MLB.com just joined the social media revolution in a way that is still as obvious, but probably hasn’t found its way into public domain. The quetion is if sharing the brand with Twitter officially makes it business-friendly for the sport, ( or consumer brand and advertiser like P&G, Sprint ) In fact as one might feel to be important , does this spread of ‘co branded’ Twitter and MLB/NFL/IPL/NDTV/BofA count for more than the reputation management and the catching up?
Before we move on with the discussion, let’s give the @mashable it’s due
MLB.com Shows You How Twitter Reacts Inning-by-Inning to Playoff Games
With the MLB playoffs in full swing, it’s been hard to miss the chatter on Twitter during pivotal moments during games. MLB.com is now tracking all of that action, and compiling it in an interactive inning-by-inning timeline of each game that compiles Twitter buzz alongside video highlights.
The result is MLB’s “Pulse” feature which now accompanies the Wrap Up of each game. In addition to the graph for each team’s tweet volume and highlights, you can also see all of the tweets that MLB pulled in, so you can see specifically what people were saying at any point during the game.
Unfortunately, Pulse is only available after games, though the team that worked on the project tells me that real-time is in the works for next season. Nonetheless, during games, MLB.com has added a Twitterfeature to its GameDay view where you can both watch a pitch-by-pitch description of what’s happening, and also see all the tweets coming in about the game. There’s also an option to login and post your own updates.
One must first put some of the facts already in place. Twitter chatter has created its own distinctive brand and brand pull for the social maven, the sport and the consumer brand – as Steve Jobs might have once done to Microsoft, It’s hard to ignore. Twitter chatter is fun only real-time for the sports brands, NFL, IPL, NBA or F1 – you can set the watch by the tweets that come, for the game, the plays, the controversial moments or some real tweets as well! – The chatter dies away in twitter gloop soon after the last hit of the game..FACT!
The most important for marketers right now is to get into Twitter and stop getting shredded by opinion makers, twitterati and the cognoscenti or just common folk and similarly capitalize on the happy moments for the brand and the game. However, Twitter hasn’t sold the Healthcare bill to anyone. Twitter isn’t getting paid. None of the Twitter tools are. Lastly, I believe, in most cases above you can easily substitute Twitter for Facebook. Only that Facebook has advertising and Twitter has more content per second than you would ever think possible and you cannot ignore it! People love to ignore Facebook
Also important to remember, a lot of celebrity mistakes are already floating around. Bad spats in public domain, recorded in history
So, what does it mean? Well, for one thing the marketers seem to be doing it right. Only there are not enough of them. As usual I find only the Giants of the business game taking notice and spending bucks on Twitter. That is where we are and we are repeating the mistake we made last time as well. This is the crowdsourcing moments that need capturing, revolutions by the moment that can give tremendous leverage to the game.
There is beginning of the rudiments of policy for social media from the NFLs, IPLs and MLB. There is a lot of intelligent analysis real-time that makes my game day much more interactive and me more responsive to the word play and the brand fabric. There is the immediate impact on the brand’s visibility. There has to be now a commercial framework that does not overcharge the premium but also that sheds unresponsible engagement. It does not have to be a discouragement to new users, because any paying mode could be a big discouragement for millions of students, but apart from the crowd’s sway in making you add value there has to be a firm style from each sport brand that keeps tweeters that well tweet great and those that just ride. There has to be encouragement for the millions of listeners who are not there to ruffle any feathers but curious to read on twitter and see where the trend is for the game going on. And there has to be measurable incentive for brand owners and influencers to provide that culture.
Maybe we are the infomediaries of this Invisible Continent. But, maybe there is another revolution around the corner..The consumer’s ‘infrastructure’ requests have changed irrevocably, however.
