If business need a reason to invest in social networking then look at this fact

“According to Brand Reputation, 84% of the consumers they surveyed are more likely to look for online product reviews than they were just a year ago”

That fact is powerful enough as you realise that Google is your primary advertising tool but then if you add

“And those who have had a negative experience are five times as likely to tell their friends”

I often come across people who believe that investment in social networking and social media is just one big waste of time….I suppose they also believe what people say about their business is not important either?

Post from: EveryJoe

Why Networking is Good for your Business

Therefore I was intrigued to see a Europa press release regarding the trading between EU nations.

Just look at this phrase “only 7% of people shop online cross border. Although 50 percent of European retailers are online, only 21% sell in other Member States.”

The online tests showed that “the transaction was blocked 6 times out of 10. In the case of some computer and electronic equipment the failure rate reached 8 times out of 10. Only two countries (Spain and Austria) exhibited success rates slightly above 50%. Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Belgium are the countries where attempts at purchasing cross border were most likely to fail.”

These findings were amazing for me as you would surely have expected a much higher degree of consumer engagement across the large trading bloc of the European Union? Maybe it shows that language remains the barrier not necessarily geography?

Post from: EveryJoe

Online Shopping Across Borders

• More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

• One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.

• Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, the IT services and technology company who commissioned the survey, said the true cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the £1.38bn estimate.

What makes me smile about surveys like that, is that they only look at social networking as a time waster not as a value producer. There is an assumption that time spent is time wasted….yet I know for instance that I use Twitter to help answer questions, almost like a free consultant. I also know that I find talent through Twitter. I also know that social networking has a motivational factor which cannot be measured…..

My feeling remains that social networking only moves from value adding to time wasting when people are badly managed and disengaged with their workforce in the first place!

Post from: EveryJoe

Does Twitter Really Cost Business?

Jason Small presents Top Facebook Fan Pages: 25 Most Fanned Pages posted at Social Media and The Big W, saying, “A review of the top 25 Facebook Fan Pages produced by businesses with insight into the best practices used.”

Anna presents Who is at the centre of your world? posted at The Engaging Brand

Rick Sincere presents Exposing the ‘Twitter Gap’ posted at Rick Sincere News and Thoughts.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents The Price Of Facebook Friendship posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Neal Schaffer presents 25 LinkedIn Etiquette Tips to Ponder ? Revisiting ?What is Your Favorite LinkedIn Pet Peeve?? posted at Windmill Networking, saying, “Social networking advice for navigating LinkedIn.”

Kaitlyn cole presents 100 Must-Read Blog Posts for Networking in a New Age | Online Colleges posted at Online Colleges.net.

Angela Martin presents 100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom posted at Online Colleges.org.

Jason Small presents Build a potentially viral Twitter campaign in less than 5 minutes posted at Social Media and The Big W, saying, “An excellent review of a fantastic resource that can help you develop a viral Twitter campaign.”

Mariano DiFabio presents Find New Prospects with Twitter Search posted at The Web and You, saying, “Twitter search is a very useful tool to connect with people who would otherwise be lost to you. As a prospecting tool, it has a lot of potential for your business. Read about our experience with it in this week’s post.”

Suzanne presents Social Notworking? Not for me. posted at Without Dash.

Andy Hayes presents One Size Fits All posted at Travel Online Partners (TOP), saying, “Are you taking a one-size-fits all approach to social networking? Or are you crafting a strategy that is moulded just for you?”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

Post from: EveryJoe

Carnival of Social Media

Trust

I have often thought it is almost intangible…..something that you can feel in their presence and yet you couldn’t describe in its entirety.

I was lucky enough to speak to Vanessa Hall about trust and The Truth About Trust in Business on the latest Engaging Brand podcast and it is worth checking out her thoughts on how to become that trusted person……

Trust for me is about seeing the world from other people’s eyes……and looking not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them….then moving that thought from inside your mind to delivering that action to their mind’s door.

