I met her during my freshman year of college, though she was two years my senior. We’d exchange greetings when we passed in the dormitory hallways. Nine years later, we met again when we were assigned to the same tables at a local luncheon. She told me she worked in Internet Marketing, which I was quite excited to hear given that there was no marketing discipline taught at all in our alma mater.

We started talking about the last few years and our dreams for the years ahead. We then got into the nitty gritty of business. With Internet Marketing, there are many ways to go, from affiliate marketing to SEO to social media to email marketing. What was she doing? Her answer surprised me. Essentially, her focus was SEO, and her daily grind consisted of keyword stuffing clients’ websites.

Anyone who knows a good search engine optimization expert knows that keyword stuffing is not an approved tactic. Perhaps this is a fact that her agency overlooked, so as a good friend, I told her that it would be in her best interest to learn about approved tactics through the many free blogs, to engage in acceptable and informative (though not free) SEO training, and to read the best SEO book/training program (aff). Even though there is a cost for entry for some of the best resources, the solutions were highly worthwhile, I explained.

Over the next few months, I received multiple invites to various groups on Facebook and messages imploring me to participate in activities in which I had no interest. All social media etiquette rules were not heeded to. Rather recently, she told me that she had enough and was going to quit.

I was excited at the prospect that there might be some freedom for someone who was forced to clearly break every rule that was in the ethical Internet Marketing handbook. I suggested the same blogs and training courses and told her that she could potentially go out on her own and do her own thing after she learned the basics and knew how to apply them.  But first, I cautioned, “you must learn the material.  Your work environment didn’t allow you to do so.”

My friend ended up going out to do her own thing, offering “Internet Marketing services” to anyone who would bite. The instruction I gave her and resources I provided, though, were ignored. I am not afraid that she’ll find this blog post and know that she’s the subject of the story because I know she won’t. I’m honestly worried for her clients who are being cheated out of money and time.

A few weeks ago, another person connected with me on Facebook who was referred to me by a social media buddy I never actually met. “I am a relatively new internet marketer trying to break into the industry,” he wrote. “What are good companies to target? Should I learn a specific skillset?” Overall, the questions were basic and I worried that the individual was looking to target companies for clients before actually understanding the nuances of the culture of Internet marketing as a whole.

While this person’s intentions were more pure — I later learned that he was looking for agencies to target, rather than clients, and that he was willing to endure pain (learning) for ultimate gain (clients which would lead to money) — I began to worry that there are others out there like this college colleague of mine. There are others who sell internet marketing services who are ultimately clueless about changes in the industry that could ultimately amount to them not seeing any increased rankings or improved traffic. At all.

There Are Different Specialties in Internet Marketing

“What do you do for a living?” he asks.  ”I do Internet Marketing,” I say.

“Oh.”

If you’re involved at all in Internet Marketing, “oh” is not a suggested response. Internet marketing is a vast field.  There are different specialties to Internet Marketing. If you’re going to take “Internet Marketer” at face value, you’re being silly.  In the study of medicine, doctors have different specialties; Internet Marketing is no different.

If you’re a brand new Internet Marketer, choose a discipline and a niche that you can tackle head on and be successful at. You can’t do everything at once. Sure, a basic understanding of different Internet Marketing elements is fine, but it’s not practical to be everything to everyone. Here are just some concentrations you can explore:

• Search Engine Optimization:  Someone involved in search engine optimization is focused on building out websites in such a way to be understood by search engines (and by people).  A search engine optimization expert is usually focused on changing URL structure, optimizing title tags, and making code tweaks to a website to make sure the search engines find the site and the pages contained therein.
• Link Building: Part of a search engine marketing strategy includes the process of building relevant links to your website.  This often includes submissions to directories and contacting webmasters of related websites.
• Affiliate Marketing: Affiliates are individuals who market a particular product or service and who get paid commissions by a merchant when they make the sale.
• Pay Per Click Marketing: PPC is another search engine marketing strategy that utilizes contextual advertising; based on a search query or the content of a web page, ads will appear.  PPC requires understanding of keywords, having appropriate landing pages, and other factors.
• Social Media Marketing: In social media marketing, you are tasked with leveraging the social space through its media to market your products.
• Email Marketing: Email marketing relates to the promotion of products and services through e-mail.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing refers to writing relevant articles on your site (or having good site copy) that can bring awareness to your website property.

Most people that I know will excel in one discipline but have a working understanding of the others. If you know someone who is great at every single Internet Marketing discipline in the book, it’s likely too good to be true. If you’re studying Internet Marketing, learn everything you possibly can, but you’ll typically find an area you’re most comfortable in and end up going with it. For me, that’s social media marketing.

Get the Right Training Materials

Depending on the type of work you’re looking to do, your best bet is to learn everything you can on the subject matter. Some of the sites I recommend for educational materials include:

Free

• Sphinn: Sphinn is an Internet Marketing social news site.  Users submit timely news articles to Sphinn, and the community votes up the best stories to appear on the front page.  Normally, the front page consists of high quality content, though even the upcoming queue has good stuff that doesn’t always get promoted.
• There are hundreds of blogs on each specialty’s subject matter.  How do you find the signal through the noise, you ask? Find those who influence you, and then find out who they are engaging with. And read this post from Mat with some good suggestions.
• My top three forums include Cre8asite Forums, Webmaster World (which is mostly free but also has subscription-only discussions), and High Rankings Forum.

Paid

• SEO Book: SEO Book is the bible of search engine optimization.  Aaron Wall nailed it when he released his extremely informative PDF about a decade ago.  In the last few years, he moved his forever-changing content online in the format of members-only training guides and forums.  He also offers high quality tools, many of which are free.
• SEOmoz PRO: SEOmoz PRO features a rich library of informative guides, a myriad of tools, and a strong active and close-knit community.  If you’ve seen their free site and know what kind of great information is already provided, you can only imagine how much value is multiplied behind the pay wall.
• SEO Dojo: David Harry’s SEO program is the newest kid on the block, but it already has a very active group of members and engaging online discussions, in addition to easy-to-read training materials and video tutorials.
• Training Social: Samir Balwani has worked tirelessly to provide one of the most (the most?) comprehensive social media marketing training there is.  I highly recommend you follow his stuff.

If you like books, you should also check out Winning Results with Google AdWords, Pay Per Click Marketing, The New Community Rules (which was authored by yours truly), The Art of SEO, Search Engine Optimization, and Search Engine Optimization for Dummies.

Find the Right Agency to Work With

Unless you’ve been doing it for years, it’s never a good idea to go into Internet Marketing without an educational foundation. And most people won’t follow sound advice, instead eying dollar signs as soon as formal education ends.

If you’re serious about this kind of thing, beyond online training guides and books, you need to apply those skills.  Any educational experience in the work world, thus, will help bring you to the next level. Consider working at an agency, even in an internship capacity. Being able to work alongside the brightest minds in the industry can be extremely empowering. Having hands-on experience — the much-needed application of your learned skills — is incredible, especially when working alongside brilliant minds and analytical thinkers.

Every newbie should start working for someone before he embarks on the journey alone. Learning among the smartest in the industry is a sure-shot way to get ahead of most playing the same game.

Not All Agencies are Created Equal

As evidenced by the the story I provided in this article, not all agencies are competent. Keyword stuffing, for example, might have worked 5 years ago, but it’s not a successful tactic anymore.  If you’re about to start working for an agency, study it out before you actually work for it, because if you don’t, you might end up finding out that you’ve wasted years of your life learning the wrong strategies.

One of the easiest steps you can take is to look at their website.  The first thing I normally look at for “SEO” firms is to see if their canonical redirect is in place.  It’s one of the smallest things that can be done, but so many “SEO” firms, including the one I mentioned earlier in this article, actually don’t do it at all.  Also, check the website’s footer: are there keywords stuffed there?  If so, it might be a good idea to turn your back away from the opportunity.

Another thing you should do is to talk to people in the industry that you know to see if they can tell you anything about the company’s officers or about the company itself. If the right people have never heard of the company, that could mean that the company itself consists of self-proclaimed marketing experts who likely get websites banned from search engines rather than ranked higher.  It could also mean that the company is keeping a low profile,  so use the website check to see if the company is up to shady tactics not worth your investment — even if the job offer is there. (You never want to work for a company who has a bad reputation, especially if you plan to remain in this industry. Word travels.  If you’re already there, get out while you’re still ahead.)

It’s probably a good idea to step away from the agency if you find out that the tactics employed in the company don’t match what is taught in the training materials I recommended earlier.   These materials are written and maintained by real experts who know their material cold.  You can do better.

Going Off On Your Own

Only after you have spent at least 18 months to two years at a reputable company should you actually go at taking clients alone. Keep in mind that it’s not as easy as it seems. Doing the solo gig requires you to be the sales department, the financial and accounting department, the secretary, and the person you were hired to do: the marketer. You’re not only doing everything, but your salary is variable as you take and lose clients on a month-to-month basis.

If you’re choosing this path because you’re unhappy with your current company, look for another.  If you’re doing it because your freshman college friend is able to do so successfully, focus on the food on your own plate, Miss. If you’re ready to take on more responsibility, by all means, go ahead and do it.

