Many people whom I know and respect have engaged in self-imposed Twitter bans recently. I have found myself fuming over tweets and fussed about it to people who don’t care, for ages and ages it seems. However, I totally rely on Twitter to keep me informed about absolutely everything that’s going on in our industry. If someone writes a blog post, I find out through Twitter. If Google decides to do something insane, I hear it through Twitter. I don’t rely on RSS feeds or bookmarks or word of mouth anymore; it’s just me and Twitter. However, Twitter is quickly killing my goodwill and sanity. The self-promotional tweets about how much money you just made or how many job offers you’ve just turned down turn my stomach. The bickering and bitching suck me in until I’ve read 10 blog responses to 1 inflammatory blog post, and hey, it’s time to go pick up the kids already. I no longer have time for such a mess.

What can you do though, if Twitter is your go-to source for information? Once you’ve been clued in for long enough, being out of the loop seems terrifying. What will you miss? Will so and so be fighting, again, and you won’t get to see the mean tweets back and forth? Will you not immediately know when some blog has published a post so that you can rush to comment on it and again and tell us how great you are? Will you stumble because you want to do something yet you’re unable to due to having become reliant upon follower feedback for every step you take? Does my new avatar make me look fat? Can you believe what this mean person said to me in my blog comments?

Think back a few years to how you consumed industry news pre-Twitter. There was Sphinn, which has gone away. There were RSS feeds which are still being used. We bookmarked blogs and checked them every now and again, and we participated in forums. Sometimes we had to actually dig for information. That was kind of fun, and not nearly as overwhelming as Twitter has become for me.

We now have Marketing Land and My SEO Community (both of which I am very proud to be a part of) and we have lots and lots and lots of curation. People are doing some seriously great roundups. Tamar Weinberg’s Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2011 was truly amazing, for example, and full of articles that were concerned with topics that aren’t just relevant for 3 days. We have Google Plus which already seems to be spammier than Facebook, with much of it being a repeat of what’s on Twitter and Facebook, but hey, there seems to be a bit less whining and bitching there right now. And, of course, there are still forums! There are private Facebook groups and group Skype chats. There ARE alternatives to staying informed.

My latest favorite way to keep an eye on this is by visiting Coconut Headlines, which is a fantastic overview of all the big SEO news. Just a quick glance at the headlines is helpful enough to keep you clued in on a basic level. You get the big SEO news site headlines, Q and A from Moz, forum topics, and more. Spend 5 minutes just skimming headlines here and you’ll save god knows how much time on Twitter.

But back to My SEO Community for a minute…our first blog entry in the Mad SEO contest truly blew my mind. In it, Pete Wise describes how to use Yahoo Finance to track what’s going on in Google.  He didn’t try this because Twitter irritated the pants off him or anything, but I think it’s a great idea. In the comments, Pete says “The more creative you can get with information filtering, the less you have to spend time sifting through it yourself.” We do have information overload so I like reading about great ways to stay posted on things but still be productive (and not keep giving a crap about what Joe said to Terry that was rude and now she’s going to get all her friends to block Joe.)

In the end though, I could never give up Twitter. It’s like smelling bad milk. You HAVE to do it. I’ve unfollowed some people who annoyed me the most but during calm moments, I kind of miss being so easily irritated by them. Just in writing this post, I think I’ve spent 2 hours reading tweets. After writing this piece, after thinking about alternative news sources, and after fussing and being annoyed, I’m probably still going to run right to Twitter to see what’s going on in the industry today. It’s just nice to realize that if I decide to give it up, I can still keep up.

One of the hardest questions to answer when anyone asks about online reputation management is how to deal with negative reviews. There are as many solutions as there are reviewers, and while it may be best to ignore some, responding to others with humour, a genuine desire to be better and a bit of imagination can go a lot further.

That’s why it caught my eye when the legendary @Chiropractic (come on, how many Chiropractors do you think there are in the world who know more about internet marketing than most internet marketers) aka Mike Dorausch tweeted about a negative review he had received, and the frankly genius way that he dealt with it.

This is the tweet I saw;

And being the nosey kind of person I am I immediately went to the site and read the review

I was immediately struck by how clean Mikes profile had been up to that point, and wondered, if I had seen it as a consumer, if I would have suspected it of being too clean. It’s a lot more common for people to review negative experiences than positive, so this review profile may indeed have raised some flags with me.
Instead of just talking to myself about it though, I thought I should get a better look at this partiular situation straight from the horses mouth.  So I emailed Mike and did a short interview on his experience of being negatively reviewed.

How do you think customers perceive a totally glowing review profile, and do you think having some less than glowing reviews can have a positive impact on customer perception (making the reviews seem more real?)

