Quantcast, with just 70-employees, is already the de facto standard for measuring Web audiences. They determine who’s clicking on ads, visiting websites, and buying products online. Subsequently, the information is used to help match consumer characteristics with the campaign goals of media buyers. According to Fast Company, 9 of the top 10 media buyers in the U.S. are customers; as are CBS, ABC, and MTV Networks.

Here’s a quote from the “About” page at Quantcast:

Ten years ago the Internet had 9.5 million websites and 150 million people online. Email was a relatively new phenomenon. Fast forward a decade and we’ve seen the most rapid adoption of a new technology in the history of the planet. Not only is everyone, including your grandmother, using email, chat, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, but 1.6 billion people, and growing, now engage with over 240 million web pages on the Internet.

CrunchBase reports that Quantcast received $27.5M in Series C funding (1/4/10), $20M in Series B funding (1/1/08) and $5.7M in Series A funding (3/1/07).

Another company on the Fast Company top 10 list is Slide. Through its branded Funspace, the company now serves some 10 million videos a month and is the largest video-distribution platform on Facebook. And Facebook, by the way, is number one on the most innovative list in the web category.

What do all of the companies on the list have in common with small business owners?
The ability to identify opportunities and react quickly – innovation. How does your company plan to innovate in 2010 and beyond?

Companies have long played catch-up in understanding how to harness new technologies without over-managing them. Social media is no exception. This eight-page Fresh Perspectives paper explores how organizations should leverage the connective power of social networking to enhance productivity, innovation, collaboration, reputation and employee engagement, among other issues. Leaders' efforts should not focus on controlling employees' social networking behavior. Instead, they should work to channel its use in directions that benefit organizations and their employees alike.

Download and read the full report at the Manpower | Research Center here.

The ability to distribute your content across several online platforms from one source is critical. And, if you want to save time and increase your online exposure you need a system to perform the task for you automatically. First, consider your content source. Are you using a Content Management System (CMS)? Examples include dynamic websites, blogs, and shopping carts. All include simple tools for re-publishing your content on other websites whenever you update the “source” (your website, blog, etc.).

LinkedIn.com “applications” is one example of an automated website marketing tool. Whenever I publish content on my blog it is automatically re-published to my LinkedIn profile where hundreds of my contacts are notified and millions of LinkedIn users can stumble upon the information while browsing. This simple process, which is easy to setup if you have a WordPress blog for example, increases traffic to your site. We measure the traffic using analytic tools such as Google Analytics, which is the science of website marketing. In a few clicks, we can determine the popularity of our latest blog post on LinkedIn, and a bunch of other sites for that matter.
[slider title="Support for LinkedIn.com"]Prefer we do this for you? If so, just give us a call: 804-723-9160. We provide LinkedIn customization as well as social media training for our clients and their staff.[/slider]

Similarly, you can connect your website content to dozens of social networking sites such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com; it is relatively easy when your website is built using a CMS.

Here’s a short-list of links to website tools – detailed explanations are included on the sites:

• bit.ly – Allows you to shorten long links and track how many people click on the link. This tool is great for posting on twitter or Facebook given you can measure how many clicks your shortened link gets. There are numerous tools similar to bit.ly. Here’s an article that covers five more: visit FriedBeef’s Tech blog here.
• StumpUpon.com – Allows you to bookmark and browse content made popular by a community of Stumblers; you can also use the tool to bookmark your content for others to view.
• AddThis sharing tool by clearspring. Including a “share” tool on your site makes it very easy for you and others to share your content with friends and colleagues.
• Website Grader – provides a website grading score that incorporates your website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how your website can be improved from a marketing perspective.
• Google Webmaster Tools – Check your keywords and how well you site ranks for those words and determine if any pages on your site are causing problems for Google when crawling your site. The tools also allow you to see what pages are getting the most links, etc.
• Term Extractor – This tool analyzes the content of a given page and extracts the terms that appear to be targeted at search engines.

