Integrating Social and Email Marketing

DKIM and Google+

DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail.  It is the process of validating an email send from a third party.  Many email clients have started integrating DKIM to reduce the amount of SPAM and unauthorized email sends.  If you are using a third party email marketing service you need to be asking if they have DKIM for their service. 

How does this relate to Google+?  Well, if you have a verified Google+ business page with verified URL all emails sent from that domain will show your Google+ account to the right of the email in gmail.  This is pretty cool because it gives your reader the instant opportunity to connect with you on Google+.

Facebook and Twitter Social Buttons

Integrating share buttons in your emails give your audience the opportunity to easily share your content. In order to do this you first need to get a facebook and twitter share image.  Then for the facebook image you link to:

            http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=<url>

Replace <url> with the url you wish for your audience to share.  For the twitter button you have a few more options which I will go over, but again we link the image with the url below:

            http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=<url>&text=<text>&via=<account>

Replace <url> with the url you wish your audience to tweet.  You can also include the text in the tweet by replacing <text> with the text you desire. Finally, you can include your twitter handle in the tweet by replacing <account> with your twitter handle.

Including these social buttons will increase your social presence, and also boost your click rates in emails.  These can be great for newsletters because you have multiple opportunities to include them in your email.

I think it is important to know which social media platform your audience is most suited for, and really focus on that platform in your email marketing.  For instance, a software company such as us will be less likely to have an engaged audience on pinterest, but have a much more engaged audience on twitter.

Why Social Integration

You may be wondering why you need to start thinking about social engagement in your email marketing.  The short answer is because mobile is on the rise.  Year over year we are seeing more people opening email on their phone or tablet rather than desktop.  With this increase in instant email interaction as well as the rise of social media we need to start thinking about how to spread out our reach to accommodate the platform they are most apt to engage with.

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Pinterest for Men and Women: Is There a Difference?

Most e-commerce brands understand the importance of social media to their digital marketing strategy, but they may not have harnessed its full potential. One of the social networks many companies have yet to build a strong strategy for is Pinterest.

The popular image-sharing network has risen in popularity since its inception. But it still features a disproportionately high ratio of female versus male users. Pinterest and its fans are making efforts to rectify this phenomenon, but how can you do so without resorting to gender-based stereotypes?

Below is a discussion of Pinterest’s gender problem and how brands can appeal to men and women alike on the platform.

How is Pinterest doing right now?

As of August 2014, Pinterest sits at #4 on the list of most popular social networks. It represents 255 million users, which is close to the entire population of the US. However, Pinterest continues to lag behind Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

According to Morgan Johnstonbaugh of Crimson Hexagon, Pinterest also presents significant crossover value in social media. For instance, “1.5 Tweets were written about Pinterest” in the past three months, Johnstonbaugh points out.

The most popular topics tagged on Pinterest these days consist of crafts, interior design, fashion, and food. Sixty-four percent of Pinterest users are women, which indicates a significant disparity between females and males on the platform.

But is this due primarily to users’ self-selected preferences or does it suggest a systematic exclusion of men?

Pinterest’s efforts to draw in more males

Fully aware of the limitations of domination by one gender, Pinterest has launched a concerted marketing effort to attract more men to the platform. Their goal is to show men that the site is about more than traditionally female-driven categories and encourage them to participate in the community.

Pinterest’s campaign to bring more men to the pinning table has included:

• Marketing imagery. Images on the registration and sign-in pages now feature noticeably more men than they used to.
• New head of marketing. Pinterest recently hired David Rubin, the former VP at Unilever responsible for Axe advertising campaigns, to head up its gender-inclusive marketing efforts.
• Encouraging a wider array of pin topics. Although Pinterest has developed a reputation for being a planning forum for weddings and baby showers, the network continues to market itself as a place for businesses and individuals to share pins on everything from investing tips to tech trends.

Does your business need to amp up its gender-inclusive Pinterest strategy?

Businesses currently active on Pinterest are among those that contribute the most to the diversity of content on the social network. Rather than focusing on traditionally “male” or “female” topics, they share their latest innovations, ideas, and inspirations.

Leaders in a variety of industries are helping to shatter stereotypes when it comes to which gender a specific kind of content appeals to. Whether you run a crafting business or an investment firm, your Pinterest strategy can (and should) come as close as possible to reaching the widest array of audience members.

Regardless of the dominant genders of their followers, brands succeed best at pinning as a market strategy when they:

1. Pin useful and relevant content. Although Pinterest is a fun place to peruse interesting images, the content that will most attract the interest of potential customers provides valuable advice or tips.
2. Share new products and inventions. Industry leaders such as GE use Pinterest to release initiatives to their followers. The people who interact with you on Pinterest should feel as though they are privy to the latest news with regard to your brand.
3. Encourage user-generated content. Rather than telling audiences what they should use or how they should use it, let them show you (and everyone else). Ask followers to pin pictures of how they interact with your product, and everyone will benefit from their ingenuity.
4. Create a community. Facilitating a forum where customers from all over the world can share their insights makes a brand’s Pinterest page a gathering place rather than a marketing gimmick.

With authenticity and thoughtful leadership, Pinterest and the businesses that use it can transcend the question of gender and come closer to being the social network of choice for all users.

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The 12 Days of Social Media & Content Marketing

Days 1-6: Social Media Marketing

A Partridge in a Pear Tree: Know Your Customers

The first step in creating a successful social media strategy takes some research.  Understanding who your best (and worst) customers are and what issues are most important to them will lend themselves to a successful social strategy.  Start by utilizing your existing customers to:

• Run surveys to identify their pain points
• Ask essential questions during regularly scheduled meetings

2 Turtle Doves: Always Be Engaging

Setting up a social media profile and expecting to immediately generate results is an unrealistic approach to social media marketing.  Identifying and reaching out to prospects, influencers, and current customers on a regular basis will begin setting the groundwork for an engaging social strategy.

3 French Hens: Offer Guidance

In addition to providing relevant and engaging content for your online community you should also offer guidance and help where appropriate.  Say for example that you are spending time on a LinkedIn group and find that someone within the group poses a question related to your area of expertise.  This presents the perfect opportunity to offer something of value without asking for something in return.

4 Calling Birds: Implement Tools

It doesn’t matter if you’re responsible for the implementation of social media for 1 client or 10 you’re going to need to use tools in order to get the maximum value out of your campaigns.  Social media tools don’t have to break the bank.  There are a number of affordable tools on the marketing including:

• Hootsuite
• Commun.It
• Sprout Social
• Vocus (TopRank Client)

5 Gold Rings: Spend Time Where Your Customers Interact

Depending on what industry you’re in, your customers will likely use a mixture of different social media sites to interact with personal and professional contacts.  As a rule of thumb you will always want to have a presence on the “Big 5” social networks:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• YouTube

6 Geese-a-Laying : Measurement

How many golden eggs are you getting from your social strategy and how many are duds?  Many of the tools that you are using to implement your social strategy can also provide insight and reporting of how your social profiles are performing.  Platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn have built in insights that do not cost any additional money.

Days 7-12: Content Marketing

7 Swans-a-Swimming: Create An Editorial Plan

Now is the time (if you haven’t already) to begin planning your content for 2013.  There are a few easy steps you can take to start the New Year off right including:

• Determining your content themes for each quarter
• Include any upcoming events in your content calendar
• Research topics that lead to conversions on your website or blog

8 Maids-a-Milking: Map Content to Customers

Depending on what stage of the buying cycle your customers are in, there are different types of content that will need to be used to attract, engage, and convert them to close.  The different stages of the customer buying cycle include:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Purchase
• Service
• Loyalty

9 Ladies Dancing: Hub & Spoke Model

A hub and spoke content marketing model is similar to a choreographed dance.  Once you determine which of your web properties will be your centerpiece (or hub) you can begin creating and promoting content for your other sites (or spokes) that will drive traffic to your hub.

