Video continues to be a powerful medium to work with online. YouTube recently eclipsed Yahoo as the 2^nd largest search engine. Participating in video for the purpose of promoting your business is becoming more important each day.  Whether it’s increasing brand exposure or simply getting across a “how-to” to your customer base, video communicates your message in a unique and lasting way.

In a post about video optimization and analytics last year, we discussed ways to gain more exposure for your videos and find ways to measure the successes of your efforts with YouTube Insight. Here we’d like to dig a big deeper to show that within YouTube Insight you can find where your videos are embedded on other websites, and it’s these websites that present further opportunity for marketing your business and content.

Knowing where your videos have been embedded provides the opportunity to find new, targeted communities and then possibly join or work in those communities where people have adopted your content. This is basically following the lead of your fans, a true “go with the flow” organic approach.

How do we do find where our videos are embedded?

In YouTube Insight go to > Discovery > Source of Views > Embedded Player

….and then you’ll be able to view the sites where your video has been embedded.

Oftentimes there will be video sharing websites that have picked up your content, but from time to time you find niche sites and communities that have picked up your video content as well.  Click on those links and you’ll find pretty targeted sites/communities where your content may resonate well in the future and where it may be worth joining to discuss content and share yours in the future.

It’s important to note that sometimes YouTube Insight shows websites where your video may not necessarily be embedded, but where your video received exposure through the “related videos” feature of another embedded video.  Additionally, Insight does not show the actual URL where your video may have been embedded; it only shows the domain name.  Nonetheless, the Embedded Player feature in Insight will provide you with leads on targeted websites.

With the above example of a video about a BMW car, we were able to discover the following new websites:

• E90post.com,
• bmwfans.net,
• bmwtuner.net,
• e30club.ru

These are very targeted websites covering the area of BMW cars and for BMW enthusiasts to gather.  Prior to working with YouTube Insight, we did not know of these four targeted websites nor did we know that the users would potentially be  interested in this video content.  Now there is an opportunity to “follow the lead” of your content.

There is a lot you can do once you know the websites and communities where your content is shared and adopted. Here are a couple of proactive examples:

• Find the page where your video is embedded and promote and tag that page in other social sites or link to it from a blog to increase exposure. Try using [site: domainname.com keyword] searches, which can help you locate your video since Insight only shows the domain and not the actual page where your video is.
• Join the new found website and be transparent about who you are (representing your brand) and become a contributing, helpful and friendly community member so that more users within that community will begin to look back at your site or YouTube account for more video embed opportunities.
• Reach out to the user who posted the original embed and offer them an opportunity at exclusive video looks in the future, where they may access your content before others to share first.  By befriending and empowering this user, you can begin to build real advocates for your video content.

There are many great software packages and websites to track your social and video campaigns and where your video has been picked up and embedded.  However, if you are running a small, targeted video campaign and you’re focused solely on YouTube as a channel, sometimes finding successes and other “rooms” to build awareness and impressions is as easy as digging through your YouTube Insights panel and checking out the “Embedded Player” feature in Discovery.  It can lead to a lot of great relationships and more exposure for your content.

Here’s a brief video recap of what’s discussed above

340213 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/08/19/youtube-insight-embedded-player-discovery/YouTube+Insight%3A+Embedded+Player+Discovery2009-08-19+18%3A42%3A49Jake+Matthews

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Infographics are everywhere online and off: signs, subway maps, charts and even up there in space.  From the cloud tags in the right hand column of Web sites to the sleek graphics showing the spread of swine flu virus across the country, infographics have become a pretty standard visual aid.

These are all examples of information visualization. Simply put, displaying complex data in a clear way.

I looked into the dirt on Digg and wanted to see what percentage of infographics were going popular in a 30 day period versus non-infographics. The amount of ‘dirt’ is focused on the total content in each category. The smaller ‘blue color‘ is the amount of infographics in that category. Click the thumbnail below to view full size.

__________________________________________________________________

27292 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/22/diggin-the-dirt-about-infographics/Diggin%27+the+Dirt+About+Infographics+2009-07-22+18%3A13%3A52Patrick+Winfield

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Since creating and launching our 10e20 account on Twitter, I’ve noticed that a lot of businesses and marketers we follow kick back an automated direct message thanking us for following them. I have mixed feelings about auto DMs — on the one hand, it’s nice to receive some appreciation/acknowledgment from someone you’re following. On the other hand, the direct message can be so impersonal and self-serving that it ends up rubbing you the wrong way.

I thought I’d share what I feel are good and bad examples of auto direct messages so that maybe you can glean some insight as to what constitutes a legit-looking DM and what is going to be regarded as obvious spam or crap. (Note that I’m operating under the assumption that all of the following examples were sent automatically based on the lack of personalization and my mystical half Asian gut instinct.)

The Good

Bryan Eisenberg’s DM is an example of a pleasant, straightforward DM. He thanks us for following him and encourages us to ping him on Twitter if we need anything. It’s short, simple and sweet.

LA Timestot thanked us for following them and concluded with a personal signature. It’s friendly, humanistic and not egregiously self-promotional.