The processes are confusing and complicated. The results are frustrating and it all seems like a colossal waste of time. If that’s you, let’s first dispel some of the myths of social media.

One: Social Media is Free

Yes, for next to nothing you can quickly create a presence on the top three social media sites – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. And, you can create accounts on other sites such as Blogger, WordPress, YouTube, Flickr, StumpleUpon and Digg; all within a few hours. That too is almost free but incorporating the plethora of tools into a business marketing system that produces real results requires time, marketing savvy and money. Social media marketing is far from free.

Two: Social media profiles are just brief bios or short descriptions of your company

You don’t need to spend a lot of time creating your social media profiles or bios; right? Unfortunately, that’s far from the case. Those that understand the strategy and importance of social media profiles are obtaining far better results than those that don’t. Profiles are very important and very effective when they include a theme that matches your online business goals and objectives.

Three: Anyone can do it and you can do it in-house.

Ask yourself, do you have the experience? Are you using the most appropriate strategies and the right tools? Fact is, few businesses have in-house teams with the experience needed to launch an effective social media marketing campaign. And, many lack the resolve to allocate the necessary resources required to obtain meaningful results.

What do you need? First and foremost, a concise written strategy as well as numerous technical tools, a contact list manager, copy writer, graphic artists and, most importantly, knowledge and experience.

Social media marketing is a fundamental shift in the way individuals network, organize information and communicate. In essence, it is the child born from the evolution of technology during the past two decades. Today, businesses are leveraging technology in more ways than you can possibly imagine.

Each business has unique goals and objectives. Therefore, establishing a social media marketing budget depends on your industry, your competition and your expectations. But, creating a budget is similar to any other project. Here are four quick steps to get your started:

What “projects” and “resources” are required?

1. Social Media Strategy and Theme – generally developed by the business management team (or owner) with the marketing/communications manager. If you don’t have a full-time marketing manager, consider outsourcing this important starting point to an experienced marketing firm.
2. Tools – select the sites and tools you’ll focus on for your campaign. And, stay focused. The most appropriate sites are not necessarily the top three. Research the sites visited most frequently by your target market just like you would with any other marketing campaign. Stick with your plan long enough to collect meaning data to determine the effectiveness of the campaign.
3. Integration – plan out specifically how you intend to use other forms of advertising – such as marketing brochures, trade shows, local events, print ads, etc. Are you driving traffic to social media sites and capturing leads to build your contact list? Are you sponsoring an event supported by an email marketing campaign? For example, are you posting photos and copies of presentations you gave on your blog following an event? There are costs associated with this aspect of the project such as contact management software, email marketing software, blog maintenance, etc.
4. Define success – almost everything online can be measured. However, the more you intend to measure the more money you’ll spend collecting and analyzing data. It is very important to understand some of the costs are “branding” costs and some are “operational” costs (IT support). Understand the different aspects of your marketing campaign and appropriate the resources as well as the expenses accordingly.

Next week we’ll go into more detail on planning and budgeting for social media marketing. You can subscribe to our site here; it allows you to receive the updates when they are published. Also, please leave a comment below if you have specific questions about social media. Or, tell us what lessons you learned last year about social media marketing?

A few photos of the Asian Chamber members attending the event – thanks again for inviting AIM Custom Media to present to your group of members. We enjoyed meeting your new members and guests.

[Show as slideshow]

Are you passionate about increasing sales but can’t seem to get anywhere using social media? We all know millions and millions of links and leads are shared everyday on social networks. And, there are several simple things you can do to improve your results and get your share. This evening (January 27, 2010, 6-8pm) I’ll be giving a presentation at the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce Business Networking Forum. Here’s the info from the Chamber’s website and a link for additional details:

Marketing Yourself and Your Business in the New Digital World

2010 is going to be an incredible year for marketing. Entrepreneurs that survived the economic storm of 2009 are in an exciting position for 2010. The days of costly brand building are over. It is going to be a time where innovative marketing is going to flourish. Brand marketing is going to be cheaper, faster and smarter.

