Are you credible? Do you have the knowledge and expertise on the topic for which you are trying to be influential? TSN Hockey analyst Bob McKenzie has an enormous influence on hockey fans through his Twitter account (with over 209,000 followers), blog and TV programs. Why? Because for the last 25 years, MacKenzie has lived and breathed hockey at every level in all corners of the earth. He is extremely credible on his topic of influence, hockey.

Trust

How much will you trust someone you’ve never met in person? Would you ever buy a product because someone online told you to? Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of someone who has used a transparency and honesty to develop a strong level of trust among his followers. Vaynerchuk is well known for his video podcast “Wine Library TV” which featured weekly episodes in which he would sit behind a table and reviews wines. Vaynerchuk’s honest and laid back style during these episodes gained him a large following and turned him into one of the most influential wine reviewers in the world.

Relevance

Are you giving your audience what they are looking for? A lot of people fail to achieve a great deal of influence becuase they miss the target here – their audience is misaligned and their message is all over the map. I am a reader Avinash Kaushik‘s blog – he is influential on me. Why? Becuase he blogs about analytics. That’s it. That’s why I follow him, and that’s what I expect to read when he writes a new post. If one day he decided to blog about horse racing, I would be confused and I would leave. Relevance is huge.

Timing

Timing is key. Can you deliver your message to your audience in a timely fashion? Sometimes being timely can make or break your influence with a certain audience. I rarely use the same example twice in one blog post, but this is an exeption. I’m going to use Bob MacKenzie again for this one. He is always the first one to report anything hockey – a trade, suspension, a healthy scratch, what Daniel Alfredsson is having for lunch…okay maybe not that much, but his ability to report detailed hockey news in an extremely timely fashion is staggering – and one of the main reasons I follow him religiously on Twitter.

Alignment

Are you in the right place? Aligning your message with your target audience is one of the most overlooked aspects of building influence.  Should you be using Twitter? LinkedIn? Google +? Take Justin Bieber for example. He went from a simple teenager in a small Canadian town to one of the World’s most famous and influential pop stars by using YouTube. His target audience (probably 95% teenage girls) are heavy users of the video sharing site. He is the perfect example of gaining influence through strategic alignment.

Measuring your Influence

So how much influence do you actually have? Who do you influence? What topics are you influencial on? Well there are a few free tools out there that help you determine your online influence. The most well known is probably Klout. If you haven’t heard of Klout, here is how they describe themselves:

The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage you influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure: True Reach (how many people you influence), Amplification (how much you influence them) and Network Impact (the influence of your network). 

So first of all, Klout will give you an overall score – mine is 54. Secondly, they provide you with a Klout Style – I am a specialist – meaning that I am “not necessarily a celebrity, but within my area of expertise my opinion is second to none. My content is likely focused around a specific topic or industry with a focused, highly-engaged audience.”

Klout then breaks down individual scores for the three aforementioned elements: True Reach, Amplification and Network Impact. They also provide a list of topics for which you are influential. Apparently, within my network, I am influential about Small Business, Media, Beer, Ottawa, Facebook and SmartPhones. I can then break it down even further. I can see which specific people I influence the most, and on which topics. Similarly, I can see who influences me the most, and on which topics. For example, my biggest influencer is Chris Brogan, and he influences me on Blogging, Social Media and Marketing.

Understanding your influence is key to Social Media success. Are you in the right place? Are you influencing who you want to be? Are you missing the mark? Tracking my Klout score has personally helped me fill in the gaps where I am missing out, and realign my Social Media strategy.

How will you become influential using Social Media?

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

The Importance of Social Media Influence is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Search

• Google makes 200-300 changes every year – and they kill off 2/3 of their initiatives.
• Google’s efficiency with Search saves us about 350 million hours per year.
• BING stands for “Bing Is Not Google”
• There are more searches made on Twitter each month than Yahoo! And Bing combined
• Google Instant isn’t changing the way people Search, but the way they read the results. With Instant, searchers rarely look past the top 5 results.
• Google Instant decreased time to click by 50%
• SEO is not just about rankings, it’s about conversions
• 3 key success factors for Search: Relevance, Speed and Usefulness
• The average search query on Google today is 4.3 words
• Over 50% of queries are over 3 words in length – and 2/3 of them yield no exact match
• Local Search queries are up 54% year over year.
• YouTube is the 2^nd most popular Search Engine on the planet
• When optimizing videos, follow similar SEO practices – links always matter!
• Multi-lingual SEO is a whole other ball game. Adidas faced many challenges with international campaigns which included SEO for 19 languages and the use of slang terms
• With multi-lingual SEO, you can’t just translate keywords. You need to consider different dialects of languages in different regions
• Your homepage is not a consumer’s first impression of your brand online. It’s what they see on a Search Engine Results Page.
• Go after those who are actively searching for you, stop searching for them.
• Are you optimizing your landing page? Bring users to where they want to be. Stop sending them on a wild goose chase.
• Always add negative keywords into your PPC campaigns.

Social Media

• There are over 1 billion Social Media users worldwide spending 2 billion minutes a month
• 25% of activity on Facebook is from a mobile device
• Facebook is becoming a bigger enemy to Google than Microsoft is.
• Three often overlooked YouTube Ranking factors: 1) Increase of views over time 2) Quantity of inbound links 3) Inclusion of video in playlists
• When it comes to Social Media don’t ask What – ask Why? “What” is a tactic, “Why” is a strategy.
• Foursquare experienced 3400% growth in 2010
• When creating a Facebook Deal consider the “What if’s”. What if 500 people claim a 50% off deal? Can you support your deals?
• The 4 pillars of Location Based Strategy: Context, Location, Social Interaction and Platforms

Mobile

• 101 million smartphones were sold in Q4 of 2010 compared to only 94 million PC’s
• 2011 will be the year of mobile – expect for it to really take off
• A major difficulty faced with mobile advertising is the discrepancy between a user’s location vs. their destination.
• Is your website optimized for mobile? If not, do it.
• All 5 of Google’s strategic initiatives for 2011 revolve around mobile
• 544.6 million text messages were sent in Q2 of 2010

Online Reviews

• 62% of consumers read reviews online before making a purchase
• 62% of people trust online ratings and reviews of people they don’t know
• 18% of people who were contacted by a company after they had left a negative review ended up buying more from that company in the future
• 33% of those mentioned above removed their negative review, and 34% went on to write a positive review about their experience.
• A bad review online shouldn’t be seen as a threat. It is a great opportunity to address the problem, satisfy that customer, and show others that you care.