I think a totally glowing review profile can be of concern, and I’ve had some say it’s makes them question if all reviews are legitimate. As far as less than glowing reviews, I believe it depends on the type of negative review, in my experience it provides something to talk about and does help things appear real.

Can you explain how you handled the review, and what followed (both with the reviewer and putting the review on your wall)

We had a 2 star review on Yelp, which included some odd observations about our business, which made me curious. I took a screenshot of the review and printed it, taping it to the front desk where every client could read it (they all did). Observing how clients reacted was quite educational. Nobody publicly agreed with the reviewer but I asked each person if it would potentially affect them choosing a business had they not ever been to it. One of our new clients said they had read the review before calling, saying they thought it seemed out of context from what else was written about us online.

What do you think is more important as a small business, handling a review in terms of it’s impact on business, or working to turn it into a positive experience for you as an individual?

Both. I think very few people have any clue how much stress small business owners go through, so if it can be made positive it’s worth something. If the review is accurate, it’s an opportunity to improve on whatever can be done to see it doesn’t happen again. If it’s not accurate, there’s an opportunity to get feedback from clients confirming that. A few even went online to share their experiences, people that have been with us 1, 2 or 3 years, not merely for a single visit.

And finally, how exactly do you manage to stay so happy that people complain about it?

I love being a chiropractor and I believe that being passionate about what one does comes through to people. The reality is that there’s always someone who’s going to be turned off by another’s happiness, and they’ll often make an effort to bring you down. If we stop moving forward they win.

From talking to Mike about this particular situation, and thinking over how I have seen complaints most successfully dealt with in the past, I think I can boil the answer to the question ‘how should I deal with a negative review’ down to one far more simple answer than I ever could before;

Respond to negative reviews with a genuine desire to see things put right and improve on what went wrong, and if you can’t then perhaps no reasponse is the best response.

With only 6% of companies ready to engage with customers on a regular basis and 82% of consumers actively wanting to engage with brands, the recent Alterian survey revealed a huge disconnect between businesses and consumers.

Social media reports may seem to be a dime a dozen at times and while there are lies, damn lies and statistics, this report casts a frightening light on marketing departments all over the UK and US.  No matter how nicely you try and spin the numbers, the Alterian report “Brands At Risk” is a damning indictment of the inability of brands to keep up with the rapid pace of change in the current marketplace.

The internet is essential to business.  Whether looking at the over 10 billion searches performed in March 2010 in the US alone, or the fact that 81% of the people surveyed for this study saw the internet as the ‘first port of call’ to compare products or services, the internet is an essential part of marketing.  Social media, with its requirement for engagement and response in an often public forum to sometimes embarrassing mistakes, can seem like an unnecessary time overhead and yet the Alterian study reveals it is as important a marketing channel as any other.

Only a tiny 5% of people surveyed trusted the advertising from an organisation, and yet 75% said it would have a positive impact on their experience as a customer if companies took the time to find out more about their needs.  While the time overhead involved in social media is greater than the time involved in traditional media, for the cost of an average TV campaign a much more effective and longer lasting social media campaign with a higher impact could be launched if this report is to be believed.

Social media is a relative newcomer on to a marketer’s radar but email marketing, a much more mature marketing channel should have a higher utilisation rate for customer management.  While 75.3% of companies taking part in a different survey said they received customer feedback by e-mail, only 23.1% said they tracked and measured the volume and nature of these messages.  These companies don’t know if they have a problem, let alone how bad the problem is.

New Media Age published survey results in January 2010 indicating that just 14% of marketers believe social media has a significant impact on their brand and 60% do not currently have a social media strategy for their business.  That is a serious disconnect between what marketers believe and that customers believe.  If the customer is always right then in this spells a disaster for many brands with a marketing department completely out of touch with the modern marketing age.

The Alterian and related reports makes for pretty depressing reading both as a marketer and as a consumer.  There is a serious disconnect between what marketing departments believe to be important and what consumers want.  This disconnect is serious enough that it is putting a number of large, well established brands at risk as smaller, more agile brands respond to this type of sentiment and move rapidly into social media for sales, marketing and customer service support.

Marketing departments need to take a look at this report and decide if they can afford to continue to ignore social media and the internet as a significant marketing channel.  While reach may be measured differently, the internet is vital for all brands, regardless of size or marketing spend.

Scared? Need to find help?  I have ONE FREE TICKET to the Monitoring Social Media conference to give away to the tenth person to tweet “I’m scared and *need* that free ticket to Monitoring Social Media from @JudithLewis STAT!” on Tuesday November 9th after 11:30am GMT (judge’s decision final. No cash alternative. It’s a free ticket, nothing more).  Missed getting a freebie? Get a 10% discount with code JL10

Along with the list of skills that you need to possess in order to be a good SEO, I’d like to add the following:

Knows how to find a good mentor.