10 Lords-a-Leaping: Build Remarkable Content Regularly

Creating engaging web content on a regular basis is an essential part of content marketing best practices.  However, if you truly want to wow your customers and prospects you need to create remarkable content that will stick with them.  Examples of remarkable content include:

• Infographics
• Visual eBooks
• White Papers
• Powerpoint Presentations
• Unique Graphics
• Videos

11 Pipers Piping: Promote Your Content

For good content to become great it must be shared.  In order to make your content as easy to share as possible you must make sure the content is at their fingertips.  Adding social sharing buttons to your blog can make social sharing just a click away.  Remarkable content that your team creates can also be repurposed on different social networks in the form of :

• Photo albums
• Individual social posts
• A series of web videos or blog posts

12 Drummers Drumming: Take Advantage of Your Network

Your online network can provide a great deal of inspiration for your content plan.  A simple yet engaging question to your Twitter or Facebook followers can provide a wealth of content that can be used for blog posts, website content, additional social posts, etc.

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How to Use Social Media to Generate Leads, Revenue and Brand Groupies

Explode Your Social Media ROI

Let’s not kid ourselves. Community and relationships are great, but wouldn’t it be nice to generate some serious revenue from Facebook and Twitter? We’re not suggesting you start using Facebook posts as a forum for a hard sell. How do you write and distribute content that stands out in a busy social feed? Is there any magic formula for really developing a great connection with your leads on Twitter? We’ve compiled the latest research to help you use social media to generate a serious ROI:

1. Post the Right Content

Before your sales person picks up the phone and calls a lead or drops them a personalized email, 60% of the sales cycle is over. Customers have already made more than half a decision that they’ll be purchasing your product. That’s one of the best arguments we’ve ever encountered for an inbound marketing strategy. How do you ensure the first 60% of the sales cycle is exceptional? Social media outreach isn’t just a great way to build community, it’s a real way to sway your future clients towards your brand. Here’s how to ensure that no one is driven over to your competitors’ website during the early stages:

• Sharpen Your Buyer Personas: How old is your average customer? What’s their average income? Are they more concerned about cost, convenience, packaging or image? You may think that your company’s commitment to keeping costs down is king, but if your clients are mostly interested in your return policy and customer service, you should rethink your content calendar and inbound marketing strategy!
• 
  
• Create Content to Answer Real Persona FAQs: No one knows better than your sales representatives the questions they have to answer day in and day out before a lead becomes a client. Are clients concerned about how to use your software or the nutritional content of your trail mix? Address these questions in content. Not only will you attract clients who failed to get their questions answered over at your competitors blog, your sales team will thank you!
• 
  
• Act Like a Publisher: Curate videos, memes, news items and infographics that will hit a home run with your buyer personas. Remember, over 73% of engagement on Twitter takes place within the first hour after you hit “Tweet.” Marketers and small businesses have traditionally been constrained by the cost of advertising space. Space is not the issue, it’s getting noticed and keeping people’s attention!
• 
  

2. Generate Shares

Think back to the summer’s pervasive piece of viral content. We’re talking about Call Me Maybe, the very bubble gum pop hit by a 26 year-old runner up on Canadian Idol. Say what you will about the song, you can’t deny the fact that Carly Rae Jepsen’s 260 million YouTube views and counting are downright enviable. How did the formerly unknown folk singer do it? Justin Bieber. The teen idol made his own parody version of the song which launched Jepsen into instant fame.