Just don’t be the girl who leaves a company that wasn’t challenging you anyway — and then starts your own thing without the right educational foundation or skill-set. Be the student who mastered the subject through learning and application, and who eventually graduated to be the teacher. And keep in mind that the best teachers never stop learning either.

Internet Marketing Snake Oil

The Internet is rife with “experts,” but not all self-proclaimed gurus can actually deliver. A lot can talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk.  They might sound great on the phone,  but they might not be able to actually increase traffic to your website through search engine optimization.  They might not have any clue how to effectively manage your Pay Per Click campaign to actually increase leads.

Unfortunately, not all “clients” will be so savvy enough to know the difference between someone who knows his stuff and someone who doesn’t.  As such, when the marketing dollars they invested actually result in nothing, they call the entire practice a scam.  There will always be a few rotten apples who ruin it for the rest of hard working decent folk who are truly looking out for the entire industry.

Buyer beware.  If you or anyone you know is looking to engage in this practice, do yourself a favor and do due diligence before going with your expert.  Interview prospects.  Comparison shop.  Don’t just look for the cheapest option; it might be the worst.  (“You get what you pay for.”) Then again, the most expensive option might not be better.  High costs don’t always translate to better quality.

Don’t Be that Guy

Every single profession has “snake oil” salesmen. There are doctors who don’t really know how to practice medicine and teachers who don’t know how to teach. If you’re an Internet Marketer who genuinely wants to sell your services, consider being well-educated and well-rounded. Consider focusing on a specialty where you can excel — and know your stuff cold. It’s hard enough that there are con-men and scammers who bring the industry to shame, but if you care about the future of the profession, don’t.

There’s probably not a single one of you reading this who is that guy. However, you might have encountered individuals who want to be just like you but might be looking for a silver bullet. Give them the full truth. Let them know that this profession is real work, just like any other type of profession. If they want to protect the integrity of this profession’s future, they should consider being well-read.

For me, Internet Marketing is not just a profession but it’s a passion. I read books and blog posts on the subject not only to further my career but because I love what I’m doing and I want to feel empowered personally and professionally. If you’re like me, you’re in the right place. You understand that this kind of work comes easy, and that you were meant to do it. But someone might approaches you for direction despite the fact that they don’t have gusto to do the work and to learn the ropes. They might just try to cash in simply because they see that some other people can do so successfully, even though those are the people who consider this more than just work: it’s a lifestyle, and they had to climb a ladder to be where they are right now.

Those of you involved in Internet Marketing for a long time might have faced this dilemma. Be up front. This is a discipline and it’s not a walk in the park. Knowing the tools doesn’t make you an expert. Ignoring the tactics makes you even less qualified. Ignoring the paid (and free) learning materials makes you a failure.

Everyone needs to work for success. As your role is now of a mentor, be the guiding light.

[ Advice for a New Internet Marketer (or How to Spot Internet Marketing Snake Oil) is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

Did you know that New York City offers more opportunities than the standard tourist attractions? Did you know that there are other hotels beyond the Hyatts, the Hiltons, the Omnis, the Sheratons, and the Marriotts of the world in NYC? I know when my parents come to NYC, they go to what’s familiar. When you go to a conference in Manhattan, you probably seek out hotels that you’ve also heard of. Face it, it’s a competitive landscape out there, especially for tourists who flock to familiar names but perhaps do not realize that there are other options in the city. How does one small hotel possibly compete with these hotel franchises? Is it even possible?

We can say that it is. In fact, the Roger Smith Hotel did it quite successfully. Now known as the “social media hotel” of NYC, Roger Smith is attracting a really incredible bunch of people who have raved about the ambiance and the company’s approachability online. I spoke with Brian Simpson, Director of Social Hospitality, for more insights into how social media became an asset for Roger Smith, and I learned some great things. Brian Simpson is a cancer survivor and discovered Twitter in the spring of 2008 when he endured the grueling process of chemotherapy for a period of 7 months. Twitter, he says, “became my way of talking with a community of people.” He explains that “Twitter allowed me to be social without having to be IRL.” After he joined the Roger Smith staff (as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage), he helped spread Roger Smith Hotel’s amazing stories, including three years of archived video, across the social media space.

Thus, Roger Smith Hotel has made an impression on us through social media, particularly Twitter. Brian explains that he initially built up followers by searching for interests that were relevant to him as the individual performing outreach on behalf of Roger Smith. Once connected, he looked at their friends and followers to see if there was an opportunity to branch out and make new friends. He says, “The use of Twitter was mainly for the brevity and ability to drive traffic to our blog and booking site rogersmith.com. I really found the genuine ability to connect with people valuable and we have continued to use this as just one of many pieces of the funnel hopefully driving people to be more involved with us outside of just booking a room.”

Brian explains that “conversations are happening and it is up to me to either be part of them or not.” Part of this, for him, revolves around being approachable and building up relationships privately via direct messages or on the Twitter stream. He explains, “I listen and try to contribute where it matters most – I never sell… its about people and stories.”

Indeed. But Roger Smith’s story is only part of what we’ve seen in the social media space. Therefore, I asked some people for their impressions of the hotel. Joseph Jaffe, Chief Interrupter of Powered, Inc., said that without social media, there was “not a chance” that he’d have heard of Roger Smith Hotel. Similarly, my good friend Jonathan Fields, who is a NYC neighbor, said that it is “doubtful” that he’d have heard of Roger Smith Hotel if not for Twitter. I personally learned about Roger Smith Hotel at a social media conference and was told that it’s the place to be. The word of mouth has traveled, because Pamela Slim learned about the hotel from Jonathan.

Has it been a success? We think so! Pam says “I think their efforts are fantastically smart from a business perspective. Targeting an audience of social media heavyweights that frequently visit New York City is a really useful marketing strategy. It feels really good that they “get” the social media world and go out of their way to make you feel good for staying at their hotel. I was very motivated to tweet about the hotel when I was staying there, which can only help spur business from my followers.” Jaffe agrees, saying “I think their efforts are great; it’s almost a backchannel in of itself. Today, it appears every retail or business concern says ‘follow us on Twitter’ or ‘be our friend on Facebook.’ Roger Smith Hotel, through their bevy of ‘humans,’ actually participates. They go out of their way to welcome any social media-initiated guests in person. When I want to book, I just DM them and ask for the ’social media rate.’ I’m not even sure if this exists or not, but it makes me feel special. More importantly, they’ve created a go-to place or space for community. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, Amber Naslund and Chris Brogan were both there at the same time. This isn’t by coincidence.”

While I haven’t really gone for a night on the town, social media has given me a taste of what I’m missing. I’ve learned that Roger Smith Hotel is a boutique hotel with event rooms suitable for parties and workshops. It’s located central to Midtown Manhattan (Grand Central Terminal, perfect for out-of-towners!) and is a “homey and cutesy” hotel with “lots of character,” according to Jaffe. Pam says that she’s experienced great service and low prices (especially with their Twitter discounted rate) — and the “rooms were spacious” too. Apparently, according to Jonathan and Pam, they have great bacon. Jaffe plans to keep coming back and continues to recommend it to others.

Roger Smith has really penetrated a heavily saturated market, and they’ve done so with grace. Pam says it quite well, “Many businesses can learn from the RS Hotel to not just wait for business to come from regular channels, but to reach out to ideal clients who are also heavy social media users. If you court the right kind of people, you can bring waves of great business through your door, and make it really hard for someone else to break up a great business relationship. I have no reason to stay anywhere else when I come to New York, because it feels like my right place.”

That’s a great takeaway. Social media affords you a platform to reach out to people who, by virtue of being “connected online,” can help spread your message virally. As it stands, though, that platform is saturated. Taking advantage not only connecting with people but building relationships with them before selling. Selling should not even be a big part of the picture. At the end of the day, we know most people are active on social networks because they have some reason for being there (be it to make a sale or to establish authority, for example), but through your regular interactions, you need to recognize that these are byproducts of your genuine and authentic involvement. If you’re constantly broadcasting and not building bridges, your social media engagement will only travel so far.

Roger Smith Hotel also teaches us another thing: you should take advantage of your market by giving them opportunities exclusive to their communications channel. Both Pam and Joe talk about the social media/Twitter discount. It’s an “exclusive” opportunity to make members of a specific community feel valued by giving them discounts specific to this channel. Dell has been employing this tactic for years with much success. Add general relationship building to the mix — and aggressively work at it — and you have a recipe for success.

Brian explains that you really need to work at it and have the right mindset, and while you can continue to grow your follower base, having one true follower is really what’s most important. It’s not always about the quantity but about the quality. “Day 1 was all it took. Once we had one follower, I was happy. It has never been about the numbers but more about the people.” Of course, business is a result of that: “Our goal is not to drive sales; it’s to build a channel of people that believe in us as people first. The business tends to follow as people want to trust the people they do business with, and especially in challenging ecomonic times, the relationships become even more important.”

With so many advocates of the hotel, the Roger Smith Hotel way has really paid off. Building strong relationships is worthwhile to their business’s bottom line, but you need to jump in with your entire body. Brian says, “Be real and be patient. These are long term relationships that do not happen overnight. Respect and trust is earned. You cannot force or fake followerships. They will fail if you do.”

It’s true. Be real, be social, and be involved. If you are and if you work at it, the rest will follow.

