Yesterday, we wrote about a new, free product from Google: Google Maps Navigation. Another free Google perpetual beta product, one might say; nothing to get overly excited about. Well, the first reviews and reactions are in, and it seems that this is one of those Google products that change the landscape of an entire industry. GPS turn-by-turn navigation has historically always been something you had to pay for. Creating and maintaining a map of the entire world, together with points of interests and traffic info, plus developing the algorithms that make sure you don’t take a wrong turn, costs millions of dollars. But Google is now offering it for free. The result was devastating for shares of GPS navigation companies: Garmin’s shares fell by 16.4%; TomTom’s by 20.8%. We’re talking billions of dollars of market capitalization, gone in one day, just because Google presented another free product (they release new products on a monthly, if not weekly basis). This doesn’t necessarily mean that TomTom and Garmin are going out of business. But it means that this entire space has fundamentally changed, and the market reacts to developments like that. Do they do have something to fear? Absolutely. Google Maps Navigation isn’t some half-baked, crippled free version of GPS turn-by-turn navigation. In most areas, it’s comparable with standalone GPS navigation solutions, and it even brings some novelties to the table, for example Google’s fantastic satellite view and Street View. The folks over at Engadget have tested it out with a Droid, you can check the results in the video below. Right now, Google Maps Navigation works only on Android 2.0 devices. But as it spreads to other platforms and devices, it’s obvious that everyone will get it. After all, it’s free, so why not? People who used GPS navigation before will get it to see how well it works. People who never cared about it will try it out to see how it’s like. In a matter of months, Google will control a huge, previously untapped portion of the market. From their competitors’ perspective, it’s a nightmare. From the user’s perspective, it’s fantastic: a free alternative for a service that you previously had to pay for. It’ll be interesting to see where Google takes this, but I have a feeling that GPS navigation will get far more exciting in the future. Reviews: Android, GoogleTags: Google Maps Navigation
It was inevitable: a big time pro athlete has been suspended for comments made on Twitter, and the price tag is a big one. The player is Larry Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs and the cost of his offenseis $213,000, the amount he would have earned for the game he’ll miss due to being suspended by the team. Johnson was suspended for the gay slurs he directed at a Twitter hecklerearlier in the week, a comment he apparently repeated in the Chiefs’ locker room.We’ve seen a few similar albeit smaller incidents in the past, like when Antonio Cromartie of the San Diego Chargers was fined $2500for tweeting about his team’s less than stellar food at training camp, and when Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban used his accountto criticize referees. The lesson here is fairly clear: Twitterand other social media are going to be viewed the same any other medium, with the messages carrying the same amount of weight. While some stars are capitalizing on that, others are seemingly struggling to come to terms with it. Perhaps now that the steep price tag of poor Twitter behavior has been revealed, the lesson will be quickly learned. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tforgoReviews: Twitter, iStockphotoTags: football, nfl, sports, twitter
Earlier today, Hitwise published a reportestimating that music-related searches currently make up about 6% of total queries on Google. Clearly then, by integrating actual audio content that could be purchased online, Google would create a big opportunity for all of those involved.Well, Google has just answered that call, by launching a major new feature that incorporates streaming audio previews when you search for an artist, album, or song using the search engine. There’s also music discovery baked in from services like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Imeem.Google explains the product further on their blog:“Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music search partners MySpace (which just acquired iLike) or Lala. When you click the result you’ll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for [21st century breakdown], the first results provide links to songs from Green Day’s new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song.Many times, though, you don’t know the name of the song or the artist who sings it. Maybe you remember only the chorus — or maybe you remember who sang it, but you forgot the exact name of the song. If you’ve ever heard a catchy song in a car or cafe, but just can’t figure out the name of the song, you’ll know what I’m talking about. This search feature also helps you find many of those songs by entering a search containing a line or two of lyrics. So if I search for [static silhouette somehow], I’ll get results for Phoenix’s song “Rome.”There’s a video demo as well:The biggest winner here (or at least the company that needs this the most) would seem to be MySpace, who continues to work to reinvent itself as a content and entertainment destination where music plays a huge role. In recent days, the company has also been reported to be working on deals with both Facebookand MSN. With a Google partnership now in place, at least one huge piece of its new distribution model is complete. Here’s what MySpace’s player will look like in Google music search results. Note, you can play the track, watch the video, or find tour info and buy tickets:Google says the music search features will be rolling out “gradually to users across the U.S. over the next day.” Reviews: Facebook, Google, MySpace, Pandora, Rhapsody, imeemTags: Google, imeem, Lala, music, myspace, pandora