Quotes

• “How do you demand innovation, creativity and radical rethinking if you can’t imagine it?” – Avinash Kaushik
• “My three year old son will look at a keyboard the a same way I look at a rotary phone” – Mitch Joel
• “Plugging your computer into a phone line to get Internet ten years ago was so barbaric. Look how far we’ve come.” – Mitch Joel
• “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” – Chris Anderson
• “Never do anything in marketing that doesn’t add economic value to your company.” – Mitch Joel
• “Incorporate your digital marketing efforts into your marketing mix. Think “with” not “instead of”.”
• “Just because someone is on Facebook all day it doesn’t make them a Social Media Marketing expert. I turn the lights on when I walk into a room, am I an electrician? No. “ – Mitch Joel
• “Display will grow into a $200 billion market” – Eric Schmidt
• “Search is the connection between intent and content.” – Bill Barnes

That’s all folks! Two days of intense sessions with lots of great insights and takeaways. Have you considered these strategies when it comes to marketing your business online?

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

Search Marketing Expo Toronto Recap is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

You’ve decided that Social Media is right for your business. You’ve determined your goals, developed a strategy and implemented it. You’ve created interesting, creative, and engaging content that gets shared through your Social Media profiles. Stop – you’ve already missed a step. Optimizing. Think of your Social Media Strategy as a party. You’ve decided that the best location for this party is at your friend’s house (Facebook). At your party you are going to have decorations (Photos), a DJ (Videos), an open bar (Events) and snacks (Blog Posts). Everything looks, sounds, and tastes delicious. But oh no…nobody has shown up to your party. No one has had the opportunity to enjoy all of these amazing things that you are offering. Why? Because you forgot one key element – the invitations – you forgot to optimize your Social Media.

You’ve essentially wasted a lot of time, effort and money planning and executing this unbelievable party that no one will get to enjoy because you failed to let them know that it existed and where to find it. How stupid do you feel standing there alone at your own party? See my point? It’s the same way with Social Media. It doesn’t matter how amazing your Facebook Page is, or how beautiful your Flickr photos are, if no one can find you, or even knows that you exist, you will be standing alone feeling stupid.

In order to leverage Social Media and SEO together, you must develop a roadmap with clearly defined goals. Begin by determining who you are going to invite to your “party”. Who is your audience? What do they like? What do they search for? What Social Media platforms are they present on? Deciding who you are going to “invite” is essential in beginning the whole process of integrating Social Media with SEO. There are many tools (free and paid) out there that can help you track, analyze, measure and understand your audience.

Next, determine the location of your party. Is it going to be a backyard BBQ, or a dinner and dance in a ballroom? In other words, are you going to be on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Flickr? You don’t need to limit yourself to just one. It all depends on your business, and your individual goals. There is no one-size-fits-all Social Media solution. Once you have determined which “venue(s)” is right for your business, you can begin to create your content.

“Produce great stuff, and your customers will come to you. Produce great stuff, and your customers will share your story for you. More than ever before: Content is king! Content rules!” – C.C. Chapman, Author of ‘Content Rules’

Chapman is 100% right – Content Rules, and Content is King. We live in an amazing time where we all have the ability to create content, and share it with millions of people with ease. Old-school marketers would advertise their business by interrupting people with full page newspaper ads, TV commercials and telemarketing phone calls during dinner. Today’s marketing world is all about permission marketing. The customer is coming to you and saying “Hey, I like you, I give you permission to talk to me.” So stop interrupting them! Talk to them, engage them, entertain them. This is where content really does rule.

It’s almost party time – but where are your decorations? Your DJ? Your caterer? Your bar? You’re missing the content of your party, the things that really make it worthwhile for people to attend. Write an awesome blog post, post some photos, create a video, record a webinar. But don’t stop there. Entice your audience to share them with their network…and their network’s network. You’d be surprised by the ripple effect it can have. Increased social interactions within your network, and their network will improve your brand’s visibility in a search result. Remember, all of those inbound links provide you with excellent Link Juice.

“Content + Links = Search Engine Success” – Lee Odden, CEO TopRank

Now for the invitations. If anyone is going to attend your party they need to know it exists – where it is and when. Build your networks, establish trust and engage in conversations. Reach out to them. Invite them to your party and to try the food. Listen to the music. Look at the decorations. Make it memorable and valuable enough for them to tell their friends about how awesome my party is! Getting it? And it stretches far beyond your current community. What about all those people not in your network that you want at the party? Let’s say Peter and his friends are searching for a BBQ party in Ottawa playing Classic Rock music and serving mini burgers; will they find your party? You better hope they do.

Developing an online strategy that focuses on your audience’s wants and needs that is keyword optimized and easily shareable will make your party a hit. Track how your content is being shared. Who is consuming it? Who is passing it along? During this process however, don’t lose track of your ultimate goal. If you have a great party, but XYZ isn’t being accomplished, then you need to rethink your strategy. Always keep your goals in the front of your mind, and measure success continually throughout.

By integrating SEO techniques into your Social Media efforts, and vice versa, you will begin to see increased search traffic and interactions with your audience. While Search Engines such as Google have begun integrating social functions into their search results, Social sites such as Facebook have started improving their internal Search functionalities. The two roads are no longer parallel, they are beginning to intersect. Have you optimized your Social Media?