[ How a Small New York City Hotel Put Itself on the Map through Social Media is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

A few weeks ago, I posted about the seven characteristics of highly effective online video. Taking this theme a little further, I decided to branch out into the blogosphere, but using the number seven this time around was a tad too limiting. There are at least ten characteristics off the top of my head that make blogs and bloggers successful. These characteristics give the blogs mentioned below fame, fortune, and loyal followings.

Want to build your blog and following? Here are some key ideas and takeways — as well as inspirational bloggers you might want to follow — who can help you realize that dream.

Consistency

If you want your blog to be recognized as a household name, you better be consistent at providing quality content on a regular basis. The most popular blogs, according to Technorati, maintain that consistency by posting more than once a day. Granted, these are typically publications that have a staff of writers at their disposal, but they are like the newspapers of the blogosphere and readers have come to expect frequent updates. Blogs like Mashable and Gizmodo offer a consistent stream of stories every single day.

Blogging numerous times daily isn’t necessarily a necessity for blogs just starting out, nor is it feasible for most blogs, especially those who don’t blog for a living but for a hobby. Bloggers like Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent, who don’t have a team of bloggers at arm’s length, offer content on a very regular basis (in Valeria’s case, 6 days a week). You don’t necessarily have to pump out content hourly or even every day, but if you want to be a successful blogger, you should try to stick to some sort of schedule. If your readers are expecting content from you weekly, you should deliver weekly content. If your readers expect content from you daily, skipping a day might cause worry or the decision to unsubscribe because neglected content may inadvertently translate to neglecting your readers too.

Eloquence

My three favorite bloggers are Brian Solis, Lisa Barone, and Adam Singer. Why? Because they write damn well. They always have something insightful to say, and it shows in every single blog post that they write. It’s pretty clear that their content exudes intelligence and occasional wit. They treat writing like an art and their art is viral. You can tell that you’re reading blog posts of brilliant writers. They’re that good.

For every post you write, take the time to proofread thoroughly. Would it be embarrassing for me to admit that I proofread every post I write 9-10 times on the low end? (This post has 53 post revisions, for the record.) It’s surprising to see how few people actually do it!

Want another tip on how to write well? Read a lot. Blog posts that are well written are well-received. By putting effort into the writing process, you reap the benefits of a community that supports you because you lift them through your words.

Uniqueness

Darren Rowse wrote a great post about how you can be a unique blogger. Here’s a hint: it requires not doing what everyone else does. There are so many blogs out there that regurgitate news, causing clutter in the blogosphere. Darren suggests having a memorable design, trying your hand at being a character (e.g. Fake Steve Jobs), and being a vault of resources (e.g. Smashing Magazine), among other things.

Search Engine Roundtable is an excellent example of a successful unique blog in a saturated market. This blog covers specific topics if and only if there’s discussion in a variety of internet marketing forums. The discussion has to be highly specialized and relate to search engines and it must not have originated in the blogosphere; typically, discussions are discovered at WebmasterWorld, High Rankings Forums, Cre8asite Forums, Digital Point Forums, or Sphinn. Is there no related discussion there? Then you won’t get covered.

Specific

Are you a distinguished expert in a topic matter? Bloggers who focus on a niche and tackle it are highly respected among their peers and within their communities. Who do you look up to for productivity tips? Tips on self-improvement? Search marketing? Social media? Small business?

Having a specific focus is what made Dumb Little Man (productivity tips), Lifehacker (productivity and tech), Jonathan Fields (lifestyle, business), The Happiness Project (self improvement), Small Business Trends (small business), Social Media Explorer (PR and social media), and other blogs successful. They’re chock full of great content on the subject matters that their readers care most about. I know exactly what kind of content I am going to get when I go to each blog and there are typically no surprises.

Not yet an expert in a topic, but have aspirations to get there? Read Career Renegade (aff). The premise of the book is about quitting your current job to go after your passion, but it’s got a ton of great ideas to take that topical blog — which could be your business (or not) — to great heights.

Specificity is why SEO blogs exist in great numbers. It’s why we can find social media blogs in the thousands. If there’s an interest in a subject matter, there’s probably a blog. Or two. Or two thousand. And if you want to be first, you certainly can try your hand at it.

Personal

There’s a ton of informational content out there on blogs, though sometimes it’s not about the information that you share that makes you a spectacular blogger. It’s about getting to know who the person is behind the screen. Mommyblogs are a great example of thriving personal blogs; they take you behind the scenes into the life as a parent. Personal accounts of everyday events is what made Dooce and the Bloggess so successful.

You don’t have to make your blog completely personal, though. Instead, give personal stories as it relates to your mission in blogging. Jon Morrow wrote an incredible piece on fighting for your ideas, which is perfect Copyblogger content — except it relates to his battle with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It’s an incredibly personal but powerful piece. Darren Rowse talked about how changing his style in a 90s road trip made him a better blogger today.

Give your readers a taste of the real you. Sometimes it helps to just be yourself.

Analytical

Blogs that take a good look at data and analyze it clearly are hugely resourceful. Brian Solis does this with regular status updates of everything in the social media marketing and PR universe. Yuvi Panda became extremely successful at a young age (15!) because he analyzed other blogs in the space, especially when Robert Scoble picked up on it. Unfortunately, much of Yuvi’s analyses are hidden in the depths of the Wayback Machine, but from what is accessible, the detail is amazing.

People love data, and they love knowing how data can be aggregated to make conclusions. They love charts and graphics, and they love the findings that can be made from this data in aggregate. A good example of this is a recent post on blog lengths in certain industries by Glen Allsopp, who recently guest posted here. By looking at the standard lengths of blogs in certain industries, new bloggers can get a feel for blog word counts that are successful and that which may not be as helpful to grow a new blog.

Detail

Bloggers who actually show that they put their passion into the blog post, offering deep insights instead of just regurgitating news, are the winners of this category. My favorite examples of this come from all corners of the Internet, with some blogs always offering original detailed content (which is what I hope to achieve here on Techipedia) and others providing a mix of news bytes in addition to deeper commentary. A good example of this is Search Engine Land, which features search-related news briefs to keep the public informed of the industry, but also offers two separate categories contributed to by members of the search engine industry that offer great detail: the how-to category and the features and analysis category. Both categories offer a great amount of detail and insights from dozens of experts.

Other blogs only provide detailed content. If something is newsworthy, the blogger turns that into an opportunity to give a detailed analysis into the story. Jeremiah Owyang’s blog does this with deep, meaningful insights. A great example is how he provided a deep matrix into Google Buzz, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter just a few days after Buzz was launched. I actually also found out that PayPal was being accepted via Facebook through Jeremiah and not through the regular blogs I read that cover the social space/tech industry.

Thought-Provoking

Blog posts that make you think once you finish reading the article to improve are the ones that fit this label. Seth Godin’s posts are short but sweet, but he’s so well read not only because he’s been blogging since before I graduated college (which actually was a bit of time ago!) but because his posts are really that thought-provoking. You can’t help but read his posts and get a few takeaways on what to do next. Seth also explains ideas very well through illustration — and have you ever heard him speak? This guy is swimming with thoughts from head to toe. Color me impressed.

Controversy, done correctly, also fits under the notion of thought-provoking blogging content. Two of my three favorite blogs do this regularly; they push the envelope but make the reader (and possibly others) think long and hard about what’s going to happen next. In many cases, their audience is applauding.

Passion

Sometimes bloggers have it. Sometimes bloggers don’t. Bloggers who seethe passion attract visitors who need the inspiration to continue. In an earlier post, I touched upon how Gary Vaynerchuk and Chris Brogan show passion through their work. In everything that they do, it’s evident that they love what they do and will work tirelessly to provide the ultimate experience to their readers, their audience, and their community.

When Danny Sullivan writes his most lengthy and great pieces, you can see passion all over it. You might even feel some emotional bond with some of this kind of content. You can tell that there’s such depth to this content because of the proximity of the “story” to the blogger that you get drawn by it.

Most bloggers, though — at least those who have kept at blogging for such a long time — are the true examples of passion. It’s very hard to provide regular content for readers on a consistent basis, and there are countless bloggers who do so regularly. I’m amazed to see how some people, especially those operating a one-man blogging operation, can do it with different topics every single day. Sure, this might overlap with the first section of this article, but I’ve found it difficult in the writing of this article to separate some themes from others. Most of my favorite blogs are true examples of many of these characteristics.

Instructional

Instructional blogs don’t just give you insights. They actually hold your hand to get it done. Blogs in this category include DIY (do-it-yourself) blogs, such as MAKE or Instructables, or recipe and cooking blogs.

I’ve said in the past that informational videos and how-to content are extremely spreadable. The idea behind this is no different. If people in your community seek you out so that they can learn something new, they’ll follow and they’ll spread the ideas to others too. I see Lifehacker regularly sharing DIY content sourced from several blogs because the content is educational and enriching.

I also come across really savory recipes that just beg a share. And it’s pretty incredible to see how the content across some of these instructional blogs intersects across different online communities. I learn about these new blogs mostly outside the “social” space because they do the hand-holding from start to finish, and as such, they often cater to a wider audience. This is the kind of content that spreads beyond the typical blog reader to an entirely different group of people.

