NewSunNetworks

From Facebook to Twitter to You Tube, there’s no limit to the number of social networking sites that can be leveraged to interact with customers and prospects, and build positive brand awareness. LinkedIn , however, stands apart from the crowd. The roots of popular sites like YouTube and Facebook are founded on the entertainment side of things.

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5 Ways to Weave LinkedIn Into Your Marketing Mix

Moderator: Chris Sherman , Executive Editor, Search Engine Land Speakers: Vanessa Fox , Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land Avinash Kaushik , Analytics Evangelist, Google Inc. Misty Locke , President, Range Online Media & Chief Strategy Officer, iProspect, Range Online Media / iProspect David Roth , Director of Search Engine Marketing, Yahoo! Inc. Hi everyone! It’s the final day of the SMX West conference and I’m leaving it all here. Blog ’til you drop, baby! There’s a good-sized crowd for today’s keynote, a roundtable convo between some heavy hitters of search. Chris welcomes everyone

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Keynote – The State Of The Search Union

AlikeList announced two things yesterday: Facebook integration and a new advertising program. I first wrote about AlikeList when it launched in December: My general inclination is to say there’s no more room and to ask what can anyone bring that hasn’t already been done. But the folks behind the site, who include Jim Delli Santi (once of SBC yellow pages and later Yahoo!) and now Mark Law (most recently of MapQuest but before that Yahoo!), have built something that sits right at the nexus of “local” and “social.” Another way to see it is as “An IYP for the “Twitter era.” Here’s what the company said about Facebook integration in its release: AlikeList has extended its consumer sharing and discovery capabilities in several ways. The first is deeper integration with Facebook. People can now post their “Likes” to their Facebook Wall and ask friends and family for business recommendations. The AlikeList user interface has also been updated with new searching capabilities. There are now multiple search filtering options including “friends,” “friends of friends” and the entire AlikeList network. In addition, the AlikeList homepage features “Most Liked” businesses in three major metropolitan areas: the Bay Area, Chicago and Denver. The new ad product is called “Minute Ads” and offer a range of benefits (copy from the site): Post an instant offer or message to your Business Listing & PromoSite Search Engine OptimizationUnlimited changes to your ad 24

I’ve always considered LinkedIn more of a place to prospect for a job than anything else. And since I haven’t been in the market for one in a while, I’ve paid it little mind. Plus, if I’m being honest: I’ve always thought LinkedIn was kind of … well, boring . If Facebook was a rave at a cool downtown hot spot, LinkedIn was a stuffy reception with piped-in music at one of those cookie-cutter function facilities conveniently located at the end of an exit ramp. Does that sound harsh? Perhaps. But now I’ve realized that I couldn’t have been more wrong

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How I Was Wrong About LinkedIn (with 2 Mini Case Studies)

Tips on MSN search, blocking referrers, choosing your network, and a look at some promising Yahoo betas. …

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Get Your Search Campaigns Ready for the Yahoo/MSN Merger

Patrick Seybold / PlayStation.Blog : Latest info on PlayStation Network Status

Believe or not, over the last week talking with clients I have been asked this question 4 times now by prospective clients wanting to get into the Social Media/Social Recruiting space. It wasn’t necessarily the question that shocked me (well it did but) it was more the fact that these companies had not as yet done there research and identified what benefit Twitter can bring to their business as well as to their own knowledge in the market place. As with any new tool or fancy gadget it is imperative that you undertake all of the necessary research first to find out if it is right for you, but also what benefit you can expect from your investment in time and money. You won’t just go buy any 52″ LCD TV now will you? Social Media is no different. I myself was totally against joining Twitter when I was first introduced to it, however my skepticism of it “being a waste of time” was quickly shot down. Here is a list of why I now value Twitter so highly: 1. Build a network of contacts within your industry that you never had access to or knew about before, not just locally, but globally. 2. Share your knowledge and expertise on a global basis.

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Why Should I Be On Twitter?

Take a moment to think about, and count, the number of B2C social media success stories that pop into your head. I’ll venture to guess that you could immediately name five to 10, if not many more. From Ford to Sharpie to Zappos to Best Buy, B2C social media winners – those organizations that caught on early and created a cult following of brand cheerleaders via the social web – are hard to miss. But how about the B2B social media winners? I’m guessing these weren’t as easy to name. And yet, there are just as many B2B organizations successfully conquering social media. While their stories might not be as well-known, we think these 5 B2B social media winners are doing a pretty doggone good job. Tell us if you agree. 1. American Express OPEN American Express OPEN is the company’s division dedicated to helping small business owners succeed. It has based its marketing strategy around the social web, realizing that social media has become a priority for small business owners. Since 2007, AMEX OPEN has relied on its OPEN Forum to provide business advice and insight. The social site includes a blog with frequently updated content, and a large collection of videos that users can rate and share via other social networking channels. In the site’s “Idea Hub,” forum members can network with one another and with industry experts, as well as customize topics to their specific interests. The social site has been extremely successful, increasing unique visitors 525% over the past year – from 160,000 in December 2008 to nearly 1 million in December 2009. 2. HSBC To target business entrepreneurs and provide them with an active forum to share and gain knowledge, HSBC has created The HSBC Business Network for both customers and non-customers. It’s evident that the HSBC Business Network truly thrives on its members. The site includes a network of blogs, and invites members to create their own blog to share their personal experiences with other entrepreneurs. Currently, the network is made up of 148 blogs from members.

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5 B2B Social Media Winners

How would you like to launch a social network and instantly amass more than 150 million monthly users? Well, Google just launched Google Buzz and it’s going to be tied into its existing Gmail user base–all 150+ million of them! How smart is that? Google has failed to gain traction with any of its previous social networking efforts. How many of you are active Orkut or Google Wave users? So, instead of trying to build a new social network from scratch–and likely failing–it’s tying Google Buzz directly into its email offering. Genius! It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail .

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Google Buzz Launches 150+ Million User Social Network

Let me ask you something, are you happy with the search results you receive from Google? If you were to guess how often Google gives you exactly the result you were searching for–on your first search query–what would that look like? 40% of the time? 60%? 90%? I’d say that for me, Google gives me precisely what I was looking for, less than 50% of the time–at least out of the gate. I find I have to refine my query before I get the desired set of search results. Would I be better off asking my network of friends? Social search engine Aardvark’s new research paper suggests that might be the case: 70.4% of answers were deemed to be ‘good’, with 14.1% as ‘OK’ and 15.5% were rated as bad

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Why Aardvark’s Social Search Engine Might Suffer from “Participation Fatigue”