While few of us can dream of earning the attention of Bieber’s 29 million Twitter followers, it’s really a lesson in networking. Follow influential blogs and build real relationships with the Biebers of your industry. All it might take is one well-followed retweet to achieve viral status. While the exact formula of content that generates hundreds of thousands of views is a mystery to even the most experienced marketing experts, Hubspot Scientist Dan Zarella’s research on generating social media shares could give you some insight on how to create and distribute the right content:

• Audience Relevance (18.6%)
• Increasing Reputation (8.8%)
• Furthering a Message or Cause (8.6%)
• 
  

If you want your Facebook and Twitter followers to share within their networks, make sure you’re answering your buyer personas, writing intelligent information and taking a strong stance.

3. Be Sincere. No, Really Sincere.

Marketing research has indicated it takes seven points of contact before you can yield enough influence over a person to make a sale. If you approach the situation correctly, you can rack up these seven points of influence right on your latest Facebook post. Internet Marketing blogger Ryan Stewman recently illustrated just how quickly, easily and cheaply you can rack up these seven touches on social media:

1. Prospect Sees Your Facebook Post, Tweet or Pin.
2. They Hit “Retweet” Leave a Comment or Share.
3. You Author a Sincere Response and Tag Their Name
4. They Receive an Email Notification They Were Mentioned
5. Prospect Sees Their Name Mentioned on Social Media

The 4-Step Social Media Content Strategy

In a crowded online marketplace where smaller retailers are forced to vie against large ones, creating useful content is one way to garner consumer attention and trust. This is especially true when it comes to attracting prospects in social media.

At the recent Dreamforce 2012 conference, sponsored by Salesforce, Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford Motor Company, said, “Content is the currency of social." What Monty was saying is that successful social media marketing involves creating content that engages consumers, stimulates dialogue, and evokes a response.

In this article I outline four steps to create an effective social media content marketing strategy.

• Content Focus
• Content Type
• Posting Frequency
• Content Calendar

1. Determine Content Focus

Content needs to have a focus in terms of the topics you plan to cover and the tone it will take. Here are some pointers for determining that focus.

• Stimulate engagement. It could be educational, entertaining, inspirational, or promotional. Likely it should contain elements of all four.
• Demonstrate knowledge and thought leadership. One way to garner trust is by establishing yourself or your company as an expert.
• Consistent with the mission and culture of your business. You don't want content that is out of step with your company's character, image, and personality — it would come across as not authentic.

A commonly accepted practice is to use the 70/20/10 rule.

• 70 percent of content should focus on your customers' interests and needs. This can be accomplished through how-to tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to helpful resources. Ask yourself, "Would I find this content helpful?" If the answer is yes, then it's probable others will too.
• 20 percent of content should be "OPC" — other people's content. That mandates a willingness to allow user-generated content on social channels you manage, such as a Facebook page. This gives your customers a sense of ownership in the conversation and serves to foster trust.
• 10 percent of content should be promotional. If you are willing to focus 90 percent of your content on others, then, hopefully, no one will complain when 1/10th of it calls attention to your products and services.

2. Determine Content Type

Depending on the channel, social media content can take many forms: blog posts, tweets, status updates, contests, quizzes, poll questions, infographics, videos, and photos.

Due Pinterest and Instagram, social media has become increasingly visual. So the use of video and photo images should be a major consideration. Not only does it appeal to different learning styles, but photos and video make it easier for customers and prospects to get a feel for who you are and what you do.

3. Determine Posting Frequency

After you have decided on the content's focus and type, determine how often you can post updates. Here are a couple of tips.

• Post at the optimal time. By this I mean post on the days and times when you are most likely to receive responses in the form of Likes, comments and shares. Many retailers find that posting between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. works best. Edge Rank Checker is a tool that can help you determine the best times to post on Facebook. Also, use Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to determine optimum posting times.
• Put important points first. Express your core message within the first 90 characters, as longer messages might be truncated.

4. Create a Content Calendar

Once you know the focus and types of content you want to produce, and determine the posting frequency, the next step is to develop a calendar to schedule your posts. Calendars can be created on a weekly or monthly basis.