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

The Intersection of Social Media Marketing and SEO is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

This time I am joined by WebFuel’s Search Strategist, Helen Faber. We’re both quite excited for the amazing lineup of speakers which included analytics expert Avinash Kaushik, online marketing pioneer Gary Vaynerchuk, venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, brand strategist Jeffrey Hayzlett and Columbia University Business professor Dr. Sheena Iyengar. Over 1200 eager marketers file into the magnificent Metro Toronto Convention Centre, creating a great atmosphere. You can feel the anticipation for the day’s first speaker – Avinash Kaushik.

Avinash Kaushik

To begin with, I love Avinash. He is the only man alive that can make such a boring topic (Analytics) something entertaining, interesting and even funny. His energy and enthusiasm on stage was very well received by the morning crowd. Just as he did in Montreal, Kaushik shouts and rants on stage about “Garbage” and “Puke”! He points out the mistakes that many make, while giving you realistic solutions and advice. Avinash explains that the reason that most websites “suck” is do to the HPPO’s (pronounced “Hippos”). That stands for Highest Paid Person’s Opinon. He elaborates by stating that at most large companies, the highest paid person makes decisions about things that they know nothing about – websites – and 95% of the time it is ugly, and awful. One of the most well-received acronyms in Avinash’s arsenal was HITS: How Idiots Track Success. But, the quote that hit home hardest for me was that “you can’t improve something by 1000%. But you can improve 1000 things by 1%.” Brilliant.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Next up was Gary Veynerchuk. A true entrepreneur, Vaynerchuk is enthusiatic, outgoing and…well…quite vulgar! But amidst the swearing and rants was a great, inspirational message. Gary became well known for Wine Library TV, a video blog that he created to help sell wine for his family’s business. Vaynerchuk truly understands the consumer and the social web. He expressed his hatred for companies that don’t talk to, or even about, their customers. They are the lifeblood of your business. in order to get your customers to love you, you must love them first. Building loyalty should be first and foremost, because a loyal customer is there for life. He left the crowd with an outstanding stat followed by a piece of advice. First off, the stat: There is more original content being created every 48 hours today than there was from the beginning of man kind until 2003. Wow. And finally, his advice was simple. If someone starts to gloat about how many followers they have on Twitter, punch them in the face. Thanks Gary. Needless to say, I will absolutely be reading Gary’s newest book, The Thank You Economy.

Jeffrey Hayzlett

Last up before lunch was Jeffrey Hayzlett, former Kodak CMO. Hayzlett is well known for being a crucial player in Kodak’s legendary branding turnaround in the early 2000′s. As he takes the stage, it is quite evident that Hayzlett is a natural leader and marketer. “A brand is not a logo or a picture. A brand is simply a promise to deliver” he explains. “Kodak doesn’t make a camera or film equipment. They make emotional technology.” He goes on to discuss Social Media and the common desire to create something viral. “Viral is flukey” he claims. “Yes, it may happen, but please don’t waste your time and effort trying to create it. If it happens, it happens. Spend your time building relationships. They are much more valuable.” He is enthusiastic and spontaneous. He likes to take and idea and run with it. Hayzlett’s motto throughout his speech was “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. No one is going to die.” He explained by telling a story about a marketing campaign that Kodak had launched that encouraged consumers to text a number via their mobile phones to receive coupons. All of the ads were run in movie theatres before the show. Well, the downfall of the campaign is quite evident. What do you do with your phone when you walk into a movie theatre? Turn it off, right? “Well,” Hayzlett says “It was a mistake. My mistake. But don’t worry, no one is going to die. Let’s move on.” It’s this outlook and attitude that makes Hayzlett an amazing marketer. No one is perfect. People make mistakes. It’s how they react and learn from those mistakes that makes a difference.

Dr. Sheena Iyengar

After a much needed lunch, we returned to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to Dr. Sheena Iyengar, expert on consumer behaviour and the psychology of choice. Iyengar was definitely a change of pace. While the other presenters were jumping around from one side of the stage to the next, yelling and screaming passionately, she spoke softly while standing behind her podium for the full hour. But then again, while the others are radical, outgoing marketers, she is a University Professor. Her topic was also quite different. While the others put quite a heavy focus on the online space, Dr. Iyengar discussed the psychological side behind marketing. She examined the art of choice, and how humans make decisions when faced with a variety of different options. The conclusions drawn from her study were quite interesting. She stated that when people are given more choice, often times they take longer to make a decision, they make a worse decision and are ultimately less satisfied with their choice. They second guess themselves and think “Did I make the wrong decision?” She went on the explain that humans are born with the desire to choose, but without the innate skills to actually make a decision. In closing she provided the crowd with an interesting example. She told us that if you give someone the choice between going to an ice cream shop that only offered vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, or a shop that offered over 60 flavours, most people would choose the latter. But, interestingly enough even though they chose the shop with 60 flavours, most people would continue to buy either chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.

Guy Kawasaki
Last, but certainly not least, Guy Kawasaki took the stage to round out the day. He begins by winning over the crowd by praising hockey, Steam Whistle beer and…Justin Bieber. How Canadian, eh? Kawasaki’s message was all about how to be enchanting. A former Apple employee and author of over 10 best selling books, Kawasaki brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the stage. He stressed that trust is key – and that it is a two way street. Earn it, and maintain it. In order to enchant your employees you must give them MAP – Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose. With that they can, and will, succeed. He expressed the need to build relationships, engage, help others and, most of all, to enchant them. Kawasaki advises the crowd to not delay bad news. If something bad happens, tell people right away – don’t let it be a surprise. And always tell them with a solution in mind. Avoiding the inevitable will only make things worse. After a few more comments about how much Guy loves Canada, we move into the final Q&A session of the day. One audience member asks Kawasaki “Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are all undeniably amazing and successful entrepreneurs. Do you think that they are enchanting?” Guy laughs, takes a sip of water and responds “I hate that question. I’ll say this. You don’t need to be enchanting to be successful.”

