I noticed an interesting thing this morning on my way out of a local Starbucks. I walked past a restaurant under renovation that had a sign which read  “We are under construction at the moment, in the meantime visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/winecellar/845435456Z “

I must admit that isn’t the correct address because I couldn’t remember it. I did a search on Facebook and it doesn’t even come up. So what is the lesson here? Don’t provide a long URL people can’t remember. I understand why they did it because Facebook currently doesn’t offer the ability to customize group pages but I would suggest either  using a URL shortening service or go to facebook and search for “wine cellar Charlotte, NC” (although it still doesn’t come up).

What else could the business owner do  to get the word out? People have the misconception that social media is the answer but most of the time it’s not used correctly . In this restaurant’s case, I would say to get a domain up with a basic splash page explaining  expected time of grand opening and providing an email address for any questions. (It also starts gaining SEO traction at the domain level.) The owner could also place a link that sends people to their Facebook group. Easier than a long Facebook URL right?

Under construction pages aren’t a long term answer but they do offer a basic form of branding and viral buzz, not to mention an easy way for people to notice you. So use social media in small doses before the site build and stick with the basics of your online initiative.

In one of my previous posts on how social networking is now more popular than email, the rise in social networking has grown across other web marketing activities.

A new research study conducted by Ofcom, a media regulator firm, showed that more than more adults are now logging in into social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, which is now causing younger generation to shy away.

Based on the Ofcom study, more parents and professionals like teachers, office workers, and supervisors are now using social networking sites compared to the same time last year.

The increase in the number of adult users, according to the research group, is causing younger individuals to shy away from using such websites for still unknown reasons.

“The proliferation of older people into these social networking site have caused major decline in the number of users and we are still looking into the issue,” the group said.

Meanwhile, Guardian UK, in its report, said that people aged 15 to 24-years-old have dominated the Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites for the past years. But in study, people aged 25 to 34-years-old are now making their impact and are now staring to overrun the younger age group.

“The sheer number of adults and their growing presence is driving these younger users and their peers away from using Facebook,

The study conducted by the Ofcom also said that it is the first time that the group age of 15 to 24-year-olds have downgrade. It showed that from 55 percent last year, the number has now fallen to some 50 percent this year, the lowest since the growth of social networking sites.

On the other hand, the number of adult users or the 25 to 34-year-olds have increased from 40 percent last year to about 46 percent in 2009.

Ofcom has contributed the increase in the number of adults to the increasing scope and reach of the internet.

People from third world countries have been aware of the popularity of the social networking site and started to flock into these websites.

New stats from Nielsen Online show that by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach. According to the study, 66.8% of Internet users across the globe accessed “member communities” last year, compared to 65.1% for email. The most popular online activities remain search and Web portals (with around 85% reach) and the websites of software manufacturers. The far-reaching study also explored a number of other trends within the social networking space. In 2008, users spent 63% more time on member communities than they did in the previous year. However, within member communities, Facebook

saw growth of 566% in time spent on it by users worldwide. As has been reported elsewhere, Facebook’s fastest growth demographic is older users – the social network tacked on 12.4 million people between ages 35-49 in 2008 according to Nielsen.

Some other key findings from the report:

- Globally, Facebook reaches 29.9% of global Internet users, versus 22.4% for MySpace

- MySpace remains the most profitable social network, generating an estimated $1 billion in revenue versus $300 million for Facebook in 2008.

- Facebook is the top social network in all countries except Germany, Brazil, and Japan (Nielsen still has MySpace as tops in US in the report, but as of January ’09, that had changed).

- On Twitter, CNN, The New York Times, and BBC have the greatest reach among mainstream media companies as of late February.

Overall, most of these trends aren’t surprising if you’ve been following the space, but nonetheless, tie some numbers to them. Most impressive is the rise of Facebook, who is outpacing the growth of the social networking space on the whole by nearly tenfold.

This was an interesting article posts on Forbes.com about the true measure of social networking from a business perspective.

Are social networking “tools” good for business or just a giant time suck?
Ian Boyd, creative director of Cosmic Planet, a digital creative studio in San Francisco’s Presidio, said his office calls it “Social Notworking,” because while he believes he needs to use Twitter and Facebook to stay in the mix, he’s never gotten a single customer out of it. Just as important, Boyd says, while he’s spending all that time networking, he’s “not working.” Where Web 2.0 does come in handy, Boyd concedes, is in helping existing clients stay up on his company’s activities.