Content calendars can be developed using a spreadsheet. But I prefer a social media management application, for three reasons.

• Such applications serve as the single source for content creation and scheduling.
• They automate the process of content distribution and syndication to social networks.
• They make it easier to administer and manage social media channels and engagement activities, such as responding to comments, identifying new fans and followers, and monitoring conversations about your business and its products.

I recommend the following social media management applications.

• Sprout Social
• Hootsuite
• Postling
• Vertical Response
• Buffer

Content is Still King

Engaging content can serve your business in a variety of ways. It can:

• Set you apart from your competition;
• Help establish you as an expert, and a thought leader;
• Keep your business top of mind with consumers;
• Provide the leverage needed to keep your customers coming back time after time.

Think of yourself not only as an ecommerce merchant, but a "media mogul," as well. Make content the focus of your social media marketing activity. It will likely translate into increased profits.

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8 Social media tools for restaurant operators

Restaurant marketing and the food service industry has been a professional passion of mine throughout my career. In terms of social media, local marketing and Web marketing, I think this industry is poised for some incredible gains over the next few years. Restaurant marketers, however, must now start to examine a new set of tools and how figure out how those tools fit within existing systems in both their corporate organizations as well as throughout their franchise networks.

Food Service Social Media Universe (#FSMU)

I had the opportunity this week to make the trek to Chicago to speak atFoodservice Social Media Universe. My panel cohorts, Stephanie Krause from HuHot Mongolian Grill and Shannon Zimmerman of Auntie Anne's, and I led a panel discussion on content marketing case studies for restaurant brands. We also attended the rest of the event and learned a lot from the other panelists and the keynote speakers, Jay Baer, Jason Falls and Dan Kim of Red Mango.

Restaurant marketing social media tools: My take on what's out there

One of the best moves the FSMU folks made was to host a "speed dating" networking session that drove attendees to spend time getting to know the sponsors. All of this year's sponsors develop and sell social media tools specifically designed to meet the high demands of restaurant marketing.

I had the chance to visit with each of them, ask a ton of questions and take good notes. The list below shares what I learned and my assessment of each of the social media tools they provide.

VenueLabs

I learned about VenueLabs from Bonnie Brannigan a few days before heading to Chicago. This tool is one of the most impressive social media tools I've seen in the past few years. VenueLabs helps restaurant marketers pull data from hundreds of owned profiles like Yelp, Instagram, Foursquare and others, and allows them to assemble that information in an easy-to-use format. What's even more powerful is that VenueLabs collects data based on locations, even without the presence of brand mentions. Keep your eyes on this one folks — it's a very powerful social media tool for both local marketing as well as operations.

Engage121

This is a tool I have known about for some time, having kept my eyes on them through my friend Jack Monson over the past few years. Engage121 started as a public relations tool and evolved into a suite that combines social media monitoring, content publishing, engagement and application development specifically for Facebook brand pages. What's intriguing about Engage121 is how it can overlay social 'buzz' activity directly with same store sales data, showing trends and time delays from promotion to purchase. Engage121 also has a nice take on calendars and planning tools for your content.

Shoutlet

I've been familiar with Shoutlet's platform for a few years as well, and once recommended them to a CPG enterprise client with whom I was consulting. Shoutlet does a nice job with providing a social CRM tool that is particularly useful for franchised organizations. The platform has the ability to integrate with a variety of ESP's (email service providers) which is a major win. Shoutlet has made some incredible progress in the last few years as far as maturing social media tools go.

Robust Promotions

While not really in the set of social media tools, Robust Promotions does a very nice job tying scratch-off instant win promotions to the Web via unique URLs and custom redemption codes. Some of its promotions, including one with my former sister company, Mimi's Cafe, saw conversion on contest redemption of more than 7 percent. Pretty impressive indeed.