If you’re not already familiar with Peek, it’s a company making phone-factor handhelds that aren’t actually phones: for about $15 a month they’ll get you a device with a QWERTY keyboard for checking email and/or sending SMS.Now apparently they have made and plan to market a Peek device that does one thingand one thing only: Twitter. There’s already an Amazon pagefor the TwitterPeek device, and a photo of the packaginghas appeared courtesy of Peter Ha(pictured below).The kicker? Assuming the Amazon page is correct, Peek is asking $199 up front for the device (which is not yet released but is up for pre-order). Although it gets you a lifetime of Twitter service on the device with no contract or monthly fees, that’s still a lot to ask for up front for a device that only does one thing.The TwitterPeek draws an obvious comparison to something like the WikiReaderwe covered earlier this month. It’s a $99 appliance that does one thing: allows you to browse Wikipedia. In both cases, there’s probably a market for the device — but it’s bound to be very small. Perhaps too small to overcome the cost of producing and marketing the product.The burgeoning eReader market kicked off by the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle and about to be flooded with the Barnes & Noble Nook, Plastic Logic Que, Spring Design Alexand LG’s solar eReaderessentially faces the same problem. Are there enough advantages (low cost, simplicity, specificity) in a single-function device to justify a sustainable market share, or will all-in-one devices like an Apple Tabletor Microsoft Courierend up eating their lunch thanks to more utility for reasonable cost?Unfortunately for a device like the TwitterPeek, the answer is probably “no.” They might have more success with a super-cheap monthly plan instead of $200 up front — $5 a month mobile Twitter access for example might appeal to a sliver of users not interested in shelling out for a smartphone and power users who are interested in redundancy.What do you think of the TwitterPeek: hanging in the hollowed halls of Bad Gadget Ideas? Possibly useful but too expensive? Who would want this device?[via Engadget]Reviews: Twitter, WikipediaTags: Mobile 2.0, peek, twitter, twitterpeek
Facebook has just publisheda detailed roadmap of the features it expects to add to its Platform over the next six months, along with projected launch dates.While the roadmap is intended largely for developers of applications – both on Facebook and on third-party sites and mobile apps using Facebook Connect – it gives users an idea of how we might interact with these apps in the future.Some pieces that sound intriguing:The Open Graph API will allow any page on the web to have all the features of a Facebook Page – users will be able to become a Fan of the page, it will show up on that user’s profile and in search results, and that page will be able to publish stories to the stream of its fans. Email: Developers will be able to ask users to share their primary email addresses (for example, firstname.lastname@domain.com). Notifications: Application-to-user and user-to-user notifications will be removed, and instead developers will use stream, Inbox, and Email. We’re still digesting the roadmap and will update with details, but in the meantime, you can check it out for yourself on Facebook’s developer wiki. Reviews: FacebookTags: facebook
Throughout its history, Walmart has been disruptive to a number of industries, from local retailers to grocery stores. Now, you can add funeral homes to the list. The company’s website has started sellingseveral models of caskets, starting at $999. Walmart is not the first major retailer to offer caskets online, but its branding and reach certainly makes it a force to be reckoned with in the world of family run funeral homes (though many funeral homes are now part of big chains too).According to the AP, federal law mandates that funeral homes accept caskets from third-parties, so unless they want to match Walmart, price conscious consumers shouldn’t have any issues if they want to use the retailer. On the other hand, ordering a casket from Walmart does seem a bit impersonal. But, if you simply want to save a few dollars at the end, well, now you can. Tags: online retail, retail, WalMart
Verizon’s very first phone running the Google Android mobile operating system launches next Friday, November 6. We’ve seen the marketing campaign, the commercial, and the iDon’t care spoofof the commercial — and today Verizon offers a demo video of the highly-anticipated phone.First a refresher on the specs: 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, both physical and virtual keyboards, 16 GB microSD memory card included and a beta version of the Google Maps Navigationfeature we just wrote about earlier today. Head on after the break to watch the official demo video.Let us know: are you sweating the Motorola Droid? Will you consider picking up the phone when it launches, or are you interested in another forthcoming Android device (relatedly, be sure to cast your cost in our smartphone smackdownthis week!)?Reviews: AndroidTags: android, Google, Google Maps Navigation, Mobile 2.0, motorola droid, verizon
More and more brands and websites are developing and releasing iPhone apps that feature website content in new and enhanced ways. Sites like CNN, The New York Times, and yes, even Mashable, all have iPhone apps.Today, Disney is joining the mix with the new Disney.com[iTunes link] app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Disney already has a number of other free and paidiPhone apps, but the Disney.com app focuses specifically on Disney news and information about all of the different Disney properties.Although I’m a Disney fan, I’m really not the target demographic for this type of app. Having said that, Disney’s app is extremely easy to use, full of features and enhancements, and a perfect compliment to the Disney brand.The app boasts a ton of features. Here are just a few:Watch movie trailers and behind-the-scenes videosGet movie showtimes and ticket infoFind out about Disney on BroadwayGet music news and watch music videosListen to Radio Disney content live“Call” Disney music stars and hear voicemail messages they have left for fans and leave your own message (iPhone required, but it really does call a set-up mailbox for the different music artists)Download and manage other free and paid Disney appsView character photo frames from a variety of charactersThere’s also this feature called “Click2Life” that is especially interesting. It’s sort of an augmented reality implementation on the iPhone. You select a Click2Life character and are instructed to find the image you see on the phone on Disney.com (usually the character’s page). You then hold your phone up to your computer monitor and snap a photo of the screen with the built-in camera. The app can tell if you are zeroed in on the right image or not, and if you are, it will show you a really cool little animation and then offer to let you create your own photo frame. Is it a bit silly? Yes, but it’s also perfect for kids.As is often the case with software, kid-friendly iPhone apps are often pretty hit or miss. However, Disney knocked this app right out of the proverbial theme park.What are some of your favorite website-specific iPhone apps? Let us know in the comments. Tags: disney, disney.com, iphone
There is a new Twitter phishing scam making the rounds, and this one is spreading quickly via direct message.The infected message, which seems to be an iteration of a previous phishing scam, simply reads: “Hi, this you on here?” Clicking on the link will take you to a phishing site where scammers can take your personal information and hijack your account.As always, do not visit the link if you receive this direct message! Never provide your Twitter username and password to any website that seems suspicious in any way. If you’ve been tricked, make sure to change your Twitter password immediately.
