Alliance Blog Reviews

Ad.ly is an ad network for Twitter. You set your price and approve the targeted ads before they’re inserted (marked as ads) into your Twitter stream . And now, Ad.ly is adding analytics to its platform. Ad.ly has partnered with PeopleBrowsr to analyze participating publishers’ followers, as well as how they receive ads. The analytics offer information on user engagement, male and female segmentation, location, and sentiment analysis. Ad.ly founder Sean Rad said the analytics, “provide Twitter users the data they need to become more prolific content creators.” As with all user-based social media advertising, there have been a number of ethical and practical questions floating around Ad.ly. Would a service like this increase the noise in the stream? Would it turn off or even drive away followers? Now users are better equipped to understand how their followers interact with their sponsored tweets. What do you think? Would you use Ad.ly? What kind of analytic data would you need to help you evaluate the service?

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Sponsored Tweets from Ad.ly Add Analytics

Back in July, Facebook was challenged by the Canadian government about some privacy concerns around third party apps and information shared that was taken about users. Many wondered how the social media giant would handle the situation. Would they thumb their nose at the information police? Would they stand up to the Canucks? Well, that was answered in August when they folded like a cheap card table and rewrote their policies to meet Canadian concerns . Well, if that was a precedent then the folks who run the Facebook Legal team fan page (Is there really one of these? I just made that up) are about to get real busy. You see there are several privacy groups who are up in arms about the latest privacy policies handed down by Zuck and the boys. According to the WSJ’s MarketWatch Ten privacy and consumer groups announced Thursday they’ve filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging that Facebook Inc.’s privacy-policy changes violate federal law. The Electronic Privacy Information Center said in a statement that it and nine other groups are urging the FTC “to open an investigation into the recent changes made by Facebook … and to require Facebook to restore privacy safeguards.” These kinds of things usually sound a lot worse when they are first brought to light. Ok, so let’s stand in Facebook’s shoes and let this one sit for a second and let the scariness of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) being called on to investigate your company’s privacy policies go away. Hmmm. Doesn’t seem to be working this time. Why? Well, because this could be a real serious deal for Facebook. They went from cruising along and just gathering more and more steam in their quest to become a money making machine to now being a social media whipping boy……again. While what they have been accused of lately (breaking a valued trust with their users by making their information, all of it, public unless opted-out) isn’t sleazy on a Tiger Woods like level, it is a serious issue. That’s not good. Now add on the possibility of the US government (you know the one that thinks it can do everything for everyone so no one needs to think for themselves anymore) being asked by not one but 10 privacy advocates to take a look at your policies. There probably were happier endings envisioned by the Facebook folks on this one, like huge profits from data being available to mine and sell. EPIC said in its statement that the service “should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers,” adding that the changes “violate federal consumer-protection law.” As they say in some parts of the world “Them thar is fightin’ words!” Of course Facebook has something to say about all of this. In a statement, a Facebook spokesman said: “We’ve had productive discussions with dozens of organizations around the world about the recent changes, and we’re disappointed that EPIC has chosen to share their concerns with the FTC while refusing to talk to us about them.” The spokesman, Andrew Noyes, also said that Facebook discussed its privacy program with regulators “including the FTC” prior to its launch. Well, shame on EPIC for telling on Facebook after the company worked so hard to grease the skids to prevent this very thing from happening. By the way, how productive a meeting is can be pretty subjective. In other words, there is no mention of groups endorsing what Facebook did, just a statement that they met and talked. Look this may turn out to be a non-issue. The FTC may decide to not act on the request of these groups but it might be hard for them to do so. Of course, with Facebook letting the world know that they spoke to the FTC before this move was made may make some wonder just what kind of ‘agreements and understandings’ may have been reached. Whatever they were, they may now be null and void if there is enough of a stink raised. So what looked like a pretty strong year for Facebook may end on a sour note. They’ll get over though just like they did with Beacon. Apparently that gaffe was either forgotten or it’s the policy of the company to see just what it can get away with until someone slaps their hands or slaps them with an investigation. Your thoughts? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Facebook’s Privacy Policy Produces Plea to FTC