Networked

Being networked is a quality that bloggers must have in order to be successful in this highly saturated space. I’ve been asked more than once about how bloggers, who seem to meet all other criteria — that is, they may be consistent and eloquent and cover a specific niche — can still succeed in the blogging space. The answer, really, lies in thinking outside the blog. In order for people to find you, you need to be able to market your blog to them. How does one do this? Comment on other bloggers’ posts consistently. Send tweets out to the bloggers with your own commentary. Go to local or national face-to-face events to meet other bloggers.

Blogging is an online activity, and one you may think should stay there, but the bottom line is the most successful bloggers are known outside their blogs. (However, they became known through their blogs.) Putting a face to a name can translate to great opportunities. It’s one thing to be a great writer. It’s another to let people know you actually exist in the real world. Face to face networking can help do that.

Bloggers become successful out of staying connected to their peers online too. That’s why you need to engage in other communities, on Twitter, and anywhere else you may find them.

Not all blogs will meet all these criteria, but if you’re a growing success, you will likely find that your habits overlap with a few of these traits: consistency, eloquence, uniqueness, specificity, personal[ity], analytical, detail, thought-provoking, passion, instructional, and networked. The more you can cross off your list, the better your chances for success and influence as a blogger. Who are your favorite bloggers and why?

[ 11 Characteristics of Highly Influential Blog(ger)s is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

As we know, Twitter is an incredibly powerful platform and enables businesses and individuals to build strong relationships with customers and peers. I, too, find that Twitter has been incredibly powerful for me to connect with real life colleagues, readers of Techipedia, family, and everyone in between.

I consider my current @tamar network, though, either quite knowledgeable or clueless and inactive (as in the case of my family — I still love them but they’re not the target audience for my Twitter account, which is rather social-media focused). I’m not sure there’s much “in-between.”

I’m also something of a Twitter purist. My only questionable tweets are actually about business projects (yes, I am NameCheap’s new marketing consultant as Michelle Greer moves onto bigger and better things). I try to limit the types of tweets that I send and keep them professional or relevant to my audience. However, there are times when I actually want to step outside my shell and assume the other parts of my identity I don’t often display under the @tamar persona.

Enter a second Twitter account. In this account, one of several “secondary” accounts I maintain, I actually utilize Twitter retweets on a fairly consistent basis, share informative tidbits, and let my hair down a little more. I tweet more frequently too, using HootSuite (my favorite Twitter application by far) to schedule tweets down the road. I promote good content. I promote new people. I promote friends. I even enter contests. I’m a little more free in terms of my approach. Since I’m a bit more reserved as @tamar, I can easily say that I have a little more fun.

I won’t be providing the username of this Twitter account here, nor can you find it under a search for Tamar Weinberg. My point for keeping it separate is to leave my regular network and to build up relationships with people who would otherwise not know me by @tamar. With Twitter being so incredibly large and vast, there are different types of mini-communities. Call them cliques if you will. Many don’t overlap. Taking advantage of those has been a great opportunity for me.

There are good reasons why you should consider a less focused approach, perhaps by letting it all hang out and being more casual.

New eyeballs based on a less-than-laser focus

I started my secondary Twitter account completely from scratch. I did not tell anyone about it. That was the point. I didn’t want the same network to be following me, nor did I follow the same people I normally would follow. I wanted to potentially reach people who would otherwise not know who I was.

Takeaways: When you’re a new Twitter business account trying to build up followers and fans, you might want to be a bit inventive to find new prospective customers. Using multiple accounts is a good way to do that. In your primary account, you might want to strictly use it to empower your customers and share business opportunities. This account might be more on the conservative side (like my use of @tamar), offering only professional tweets and a sprinkle of personal tweets (or none at all). In another secondary account, you can attempt to vary your Tweets with a broader reach, highlighting other related non-competitive businesses and information that may be relevant to your business goals. Some prospective followers might have an interest in the primary account; others might have an interest in the secondary account. People who might not even find your primary account might stumble upon your secondary account and vice versa. Have a broader presence via multiple accounts can help extend your reach. Better yet, having multiple employees at your company engage in Twitter can also help further your company goals. It’s why Zappos is always the big Twitter brand awareness case study.

Networking opportunities based on growing out a secondary persona

One of the biggest questions I face in my consulting role is the question on whether to combine business and pleasure on Twitter. (The answer for that is: “it depends.”) The @tamar Twitter account is my personal brand and what I love to do above all else, but it’s business account with just a bit of personal stuff. Having a second account lets me branch out even further to other potential followers without ostracizing my current followers who have come to expect 1-2 daily tweets related to social media. Having a second account lets me network with like-minded individuals who are interested in different things outside the standard “social media” persona (but even so, I still do tweet about social media).

Takeaways: Give people the opportunity to learn about the other facets of your business personality. As a business, you might be incredibly involved in a big charity project, but if you tweeted about that all the time on one account, you might lose potential followers on that account. You may opt to dedicate another account to talk about side projects and other opportunities.

As an example, if you’re a business who predominantly focuses on IT infrastructure solutions but recently was involved in a tremendous Thanksgiving initiative through your local food bank, you certainly are within your right (and should) tell people about it. You might use the primary account to talk introduce the initaitve but you might opt to be more specific and provide more frequent updates in a secondary account. People looking to follow your involvement in the Thanksgiving charity effort might choose to follow the secondary account. At the same time, people might discover you as a business through that secondary account — and they may be your biggest fans or champions.

How does this relate to real life marketing?

A good marketer knows that marketing outside your network is important. Building secondary and tertiary networks is a good way to maximize your exposure and to get additional eyeballs to your service offerings and products. It’s not enough to be insular and focus on your groups of friends. You may find people who are surfing outside your social circle who might be potentially interested in your products. Sometimes it’s most effective to venture outside your cocoon. At business networking events, try to get to know people outside your group of trusted colleagues. You never know who you might meet.

What’s the catch?

This strategy of trying multiple accounts won’t work for everyone. There are a few obstacles you will face if you engage in this tactic, but they’re nothing too difficult to address.

• The issue of time. It’s hard enough to manage one Twitter account, so how could you possibly handle a second one? Scheduling relevant Tweets in advance should help take the burden off of your shoulders.  For your secondary account, though, don’t spend a significant chunk of your time building that account.  Devoting a mere 15-30 minutes every day to keep the content fresh and engaging should be sufficient. Always focus on your primary account. The second account is intended to be a lower priority but one that you should still not neglect.
• Ghost writing. You may have all your eggs in one basket — your primary Twitter account — and that’s just fine. Some people might not be able to assume a “secondary personality” on a second account. You don’t really have to “ghost write” at all. Just try not to have this secondary account mirror the first one. Your goal should be to capture more eyeballs by varying your tweets across more than one account.
• Transparency. You might also ask, “if this secondary account represents a company, how should I identify myself in the interest of being transparent?” The answer is: “do what makes you comfortable, and be transparent if it feels right!” If you represent a business, you probably want to make it known. If not, then it’s your call. My personal desire not to associate my second account with “Tamar Weinberg” is simply a personal choice as the account doesn’t represent anything but a mishmash of thoughts and ideas. I think that your goals should be clear, though.
• How do I get more followers? You can build followers to these accounts through Twitter tools such as Tweet Spinner. Using varied keyword targeting lists per username might be a good idea; that way, you’re likely to get a diverse following.

If you want to test out other personas (one where you can be more “human” versus one that is “strictly business”), you might find a lot of success with this strategy of assuming different identities and branching out to find prospective customers using varied methods. Just don’t tell people where and how to find you. Let new prospects find you organically based on your messages and reap the rewards.

Update: A good friend of mine, Mark Drapeau, writes his feelings behind his secondary Twitter account here.

[ Why You Should Have a Secondary Twitter Account is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

As a blogger, I’m sure you receive a fair number of emails pitching you with products. As someone who does public relations for companies, I’m sure you carefully pick your bloggers for the pitch. We both have difficult jobs. Bloggers have to weed out the crap and PR pros need to find the right people for the job.

The job of someone who does blogger outreach can be difficult. They’re tasked with contacting bloggers about different initiatives, sending out story ideas and “press releases” (hopefully with a social component, since those are preferred by many bloggers). Unlike traditional journalists, if you’re doing blogger outreach, your focus should be a lot more on relationship building with the right people.

It’s not always the people doing blogger outreach who don’t get it right. Public relations representatives sometimes actually do a great job sending targeted pitches to the right people. They invest a lot of time finding just the right bloggers, carefully cherry picking out the right people to whom to send a perfect pitch. These are the people who really make a solid effort — they review the blog content and realize that their pitch might be a further extension of content that they had already seen on the blogs they are targeting.

When the pitch goes out, it’s up to the blogger to take the story to heart and possibly share it with their readers. Sometimes they won’t, and they’ll ignore the pitch altogether. That’s just fine. Sometimes they might respond with a “thanks but no thanks” response that shows that they at least put effort into considering a fit on their site. That, too, is just fine. If you’re sending a carefully crafted pitch, you’re probably sending it to a handful of people and hoping that a small percentage of those bloggers is actually receptive to your message.

Imagine If You Had to Pitch to Bloggers

What if you were involved in the task of blogger outreach? Let’s say you worked with a client to give away a freebie to readers of specific blogs. The client approves the pitch, which you targeted to the blogger, and you send it off to the chosen bloggers.

Now let’s assume one of the bloggers responds with, “I have read your email carefully and it would appear that you have omitted the part where you request my advertising rate card.”