Ross Kimbarovskyis the co-founder of crowdSPRING, a community of 43,000+ graphic designers that helps small businesses from around the world with graphic design needs. You can follow Ross on Twitter @rosskimbarovskyand @crowdSPRING.Capacity – especially to plan and execute effective marketing strategies – is a big challenge for every small business. In this post, I’ll offer 10 suggestions for how small businesses can supercharge their marketing efforts by leveraging social media. For each suggestion, I will discuss a basic strategy – for those who simply want to get their toes wet, as well as an advanced strategy – for those who want to spend a bit more time and go a bit deeper in their social media marketing efforts. These tips are based on my experience leveraging social media marketing for my company, crowdSPRING.I suggest you begin by outlining clear goals for your social media marketing efforts and figuring out how you’ll measure success. Once you’ve outlined your goals, let’s look at 10 great ways you can begin to leverage social media for your marketing efforts.1. FacebookFacebookoffers exceptional, low cost marketing opportunities for small business. Facebook now has over 300 million users, and while that seems like an outrageous number for small businesses to be targeting, Facebook offers a very powerful platform on which to build a presence. If you’re not already active on Facebook; you should get started right away.Basic Strategy: If you haven’t signed up for Facebookyet, you absolutely should as soon as possible. Once you’ve signed up, you should also consider securing your company’s username. Be aware, however, that if you reserve your company name for your personal account, you won’t be able to use it for your Business Fan Page (more on those in the Advanced Strategy), so you may want to create a Page before registering your company’s name. Fan Pages have special rules regarding usernames, which you can read here.You should do one other thing: search for your competitors and evaluate their Facebook presence. What types of Pages have they built? How many fans or “friends” do they have? Spend 15 minutes (per competitor) looking at their posts, photos and/or videos to understand how they’re using Facebook.Advanced Strategy: You may already have a personal Facebook account, but how do you extend that presence for your business? You have several options. You can register a Business Account – which is designed for a very simple presence on Facebook. There are many limitations on such accounts (read the FAQ here), however, so you’ll most likely prefer to have a Business Fan Page. A Business Fan Pagelets you create a page where customers or fans of your business can register as a “fan” — expanding the presence of your business (because your updates will also flow to their pages). You might also want to consider running hyper-local ads on Facebook.2. TwitterTwitterhas grown tremendously over the past year. For some small businesses, it offers an incredible marketing platform. BusinessWeek’s recent profile of 20 ways businesses use Twittermight give you some ideas about how you can leverage Twitter for your business.Basic Strategy: If you haven’t signed up on Twitteryet, you should sign up today and reserve an account in the name of your business. While you might ultimately tweet in your own name, you’ll want to have the option to tweet from a business account. More importantly, you don’t want your competitors to register your business name. Twitter has put together a simple guideto help you understand what Twitter can do for business. You can also check out Mashable’s Twitter Guide. Next, you should spend 15-30 minutes on Twitter’s homepage, doing basic searches to become familiar with the type of content available on the service. For example, if you are operating a small gift basket business, do some searches for various terms and phrases such as “gift basket,” “gifts,” “gift basket business,” etc. You should also search for the names of your competitors to see whether they’re on Twitter and if they are, how they’re using it. And don’t forget to search for your small business name – your customers may already be talking about you! Once you become comfortable with the content that’s already available and how your competitors are using Twitter, you can begin thinking about a strategy for how you’ll leverage Twitter for your business.Advanced Strategy: To truly leverage Twitter, you’ll want to learn and use a few more advanced tools. This includes desktop and mobile Twitter clients like TweetDeck, Seesmic, and Tweetie. Desktop clients give you more flexibility and more control over your Twitter strategy than you’ll have on the Twitter website. Among other things, you’ll be able to pre-define searches (so that you can monitor certain keywords, including your business name) and group people you follow so that you can minimize the noise and focus on the real content. You might also consider using a web tool like Twitterfall, which will allow you to define (and color-code) various custom searches that you can review from time to time, and also to follow trending topics. For example, I use Twitterfall to identify helpful graphic design and industrial design resources to share with the crowdSPRING community.3. Company BlogAlthough there’s more attention focused today on social networks than on company blogs, blogs continue to offer great value for small businesses.Basic Strategy: At a minimum, you should consider reserving a domain name for your blog – if you don’t already have a custom domain for your business. If you’re comfortable enough to set up your own blog, that’s generally the best way to proceed – although this requires a bitmore technical knowledge (many hosting providers offer a 1 step easy setup for blogs that will automatically install WordPress for you). You can also setup a blog directly at WordPress.com(it’s easier to do, but you don’t have full control over everything that you would on your own site). One easy alternative is to set up a simple blog at Posterous– a place to post stories, photos, videos, MP3s, and files. There are pluses and minuses to all of these options – you should take some time to compare them and do what makes sense for your business. I caution you only about spreading yourself too thin.Advanced Strategy: Now that you’ve decided to start or improve your small business blog, how do you build an audience for it? It all starts with great content. Decide on a focus for your blog, and write awesome content that people will enjoy. For example, some months ago at my company, we decided that we wanted to write more about small business issues, so we’ve been writing original posts focusing on issues affecting small businesses. Think about your expertise and more importantly, think about the things that you’re interested in writing about. A blog requires a long term investment of time (and resources), and you don’t want to be stuck writing about things that bore you.You’ll also want to consider how you can make it easier for your readers to help promote your content. For example, install helpful plug-ins, such as a TweetMemebutton, which makes it easy for people to retweet your posts on Twitter. Don’t be afraid to experiment with plugins to add to the functionality of your blog, but keep it simple. You want to keep the blog focused, and easy for your readers to use.4. LinkedInLinkedInis a business oriented social network for professionals, and it’s huge, with nearly 50 million users from over 200 countries.Basic Strategy: Once again, you’ll want to at least reserve your business name (or your personal name) so that others can’t use it. Similar to the way you might start exploring Facebook and Twitter, you should look around on LinkedInto see how your competitors are using the service. You might also look up your customers and connect with them.Advanced Strategy: LinkedIn has some powerful features that most people don’t use. For example, you can encourage your customers, clients or vendors to give you a “recommendation” on your profile. Recommendations are useful because they’ll make you and your business more credible with new customers. If you’re a roofer, for example, ask your customers to recommend you after