The crowd erupts in laughter and applause. Kawasaki gives us one last wave, and the event’s host Ron Tite wraps up The Art of Marketing Toronto – a day filled with excitement, enthusiasm, passion, lessons, ideas and strategies. If you ever get the chance to hear any of these presenters speak, I highly suggest it.

The next big conference that I will be attending will be Search Marketing Expo in Toronto April 28-29th. Will I see you there?

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

The Art of Marketing Toronto is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. Every year, millions of people gather with family and friends (and way too much food) around the TV to enjoy one of the World’s most popular sporting events. It is much more than just a football game. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, male or female, sports fan or not – the Super Bowl appeals to everybody.

Last night, 106 million people tuned in to watch the Green Bay Packers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two legendary teams dueling it out for football’s holy grail.

But for the non football fan, it is much more than that. Christina Aguilera sang - butchered – the national anthem, while The Black Eyed Peas, Usher and even Slash performed during the legendary half time show. And don’t forget about those commercials – people love Super Bowl commercials. It’s funny, our generation hates television commercials. Normally we mute the TV, or use the break to go to the washroom and then grab a snack. And now, with on-demand programming, PVR’s and online streaming, we avoid TV commercials at all cost. But not on Super Bowl Sunday. You wouldn’t dare miss those commercials, right?

30 Seconds will cost you $3 Million

That’s right. $3 million for a 30 second TV spot during the Super Bowl, making it the most coveted advertising space of the year. To put that in perspective, an ad running on an average night would usually cost an advertiser somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000. The usual suspects - Bud Light, Doritos and  Pepsi – were at it again with their typical comedic ads featuring dumb guys doing dumb things – and hot girls being hot. That was to be expected.

I was however a little surprised to see a few new faces in the mix – including group buying sites Living Social and Groupon, as well as SalesForce’s new Social Networking site Chatter.com. These companies all spent millions of dollars to be showcased in television’s ultimate spotlight. That’s a winning strategy, right? You’d hope so.

And the Winner of Super Bowl XLV is…

While the Green Bay Packers held on for the 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the actual game, the real winner on the day was Facebook. That’s right folks, Facebook. Mitch Joel predicted this last week on his blog – and he was spot on. Yes I know, there was no TV ad with Mark Zuckerberg telling you to go get yourself a profile or to go ‘like’ him. But that’s the thing – he doesn’t need to. You’re already there. It was every other company telling you to go to Facebook. They were spending millions of dollars to promote their brand, while name dropping Facebook. “Like us on Facebook!” “Find us on Facebook!” “Check us out at Facebook.com/BudLight!” Does it get any easier for Facebook?

I bet Mark Zuckerberg was sitting comfortably on his couch watching the game last night with a little smile on his face, counting how many times his company’s name was not only mentioned – but promoted by every other brand out there. I would also bet that the Winklevoss brothers cringed every time they heard that word last night – “Facebook” – and it probably happens to them several times every day. Either way, Zuckerberg has made Facebook what it is today – the place to be. Seven years later, it is still cool. And the beauty of it is that Facebook did not pay a dime for any of this publicity. That’s how you get free Super Bowl advertising.

Mercedes Benz Also Wins

First time Super Bowl advertiser, Mercedes-Benz, may have had the best Social Media Super Bowl campaign of all. Using both Facebook and Twitter, Mercedes launched what they called the World’s first Twitter-fueled race, with the winner taking home a brand new 2012 C-Class Coupe. Four teams of two traveled 1400 miles to Dallas from their respective cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa and New York City) during which they accumulated points for their Twitter followings and by completing other Social Media challenges. Whichever team arrived in Dallas with the highest score was declared the winner – and new owner of that 2012 C-Class Coupe. Since the race was announced, Mercedes’ Facebook fan base has more than tripled to over 85,000, and their Twitter account now has 73,000 followers. Furthermore, Mercedes’ YouTube videos for the race has received over 1.8 million views. Social Media win.

An Average Joe’s take on Social Media

Working in the industry I am so immersed in Social Media in my everyday life. So of course I noticed every time Facebook was mentioned – as well as the ads for Living Social, Groupon and Chatter.com. But did the average viewer notice? I watched the game at a friend’s house with some buddies I went to high school with. Just a bunch of average 20-something year old guys that that love beer and wings – and do not work in the industry. I was curious to hear their take on Social Media. So I not only kept my Social Media ears open on the TV – but on them as well. What did I notice?

Well first of all Facebook was me mentioned in our conversation a lot – and often as a verb. ”Hey Greg” one guy said, “Did you see that video? I’ll Facebook it to you.” The same guy went on to tell me that he ‘likes’ Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive End Brett Kiesel’s beard on Facebook. So do about 30,000 other people. Yeah you heard me, his beard. During the third quarter another friend looked up from his iPhone, laughed and told the group that his Facebook News Feed was littered with comments about how bad the half time show was. Amazing, right? 7 years ago (right around the time of Facebook’s birth) the conversation would have been much different. Do you remember Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004? Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”? Well it was talked about quite a bit on TV, as well as between friends and coworkers the next day. But not on Facebook. Or Twitter. Imagine if that would have happened in 2011?

Then we saw Groupon’s controversial ad. It got a pretty good laugh from the guys, but they didn’t really get what Groupon was. “Huh? What is this site? I don’t get it.” So I explained it to them. “Oh, cool!” they exclaimed. You’re welcome Groupon. And then finally the ad for Chatter.com was shown. My roommate (who is not on Twitter) said “Ha! Looks like a Twitter rip off!” Another guy chimed in “Did you guys see what Ike Taylor tweeted before the game?” It was nice to hear what others had to say about Social Media. What they liked, what they didn’t like. Who they follow on Twitter and ‘like’ on Facebook. What they know and what they don’t know.

So as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers won Super Bowl XLV, the football game, Facebook won Super Bowl XLV – the advertising game.