RoboSteel does some self-promotion, but I think they do it in a very appropriate manner. First they thank us for following them, then they provide a very to-the-point bio and a link for more information. It’s honest without being hokey or feeling like a mall kiosk rep badgering you to check out their products.

Ploked does some self-promoting and drops a link for you to click on, but they provide a compelling call to action that urges you to click. “Why would someone eat a frog for breakfast? What does that mean? I must find out…” Their DM is a good example of being clever with the message to generate interest and drive traffic to one’s site.

In KISS Metrics’ DM, they make it obvious what they specialize in (metrics and analytics) without being too pushy or spammy.

This is a good idea — both of the above DMs cross promote other social networking accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). It’s a smart way to grow your network and bring visibility to your other profiles.

The Bad

This DM rubs me the wrong way. I’m welcome to make tons of money through affiliates? It’s like this person is giving me a personal invitation to do affiliate marketing and that without it I wouldn’t be able to do it. I understand the intent but I think the messaging was poorly worded.

Spam. ‘Nuff said.

Well, this is awfully vague. I’m not sure what they’re looking for here–are they a self-help site or do they center on something more specific, like Internet marketing? If they’re looking to build Internet marketing followers and I respond that my biggest problem is that I wish I were two inches taller, that’s not really helping anyone.

Where can you find out more about me? Hmm, I dunno, why don’t you try this:

I know this is an automated direct message, but you at least need to fake it and pretend like you’ve looked at my profile. Don’t include anything in your messaging to indicate otherwise.

This one is just confusing. First he offers to help me reach my goals, and then he asks me to help him. Which is it, buddy?

I’m pretty SURE that he didn’t really MAKE the video just for ME, but it could JUST be me being PARANOID.

It’s Twitter, people. Remember to keep it to 140 characters.

The Ugly

I feel like I just received a direct message from the love child of MySpace and YouTube. My inner grammar Nazi is twitching with anger.

Takeaways

Now that I’ve shared some examples, both good and bad, I thought I’d share some do’s and don’ts when constructing your auto direct messages on Twitter.

Do:

• Be gracious. A simple “Thanks for following!” goes a long way.
• Seem human. There are so many B.S. spammers out there that just making your DM seem like it’s coming from an actual person will give you some clout.
• Keep your message within 140 characters. Make a good impression with the space that you have–nobody wants to read a rambly message with no clear intent.
• Be clever. Think of a way to make your message stand out among the other ones your follower is likely getting. Pique their interest, offer something that’s really unique, share a joke — just think about how you can present yourself as being different from the millions of other Twitter accounts clogging up the web.
• Proofread your message. Nothing screams “unprofessional” like typos, improper capitalization and grammar errors.

Don’t:

• Be afraid to drop a link or two…just make sure that you’re promoting your site/services/products/etc. in a sensible and reasonable manner. Which brings me to the next don’t…
• Spam. Unless you’re a spammer by trade, stuffing your direct message with tons of deals and offers makes you seem like a dishonest huckster.
• Forget about your other social networking profiles. Consider doing some cross-promotion (if it makes sense to) in order to expand your network. You might not want to do this if you’re looking to sell products or promote a business, but if you’re building up a personal profile then why not?
• Keep the same message indefinitely. Try testing out different DMs to see which seem to drive the most traffic or receive the most responses. Also consider tweaking your DM to pertain to different events (e.g., “Happy holidays and thanks for the follow!”).

Like I said, I’m not 100% sold on the auto direct message, but I do think that there is a right and wrong way to craft an auto DM. If you have lots of followers and you’re trying to make them feel that it’s worthwhile to follow you, setting up an auto message might be a good idea–just make sure you’ve crafted the right message for them. If you half-ass your messaging, you might as well not send one out in the first place.

Want to auto-DM your way into our hearts? Follow 10e20 on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed!

292228 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/21/the-art-of-the-auto-direct-message/The+Art+of+the+Auto+Direct+Message2009-07-21+19%3A41%3A16Rebecca+Kelley

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Webmasters, marketers and social media users submitting content to StumbleUpon have about 2-4 seconds to catch someone’s attention.  Given that, it’s essential to have an attractive, fun and usable web page or you’ll fail to bring in thousands of potential visitors.

For those of you just coming up to speed with this 8 million member strong social bookmarking website, StumbleUpon is essentially “channel surfing” for the web.  When someone’s channel surfing, your site should stand out with elegant simplicity or some sort of wow factor, or else it’ll get passed up in the blink of an eye.

Most Stumblers who influence the direction and popularity of content do so by using the “Stumble!” button on the browser toolbar, discovering a web page and voting thumbs-up, “I like it!” They also spread your content to other users by using the “Send to” button to broadcast this to their connections.  So to be successful, it’s critical to catch a Stumbler’s eye during the surfing process.

Each press of the “Stumble!” button provides a very small window to make a positive impression, and it’s not the Crazy Eddie impression we’re talking about here.  If you don’t catch someone’s attention or if you piss them off with crappy web pages or sales pitches, your content will not meet much success in this important social network.

So, you ask, “What is failure — how do you define that?”