a successful job. You’ll find such recommendations useful – particularly since your LinkedIn profile will come up high in search engine results. I recommend that you read Chris Brogan’s post from last year discussing the elements of a good LinkedIn recommendation. Another strategy involves the many subject matter groups on LinkedIn. Find some groups that have a connection to your small business and become involved in the conversations. Answer questions when you can, and help to establish yourself as knowledgeable about specific topics related to your business. There are many small business and general marketing groups that will be very useful resources for you, and if there isn’t a group that interests you, consider starting one. 5. Participate On Other BlogsIt might seem counter-intuitive for you to spend your valuable time by participating in discussions on other people’s blogs, but the payoff can be very valuable. Remember that it takes time to build a reputation and establish your credibility, and you can’t always expect everyone to come to you. Sometimes, you have to go out and build your own credibility and reputation.Basic Strategy: Identify 2-3 blogs in your industry, or those that focus on small business, and get into the habit of regularly reading the content and participating in the discussions. Whenever you can, try to add value by sharing a personal story about what has/has not worked for you. Get to know the writers – they’ll be valuable contacts for you. One strategy for identifying good blogs is to use Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop, which is a directory of popular blogs across many different subject areas. For example, for blogs focused on crafts, you might follow this pageon Alltop. If you want to participate in blogs focusing on small business issues, you might start at Technorati’s list of the Top 100 Small Business blogs.Advanced Strategy: Once you’ve spent some time on other blogs and have participated in discussions, you’ll find that you’ve built a level of credibility and trust, based on your participation. You should consider reaching out to the blog owners and asking whether they’d allow you to guest post an article on their blog (kind of like this post). This is a nice way for you to get in front of a bigger audience, and many blog owners will invite guests to post from time to time. Agree on a topic in advance and provide a draft of your post sufficiently in advance of the publication date to give them an opportunity to review. Alternatively, ask if they would consider guest posting on your blog. Since you’re looking to attract more readers (and more potential customers), either option works well for that purpose. Don’t worry so much about going after the A-list blogs right away. There are many excellent blogs and it might take a bit of time to build your reputation to such a level that you’ll have opportunities to post in the top blogs. That doesn’t mean you should wait, though – make opportunities for yourself and offer to guest write whenever you can find a new audience. I recommend you read How To Guest Post To Promote Your Blogfrom blogging expert Darren Rowse.6. Mobile Social Networks and other Local StrategiesYelppublishes millions of reviews about local businesses. Foursquareis a combination city-guide, friend finder and competitive game. It allows users to “check in” by cell phone at a local venue and announce this via other social networks such as Twitter.Basic Strategy: Yelp, Foursquare, and other mobile social networks can be powerful marketing channels for small businesses. You should at the very least register accounts on the popular services and get to know them. If you have a restaurant or a retail store, for example, you’ll want to get to know Yelp pretty well. You can set up a business account on Yelp (no cost), which will let you answer questions about your business, track how many Yelp users view your business page, add information about your business, and announce special promotions. Similarly, you’ll want to sign up with Foursquare to take advantage of local advertising opportunities. Using Foursquare, you’ll be able to push promotions to potential customers who’re in the vicinity of your business.You should also consider other local strategies. For example, you can add your business to Google Maps, or update your listing to include additional details. You can do the same on Bing.Advanced Strategy: If you believe that your business can truly benefit from a presence on Yelp, Foursquare, or similar networks, you’ll want to do more than just register accounts with those services. For example, Yelp allows you to include a website URL for your business. Nearly all sites will let you upload photos to your profile, and photos will make your profile more trustworthy.You can also proactively use Yelp and other similar services to promote your business. Ask your customers, friends and family who have used your services for a review on Yelp. You can encourage reviews by running promotions or discounts – offering free appetizers, for example, to a customer who will write a review about their meal at your restaurant (or to one who already wrote a review), or a small discount to a customer who hires you for carpentry work and mentions that they found you through Yelp.Similarly, you can find ways to promote your business using Foursquare and similar networks. If you have a TV display in your store connected to a computer, you can display the people who are checking in. You can offer specials or discounts to the person who visits your location the most (this is similar to frequent buyer cards that many businesses have used for years).Don’t forget to also consider how you can improve your use of other basic local strategies. For example, many small business websites are optimized for specific keywords or subject areas, but are rarely optimized for local searches. If you have a gift basket business, you’ll want to be sure that users searching for gift baskets in your geographic area will find you.7. Comments and Conversations About Your CompanyWhether or not you are a party to the conversations, people will talk about your company. How do you monitor and, when appropriate, join those discussions?Basic Strategy: There are five simple steps you can take today to begin paying attention to conversations about your business.First, set up Google Alerts. Google Alerts are free email updates from Google search results about any topic you’re interested in tracking. For example, I track, among other alerts, the names of our competitors, the name of our company, and certain other terms I believe are important to my business. Anytime Google adds something to its index that mentions my company or the other terms I’m tracking, I receive an immediate email notification with a link to that item. Alerts can be set up for web, blog, news, video, or groups searches.Second, review the results in your web analytics data. At my company, we use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool from Google that provides detailed and very useful information about your website traffic and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. When we run social media campaigns, we’ll often attach tracking tags to those campaigns so that we can properly monitor them in Google Analytics. This is important because without such data it willbe nearly impossible for you to evaluate the success of your social media marketing efforts. But analytics are important for another reason: they’ll tell you which sites are sending traffic to your site.Third, search Facebook. In August, Facebook rolled out a real-time search engine(the search box is on the top right of any Facebook page). One effective way to take advantage of Facebook search is to search for your company’s name to see who is talking about your company and what they’re saying. In several months, you’ll be able to search Facebook updates directly from Bing, which will be integrating Facebook public updates into Bing’s search results.Fourth, search Twitter. You currently can search Twitter for real-time results (if you’re not logged in, just go to Twitter’s homepage). One easy way to monitor conversations about your company is to search for your company’s