I think, somewhere in the back of our heads, we all had to know that this was eventually where Facebook would go. Yes, the erstwhile media darling of social networking, so prized because it was so private (unlike that icky old predator-friendly MySpace), has succumbed to the public pull of the Internet—when they prompt you to update your privacy settings now, they’ve already selected a default option to publish your information to “Everyone.” This change comes as part of the new privacy migration tool, where users get to update their privacy settings as Facebook moves to improved privacy settings. (Or was that improved publicity settings?) It looks like this is the change promised in July to appease the Canadian government’s privacy complaints. Facebook, it seems, is now jealous of today’s social media sweetheart: Twitter. The theory goes that FB wants people to select the “Everyone” option so that status updates, especially, will be publicly shared, and Facebook will be like Twitter, only better. (Note that, above, the “Everyone” option is only preselected for a few settings, other defaults include “Friends” and “Friends of Friends.”) At Facebook’s blog post , people are already complaining about the loss of privacy and such features as the ability to hide wall posts, profile pictures and friend lists. (I can’t vouch for these, but several people are complaining about them.) Users will be prompted to update their settings and are free to return to their old settings or customize the settings however they want. Yeah, it’s not cool that Facebook goes and selects “Everyone” as the default, but if they’re prompting their users to update their settings themselves, and not changing anything until the users approve it, then . . . is this really that big of a deal? What do you think?

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Facebook Pushing People to Go Public

If you have spent any time around the social media circles discussing business success stories you have heard a lot about Dell. In fact, you have probably heard so much about Dell that you know that the have claimed to have generated around $3 million in sales through their Twitter efforts. Of course, this is of interest because measuring success in social media is one of the most important topics that the industry can take on. Well, now Dell has updated their data so it’s time to spruce up those decks touting Dell’s social media success. Bloomberg reports Dell Inc., relying on social- networking sites to drum up sales of personal computers, said its promotions on Twitter have helped generate more than $6.5 million in orders for PCs, accessories and software. The number of users signing up to get Dell’s tweets has risen 23 percent in the past three months and now numbers 1.5 million, said Manish Mehta, vice president of Dell’s online unit. More than 100 employees send out the tweets — Twitter’s 140-character messages — over 35 different channels. The $6.5 million number is what has been generated since the inception of these efforts about 2 years ago. So let’s face it, this is not the kind of number that makes everyone say “Wow, this is a runaway success!” since Dell is a $61 billion company. Regardless of that, Dell is committed. “It’s a very vibrant channel for us and it’s growing aggressively,” Manish Mehta, VP of of Dell’s online unit said in an interview. “It’s not just our reach and growth that has progressed, it’s that it’s happening globally.” Dell reaches Twitter users in 12 countries, including the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, China and Japan. Brazil’s Twitter users spent $800,000 in the past eight months, Mehta said. Now, the industry will continue to show off Dell as an example of Twitter generating revenue and that’s fine. My question is to anyone at Dell: How much do these efforts that generates this revenue cost? What is your ROI based on the time investment of your staff etc? Once these numbers are revealed then there will really be something to talk about. UPDATE: Article written by Manish Mehta of Dell over at the Huffington Post .

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Social Media Darling Dell Updates Numbers

Often we forget the little guy, the SMB, in our discussions of the comings and goings of the Internet marketing industry. Sure there are times like this when a report surfaces talking about their issues and concerns but, for the most part, we like to talk about big brands and how they do the Internet marketing thing well or not so well. Of course, when you consider that 95% of the businesses in the US are considered an SMB of some shape or size it should make one think a little more about the impact this market segment has in the overall scheme of things. Unfortunately, ‘too big to fail’ bailouts don’t await the little guy. Instead the SMB needs to make due with what they have and be as smart about how they spend their marketing dollars as possible. The Center for Media Research has released a study by Vertical Response that shows just where many of these ‘Main Street’ players are going with their online dollars. The big winners: e-mail and social media. With only 3.8% of small business folks NOT planning on using e-mail marketing and with social media carrying the perception of being free (which they so rudely discover it is far from free) this should make some in the banner and search crowd a little wary. I suppose the question is just what does increased use of social media mean? Will there be money put toward it or will it just be that the effort by the SMB social media practitioner (usually also referred to as the business owner) is increased. We’ll see. This quote from helps to frame something that most know already but have had a hard time changing. Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO and founder, says “… small businesses continue to allocate portions of their budget to… email and social media, despite the downturn in the economic climate… (but) marketers (still) need to help small businesses to see the value of integrating search engine marketing… into their campaigns.” Honestly, I am a little confused by some of the findings here because in the next breath we see the following: According to the study, the most important tool for small businesses to succeed in 2010 is search engine marketing, while email marketing, public relations and social media cited as crucial for success. 23.8% of all small businesses reported that search engine marketing was the tool most needed for their business to succeed in 2010. So which is it? Do they or don’t they use or want to use search marketing? Or is the better question can they or can’t they? Maybe the way that these findings seem a bit muddy is just a reflection of the struggles that many businesses have with the shift from traditional marketing to the online space. In 2010 it looks like the rubber is really hitting the road as the Internet marketing industry matures while many may end up just being left behind. Your thoughts?

