With everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon, the lines are being blurred about the different tools and how to use them. LinkedIn, in particular, is not a tool designed for popularity contests. With more and more inappropriate requests to connect coming across my desk, I decided it was time to explain the importance of keeping a closed network on LinkedIn.

Have you experienced an increase in LinkedIn traffic? I’ve been hit with a spate of “join my network” invitations lately. Frankly, I don’t like it. While LinkedIn is a social media tool, it’s not designed for open networking. Mostly, I don’t know the people contacting me. Depending on my mood, I’ll just click on the “I don’t know this person” button. More often, I’ll write to the sender explaining my reasons for refusing the invitation. Last week I got a snide reply back accusing me of not understanding how to network. I think it’s time to explain my position on LinkedIn more clearly.

Read the entire post, 6 Reasons for Refusing LinkedIn Invitations

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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Media140 hit Perth last week to a packed house of social media enthusiasts. While everyone agreed the networking was fantastic, many people felt like no new ground had been covered. Read this post to discover why Sarah Mitchell from Global Copywriting was humming along to the Troggs and getting excited about social media all over again.

I attended the Media140, exploring the future of the Real-Time Social Web conference in Perth on Thursday, 25 February. Billed as “Brands, Marketing & Communications in the Real-Time Social Web”, I booked an early-bird ticket without really knowing what to expect. I know I wasn’t the only one. I was extremely interested to hear experiences of how other people were using social media. I was also looking forward to meeting the faces behind the avatars I’ve been communicating with for over a year, mostly on Twitter. Held at the Perth Town Hall, at the end of the long day nearly all the attendees were still in their seats. The content of the conference clearly outweighed the physical discomfort created by packing over 300 people and 20 speakers into the second floor of the old building on what turned out to be a sweltering day.

Read the full post at Global Copywriting, Media140 The Troggs, Westpac and Kanye West

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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Cultivating Word of Mouth recommendations is valuable for any business but especially SMB and SME organisations. This post discusses one way to easily implement some content marketing strategy and increase your Word of Mouth referrals.

How often do you pass on the details of a blog post or an online article to your network? I do it all the time. I’m particularly inclined to do it when I can click on a widget to do the work for me. Time is in short supply in my office and I don’t always stop to shorten a link and send it along. Give me a tool to construct a message and I’ll happily broadcast it.

What a great idea!
I was delighted last week to see someone use a sharing widget in a different way. A company based in Sydney called Ideas into Action have a Share This Site button on their home page. That’s right, they’re encouraging a Word of Mouth recommendation by making it easy to share the details of their website. When you select the Twitter option on the widget, you conveniently get the following tweet crafted for you:

Small Business Marketing Consultants, Services & Strategies, Sydney | Ideas into Action: http://bit.ly/d9bTQ8 via @addthis

The Take-Away
Put a sharing widget on your home page. With very little effort, customers and prospects give you a valuable Word of Mouth (WoM) recommendation. It has the potential to generate unique user traffic, improving your SEO. If you're a small business, it's a potent piece of content marketing. I’ve added it to my list of website upgrades.

What cool little marketing tricks do you use?

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

website: www.globalcopywriting.com

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Is your customer service focused on your marketing efforts or improving the customer experience? Is every interaction with your customer base an opportunity to sell more product?

 Have you ever walked away from a customer service situation and felt scammed?

In a recent Problogger post, Darren Rowse addressed a common problem. Titled What Have You Been Putting Off and What’s Holding You Back?, he goes on to list all the reasons why he hasn’t tackled an eBook he planned to write. One thing he worries about resonated with me precisely because it’s a pet peeve of mine

Read the entire post: Is your customer service a thinly veiled sales job? at Global Copywriting.

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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As B2B web marketing comes of age, a battle is brewing between some pretty big players (and a few upstarts) over who will become the primary dashboard for marketers. The three combatants:

CRM – the first app to automate some of what marketers do (and a lot more of what salespeople do).

Content Management Systems – the coal face of web marketing and, increasingly, the platform for all kinds of digital campaigns.

Marketing Automation tools – email, lead nurturing, analytics, campaign management, digital asset management… each with its own dashboard and workflow.