name. You can also currently do this on Bing, which is indexing Twitter updates. Very soon, you’ll also be able to search Twitter updates (and other social media content) via Google’s Social Search (Social Search was rolled outto Google Labs recently, as an experimental product). You can also use Twitter clients like TweetDeck or Seesmic to save searches and monitor in real-time whenever someone uses a specific word or phrase in a tweet.Finally, take advantage of services that will, similar to Google Alerts, push data to you. I use and like BackType, which is a real-time search engine that indexes online conversations in thousands of blogs and social networks. I use BackType primarily to keep up with conversations in blogs. Every day, I receive emails from BackType with links to comments that include the keywords I’m monitoring. Without these alerts, I would be unable to monitor so many blogs, and my ability to respond to posts about my company would be very limited.Advanced Strategy: If you’re having trouble keeping track of your various search strategies, you should consolidate your efforts and leverage one of the many applications that will help you monitor the social web. I have not personally used these services, but they appear to be held in high esteem by knowledgeable people who have. For example, truVOICEprovides keyword monitoring of the social web with an emphasis on blogs and forums, while Radian6pulls in a lot of information from the social web, analyzes it, and provides consumer sentiment ratings for your brand. A good resource to learn about paid social media monitoring tools is Mashable’s post Top 10 Reputation Tracking Tools Worth Paying For.In addition to monitoring, you’ll need to decide how, when, and where you’ll engage in conversations. It’ll be very difficult for you to engage in conversations everywhere, so you should spend some time learning the various networks and deciding where you should focus your efforts. Looking at your website analytics data — if you own an online business — will help a great deal because it’ll help you to better understand where your traffic is coming from. If much of your traffic originates from Twitter and Facebook, for example, you’ll want to spend more time on those services.8. MultimediaMultimedia(video, photos, audio) is a bit more complicated for many small businesses to execute, but can provide excellent social media marketing opportunities.Basic Strategy: YouTubehas been constantly evolving and adding features that make it an attractive social site for small businesses. Although you don’t have to produce videos to participate on YouTube, you should consider whether simple videos can help your marketing efforts. For example, if you’re already posting videos to your blog, you can upload them to YouTube to reach a broader audience, and embed the video content in your blog posts. YouTube has also been adding more comprehensive activity updates for its users and has made pretty powerful analytics tools available so that you can evaluate the effectiveness of your video content. Similarly, you could start a Flickraccount for your business and post photos of your customers or your products (or both). Flickr offers a place where people can share photos with others, but also has discussion groups, many focused on local markets, that offer additional opportunities for you to market your business. You can also consider setting up your own Internet radio talk show using BlogTalkRadio, which is another way to use multimedia to speak directly to your customers. Get creative with it — own a restaurant? Start a call-in show for people to ask cooking questions. Are you a piano teacher? Perhaps you could start a show to talk about classical music.Advanced Strategy: Advanced strategies using multimedia are complicated and typically benefit from using experienced consultants. One effective way to leverage video, for example, is to create content that has the potential to become viral. While I don’t believe you can set out to make a viral video (an incredible amount of luck is typically involved), there are a number of things you can typically do to build awareness about your small business using viral video (these strategies are beyond the scope of this post). Once you’ve created good content, you’ll want to distribute it using as many social networks as you can.When you consider how you can leverage social networks, think about whether each network provides an audience or a technology solution (or both). For example, YouTube provides both a huge audience and a solution for uploading video files. Flickr can also provide both an audience and a technology solution, but not for every business. While your customers might not be on Flickr, you can still use Flickr as a place to store and tag your photos, and then distribute those photos to other social networks where you prefer to invest more time and effort.9. Maintain Brand ConsistencyWe’ve discussed only a small handful of social networks. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of others, and new ones spring up every day. That means that your customers will have many different ways to find you. But they won’t find you if your brand is scattered across social networks using different usernames and profiles. Let’s review some strategies for making sure that your brand is consistent across social networks.Basic Strategy: Usernames and user profiles are already showing up in search results. Do a search for your company’s name on Google right now — if you also have a Twitter account with the same name, odds are pretty good that the Twitter account will appear very high in the search results. This means that having a consistent username across the various social networks is very important. At a minimum, if you haven’t registered your company name on the major networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), you should do that today. For many small businesses, their user accounts on social networks will be the highest ranked pages in search results.You should also evaluate your email and web presence strategies. For example, are you using a Gmail email address when you can very easily be using a custom email address with your company name as your domain? Compare: restaurantname@gmail.com with john@restaurantname.com — which looks more professional? Similarly, are you hosting your blog at WordPress.com instead of on your own custom domain? Little details can make a difference.Advanced Strategy: Things get a bit more complicated when you consider that there are many different social networks, and it’s tough to predict which of them will become popular and which will fail. Use a service such as namechkor KnowEmto see whether your username is available on dozens of popular social networks and if it’s not, to see which username could be registered across all social networks.Maintaining name consistency is important, but isn’t enough by itself. You’ll also want to make sure that your brand speaks with a common “voice” across the social networks. This may be easier said than done. Social networks differ in significant ways from one another and present unique challenges for interacting with customers and potential customers on those networks.Speaking with a common “voice” doesn’t mean that only one person should execute your company’s social media marketing strategy, but it does mean that everyone who speaks on behalf of your company in social media reflects your brand in a consistent way. I recommend you read Shel Israel’s recently published book “Twitterville,” for excellent tips and stories focusing on how large and small businesses can develop a consistent voice in social media.10. Leverage Combinations of Social Media ToolsOne of the best ways for small businesses to leverage social media marketing is to use various social networks in combination with each other.Basic Strategy: At a minimum, you should do several things today to cross-market across the various social networks you’re most likely already using. Here are three suggestions:First, connect your Twitter account to Facebookso that your tweets will appear in your public updates on Facebook. This will let you leverage your time on Twitter to also update your Facebook fans.Second, connect