So lets look into how this will impact your SEO efforts in attracting the attention of influential internet users.

Starred/Bookmarked Results are appearing on the font page

When people bookmark pages in google chrome it syncs with their google account and prioritises those results in google search. Google does this because they believe that the most meaningful results are those that come from sources that you trust.

This means that our SEO and internet marketing job just got harder. If we are not able to build trust with our consumers and our competitors are then they will most likely hold a top, front page position instead of us.

Here’s an example:

I have bookmarked TomorrowToday, the company where I am a Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach. Recently I did a search on Keynote Speaker and found a page full of results that did not link to TomorrowToday. I only found TomorrowToday on the second page of the search result.

However, because I have TomorrowToday bookmarked the search result displayed TomorrowToday on the front page in my starred/bookmarked listings. This listing showed up at the top of the page.

Building Trust

Building trust is a complicated and onerous task. It is done by building relationships with the end consumer and  learning to appreciate their unique situation. Companies and brands online need to build trustworthy communities in order to naturally gain the competitive edge in their market. More and more Search Engines are looking towards the personalised social graph of internet users to create a personalise search result.

Google Chrome users are getting a more personalised view of the internet originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Social media has become the most exciting shift in communication that business is currently experiencing. This shift spans across generational boundaries and has made a more convenient lifestyle for people as the socialize on the internet.

Over the past year I have had the privilege to coach executives from Mr Price, The South African Presidency, the ACDP, Southern Sun, Three Cities, TomorrowToday and a number of Non Profit Organisations.

The key areas that we cover in social media coaching are:

• How to use social media platforms?
• How does this affect my business?
• How does this affect people?
• How can I make the work for me?

What makes social media coaching sessions different from social media workshops.

• The coaching sessions encourage conversations that speak directly to your needs or concerns
• One-on-one coaching can be done on your schedule (we can even do them over Skype if its more convenient).

For more information please contact workshops@mikesaunders.co.za.

Social Media Coaching for Executives and CEO’s originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

This information comes from the Buyershpere report which I believe shows great insight into the platforms neccessary to create business to business sales leads from the internet.

A Summary: How important is your company website?

When looking at buying business services there are three stages of the purchase that have been identified:

1. Identifying and defining the need
2. Indentifying potential suppliers
3. Final selection of the supplier

In all three stages a company’s website was the primary channel used to gather information, even more than web searches. In stage one industry press, word of mouth and events were next in line as channels used to identify and define the need for the purchase.

The company website in this case has the opportunity to establish brand, share product details and specifications and add value to the different purchase stages. the interesting fact that rose oot of the study though was that the company website had very little influence on the conclusion of each stage.

The effect of social media on business to business purchasing decisions

It’s all about influence!

Every stage of the purchase cycle revealed that  social media channels and word of mouth were the primary influential channels that influenced the decisions made.

Stage one indicated blogs and word of mouth as the primary influencer, whilst stage two and three showed a preference towards twitter, blogs and Facebook.

How valuable is your website in business to business purchasing decisions? originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Touch Durban saw the opportunity to leverage the Currie Cup by doing something that can only work on a social media platform. They supported another Twitter profile!!

@touchdurban put all their effort into getting as many people as possible to follow @just_sharks. This helped the @just_sharks claim the number three position on the SA Twitter Trends and take @touchdurban into the Top 10.

The Royal Hotel, who runs the @touchdurban profile, gave a weekend away to a sharks supporter for showing their support to the Sharks rugby team. This helped drive the interest towards the @just_sharks profile and promote the hotel and their twitter profile.

There are a few things to take away from this:

1) When promoting yourself in social media circles it can be very beneficial to run joint promotions rather than trying to “go it alone”

2) Competitions are a great way to generate excitement on social networks. When running your competitions make sure you in,clued a way for people to follow your profiles

3) Join the passion – people promote what they are passionate about.  Aligning @touchdurban to the Currie Cup Final bought the Durban events profile to the awareness of rugby fans during one of the most passionate times for the sport in South Africa. As people promoted their love for the sport @touchdurban was taken along for the ride.

Well done to the team at Touch Durban for doing such a great job.

Join Touch Durban on Facebook of Twitter

Touch Durban and Currie Cup Case Study originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

So the question has become – is TV on the way out?

I would argue no. It seems that TV programs are actually experiencing an increase in viewership. So why is this happening if people are obviously spending more and more time online?

I would like to suggest that social media is shaping a new way of watching TV and that rather than phasing out TV it has chosen a symbiotic relationship. Here are a few quick thoughts about how this works:

1) Social media helps promote TV

Social media is often used as an outlet to express watt important to us. When people are excited about important TV episodes/programmes they will use social media to share their enthusiasm. The last Survivor episode, an important rugby match and the chilean miners rescue are all examples of TV being shared in excitement on social networks.

Once this excitement is shared more people are exposed to the TV event taking place and the potential of more people ‘tuning in’ increases.

2) Social Media adds a new layer of engagement

Once the game is on and people are sitting around the beloved box there is often a conversation that begins. It usually is focused around the game/event they are watching and the experience is more enjoyable. In other words, its more fun to watch a game of Rugby with friends than on our own.

Search Springboks on Twitter during the next Springbok game

Social media lets people take that conversation outside of the room, outside of the stadium and off the television. As people share their thoughts on the game the experience is now felt all over the world from anyone who is interested.

If you don’t understand what I am talking about here run a search on twitter the next time your team is playing a match and see what the twitter community is saying about the game.

3) Smart people – Smart Phones

Smart people take social media on the move. They pack it into their cellphone. Almost every social network has a mobile website and smart phones even have beautifully designed interfaces for these networks.

So as people are able to tweet and share on the go, it becomes easier to start or take part in the conversation online.

A new way of watching TV?

Does social media add a new dynamic to the way you watch TV?

Please leave a comment with your thoughts I would love to hear from you.

Is social media changing the way we watch TV? originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

What does this have to do with search? As I always say in my social media presentations, search is all about delivering relevant results to your search query. Relevancy on the internet used to be related to the amount of links linking back to a website (this was Googles primary way of discovering relevant, topical websites).

Social Search

Now Google has launched Social Search which takes into consideration your social connections on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else. This means that articles written by peers may be higher in your search results than another persons search results. Google describe the impact of this best with a video example of someone looking to travel to Zurich:

To put it simply, the bigger your network on Facebook and Twitter the more impact you could have on people’s search results.

If you would like a more personalised search experience visit www.google.com/profiles and update for profile.

How social media affects Google search results originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

YouTube also creates SEO advantages for your company because Google seems to love video. If there is video content on the web (especially in YouTube) that matches your search query you will find links to those videos on the front page of your search result.

So what you need to do is make sure that your video’s on YouTube have keyword specific titles and tags. This is much the same as making sure that your website has H1 headers and meta tags.

However, when people find your video through Google they are usually taken to your YouTube profile and not to your website. So make sure that your YouTube profile is geared to drive that traffic to your website.

So video marketing can not only help in creating more hype in social media but it can also have a great impact on your SEO efforts. All the more reason to get started on a video marketing campaign to complete your internet marketing campaign.

Looking at SEO for Youtube originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

ALL social media websites are mobile ready and they present a product to our consumers that is so integral to their daily lives. A communication vehicle. Especially Facebook and MXIT who offer that communication with more people than any other network in South Africa.

Couple this thought with Authur Goldstucks research:

“The findings suggest, on the surface, that more than half of urban cellular users – 8.5-million – are capable of accessing e-mail on their phones, and as many as 60% – 9.5-million – are able to browse on their phones. The implications of these numbers are significant: in one fell swoop, they would turn the SA Internet user base from the 5.3-million reported by World Wide Worx at the end of 2009 to 9.6-million. Add Instant Messaging to the mix, and the total becomes 10.56-million – exactly double that of the Internet user base at the end of last year.”

