The world of social media networking sure is fascinating. We enjoy reconnecting with friends over Facebook, writing recommendations for colleagues on LinkedIn and viewing/sharing videos with friends on YouTube. But how long until the public feels lost in a sea of social media possibilities? How long until companies stop trying to reinvent the social media wheel?

While the answer to that question remains to be seen, one thing is for sure – not every emerging media platform will have “marketing stickiness” and therefore succeed and be sustainable in the long-term. In fact, among Wall Street Journal’s list of venture-backed shutdowns this year are emerging media start-ups such as TeeBeeDee, a social networking platform similar to Facebook for people over the age of 40.

Aimed at reconnecting the Baby Boomer generation, TeeBeeDee simply did not attract enough users to its site. According to the Wall Street Journal, TeeBeeDee “at its peak was receiving less than 200,000 monthly unique visitors and nine million page views, but the site would need 5 to 10 times bigger than that to be sustainable. As the article also suggests, TeeBeeDee attributes it failure to a poor business model that did not raise enough awareness and funding for the site. But why do you think that not every social networking channel succeeds?

In the case of TeeBeeDee, I believe that attracting users within the Boomer demographic towards a generationally segmented social networking site was their biggest challenge. Unlike Generations Y’s (18-25), who are pre-dispositioned digital natives who may be more ready and willing to branch off into different sub-communities based on niche interests, the Boomer demographic needed to connect to users at a broader level.

Take for example, Facebook, a social networking site that Boomers are increasingly embracing to connect to their children, extended families and long lost friendships. In fact, according to Mercury News of Silicon Valley, Baby Boomers are embracing technology at a higher rate than do Generation Ys.

The fact is that Baby Boomers are just getting started with harnessing their inner social media prowess. Check out what Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor has to say about Baby Boomers on Social Media.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, but is social media putting a damper on your productivity and overall time management? Whether it’s for academic, professional or personal use, it is not a secret that emerging media technology can consume a great deal of your time.

If you are a marketer seeking to enhance the performance of your brand through digital channels such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis, I would not be surprised if you are may be struggling to keep up with the dynamic nature of today’s digital landscape.

In fact, according to this recent Social Media Marketing Report, “A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly. It is interesting to note that 9.6% spend more than 20 hours each week with social media.” The report also goes on to explain that there is a direct correlation with the length of time marketers have been using social media and the amount of time they commit to it each week.

So, how do you keep up without getting consumed? Here are my top 5 recommendations:

1. Block out time on your schedule dedicated to reading/responding to posts, Google Alerts and other pass along media notifications. Whether it’s in the morning, during your lunch break or late at night, it’s important that you don’t disrupt the fluidity of your day to day activities, unless necessary.

2. Evaluate the social media channels you are using. Ask yourself why you are using a particular social media channel. Is it consistent with your goals and objectives, whether personal, academic or professional?

3. Prioritize. Which social media tools give you the most impact? Be sure to spend the most time with the social media channel that gives you the most value in interactivity and positive exposure.

4. Go mobile. Utilize your personal data device such as a Blackberry or iPhone and download widgets/applications that allow you to manage social media tools from the convenience of your phone, without ever having to log on and lug around your computer with you.

5. Consider applications that manage multiple social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter Updates. For example, did you know that you can set-up an auto-update to Twitter with a Facebook application? Read this article to learn more about more ways you can manage the dynamic Facebook/Twitter duo.

As easy as it is to get caught up in the social media hype and excitement, it’s important to remain equally cognizant of the impact digital media exposure has on your work/life balance goals. And remember that despite how much you want to keep engaging the online community, it’s also okay to take matters offline.

In a capitalistic society such as the one we live in, economic prosperity is often stimulated by growth and incentivized through monetary compensation for sound investments in one’s work. As a result, it would only make sense that the online community recognize and reward those who spent the time and resources into successfully building/transferring their brand presence online.

From an integrated marketing communications perspective, there must be a balance between making our branded assets accessible to the public for viewing and protecting it from redistribution, especially from manipulative sources seeking to profit over the success of others.

A New York Times article explains that “information doesn’t want to be free; only the transmission of information wants to be free. Information, like culture, is the result of labor and devotion, investment and risk; it has value.” Clearly, the protection of copyright laws is essential in the maintenance of brand equity. But with the proliferation of new emerging technologies such as blogging, RSS feeds, YouTube and Wikis, how can these property rights truly be protected? Is it even possible?

I invite you to view the following video from Creative Commons, a licensing organization that provides a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists and educators. It allows the authors of the online community to “signal freedoms” to share, remix, or do both with their online content. According to the video, Creative Commons offers a total of 6 licenses, which allows owners to restrict access such as commercial usage while still allowing viewers to engage in the alteration/remixing and sharing of their work – all for free. In fact, since its inception in 2002, over 150 million objects were licensed through Creative Commons, including music artist Nine Inch Nails and the White House, under Barack Obama’s current presidency.