(Yes, forget about organic promotion. The money is where it’s at for some bloggers, and story tips or ideas are unwanted. I bet you’d wonder what the FTC would say, especially given that this particular blogger has a disclaimer stating that they will never post sponsored or content where money exchanges hands.)

Instead, you decide to clarify your specific role in this initiative. You say, “this is merely a story idea as there’s no advertising budget. Would you like to run with the story?”

The blogger responds with something that goes along the lines of, “they could pay you to email me, maybe they should pay me to blog about it.”

They then write two nasty tweets about a poor approach that they likely thought you never saw.

Yes, seriously.

Perhaps some of you PR pros are nodding your heads in agreement at this point. “Hey, I’ve had that happen to me!” It becomes painstakingly obvious that some bloggers have zero respect for the people they are dealing with, realizing that their fame and authority as a blogger puts them in a position to request favors or speak down to people sending requests to them. I’ve seen and heard it before. That means you’ll get more requests for money, and the sadder thing is that if you meet them in person, their attitudes aren’t much different. It becomes clear in your dealing with some bloggers that they operate on a firm foundation of “pay or walk away.” (Do their readers know how greedy they’ve become? Do their readers even realize that most of the content on these blogs is likely swayed by the glory of financial riches?)

But greed is not what this blog post is about. It’s about how you should handle yourself as a blogger.

Your Responsibility as a Blogger

There are some social media etiquette rules that people sometimes forget to follow, I suppose. After all, words onscreen are not facial expressions, and it seems some people lose sight of human emotion when they get caught up in the fame of becoming a well-known blogger.

As bloggers, we might hold the public relations representatives to a higher standard, but relationship building goes both ways. If an organic story pitch is not of interest to you, that’s fine. Let it be. Demanding that someone pay for content with because they emailed you a story idea is a way to burn bridges, not build them. If you feel that you must respond to the email, your tone is everything. Convey your thoughts nicely, even if it pains you to do so.

Bloggers typically have a lot on their plates; those working for big publications who have to fulfill a daily quota of stories can see hundreds of pitches per day. They’re overwhelmed. It’s hard enough to churn out content, and then there’s a pile of email waiting for their attention in the form of story pitches and ideas. Yet those sending story pitches are overwhelmed too. They’re tasked with weeding through hundreds of blogs (if there are even that many in the specific niche), reading the content to get to know the blogger better, and finding the right angle to pitch the story to. And that doesn’t even account for the deadlines they have. But as mentioned earlier, relationships go both ways, and the approach goes both ways too. As the blogger, you have the upper hand.

Here are seven rules that you should always follow as a blogger when dealing with public relations pros (though some can be applied to your relationships with anyone):

• Rule #1: Act professionally. Remember that professionalism is everything. This relates to courteousness too. Keep your tone polite.
• Rule #2: Be humble. By blogging, you’ll reap some nice rewards (and awards). Don’t let that fame get to your head. You might be great and receive a lot of accolades, but it doesn’t make you any better than the people you deal with. In most cases, you’re not as important as you think you are.
• Rule #3: Remember who you are dealing with. PR people aren’t in the ad sales industry.  Their goal is to send press pitches, not to buy ads on your site.  If a blogger outreach consultant or social media agency emails you a story pitch, read their signature.  If it doesn’t say “media buyer” or if they haven’t explicitly asked for your media kit, chances are they can’t follow through with an ad buy.
• Rule #4: This could be the start of something big. The right PR person is just as connected with the rest of the world as they are with bloggers themselves.  In fact, a relationship that starts on the right foot might actually translate to better things down the road, including special event invites and freebies that might as well be equivalent to a really good ad deal.  Perhaps, real ad sales will follow.  A bad first impression will never get you to that point. A great first impression can be very rewarding.
• Rule #5: It’s a relationship, stupid! Did I mention at all in this article that these are still interpersonal relationships? To quote The Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin, act the way you want to feel.
• Rule #6: Remember where you were when you started. There’s more to blogging than just dollar signs. There’s relationship building (see rule #6), influence, branding, and more. Don’t have a narrow focus because the grass seems greener when the riches are easily attainable. At the end of the day, blogs are a relationship-building tool. That’s probably how you got to where you are now, by sharing your voice and providing insights that helped build those relationships, like having your readers trust you. Think about what you did before to get you where you are today. Never stop doing that either. The options might be more plentiful nowadays but you should stay true to why you started blogging to begin with.
• Rule #7: You need PR people as much as they need you. Maybe not now, but your future could depend on them.

Bloggers have a real opportunity here, but it should be said that they need to evaluate why they’re blogging and what keeps them doing it. Did passion drive them to blog? Is that still the case? Thankfully, of the thousands of people I’ve met in my past 4 years of publicly blogging, there aren’t that many individuals who cause alarm or worry. Most of you get it. You realize that there are other people sitting behind a computer screen to talk to you, and they’re not much different than you are.

Bloggers have a responsibility to themselves but they also have a responsibility to everyone around them. There will be times when despite how the public relations person sees it, the story doesn’t fit the blogger. But handling that correspondence gracefully is what will separate one blogger from others. Handling all incoming inquiries professionally (and even quickly) can do wonders on indirectly building up your blog (and maybe even your brand) with high regard.

You don’t just build your blog on your blog. There’s this thing we also call offsite optimization, which is a big term for SEO but also can apply to growing your blog. Every single blog-related correspondence you have with someone matters to your bottom line. That’s why email communication should be treated with utmost respect and caution. Handle those communications gracefully and you’ll be viewed the same or better than beforehand. (The only way to go from there is up!) If you choose the impolite and inconsiderate way out, you’re hurting your blog and yourself.

Do you have any stories to share about blogger relations? Did I miss any rules? The comments, as always, are yours.

[ Blogging Etiquette in the Face of a PR Pitch: What Miss Blogging Manners Would Do is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

This is a guest post by Glen Allsopp, a 20-year-old genius who has been in this industry for as long as I remember — and you can tell he’s got a knack for brilliance. Follow him on Twitter.

There are a few jokes going around the blogosphere right now regarding what it means to be a social media expert. Now that the stay-at-home-moms (and dads) are finding their way to a five-figure Twitter follow count, they’re offering all types of services and branding themselves as all-round experts.

Despite the title of the post, having worked as the social media manager for Fortune 500 companies, and a lot of knowledge here being totally personal, I do not think of myself as an expert. In fact, I don’t think becoming a social media expert is something that people should be worried about; they should be focused on becoming expert communicators instead.

Because of the less serious checklists that are being passed around the web right now, I thought it would be a good time to look at what some of the influencers online are really doing, and how you can join their ranks if you’re so inclined.

Highlight Others

Do you ever read the tweets of Chris Brogan? I know there are a lot of them, but that’s because he’s spending a large portion of each day highlighting the work of others. Darren Rowse? Brian Clark? Daniel Scocco? They might not tweet as much, but they are definitely focusing their attention elsewhere.

I’ve personally taken this concept so far that I now have a pretty new box at the end of most blog posts which highlights other bloggers that I enjoy. Right now, you’ll find the likes of Tamar, Jonathan, Lisa and Rebecca in my feed reader, and consequently, in that box.

You can help your bid to become more transparent online by sharing what you enjoy. Plus, if you know anything about how blogging works, you should know that no blog is a competitor.

Grow Biggers Ears

I did have another way of saying this, but Chris’s term sounds better. Quite simply: the true social media experts are willing to listen to the ideas of absolutely anybody in this space. That could be from traditional media, my sister, a friend, the radio, or even a small child. If someone has an idea I like the sound of, I’m not going to care about where it came from – I’m going to see if I can use it.

Remember, to make an impact in the social media space you have to become the best communicator. And, to fulfil that position, it requires you to be willing to give your time, attention, and logic to people with a variety of different ages and backgrounds.

Accept a New Normal

When I talk about accepting a new normal , I’m talking about two different aspects of life. The first is personal. Take my own situation as an example. Because I have quit my job, and I blog about personal things, I have written about quitting my job and in turn found that this interests a lot of readers.

In terms of influence though, people email me about whether they should quit their job or not, and expect that a 20-year old from England really should know the answers to such important career advice. Influencers accept that they have a position to hold and won’t abuse it for a quick buck.

Not only do experts accept a change personally, they also accept that the business world is changing and the way to get sales no longer means interrupting your audience via every medium they hate being interrupted in.

If you resist the changing times, you’ll just get left behind.

Make Everything Else Irrelevant

In aiming to be the best communicators, it’s important that we don’t discriminate anyone by age, gender or ethnicity when working with them. However, as an influencer, you must remember that while many people will praise you, lots of others in the same niche will not even know who you are. Therefore, aim to constantly focus on producing the best products / posts / services that you can, to make your previous background or achievements irrelevant.

For example, when I first started making money online, I was 16 years old. I knew that unless I went above the effort of everyone else who was blogging about my topic and offering services to clients, people just wouldn’t take me seriously. Because of this, I believe the influencers in any niche should be the people who are the most passionate about their industry doing well.

If you feel the same, then you must also realise that these people don’t fit a cookie-cutter image. Social media experts realise that you can’t control what people say about you online, but you can continue to focus on putting out your best work possible, whatever your medium can be.

Despite all the noise online, it’s still possible to become a signal.

