In the wake of several recent changes in leadership, one would expect that at least one of them would have left behind a progressive change in what is happening in terms of retention and acquisition of new users.  Sadly, it seems the juggernaut that once was keeps filling roles with job titles, but not leaders.  Maybe this time it will be different.

Interestingly, MySpace was doing quite well prior to its acquisition by News Corp., in my opinion. The question is, with the data and knowledge they hold concerning MySpace users and their interests and habits, why can’t a company of their size and resources figure out what to do with that information?

Who stopped using MySpace?  Everyone currently on Facebook.  The MySpace we all know could never bring us back as the site stands currently.

The question is, what should they do?

Some action is required if the site is to be considered a player a few years from now.  Why not take the music and entertainment path by storm and become the best at that, instead of just another site for music?  What are they thinking?  I feel like they’re squeezing the sands of opportunity right through their fingers and it seems like they don’t even know it.

I have friends who bought the Droid from Verizon because of the hype leading up to it.  As cool as it is, the hype wears off.  Something like this won’t work here–they need a brand new approach with a story and incredible stickiness.  The raw materials exist.  I wonder who will make something of them.  MySpace should really consider leaving the social media museum and get on the playing field in a big way–before it’s too late.

What would you change first, if you were one of the new co-Presidents?

We know that these elements work together to create online results for business.  Cyentist has always recognized that the relationship between social and search are invariably connected and should be regarded as an opportunity to provide highly relevant information in real time to individuals who are seeking the information in question.

Until Monday, there were not many obvious examples available of search and social as a unit.  Enter a big player: Google!  On their official blog, Google announced the inclusion of real time results in addition to their standard search result page.

Typically the search engine result page or SERP includes Sponsored Links or paid advertisements and organic results, organized by relevance to the search query.

Today, amongst the organic results, you will find a scrolling, real-time feed labeled, “Latest results.”

It is interesting to note the prominent position Google chose for these results.  It is clear they believe this is important, in fact, they have stated that Twitter’s real-time functionality is the future of search.

Welcome to the future.  Real time search has a long way to go, but it is encouraging to see such a rapid progression in this direction from a major player such as Google.

For those of you with questions about how this affects your company’s search engine rank and social media visibility, please get in touch.  We are following these trends very closely and have insights to offer based on the work we’ve done thus far.

It is no secret that in order to achieve high traffic volume for your web site, optimization is key! The process in itself is complex, but the idea is simple:

Major search engines like their users (searchers) to visit frequently. They know that the only reason people come back is because they find what they are looking for. It sounds pretty basic right?

The idea is: give people what they want and they will, in turn, return the next time they need something. Because of the ad revenue search engines generate, it makes sense that their information is well organized and relevant to the search phrase typed into the box. Hence, all search results are organized by relevance to the search term.

Google, of course is the king of search engines. They have this figured out and it makes sense to follow their advice for making your web site relevant. Many studies have proved the need for search engine optimization. People read search results from the top down and left-to-right. The vast majority of people read what is on the first page of results. What shows up on top gets clicked on first.  Check out this Google eye tracking study to learn more.

The goal is to show up on top. SEO is the answer. Give the search engines what they want and they will give you what you want (top ranking for your keywords).

The question is, do you know what the search engines want?

What is the cost of social media?

“What is the co$t of doing nothing?”

“Do you really want to take that risk?

We both had our own unique set of opinions on the
subject. I made an observation,
which turned into a 15-minute rant that my friend labeled, “The Genesis of
Social Media”. The premise of this
was the comparison between today’s “social media expert” with the early “search
engine optimization expert”.
Back in the day, people tried to get their web sites to rank at the top
of Google for words such as, “the”, “ketchup” and “business”. The rationale was, “If I can just get
my web site to rank at the top of Google, I will have the traffic benefit of
millions of daily searches on these keywords.” “If enough visitors click on my link, I will have sales-it’s
just a numbers game.” Of course,
today this is as close to spam as you can get. Completely irrelevant, stupid and pointless all in one! Hence why Google prioritizes relevance
above most other ranking criteria.

That’s why when I see a “social media expert” on Twitter
with 25,371 followers and after careful review, this person is clearly an
idiot, it irks me. It burns me up
inside. I know for a fact that
these “experts” do not have a clue who is following them. It is obvious that they simply ran
several Twitter scams/tools/tricks to attract a large irrelevant following, who
they, in turn blast with countless pre-scheduled tweets selling whatever they
possibly can—it’s a numbers game. Sad
thing is, it probably works, which only encourages this ludicrous behavior. Who
are you following? Do you know
them? Who’s following you? Do
you know them?

When I say, “know”, I mean, do you read their tweets? Are they relevant to you? If not, why don’t you unfollow them? Reduce the noise pollution in your Twitter
feed and I guarantee you’ll enjoy the service a lot more.

Unfortunately I’m feeling some bitterness about LinkedIn timeouts as I type this, as I’m sure they’re getting hit hard with visitors over the news.  So while I can’t yet implement this new functionality yet, I will share this video with you in the meantime.

One of my favorite parts of this clip is Facebook’s view of itself as a company.  Sandberg remarked, “Our business model and our view of ourselves is that we’re a technology company, we’re not a web site.”  I find it interesting that they see things one way, while many of their actual users consider Facebook to be just a web site.

Being about as prolific as Google, Facebook is here to stay, having reached 300 million members and reporting a new cashflow-positive status early this week.

Just about every day, a new potential client calls or emails
asking how quickly we can build followers for them on Twitter or when they can
expect sales from their social media efforts. Most are not immediately impressed when I tell them it will
generally take between six and twelve months to see results, as long as things
are done correctly from the beginning and tracked properly.

I thought it would be helpful to refer to Oliver Blanchard’s
Basics of Social Media ROI to shed
some light on what goes into making social media work. Not only do I love the format of the
presentation, but also it explains perfectly what a brand should consider
before moving forward on an investment into social media. Just like anything else you invest in,
a return should be expected within a reasonable period of time. Here’s a closer look at how ROI should
be viewed with regard to social media: