The Biggest Stories: HuffPo Likes Me! Edition

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The Biggest Stories is a new feature on Social Pollination where I share information on the biggest stories in social media from that week. It’s a great place to catch up on the digital space if you’ve had a busy week!

Facebook

Wondering if all this social media stuff really works? New research from Rice University shows that Facebook Fan pages actually work as a marketing tool… when targeting Facebook users. Click through to read the results from the survey about local restaurant chain, Dessert Gallery.

Also, social media is proving to be an innovative way to conduct marketing research. Insider Facebook reports, “Lisa Zhang, a University of Waterloo student interning on Facebook’s data team, posted the Valentine’s Day note in which she said happiness of Facebook users was measured by analyzing positive and negative words in status updates as defined by it Gross National Happiness Index during one week in January.” The results? Married people are happier than people in a relationship, who are happier than single people. (Side note: Lisa Zhang’s job is the coolest. OR I’m a huge marketing nerd.)

Small Businesses

Small businesses are getting into the game of social media, according to MarketingCharts. “Social media adoption by small businesses doubled from 12% in 2008 to 24% in 2009. The biggest expectation small business owners have from social media is expanding external marketing and engagement, including identifying and attracting new customers, building brand awareness and staying engaged with customers.”

MarketingProfs also shares that SMBs are planning to build social media into their ad plans. “Nearly one-third (32%) of SMBs plan to use a page on a social networking site in the next year, and 39% plan to use customer-generated ratings or reviews on their website.”

If you are a small business reader, here is a great resource from Lee Odden of Online Marketing Blog about how to start a small business blog.

Gaining Exposure in Web 2.0

Mitch Joel from Six Pixels of Separation comments on how exposure is devalued as more people trade work for exposure rather than money. Excellent read if you are a blogger or business owner trying to figure out what the value of guest posting and followers on social media are. If you are interested in my thoughts on the question he posts at the end, “In one word, yes. At some point you have to charge for the work you are doing. I also try to consider ROI when I do guest blogging – for example, will I get exposed to a completely new set of people or will it be the same as my current blog? The former is worth the exposure, but after writing several times for the same publication, the latter posts’ value plummets in comparison to the first or second exposure.”

Getting Things Done

This doesn’t strictly deal with things I normally post on my blog, but I really love this post by Leo Babouta from Zen Habits about getting to completion on projects. He lays out 4 simple principles which could really be boiled down to one – keep projects small and get them out as quickly as possible. Iterate. While details are important, real-time allows for quick changes that make “getting it right the first time” much less valuable.

Also, like many who work in the digital space, I’m inundated with strangers who want to build relationships, and I can’t keep up. Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz urges us all to stop feeling guilty when we can’t realistically “build community” the way we are told to by top social media experts. I truly believe in building relationships NOT for the sake of self-promotion, but rather because both parties can offer great value to each other. Maybe that’s too transactional for some, but it certainly helps me get things done.

HuffPo Likes Me!

It’s always great to have your work recognized by the industry leaders. My post about Why I love Google Buzz was featured in an article written by Megan Berry of the Huffington Post this week. Read Google Buzz: Power Trumps Innovation to see it!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Tagged as: Blogging, facebook, Happiness, Huffington Post, IttyBiz, Leo Babouta, Mitch Joel, Naomi Dunford, Six Pixels of Separation, Small Businesses, social media, social media marketing, Zen Habits

{ 2 comments }

philsimonsystems February 21, 2010 at 6:21 am: This is a great post and I concur with your answer to Mitch's question. I used to blog for free for one site but, after maybe seven entries, realized that the squeeze wasn't worth the juice.

I now allow others to guest blog on my site precisely because they can reach a different audience. I don't have the unmitigated gall to ask others to regularly contribute to my site sans payment.
philsimonsystems February 21, 2010 at 1:21 pm: This is a great post and I concur with your answer to Mitch's question. I used to blog for free for one site but, after maybe seven entries, realized that the squeeze wasn't worth the juice.

I now allow others to guest blog on my site precisely because they can reach a different audience. I don't have the unmitigated gall to ask others to regularly contribute to my site sans payment.

Comments on this entry are closed.

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