Ignore Social Media Checklists or ‘Top’ Lists

It’s nice to be featured in press both online and off, but allowing that to influence your ego or strategy is just silly. The people that deserve to be the influencers are the ones that realise 10,000 random followers can not be compared to 1,000 or even 500 people who genuinely care about what you have to say.

You don’t become a social media expert by promoting yourself as a social media expert. In fact, if you don’t mind me letting you in on a little secret, there is no way to become an expert in the eyes of everybody anyway. Instead, what you should be pushing to become is the biggest communicator, thought-provoker and connector in your niche.

Then, and only then, will people really start to see you as an expert at something. And perhaps it will be deserved.

Glen Allsopp writes about the topic of Viral marketing at ViperChill. He’s also a huge fan of Tamar and very thankful to have her offer him this opportunity.

[ 5 Things True Social Media Experts Do Online is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

In the past few years, video has come a long way. As someone who once didn’t like online video, it’s now part of my daily life. In the past few years, videos have gotten much better and widespread that I’d find it hard to be stubborn in my old ways by ignoring all incoming multimedia streams. Today, video’s potential is obvious: it can be a marketer’s dream and yield tremendous successes. Indeed, I’ve discovered some incredible video that I can watch again and again. Here are seven video examples that have become viral phenomenons in their own right. Let’s take a look at what set these guys apart from their contenders.

Identifiable

Do something that other people can relate to. When Weezer came out with Pork and Beans in 2008, the band’s music video introduced a completely different concept with characters that were incredibly familiar. The Pork and Beans video enlisted in familiar faces across the YouTube culture. Because the video celebrities themselves were familiar to millions of spectators, the music video caught on virally. The original video, which is now private, had seen over 4 million views in its first four days, and was at over 20 million views until it was made private.

Highlight something that people are accustomed to. That’s why so many spoofs of David after Dentist actually saw hundreds of thousands of video views, and it’s also why Kanye West’s Taylor Swift Outburst brought Obama to shame (and people still watched it!).

Spontaneous

Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz were just your average couple until they turned their wedding into something far more memorable. By engaging the wedding party and having them dance down the aisle spontaneously, people watching the resultant video really felt the momentum. They got excited. They laughed. Some even cried. It was a beautiful moment for Jill and Kevin, but it was also a beautiful moment for those of us watching the video from our home computers thousands of miles away.

The power of the unexpected can move your video to great heights. It’s why Susan Boyle’s “Britain’s Got Talent” audition video is now hovering at 86 million views. It’s why she is now famous. It’s why T-Mobile succeeded with a flash mob. And it’s why Jill and Kevin will definitely forever be remembered in our hearts.

Let’s take it a step further, though, with a “shocking” element. Videos that have a completely unplanned “wow” element to them definitely travel far in social circles. It’s more than just the JK Wedding Dance video, which was a heartwarming feel-good video with preparation. Taking the idea beyond the unexpected, these videos evoke some emotion because of sheer luck — or just the opposite.

Shocking videos are why it’s been 3 months, but I’m still in awe after watching this video. It’s why many people gasped when they saw this wedding get ruined. It’s also why this movie stunt was almost believable.

Genuine

You don’t always have to engage in expensive video production to promote your wares, nor as the marketer do you have to create the video yourself. With over 1 billion video views on YouTube per day, if you have a great video that shows your passion for the product and the right audience comes along, you can find your video in the spotlight.

The video above is one of the first iPod touch commercials. Would you have known that it was created by an 18-year-old student in his spare time? Nick Haley created the video at home for fun and uploaded it to YouTube. Once online, it caught the attention of executives at Apple who flew him into California to make it a commercial reality.

Showing your passion can translate to opportunities down the road too. Fede Alvarez published a small film to YouTube a few weeks ago, and it landed him a $30 million movie deal. And this Trader Joe’s commercial is pretty awesome and got some good visibility.

Think you don’t have what it takes to be creative in-house? Why not ask your customers to try their hand at video production for you?

Funny

Don’t you like making people smile? Most people do. It goes without saying that funny videos are highly shareable and can yield that desired result. It’s why Yatta has been passed on in various iterations for years.

Humans can relate to emotional content, and laughable content is always golden. It’s why Pearl and Will Ferrell’s landlord fight has been watched nearly 70 million times. It’s why this baby video of girls being natural talkers always makes me giggle. It’s why songs like this translate to tweets, remixes, and playoff game invitations. It’s why I laugh every time at this BBC Guy Kewney Goma mix-up (and even posted about it once before).

Informational

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

If you’re in need of viral content, you don’t have to look much farther than videos that teach users how to do something. These videos can be very basic, from how to tie a tie, to more complex videos with multiple steps, such as skipping out on room service to make a gourmet dinner in a hotel room. Anne-Marie Faiola of Brambleberry, also known as Soap Queen TV, does this very well. Candy Soap, anyone?

On a similar note, you can also show someone how something is done. One of my favorite viral videos of all time was one I first watched when I was in preschool but it stayed with me for a good twenty-some-odd years. Don’t you want to know how crayons are made? Taking someone into the office of your busy-at-work programmers or directly into your manufacturing plant to see the process of creation can be really fascinating from an outsider’s perspective.

Creative

Creative videos can become worldwide phenomenons, just like the Hibi no Neiro music video which scored it a YouTube award in Japan.

Adding the right spice of creativity and doing something that is unique and never tried before can bring that video views and awareness. It’s why these European students made a video that hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed, and why this Tetris video was so fun to watch. It’s why I jump up with glee when I watch these kitties and their owner play together. It’s why our eyes opened up when we watched how exactly why our definition of beauty is distorted. It’s why time lapses are so much fun to watch.

Inspiring

Want to watch a video that’s nothing like the above but motivates you to do your best? Inspiring videos, too, can be viral. Randy Pausch, a former lecturer at Carnegie Mellon, inspired not only students in his class but the world in his last ever speech before he passed away from pancreatic cancer.

It’s why Paul Potts also rose to the top; it inspired every one of us to chase after our dreams. It’s why anything is possible after watching Nick Vujicic do it. It’s why the future looks exciting thanks to movies, and why we all feel great when discovering that through the story of man and animal, love is never truly forgotten.

There you have it: seven viral video characteristics that start the conversations and get the wheels turning. If you’re looking to craft a viral video, consider meeting at least one of these characteristics: identifiability, spontaneity, genuineness, humor, information, creativity, and inspiration. Ideally, if you cover ground on at least two of these traits, your video might have a good chance of success. To be sure, though, solicit feedback from a group of trusted peers not directly involved in your company or marketing objectives before going ahead with publishing the video, since you need an unbiased opinion. Do this before you upload it to YouTube; for a video to achieve viral status on YouTube, it needs to pick up steam as soon as it’s uploaded.

Am I missing any? What are your favorite videos, and why?

[ 7 Traits of Highly Effective Viral Videos is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

While not acknowledged or acclaimed by most social media marketing “experts,” StumbleUpon is a fine tool that can bring lots of traffic — both the targeted and untargeted kind — to your website. But with all other social networks, there are rules of engagement that are determined by the community.

Brief Overview of StumbleUpon

Since everyone is mostly raving about Twitter and Facebook as of late, I’m going to briefly define StumbleUpon and explain how it works. More information and tips for usage can be read in The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web. This description of StumbleUpon has been taken from the book:

StumbleUpon [is] a social content discovery engine with bookmarking features. StumbleUpon is different from many other social sites in that it works via a toolbar installation on your browser. Once it gathers personalized information from you (hobbies and interests), you can start surfing with StumbleUpon to find brand new sites that are related to your interests as suggested by other users on the service. The more active you are on StumbleUpon, the more opportunity there is for you to grow your network and expose your own content to more and more StumbleUpon users.

Great, now we have that out of the way.  This post is going to touch upon other parts of StumbleUpon, especially user behaviors that I’ve observed recently.

I’ve personally found StumbleUpon to be a great tool to find good and exciting content, and I’ve even made some friends through the “toolbar.” Relationship opportunities on StumbleUpon are endless, especially since it’s a social bookmarking service based on interests.

StumbleUpon Etiquette Guidelines

One of the most powerful elements to StumbleUpon is the ability to share stories with your friends as long as they are subscribed to your favorites. Truth be told, most people accept every incoming friend request they receive. The motivation behind this is the desire to broaden one’s reach, even if the subscriber is sending them completely off-topic content. As someone who always has incoming stumbles awaiting my perusal, though, I think there are some rules of thumb (no pun intended) that should be followed at all times.

