.

Ø      Be Personable – Twitter also gives the online business to create & build upon their brand perception. Internet shopping is usually impersonal. Ecommerce sites often try to connect with customers via blogs or comments, but Twitter makes it much easier to have direct conversations with customers and also show a bit of personality.

A Bit of PR Is Fine, Too - It’s okay to use Twitter to provide useful information to your customers as long as you are clear about your intentions and can do a bit of listening as well. Sometimes customers just want to know when you have a sale. In fact, Dell was so successful in using Twitter to alert followers about sale items that it has now set up a separate Dell Outlet Twitter account that offers discounts exclusively to followers on Twitter.

Ø      Getting Started – The best way to get started on Twitter is to learn as much about it as possible. Sign up for an account, listen to what people are saying and find interesting people and companies to follow.

Ø      Using Twitter for Your Site – Once you’ve decided to use Twitter to promote your online business and website design , it’s important to fill out your company profile and upload an image that your customers will recognize. Make sure to identify the people within your company who will be monitoring and using the account, and the more people tweeting the better. Unless you already have a very reputable and popular brand, your company will probably need to use your Twitter account for a while before people will want to follow it. Encourage your customers to follow you on Twitter by adding a link to your website, your emails, business cards and any other place with company contact information.

Ø      Twitter Tools – There are some tools to make Twitter easier to use. For example, Twitter offers widgets on its settings page which you can use to put your Twitter updates right on your website. You can automatically send updates to twitter by using twitter-feed to import items from any RSS feeds you have, a good way to let customers know about updates from your blog or featured items on your site. Monitor what people are saying about your company and products by using tools like Twitter’s search or Tweet Scan. You might also try applications such as Tweet Deck, twhirl, or Twitterific to post updates and have conversations on Twitter.

Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

Not bragging…but I’ve been saying good-bye… well actually firing clients social media marketing lately.

Some people are buying into the idea that you MUST participate in this recession thingy.

Personally I’m not. It’s not that I don’t think we are experiencing weird economic times…we are. I just have been blessed with paying clients…too many in fact. Well to be more exact, too many that are too far away.

I have been lusting after one thing — local and regional clients. How nice would it be to not have to do skype calls and white board presentations in the middle of MY night? How great would it be to meet a client for lunch…YES actually meet in person… and develop more of a long lasting relationship. You know the kind…where you invite them over to your house for Super Bowl parties, or you bring them to Chamber of Commerce functions or Meetup meetings just to get them out of the office or store? Real world “stuff”… the kind of ”stuff” that makes a CONNECTION.

“But waaaaiiit,” you say, ”I thought this social media stuff was the end all, be all for business?”

Nope.

You take social media for what it should be: blended into your marketing efforts. You don’t stop advertising or doing traditional marketing and replace it with social media… not unless you’ve got lots of money and resources to throw at it. Let me give you the analogy I give my clients…

It’s alot like the card game of poker. You don’t win with just ONE card in poker; I don’t care how good that card it. It’s not how it’s played (unless you’re playing one card poker: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ggordon/poker/.)  Instead, you win with a number of cards that work together. Synergy.

The unfortunate rub in this is most advertising is bad. Clients forget the rule of advertising:

It’s what you say times how many times you say it times the quality of the people you say it to.

What you say is the ad. Most advertisers have no budget — or for that part,any idea how to test their advertising. Most just “wing it.” And they usually experience FAIL ad results.

How many times you say it if the repetition factor. But a bad ad repeaqted over and over  still doesnt get you results, or the results you desire. 

Which leads us to the last part of our equation: the quality of people you say it to. If the target audience or demographic of the viewer/reader/surfer is not YOUR target audience, then you FAIL again. Fourteen year old skateboarders do not buy Lexus’ cars. It wouldnt matter how many times you repeat that message, even a good message to them, it still is a FAIL with the audience.

What’s this have to do with social media marketing? Many clients do the same FAIL habits with social media as they do traditional advertising. Get the first one right and repeat it on the second one. Clients from all around the world sometimes need the same hand-holding to change marketing habits as so the local and regional clients do. In fact, I’ll venture to say it’s harder with a client around the other side of the world. Sometimes being able to sit down with the client, shake their hand, look ‘em in the eye and tell it to them straight is the best way. It’s that CONNECTION I talked about.

I want more local and regional clients. I want to make a difference in MY community, MY state, MY country.

What does this have to do with social media? For me it’s the answer to “what’s my responsibility to help in these strange economic times?” For me it’s this. How can I help, who can I help? What can I do that’ll make a real world difference?

I told my plans to a good friend of mine. He blurts out, OK… but is there a market locally and regionally?” Well I am situated ideally between about 10-12 million people within a 2-3 hour drive. So I’m not too concerned about that. But even locally, I searched LinkedIn.com and found:
 28,083 results within 25 mile radius
64,779 results within 50 mile radius
985,204 results within 100 mile radius

I was slow out of the gate to use LinkedIn.com due to my use of Twitter and various other social media and social networking sites. But I have fallen in love with what LinkedIn.com offers a small business person like me. So if I was a betting man, I’d say the odds are in my favor that I’ll replace that revenue quickly.