StumbleUpon Fail (n):  low adoption, .2 seconds spent on page and very few people “liked this page.” In the “reviews” section of StumbleUpon, most users hate on your content. Other instances: NO TRAFFIC in your sweet little analytics panel and WTF happened?

Wanna fail? Try these strategies:

1. Make Your Page Too Complex
Ever hear hear the life tip “Keep it Simple Stupid” or (KISS)? Well, the same applies for StumbleUpon.  If your page is cluttered, too complex to view or too complex to interact with (e.g., poor user experience or flash elements that take forever to load), your content will almost certainly fail.  Here are a couple of examples:

Too Complex Exhibit A: I’m going to clutter my page with banners, images, mixed color palettes, no theme and flashing pop ups.

Too Complex Exhibit B: Too much competing for my attention; not enough above the fold. (What is this page about?!)

2. Turn Your Page into a Billboard

If most of what a user sees above the fold on the web page is advertising, it’s likely that you’ll get passed over.

Billboard Exhibit A:  (Google AdSense out the wazoo!)

Billboard Exhibit B: (90% ads in view! – where’s the content?!)

3. Create a Poor Page Layout with Terrible Usability

If your page doesn’t really say anything either through words or imagery, or it’s cluttered with pop-up windows and animations, it’s likely that Stumblers will breeze on through without really considering the value of your page.

Poor Layout Exhibit A: (Ummm???? Hello, white space??)

Poor Usability Exhibit B: (Hey Broken Blog, No, I don’t want ‘The Inside Poop’)

4. Show a Directory, Site Map or a Link-Filled Page

If your page is just a map of navigational links, Stumblers will probably not thumb it up or pass it along to anyone.
Directory Filled Page Exhibit A: (BORING!)

The above sites are not necessarily bad websites all around, but the specific pages that were found in StumbleUpon were simply not optimized for total success.

So now that we’ve trashed some fellow Stumblers who didn’t do such a great job, we should find some examples of things that do well in StumbleUpon. What works well?

1. Simplicity of Message

(Ahh, I get it!)

2. Larger Fonts & Text at the Top

3. Images, Images, Images

(THIS WORKS; I’m thumbing up and passing this along to my friends)

StumbleUpon is about sharing fun, interesting and attractive content and presenting it in a user-friendly manner.  Success in this network is about simplicity of message and usability.  If you cannot find ways to get your message across while keeping these elements in mind, then don’t bother; you’re apt to offend and piss more people off than you are to get any web mastering or even friendly social sharing benefits back.  Happy Stumbling!

Spy on 10e20 through RSS or see if you can hang with the BIG boys and girls on Twitter.

283116 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/20/4-surefire-stumbleupon-fails-and-3-tips-for-success/4+Surefire+StumbleUpon+Fails+%28and+3+tips+for+success%292009-07-20+18%3A43%3A02Jake+Matthews

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While there are a great deal of Twitter applications that help you track keywords, monitor conversations and help you tweet, some applications actually allow you to carry out specific non-Twitter related tasks.  Whether it be everyday activities or fun and games, these apps help you to track, process and perform your daily deeds!

TweetWager

This app lets you be a degenerate gambler – publicly.  This application tracks all of your bets and logs them into the system, giving you a scorecard for your wins and losses.  This app allows you to bet directly via Twitter or by logging into their website.

You can log bets using over/under data, home/visitor data or favorite/dog data, and also showcase your betting skills to the world.  TweetWager can also allow you to keep a win/loss record and show your total money won or lost all-time.  The top users are also highlighted along with those that have the most current win streak, so the Biff Tannens of the world can showcase their gambling prowess.

StockTwits

Want to be the next Jim Cramer?  Well roll those sleeves up, foam at the mouth and start tweeting away.  StockTwits lets you keep track of your stock calls publicly on Twitter and you view some of the top Wall Street minds.

StockTwits allows users to toss a $ in front of their stock picks and your selections will be logged to your account.  You can also monitor the hottest stocks and what people are saying in real time from the site, search by stock, or view a futures or forex channels.

Foamee

This is a simple application that allows Twitterers to track when you owe another user a drink.  Whether it be a beer or a coffee, Foamee allows users to track it publicly and assign a reason for the beverage.  Users can also redeem the drink once they have actually received it, but to nobody’s surprise only 268 of 5306 drinks have ever been redeemed.

AddNetFlix

This application allows for the lazy movie watcher to become even lazier by leveraging both the Twitter API and the Netflix API.  Instead of actually going to Netflix.com to choose a movie to watch, AddNetflix allows you to toss a movie into the queue – right from a tweet.

Not only can you add movies, but with the proper hashtag syntax, one can reorganize their queue, move current selections to the top, or even undo an errant tweet.

Twitpay

This application teams Twitter up with PayPal and allows you to update your status to pay someone.  The concept is simple, and the only steps to get up and running is to claim your Twitter account and then link your PayPal account to it.

You can send your payment with a simple tweet with the right syntax, or you can simply use the web interface to deliver your message via Twitter.  Another nice feature is that you can append a reason along with the payment so both you and your partner know why the money was tweeted.  Twitpay does make money though via what they call the “Superman 3” business model – simply tacking a $0.05 surcharge for any transaction.

Twackle

This is “the sportsbar of Twittoshpere”  and logs all of the conversations around specific sports, leagues and teams.  So let’s say that your favorite team is the Detroit Lions *cough*, well there is a page for that.  Fan of MMA?  There is also a page for that.  Other than just tweets, Twackle sorts through the links on Twitter and finds the most talked about stories of the day.  If you want to start a chain of commentary on a specific tweet, Twackle allows for that too using their self proclaimed “barstool.”

This app really functions as an all encompassing real-time sports page and can offer a ton of information in an easy to use format.  Each section can also be implemented as a standalone widget so you can bring the Twackle technology to your site.

TweetCube

This service allows folks to transfer files such as pictures, music, videos and more that will be tweeted right out to their timeline.  Before their file is tweeted out, the user can customize a message and the download link will show in their updates.  The maximum filesize is 10MB and the files are automatically deleted after 30 days.

Overall, these applications really show the creativity that can harness the Twitter API and help you become more productive, or just help you have fun. Instead of just helping users tweet, these applications really serve a specific purpose, and it’ll be exciting to see what will be coming next.

Need more social media news? Follow us on Twitter or nab our RSS!

279126 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/16/8-creative-twitter-apps-that-help-you-do-more-than-just-tweet/7+Creative+Twitter+Apps+That+Help+You+Do+More+Than+Just+Tweet2009-07-16+18%3A08%3A42Greg+Finn

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Last week ComputerWorld.com published an article stating that Facebook is growing in popularity with older people (aka fogeys, old farts, blue-haired ladies, curmudgeons, geezers, and Larry King). From the article:

“…the number of 55-and-older Facebook users showed staggering growth — 513.7% — in the last six months…”

The article also mentioned that “people aged 45 to 54 are 36% more likely than their counterparts in any other age group to use the Twitter microblogging site” (as an aside, I love how the article refers to Twitter as “the Twitter microblogging site”–it’s kind of like calling Google “the Google search engine,” or, worse yet, calling Yahoo “the Google search engine”). Basically, older folks are jumping aboard the social networking bandwagon, creating profiles and figuring out this befuddling Internet thing one flashing gif at a time.

Naturally, us “hip young folks” are freaking the frak out and reacting accordingly:

The iStrategyLabs report notes that students are apparently fleeing Facebook. The report shows that Facebook has 16.5% fewer high school students and 21.7% fewer college students than it did six months ago.

“There have been rumors that these younger user groups are being alienated by their parents joining the service, and this data seems to prove it,” said iStrategyLabs CEO Peter Corbett in a blog post.

It’s essentially the Internet equivalent to taking your ball and going home. I’ve compiled a handy graph to further illustrate the point:

That McKinley assassination was a real humdinger

That’ll teach them! Way to jump ship from a popular, widely adopted and exceptionally convenient social networking site because it’s uncool that your parents have accounts! You’re so hip that the entire realm of the Internet isn’t big enough for your coolness and your parents’ embarrassing stories about all the times you peed yourself when you were a toddler.

I know it’s a pretty kneejerk reaction to groan and whine about how crappy it is that your Aunt Gertie friended you on Facebook and is following you on Twitter, but let me break a few things down for you:

1. You’re not as cool as you think you are. Let’s face it, your profile is probably as run of the mill as everyone else’s, so it’s not like you’re going to give Uncle Morty a heart attack when he sees that you’ve thrown a sheep at someone or become a level 15 mafia vampire werewolf.
2. Your parents aren’t the only ones who can see your “scandalous” content. People seem to think that only their 472 closest friends can see that your interests are “chuggin beers and gettin laid” and your photos of yourself passed out drunk on a frat house floor sans one eyebrow. News flash: there’s this whole thing called the Internet, and when you put something on it, chances are someone will find it–such as potential employers, clients, and prospective significant others. If you’re worried about your family seeing something that they might disapprove of or that a picture may not exactly portray you in a positive manner, don’t put it online.
3. Not all old people are techtarded dinosaurs. Sure, maybe your grandparents are happily rocking a shared AOL email account and insist on calling you to provide directions to a place you can easily map online or with your phone, but not everyone that you consider to be geriatric is an Internet noob. For example, did you know that Mark Cuban, web billionaire, popular blogger and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is going to turn *gasp* 51 years old later this month? Stephen Colbert is 45, and he seems to have a handle on this whole web thing too. I know a lot of great social media marketers who are twice my age, and they’re smarter and have a better knowledge of social networking than some punk ass 19 year old who creates Jonas Brothers fan pages.
4. You’re not getting any younger. Ah, the most important lesson of all. You may be on top of the world today with your knowledge of Andy Samberg viral videos and your skinny leg jeans, but just remember that in a few short years you’ll wonder why all the youngsters are so obsessed with [insert High School Musical equivalent here] and why anyone in their right mind would shell out money to see [insert horrible Twilight equivalent here]. And a few years after that, you’ll be the ones the kids are crinkling their noses at and whining to stay out of their websites. How quickly the tides change.

There you have it, you young whippersnappers. Give the geezers a break and let them have a little fun, okay? If you’re still all up in arms about having your parents “spy” on your Facebook profile, you can organize your contacts into certain groups and give some people limited access to your profile (see this post and this one for more information).

Other than that, grow a pair of balls and don’t be afraid to let your profiles reflect who you are and allow your family to see them. Let’s face it, unless you’re planning on building a Logan’s Run-type networking site that automatically deletes people’s accounts and bans them once they turn 30, you’re stuck with older people infringing upon your turf so you might as well embrace them and make the best of it. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to score some Werther’s Originals and a couple of free early bird dinners out of the ordeal.

Do you smell what the Bec is cooking? Then do her a favor and follow 10e20 on Twitter. While you’re at it, subscribe to our RSS feed–it’s good for what ails ya!

276825 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/15/get-over-yourselves-youngsters-old-people-can-network-socially-too/Get+Over+Yourselves%2C+Youngsters%3A+Old+People+Can+Network+Socially+Too2009-07-15+18%3A11%3A46Rebecca+Kelley

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I like to think of 10e20 as one of the best and most talented social media marketing companies out there, and yet until very recently we never had a company Twitter account. What’s the deal? Isn’t Twitter the bee’s knees right now? If Miley Cyrus is seemingly adept enough to have a Twitter profile, why not the company that actually does SMM for a living and consults other companies on how to manage their accounts? Well, there are a few reasons why we previously never bothered with an “official” 10e20 presence on Twitter:

1. The employees did a pretty damn good job of communicating and building up business through their personal Twitter accounts and via other means (speaking at events, networking, guest blogging on Search Engine Land and other places).
2. They weren’t pushing out enough blog posts or frequently sharing company news to make having a Twitter profile worthwhile and add value to the community.
3. They couldn’t devote adequate time to properly managing a company account. Sure, they could phone it in and tweet some B.S. updates once or twice a week, but the crew knew to do it right or not do it at all.

Time was arguably the biggest factor, which is part of the reason I was hired on–10e20 wanted someone to focus on their social presence, and they didn’t want anything half-ass. Since we’ll be updating our blog more often and are planning a site face lift, there will be some noteworthy things to tweet about. No more of this “Do as I say, not as I do(n’t)” nonsense–it’s time to bust out the official 10e20 Twitter profile, all shiny and new for your tweeting pleasure. Know it, love it, follow it. /shamelessplug

Yes, we’re using Charlie as our avatar–what else would you expect?

Anyway, 10e20’s purdy new Twitter profile has gotten me thinking about two things. First of all, not every business needs a Twitter profile (much like how not every business needs PPC or social media marketing–oftentimes a business has more pertinent things to worry about and address before devoting time and energy to other business tactics). Secondly, when a business does start its own Twitter profile, there’s no “paint by numbers” approach to running the account. You don’t need to automatically tweet every blog post or coupon deal–what works very well for one business may fail for another.

Here are a few business Twitter profiles that have distinctly different approaches:

Comcast: “The Customer Service” Approach

I previously blogged about a Comcast issue I had and how a user named ComcastBill immediately sprang to my aid when I started complaining about the situation on Twitter. He, along with other Comcast reps, operate under the ComcastCares umbrella and are devoted to keeping an eye on gripes about Comcast via Twitter and providing customer support and solutions to the best of their abilities.

JetBlueCheeps: The “Deal Alerts” Approach

Jet Blue has a Twitter account that updates its followers with the latest Jet Blue flight deals. A lot of businesses/e-tailers either use their account for deal alerts (like NewEggDeals) or have a separate “deals” Twitter account (like Dell does).

TechCrunch: The “New Content” Approach

TechCrunch, along with a lot of other sites and businesses, use Twitter as an RSS feed of sorts, informing their followers when a new piece of content (like a blog post, article, tool, etc) has been released.

Zappos: The “We’re Human” Approach

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has a very popular Twitter account. He blends personal with professional, making Zappos seem very human instead of a separate corporate entity. Etsy also does a good job with this–they engage with their followers and create a dialogue with them, making their supporters feel like they’re following a buddy instead of a company.

Each of the above examples represents a type of account that works well for that business. Like I said, what works for one company may not work well for another. A lot of smaller businesses may not have a great Twitter account if they don’t engage users and instead choose to run their account like TechCrunch’s. Likewise, a lesser-known company may seem like a spammer if all they do is tweet product deals and discounts without offering some sort of human voice or quality to get users to believe they’re legit. That’s why there’s no single “right” strategy when it comes to building a successful business profile on Twitter. Your business has different needs and priorities than other businesses, so you’re going to have to manage your profile differently.

What other distinct business profile types do you notice on Twitter? Feel free to share them in the comments below, or, better yet, tweet them to @10e20. We’ll be using our company account to share valuable tips, poll our audience, announce news and events, debut awesome content, and just plain ol’ interact/engage with our friends and colleagues. Think of us as a mashup of the aforementioned profiles with an extra dash of awesome.

271016 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/07/13/twitter-for-businesses-is-there-really-a-right-strategy/Twitter+for+Businesses%3A+Is+There+Really+a+%22Right%22+Strategy%3F2009-07-13+21%3A57%3A31Rebecca+Kelley

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In case you haven’t heard, Facebook is allowing for the creation of vanity “usernames” that will allow you to customize your Facebook address.  This change is a permanent and non-transferable … so select wisely.

What ‘Usernames’ Applies To

Users will be able to register custom usernames for both profiles and Facebook pages.  In case you aren’t familiar with the two, profiles are for human beings while fan pages are used for businesses, brands, causes and more.  Groups and applications cannot be given a Facebook username.  You can register Saturday Morning (12:01 EST) at the Facebook username page.

How Profiles & Pages Work in the SERPs

Profiles

Profiles are currently listed in the SERPs, but the listings aren’t an carbon copy of your current Facebook page.  The page that is indexed is not a representation of what your friends would see; it is simply a page that is served up to search engines with a basic offering of information like location, sampe friends and a profile picture.  The current structure of profiles is facebook.com/people/firstname-lastname/FacebookProfileNumber.  In order to see that full profile, a searcher must be logged in with the proper permissions.  Note: If all of your profile privacy is set to “my friends only” then they will never be indexed by search engines.

Pages
Pages are fully indexed by search engines, and s so updates, comments and Facebook links can be seen.  Right now the page URL structure looks like this: www.facebook.com/pages/page-name/FacebookPagenumber.

How To Use for Business

Profiles
Seeing that profile rankings in SERPs are hindered by the faux-page delivered to search engines, creating a username to rank doesn’t seem like an ideal maneuver.  Instead, usernames would be a nice addition for name branding, as people can insert easier into business cards, emails and the sort.

Pages
This is where a solid keyword username could help your page to rank (in both SERPs and possibly in Facebook queries).  Using the Facebook domain strength with a short keyword rich URL could really help for broader queries and also in reputation management for branded terms.  Twitter accounts have been showing up more and more in the SERPs, and this effort should help more Facebook pages show up as well.
Of course you should make sure that your username fits in with your branding and you shouldn’t try to overthrow your current efforts because you snagged a cute keyword.
If you have been active on the Facebook front, you probably have a few industry related pages devoted to broad non-branded terms.  These would be ideal targets for keyword rich usernames as they wouldn’t ruin branding and the keyword  in the URL structure would benefit any marketing efforts.  So if your antique auto parts store has a “Vintage ‘79 Fords’ page, registering the username “vintage-fords’ should help your page rank, and makes sense as a business move because it is a logical and legiti.mate username.  Facebook has made it clear that very broad terms “pizza” or “flowers” will not be allowed, so try and get a bit creative with your choice.

Who is Eligible

Any profile created before the announcement at 3 PM on June 9, 2009.  Each profile can have only one name assigned, and each page can only have one as well.  If you didn’t already have this in place, you are out of luck.  You will have to set up your page now, then check back on June 28th to nab your username.

Facebook pages are a bit stricter. Your fan page must have been created before May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have had a minimum 1,000 fans at that time.

What to Do

Stick to Branding - Don’t ‘over-SEO’ yourself if you are working on a specific brand.  While you may be missing some main keywords, you will help in reputation management, branding and will cut confusion.

Use Keywords Where Applicable - Companies very active with Facebook marketing most likely have some general industry pages set up that are non-branded.  Getting keyword rich usernames for these would be ideal.

Brand yourself – Sure ‘hax0rM4n1k” is a cool handle, but it will be associated with your name forever, so stick to the basics and wrap-up your name for any Facebook profiles.  These profile pages will show in the SERPs so make sure you keep it clean if you ever want to be employed.

Protect yourself - If not eligible and have a trademark?  Head over to the USPTO, grab your registration number, and fill out the “protect your username” form.

What Not to Do

Try to Steal Trademarked Terms – You will not be able to keep them and you are just being a jerk.  Don’t do that.

Overly SEO Yourself – Don’t ditch your branding for a set of shiny keywords.

Be Late – Facebook has a handy counter for you on the usernames page … so you have no excuse.  Any by the way that is 12:01 AM Eastern, so don’t be late west-coasters.

Facebook usernames looks to be a nice addition for profiles and pages, just choose wisely as this is will go on your permanent (Facebook) record!

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256826 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/06/12/facebook-usernames/How+to+Prepare+for+Facebook+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%CB%9CUsernames%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A22009-06-12+16%3A13%3A34Greg+Finn

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Yesterday, Digg announced the release of “Digg Ads” a new advertising platform that will hopefully pull their finances out of the red.  What is different about this form of advertising on Digg, is that it is the first time that they have mixed the content in with the ads.

Ads will look exactly like a normal submission with the exception that no submitter will be present and a small line will appear on the top and bottom of the article with the text  “sponsored” above.

A Brief History of Digg Ads

Digg has never really figured out how to really monetize advertisements on the site.  They have looked for help in figuring out what users wanted, and tested out different platforms.  Digg started up using Google as an ad provider with a mix of Federated Media placements.  Then about two years ago Digg moved away from Google AdSense and gave Microsoft a spin at providing ads.  This year Digg again tried mixing it up by dropping Microsoft to try slinging their own ads.  In addition to going it alone on the ad front, Digg hired away Federated Media’s Sales Chief about a week ago as their Chief revenue Officer.