I’ve been in the industry for enough years that I do think that, for the most part, I know what I’m doing. I know what’s going on, I can adapt to industry changes very quickly, and I feel confident that the advice that I give is valid and worthwhile. However, I’m not stupid enough to believe that I can’t be wrong, which is why I am so fond of having mentors. No matter how much experience you have, someone else has more of it, and someone else has better quality. Also, if you think this is an arse-kissing post…you’re damn right it is. I owe a lot to these people.

Mentors Who Are Fun To Socialize With

I have many mentors that are my contemporaries in some ways (although usually much better at everything) and they’re the ones that I value the most. Lisa Myers and Anita Chaperon, with whom I started this blog, are the people who first encouraged me to write about what I do. Before that, I didn’t trust myself enough to do anything publicly. Since then, I’ve realized how important it is to be able to back up anything that I say, and to admit when I’m wrong. Just putting myself out there and open to criticism has been the best learning experience of my career. I can also say with 100% certainty that every single one of the SEO Chicks is just stupidly fun to go out with, if you ever have the chance.

Legends in the Industry

Since then, all of us at SEO Chicks had Dazzlin Donna as our mentor. She was like our mama chick, keeping us all in check and, because she was writing for us and therefore giving us a vote of confidence, it made me triple check every single thing that I said. No one was willing to let her down, and even though she never scrutinized us, she did offer enough guidance to keep us on the straight and narrow, even when I was fighting about how cloaking and paid links were peachy keen.

When I was asked to write for Search Engine Land, Debra Mastaler immediately reached out to me as her fellow columnist and Southern link builder. I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to have someone so revered in the industry act as if I was on her level. Liana Evans asked me to write for Search Marketing Gurus and was the first person to ask to interview me. I was so nervous that for days I could barely think of anything else…and then we had an amazing chat and I realized why everyone likes her so much.

People Whom You Trust 100%

Now, lest you think that because this is a female-written site I only have female mentors, there’s my current favorite SEO on earth…Paul Madden. I love knowing people who are much, much smarter than most of us but they don’t act like assholes. Even though he tries his best to get me to say something mean to him, he’s an amazing man who knows just about everything about SEO. He’s the one I want to bounce all my ideas off, because he will see the holes in my logic, and he’ll point them out without being a jerk. He also has a fluffy bunny that he loves.

Prolific Writers Who Rock

I read absolutely everything that Ann Smarty writes. I am totally in awe of her constantly useful posts and the fact that she never seems to sleep. She has definitely inspired me to try and write about ideas that are actually useful. That may sound silly, but I do have a fondness for the non-useful writing.

Common Sense

Jill Whalen is probably the most logical person in this industry. Whether you agree or disagree with her, her opinions don’t ever seem to be fueled by ego or rage. I’m not saying that she doesn’t care about the industry, certainly. I just love the fact that she seems to speak her mind without getting into a tizzy about things. You don’t usually see her ranting and raving. I admire that. It’s taught me to stop taking things so damned personally. Now, if she’d just turn blackhat…

The Model of Class

Christine Churchill. I don’t think I really need to say much more than that. I’d really like a WWCD bracelet (What Would Christine Do?) I was lucky enough to be able to interview her once, and she thanked ME.

Blackhat Scum

It’s no secret that I like the black hat boys and girls. I’ve learned more about SEO from chats with them than I ever have with strictly by-the-book whitehat types. I love that they have crazy and clever ideas that are just absurd enough to work. I love their passion for constantly figuring out something new to try, and I love that they’re the ones testing tactics that I might be able to use successfully. I won’t mention any names here lest people start making hateful comments, of course. They know who they are.

Your Own Little Flock

I particularly like to think about all of these mentors and what they’ve done for me when I deal with my own staff. I love nothing more than for one of them to ask me a question that I can’t immediately answer. I love it when they think outside the box and can trip me up. I love seeing them grow and become really, really good link builders who also happen to know more about SEO than they think they do. I love that they feel comfortable asking me questions, even if they preface them with “I know this is crazy/silly/stupid but…” and I love that THEY make me think. They make me think A LOT, even my newbies. It’s tough to explain SEO to people outside the industry. It’s tough to start someone out in the field, who has no knowledge of it, but it definitely is a truly worthwhile thing to do.

As you may or may not have noticed, I have recently changed my name. Now before anyone makes the mistake that one hapless recruitment consultant did when touting for business, no I haven’t got married. I have reverted to my maiden name.