your LinkedIn profile to your WordPress blog. LinkedIn allows you to publish, in your profile, synopses of the most recent blog posts on your blog. This application will automatically update your LinkedIn profile with your most recent blog posts.Third, integrate Twitter tools into your blog. I like and use the TweetMeme retweet buttonon my blogs to make it easier for users to tweet about the blog posts. I also use the ShareThistool to enable readers to quickly share content on multiple social networks.Advanced Strategy: Advanced strategies require careful planning/execution and appropriate tools. In nearly all cases, your goal is to maximize the value of your content. For example, if you’re posting videos on YouTube or Vimeo, you can blog about those videos on your company’s blog. Then, you can tweet about the blog posts on Twitter (which I assume is integrated with your Facebook account). This way, you’ve taken one piece of content and found a way to leverage it across multiple social networks.You’ll also want to consider ways that you can optimize the distribution to multiple social networks at the same time. Leverage tools to help you do this. For example, Ping.fmlets you update multiple social networks all in one go. Keep in mind that not all social networks will make sense for every business. Learn which networks are best for your business and find ways to leverage combinations of those networks to make your marketing more effective.ConclusionSocial media marketing can be a phenomenal marketing channel for small businesses. I hope that the strategies I’ve outlined above provide a starting point for you to explore how you can leverage social media marketing for your small business. And if you have additional resources to share or other helpful advice that’s worked for your small business (or thoughts about things to avoid), please take a minute and leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.More business resources from Mashable:- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Business- Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them- 10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small BusinessImage courtesy of iStockphoto, studiovisionReviews: Bing, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Gmail, Google, Google Analytics, LinkedIn, Mashable, Namechk, Ping.Fm, Posterous, Seesmic, TweetDeck, Tweetmeme, Twitter, Vimeo, WordPress, Yelp, YouTube, iStockphoto, tweetieTags: business, List, Lists, small business, social media
If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists sectiongathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Successand How to Find a Job on Twitter.But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boardsare a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:Mashable Job Board ListingsAssociate Account Executive at IMRE LLCin Sparks, MD.IMRE, a full-service marketing agency located in Sparks, MD is seeking a full time Associate Account Executive for our Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing services team. The opportunity involves working with account teams to research and implement strategic campaigns for clients in home and building, financial services and healthcare. These campaigns could include the following tactics: blog/forum administration, social networking marketing, and ambassador and loyalist program development. Read more about this opportunity here. Digital Publicist at Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, MD.The digital publicist will: work closely with Discovery’s PR and Marketing teams to implement digital strategies for program promotables, which includes creating, distributing, pitching and placing media stories, materials and video; creating content and strategies for social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook; monitoring commentary re: Discovery properties and talent on online social networks, key blogs and forums; creating and executing digital reporting across the network.Read more about this opportunity here. Social Media Paid Intern at in New York, NY.Safari Sundays is looking to staff up our Organic Media team with a couple of Social Media interns. We have a number of interesting projects in the works, and need help managing the social aspects of our campaigns on a daily basis. Read more about this opportunity here. Office Sheriff at kgbwebin New York, NY.kgbweb is looking for an Office Sheriff to join our phenomenal and growing team. This is an ideal position for someone looking to work in a start-up environment.Read more about this opportunity here. Interactive/Digital Marketing Consultant at L’Oreal USA in New York, NY.A beauty industry giant is seeking a full-time interactive marketing strategist to developing strategies and manage day-to-day execution of digital marketing programs for professional haircare brands.Read more about this opportunity here. Digital Marketing Manager at Red Bull North Americain Santa Monica, CA.Act as social media leader on the RBNA digital marketing team. Cultivate and expand Red Bull’s use of social media as a communications channel across Red Bull stakeholder groups including consumers, employees, and partners. Assist cross-functional partners in applying social technologies and tools to achieve marketing and communications objectives. And more.Read more about this opportunity here. Weekend Web Producer at CBS Radio in New York, NY.Are you a news junkie who craves local news? Do you receive breaking news updates on every mobile device you own? Are you a pro at creating sticky Web content? Can you spot a typo from a mile away? Do you dream in headlines? If you said yes to the above questions, you’re off to a good start! 1010 WINS is looking for a Weekend Web producer to post content to our all news, award-winning Web sites 1010wins.com, and WCBS880.com.Read more about this opportunity here. Marketing Communications Associate at simplehumanin Torrance, CA.Are you a simplehuman? Do you want to be? Our mission is to create “tools for efficient living” for the home. Our products are designed to help make everyday chores just a little bit easier and more efficient. How we talk about our products, who we are and what we do is the focus of this position.Read more about this opportunity here. Account Executive – WOM Services at IMREin Sparks, MD.IMRE, an agency of marketing experts in the Healthcare, Home & Building and Financial Services industries, is seeking an experienced account executive to join our team in Sparks, MD. Position will manage word of mouth/social media projects and use their tactical mastery of social media tools including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, blogs, forums, etc to identify and reach the key target audiences of our home and building clients.Read more about this opportunity here. Social Media Online Community Manager at Bronx High School of Science Alumni Association in Bronx, NY.The Online Community Manager will be in charge of the main marketing efforts for the community (including social/viral marketing, email marketing and more), maintaining a live and active relationship with contributors and Alumni Association Board Members, and managing various aspects of content on the website.Read more about this opportunity here. WebPR/Social Media/Blogger Person at a confidential company in Stamford, CT.We need a person that understands what it takes not only to write in a compelling way that stands out, but also understands and has proven ability to get content referenced and linked to by other bloggers, news outlets, journalist etc.Read more about this opportunity here. Backend Lead Web Developer at isocketin Burlingame, CA.isocket is looking for a few people to lead the development of our web application. We’re a funded pair of devoted and experienced entrepreneurs looking to expand our team of two. We’ve got a successful product in private beta testing with hundreds of people waiting for an invitation. We need people who are going to help us move faster, run better, and grow stronger.Read more about this opportunity here. Front End Web Developer at The Motley Foolin Alexandria, VA.The Front End Web Developer collaborates with User Experience Designers and Software Developers to build all manner of well-crafted, forward looking things, using modern standards-based techniques and best practices. Lead technical decisions relating to front end code, including CSS, XHTML, and OO JavaScript, and keep the ASP.NET software developers honest with respect to the front end. Read more about this opportunity here. Regional Sales Director at New Media Strategiesin Chicago, IL.New Media Strategies (NMS) the industry pioneer & global Leader in social media marketing and intelligence is seeking a driven, senior level sales & business development professional to serve as Regional Sales Director, Midwest. The qualified candidate will be based in Chicago and have 10 years sales experience in social media, online advertising or related field. Read more about this opportunity here. Director of Web Services at Theatre Communications Groupin New York, NY.Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, seeks a director of web services. This position reports to the director of advancement and is an integral member of TCG’s external relations team along with development, marketing, membership, advocacy and PR.Read more about thisopportunity here. Web Developer at Smarter Social Mediain Santa Monica, CA.We need a web developer to work full time on internal projects as well as client projects. We are a digital marketing agency, specializing in social media marketing. Dynamic work environment. Self starters and people that think out the box is what we are looking for.Read more about this opportunity here. Sr. Digital Media Specialist at MWW Groupin New York, NY.The Sr. Digital Media Specialist provides effective social media programs and assures they are managed for client satisfaction and agency profitability, recognizes and pursues growth opportunities on the accounts for which he/she is assigned and participates in new business pitches for prospective clients, providing a social media perspective and expertise, and solutions, and provides leadership, training and development for those reporting to him/her and social media training to internal account teams.Read more about this opportunity here. Community Manager at Warner Bros. Records in Burbank, CA.The Community Manager oversees a variety of fan communities – including social networks, blogs, band websites, and E-teams – for a diverse roster of artists. The community manager is responsible for setting, maintaining, and achieving specific and actionable goals, including revenue, traffic, and engagement. You are the eyes and ears of the artist and the company in and among the fans: you know how they think, how they act, and more importantly you are able to measure and analyze these patterns. You must have a firm grasp of fan motivation, marketing, and the nuances of the music industry in the digital age. Read more about this opportunity here. Web Front End Engineer at Simply Hiredin Mountain View, CA.You’ll create slick and fast front-ends for our consumer site, partner portals, and monetization system using your sophisticated knowledge of XHTML, CSS, Javascript, and the DOM; work closely with our product management team and architect to create new user experiences which really engage our users, create new applications in PHP which expose our core infrastructure in new and exciting ways, and constantly factor and re-factor your code for reusability, repeatability, and maintainability.Read more about this opportunity here. Inside Sales Representative at Simply Hiredin Mountain View, CA.Simply Ready for Opportunity? Got something to prove? Want to join an organization that is changing the world? Simply Hired wants you! We’re hiring competitive sales reps with 2-4 years of experience to help bring the Simply Hired message to hiring professionals all over the country. Read more about this opportunity here. Media Fellow at Digital Divide Datain Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Digital Divide Data (DDD) is looking for a passionate, driven individual to help us build our online presence and implement our social media strategy. This is an exciting opportunity to live in Southeast Asia, work with an internationally acclaimed social enterprise and lead a vital initiative. The primary function of this job will be to understand our organization and make the DDD story accessible and compelling for the global online audience.Read more about this opportunity here. Digital Marketing and Sales Director at WiseCampus.comin Indianapolis, IN.The Digital Marketing & Sales Director will achieve growth by identifying new and existing business opportunities and developing digital strategies. This position is designed to further our mission by developing and managing the online communications and sales strategies for WiseCampus. You will also take on the responsibility of running the department, so your position will also involve a mix of duties…Read more about this opportunity here. Lead Engineer, Email and Communications at Synacorin Buffalo, NY.We are seeking a Lead Engineer, Email & Communications, for Synacor’s email and messaging line of products. You’ll lead the software development team on Synacor’s email and messaging products. Own technical design, development, documentation, and maintenance for this product line, provide technical input to Product Managers, review product requirement documents, create functional specifications and software design, determine and execute the development schedule, and effectively communicate task progress, analysis, recommendations, and schedules to a variety of Synacor’s customers, ranging from senior managers to other technical staff.Read more about this opportunity here. Director, Buzz Builder Network at in New York.The job I am looking to hire you for is the Director of our Buzz Builder Network—which is the foundation of our business. One mission of theKbuzz is to have THE MOST COMPETITIVE AND VALUABLE internship program in the entire world. You would be in charge of that program—which runs four cities deep with tremendous potential. I’m basically entrusting you with an entire department of my business, and so, I’m pretty scared to hire you, unless I’m completely convinced that you are THE ONE.Read more about this opportunity here. Software Engineer at LeapFILEin Newark, CA.We are looking for top engineers who are driven by delivering innovative new products in a fast paced, agile environment. Our engineering team is passionate, pioneering, hard working and is the heart of this company. If you get excited by new complex engineering challenges and if you appreciate hard-core forefront technology, then come join our team. Our new product awaits your awesome, hardcore engineering skills!Read more about this opportunity here. Online Marketer at Massifyin New York, NY.The Online Marketing Associate will be responsible for all online marketing activities, aggregating demand for a diverse set of products across two target markets. You will be highly analytical, responsible for day-to-day execution of ad placements across online marketing channels including search engines, blogs, and social networks. The successful candidate will have primary ownership of A/B and multivariate testing of different messages, keywords, creative, and landing pages, as well as providing key input into relevant creative development. You will be deep in the optimization of CPC, CPM, and CPA campaigns across these media, placing, changing, and terminating different campaigns on a real-time basis to generate measurable returns. Read more about this opportunity here. Social Media Specialist at a confidential company in New York City.We are looking for smart and experienced marketing professionals to serve as Social Media Specialists for our clients in New York City. Our clients range from ad agencies to entertainment, fashion to financial, boutique to global companies. Read more about this opportunity here. Web Content Editor at Yeshiva University in New York, NY.What is the best way to tell a story online? Yeshiva University’s (YU) Interactive Media Team is looking for a Senior Web Content Producer to help us translate the richness and vitality of this amazing institution onto the web. As we conduct a full-scope website redesign, help us implement the university’s online message by