As B2B marketers get more sophisticated, the tools they use are starting to merge. CRM is adding rudimentary marketing automation. CMSs are adding campaign and automation. And the automation apps are filling out into proper ’suites’.

Who will win? More at:

http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/2010/02/08/b2b-web-marketing-the-platform-battle/#?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=posterous&utm_campaign=socialmedia

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Radian6 has released an in-depth ebook covering how to build and maintain a brand community.

Building & Sustaining Brand Communities

Also, check out Radian6's  -12 Step Program to Place Community First

12 Step Program to Place Community First

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How do you keep your website looking fresh and ranking with the search engines when you don’t have time for anything?

Like many small business owners, I have to prioritise my tasks with customer demands always ranking first. School holidays changes the mix a bit with family battling for the first spot. Nearly everything else languishes - including my website. Consequently, my search engine rankings take a hit because I don’t get a chance to update my site as often as usual.

Tricks of the Trade
I do have a little trick to keep Google and the rest of the pack happy. I have a “News” section on my home page. It holds three articles with the most current sitting at the top. It takes less than five minutes to add a news item. By keeping this one small area of my website up-to-date, I achieve several things:

• Even when I’m busy or away, my website looks fresh
• The home page is being updated 3-4 times a month which keeps the search engines interested
• It’s a great way to promote events and business successes without spending a lot of time tooting your own horn
• The content is being refreshed with very minimal time expenditure

The Take-Away
Consider putting a news feature on your home page. Your SEO will improve and it’s a great way to communicate with your users.

How do you keep your search engine rankings during busy periods?

Follow Sarah Mitchell at Twitter: @globalcopywrite

Visit the Global Copywriting Blog for more thoughts on Content Marketing

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Joe Pullizi @junta42 has released  3rd Annual 2010 Junta42 Content Marketing Spending Survey.

Content Marketing Spending Takeaways:

• 6 of 10 marketers are increasing content marketing spending in 2010. Only 7% are decreasing spending.
• According to the 259 survey respondents, average content marketing budgets are 33% of the total marketing budget (up from 29% in 2008)
• Small companies spend more than 2x the amount on content marketing as to larger companies.
• Of all content areas, marketers are increasing their focus on mobile content solutions more than any other area (as a % growth from 2009).
• Content marketing spending overall increased 11% from 2008 to 2010.

Read more at: Special Report - Content Marketing Spending Continues to Rise

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Joe Pullizi @junta42 has released  3rd Annual 2010 Junta42 Content Marketing Spending Survey.

Content Marketing Spending Takeaways:

• 6 of 10 marketers are increasing content marketing spending in 2010. Only 7% are decreasing spending.
• According to the 259 survey respondents, average content marketing budgets are 33% of the total marketing budget (up from 29% in 2008)
• Small companies spend more than 2x the amount on content marketing as to larger companies.
• Of all content areas, marketers are increasing their focus on mobile content solutions more than any other area (as a % growth from 2009).
• Content marketing spending overall increased 11% from 2008 to 2010.

Read more at: Special Report - Content Marketing Spending Continues to Rise

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First wave of Reflections on ClickPredictions eBook:

• Ben Yoskovitz's Free E-Book “ClickPredictions” on Content Marketing Trends
• Joe Pulizzi's The Dawn of Content Strategy and 38 2010 Predictions
• Newt Barrett's Learn What’s Ahead for Content Marketing in 2010 from 39 experts
• Tom Pick's Content Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2010
• Patsi Krakoff's 39 Experts Foresee Content Marketing Trends for 2010: ClickPredictions
• Rick Liebling's ClickPredictions eBook now available
• Dave Fleet's eBook on 2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions
• Sarah Mitchell's Coming Soon: ClickPredictions eBook
• Rajesh Setty's Top 10+1 Content Marketing Tips for 2010; Free eBook Download
• Tom Scearce's ClickPredictions 2010 eBook released!
• Ardath Albee's Key Content Marketing Trends & Predictions 2010
• Nanda Kishore's ShareThis featured in marketing eBook

Click for free download now and you can get 2010 started on the right foot with a bit of inspiration and no-nonsense marketing straight-talk.

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