Trust is an outcome for me on delivering your promises – both the tangible promises made and the intangible promises made between friends.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Importance of Trust in Networking

At this point, despite being a big Twitter user I am still however someone who relies on Google search results rather than Twitter….but Google have announced that “we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data”

This is fab news as far as I am concerned as Google remains my favourite search engine and Twitter my preferred social search…now I have the best of both worlds. Recommendations based on algorithms and hopefully ones based on human preference too…..

Post from: EveryJoe

Google Adds Twitter to Search

Facebook describes Giving Groups a Stronger Voice which is summarised as

• Revamping the design for Groups so that they look similar to other parts of the site such as profiles and Pages-groups will now have a Wall that summarizes all the recent activities of people within the group and a Publisher that enables members to share their content.
• Second, group activities, which previously only appeared in the group, will now be delivered to your News Feed. … you only will see stories when one of your friends posts within a group rather than when all members post.

• Interacting with Groups will become easier since you can follow the links to the content directly from the News Feed stories or make comments on these stories directly from your home page.
• You can choose to see only group-related stories on your home page by sorting by Groups from the filters on the left-hand side.

All of these changes make sense to me and especially the updates to the news feeds which will help to promote discussion within the groups. The key distinction between pages and groups remains the former is a way to broadcast out, groups are a way to discuss…..and these changes have just made the latter so much easier.

Post from: EveryJoe

Facebook Groups Facelift

Ning is the social networking platform

But also they have also announced that they will be offering virtual gifts very soon! What is interesting is their desire to fit the gifts to your network, to add value if you like to the network rather than just be a pure gift…they describe virtual gifts

“will give your members another way to meet and develop relationships with each other…..it’s designed to meet the purpose and context of each Ning Network…..

This means if you run a Ning Network for people who love dancing, you’ll be able to create an original gift such as ballet shoes for your members to give to each other. If your Ning Network is all about sneakers, create your perfect pair and offer them as an exclusive gift on your Ning Network. On top of that, you’ll be able to feature and remove individual gifts to make the Gift Store exactly right for your Ning Network.”

I think Ning is well worth checking out for people who want to have a branded social networking solution and for anyone who hasn’t been back recently it is worth a visit!

Post from: EveryJoe

Ning the Evolving Social Network

For people like me who are always looking to save a cent, or penny or euro, or two! try Moo Cards. They are great value and so simple. Also today they announced enhancements to Minicards. They have announced

“There’s now the option to choose from a bigger range of fonts, colours and templates to personalise the ‘details side’ of your cards. We’ve also added the option to upload your own logo, or choose an icon from our brand new selection… you can now upload a full JPEG or PDF.”

While checking out these new features I also found this page which gives ideas on how people are using their cards which may help you.

For me there are 2 key factors

Be simple

AND

Show YOUR personality

I honestly think that the cards are a reflection of you, your brand and a reminder of your value…..it is not just a business card it is a little piece of you. That is why I love Moo…because you can make them you!!

Post from: EveryJoe

AMOOsing Business Cards

SVB presents Online Social Networking Mistakes That Can Break Your Career posted at The Digerati Life

Anna presents The Money is in the Simplicity not the Complexity posted at The Engaging Brand

Adam Pittaway presents Google hopes to ride a social-networking Wave posted at ngariman’s tidbits.

Carolyn Friedman presents Top 100 Graphic Design Blogs posted at Graphic Design Degrees, saying, “Got a creative mind, love of technology, and tons of ideas? Then graphic design might be for you. Learn more about this profession, along with thousands of insider tips, by taking a look at these top 100 graphic design blogs.”

Gin G. presents Video Parley posted at Sense Scribe, saying, “Learn to use the FREE video conference tools available online for business or personal use. Read more.”

Nigel S presents Facebook Security ? You are the Weakest Link posted at Seo by Swaby.

Anne Simone presents 50 Excellent Networks and Communities for Nurses posted at LPN to RN Blog.

Emily Moser presents Choosing a Smartphone, the Smart Way posted at Graphic Design Degrees, saying, “Smartphones are ruling the roost in the world of mobile phones, and you understand why this is so only if you own one of these nifty gizmos yourself. They’re like multiple gadgets rolled into one, technology that you absolutely cannot do without once you get used to it.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of social networking tips and tricks
using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

Post from: EveryJoe

Carnival of Social Media