Now when I got married and originally changed my name, the only difficulty was getting IT to change my email address, and sending that information round to clients. Changing back however has been somewhat more difficult, between twitter, facebook, and the dozen other social media profiles and websites I’m named on, it’s amazing I didn’t develop a split personality over the last month. However with a bit of planning, it all went very smoothly, and I didn’t confuse anyone too much.

So here is my guide to changing your name in the social media world;

1. Don’t rush into it

Whether you have just got married, just got divorced, or changed your name by deed poll, you’re probably quite excited to be changing your name, and keen to get on and do it. But before you do stop and make a list of all of the places you need to change your name. Chances are there are some out there that you have forgotten, so make sure you go through your emails and check Google for places you’re mentioned. Also think about how long it may take to change your name on some properties. If you need someone else to make the change for you, give them ample notice and try and find out when they will make the change so you can time everything properly.

2. What links where
Now that you know where you need to change your name, double check which profiles are linking to each other. For instance my Tumblr links to my linkedin, twitter & facebook, so I needed to change those links after I changed my name on those networks.

3. Buy the domains
With my old name I could never get anything closely resembling a vanity URL (do you have any idea how many Sarah Goodwins there are in the world?) amazingly though SarahCarling.com was available, as was SarahCarling.co.uk I snapped them both up before I changed anything else, of course now that means I actually have to do something with them, but that’s for another day.

4. Your Avatar
As much as you might want to change your avatar at the same time you change your name, try to avoid it. You avatar and your name are the two ways that people identify you. Changing one can cause enough confusion, changing both will make you completely unrecognisable. ideally you will have had the same avatar for some time before you change your name too.

5. Twitter
Changing your name on twitter is easy, you just need to change your username in the settings panel. It’s best to give people a heads up that you are about to change your name before you do it, and again once you have made the change. Then be prepared for a flurry of tweets as people congratulate you on the name change. Really important point as soon as you change your name on twitter your old name becomes available. Register this straight away and put up a tweet directing people to the correct profile. This will make sure that if you have missed any links to your twitter profile, people will still be able to find you.

6. Facebook, Linkedin & everywhere else
Again you can change your name quite easily on most social networks in the settings area. It’s important to remember to change your unique URL too. Facebook is great as it allows you to include a previous name as standard so make sure to do this if you still want to be found in searches for your old name.

7. Websites
So now that you know all of your new social media URLs go and update all of the websites you link to them from. This also means changing the references on other social media sites. Check google again, and make sure that you have changed your profile on every site you rank for.

And that’s it. Of course once you have done all that you will spend the next month hearing from people who you haven’t spoken to in years, if ever, all wanting to get a bit of the gossip on why you changed your name, but they do all go away eventually.

Photo Credit:  red5standingby

And the award for “Best in Show” goes to the social gaming panel. Day 2.

I had this session double starred in my program from the get-go. Social gaming is an exploding market and contrary to popular perception, it’s not all about kids and teenage boys. This sector has serious ‘momfactor’. In a nutshell, audience, scale and enourmous commercial opportunities for brand.

Our panel of experts we’re moderated by Michael Caselli founder of Lyceum publishing and a prominent figure in the online gaming sphere. I’d seen Michael in action at the recent London Affiliate Conference and it was clear he knew his panel and his subject matter. We weren’t disappointed at Social Media World Forum, as the panel were directed in a smooth and highly relevent way, meaning we got some great stats and insights.

Panellists: Oliver Lo, Senior Marketing Manager of XPD Media/Vojo World; David Wang, CMO of SEGA Europe and Adam Caplan, VP (Virtual Currencies) Adknowledge.

As you can see, the panel is a great mix of social game providers (XPD), global gaming brand (SEGA) and monetization (Adknowledge).

MC – starts us off with reference to current monetization strategies for online games/social gaming and asks if Adam can talk us through the steps to lead generation.

Adam – with a highly engaged user base one client went straight to a virtual currency model, and saw 100x revenue increase overnight. This staggering figure is reiterated, so that there is no misunderstanding. Yes folks 100x revenue increase overnight. Adam sees a huge shift coming for many online areas that may even be considered mainstream, shifting to this model, or rather factoring a virtual currency element as a core part of a blended revenue model. Why? From their experience with the highly engaged audiences that you find in this sector, if just 5% of that audience sign-up for such content, this is a much bigger revenue win than 100% of the audience in more traditional revenue models.

MC – Is there going to be a downward pressure in the lead-gen marketplace in that case? Adam thinks no. If we look at the shift to social media, people aren’t reading newspapers anymore, they need to be rewarded for engaging with brands. Brands are wising up to this and they’re starting to see greater brand participation which is great for the sector as it’s driving buoyant CPMs.

MC – what is the main platform for eyeballs and revenue from your perspective Adam?

facebook, by far and away. In fact last year, FB paid out $100M to publishers last year, and this is the largest revenue sector for them. Clear proof of the micro-transaction model in social media.

