1. 8 social media sins to avoid
2. Allstate’s Social Media Experimentation and Adoption Experiences Through the Good Hands Community
3. Developing an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
4. Engaged social media? Ready, set, integrate
5. Enterprise Social Media Normalizes
6. How do you report social media success?
7. Top 10 Social Media Gaffes
8. Measuring Social Media Campaigns: It Don’t Mean a Thing, if it Ain’t got Ker-Ching
9. The Agency Side of Business, Walking the Talk
10. The Importance of Social Media Audits
11. Has social media paid off with improved customer satisfaction?
12. Social Media Won’t Work if You Aren’t Social
13. Do Damaged Brands Have More Opportunities In Social Media?
14. 5 Social Media Noteworthy Changes
15. Yes, it IS about the money

Let us know your favorite posts of the week in the comments.

I see the current buzz as “The Real Time Web.” How do you see Social Media fitting with “the Real Time Web?”

The Internet as we have known it is fading from our reality. Although social media is generally Internet-based, we don’t think of it as the Internet any longer. Facebook, for example, is seen more like a distinct communication channel like the telephone. As technologies and delivery devices emerge to make social media and its successor even more omnipresent and accessible, we will see pervasive, continuous electronic communication more like our sixth-sense than a distinct technology. We already know how to manipulate brain waves to send text messages. The man-machine interface will be here sooner than you think.

What can possibly be greater than real-time communication and information? How about applications that know what you want before you want it? As individuals, we are flooding the Internet with so much personal content and behavioral information that it’s only a matter of time before companies aggregate this information and create predictive models. It’s already underway. How about a web that anticipates what you need, when you need it, based on years of cumulative behavior monitoring and data collection?

Some businesses have fully embraced Social Media (Whole Foods and Starbucks, for example). What phase do you see corporate america in terms of getting involved with Social Media? Are they just getting started or closer to going to mainstream?

Unfortunately, I see a lot of parallels between the clamor for social media and the Internet gold rush of the 1990s. We are in a period where companies are spending large amounts of money to stake their claim in social media because they don’t want to miss out. In 12-18 months they’re going to look back and wonder what it was all about.

The largest companies and biggest brands are approaching this methodically and thoughtfully, and would be as close to mainstream as you can get I suppose. But what does mainstream really look like in this space? It will take several years for the channel to mature but by then something else will be competing as the newest marketing channel.

What are the biggest challenges facing social media strategists (the people who are defining social media for their employers)?

Last week on my blog I ran a series of articles on social media marketing and measurement. This seemed to hit a nerve, based on the engagement on the subject.

The question I hear the most is, “how do we make money from this stuff?” Many “purists” will say that businesses should not ask that question, that it’s all about “the conversation” and “engagement.” However, you cannot cover your employee payroll by handing out tweets or page views and until we can, monetization will always be the challenging topic for social media professionals. Measurement and alignment with financial goals will be a hot topic for years to come.

As a great followup to Mark’s last answer, read this post on his blog.

Mark Schaefer is from Schaefer Marketing Solutions. Schaefer Marketing Solutions creates remarkable marketing solutions, services and products for you at a fraction of the cost of traditional agencies. By leveraging a “virtual” network of experts who provide high-quality work without the overhead costs, they can pass tremendous savings on to you. It’s a new kind of marketing company for a new economy.

1. These are reasons I stay interested in Social Media
2. Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media
3. 2 Critical Ways to Improve Social Media Monitoring Tools
4. Yes, Your Social Media Strategy Needs Design
5. A Social Media Gun to the Head
6. How HP Integrates Digital and Social, Kathy Durham, VP Marketing
7. 10 Ways To Jump Start Your Social Media Thinking
8. Social Media Case Study: Dairy Queen
9. New study: Deep brand engagement correlates with financial performance
10. What Social Media Can and Can’t Do for You
11. Ten Tips for Improving the Social Media Consultant and Client Relationship
12. In social media, what you see is not what you get
13. Sure you have a great document. But do you have a dancing caribou?
14. Social media: Pondering the corporate ROI
15. Razorfish Creates SIM Score for Engaging Social Brands

Feel free to share your favorite social media stories of the week.

a) social media consultants – you work for a consultancy that is involved in working with companies to leverage social networks for social media.
b) social media strategists – you are responsible for setting the social media strategy for your company.
c) community manager – you are a social media professional who interacts with customers on behalf of your employer.
d) public relations – you are involved in social media from a public relation point of view.
e) social media manager – you do the social media strategy for your company and also interact with the community for your employer.

We will be adding users ourselves as we find interesting people involved in social media. We enjoy finding and interacting with people in the social media space. We hope you enjoy the directory as well. If you have any questions or problems, please let us know.

The directory is located at http://directory.technihub.com

1. PayPal Case Study – Social Media Ignorance
2. The Various Roles of Social Media in the Enterprise
3. 4 Brand-Saving Recommendations for Social Media Crisis Management
4. Incorporating social media: There’s no magic bullet
5. Social Media Mavens – An Interview with PepsiCo’s Bonin Bough
6. The Agency Side of Business: Shiv Singh, Razorfish
7. How I Filter The Noise, Beth Harte
8. Study: Brands Must Do Better in Social Media
9. How Social Media Influences
10. Second Thoughts on Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Hut and Social Media
11. A Year @Ford – Part 1
12. Five rules of thumb for social media advertising
13. Social Media Pros: Where Do We Go from Here?
14. Is much of social media monitoring snake oil – or have I missed something?
15. How To Evaluate Social Media Street Cred

Feel free to share any of your favorite social media posts of the week in the comments.

1. Yet another Social Media Release primer
2. Guest Post: A Brand’s Largest Social Media Obstacle
3. What Happened To Accountability?
4. Jason Baer On Bridging New & Old: Social Media Series
5. How to spot a social media snake oil salesman
6. YES WE CAN Measure Conversations
7. In social media, speak so people will hear
8. The Article I Want to Read on PR
9. The 7 Elements of “Good” PR
10. Own Your Story Again
11. Caveat Emptor: Do You Know Enough to Buy or Hire Social Media Expertise?
12. Time to Put A Stake in The Ground on Social CRM
13. Sustainable Social Marketing
14. Calling bullshit on social media
15. The Inbound Marketing Race: Where Do I Start?

Feel free to share any of your blog posts in the comments that you enjoyed.

1. Social CRM Rocks
2. Beating a Dead Social Media Horse
3. On Social Media And Culture Shift
4. Creating effective social media campaigns
5. Corporate Guide for Social Media – Redux
6. Social Media Mavens – An Interview with Graco’s Lindsay Lebresco
7. Social Media Program Lifecycle
8. A Corporate Guide For Social Media
9. Three Parts of a Social Media Marketer
10. Three Essential Market-Research Methods in an Online Community
11. Five Myths of Community Management
12. Are *You* Truly Engaged?
13. Debunking Social Media Myths
14. Monitoring Social Media Metrics
15. Social Media Example #18: Rubbermaid

Feel free to share any social media posts that you enjoyed in the comments below.

1. Can Social Media Help Your Business?
2. Pitney Bowes branded community reduces customer support costs
3. The 12-Step Social Media Program for Traditional Marketers
4. Is Corporate Social Media Poisoning the Well?
5. Dare to be weak
6. Social Media Marketing Example #17: Quicken Loans
7. Dunkin Run- Coffee Lovers Are Served
8. Social Media is Rife with “Experts” but Starved of Authorities
9. Social Media Marketing Campaigns: How To Set Goals And Targets
10. 3 basic ingredients for an online social community to exist and thrive
11. Top Five Rules for Running an Online Community
12. Social media rules of engagement. Marketing Age.
13. The 5Ps of Marketing
14. You can no More Ignore Social Media than Answer the Phone
15. 15 Things Social Media Can Do for You Today

I don’t include our blog posts as I don’t think that is in the spirit of sharing our favorite posts. Why wouldn’t we think our blog posts are our favorites, right? However, I did want to mention this one just because it was so well received by everyone:

10 Social Media Blogs you should be reading

What are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

1) Create a social media campaign for an area business

One of the best ways to learn something is by doing it. But without experience, not many people will take you seriously. Without a proven track record no one will give you a chance and without given an opportunity you won’t gain any experience. It’s a catch 22. So, how do you get past this? For one, you can create a social media campaign for a local business for free. The knowledge and experience you gain will be better then you can imagine. Come up with a strategy and what you are looking to do (increase sales, gain exposure, talk to customers), implement the plan and then monitor it. Then gather the analytics to see how well you did.

2) Follow some of the social media leaders (twitter, blogs)

You aren’t the first person who wants to get involved with Social Media. There are plenty of people out there who are doing it and are very successful. Watch Chris Brogan and Jason Falls to see what they are doing. Follow them on twitter, read and comment on their blogs. All of this will help you raise your level of knowledge up to theirs. Their is a saying, always be the worst performer in the band. This isn’t saying to play badly, it means surround yourself with people who are more knowledgeable then you, this way you will be able to feed off of their knowledge and expertise.

3) Attend conferences, meetups and network

Going to conferences and meetups will really help you understand and know the latest that is going on in Social Media. Sharing information, learning about opportunities and meeting people in Social Media can only be beneficial. I have been to conferences where I was able to network with leaders in the community and to find out the tools that everyone is using in my field. It was beneficial. The amount of information and networking opportunities at meetups and conferences is incredible. The good thing is that you may not have to go to far. Look for a Social Media Club in your area.

4) Converse, interact and discuss

When you see a blog post, comment on it. When an interesting twitter message comes across, respond to it. Getting out there and talking Social Media will help you gain knowledge and allow you to share information.

5) Don’t look like a used car salesman

This is important. On your Twitter profile don’t put your bio like this: Entrepreneur, Social Media Expert/Guru and Coach, SEM/SEO, I help you use the internet to gain lots of $$$ follow me to tell you how and then include a patterned dollar bill as your background. I am not sure how people expect to be taken seriously with a profile like this. It goes back to following the social media leaders. Is this something that Chris Brogan would do? If not, then don’t do it. If you want to be taken seriously. If this is your thing, then go ahead. I am not trying to change anyone, but any respectable company knows a used car salesman when they see one.

1. Social Media Explorer
Insightful, timely and one of our favorite.

2. Marketing Pilgrim
A lot of daily content that is always informative.

3. HubSpot
Great content and enjoyable to read.

4. Conversation Agent
Always a good read.

5. davefleet.com
Really enjoy the content, especially the post recently titled “25 Questions To Make Your Social Media Workflow Work For You.”

6. Chris Brogan
From one of the most followed and influential social media professionals.

7. iMedia Connection
Very throughout and great content.

8. Jason Keath
Released the guest blog post series which we have been enjoying.

9. JoelComm.com
A great blog from someone who understands social media.

10. MarketingProfs Daily Fix
Good insights from various social media professionals.