See What You Search: Spezify Turns Search Results into Visual Gallery

You'll never "see" searches the same way again. Spezify is a visual search engine that gathers images, videos, tweets, and more into a high-level look at your search term.

Thanks to Firebelly Marketing for sharing.

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Diving Into Social Media

Nearly any brand can reach their customers using social media marketing. But there are questions to ask yourself and your team before engaging consumers and sparking a meaningful dialogue with them. Effectively using social media is a commitment; it’s an exercise in enthusiasm and requires a sincere desire to reach people. Before planning your strategy, have a conversation with your department:

Why are you interested in social media for your brand now? More specifically, do you have solidified goals? What are they?

If you want to insert new social media tactics in your marketing plan, be frank about your reasoning. If pressure from within your company is the only thing prompting this conversation, re-evaluate. Social media marketing should begin with a passion for your product and the goal of making your customers’ lives easier. Establish this as a goal first and set yourself up for success.

How much time does your staff have to devote? People drive social media, and it takes manpower to keep the online conversation vibrant. If you’re already stretched too thin, plan ahead. Carving out time for social media is well worth it - just kickoff your campaigns knowing these hours are essential.

Do you believe in your product? Authenticity is imperative. When you’re not confident about your product or services, it shows. Be a true evangelist and you will attract evangelists online. Not wholeheartedly passionate about what you’re marketing? Attempt to fix whatever is preventing you from delighting your customers before reaching out. The effort spent on the front end could prevent more headaches than you might think.

Do you love your product enough to send it out into the world? If you stand behind your product, you’ll know that when you send it out into the online world, it’ll hold its own in an environment where you don’t have a great deal of control.
Be ready for what can happen after you launch a social media effort. No matter how well prepared and how proud your team is of what you’re promoting, negative comments will arise. That’s the nature of the space. But if you’re willing to let those occasional comments happen, you’re positioning your company to possibly receive big-time payouts.

Have this heart-to-heart and you’ll be prepared. Once you feel good about engaging in social media, you’re ready to start the exciting process of planning your strategies. Read more about the process of planning your strategies at Social Media is Everywhere, Where Are You?

~Kara Martens

Comet Branding Radio Show with guest, Jason Weaver, CEO of Sway, Inc.

On Wednesday, June 17th Jason Weaver, CEO of Sway, Inc. chatted with Al Krueger and Sara Meaney on Comet Branding Radio Show

Listen to hear their discussion about where social media is going and how to make the most of it right now.

The Comet Branding Radio Show is dedicated to being a platform for sharing and discussing the progressive and evolving elements of branding, marketing, PR and social media with the people leading the charge. The show is hosted in Milwaukee by Al Krueger and Sara Meaney from Comet Branding.

Sway Inc & Sohobiztube.com Presents - DIY Social Media Workshop

Keynote: Rishi Shah, owner of Flyingcart.com and finalist of Business Week's Best Young Entrepreneur's in 2007.

Bring your laptop to this interactive, Social Media Strategy Workshop where by the end of the day, you will leave with your own draft of a social media strategy.

Presenters include:

Cindi Thompson of Fullhouse - Everything I learned about social media I learned in Kindergarten

CD Vann of Sohobiztube - Integrating traditional marketing strategies with social media marketing strategies

Scott Baitinger of Mader Communications - Social media tools, tactics, and strategies

Steve Glynn of Spreenkler - Monitoring your social media community

Barb Rozgonyi of Cory West Media - Business Blogging and PR

Jason Weaver of Sway Inc. - Social Media Marketing and Social Communities

WHEN: July 22, 2009, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tweet-up to follow from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

WHERE: Holiday Inn & Suites, 1109 Fourier Drive, Madison, WI

COST: $85 per person (includes continental breakfast, snacks and lunch)
$55 student discount (with student ID)

REGISTER TODAY

Sponsored by Sohobiztube.com and Sway Inc.

Sway's Tips for Identifying Influential Bloggers

Sway has written a Blog Outreach Guide for companies interested in doing a blog outreach initiative. Here is an excerpt from the Guide that indicates what to look for when vetting influential blogs/bloggers for your campaign:

1) The content of the blog matches your product or brand's niche.
2) The blog publishes frequent posts (a minimum of a couple times a week).
3) The blog receives high unique monthly traffic. (You can run the numbers at Compete.com.)
4) The length of stay of the visitor on the site (the longer the better). (Again, run the numbers at Compete.com.)
5) The average number of comments per post (the higher the better).
6) The size of the blog roll and types of sites the blog is linking out to. (A blog roll is a listing of blogs that the blog author reads or recommends--usually listed on the side of the blog.)
7) The number of link-backs to the site. (Run the numbers at Technorati or Alexa.)
8) The types and frequency of outbound links included in the blog posts.
9) Is the blog doing non-sponsored product reviews? The blogger should not be paid to post!
10) The types of advertisers on the blog. Advertisers should be appropriate for the content and readership of the blog.