Goldstuck also says ““The truth is, many people with these applications on their phones do no use them and do not even know how to use them,” says Goldstuck. “It is clear that the cellphone has the potential to take South Africans across the digital divide, but the phones themselves need to become more user-friendly, and a vast amount of consumer education is needed.”

With national mobile penetration well over 90% and the product offering (benefit) of social media, I believe that South African business will be able to speak to a larger audience in South Africa through social networks. Mobile websites seem like the obvious answer, but there is very little reason for a mobile user to visit your new mobi site. However, there is plenty of reason for them to join Facebook, or twitter or any other social network. We will then be able to engage this market through the social media platforms and “invite” them to our website.

Another interesting development is 0.facebook.com (http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391295167130) which offer free Facebook access to people over a mobile phone. This is not available in South Africa yet but should this technology be released in SA through a participating mobile carrier it has the potential to become the most used communication vehicle in South Africa.

Once again, in my personal experience, I have developed campaigns for brands that have been able to connect with young people who do not have computer access to Facebook. They are on pay-as-you-go cell-phone contracts and therefore prefer to communicate via Facebook. One particular campaign generated R 250 000, 00 worth of business after only six weeks of starting their Facebook Page. The business was closed directly over Facebook with very little traffic being driven to the website.

Does social media affect mobile marketing in South Africa? originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

I had just been recommended lunch by a friend who I had not spoken to in ages, at a resturant I wasn’t even at. The choice was mine! Stay where I was or get up and have the recommended meal of the day. Which would you choose?

This is a small story about the power of foursquare, a new social network making waves on the streets of South Africa. Walter Pike presents his top seven reasons to love foursquare on memeburn.com as:

The first reason that it will kick *** is that it’s fun. The competitive element, the earning of awards, and the leader board all make it a “jol”.

The big win is the location element. People know which of their mates are around, and venue owners can send out promotions and messages that relate to people on the premises or close by. So when someone checks into the coffee shop down the road, and up pops a tip to say Foursquarers who visit Doppio get free wifi, that may just swing a meal. But with like all social media, remember, no SPAM.

Foursquare works with brick and mortar businesses. Businesses that have a physical presence such as stores, events, clubs and restaurants.

Being able to identify and communicate with your real loyalists is of a huge benefit as they are your brand advocates, and Foursquare has made it very easy with Foursquare for Business. Also, remember that these are real fans, not just people who have joined a fan page.

Many developers are using the API in their apps. For example, those who have discovered Stickybits, may already be checking-in videos, photos and brands into the venue.

Foursquare is a real space to do customer research.

It is a really practical example of how social media can integrate with the real world.

I must admit that I agree with Walter, this network has great potential to rock the social media world. Definitly the next network to be on the look-out for.

A story about foursquare the next big social network originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

It is too late to simply respond to criticism or appraisal. There is a massive need to take the initiative in creating your online presence. I specifically haven’t used the word control because that would contradict the nature of web 2.0 and the future of the Internet in web 3.0.

There is much that business can do to take the initiative and encourage and create a positive online experience for their customers. The shift in the way we build reputations and brands online has meant that our customers now build our reputation and brand for us. The power of word of mouth on the internet has put the power in the consumers hand/mobile/tablet.

Business needs to find ways to meet their consumers online in a very real and personal way. This will mean a fundamental change in the way our organizations are run, our marketing plans are structured, our products are developed and our departments are structured.

This is a part of business that I hope to guide people through by educating staff of the values of the internet, activating campaigns to learn and challenge how value is reinforced online and researching human interaction on the internet.

Although the information above is not all that new, I believe that the need to evolve business and marketing strategy online is paramount because we are running out of time.

As Web 3.0, semantic web and augmented reality makes it’s swift appearance on the internet those who do not have a good understanding of Web 2.0 and the new way of consumer engagement will be left behind in a technology curve that will be too difficult to hurdle.

The importance is on understanding rather than doing right now. Those that do implement the cultural shifts into the organisations will benefit from the wide variety of business and personal tools that the future of the internet will offer.

RANT! Why you need to invest in Social Media originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach