According to a New York Times article it seems that Neilsen figured out that we spend 22% of our internet time on social networking activities. I think that number is going to grow substantially.
In just one year the amount of social time has almost doubled from 3.5 hours to almost six hours a month.
The momentum of social sites is unparalleled. How can businesses take advantage of this growth?
How can your business position itself to be part of the future of the web (which has everything to do with “social” sites)? Here are four fundamentals to move your business forward so they can be a part of the future of the web.
1. Stake your name or someone else will
BP learned this when they didn’t take the name of BPGlobalPR on Twitter. This is what you find now when you search for “BP Twitter” in Google. The top four links are about the fake BP Twitter account.
Stake your claim to domains too. Get the .com, .net, .org and any other identity that could help or hurt your brand. Get the YouTube channel name, the Facebook fan page name…you get the idea. To see if they’re available use this tool
2. Put your logo on your profile
Even if your page has no updates, be sure to place your logo somewhere on your profiles. Don’t look cheap and lazy by having the default Twitter bird when I go to your profile.
3. Set up listening stations
What is the social web saying about you? You’ll never know unless you listen. Google Alerts is a great way to monitor your brand’s use on the web by entering terms of interest and letting Google send you activity they find on the web. You can also set up Twitter searches using whatever Twitter tool you use. I use Hootsuite personally. If you want to keep it simple just type in your search term at http://search.twitter.com/.
4. Be dynamic
There’s a reason that the number one unpaid result of BP Twitter is not their official Twitter account.
There is truly dynamic content coming from the man who runs the fake BP Twitter account. When I say the word dynamic I mean that the content is constantly being updated. After you claim your place on the web you have to start creating dynamic content or anyone else who talks about your brand with more regularity than you do could come up higher in search terms. Google (and other search engines) respect new content and links to that content more than the actual name of the web site it originates from.
Don’t assume that just because I type in your brand’s name that I’m going to go to your brand’s web site. Be relevant. Say something important about your products and your clients regularly or what OTHER people say will win over what you have to say.