I know what you all are thinking. Why suddenly a Kindle in Facebook vs Twitter wars? What about the Friendfeed and the dozen social networks to be branded me too! Where do they come in? Well, to me Kindle comes first because Amazon is a phenomenon on my personal list of Enterprise greats and the other start ups have still got something to prove in terms of viability. Not that the risk is any lesser for a Myspace or a Kindle but My space going down would be a turning point people would remember like AOL, eBay and the others who have had a not so easy time since they set up on the web and who have never graduated to the real Web 2.0 or near real time social collaboration. Amazon and Kindle however have that potential ( may be they will also drop out later like Starbucks) and they can handle innovation and complex consumer minds with a relative ease that would be critical. Long back, during the days of Patricia Seybold's customers.com and Guy Hagel's 'Net Worth' we saw an expostulation of the success determining parameters of the new invisible continent by Kenichi Ohmae ( let's face it, the guy was an other world icon but still made it as a strategist on the new web). What the Invisible Continent described in great detail was an Infomediary - An organization or 'Trust agent' that would broker all business transactions on the web because they would be entrusted with the Customers foibles and deep seated choices that would make the best buying decision and robust sales. Amazon and Kindle are the perfect intermediaries for such digital transactions like iPhone and iPod have been for music albeit non collaboratively till now. I think the new web needs Kindle and amazon to ramp up the offering in tune with customers, learning the nuances along with the customer as they go along this adventure. For amazon to continue with its 50% market share of the World's Book Sales has been relatively easy when compared with the others and a vital part of that has been the enriched customer experience which is really beautifully collaborative and store front'ish at the same time. It also highlights the other essential for social collaboration which Facebook and Twitter seem to make light of, ad that is the reading habit. For any transaction on the new web, one has to be a voracious reader to navigate the choices, discuss with friends, colleagues and competitors online and make instant decisions that are almost always right. Kindle could easily include Video, Audio and twitter / friendfeed messaging on the device along with maps and the books to replace other devices you need to carry arund today for a complete mobile experience. I think that's the way it's going to go too.
Sitting inside a conference room at Twitter, BlackBerry in hand, Kevin Thau is all business.In his first interview since taking charge of the San Francisco technology companys mobile business development a month ago, Thau is confident that cellphones will play a crucial role in helping the messaging service make money. The four-year-old company, which has raised more than $35 million from Benchmark Capital, Spark Capital and others, offers its service free of charge, and hasn’t yet figured out how to generate revenues. Thau, 36, says thats about to change. He says the number of text messages passing through Twitters platform has grown 1,000% in the last year. Add to that the fact that users are texting more substantive observations and opinions in real time, and the company has a valuable information database it can sell to businesses. Thau says Twitter is developing a range of analytics and metrics products and services built around the information contained in “tweets,” the e-mail and text messages that pass through its platform. “We can measure the tweets,” he says. “Were trying to figure out what are the appropriate metrics around engagement and how to convey those.” Thau, however, didnt say when Twitter plans to sell these services or how much it will charge for them. Its an interesting business model, but can Twitter survive selling analytics and other services? “When it comes to enterprises, absolutely,” says Jeremiah Owyang, a social computing analyst with Forrester Research ($FORR ) . “I just got off a call with a client thats asking about how to engage on Twitter. There’s definitely interest.” via
Moguls and bankers are packing their bags to attend Allen & Company’s annual media conference, which starts Tuesday in Sun Valley, Idaho. The recession is bound to put a damper on this year’s schmoozefest, where the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller regularly roam, as executives decide it is not the right time to fly off to a mountain resort. Those who do attend will be debating the troubled state of traditional media companies and how they will fare in an increasingly digital environment. “People in the traditional media world are terrified,” Ken Auletta, a New Yorker magazine media writer who will lead a panel on new media at this week’s conference, told Reuters. “They’re in the analog world, and the world is becoming digital,” he said. “They’re insecure about what’s going to happen to their businesses.” Young Web entrepreneurs have been adding new excitement to the Sun Valley conference, which has been the birthplace of some high-profile media deals. The founders of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace and Internet video portals like YouTube and Joost drew large crowds in recent years. This year, Evan Williams (above), the chief executive Twitter, will likely be in high demand as media moguls try to determine if the hugely popular microblogging service is a money-making opportunity or simply another Web 2.0 fad. via Sun Valley Buzz: Tough Times and Twitter - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com. zyakaira notes: I've been remiss. I shouldn't neglect Facebook either, but as of now..