Good luck vetting!

~Milissa Rick, VP of Online Insights

Social Media ROI: Part 1. Expand Your Sales Team With Social Media

Lately the social media conversation has been shifting from "what is social media?" to "can social media ROI be measured?" so I'm going to do a series of posts around measuring ROI with social media campaigns. I recently spoke at several Online Marketing Summit events and what I'm seeing is this: the people that get social media are at the events and they think it's a great addition to their marketing plans. What they need is help selling it to their higher ups. You know, the ones with the purse strings and checkbooks instead of Twitter feeds and Facebook pages.
Social Media Can Expand Your Sales Team. Without hiring one person, social media can help you get your message out. Take bloggers for instance. One blogger that writes about how great your product is has essentially given you access to their entire Rolodex (their network). If a blogger loves your restaurant, your security systems, or your travel site and writes a post about it, they have put your message into their words (product placement is going to be huge) and sent it to their readers who love and trust them. You haven't done anything wrong, just provided a great product that your fans want to write about.
You could have hired a salesperson to speak to 500 people they don't know about your travel site and had less success and paid a lot more to reach those 500 people. Maybe you would have had to place banner ads for a month to reach those 500 people, what would that have cost you?
I hesitate to call these brand advocates salespeople since they aren't employed by your company and aren't paid commission nor do they have to write about your product but they can very well bring in sales.
The same can be said about a well placed and relevant e-mail campaign that is forwarded to hundreds of friends or a community member that puts your "top 10 ways to...." article on their page.
Your job as a marketer is to supply all of these potential brand advocates with information that they can use. This is a win/win since the blogger or community member has engaging content to pass on and the brand wins because it has expanded it's sales reach without having to hire and train new salespeople.

~ Caitlin McCabe, Director of Social Media

Forrester: Interactive marketers stick to tried and true

Via Daily News Alert from BtoB Online:

Even though interactive marketers are sticking with tried-and-true tactics (such as e-mail and search) instead of investing dollars into emerging channels such as mobile and online video; there has been significant growth in one relatively new area.

That area is social media with 64% of respondents already investing in social applications such as podcasts, widgets, user-generated content and blogs, and another 22% expecting to do so within the next 12 months.

The survey, “Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch in 2009,” which polled 204 interactive marketing professionals online in March, found that more than 90% are clinging to direct response tactics such as e-mail and search. Meanwhile, spending on online video advertising is stagnant, with 66% of marketers involved, the same percentage as last year.

~Kristin Gritt, Online Insights Manager

Shoutlet Is Proud to Support TOMS Shoes

Shoutlet is a proud supporter of TOMS Shoes, an organization dedicated to providing shoes for children in need. With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One.

“When I first heard about TOMS Shoes, I immediately shared the TOMS Shoes Drop video with my employees and wanted to find a way to use our experience in social media to help spread their message,” said Jason Weaver, CEO of Sway Inc. and founder of Shoutlet, a comprehensive social media marketing tool that combines the most popular Web 2.0 formats into one easy-to-use application.

A Shoutlet RSS widget is currently being used on their MySpace page to scroll through a list of messages about ways people can support TOMS and their mission. The widget allows visitors to pass along the information to friends, family members and colleagues, as well as the ability to embed the widget on their own site and/or blog.

Check out TOMS MySpace page to see how YOU can get involved and join the One for One movement at http://www.myspace.com/tomsshoes, and help spread the word.

More About TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about.

More about Sway and Shoutlet
Sway, Inc. is a leading social media marketing company based in Madison, Wis. Founded in 2004, Sway executes highly targeted online marketing campaigns using its proprietary Web 2.0 marketing platform, Shoutlet®. Along with Shoutlet, Sway’s marketing research services and campaign management services assist companies seeking to reach customers through the latest social media marketing techniques. Learn more at swayonline.com or shoutlet.com.



~Kristin Gritt, Online Insights Manager

Social Sharing on Your Site

Allow your website visitors to share your content anywhere across the web by simply adding a Shoutlet share button on your webpages.

Visitors will instantly be able to share your content at the press of a button. It's easy and FREE.

~ Kristin Gritt, Online Insights Manager