Why this makes sense for Digg

What Digg has been doing from an ad standpoint simply hasn’t been working.  They are losing money year after year, and this is a glimmer of hope that they can successfully monetize ads with site interaction.  These ads will not be static messages, as Digg is giving the community the ability to interact with the ads by voting and commenting; eventually setting the price for the ads.  While obviously users would prefer an ad-free site, this form of advertising is truly interactive from both the user perspective and the advertiser perspective.

Diggers are very anti-establishment and a good portion of them ad-block the current ads on the site.  One reason for this may the fact that Digg hasn’t provided their audience with the most relevant of ads.  Digg has even apologized for some highly annoying ads that have upset its users in the past.  Seeing that Digg has tried  a variety of different ads to no avail, a fresh attempt is needed and this approach looks like it may solve many of the current problems.

Why This Will be Good for Users

If it works, Digg will stick around. As silly as this sounds, making money (or at least breaking even) is an intrinsic aspect of running a service for people.  Sure Diggers are used to getting things for free  (torrents, software cracks, Digg w/ad block … etc) but at the end of the day a Digg with sponsored listings is better than no Digg at all.  Many users are already embracing the system, as long as it isn’t too intrusive:

I think this is great, but please don’t put more than 2 ads in the river at any given time. – Digg User Alancayce

Users will determine how much advertisers have to pay. If an ad sucks, users will be able to speak up about it in a civilized format instead of  submitting articles complaining about ads.  The worst ads will be footed with a bigger bill, and advertisers may re-consider purchasing again.

They aren’t annoying. Traditionally, ads that have appeared on Digg can play music when hovered over, pop-out or be too flashy (like the current Microsoft ad campaign on Digg).  These new ads are clearly marked and look to be stationary and unobtrusive.  Users will see a link with a short description and can choose whether to check it out or not, no digital shenanigans involved.

This will help to make ads much more relevant. The majority of complaints about Digg ads have been that they are off-topic and intrusive.  Now users can comment on why they dislike an ad to sway negative votes, and bury ads that suck.  If it’s a good ad – great!  More good ads should begin popping up.

Why This Will be Good for Advertisers

If your content is good, you should be able to pay pennies on the dollar. This should help those non-traditional advertisers who couldn’t afford bloated CPMs a shot at advertising on Digg.

It is a way for advertisers to be a part of the site. Instead of working on captivating creative for banner ads, advertisers can be judged off of their content.  In an era of banner blindness, being integrated into the site will undoubtedly drive more clicks and awareness for ads.

A Look at Other Social News & Bookmarking Ads

The two largest Digg competitors are Reddit and StumbleUpon, both with legacy ad systems that are also integrated into the content.

Reddit, currently undergoing user backlash, added ads to the site about 2 years ago, and has also added sponsored listings earlier this year.  Also, the side ads have always had the ability to be voted on by using the “Reddit this ad” button beneath each.

StumbleUpon has an advertising system that allows advertisers to purchase views from selected users.  These ads directs StumbleUpon user to an advertisers page without notifying them about the nature of the paid stumble.  Currently only paid members have the ability to terminate these ads.

Why the Digg Ad System Will be Better

Unlike the StumbleUpon model, the Digg ad model is upfront and doesn’t mislead visitors.  Users can see the clearly labeled ad, and choose not to view the page.  This doesn’t force unwanted content down a user’s throat and gives them the option of viewing the paid content placed within the site.

The Reddit ads allow for commenting, but no voting functionality exists to let users decide the quality (update: commentor ‘jedberg’ informs us that if an ad recieves a high number of votes it can stick around longer).  The new Digg ad system will show the votes and also allow users to bury the ads (traditionally, a buried ad is hidden once buried then grayed out to they user for good).  While Reddit did a good job mixing ads with content in a non-obtrusive format, Digg has taken this one step further and will help users dictate the ad pricing, and hopefully the users eventually dictate the ads altogether.

What Advertisers Should Know

Even though you think you can buy your way onto the popular page of Digg, it is a MUCH different venue than creating quality content that users naturally promote to the homepage.  Even though the ads will be featured on the homepage, Diggers traditionally pass on paid messages.  Additionally, if an ad is sent to a strictly commercial page that is of no interest to the Digg community, they will face a high level of criticism.  While this seems like an easy way to “get popular” on Digg, the traffic, links and visibility from a natural community driven story will be exponentially larger and more productive than a sponsored message.

What Ads Will Work

The Digg community is a highly technical community that is stereo-typed as enjoying video games, gadgets, Democrats.  Companies that are tech related  or have products that have a positive reputation on Digg should fare well.  These advertisers could successfully leverage product launches, updates and exclusives by using the new Digg ads.   To see what will work, simply visit the site regularly and see what is gathering the most votes and responses- these will be the successful ads down the road.