ChowNow

This online ordering app allows restaurant brands to take online orders via Facebook and mobile devices. What's interesting is that the company will actually ship a tablet, preloaded with its application to each restaurant location so that the staff behind the counter can see the orders coming in and process them for pick up. However, this tool does not currently integrate with any existing POS systems. That will be a real barrier to adoption for a large majority of restaurant clients.

Belly

Looking to replace punch card loyalty programs? Belly has designed a software solution that puts physical loyalty key ring cards and mobile apps in the hands of users and then offers discounts to users who check in at specific locations. One of the features in Belly's design also allows a brand to email offers to users who check in to other businesses within a designated proximity around the customer's restaurant or retail location. Unfortunately, Belly does not yet tie into your existing loyalty programs or your POS system. Again, this is going to turn off a lot of restaurant marketing decision makers, particular once the proposal makes it to the C-suite.

Single Platform

Single Platform doesn't really classify as a pure-play social media tool, but it's simplicity and features make it a very powerful tool. Simply put, Single Platform updates your menu across 200 menu sites with special attention paid to the top 25. You can also push menu updates to specific locations and even gather analytics on visits and views. What's interesting is that each menu page updated is also searchable by menu item in addition to brand name. Pretty useful for busy managers.

Deelioz

Deeloiz is a good idea, but one that needs a bit more time to cook. This take on a mobile application for restaurants delivers video content created by a brand at the point of check-in and while the guest is standing in line or sitting at a table. There are several ways to apply a social media tool like this, but since it's in very early start up phase it will be a few months before the platform is ready for larger chains. That said, the app is provided to both consumers and restaurants for free (as of now) which is a good move for a start up working to build trial. Keep your eyes on the Delioz folks as they develop their platform.

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10 Ways to Use Pinterest

One of the latest social media trends is to use visual sites such asPinterest to create boards and share ideas through the use of photos and other graphics. Known as pinning, creating online photo boards can be an excellent way to tell a story and promote your next conference.

The first thing you should know is that Pinterest is not the only social network of its kind. While it may currently have the biggest user base (around 12 million), sites likeLoveIt.com and Gentlemint.com (targeted toward men) are quickly gaining momentum and shouldn’t be ignored. Regardless of which platform you select, you can make use of these new social networks for your meetings’ and events’ promotion and engagement strategies.

Here are 10 ways you can use Pinterest for your meetings and events:

1.   In general, accounts are created on these social networks by linking to an existing Facebook or Twitter profile, so be sure that you have one or both accounts set up before you start. By connecting through these networks, you can connect with people who are already in your and your organization’s social circles.

2.   Organizations can use Pinterest to demonstrate their culture. They can create boards that show their products, their facilities, their customers, and their interests—and the interests of their customers. Many organizations are having employees take photos “of each other” or “of the office” or “during the business day” to demonstrate visually what it’s like to work for the business or association.

3.   Event planners can use Pinterest to showcase previous events or to look for ideas for future projects. There are many boards focused on design that can spark creativity and lead to an amazing attendee experience.

4.   Meeting planners are starting to use boards to showcase their event’s speakers. They might link photos to their own Web site or to those of their speakers.

5.   Sponsors are always looking for added value. You can give them extra exposure to your attendees by creating a board filled with your sponsors’ products and services.

6.   The destination is often the focal point of an event. You can create special boards to showcase things to see and do in your host city. This can be a great way to build excitement and promote an event in a unique way. If your next conference destination is a secret, build a board that gives hints about its location.

7.   You can display photos from conferences past and present to create a buzz and get people excited about attending.

8.   You can discover ideas for content by browsing boards to see what people are talking about and are interested in. Make sure you are following your key influencers to see what they are posting.

9.   Do a lot of your presenters author books? Create a virtual book club for your event through a “books to read” board.

10.  Infographics are a popular method of depicting statistics. Add a few relevant infographics to begin the education before your event starts.

The world of pinning is still evolving. Studies have shown that people enjoy learning and consuming information through the use of visuals. These are just a few of the many creative ways that event organizers can take advantage of the latest craze in a strategic way.