Twitter is a grand success for Social Media Marketing In June, Three of my sites have ramped up to pretty popular positions hitting the Top 100K in India and nearing Top 700K sites in the US 17 minutes ago from TweetDeck , http://twitterone.net and http://twitterone.info also achieved great traction in this month#june09 14 minutes ago from TweetDeck These three web sites have reused articles from the US, India and Social Marketing sites to showcase in a more comml template#June09 13 minutes ago from TweetDeck Thus I have a composite 50K users going through my articles daily, with Twitter creating the maximum referrals from timely updates #June09 11 minutes ago from TweetDeck #Bangalore Display this SMS and get a 20% discount at the Innovative Film City...ask us and we'll send the SMS to as many of you as needed. 11 minutes ago from API Looking to explain the Financial Crisis Please visit the advantages.us store and pick up the best http://tr.im/what2008 The new post sites at http://zyaada.info andhttp://markets.posterous.com are a must add for those looking for specific value in analysis 10 minutes ago from TweetDeck and the mobile sites at http://zyada.mobi,http://newadvantages.mobiand http://socialone.mobi get you the analysis in one go on your mobile 9 minutes ago from TweetDeck Twitter accounts hav e been converting well, reaching more than a 1000 followers in more than 2-3 cases, all in June 8 minutes ago from TweetDeck There was more on Infrastructure, the latest Wealth report and the ways to tweet to success that hit the spot in #June09 5 minutes ago from TweetDeck Apart from the Indian hospitality sector at http://zyaada.infoandhttp://advantages.us featured in our Retail Lifestyle writings#June09 5 minutes ago from TweetDeck There was more to read from Bollywood and Hollywood, while today's budget report showed the markets disinterest #June09 4 minutes ago from TweetDeck If you haven't already do refresh yousrself, esp with the prices in Manhattan, and the new Pepsi and Burger King stories #June09 3 minutes ago from TweetDeck Many thanks to all of you for being regular and avid readers, as time on site in each case went up 3-4 times esp. athttp://advantages.us 2 minutes ago from TweetDeck Innovative Film City continues to do well, the summer rush is off and the discounts are in (till 7th of August)#June09 less than 20 seconds ago from TweetDeck
Facebook is going to take a leaf out of Twitter's ultimate modus operandi and introduce the option for users to choose to follow others in their circle..in other words, your following me does not beholden me to follow you and vice versa. That freedom is essential to good business. That freedom is also an important part of our personal relationships. just because the mother follows her kid, doesn't mean the daughter is a devoted follower of Mom :) or nearr home a jealous lover may stalk you without you nagging him forever...the possibilities are 'endless'
And before we declare weekend shutdown, Let me remind you that the guys at posterous.com get an amazing amount of clear thinking people who read all my stuff much faster. These visit / hit counting methods are really herculean in their differences from each other but communities like posterous have a great future (and friend feed) because you just get read more often...that's where emailing to post(erous) is already working out for me, i guess you'll give it a try too. Aren't the Wordpress team ( and they are one of the very best!) also going to start posting to twitter and facebook very soon? I can smell it in the air here!
From my groups on Linked In: This past weekend in Dallas was the word press camp at UTD. Some of the best bloggers in the world took part in this 2 day seminar. One of the more interesting bloggers was Dave Moyer a 16 year old that is the Founder/President of Bitwiremedia.com. Moyer believes Social Media is more reliable then traditional media. Here is the video interview.
Facebook needs to emulate a lot of twitter and really soon. Keep looking here. Remember fb needs to turn into profit in some time. Facebook Needs Its Own Version of the Twitter Retweet http://bit.ly/2lPdC1 via @tweetmeme
Twitter is one of the most viral platforms on the social web. One link can be spread to millions of people in a matter of minutes. Perhaps the primary reason for this is the Twitter retweet (or “RT”), which provides Twitter users..