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

How Facebook Won The Super Bowl is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

1. Mobile
   The emergence of smart phones has changed the way we surf the web. People are now posting updates to Facebook or Tweeting via their BlackBerry and iPhone. Now that users can access Social Networks from anywhere, their time on these sites is bound to increase. With this trend emerging we will begin to see an influx of Location-Based Services, deals and GPS based applications on Social Networks.

2. Location-Based Services
   Without mobile, we wouldn’t have Location-Based Services. I wrote a post earlier this year about the emergence of Location-Based Services such as Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR. Despite all the hype, they are still quite a niche – but with the growing popularity of smart phones in 2010, these services will boom in 2011. And it’s not just these sites specifically – other dominant Social Media sites have added location services to their lineup. For example, Facebook Places. In 2011 more people will check in to more locations more often. Count on it.

3. Video
   Everybody loves video. It’s engaging, entertaining and easy. People are lazy. They would much rather watch a 5 minute video on YouTube than read a page long blog post. Generally when you think of video in terms of Social Media, you instantly think of YouTube, right? Well, YouTube is here to stay, that’s for sure. But how are people finding these videos? Well, Google dominates of course, referring more traffic to video that any other source. But there is a new number 2 in town: Facebook. And they’re gaining ground fast.

4. Group Buying and Deals
   I’m sure by now you’ve heard of Groupon. And LivingSocial , Social Buy and BuyWithMe. While Groupon owns this sector of the industry, with a 79% market share, Group Buying is on the rise. And guess who’s jumping on board? Facebook. They recently introduced Facebook Deals, which incorporates both Location-Based Services and Group Buying into one application. There are 4 different types of Deals that Facebook offers. But the Friend Deal is the most important one here. With Friend Deals you can decide to offer a deal to people who visit your business with 5 other friends, for example. By setting a friend number minimum, it encourages more people to visit your business. Expect Groupon, Facebook Deals, and other Group Buying sites to take off in 2011.

5. Social Gaming
   Not unlike videos, people love games. It started when we were kids playing Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover on the playground. As we grew up we played Monopoly and Trouble, and as we entered the 2000′s many gaming websites gained popularity bringing back old arcade favourites PacMan and Tetris. Recently however, these games have gone Social, and are now available on sites such as Facebook. Farmville proved to be among the most addictive as it became blame for hours of procrastination. Now you can play pretty much anything on Facebook, from Wheel of Fortune to Snake. But in 2011, I predict that businesses will use games on Social sites as a marketing tool – not unlike MacDonald’s famous Monopoly game. Create a game, get people hooked, and you get traffic to your site. Gaming will be huge in 2011.

6. Social CRM
   Originally, businesses used Social Media as an outlet to market to their audience. But as the industry grew and evolved, so did the way that businesses interact with their consumers. Now it is not only a platform to market, but also to engage, monitor, listen and help. Social Media is not just marketing anymore. It’s customer service, PR, customer relationship management and a forum to generate ideas and solve problems. Don’t shout. Listen. Ask. Engage. Solve Problems. That will be key in 2011.

   Think about the old system. You buy a product and you are unhappy, so you call customer service. Your blood boils as you sit on hold for 25 minutes. Finally somebody picks up, and if you’re lucky, your problem gets solved. This conversation usually stays between yourself and the customer service representative. And then maybe you tell 2 or 3 friends about your discouraging experience. But now we have Social Media – an open forum – complete transparency. Say you post a negative review on Twitter or Facebook. Most old school marketers would freak out – thousands, or even millions of people can see this! What a nightmare! No. It can be a blessing. Fix the problem for one person, and show millions of others that you care, and that you are willing to help. It’s easy and effective. 2011 is about Social Customer Relationship Management.

7. Monitoring Made Easier
   Monitoring has always been a key issue when it comes to Social Media. Over the past few years, Social Media Monitoring tools such as Radian 6 have allowed businesses to track everything that is being said about their brand and products online including the source, sentiment of the posts and frequency. It is truly amazing the advancements that have been made. Unfortunately, many small businesses don’t have the budget for Social Media monitoring. So what have the Social Networks done? Integrated monitoring and tracking into their sites. Facebook has an incredibly detailed Insights available for administrators of Pages. YouTube also offers Insights that show views, location, demographics and likes. Even set yourself up with Google Alerts. All of these are free, easy and effective. Monitoring your brand doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Expect more monitoring services integrated into Social Media sites in 2011.

8. Social SEO
   We’ve all heard time and time again about how important it is to optimize your website, and blog for Search. But what about getting found for your Social Media profiles. Can potential fans and customers find your Page on Facebook? Or your Channel on YouTube? With so much emphasis on being present in Social Media, getting found there will become increasingly important. Search Engines will improve their ability to crawl and index Social Sites, and similarly, companies will begin to do a better job of optimizing their Social profiles. Social SEO will be a huge trend in 2011.

9. Social Good
   Earlier this year I wrote a post about Social Good which explored how Social Media can be used to make the World a better place. We saw this trend grow immensely in 2010 with Social Media driven charitable efforts such as Blog Action Day and Movember taking center stage and making headlines. Look for more charities using Social Media to raise awareness, recruit volunteers and drive donations in 2011.

10. Audience has the Control
    You can no longer ignore Social Media. As much as you may want to avoid creating a Facebook Page, or a Twitter account, you must. Traditional marketers will tell you that they control the consumer. Ever seen an episode of Mad Men? The show examines the lives of powerful Ad men in New York City in the 1960′s. Back in those days, they would have a product, and just tell you that you wanted – no, needed it – and it worked. Well, consumers are a lot smarter these days. Marketers need to work hard to gain the trust, respect and loyalty of these elusive customers. So if you want to turn a blind eye to Social Media, you’re signing your own death certificate. If you don’t manage your brand online, others will. That’s playing with fire.