Are you ready to enter the universe of possible marketing and advertising initiatives?

If yes, let Social Networking Guru Greg Magnus break down for you the steps needed to make when moving into the complex world of social networking, beginning with how to best put social networking to use, whether you are:

• Business prospecting
• Promoting your brand
• Recruiting talents
• Hatching a new venture
• Engaging and retaining customers, or
• Exploring a new career

Coordinated by the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce, this group of businesses and professionals meet monthly between January and June to network and discuss key issues impacting their businesses’ bottom line.

Guest Speaker:
Greg Magnus, President
AIM Custom Media, LLC

Date & Location:
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 From 6-8pm
Mekong Restaurant, 6004 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23230

More information here.

If you can’t make it or you already missed it, you can subscribe to our site here. I’ll post the presentation materials later in the week and you’ll receive the info when it is added to digital AIM.

NOTE: If you subscribed, please check your Inbox right away. Within the next minute or two, there will be an email asking you to confirm your subscription. This is called “double opt-in” to make sure that someone else cannot subscribe you to our list. It is very important that you click the confirmation link in that email. If you fail to do that you will not receive the info requested.

I. Website Considerations

For years now, we have promoted the use of blog technology over “static websites” for small business owners. Almost any website design can be developed using blog technology, which is a better tool for content management as well as online marketing. Blogs allow small business owners to leverage technology in several ways.

For example, most social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) allow you to connect your blog feed (RSS Feed) to your online profile. Therefore, when your website/blog is updated your connections on social networking sites are notified – automated marketing and branding. Also, search engines favor “fresh content” and blogs allow business owners to update his or her website both frequently and cost effectively. The list of benefits goes on.

Resource Requirements – Website & Blogs: Human resources are necessary to run an effective website/blog for online marketing purposes. When developing your marketing plan, include: IT support (programmer), graphic designers, copy writers, and marketing staff that understand social networking applications, content marketing, PR, SEO and HTML.

II. Email Marketing and Newsletters

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails traveled the information superhighway. For good reason, email is an effective communication tool and email marketing remains a top choice for marketing pros. Email newsletters are effective as well but need to be done right to engage your clients and target market.

Resource Requirements – Email Marketing/Newsletters:  Requires setup, database management, subscription forms, copy writing, landing pages, online newsletter archives, subscription promotions, keyword list, and industry knowledge. Human resources: IT support (programmer), graphic designers, copy writers, and marketing staff that understand email newsletter software, content marketing, PR, SEO and HTML programming.

III. Online and Offline Seminars

Presenting and hosting business seminars has been, and will remain, a popular and effective marketing tool for business owners. Preparing and implementing a plan to target your market and attract the right attendees can be a challenge as well as time consuming. Social networking is an effective tool for promoting seminars, if you have first created effective content to promote the seminar as well as landing pages on your website/blog. Also, understanding where your target market resides online is key.

Resource Requirements – Seminars: Requires seminar content, copy writing, landing pages, registration forms, and marketing as well as IT support, graphic design, and a presenter.

The three marketing considerations above are only a start for your 2010 marketing plan. We’ll continue to cover the rest of the marketing plan requirements; you can subscribe here if you would like to receive the updates when they are published.

How do you add your business seminar or social event to LinkedIn? Well, I can’t explain it any better than the folks at LinkedIn that created the app. Watch this video for step-by-step instructions:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you would like us to do it for you.

Additional Resources: Visit LinkedIn Events Here!

SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING MINI-WORKSHOP

AIM Custom Media is presenting a mini-workshop for small business owners and entrepreneurs titled, How to Leverage Social Media Technology to Build Your Business. To receive the announment details, subscribe here and you’ll receive the info when it is published. Call me at 804-915-7379 if you have any immediate questions.