My point is: opportunities are all around. Most business people drive by more business on a daily basis that they could adequately handle. You must get rid of what you don’t want (like the “driftwood” in your life and business) to make room for what you truly desire and want. So my question to you is: do you have any clients you SHOULD fire?

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol LLC  along with SocialMarketingExpert.org.  He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, quoted in The Toronto Star and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.

Recruiters Increasingly Use Sites to Recruit Candidates – and Screen Their Behavior

While not all companies use social media sites in the hiring process, the numbers are growing. According to a recent survey (June, 2009) by CareerBuilder, the number of employers using social networking sites to screen candidates has more than doubled since 2008. Out of more than 2,600 hiring managers, 45 percent reported using social networking sites to research job candidates’ backgrounds for information — up from 22% in 2008.

Michele Porfilio, a strategic sourcing director for Crowe Horwath LLP, a public accounting and consulting firm, says “We leverage social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for our information security hiring needs.” Based on the skill set in need, Crowe implements the tools for target search and outreach and “within LinkedIn, we continue our visibility in creating an information security professionals pipeline,” she adds.

Read the complete article at http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=1957

I read an article titled “54% of Companies Ban Facebook, Twitter at Work” the other week and was quite surprised to find the number was that high.

Whenever the question comes up of about using social networking tools at work – the common debate tends to be focused around productivity. That is many people from a management perspective take the thinking that using tools like Facebook takes people away from doing the tasks that they are employed to do and ends up costing the company money. Users of Social Networks however counter that with the thought that it is by using tools like Facebook they are actually able to do the job they do and that social networking tools help the company do business and make money.

read the complete article at http://blogs.oracle.com/jobsatoracle/2009/10/facebooktwitter_banned_at_your.html

I’m lazy by nature and like to do as little work as possible. Therefore, when I have the opportunity to automate tasks, I jump at it. As I started getting heavily involved in social networking, I quickly became frustrated with having to update my status at several sites, as well as trying to figure out how to introduce my blog, my articles, and my ezine to my social networking audiences.

After much trial and error, here’s how I connect and repurpose all of my social marketing strategies:

1. Set up accounts. Make sure that you have current accounts with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, and any other social networking platforms you regularly use.

2. Open an account at Ping.fm. The Ping.fm service automatically updates your status on all of your social networking sites, 21 of them at the current count. Depending on the number of networks you use, it will take you 10-50 minutes to connect your Ping.fm account to your various social network accounts. However, once everything is set up, you simply log into your Ping account, post your status update (no more than 140 characters), and your status is automatically updated on all of your social networking profiles. Rather than posting updates directly on Twitter or Facebook or MySpace, I instead use Ping.fm as the starting place for my daily status updates.

3. Display Twitters on other accounts. If you go to your Setting tab in your Twitter account and then down to “More Info URL”, you will see a link to “Add Twitter to Your Site.” By clicking on this link, you’ll be taken to a page where you can add your tweets in a separate box (not the Status updates area) in your MySpace and Facebook profiles, on your blogger or Typepad blogs, or get the Flash or HTML widgets to add to other sites like Squidoo lenses or to your website. Just follow the instructions connected to each application. If you use Typepad for your blog, you can also do this through the Widget gallery by finding Twitter widget in the “Publishing Tools” section.

4. Connect your blogposts to Twitter. Twitter Feed, http://www.twitterfeed.com/, enables you to feed your blog posts to your Twitter account. Simply create an account, go to “Create New Twitter Feed”, and enter the RSS feed of your blog. You can control the frequency with which Twitter displays your blog post, as well as the text used to preface your blog feed. I use “Blog update” to preface my posts.

5. Connect your blogposts to Facebook. I use Typepad for my blogs, so if you use a Wordpress blog, there are probably plugins that handle this, as well. When you create a new blog post, you can choose to send a link to that post into Facebook. These links will appear in your Mini-Feed on your Facebook profile, and may appear in your friends’ News Feeds.

In your Typepad account, go to Weblogs > Configure > Publicity, select “Prompt me to share new posts on Facebook.” When this item is selected, TypePad will automatically display a prompt from Facebook when you create and publish a new post on TypePad. The Facebook prompt will only appear if you have selected the option in your weblog’s publicity settings, and only when you create and publish a new post. The prompt will not appear when you save a post as draft, when you edit a post, or when you change the status of a post from Draft to Published.

6. Update your EzineArticles.com account. Article marketing is a smart and easy way to drive traffic to your site. If you’re submitting articles online to article directories, you definitely want to be using EzineArticles.com, the biggest and most popular article directory online. To connect to Twitter, click on “Profile Manager” in your account, then “Edit Author Bio” in your Author’s Area. Add your Twitter account information here. Each time a new article is accepted and published at EzineArticles, a post is automatically made to your Twitter account.

7. Update your aWeber account: I use aWeber as my email marketing service. You can now send an automatic Twitter post to all your followers on Twitter with a link to the HTML version of your ezine. When you create a broadcast in aWeber, select the option to publish a broadcast via RSS feed or to an archive, and then enter your Twitter account info, When your ezine is published, all of your Twitter followers will be notified.

There are probably others ways to connect the social networks and to repurpose content on social networks, but these 7 steps are all I need at the moment. Take 30 minutes out of your day to connect and repurpose your social networking, and watch your traffic and list begin to grow!