MC – David, where do you see this market from a big brand perspective?

David stresses that these are exciting times and we’re still really early stages. We’re just starting to see organisational change, and that ROI and growth is being noticed, which is what is required to get on the agenda for larger organisations at board level.

MC – Oliver, I know that XPD moved to Beijing some time ago, and this seems to be a pretty exciting market for social gaming. How far behind is West vs East.

Oliver tells us that the West is playing catch-up in a big way. (My paraphrase). Virtual gaming is a ten-year established sector and emerged from Korea, China and Japan. Definitely not just for kids or hardcore gamers, social gaming is already mainstream, precisely because it is social. Their biggest market by far is China, and the total US market for social gaming is just one fifth that of China. A significant percentage of all time on Facebook is now spent purely on social games and the driving sector is female.

MC – Let’s talk more about monetizing social gaming and in particular FB credits. How tangible is this? A passing fad or a here to stay currency as real as the $?

Oliver – this is clearly no passing fad. They’re (FB) not closing the channels or competing here (you can buy FB credits through PayPal) but partnering. FB credits bring the brand trust with it (and of course convenience). This is a great tool for developers. More trust = more plays. (Hear hear!)

To sum up, Michael asks each panellist to give us their one-stop future tip for this sector.

Adam – social gaming will be the largest online market in 5 years time.

David – social gaming will have full mass market penetration in three years time.

Oliver – watch out for convergence between social/Facebook games and iPhone apps, which has some really exciting commercial implications.

My Summary:

Zynga (online poker, casino, farmville etc) Crowdster (#2 social gaming company globally and creators of Happy Aquarium, Happy Pets, Happy Island), XPD/Vojo (Mafia Wars, Gang Wars, Vendetta) all of these companies have social games with player volumes in the 100s of millions. These audiences are highly engaged, and they hold the household purse strings. A hugely exciting sector with numerous capabilities and monetization opportunities for brand.

Session 1. Katy Howell – MD, immediatefuture.

Katy was a last minute addition to the agenda and rocked the stage. Great speaker, no BS, no jargon and lots of real “from the front-line” experiences to share.

We’re at a time of Shifting sands. Hidden costs.One client lost their Flickr page mid-campaign. Be warned that there are some drawbacks, hidden costs, content risk (who owns the data).
Popular platforms are looking at charge models.
52% of people on soaicl networks have more than one sn.

Influence should not be a replacement for audience. There is no cost per influence.There are different types of influencers. Authoratative, popular and collaborative influencers.
Another problem – brands shout all the time. How do you compete with this? Authorities hate to be shouted at.

Realtime conversations and the 1st page as brand entry point.

Katy does echo Kevin’s marriage analogy. Social media is not a holiday romance.Are we getting viral and app fatigue. Such strategies smack of the one night stand. B2B example = xerox. They have great multi-platform presence and connect people who are really passionate about their products. Really highlt engaged community. 4 out of 5 tweets generate ocnversation (OMG!)

74% of companies feel that proving ROI is the greatest challenge for social media.

Setting out KPIs and “showing your working out” is extremely important. Look at objectives, what are you trying to acheive and what is the unit value of that and Work back against what you are measuring for returns.

We’re looking at a really cool client greaph (anonymised data) where we’re seeing correlation between Twitter conversation spikes and search spikes. Really close correlation between the two.

Biggest blocks for social media is often the senior management attitude. Katy gives an example of negative comment on a third sector facebook page. Management response was to shut the page down and call in the lawyers; which of course just moves the problem around.

Of course the Habitat intern gets a mention. (I think I shall refer to this as the Habiturn incident from now on).

M&S Direct – each section has social media evangelists in each section.

Session 2. Trevor Johnson: Head of Strategy, EMEA – Facebook

Trevor drops some amusing anecdotes about a FB engineer on holiday working on a pineapple farm. On telling the farmer he works for FB, the farmer says “oh facebook! I love that farm game”.

Also – the burgler that got caught because they couldn’t resist the opp. to check in with their FB network whilst on the job.

Point is: FB shouldn’t be considered as a complementary marketing strategy, or something new/different. FB touches so many of us.

FB is…

#1 web property

5BN pieces of content per WEEK

6BN minutes per DAY spent on FB

(and loads more hugely impressive stats that I didn’t get…)

FB have a trilogy of customers, all equally important – users, developers and brands.

Brands can now communicate with customers and potential customers on a one to one level, which is hugely significant.

Summary points

1. Make it social – leverage the platform of the social graph

2. Keep it simple

3. Don’t think campaign-specific – develop a conversational calendar

4. Think differently, harness new opportunities and experiment.

Session 3 – PANEL

• Allison Wightman, Head of Marketing, Virgin Atlantic Airways
• Sienne Veit, Social/Mobile Commerce Director, M&S Direct
• Igor Beuker, Founder, SocialMedia8
• Freddie Laker, Director of Digital Strategy, SapientNitro

Session is moderated by Guy Pendleton.

I missed the opening premise from Guy, however it must have been something about where we’re heading in terms of opportinities and difficulties, as Freddie is talking about where social meets mobile and how that’s for him, the most exciting area of development, particularly for emerging markets.

Sienne – linking up all your social touchpoints can be a difficult task.

Igor – Disjointed paths can pose a problem for brand participants. As an example we know that peer approval is an immensely powerful driver of purchase decision. If we have 1500 interactions about a new brand of trainers on Facebook – that is great from a positive mention p.o.v. however where is the shop? An easily tracked conversion journey is a challenge for social media.

Other questions are about difficulties, what happens when the voice changes, how do we justify spending time on listeners/talkers that aren’t buyers?

Sienne – with any friendship we don’t know at what point a relationship may become useful and listeners can be connectors, not just direct buyers.

Question from the audience about the “thank-you” economy (this idea that more and more of the signal/noise mix is just meaningless thank-you noise.

Igor – reminds us that conversation must be two-way and by that, not just about speaking, responding but listening. Therefore the thank-you matters as it is a way to infer some level of recognition for being heard.

Freddie – Yes there is some criticism that the thank-you is just noise; therefore offer some value-add. A link with a thank-you, a voucher etc. Don’t just add to the noise.

The 2nd annual Social Media World Forum takes place next week at London’s Olympia; and the schedule looks extremely juicy. The two-day forum starts Monday 15th and attracts some of the true thought- leaders in social media, who should be sharing their knowledge on some of the meatier issues faced by social media practictioners and participants today including; monetization, future technologies, engaging with brands and managing social/business metworks. (Like there’s a difference???)

I’m in the midst of a hardcore liveblog training- regime, which involves a timed laptop bootup, which is more impressive than a rifle assembly drill. Plus a steamed fish and wheatgrass diet (concentration levels) and bionic occular implants (for the slides).

Actually, that is a bit of an exaggeration. I am keeping my nails rather short, and I’m laying off the pork scratchings, but that’s only going to get me so far.

I really need your help!

Let’s have some social media dotcommunism here. This is the jam-packed big-name schedule. I hope to liveblog two or three of the biggest sessions and the rest will be featured in roundup posts, so let me know if there is anything you really want to know about!

Day 1.

9:20 a.m. OPENING KEYNOTE

Kevin Eyres of Linkedin Europe

9:50 a.m. DEVELOPMENTS OF THE WORLDWIDE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKET IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

It doesn’t make it clear who is speaking here – or perhaps it is still Kevin Eyres?!:

10:10 FACEBOOK PLATFORM AND FUTURE STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS AT FACEBOOK

Trever Johnson: Head of Strategy and Planning, EMEA, facebook.

10:30 PANEL: THE CHANGING ROLE OF SOCIAL METWORKING AS AN INFLUENCER OF WORLDWIDE MEDIA

• Allison Wightman, Head of Marketing, Virgin Atlantic Airways
• Sienne Veit, Social/Mobile Commerce Director, M&S Direct
• Igor Beuker, Founder, SocialMedia8
• Freddie Laker, Director of Digital Strategy, SapientNitro

11:00 (break)

11:40 WHAT ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS OF MONITORING & MEASURING A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN?

Muhammed karim, Senior Brand Manager, Mars

12:00 BUILDING COMMUNITY BASED ENGAGEMENT IN YOUR BRAND

David Henry, VP Digital marketing (Europe), Monster.

12:20 PANEL: INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA INTO TRADITIONAL MARKETING STRATEGY

• Mark Watts-Jones, Head of Development & Innovation, Orange UK
• Dr. Torsten Wingenter, Head of Social Media, Lufthansa
• Lisa Mane, Head of Social Media, COI
• Tom Nixon, Co-Founder & Director, NixonMcinnes

13:00 (Lunch)

14:00 DEFINING THE BRAND EXPERIENCE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Freddie Laker, Director of Digital Strategy, SapientNitro

14:10 HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO POWER GLOBAL INITIATIVES

Lucas Herscovici, Global Head of Digital & Innovation, Stella Artois & Becks

14:30 SOCIAL MEDIA IS OUT OF CONTROL

Alex Miller, Head of Jam (i-Level Social Media Unit) and Olivia Newton, Head of Emerging Platforms, i-Level.