If you’re company has a SharePoint 2007 portal, then consider Newsgator Social Sites. According to the NewsGator Web site itself, “NewsGator Social Sites extends Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with social feedback (i.e. bookmarking, tagging, commenting), social networking, and community functionality by leveraging the SharePoint platform and social computing services.”

Since these are all things that peak my interest, I decided to check it out for myself by signing up for their free webinar. I wanted to learn about what NewsGator and other companies are currently doing to maximize Web 2.0 technology for internal collaboration. And, it’s interesting stuff!

NewsGator is a behind-the-firewall social computing platform used for collaboration. It includes all aspects of Web 2.0 third generation technology, which includes blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, social networks, tagging, social bookmarking, people profiles and mash-ups.

If you and your co-workers are using external emerging media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and external blog services to collaborate, you may want to consider the following risks (provided by the webinar) that these emerging technologies pose to your company. According to the webinar there exists:

• Very few business-related functions/features
• Employees don’t want to mix fun/personal profile with professional life
• Different countries gravitate toward different social networking sites
• Security and privacy concerns
• Difficult to integrate other internal systems
• IT Support challenges

NewsGator, in partnership with Microsoft SharePoint 2007 tackles all of the above-mentioned risks. Check it out for yourself!

According to the LinkedIn site itself, the professional networking site has over 43 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. In fact, a new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second and about half of its members are outside of the US. What does the LinkedIn demographic look like?
BusinessWeek defines LinkedIn members to be the following:

“All about business. More males than femals (57% to 43%). Highest average income, at $89,000. More likely to have joined the site for business work, citing keeping in touch with business networks, job searching, business development and recruiting as top reasons. They like news, employment information, sports and politics. More likely to be into the gym, spas, yoga, golf and tennis. Excluding video game systems, they own more electronic gadgets than other social networkers, including digital cameras, high definition TVs, DVRs and Blu-Ray players”.
Does this mean that there is no place for active engagement for young professionals under the age of 40 seeking to advance their careers? If you are a young professional under the age of 40 reading this, what have you done lately to bolster your career prospects on this professional networking site?

LinkedIn PR Manager, Krista Canfield, recommends the following:
1. Study the people that you admire.
2. Tailor your profile to look similar to the people whose careers you want.
3. Research people you are scheduled to meet.
4. Ask for advice and give advice through LinkedIn’s “Answers” feature.
5. If you want to increase your Google-ability, set your profile to public and choose
a vanity URL. Some people even include this on their email signature and
business cards.

Not familiar at all with LinkedIn? View this video to see how LinkedIn can help your professional networking career.

Unlike TVs, the radio or any traditional media outlet, mobile media users are always connected, which means that the hardest thing to do from a marketing perspective will be to keep users engaged as repeat viewers and satisfied loyal customers. To do this, marketers must set clear goals and objectives for each mobile media campaign. But how? Let’s start with what key insights we already know.

Key insights on the effectiveness and receptivity of a mobile marketing campaign are linked directly to the attitudes, perceptions and feelings of an individual. The ability to capture the following measures is therefore a critical part in learning how to enhance brand performance.

INFORMATIVENESS: What can mobile users learn that is useful, beneficial and relevant to their personal lives and interests?

IRRITATION: It is important to evaluate how quickly mobile media users get to and navigate through your campaign. According to CreativePro.com, “it is more important than ever to keep viewers on your site, click, click, clicking for as long as possible. And one of the best ways to keep them there is to make sure they always know where they are. This is where good navigation comes in…”

PERSONALIZATION: For mobile media, personalization helps in establishing credibility, security and relevancy for the user. It identifies the customer as an individual and shows a higher level of customer service through customization from the organization.

Want to learn more about the power of mobile media? View this video interview on how to monetize mobile media campaigns for your business.

Friendster, Facebook, Wikis, Blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter… the list goes on! With so many to choose from, which is truly the most effective pass along medium for marketing communications use? Facebook.

Originally known as the social networking tool for students, Facebook’s membership has grown to include anybody and everybody seeking to join. The only requirement? An email address.

So why Facebook? Here are six reasons:

1. Many avid Facebook users don’t see the need to sign up for a Twitter account simply because of Facebook’s popular status updates, which appear on the Facebook homepage mini-feed.

2. Facebook is also the #1 photo-sharing social networking site that allows you to “tag” photos of users — a feature currently being offered by Flickr and Picasa.

3. Unlike MySpace, the Facebook page layout is cleaner, more secure and interactive. This has especially been more apparent since Myspace has recently been criticized for spam being sent to users.

4. Facebook marketplace operates very similarly to online classifieds such as Craigslist.

5. Facebook allows you to manage a social events calendar, invite users and send group updates

6. Targeted advertising — User information on Facebook such as sex, birthday, school, relationship status and interests allow advertisers to choose the exact target audience for their marketing communications campaign.

What are some reasons that you love Facebook over other social networking sites? Check out these two videos on the Facebook cultural phenomenon and its growing popularity…

Twitter vs. Facebook. Let the battle over status updates and microblogging begin! You’re already so busy. You’ve got work, school, family, friends, and a whole lot of errands to tend to. You’re already on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, LinkedIn and now your friends are asking you to follow them on Twitter? For those that use both, how do you possibly keep up? Are we part of an emerging media boom? If so, when and will the bubble the burst?

Twitter has often been referred to as the in-between email and blog posts social media tool. It’s the starting point for topics, ideas, links to other Web sites, and minute by minute updates. Ask the White House, even they’re on Twitter.

So, why Twitter?
1. It’s quick, easy, and has a character limit for each tweet.
2. You don’t have to have a Twitter account to view someone’s tweets.
3. Twitter is not that deep into your personal profile, so your Twitter followers can
come from a broader reach of networks used to bounce ideas off of.
4. Just like Facebook, you can manage your Twitter account via a mobile device
with internet access such as an iPhone/BlackBerry.
5. Get updates via RSS feeds so you don’t even have to log on.

Here’s what BusinessWeek has to say about those that Tweet:

“Twitterers: More interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion. They also especially like pop culture, with music, movies, TV and reading. Buying habits mirror that. They’re more likely to buy books, movies, shoes and cosmetics online than the other groups. Twitterers are also entrepreneurial. They are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs or businesses. More likely to be employed part-time (16% vs. 11% average), have an average income of $58,000, and average 28 followers and 32 other Twitterers they’re following. They’re not particularly attached to the site, though — 43% said they could live without Twitter.”

Marketers also swear by it. This is what one chief marketing officer has to say about Twitter:
“My approach for twitter is different for many other CMOs. I leverage Twitter to improve customer services and responsiveness to customers.”
View this video if you want to learn more about why Twitter is growing in popularity, and what it means to the online community.

Image provided by Geek and Poke

Your boss sends you an email. They are going over budgets, and the recent economic downturn means that management is going to be inspecting the quality of your social media campaigns with a fine tooth comb. Are you ready to prove emerging media technology really does impact the bottom line? If you’re using social media to boost organizational effectiveness, what have these digital communities done for the company?

All hard questions, and unfortunately, there is no set answer. Share with me some of the difficulties you have with proving ROI, whether it’s social media or something completely unrelated to the topic or even marketing communications.

Proving the return on investment of integrated marketing communications programs has always been a challenge simply because the success of many of our campaigns are behavioral and as a result, may take a longer time to prove its worth. This is also assuming that you have a solid baseline to go off on and have been tracking quantitative and qualitative progression every step of the way.

Here are some ways you can prove your emerging media marketing technology is or is not working:

1. Create a presentation that clearly defines the goals and objectives of your emerging media campaign.

2. Be sure to scope out exactly what your campaign is proposing to accomplish and what it is not

3. Present the following data with a story on what each criteria means for the overall brand equity of the organization:
a. Activity and Traffic including click-through (See the videos below for some
free reporting tools you could utilize)
b. Duration (WebTrends and Omniture are just two out of a long list of
companies that can allow you to see where they are clicking and for how
long. You Tube also now has their own analytic platform)
c. Engagement (Are your readers participating? What are they writing
about? How often? AideRSS even ranks your engagement level every week)
d. Voice of Customer (What types of feedback are you getting from your
customers? Is your company headed in the right direction? What is the tone
of most user-generated content? Has that improved over time?)

AideRSS

Google Analytics

Feedburner

Unlike official company blogs, unofficial third-party discussion over the Web offers another level of authenticity and transparency for the company that is being blogged about. Those seeking to post comments, topics and questions can do so on virtually any topic without the fear/disappointment that their blog posts will be filtered and/or altered by the company.

This doesn’t mean, however, that every unofficial blog will be a successful one. The success of InsideFacebook (the unofficial company blog for Facebook), for example, has just as much to do with the site’s full time contributor staff and buzz-building strategy.

So, how does a good blog look like? WebWorker Daily tells us that “a good company blog lets us know about new features, gives u tutorials, tips, and present us with useful information related to their product or service. It gives us a glimpse into what they do and why they do it.”

That being said, the following are some key considerations on how to ensure the success of any official/unofficial company blog:
- Content must be timely, relevant, investigative and exploratory.
- Is the blog telling readers anything new or is it simply outdated/regurgitated
content?
- Is the blog about a topic/issue that readers will care about or does it go off
topic?
- Is the blog thought-provoking? Does the content make others want to start
their own blog?
- Is the blog forward-thinking? Does it address the issues and implications for
future development and growth for the organization/industry?

Clearly, creating a successful blog is no easy feat. As a first time blogger myself, I am still researching and learning the ropes on how to best communicate, engage and interact with the only community using emerging media technology.