Boyd’s comments came at one of a series of Money Matters Town Halls put on by Intuit , with sessions for consumers and small businesses. I attended the afternoon session, moderated by small-business columnist Gene Marks and Intuit CEO Brad Smith, and attended by 14 San Francisco Bay Area business owners, with between zero and 20 employees each. Their technology skills and usage varied widely, but they shared several key viewpoints.

For one thing, they all said that their primary source of new business was word of mouth and personal referrals. And while Smith described social networking as “word of mouth with a megaphone,” the attendees all made clear distinctions between real-world referrals and ones made through online social networks.

It wasn’t that they weren’t sophisticated about online options. Almost all of the attendees’ companies have Web sites, and an impressive two-thirds said they’d updated those sites in the last week.

Caryl Lyons, the manager of events management company Roar Events, for example, uses Twitter to post comments about hotels she visits, but keeps Facebook for personal use. Her tweets automatically update her Facebook status, but Facebook updates don’t show up on Twitter. She’s also on LinkedIn, though that takes up less of her attention.

Does all her social networking actually make a difference? “I think it does,” she said. “The people that follow me have an interest in hotels and events, and they get good information.”

Caanan Meagher, who owns pedicab company KwickCart in Silicon Valley, says his drivers use Facebook to let potential customers know they’ll be at local events, and even make prebookings using the service.

Even longtime painting contractor Bob Watten (Watten Painting), who doesn’t think he’ll find clients online, keeps a presence on LinkedIn.

That’s the key, said Marks: “Go where your customers are.”

Or where your prospective workers are. Cheryl Fields Tyler, who runs Blue Beyond Consulting, an eight-person management consulting firm, uses LinkedIn to source associates, employees or contractors to match clients’ particular needs. But others prefer to use more personal methods to fill out their small, close-knit staffs.

Marks added that technology also makes it possible to hire contractors, and even full-time employees, who work in remote locations. That can often save big money compared with local workers, and it can put you in position to hire the person you really want rather than the person who happens to be close by.

E-mail marketing was perhaps the most popular online marketing method. Patty Styka, whose Elegant Lagoon Cruises runs an electric-boat charter service in Foster City, Calif., said she regularly posts announcements on Yelp and Smalltown, while Lulu Lopez, relies on e-mail marketing to promote her Italian restaurant (Campanella, in Newark, Calif.), sending missives promoting wine pairings, birthday and holiday celebrations, and even just regular old follow-ups and thank-yous. Cosmic Planet’s Boyd has done a number of HTML e-mail campaigns for his clients and is now looking into doing e-mail marketing for his own business. But as Marks pointed out, doing your own e-mail marketing takes a lot of time, from writing the e-mails to working with the address database.

But search advertising doesn’t seem to be popular at all. Restaurant owner Lopez used Google AdWords but stopped when she didn’t see results. “I’m spending money and not getting anything back.” Yet the business owners weren’t holding on to print media either: Only one or two were advertising in the Yellow Pages.

All of the business owners complained that the economic situation has made it more difficult to get paid on time, if at all. Smith suggested that one solution is to accept credit/debit cards, even for business-to-business transactions–the 3% to 4% fees are a small price to pay to get your money right away. But Marks cautioned businesses to use a separate bank account for the cards, lest the banks swipe cash to cover a disputed payment.

Finally, on a positive note, 80% of the attendees said they plan to boost marketing spending this year. Sure, it’s a small, unscientific sample, but it seems like a recession-busting sign to me. Even more amazing, Watten said he expects to get additional painting work based on federal stimulus money!

this was originally posted by econsultancy

As the buzz around social media gets even noisier, it has been fascinating to watch search agencies stake a claim to this territory and reposition themselves accordingly. But how closely do SEO and social media really fit together? We spoke to several leading search agency figures to get their perspective.

Agencies like  bigmouthmedia, iCrossing and Guava promoting the integration of social media and SEO, and running campaigns for their clients, it was interesting to hear Warren Cowan, CEO of Greenlight, another leading search agency, give his perspective.