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Small Business Marketing Efforts Point to E-Mail and Social Media in 2010

We are all aware that social networks, social marketing, social media and just plan old being social are the new wave regarding the Internet and its magical powers to make the world a better place for all. As we move further along in the life cycle of this still relatively new phenomenon (OK, all of you folks who have ‘been doing this for years’ can huff and puff at this point) there will be more opportunity to slice and dice the nature of the social network and the networkers that inhabit them. The folks over at Pingdom have taken a stab at looking at the gender breakdown of this group and found that women rule. Kinda. 84% (16 out of 19) of the sites have more female than male users. The social news sites Digg, Reddit and Slashdot have significantly more male users than female. The standout here is Slashdot which takes male geekdom to new heights with 82% male users. If we hadn’t included the three social news sites, all of the sites would have had more females than males. Twitter and Facebook have almost the same male-female ratio; Twitter with 59% female users and Facebook with 57%. Now we need to apply the classic question that all marketers must eventually apply to statistics and sales presentations: So what? But before we go there we can’t waste the very nice chart that the Pingdom folks put together for you to look at. I suspect that these ratios may always hold true to some degree but as there are more an more business applications of social media they may balance out a bit depending on the situation. Easy for me to say, sure. Honestly, social media is just like a very other tool that is used to reach people for a specific reason. Knowing how many is neat but the more important question is why someone is there. Certain networks may attract more of one gender over another for reasons that will then truly tell a marketer what the value of that network may be to them. And of course, just because it is that way now is no assurance that it will remain that way. So Pilgrims, as you awake from your tryptophan induced haze what is your take on the various guys and girls clubs in the social networking space?

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Social Networks – More ‘She Said’ Than ‘He Said’

Simply owning a personal computer and be connected to the internet is not what spell Internet Marketing completely. The process is crucial. It is more likely a real advertising but is only done through the internet. Devotion of quality time and extensive research is also important to make an effective strategic plan by any means to make yourself visible in the cyberspace. Methods included in this marketing are either paid or free but both needed patience and hard work. To be able to be a successful Internet Marketer, you should know the basics and the formula of how it works. Paid methods are through hiring internet marketing services who will do the campaign for you. Select the best and be wise, know your prices. Assess your website and how much it will generate and make it a basis how much you will invest to it. On the other hand, you might not be informed about the ways companies will use to promote your site and your product or service. Therefore, it is an essential decision to voluntarily learn the internet marketing it and the methods. You can do it through taking free courses or learning gradually from the tips and information richly fed in the internet. First things first - be focused. Be geared up by a healthy mindset and first learn what needs to be in the market and which market it is needed to be categorized. This will help you identify what type of traffic you need and where to acquire them. Internet marketing should be viral. It is to make your website competitive, visible and easily stumbled upon. Having a professional-looking website is not helpful enough. Your popularity should be meticulously done through few but famous marketing methods. You can try article submissions to various article directories. By using it, you will make yourself easily accessible through keywords, content and tagged links. Marketing through social media websites help you gain contacts, friends and potential customers. Social hubs are very much populated. Therefore, meaning its a rich source of endless targeted traffic. You should not also miss Affiliate marketing. Most people and company uses this because of the effortless advertising benefits. There are many variations to choose from such as Pay Per Click, Pay Per Sales and Paid Sign ups. It is a one time investment worthy for your money. Basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) knowledge is undeniably powerful to boost your website's traffic organically. It helps your website crawled by search engines to get better page rank. Page's rank contributes to your virtual reputation, hence, emphasizing your existence in the community. Advertising by the means of the internet is an investment, and you should be able to give to gain something. Learning is essential and logic planning is tactical. Maintenance should not also be compromised to maintain your current status. Manic changes of website contents are also needed to keep it away from being bland. When you are all ready to step onto the lucrative Internet Marketing, keep these things in mind. Remember that simply being ignorant is invalid when you aim to be successful.

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Internet Marketing