Buzz.Yovia

Should you control social marketing? This is a question for many today because of different issues at hand. The biggest issue within this is the spam and irrelevant information that are being posted. Users are getting tired of clicking on pages that bring them to something of complete irrelevance. For example, although Facebook might have slightly less traffic than Myspace, they have created more value in their network by reducing the irrelevant links. Facebook’s network can be seen to many more closely nit and organized. Although Myspace is trying to head in this direction and cut back on this factor, their system and customer base is now use to this spam that is sometimes present. Ebay is heading in this direction on controlling social marketing and someways people are saying this can be seen as bad, but in reality I believe it is helping to increase the relevant information within their site. More importantly, this is helping ebay’s well known image of a unique marketplace for everyone to buy and sell. Like with many social networks such as Ebay people want to interact, but if it is full of junk and irrelevant information this could cause its social network to be a river hazards and people might not put their boat in the water.

It will be intresting to see how Ebay does in the next few years with social marketing. Will increasing their control hurt them or will it help to stimulate a better social network. Linking is crucial in a social network, but will cutting back on the links hurt them.  It will be interesting to see how controlling social marketing will play into effect. 

  By: Matt Hite

Intern

Yovia.com

The other day, I was involved in a rather heated, yet enlightening discussion with a dude who really hates marketing; and I don’t blame him. Here is an excerpt of one of his comments from our conversation:

“Yes, consumers want to be heard. They also want the option to NOT be annoyed by marketing. They want the option of not having to put up with marketers exploiting a medium meant for communication and turning it into one more TV commercial. Consumers should not have to spend time and effort to block marketers. Consumers do want a choice - given their druthers, most would choose to have no marketing at all.”

He was responding to a comment I made about consumers demanding to be heard online; and even as a marketer, I unequivocally agree with his assessment. In later comments, he said that he was tired of marketers like me just “talking about having conversations with consumers” and that there is way too much “talking about talking” and very little two-way communication. I agree.

A lot of marketers, including myself, talk the talk and rarely walk the walk. I often write about the need for marketers and brands to engage in “real” conversations with “real people” i.e. their customers; and I am sitting back asking myself … how the heck am I going to engage in such conversation on the internet?

It’s one thing to write about conversational marketing (and I know that some of you hate that term); but it’s another thing to actually do it. And, I agree that many marketers still don’t “get it”; and either don’t use social media as a conversational channel or use it to spam everyone. But there are some companies that realize the true value of conversations . Well, that leads me to my next point.

Are conversations really the holy grail of social media?

I think I may have been wrong with this one. Anyone can have conversations. Go to a used car lot and you will be bombarded with them the moment you step on the lot. Used car salesmen are some of the biggest spammers on the planet!

It’s the content of the conversation that is the core. It needs to be presented with a “real voice” and relevant to the other person. Isn’t that the true nature of human interaction?

Real voice, relevance = valuable conversations = trust = the beginning of a “real” relationship

Written by: Michelle Amos

The price of gas is skyrocketing. Which means companies need to reconsider there advertising options.

There is no doubt that there is an economic disruption out there and gas prices like this will force the consumer to spend more time at home.

Now that the average person is sacrificing 1 paycheck a month to Exxon, and the other to food, mortgage, and credit card debut the desire to fire up that engine to drive to the store for products that are increasing in cost due to transportation costs is highly unlikely.

People over the next few months or longer will be spending MUCH more time at home on their computer.  What does this mean?

It means huge opportunity for advertising agencies and marketing agencies that specialize on online marketing, and the necessity for social marketing.

Social marketing is changing the fundamental relationship with customers to be less about serving and more about collaborating. But customers who want to talk will and smart companies will not just listen but will engage them in decisions. This will have an impact not just on PR and image but also on product design, marketing, sales, and customer service. Jeff Jarvis

Israel Swanson

Community Development

YOVIA.com 

When building a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, it is very important to consider a number of factors like PageRank, keyword density, and backlinks. Social media optimization (SMO) works very closely with SEO. Many tactics for running successful campaigns benefit both. One of the main things Google suggests is to build content for your reader, not search engines, and build high-quality content. This benefits both SEO and SMO by giving your reader something interesting, which makes it more likely to be passed around. As it gets passed around, more backlinks are established benefiting PageRank and weight, key pieces in Google’s algorithm. High-quality content also benefits by adding keyword rich content to a site which helps increase relevancy to search terms, another big piece in the algorithm. If people begin talking about your content (i.e. posting your content on their site), the content benefits by the PageRank of their page. Social media optimization is a process by which viral growth is ignited by moving quality content past the initial negative inertia which prevents the success of most content and sites.

A great SMO tactic that benefits SEO is using a paid campaign to begin viral growth. If you are starting from scratch, then it is very easy to begin an SEO campaign, by using paid search to give yourself some traffic and a few links so that you will be indexed quickly. Sure that works, but try running a StumbleUpon campaign in addition to paid search. The one problem with paid search is if you start a campaign then stop your links disappear. When using something like SU you can begin the viral push, but more importantly, SU gives you links, permanent links. Every time someone thumbs up your content piece, you get a link placed in their profile. If they thumbs down your content, you get a link in their profile. When someone visits your site, you get a link in their profile. That’s about $.05, per backlink, even if no one likes your page, and as everyone knows, links are one of the big keys to SEO.

Mike Palmer
Analyst

May 21, 2008

Midweek buzz at Yovia…

• Top 10 Worst Celebrity Babysitters
• Lindsay Lohan Sued For Stealing Fur Coat!
• Microsoft Acquires Yahoo
• Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz Honeymoon in a Basement?
• The Official Princess Bride Movie Quiz
• The Bad Rap for Bananas

hdpublishinggroup.com: Our blog covers internet and affiliate marketing for entrepreneurs and small business owners. We talk about the tech industry and B2B marketing.

FindOut.net: Imagine a world where you control your own privacy…

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It is the VISION of Haley Picotte, owner and operator, to enrich the lives of her students through a lifelong appreciation of Music and practice of Yoga.

The Studios feature affordable classes that encourage participation by all members of a family and the community.

Classes are specialized to target students of different ages (0-65) and skill level.

May 16, 2008

Here’s how we’re ending the week around the Yovia network:

• Arm Exercises: Beat the Flab in 10 Minutes
• Relevance is King
• StumbleUpon Campaigns - Why Good Feedback is Important
• The Future of Social Networking

This week I read a few articles about how people see social marketing. One article said, “Social marketing, as with any marketing , is always going to be trial and error. However, with social marketing you can be a little more proactive in your approach by being a part of the social scene that you are trying to engage.” Another article I read stated, “marketers just don’t get the new technologies and the fundamental changes in the ways people interact with brands.” This led me to think about how as social marketers relevance is huge. You can’t talk to a young kid about something that would go right over his head. The message on what your focusing on is king in this aspect. For social marketers to get things right they must realize this and concentrate on their target audience. To engage these people you must put them and the message at the forefront. Your content needs to connect with the right audience, community, network, or etcetera where they are at other wise you could be talking to no one. You could be just wasting your time and money. 

By: Matt Hite
Intern
Yovia.com 

  http://thenextweb.org/2008/05/15/social-media-marketing-might-have-a-limited-future/
http://socialmarketingjournal.com/2008/05/15/should-you-spend-more-on-social-marketing/