14:50 PANEL: PRACTICAL TIPS TO LAUNCHING BUILDING & MANAGING YOUR BRAND WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

• Martine Edgell, CRM Specialist, Mercedes Benz
• John Hughes, Insights & Research Manager, Yomoego
• Muhammed Karim, Senior Brand Manager, Mars
• Paul Cowan, VP New Ventures, Syncapse

15:30 (Break)

16:00 PANEL: MONETIZING SOCIAL GAMES & VIRTUAL CURRENCY

• Michael Caselli, Editor, Online casino News (Chair)
• Adam Caplan, VP, Virtual Currency (Super Rewards), Adknowledge
• Oliver Lo, Senior Marketing Manager, Mojo World
• David Wang, CMO, Sega

16:20 SOCIAL VIDEO. CONVERSATIONS ON FACEBOOK GET REAL, LIVE, INTERACTIVE AND IN THE CLOUD!

Arnold Waldstein, CMO, Vpype

16:40 PANEL: USING APPLICATIONS TO REACH NEW AUDIENCES – THE LATEST IN APP DEVELOPMENT

• Neil Sato, CTO, mixi
• Fred McIntyre, VP Product, CBS Interactive
• Shoieb Yunus, CEO, Vpype

17:15 (Day 1 Wrap)

Day Two. (I can only make the first section today)

9:50 HOW CAN ADVERTISERS INTEGRATE SOCIAL NETWORKS INTO THEIR ADVERTISING STRATEGY?

Michael Smith, Deputy Director of Interactive Services, COI

10:10 MONETIZING SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIAL NETWORKS
Chris Tradgett FIDM, Partnerships, buy.at

1030 PANEL: BENCHMANRKING ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

• Ricky Chopra, Digital Marketing Manager, Speedo International Limited

• Jason Baker, Head of CRM and Digital Media, Ikea UK

• Alex Miller, Head of Jam, i-level’s Social Media Unit
• Marco Corsaro, Managing Director, 77 Agency
• Adam Fields, Head of Social Media, Media Contacts

I’ve got to call it a day there; but do check out the full schedule and I’ll try to find anyone else that might be liveblogging!

I’ve been talking to a lot of companies lately, who are starting to think that maybe they need a social media campaign. Their mum’s brothers dog suggested it, because, well, you’re not anyone these days unless you’re on twitter, right?

Upon further investigation, it seems that they have had a few social media agencies come and pitch to them, most of whom have provided no history on their business, or even the individuals history in social media, but these “social media agencies” have confidently advised these organisations that they “need a social media campaign”. In some cases I have seen the client be set up with a nicely skinned twitter account, a Facebook page with their logo, log in details and a wing and a prayer.

So I want to get a few things straight about social media,

This is not a bandwagon everyone should jump on

Social media is not suitable for everyone. If you truly think you can “do” social media, this fact should be jumping about slapping you in  the face when you meet one of these clients.  It might be that they are never going to be able to make the resource work for them, they may  have huge reputation  management issues, that are going to swamp them as soon as you open the flood gates, or they may simply not get it yet. This doesn’t mean that you as a “social media marketer” can’t work with them though. Each of these problems can be worked on, you start with educating them perhaps, or working on a strategy to help them get the processes and procedures they’re going to need in place. Just because someone isn’t in the right place to launch a social media strategy, doesn’t mean that you can’t work with them, just that you need to lay the ground work first.

A Twitter account is not a social media strategy

Nor is a Facebook account for that matter. These things are social media tools, nothing more. They are not the strategy any more than having a phone is a telesales strategy. The minute you set up a twitter account without a plan of what that account is going to say, what it’s aims are and who it is supposed to be talking to, you’ve failed. You need to know (or rather your client needs to know) what the process is for dealing with negative comments, you need to ensure that your tweeting is fully compliant with regulators. You become the companies public spokes person, So  you better be sure that you’re saying the right things before you start.

There are more than 3 social networks

So you’re creating a social media strategy. Great. Is your audience mass market? No? are you sure Facebook is going to be the most effective audience? Is it 20-30 something, affluent and left wing? No? Perhaps twitter isn’t going to be the medium for you. Is your audience very young? No? then stay the hell away from Bebo. There are hundreds, no make that thousands, of social networks out there. You’ve probably been using them for over a decade in some instances, but in the rush to get on twitter they are all but forgotten. Blogs, forums, yahoo groups, they’re all still hugely popular. What’s more (apart from the spam) they’re not marketed to. But they’re full of people who are interested in what you have to say.

There is one example of marketing to a targeted forum audience that always springs to mind for me, and it’s one you’ve probably all seen. Google has representatives in Webmasterworld they provide a service to the users of the forum, they are a port of call for webmasters all over the world. Is this marketing? Damn straight it is, and it’s one of the best examples I’ve ever seen.

There are so many ways to make a social media campaign work for an individual clients needs, targeting is the key. Lyndoman recently blogged that it’s not about the conversation, and I agree, for me it’s about the strategy.

Photo Credit: Stephen Poff

The Donna meme! Well, I call it that because it sounds all respectable…I was tagged by the lovely Dazzlin’ Donna and, well, I do what she says because I’m a bit scared of her.

1.I spent my honeymoon on an archaeological dig in Crete. Since I was small (and shared a love of Nick Cave with the head physical anthropologist on the dig, oh and I also had a degree in anthropology), I got to spend a few days crammed down inside of an utterly claustrophobia-inducing space, gently brushing dirt away from bones. During this same trip, I am embarrassed to say that I might have been responsible for washing actual paint off loads of potsherds, in my zeal for the task and my lack of training for how to handle artifacts (I was more into the bones.)

2.I am not at all a fan of boats. I cannot stand them, actually, and this loathing happened during the ferry crossing from Crete (see above) back to the mainland of Greece at the end of the summer. I’m not sure what triggered it, but the idea of being on a boat fills me with terror. I’m convinced that the next boat I board will sink, and sink in shark-infested waters where I will have to choose between drowning intentionally and being torn apart by loads of mean mean sharks. I don’t even like the paddleboats at the park, but in the interest of being a good mother I will get in them, but I don’t have to like it!

3.I have a serious love of sitcoms from the 1980s, with a particular fondness for anything that Marla Gibbs has been in. “227”…my god what a show. I have also seen every “Golden Girls” and “Designing Women” show ever made, at least 10 times. Most recently, this truly tragic love of the 30 minute show has caused me to develop an unhealthy obsession with Judi Dench in “As Time Goes By.” I am a massive literary and film snob though, perhaps to counteract the love of the lowly sitcom.

4.I am eligible for membership in both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Confederacy, although I’ve joined neither because apparently you have to do some socializing with the old guard, and I can’t be arsed, nor do I want to have stiff hair and have to wear pearls everywhere. It’s kind of awesome because the lineage for it is on my father’s side, so my mother is ineligible. Big ha there Pat! I am also 1/32 Cherokee, which explains my regal bearing and love of the drink.

5.My son Mason was born 2 months premature, with a few (yes, a few) large holes in his heart. He was eventually diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot (blue baby syndrome) and was in intensive care for 6 weeks after his birth. He was a bit over 3 lbs when he was born and needed to get to 10 lbs before he could have open heart surgery. During this waiting period, we couldn’t let him cry because he could have died from the exhaustion. He had open heart surgery when he was 10 months old (he’d already have inguinal hernia surgery a few days after being released from intensive care!) and is currently an insanely active and quite hyper 6 year old with an IQ in the 98th percentile. After the way he came into the world, I have every freaking right to brag about him. He’s also (hopefully) beaten juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in both knees and one ankle. Luckily my daughter Dylan has never had any issues other than a need for ear tubes. I have always had a low tolerance for crap, but after dealing with all of this and seeing how tough Mason is, I truly have no time for people who whine about completely stupid things (like a post being removed from Sphinn, poor things.) It’s given me a totally different perspective on what actually matters.

6.I am very, very clumsy. I open cabinet doors into my face, break at least one glass a week, am constantly covered in bruises and cuts, and can trip over the pattern in the linoleum. I wear a shirt for the first time and within minutes it’s torn/stained/on fire. I spill liquids to such an extent that, when everyone’s toasting, they know that I’ll set my glass down and they can ting it. I’m the person who picks up a pitcher to pour orange juice and the lid falls off, the orange juice ruins the lovely white tablecloth, and I’m asked to just please ask for assistance next time. In London every single time I boarded a bus, I ended up standing in the section clearly reserved for people with strollers or wheelchairs, then when someone with a stroller or in a wheelchair came on board, I fell over them trying to get out of the way. I once tried to grapevine (aerobics, you know) and almost dislocated both hips and knocked over a table. Oddly, I am the least clumsy when I’m drunk and in very high heels.

7.There are many things that I simply refuse to do for no valid reason whatsoever. This list includes but it is no way limited to pumping my own gas, going to the post office/bank, ordering anything that has the word “Biggie” in it, changing lanes to accommodate another driver, watching anything with Robert Urich in it, wearing white pants, supporting a Republican candidate even if I like him/her better than the Democratic choice, answering the phone, unloading the dishwasher, and referring to anyone as an African-American.

Now the dreaded tagging…and I’m doing 4 because I did 3 on the Jane meme so stop yelling.

SEOIdiot
Esrun
Stephanie Weingart
Dean Chew