• Avoid pushing all your stories: What would you do if you never really subscribed to the New York Times because you just weren’t that interested but you received an endless stream of New York Times stories in your email inbox all day long?  You’d probably get sick of it, right?  Exactly.  Therefore, while I appreciate that you have a great design site that you update 5-6 times a day, please don’t send me every single uploaded photo.  And you there with the SEO/tech blog, that goes for you too. It’s just overwhelming and selfish.  Instead, find the cream of the crop of your content, your best works.  Give people the opportunity to navigate through your site to find better content.  If you send them 5 stories everyday, they’ll never have time to actually go through your site to find gems because their StumbleUpon activity is limited to clearing out their toolbar of pending Stumbles.
• Diversify the sources you send from: To follow the previous bullet point, spice it up a bit.  I don’t want to get news.yahoo.com stories 5 times a day from the same Stumbler.  It shows that you have a vested financial interest in Yahoo News. (This is not a real example, readers.)  There are some Stumblers who do this very well.    Others just don’t get it.  If you can’t diversify the sources you send from, at least do us a favor and don’t do it so frequently.   Once a week is good, but don’t do it any more than that.
• Use the toolbar, check your inbox, and give back to the community: StumbleUpon’s success, at least for sending out and receiving stories, thrives on its toolbar.  I see right now that I have 13 pages waiting for me.  If this number exceeds 99, you could be in for trouble and get caught with hundreds of crap pages to wade through.  Don’t let it exceed that number.  As much as I hate some of the stories being sent to me, I know I have to get through the queued items in my toolbar to avoid an INBOX_FULL message.   The INBOX_FULL message typically appears when a Stumbler sends another user stumbles, but users cannot respond to the original Stumblers because their toolbar is full with hundreds of sites being queued.  Personally, I think this does a disservice to the StumbleUpon community and StumbleUpon should absolutely disallow this behavior.  Until then, there will be users who take but can’t give back to the community.  If you want to build a genuine relationship that benefits you in the long haul, accept other stumbles.  Don’t expect me (and others) to want to help you if you have no time to help us.
• Look what other people are Stumbling and submit similar content: Over the past few months, there has been one user who has sent me Stumbles relating to her home improvement store.  Typically, if you can put an interesting spin on that content, that’d be great. However, these pages are not social content.  They’re category pages (sink repair, anyone?), articles about chisels, and random junk that no average person really wants to read.  She’s not alone; I got some high-level machinery equipment store stumbles from a guy who I subsequently unfriended based on the sheer spam of it all.  (No, I do not need a core bit or a granite blade, thank you!)  If you don’t realize what other people are submitting to StumbleUpon, don’t bother using it.  If you take time to see what other community members find interesting, then you might get inspired to craft content that would be interesting to the social internet at large. Still stuck? Check out these viral ideas.
• Don’t send other social networking vote requests through StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon is a network of content that you believe someone else is interested in.  It’s not a way to pawn for votes on other social networks.  Not everyone has accounts on the social sites you’re asking for votes on.  And if you’re using StumbleUpon to solicit votes on Digg, do you think Digg doesn’t notice?   If your content isn’t good enough to succeed on those social networks on their own, StumbleUpon isn’t going to help you.  If you want success on your Digg (or other social network) submissions, you better to do it under the radar.
• Send well-designed content you really believe in:  It’s not just a matter of sending the content of the page itself.  Design and aesthetics of the page are of paramount importance.  This could be a small item like the font or header design — you could even do AB testing to confirm.  If it looks like you put effort into making the entire page beautiful, you’ll see results.  If your page looks like it was slapped together in Frontpage, you better realize that you’re not getting a “thumbs up” from most of the your site’s visitors because you are showing implicitly that you don’t care.  You can be a brilliant writer with a great essay.  If that essay was slapped onto a website with a cruddy design, nobody will care.  I know I certainly don’t.

StumbleUpon Best Practices

StumbleUpon has its own algorithm to determine whether an item gets viewed often or not and by who.  While nobody knows the StumbleUpon algorithm, the following is suggested.

• Don’t thumb up everything: Be selective with the incoming content.  Don’t thumbs it up just because someone in your network sent it to you.  That likely reduces your influence as a stumbler that StumbleUpon would want to trust.  I can’t believe that people actually thumbs up the Digg pages that are sent and the granite blade product page.  Seriously?!
• Participate often: If you actually clear your StumbleUpon toolbar, you won’t anger someone with an INBOX_FULL message because they simply won’t get one when sending you messages.  Participation ensures that you will be able to build friendships and get more people who would be interested in seeing what you have to share.
• Review pages often: Give your two cents on content, both newly discovered by yourself (add pages to the StumbleUpon database!) and by friends.  Let people know that you’re serious about the network so that they want to associate themselves with you.
• Write a unique review: If you really care about the content you’re promoting, show it by writing a real review for the content rather than letting StumbleUpon pre-populate the review field with a “from the page” blurb. Putting effort into the review shows that you want other people to see it. If you can’t spend 10 seconds to write “great post,” don’t spend any time at all. (Thanks Kristi!)

StumbleUpon is a great network and can be hugely powerful if you use it properly.  Like all social networks, you need to give of yourself and think about what the community wants.  It’s not just about you. If you think about the greater good, you can be a very powerful influencer in the StumbleUpon community.

Want more social media etiquette guidelines? Hop on over to my earlier post.

Did I miss anything? What other StumbleUpon missteps have you encountered? What other suggestions would you make?

[ StumbleUpon Etiquette Guide and Best Practices is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

This is a guest post by Samir Balwani, the founder of Training Social, a resource for those interested in social media training. Techipedia readers can use code Tamar for a 15% limited time discount when registering.

One of the most common questions in social media is – “is it worth it?”. Because of the nature of the marketing tool, each industry differs to the point that people just aren’t sure.

Many would use a blanket statement that it’s useful. They’re being disingenuous. Every industry can benefit from social media. No matter what, there is some way you can use it it. However, the question remains to be answered – is it worth it?

When it comes to profitability, increased revenue, and efficient use of time – the question of “is it worth it”, takes on a life of it’s own. There are two things we must understand before we can define if social media adds value to your business.

1: Opportunity Cost – Every time you spend a minute on social media is one minute you potentially lost revenue. This inherent cost needs to be included in any equations you make when allocating resources.

2: Social Media has Abstract Returns – It’s difficult to measure return on social media. It’s nearly impossible to forecast return on social media. This fact makes it difficult to quantifiably determine where resources should be spent.
Recognizing there is a cost to everything you do – time is money – and that social media returns are not only difficult to measure, but also impossible to forecast is an important first step.

The good thing about social media is that the opportunity cost tends to mostly be time. Whatever you can do to minimize the time you spend learning social media, and making your processes more efficient is worth it.

To determine returns, we’re forced to think in industries. Certain niches are more likely to see greater returns from social media.

High Return Industries

These industries tend to see high returns in social media marketing, quickly. Consumers are actively looking for and want to engage with most businesses that fall into the following categories.

1: Restaurants and Hospitality – Most hospitality establishments already understand that idea of good customer service. They realize how important word of mouth is to you’re their business model. Social media makes the word of mouth marketing that restaurants and hotels already profit from and makes it more efficient.

2: Businesses With Return Customers – Have a business that drives return customers? Social media can help you create a long-term relationship with your consumer that ensures they continue to visit you, and not a competitor.

3: Large Brands – Bigger brands have two things that smaller companies don’t: an already built community, and money. These two advantages make creating a high return not only easier, but also more likely.
4: Online Driven Companies – Social media can be used to drive traffic to online websites. Communities, social news sites, and online sharing can be leveraged to build a site following.

Low Return Industries

These types of businesses tend to take a long time to create return in social media. They also often require large investments to create an initial community. Nonetheless, in the long term, social media can be a viable marketing strategy even for these industries:

1: Small Clients / Large Profits – Businesses that only have a handful of clients that are under contract will see a low return in social media. Their communities don’t tend to be large, and if they are, are made up of non-customers.

2: Impulse Bought Products – Products that don’t gain anything from “recommendations” tend to see a small return from social media. Unless the product is a fad, it is doubtful that an online community will impact the buying habits of consumers looking at an impulse bought product.

I’m sure I’ve missed a few and that my generalities are just that. If you know of an industry or “return” that I forgot, please share it in the comments. Don’t forget to just share your thoughts.

Samir Balwani is the founder of Training Social, a resource for those interested in social media training. Techipedia readers can use code Tamar for a 15% limited time discount when registering. Don’t forget to follow Samir on Twitter.

[ Is Social Media Worth it for You? is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.

Here’s a truism that Facebook PR is not sure how to readily admit. There really aren’t 350 million members on Facebook. Take my husband’s grandfather as an example. He’s an 89-year-old guy who doesn’t really have his passwords all in the same place, nor does he have an acute sense of hearing to realize that when his grandchildren say “hey grandpa, I’m making a Facebook account for you!” he should respond with “Oh, I already have one.” Consequently, the guy has three Facebook profiles, all of which were created for him by three different members of his family.

Got any family members who boast more than one Facebook profile? You’re likely not alone. Now consider your industry. I have several friends who have both a personal profile and a business profile. These are users who like Facebook but find it rather difficult to merge the personal and professional into one cohesive online identity. I’m sure the internet marketing industry isn’t alone in this regard.

Let’s now consider the hundreds of profiles that you’ve seen that don’t identify a person at all. Surely you have been befriended by those people representing “WWW [yourdomainhere] COM” or “Green Seo.” These are individuals posing as entities who assume personal profiles. You know, Facebook actually prohibits these types of accounts in their Terms of Service, but Facebook’s staff doesn’t actually act upon these infractions, apparently. With over “350 million members” on Facebook, it’s too difficult to isolate all of the rule breakers.

These examples above illustrate a typical usability question faced by Facebook users (well, except for Grandpa). Despite the fact that Facebook has the most customizable privacy settings of all social networks (though we could argue with their effectiveness in a whole other post), people don’t like maintaining a “business” identity on the same profile as their “personal” (fun?) identity.  As a result, relationship-building becomes a challenge.