acquiring, creating and/or managing on-line content: including text, images, animation, audio, and video…Read more about this opportunity here. Software Development Engineer at RealNetworksin Seattle, WA.Software engineer working on advanced social network game titles. The engineer will produce code for game content, interactivity, user-interface, web sites, and any related work required for game development. Position requires professional Java/JSP, XML, and SQL skills, and superlative programming talent.Read more about this opportunity here. Art Director at RealNetworksin Seattle, WA.We’re looking for an Art Director to manage the visual design staff and contractors, providing assets for the development of multi-player socially networked games. The Art Director will be responsible for documenting and scheduling asset development, managing a hybrid in-house/contractor talent pool, assigning tasks to art staff, and ensuring overall content quality. The Art Director will work closely with game designers, producers, programmers, artists, sound designers, testers, and other key members within GameHouse and RealArcade.Read more about this opportunity here. Software Development Engineer at RealNetworksin Seattle, WA.The international leader in casual games is looking for talented individuals that know how to have fun and make fun. If you can’t separate your passion for entertainment from your drive for excellence, you belong with us.Read more about this opportunity here. Director of Marketing at Bizmore in San Francisco, CA.We’re moving fast and have a team of super passionate, smart people who pride themselves on exceptional quality work. Our office environment is creative, collaborative and a lot of fun, so if you’re a marketing professional with a passion for social media, online marketing and growing an online audience of business users, read on.Read more about this opportunity here. Social Media Intern at Brickhouse Securityin New York City.BrickHouse Security is looking for a Social Media/Marketing intern to join our team in the spring of 2010. This internship is very writing intensive, and students enthusiastic about PR, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blog), Marketing, and/or Journalism are encouraged to apply.Read more about this opportunity here. Legal News Blogger at FindLawin Sunnyvale, CA.We are looking for a writer to develop blog posts and related content in the areas of legal news and information. This position will be based on our Sunnyvale, CA office, with the possibility of telecommuting for a portion of the workweek. This is a full-time contract position. Read more about this opportunity here. Full Time Paid Social Media Intern at Vivrein New York City.Luxury fashion, home décor and lifestyle brand Vivre (Vivre.com) seeks a multi-tasking social-media-obsessed full-time intern for a paid position.Read more about this opportunity here. Graphic Designer at Simply Hiredin Mountain View, CA.Are you a designer with a flair for bringing fun to marketing materials? Do you enjoy working with various mediums from producing banner ads to brochures to booth graphics? We’re looking for a graphic designer to help execute the company’s creative vision and brand. You will be responsible for producing a cohesive look for the Company that will be the talk of the town …Read more about this opportunity here. Mashable has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development, and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at Mashable’s Job Board.Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a jobto Mashable today ($50 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).Reviews: Facebook, LinkedIn, Mashable, PHP, Twitter, YouTube, bizmore, blogTags: careers, jobs, mashable
What’s better than iPhone soapor a human-sized fully-functional iPhone Halloween costume? How about a humongous iPhone wedding cake, with apps you can actually eat?Although we didn’t get to taste it ourselves, the iPhone wedding cake, made by Charm City cakes for Jerry Brito’s May wedding, is one of the most incredible displays of real-life Apple adoration we’ve ever seen.We’ve included a few of the pictures of the remarkable cake below so you can see for yourself just how realistic the iPhone cake is to its much smaller muse. Everything from the AT&T moniker in the upper left-hand corner, to the volume controls, battery life indicator, and headphone jack is simulated with frosting that we hope tastes as great as it looks. We’re pretty sure this cake will inspire other Mac fans to copy the idea for their own weddings.iPhone Wedding Cake Photos[via TUAW]Tags: iphone, iphone wedding cake
GeoCities may have been a relic from the 90s, but to many it was and still is an important online place for their user-created communities and memories.The Yahoo-owned service officially shutdownearlier this week, but one determined and caffeinated individual set out to save GeoCities content, with help from friends, in just six days.The project, dubbed ReoCitieswas an adventure to recover and restore GeoCities pages prior to the October 26th shutdown date set by Yahoo. While not everything has been recovered, there is a fairly substantial collectionof cities, neighborhoods, and houses that have been saved, or are in the process of being restored.You can read about the entire massive undertakingon the Reocities site. The detailed account describes how the project came to be, and how it evolved from just one fan’s desire to save the Silicon Valley area of GeoCities to a full on GeoCities restoration effort.Here’s a brief excerpt from day two of the endeavor:“The 10,000 directories per neighborhood scheme worked well for GeoCities: with only 721 such Neighborhoods, a maximum of 7 210 000 accounts could be stored. But because not all of those accounts exist, and because not all are interlinked, the scheme would fail miserably if used to back up geocities.com. All you would get is the top level directories, and even then, only those that are linked. A Wikipedia article on GeoCities listed the top level directories (except for a few), so at least that gave me something to go on.In a few minutes, on my backup machine, which has a fair bit of storage capacity, I had up and running a first script to randomly poke possible accounts to see if they were live. After a few minutes of 404s, the first accounts were hit, and fortunately, plenty of them were linking to other accounts. At this point, I was pulling about 10 Mb/s out of GeoCities. That may seem a lot, but if you take into account that there were only a few days left, it was a real problem.”The story is not without rise and fall and a climax with issues around time constraints and technical errors. Ultimately though, ReoCities was born and it’s likely to make the diehard GeoCities fans, who adored their pages until the very end, incredibly happy. Color us impressed.Image from opaissonon FlickrReviews: FlickrTags: geocities, reocities
Socializing around the music you like on Pandora just got easier with Twitter and Facebook share buttons. Added right inline with the transport controls at the top of the main interface are now easy-to-use Twitter and Facebook sharing icons along with share by email and gift a station to a friend buttons.Simply click either button to post the track or the entire station to your Twitter feed or Facebook Wall. The first time you use either button you’ll be prompted to connect with the relevant service via OAuth or Facebook Connect, respectively.As Pandora says on its blog, this feature completes the triumvirate of discover, buy, and share we tend to want to do with the music we love. Being one-click away from sharing what we’re listening to definitely adds to the Pandoraexperience. However, the buttons haven’t yet made their way into the Pandora One desktop app, which would be great to see eventually. With this sharing focused update, the “gift a station to a friend” feature has also been moved to the foreground — something to keep in your back pocket as a unique and low-cost gift idea for your music-loving friends and family. Do you use Pandora? Have you or will you be using the social sharing features? Let us know.Reviews: Pandora, TwitterTags: facebook, music, pandora, twitter