Cowan, with some carefully considered arguments, plays down the importance of social media for search engine optimization, and makes it clear that his agency will stay focused on what might be termed “traditional SEO”.

He is dubious as to whether, as many other search agencies claim, social media can currently make more than a negligible difference in improving natural search visibility (and, more crucially, driving high volumes of traffic and more sales at a lower cost) for Greenlight clients.

“I do think social sites have some shoulder-brushing with SEO,” he says. “But they are part of a mix of social and non-social elements that help make up a search strategy; they’re not a search strategy in themselves. On that basis I suggest social media’s ability to drive SEO should not be a topic of excitement. We should not all down tools and get behind social media as the next best way to achieve killer SEO.”

Contrast this approach with Guava, who currently promote social media services as part of SEO, or iCrossing and bigmouthmedia, who also now push a more integrated approach to digital marketing which includes paid search, SEO and social media.

Andrew Girdwood, head of search at bigmouthmedia, says: “Search and social are joined at the hip. They represent two of the main fuel cells in a digital campaign. Search and Social aid one another, boosting one another, while each being an independent entity in its own right. It’s a healthy relationship.”

Teddie Cowell, SEO director at Guava, adds: “There is a very strong relationship between search engine marketing and social media. Anything that raises awareness of a brand or particular website, such that it encourages people to search specifically for the brand or website, or increases the probability that a searcher might select that brand or particular website over another within a search engine results page (SERP), is always good for search engine marketing.

“There is also a very positive effect in terms of reaching large numbers of people and therefore gaining more links, which is one of the key factors search engines such as Google look at when ranking web pages.”

As Cowan points out, it is important to identify two areas where social media impact SEO in order to understand properly how the former might drive the latter.

The first, says Cowan, relates to Google’s “universal search” updates which means that there is increased prominence in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for “non-core” listings such as images, blogs, news, maps and shopping listings.

Some of these elements fit into the “social” category and some do not. Blogging, for example, is very much in the realms of social media but influencing bloggers is more the domain of online PR rather than traditional SEO, argues Cowan.

(Of course, the lines between SEO and online PR are increasingly blurred. According to the recent Econsultancy / Guava UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, two thirds (64%) of search agencies are now offering “online PR” services.)

A second pillar of the SEO and social media marriage is how activity on social media sites can help drive an improvement in the core search listings (i.e. excluding the universal search listings such as images, blogs and maps).

Asked about the importance of social media for improving natural search visibility, bigmouthmedia’s Girdwood is in no doubt: “Trust and authority are key attributes sites need to earn in Google’s eyes before they will begin to perform well in natural search. A social media campaign can help encourage both those attributes. As a result elements of social media are essential for a natural search campaign.”

As with Guava, this prevailing wisdom has impacted how bigmouthmedia manage their client activity: “Bigmouthmedia’s most basic search engine optimisation campaigns for clients include degrees of social media. Advanced campaigns involve managers from Search and Social departments.”

But Cowan is not convinced that social media activity really does significantly help with SEO, primarily because of doubts about whether it can drive valuable link equity. He cites the difficulty in getting people in the social media arena to link en masse to a site in the first place, the random nature of such links and the difficulty in systematically driving links to the right page on a website.

He also points out that the shortened URLs which are prevalent on Twitter undermine the anchor text benefit of a link and reduce the ability to rank for anything specific. Moreover, he says, many social media websites are not spidered by search engine bots or only partially spider-able.

His final argument against the value of social media for search engine optimisation is the ephemeral nature of this kind of visibility.

“Twittering (or any other form of social media activity) happens so fast and with such regularity that posts are pushed down and off the page often in a matter of days. Most of the time this means Google doesn’t even get a chance to index the entry, giving it even less value.”

But, beyond driving traditional SEO, I asked Cowan about the inherent value of being very visible on Twitter and similar sites. I pointed out that Econsultancy now gets a not inconsiderable proportion of its traffic from its extended reach on Twitter via its 6,000+ followers. Should Twitter be seen as a search engine and therefore part of the SEO strategy per se?

In summary, Cowan readily agrees that Twitter and social media generally have an important role for Greenlight’s clients across a range of sectors including travel and financial services, and that such campaigns can help drive awareness. But he doesn’t think such social media activity is as intertwined with SEO as others maintain.