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Social Media Overtakes Search in Advertising

Social media is on a trajectory to become the main focus of advertisers, according to a new survey conducted by Strata, a Comcast-owned media software firm. The quarterly report queried a broad pool of over 1,000 U.S. ad agencies processing over $50 billion in media annually, and revealed that 69% of firms regard social media advertising as being the focus of ad spend, up 32% over the previous year.

A similar study by Pagemodo recently showed that 90% of businesses at least incorporate some form of social media into their marketing plan, with 93% reporting the practice to be beneficial. While only 43% of advertisers in that study reported seeing an actual boost in sales via utilizing social ads, social proofing, or using a sort of digital word-of-mouth to promote a product or service, does significantly increase brand exposure.

Strata President and CEO John Shelton, referring to the survey taken by his company, states, “The survey demonstrates that there has been a shift from search, which has dominated the digital part of the business for the last five to 10 years – to social.” Still, display ads are number one, with 71% of advertisers focusing on platforms like TV. Though, Shelton points out that TV ad spend will be inflated, due to the Presidential election and the Olympics.

Mobile advertising is expanding, with roughly 30% of agencies incorporating it into their campaigns, and 75% of firms target the iPhone in that market. Android was second with 57%, and iPad came in third at 44%. The Strata data also revealed that Android’s popularity fluctuated between 46% and 70% over the last 2 years, and “continues to look for stability in the mobile arena.”

Now to cite the obvious – Facebook takes up 85% of all social media advertising expenditures, and has achieved at least 80% over the last 7 quarters. Though, I must point out that the Strata study relates to advertising focus, and no dollar amounts were mentioned.

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What is Social Mention?

What is Social Mention?

Social Mention is free, real-time social media search and analysis. You can explore or opt to receive social media alerts (similar to Google Alerts but for social media only.) You can choose to receive free daily email alerts of your brand, company, CEO, marketing campaign, or on a developing news story, a competitor, or the latest gossip on a celebrity. 

Targeted Searches

SocialMention.com can be used to locate mentions across the board or you can choose to search specifically for keywords identified in video, blogs, microblogs, events, bookmarks, comments, news, Q&A format, and audio media.

Social Mention Tools Explained

Sentiment: Indicates if mentions are positive, negative, or neutral. This is not entirely scientific data, but it gives a nice overall view at how your company or search query is being talked about in social media.

Top Users: Reports who is talking about the subject the most.

Top Hash Tags: Hash tags are used in Twitter tweets to categorize what the tweet is about. This feature reports what, if any, popular hash tags are being used in association with your search query.

Post Rank: PostRank is a measure of social engagement (degree of interest and importance) using proprietary algorithms. PostRank.com describes their ranking system this way:

"PostRank is a scoring system developed by PostRank (formerly AideRSS) to rank any kind of online content, such as RSS feed items, blog posts, articles, or news stories. PostRank is based on social engagement, which refers to how interesting or relevant people have found an item or category to be. Examples of engagement include writing a blog post in response to someone else, bookmarking an article, leaving a comment on a blog, or clicking a link to read a news item."

Sources: Indicates where the blog sources are coming from (the search engines where SocialMention.com found information.).

Information Delivery Options

You can opt to receive information via an RSS feed, email, or CSV/Excel file (spreadsheet.)

Setting Up RSS Feed for Google Reader

Click on the "RSS" option. Cut and paste the new SocialMention.com URL that appears in your browser into Google Reader to start getting RSS feeds from SocialMention.com.

Searching for Twitter Tweets on SocialMention.com

Enter in your search query, then select "Microblogs" and hit "search." You will be returned with information about who is tweeting using the search terms you entered. Study these folks - some may be business owners you want to network with, or loyal customers you want to thank personally. And, if someone is tweeting negative thoughts about your business, you may be able to reach out to them and give them a better impression of your business.

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