What is the hottest social media tool to emerge on the scene this year? It’s ‘Twitter’, and you may get hooked too…
I recently came back from a fully packed conference on social media marketing, the Danny Sullivan SMX show in Long Beach, CA, and all-the-rage was Twitter, a micro-blogging platform that many at first (typically) considered a ‘joke’ or maybe just a temporary fad. They (we) were all wrong, but most agreed that using any tool or technique without a reasonable strategy was a missed opportunity.
But, let’s not be too quick – learn how to research & leverage the social media space with planning and execution along the way.
I’ll show you that micro blogging and the other tools and platforms in this short SMM guide are things you might consider for your important social media marketing.
Furthermore, SMM can provide quality traffic, you can minimize the often laborious time by a little planning and it is possible to market into B2B marketplaces. It’s not just for kids anymore.
What is it?
“Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media networks”.Social Media is a shorter top level term that describes the space overall, and covers the activities around social interaction, content, videos, images and audio exposure.
Where to start?
Many of us are so excited about the technology and web (hence my somewhat trite opening), that we forget key pieces to success: definition of business goals, objectives and overall process for execution. The old “fail to plan, plan to fail” comes to mind. While you need to create the roadmap for your online business – you must certainly decide on what goals and resulting metrics you want to attain.
Social media marketing can help you increase the activity around these top goals:
• Website traffic and user behavior (external and internal tracking)
• Conversion and sales tracking
• Page views, ad exposure
• Growing brand awareness (a softer value, takes longer to build)
• Creating a positive brand association and keeping it there (see also reputation management)
• Business development and a broader customer reach
How can you create and convert all this activity with social media?
Since the social web allows you to interact with others, create and promote content that can get links and viral attraction, you can – with the right strategy – reach key influencers using this medium. We all know what blogs alone can do, and they are pretty search engine friendly out of the box.
Social media expansion is important because this provides foundations for broader / faster mindshare, along with supporting your search engine marketing objectives. You *can* convert traffic if you target appropriately (research needed), and do not spam. Read each point below to get a deeper understanding.
Tip #1 – Assistance:
Limit talking about yourself, at least initially – provide ways to help others instead. This is probably the most important tip in the social media workplace. Say you are building your new del.icio.us profile, make sure to bookmark other useful resources and sprinkle yourself lightly. It’s about “them”, not “you”. Don’t forget this important rule!
Tip #2 – Process:
Don’t become a “me too” – establish a process and goals for how to get there. I recommend reading5 pillars for one, and much like SEO programs that have a process (keyword research, competitive review, content analysis, etc), build out a similar map. Too many companies dive in too fast, with no real plan and they are simply peeing in the pool, and no good results come from that.
Tip #3 – Contribute:
Be the one to create (quality) content. While community is Queen in Social Media, quality content is still King, and always will be. Studies show that people are reading much online, but a much smaller group is contributing content. This can mean good opportunities for you.
Tip #4 – Connect:
Reach out to the influencers in your niche, be polite, honest, sincere, and you’d be amazed whatbrand advocates can do for you.
Tip #5 – Position:
Position yourself in front of consumers’ passions. It can and will create a powerful outcome for your brand.
Tip #6 – Blog:
Make sure you have setup a blog. These numbers are not to be overlooked. I think Technorati is tracking over 110 million blogs now, and growing at a furious pace, even excluding splogs (spam blogs).
Tip #7 – Links:
Don’t be afraid to link out to other blogs and websites in general. Links are what search engines and users make good use of – and search engines would not survive without them. Give others the love too.
Tip #8 – Videos:
Video consumption is growing fast. Create a “how to…” or “top tips…” videos and submit to YouTube. It has wide reach, and you could have millions of people see it. For even wider distribution, you should try tubemogul.com or vidmetrix.com, tools to help automate. In generating all content, make sure to keep #1 rule in check. It’s fine to brand with a URL at the end of the video, but no direct selling. Humor, controversy and weird stuff works very well, keep that in mind – don’t be afraid to test.