11. Facebook remains King, MySpace slowly dies
    Conventional wisdom tells us that Facebook will remain atop the Social Media kingdom. They have everything. 500 million users, profiles, pages, photos, videos, messaging, chat, places, deals – and even a movie. Once they tighten up their privacy issues, they will be golden. MySpace on the other hand is in decline. The once Social Media champion has plummeted year after year as Facebook took over. Even with their acquisition of music sharing site iMeem last year, MySpace will fall further off the radar in 2011.

There you have it – our 11 Social Media predictions for 2011. Are there any trends that you think will take off in 2011? Let us know!

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

11 Social Media Predictions for 2011 is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

With that said, which Social Media sites do Canadians visit the most? Facebook took home top prize on last year’s list. Where will they stand this year? Which new sites have emerged? Before we begin I’d like to define what I consider a “Social Media site”. Yes, we all know the usual suspects – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. But this year I’m adding blogging sites. This past September I attended The Art of Marketing in Montreal. During the afternoon session, one of the speakers explained how blogs are inherently social. You share thoughts through your blog, and people respond with comments. It begins, and encourages an open, and social, conversation. So without further adieu, here is our list of the top ten most visited Social Media sites in Canada in 2010.

10. Blogger

Ah, what a way to kick off our list – with a blogging site! Founded in 1999, Blogger is the oldest site on our list. The blogging site took off in 2003 after it’s acquisition by Google, which enabled visitors to use the site for free. Blogger has thrived under Google as they have integrated several simple, yet useful features that enabled users to integrate photos from Flickr, Blogger for Word and AdSense which helps generate revenue from blogs. Blogger saw impressive growth in 2010, doubling it’s user-base. If you’re new to blogging and looking for a quick and easy way to start, check out Blogger!

9. Photobucket

Often overlooked by it’s superior Flickr, Photobucket has gained some attention in recent years. Photobucket is an image, video and slideshow hosting website based out of Seattle. However, after an extremely strong start to 2010, Photobucket’s popularity in Canada continually plummeted throughout the year, leaving it at number 9 on our list. This leaves us to wonder what is has in store for 2011 in the Canadian market? Will it crack the top ten again?

8. MySpace

The original darling of Social Media as still alive – but struggling. The former number one has been slipping year after year. Last year they were number 5 on our list, but have since fallen to number 8. MySpace has slowly been edged out of Social Media dominance by the big guns such as Facebook, forcing the site to rebrand and focus in on a niche market – music. MySpace’s acquisition of music sharing site iMeem in late 2009 was key to keeping them alive. By specializing in music, which has always been their bread and butter, MySpace has given users a reason to stay on board.

7. Flickr

Flickr is the king of photo sharing on the web. Originally founded in Vancouver, Flickr is now home to over 5 billion unique user created images, making it the largest photo sharing site in the world. Now owned by Yahoo!, Flickr has become an outlet for budding photographers to showcase their work. Up and coming photographers aren’t the only ones taking advantage of Flickr’s service. During the United States presidential race in 2008, Barack Obama and his campaign team took full advantage of Flickr by populating Obama’s page with hundreds of amazing photos that brought voters inside the life of the man who would eventually become their leader. Well done Barack.

6. LinkedIn

Okay – enough with the “fun” Social Media sites. Bring on the serious one. The one that helps you brand yourself, showcase your skills and helps you get a job. Yes, it’s true that you can use many, if not most Social Media sites to build and maintain your personal brand. But no site allows you to do so better than the professional networking giant, LinkedIn. And with a global audience of over 80 million, the opportunities are endless. Last year, LinkedIn didn’t make our list, coming in at number 11. My prediction? It will crack the top 5 in 2011.

5. WordPress

With the addition of blogging sites to our list this year, it is no surprise that WordPress is at the number 5 spot. If you’ve never heard of it, climb out from under that rock you’ve been living under and listen up. WordPress is amazing. WordPress is an open source Content Management System used by millions of bloggers and web designers around the World. Sporting a wide variety of engaging themes, incredible widgets and plugins, Trackback and Pingback features and a search engine friendly interface, WordPress has become the go to blogging sites for professionals.

4. Twitter

Twitter jumps from number 7 last year to number 4 this year. Is anybody surprised? As an avid Tweeter, I am quite familiar with Twitter. But outside of the Twitter bubble, people never seem to get it. Twitter’s ability to share information in real time, and eliminating the ability for users to be long winded by confining them to 140 characters per Tweet has made Twitter one of the most popular, and powerful sites on the web. My favourite thing about Twitter is that I get my news as it happens. Check out Twitter’s top trends of 2010. Expect Twitter to remain in the top 5 for next year.

3. Wikipedia

Similar to blogging sites, Wikipedia falls into a grey area when it comes to Social Media. There are over 17 million articles using information submitted by millions of users worldwide. It is collaborative social information sharing at its greatest. Face it, we all use Wikipedia at least from time to time. And, to be honest, most of the time the information is pretty accurate – just make sure you double check with the sources listed at the bottom of every article. Not only is Wikipedia the 3rd most visited social site by Canadians, it comes in at 6th overall. Not too shabby.

2. YouTube

The runner-up once again! Just like last year, YouTube came in at number 2 on our list. YouTube’s immense library of video content serves over 2 billion videos per day. Furthermore, 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Think about that. That’s almost a day and a half of video content uploaded every minute of every day. It’s no wonder that YouTube has become to go to site for video. Here are the top ten most watched videos on YouTube for 2010. Enjoy!

1. Facebook

Surprise, surprise. Facebook is back for the repeat in #1 spot. Not only the #1 spot for Social Media sites, or even for Canada – but this year Facebook surpassed Google for most web traffic worldwide. They even had a movie made about them! And their founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year! Facebook is undoubtedly a celebrity all in it’s own. They hold a press conference, not only do the media show up, but hundreds of thousands users watch it live online to see what changes are coming. With over 500 million users worldwide, Facebook is one of the most popular and powerful entities in the world. And at 26 years old, Mark Zuckerberg and his team of geeks (I call them geniuses) aren’t going anywhere. Expect Facebook to be back in the #1 spot next year.