The Facebook Friending Dilemma

One of the questions I get asked very often is how employees are supposed to cope with incoming friend requests from their clients, bosses, and individuals they have a working relationship with through their place of employ.  While there’s no clearly defined rule (it’s a question of personal preference), I usually urge the person not to be resentful or offended if the relationship gets ported over to a professional network or other public space (such as a Facebook Fan page).

I actually practice what I preach.

See, I’m one of those Facebook users who have been on the service since February 2004, which is quite a long time considering Facebook was open to about three schools at the time that I signed up.  Back then, my Facebook friends were mostly connected to me via my neighborhood through religious affiliations or though college or primary school.  There were no business colleagues on my friends list.

In due time, that started to change as I built face-to-face relationships with co-workers and then started building friendships in the industry.  It helped that Facebook became an open network that invited everyone in.  It was both exciting because I could know more about my business partners but scary because I would have to start ignoring Facebook friend requests in order to be true to my reasons for being there: to build strong interpersonal relationships with people who I actually know and who really matter.

How I Use Facebook

Facebook, to me, is about maintaining real relationships. With every single individual I am connected to, I want to feel comfortable responding to a status message or a photo update. And if you’re my Facebook friend, you should feel comfortable doing the same. However, many people connect and forget. That’s not how I want to use the network, and that’s why I won’t accept your friend request.

A few weeks ago, jwz posted a great piece on how to access Facebook via a feed reader. To keep on top of friends’ happenings on the network, I subscribed to the relevant updates. I now have status updates in my feed, and finally, I can see both happy and sad news. It has helped strengthen that friendship bond;  I can now easily keep in touch with friends and those who are serious about using the network to keep their peers in the know about what is happening to them every day.

I posted about how I network on Facebook (among other networks), over two years ago, but I have over 700 pending Facebook friend requests from people I do not know. Many of these incoming friend requests (with the exception of possibly 0.05% of the requests) have no introduction, which I personally find a social media etiquette misstep — especially when I have no idea who you are.  For the others who took the effort to connect, I am thankful that you thought of me, but if I don’t know you, I hope to get to know you in the future. We’re just not there yet.

Much has changed in the last 2 years.  I’m now constantly neck-deep in social media projects, am working with amazing people, and I’m passionate about the people I work with and the work I do.  Facebook has become more open than ever and everyone has decided to join. In fact, I noticed substantial changes in my friendships on Facebook, so I decided to update the Facebook charts I prepared in 2007 to provide an updated look of my friendship breakdown for January 2010.

As I prepared these charts, I unfriended a handful (52) of Facebook friends, especially some who befriended me when I was more accepting of Facebook relationships (before it was saturated with people I didn’t know). Why?  We never got to know each other, and nothing happened after that initial friend request.  Facebook has facilities that help foster real friendships, and when these facilities are ignored in the context of the friendship, the relationship does not feel genuine. If you befriended me in the last 2-3 years and have done absolutely nothing to maintain that friendship, you were axed.  It’s not you and it’s not me; it’s us.  There was nothing between us and the relationship dissolved.

Today, my 1,508 Facebook connections are broken into the following categories:

• Extra-curricular Programs refer to friends I met on vacation, through summer programs, or though other related activities.
• Neighbor typically refers to those living nearby but may also be affiliated through religious organizations.
• Industry and social media connections are further broken into additional categories, as seen in the charts below.

Consider the difference between my friendship circle in 2007 (graph featured below).

My industry (internet marketing/blogging) connections (who are 99.7% of my pending friend requests) have saturated the space, and more of my co-workers have signed up. (It might just be that I’ve been able to work with more amazing people.) I removed all my “Random” connections for reasons specified earlier. Digg is now part of social media and will be explained in the final chart.

Let’s look at the industry and social media subcategories.  First, here’s the breakdown of industry colleagues that I currently have on Facebook.

As you can see in the chart above, I further broke down my Industry peers to explain the origination of these friendships.

• Some of these friends have mutual real-life friends (outside typical industry connections).
• Many of them (more than half) were individuals I met at search conferences, but other conferences (SXSW, events that Mashable was involved in in the capacity of host or media sponsor, and the first IZEAFest) also represented my Industry connections. With regards to Search Conference, I refer to Search Marketing Expo, PubCon, and Search Engine Strategies, but I also met a few people at Affiliate Summit.
• Some friendships originated through work-related communications that lasted a long period of time, so a relationship developed, was enhanced, and was solidified with the acceptance of a friend request.
• Other industry connections that have simply flourished since the very “early days” of social media.  I may have met these individuals by chance (long-standing relationship) or through the blogosphere or forums.

In nearly all of these cases, I have met my friends face-to-face.

The chart above illustrates the breakdown of the “social media” friends.  These are friends who have no direct ties to the industry, but in using social networks, we’ve formed close bonds and friendships.

• Digg is by far the largest; as a former “top user” of the service, I built strong relationships with employees and users of the social news site.
• There were other typical social networks in this grouping as well, including Flickr, FriendFeed, Kirtsy, Mixx, Plurk, StumbleUpon, Tip’d, and Twitter.
• I also consider bloggers who have forged real-life relationships with me to have connected via social media.  This is different from forums/blogosphere of the previous chart because they are not connected to me in the search marketing or social media capacity.
• Both “IRC” and “Forums” that I reference relate in this chart to the pre-social media days. And yes, IRC does refer to Internet Relay Chat.
• In the early 90s, I was involved with AOL both as remote staff and as a participant, so I still maintain friendships that originated from these old hubs.
• (In case you’re wondering who Craigslist is, he’s a guy I sold an elliptical trainer to a few years ago.  It turns out that we have several mutual real-life friends.)

These friendships are a mix of people I’ve met face-to-face but also consist of individuals I have just communicated with for such a long time that we’ll easily hit it off when we actually meet in person. There are only a small number of individuals I have not met in person on this list.

As you can see by the breakdown, Facebook is about real relationships, and when I look at your name, I want be able to justify that friendship.  Facebook is an extension of the real world in the virtual space.

Evaluate Your Connections

Knowing who someone is when seeing their profile without having to look at their place of employment or common friends is important.  If you have Facebook friends that you can’t place from a hole in the wall, it might be a good idea to purge.  It’s totally up to you.

When you connect with someone on Facebook, ask yourself, What do these online connections signify? Are you establishing a friendship so that you will do something with this individual in the future, or are you simply establishing a friendship just because you can?

Why LinkedIn Makes More Sense than Facebook

If the prospect of friendship makes you feel antsy, especially from individuals you are not comfortable letting in, it’s not awkward or rude to suggest that the online relationship be established elsewhere.  LinkedIn is the likely choice because it is a “set it and forget it” social network. There’s not much you can do with the connection once it’s confirmed. On LinkedIn, once you’re connected, that’s usually it. Someone might request a recommendation of you or contact you via messaging facilities, but you can’t do much to deface update your colleague’s profile or build upon that relationship in the confines of the social network.

On Facebook, however, there are hundreds of opportunities to upload pictures, comment on statuses, tag people in notes — and yet, among business professionals (outside of overt “no-no” marketing tactics spam), that kind of activity is typically ignored. Many business people just don’t do anything with Facebook with their business colleagues. That’s why I consider Facebook a personal network for real friends. Knowing someone online (or offline) doesn’t grant you an “in” to their personal space.

If You Insist Upon Using Facebook

Let’s face it. Facebook has its pros. (LinkedIn does too, and it’s a terrific professional network.) I’ve decided to create a public Facebook page to be updated regularly that broadcasts what business colleagues are often looking at me for anyway: social media news. The public page is one of two Facebook pages (the latter being for my book) that I plan to maintain to share fun social media information and tidbits. The profiles will both feature different stories — and they won’t be about me.

For a little bit of history, I created a fan page for myself when Facebook first launched its Fan pages. It was an experiment in personal branding and a way to have fun to connect with people I otherwise may never know. The page mostly was stagnant for awhile, but after Facebook’s page redesigned that made it look like I was talking to myself, I decided to kick it up a notch. Neil Patel provided several compelling reasons as to why I should. I recently invited some actual Facebook friends who I thought would find the information therein interesting — I hope you saw it as a way to connect in the professional sense (and nothing else — thank you Curtis)

I must emphasize that my Facebook page is not about me, but it addresses this age-old debate about how to — within Facebook’s Terms of Service — handle the personal and the professional. Since most people who want to connect with me on Facebook know me in a more professional capacity, I will be using my Facebook page to engage them professionally. (As it is, my personal page is mostly about my kid anyway. Would you really comment on those updates? Sure, some of you might…)

Looking Ahead

If I don’t connect with you right now, don’t take it personally. One day, I hope to meet every single person who added me as a Facebook friend in the last few years (and those who continue to do so) face to face. I want to put a face to a name and build a relationship that will last. Those are my goals for my current set of friends and I hold everyone to the same expectations. All friend requests will remain open indefinitely, because I’m hoping one day to get to seal the deal and make the friendship a reality.

Until then, connect with me on LinkedIn or on my Facebook page. I’d be honored to have you join me.

[ Want to Friend Me on Facebook? Please Use My Public Page or LinkedIn Instead is a post written by Tamar Weinberg. ]

Read more about The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, a primer to social media marketing. Or you can subscribe to the Techipedia RSS feed.