Tip #9 – Technorati:
You said you have a blog, right? Claim your blog at Technorati. This will ensure you are indexed in their search engines for blogs and updates are broadcast across the network, along with your own blog network updates. This happens behind the scenes from automatic “pings”.
Tip #10 – Analytics:
Open an account from list below, use your brand name as identifier. This will establish your brand or company name, and not let anybody else assume or steal your personality so easily. Then, work with one or two from the list below to start, and don’t go too fast. Look at your web analytics and track referring domains and review traffic movements daily, weekly.
Tip #11 – Feeds/Research:
Subscribe to feeds, and use iGoogle, My Yahoo Web or other favorite RSS readers. Watch for changes (use Google.com/alerts also), and be the first to comment and engage in your topic. First commenters often get more visibility and traction.
Tip #12 – MicroCommunities:
Locate and join microcommunities – they are social communities that are relevant to your business. Some examples are education.com, nowpublic.com, travbuddy.com, gardenweb.com,shoetube.com, yelp.com and care2.com (non profits). It is much easier to have your voice heard in these and similar markets, than trying a post to Digg that may go nowhere. Those are the perfect places for the “big fish in a small pond” rule. Create highly relevant and linkworthy content, research what others are writing about, and connect with the top players and influencers.
Tip #13 – Submit:
Review the resources below, and consider building out profiles over time. If you submit content, make sure it’s useful, unique and that the title of your post stands out. Pick one or two resources to start, and don’t overextend yourself. Some of the top social marketers in the industry spend 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. This is a lot of manual (social) labor, but you don’t have to go at it that hard. Make sure to ask friends to vote or comment on your postings, befriend others, but no spam. Make intelligent posts and do not have your company employees post from the same location (IP Address). The submission(s) will most likely be rejected, and worst case, your account blocked or suspended.
Tip #14 – Hosting:
Have a good hosting provider. If traffic spikes come, and your server instrastructure cannot handle it, you are toast. You don’t want a Digg server melt-down (fun pic). Here’s a first hand story and how to deal with it.
Tip #15 – Monitoring:
If you want to save time monitoring across many resources within the social networks, try the newYahoo Pipes, it’s a social monitoring desktop in a browser.
Tip #16 – Advertising:
If you are an advertiser, you might want to check out socialspark.com and socialmedia.com – they both are showing promise from what I can see.
Your Top Social Media Starter Resources (not necessarily in order of importance):
• Twitter *See more below – specific for twitter
• Facebook (download toolbar)
• YouTube (toolbar exists, but have not tried)
• Del.icio.us (download toolbar)
• StumbleUpon (download toolbar)
• LinkedIn (tip: use the Q/A section to gain readership and clients)
• Flickr
• Digg
• Reddit
• Technorati
• Secondlife (3D)
• Meneame (spanish, translate title and synopsis before posting)
• Newsvine
• Tip: Subscribe (RSS) to Techcrunch!
Twitter bonus: (Thanks GrayWolf)
Web Browser Plugin: twitterfox
Desktop: twhirl, alertthingy
Blog Tools: loud twitter
Email: twittermail ((abc…@twittermail) – cool tip: schedule to post when you are not online)
Phones: twitterberry (BlackBerry), itweet (iPhone)
Other: tweetscan (alerts, keyword, user search)
Competitor: Pownce.com – check it out along with friendfeed.com
About Jon Rognerud
Jon Rognerud is a search engine optimization (SEO) consultant in Los Angeles, and is the founder of www.chaosmap.com. His new internet marketing book was launched in April 2008, the “Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Optimization”, currently on Amazon and available in bookstores nationwide.
Amit Mittal
zyaadakairaada@gmail.com
Amit Mittal
Mob: 919972442877
amit.mittal@me.com
MD, Advantage Research Pvt Ltd
@Innovative Film City, Bidadi 562109
On the web Advantage 'zyaada' http://advantages.us/zya
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