There you have it folks, our Canadian Social Media Top Ten of 2010. Which of these sites do you use? Do you have any favourites that didn’t make the cut? Let us know!

In closing we invite you watch Google’s 2010 Year in Review. Have a safe and happy holiday season everyone!

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

Top Ten Social Media Sites of 2010 (Canadian Version) is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

It’s simple – on Movember 1st, shave your face and then grow a mustache for the entire month. The mustache acts as an icon for men’s health – similar to the pink ribbon for breast cancer – and is often a conversation starter. This conversation raises awareness for the cause and in turn drives donations.

Movember, which originated in Melbourne, Australia was first started as somewhat of a joke between friends who wanted to bring the mustache back into fashion, as well as raise money for prostate cancer. While they made no money in their first year, the founders, inspired by the efforts of women world wide who supported breast cancer, continued the campaign. And it paid off. Donations through Movember have increased every year since, and the campaign has expanded to over 10 countries. Last year Movember raised over $47 million for prostate cancer. In fact, in 2009 over 35,000 Canadians participated in Movember, raising almost $8 million for the Prostate Cancer Canada, second only to Australia.

Movember Canada has done an excellent job and using Social Media to raise awareness about their cause and reach their audience. Their Facebook Page is home to over 4300 Canadian fans, and it features everything from links to Movember videos, to news stories, photos and even a tab that allows you to donate. They also keep fans up to date and informed using their Twitter account. Not only that, but their YouTube channel, MovemberTV, has dozens of great videos promoting the cause, some of which featuring celebrities such as actress Malin Akerman and former Calgary Flame great, and king of the mustache, Lanny McDonald.

Movember is another great charity that has used Social Media for Social Good. Starting today, I will be growing my mustache to show my support and to raise awareness for prostate cancer. Will you grow your Mo?

WebFuel is challenging each and every one of you to grow a mustache to support Movember. For every Fan that posts a photo of their mustache on our Facebook Page during Movember, WebFuel will donate $10 to the Prostate Cancer Canada! Show us your Mo!

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

Movember Canada: The Challenge is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

The Art of Marketing is a conference that features 6 World renowned best-selling authors – Mitch Joel, Seth Godin, Avinash Kaushik, Max Lenderman, Andy Nulman and Jeffrey Gitomer – who shared a blend of inspirational, forward thinking, real-world marketing stories, tips, ideas and issues. The day on a whole was exhausting – in a good way. Hundreds of eager marketers filled a large conference room at the Palais des Congrès in downtown Montreal. Ron Tite, the host of the day’s event hops up on stage, full of energy and humor. After he welcomes the crowd, he introduces the first of six speakers – Mitch Joel.

Mitch Joel

Author of the best-selling book Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch Joel is a marketing genius and a member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. Joel addressed several new marketing issues faced by organizations and how digital marketing and Social Media are changing the game. Joel shared numerous mind-blowing stats with the crowd, who “ooh-ed” and “aah-ed”. The one that stood out the most to me was that 20% of searches made daily on Google have never been made before. He went on to discuss the demographics of major Social Networks. Joel says that there are more grandparents than High School students on Facebook, and half of YouTube‘s audience is over 34 years old. He stressed that understanding your audience is key. Know who they are, and target them in the right places. “Stop marketing, start publishing” he preaches. People get hung up on the little things and over-complicate their marketing efforts. He explains how a negative review online more often than not leads to sales. Why? People appreciate transparency and authenticity.  “So, what’s the secret?” Joel asks. “Just word hard and be nice to people.” It’s as simple as that.

Seth Godin

After a short networking break, the day continues with super-marketer Seth Godin. Author of numerous best-sellers including The Dip and Purple Cow, Godin is a truly inspirational marketing genius. Like Joel, Godin has an uncanny ability to make things simple. “Don’t worry about what’s next, worry about what’s now” says Godin. “Go ahead, make mistakes – and learn from them!” Godin goes on to explain that we need to stop shouting our messages at people. Old marketing was all about shout – interrupting people with our message. “Don’t interrupt people who don’t like you, organize people who you’re connected with” he says. And as for these people – your customers – they all just want to fit in. Fitting in is being the most average. Godin uses the iPod as an example. Yes Apple make amazing products – he doesn’t deny that. But the reason that they sell so many iPods is not the technology behind it – it’s the marketing. “Apple doesn’t make an MP3 player. They make jewelery with a function!” People just want to be seen with those white ear buds – to fit in, to be the most average. After a short Q&A with the audience, Godin leaves the crowd satisfied and inspired as we head off to lunch.

Avinash Kaushik

Next up – brand monitoring and web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik. As Avinash takes the stage, the guy beside me sarcastically mutters to himself  “Great, an hour of listening to some guy talk about Web Analytics. This should be fun.” Well, was he ever wrong. Avinash took the stage by storm. His surprising enthusiasm and energy was enjoyed by all. His message was comprised of entertaining quotes, educational information and the occasional yelling of “Suck!” and “Puke!” As crazy as he was, in my opinion Avinash was the best presenter of the day. Referring to his books and his blog Avinash says that “People like to pay for things that are free.” His ability to make analytics the most entertaining topic of the day is beyond me. He explained how most people monitoring their brand are doing it wrong. He presents the crowd with a clever acronym – HITS: How Idiots Track Success. Like Godin, Avinash explains that people make things too hard for themselves by over complicating things. “You can’t improve 1 thing by 1000%” he explains, “But you can improve 1000 things by 1%” Great advice. He finishes by declaring that “revenue is good…but economic value is GOD!” Engaging, educational, and a little bit crazy. I guess that’s the recipe for a great marketer.