Examples: Microsoft leaks a release date around the Zune HD through a Digg ad or Warner Bros. buys an Ad for an upcoming Batman trailer

What Ads Won’t Work

As much as the community likes technology and politics, they despise ads.  With that said, nearly all of the Digg banner ads would be a massive failure if they purchased this new form of advertising.  Anything that is corporate, sales-y or not interesting will be victimized.  If your product isn’t targeting tech-savvy opinionated 16-30 year old males, you won’t have success with these ads.  I feel that the majority of the early ads will flop miserably and hurt mismatched companies more than it will help.

Examples: Freecreditreport buys an ad that sends users to their homepage or Hummer buys an ad that features their newest gas guzzler

How the System Could Backfire

While voting and commenting on ads mixed in to normal Digg content sounds like a great idea, Diggers have been known to be a very harsh crowd, and excessively negative comments are common ground on Digg.  If an ad is terrible, not only will the price be higher, but it could feel the wrath of the Digg community who are notorious for being brutal commenters.  Many major brands may shy away from this form of advertising if their reputation is dragged through the mud.

Additionally, if the quality of the sponsored ads is lacking, or the ads seriously degrade the content on the site, users could be isolated and may leave Digg completely.

Conclusion

This ad system is a well needed change for Digg, as it brings much needed revenue potential that will deliver a much bigger bang for advertisers.  However, advertisers may shy away from an ad that hangs them out to dry in front of the nefarious Digg community.  It is a risky move, but has the early potential to be the hands down leader in social news advertising …  only time will tell.

What do YOU think?

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251430 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/06/04/digg-ads/Why+the+Digg+Ad+System+Will+Help+Digg+%28and+Digg+Users%292009-06-04+16%3A14%3A02Greg+Finn

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In case you haven’t heard, yesterday Digg removed the controversial “shout” feature that allowed users to share stories with one another.  This feature was Digg’s only internal tool for communication that was put in place a little over a year and a half ago.

History

Shouts were supposed to even the playing field between ‘power users’ and the common Digger.  This feature allowed users to select a story that they enjoyed and send it directly to their friends on Digg.  Shouts did empower numerous Digg users and did help more stories gain awareness and become popular when otherwise they might not have.  However, one major problem occurred, the majority of users abused this, and used it as a spammy broadcast tool. This turned off many long-time users who turned off shouts, or simply left the site.

Unfortunately, the problem with the system could not be fixed by just shutting it off.  This add-on turned the site from a ‘pull-oriented’ site where users scanned the best submissions to a ‘push-oriented’ site where votes on stories with shouts were hyper-inflated.  This bloated vote count would force the shouted stories to dwarf any regular submissions.  A quality post that wasn’t shouted might receive ½ the votes (and visibility) as a story promoted using the shout feature.  Much like the steroid era of the baseball, the majority of member began shouting all of their stories just to keep afloat.

The Resolution

Digg has been eventually tuning its algorithm to try to discount the value of shouts, but at the end of the day it simply wasn’t working.  The first step in the direction of external promotion was the import of stories to Facebook that allowed users to share their Digg activity with friends.  The DiggBar and DiggURL were the next steps to move away from shouts, as it gave users the power to share on both Twitter and Faceboook with ease.  When they announced that they were moving to a “real-time” share system last week they finally admitted that the current internal promotion system was not working.

Now, all internal communication has been silenced and Digg is forcing its users away from the site to socialize.  This makes sense for Digg, because they can possibly gain a larger audience.  However, this is a risky move, as Digg is forcing users off of the site and onto other social sites.  Twitter has already demonstrated that popular stories can be aggregated in a Digg like fashion.

What Will Happen to Digg?

After the shout-pocalypse I believe that Digg will be a better place from a content perspective.  Average stories won’t be artificially inflated; articles will be back to being judged based on their content … not on who has motives behind it.  Without inflated (and irrelevant) votes, the Recommendation Engine will become a better asset for its heavy users.

One major negative byproduct of this shift to external promotion will be the loads of user endorsements that will soon flood your Twitter stream, Facebook wall or your inbox.

Thoughts on the Decision

From a company perspective, I would never advocate sending users off-site for communication.  Digg has always flourished because it truly was a ‘social’ site where you could add friends, images and links, this however is a step in the opposite direction.

I had always believed that it wasn’t the concept of the shout system that was flawed, rather that it was the allotted usage that was the culprit.  When you allow all users to promote every story, the value of that promotion is voided, much like using the bold typography for an entire paragraph.  I think a solution that would have pleased both parties would have been a 1 shout per 24 hour limit, so users could only share their best find of the day.

Conclusion

While this may be a large change for many users, this change should help to increase the quality of content on Digg.  Whether you like it or not, the termination of shouts is now just another part of life, and another adaptation that active users will have to make.

Will it piss off those users that rely on shouts?  Absolutely.

Will it make it harder to get your stories on Digg?  Not if your content is awesome.

Will it add more Digg SPAM to Twitter, Facebook and Email?  Without a doubt.

What do you think? Will Digg be better or worse without Shouts?

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248257 Commentshttp://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/05/27/will-digg-be-a-better-place-without-shouts/Will+Digg+Be+a+Better+Place+Without+Shouts%3F2009-05-27+15%3A42%3A54Greg+Finn

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