Max Lenderman

I think most of us in the crowd felt bad for Max. I mean, how do you follow Avinash? That’s a tough gig. But, all in all, he pulled it off. Casually drinking a Molson Export on stage, Lenderman discussed branding and experiential marketing using a variety of real-life examples from around the globe. He explains that people of the world are very brand atheistic and price conscious. That’s how people continue to sell counterfeit products. But piracy and counterfeiting isn’t all that bad. It keeps the big brands on their toes – makes them compete on “the experience”. This is exactly what Apple has done with the Apple Store. They have created an experience for customers that goes up and above the product itself. In closing, Lenderman reminded the crowd to just “Be Authentic”. Simple and effective. After a short networking break we were back for Andy Nulman.

Andy Nulman

Another best selling author and marketing pioneer, Andy Nulman, was next. He shared his theories, ideas and stories about strategy and innovation. With over 35 years of experience in the field, that included a 15 year stint as the CEO of the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, Andy sure had a lot to say. He opened with a favourite quote of his, by Tom Peters: “Value added in today’s economy is created by the weirdo’s and the freaks.” He encouraged everybody in the room to stop trying to be normal. Normal is blah. You want to be Abnormal! As Nulman continued, he preached to the crowd that the Impossible is possible. It might have been a long day, but the crowd became restless during Nulman’s talk. There was an overall feeling in the area in which I was sitting that he was being more self-promotional, and less educational. I over heard a woman in front of me say to a friend “Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!” referring to Nulman’s constant stories about his own successes. Give him credit he stuck it out to the end, full of energy and enthusiasm.

Jeffrey Gitomer

Last, but surely not least, Jeffrey Gitomer. The 60-something, hard nosed, no nonsense – yet hilarious, Gitomer took the stage. He immediately won the Montreal crowd over by showing a photo of the Stanley Cup on his first slide, and saying “If you’re from Toronto, this is what the Stanley Cup looks like.” Then he hopped off the stage, got down to business. A true salesman, Gitomer exclaims “I put people in front of me that will say yes to me, and then I deliver!” Walking through the crowd as he spoke, Gitomer made a real connection with the audience. “Are you still wasting money on print ads?” he asks with a tone of frustration and anger in his voice. “Good for you. Your full page ad in the Gazette is getting pissed on by some puppy the next day!” He went to explain that “the future is Social. It’s free you idiots!”

He continued by discussing marketing and selling yourself. He told the crowd to reach into their pockets and hand their business card to someone near them who they didn’t know. “If it looks like crap, rip it up and throw it back at them” he yells. The crowd didn’t quite know what to do. Surely some people thought the business cards they were handed were worthy of such destruction, but didn’t want to insult others. “Why does your business card suck? It’s your first impression – make it a good one!” He went on the explain the importance of blogging, and getting youname.com or .ca – and a quick poll of the crowd showed that only about 5% of us had done so. He was disgusted. But Gitomer’s on the edge attitude didn’t come across as cocky, or annoying. It acted as an eye opener to the crowd of seemingly clueless sales people and marketers. “Oh my god,” said one guy beside me “I gotta get my .ca tomorrow!” Gitomer’s message was heard loud and clear. He finished by encourage the crowd to use Twitter – but use it right. Don’t worry about how many followers you have. Worry about being Retweeted. That’s what gets you noticed on Twitter. “Twitter isn’t 140 characters,” he says “It’s 120 characters with space left over for a Retweet.” Excellent.

Joel, Godin, Avinash, Lenderman, Nulman and Gitomer. What a star-studded lineup. I felt very fortunate to have gone to Montreal to watch, and listen to this diverse group of marketing geniuses. I would highly encourage you to take the opportunity to listen to any of of these guys speak, or even pick up one of their books. You won’t be disappointed. Until next year Art of Marketing, au revoir!

Stay Connected with WebFuel!

The Art of Marketing: From a WebFuel Perspective is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Last Thursday, Mashable teamed up with (RED) to create Social Good Day with the goal of finding a way to use Social Media to raise awareness and find solutions to the World’s most pressing Social issues. The team used a variety of Social Media platforms to achieve their goal. They prompted people to Tweet possible solutions using the hashtag #SocialGood. They also encouraged their supporters to write a blog post, share ideas on Facebook and post a video on YouTube. Social Good Day is only one of many initiatives that aim at using Social Media to make the world a better place.

Take a second and think about today’s technologies – Social Media, Web 2.0, Smart Phones… it’s truly incredible. These tools have allowed us to connect with more people, and accomplish more. Think about how fast information travels. How many people see an idea, change it to make it better, and then pass it along?

“Ideas that spread through groups of people are far more powerful than ideas delivered at an individual.” – Seth Godin

How did you first hear about the Earthquake in Haiti? I’m guessing it wasn’t the newspaper. I found out on Twitter. The news of this tragic event traveled around the World in minutes. And, in turn, relief and donations were sent within hours. Social Media has not only informed us of World events at a faster rate, but it has also made it easier and quicker for us to help. 20 years ago, you might read about it in the paper, or hear it on the radio. And then you could mail in donations. Today, the news was everywhere within seconds and donating was as easy as sending a text message from your mobile device, or clicking a link on Facebook. Absolutely incredible.

Another amazing aspect of Social Media that is beneficial to charities is that it’s free. I use the term “free” loosely, but compared to other means of advertising, Social Media basically is. 93% of major charities use Facebook, 87% are on Twitter and 65% blog. Charities and non-profits continue to be superior to many large corporations with their use, management and monitoring of Social Media.

Social Media will not save the world – people will save the world. Social Media is simply an amazing tool that connects people, resources and ideas.

In closing, here’s a thought. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Terry Fox. I’m not trying to discount anything he accomplished, because what he did was absolutely incredible and courageous. He is a true Canadian hero. But take a second and think about this. What if Terry Fox had access to a cell phone from which he could have Tweeted his Marathon of Hope? What if he had the ability set up a Facebook Page to promote his cause? What if he could have checked into locations across Canada using Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places? And what if he had the option of documenting his journey on YouTube? Imagine the possibilities.

What are you thoughts about using Social Media for Social Good?

Stay Connected with WebFuel!