If there is one thing that makes a website, blog, or anything on the web sustainable and ready for growth it is user experience. Making your site more engaging and interactive makes it stand out from the crowd. Neuromarketing studies have proven that people remember content that is engaging to their multiple senses: ie. site, sound, touch, and smell (can’t really smell a website yet but we’ll see..)

The average blog only engages readers visually with images and text to convey the content. By combining more elements that complement the content, we can improve user experience and the chance the new visitors become repeat visitors and share your site with their friends.

Whether you are a photo blogger, novice blogger, or you run your own ecommerce site you may find this new tool useful. ThinkLink, an image identifier site, announced its public launch today. The site claims to do one very simple thing, add any tag to any image and post it anywhere. There is no need to sign up for the service or give them your email, you just go to the site and enter your image url to tag it to any site you want it to link to, enter text, whatever you want. Then you can embed the code to any website. It’s fast, easy, and free so I highly suggest you play around with it.

So why does this matter? User experience. By incorporating clickable content that gives users information right on the same page and interface, you are improving their user experience and making them engage with your images.

For more ideas and tips on how to optimize social media and other free services for your goals, visit the Social Capitalist SMO blog.

1.  Consider your Keywords: headhunters, prospective new hires, business parters, and future clients use the search function on LinkedIn to find the right people to connect with.  Consider your social media audience on LinkedIn on how these people will search to find you.  What keywords will they use? What keywords do you want to show up when someone hits search? Figure out your keywords and make sure they’re in your profile.  Some key places to have these keywords are in your profile heading, summary, skills, and if possible in one of you job titles.  LinkedIn search (link to my profile) tends to grab from the profiles that have a lot of connections point toward them and profiles that include the keywords searched in critical profile areas like the ones discussed.

2.  Participate in Group Discussions:  One way to get noticed as well as show up in relevant searches on LinkedIn is to be an active participator in your industry’s relevant groups.  While not every person on the site will spend a lot of time in on the LinkedIn discussions, those that do are looking for something specific pertaining to the discussion topic.  Find and post on topics relevant to your business and add to the conversation like you would adding to a blog post.  If the comment adds value and is well written you are certain to receive more visits to your profile from relevant people to your profile and perhaps potential customers or new job offers.

3.  Answer Questions: The question/answer function on LinkedIn is a great way to build credibility in your area.  Similar to Yahoo Answers, the LinkedIn Answers allows users to post questions and experts to post answers.  This can be especially beneficial to service or consulting businesses to build credibility and prospective customer awareness and gain referrals.

In essence, there are multiple ways to optimize your presence on LinkedIn.  These first three are a great start to get you going in the right direction. For more tips and how to’s on social media optimization visit The Social Capitalist.

Many companies spend a week or two running a Memorial Campaign to specifically get people thinking about Memorial Day.  Loew’s for instance banks on the fact BBQ’s and outdoor activities are a signature Memorial Day pastime by offering discounts on grills and outdoor furniture the week or two leading up to the event.  Home Depot and Sears take similar promotional approaches driving people into their store or searching around online to look at Grills and other summer entertaining necessities.

When it comes to interactive marketing, however, Macy’s Memorial Day Campaign is one worth mentioning to online marketers alike. Yahoo and Pointroll have collaborated on an interactive marketing campaign to target female Yahool mail users with their active ads.  The campaign offered a balanced combination of behavioral, demographic, and geographic data thanks to Yahoo in combination with the local benefits of pricing data that PointRoll cound bring to the table.

Pointroll has worked with Yahoo on a number of campaigns over the years but it will be the first time they collaborated on behalf of Macy’s.  Female Yahoo Mail users ages 25 – 54 with an interest in online shopping and home decor can definitely expect to see an interactive ad display when scanning their inboxes in the days leading up to Memorial Day.  Whether or not the ads will be effective and pay off for Macy’s, we’ll only know once the weekend is over.  Nevertheless, Yahoo demographic data speaks for itself and PointRoll boasts steller stats that six out of every 100 PointRoll ads viewed is interacted with.

For more information on internet marketing, including social media marketing and social media optimization, consult The Social Capitalist blog at Social-Capitalist.com

Whether you are applying to Graduate School or your first entrance into university life

1.  Post a picture of you doing a keg stand as your Facebook Profile Picture. Some people are really that naive to the fact that college admission boards can and will try to find you on Facebook.  Depending on your privacy settings they may not be able to see your photo, but where there is a will there is a way.  So, take down the picture of you making out with your significant other, dancing on a table or chugging a beer.  This goes for Myspace or any other generally used social network.  Be smart about the information you post on Facebook.  Ask yourself, would you want your Grandmother to see this?

2.  Tweet about how irresponsible you are. College is about leaving home and proving to the world you can stand on your own two feet.  This is a young adults chance to show the world that they have their priorities straight despite the lack of parental supervision and guidance that comes with the new phase of you life.  Tweeting about how belligerent you were at last night’s party is not something colleges want to see.  Remember, you are what you Tweet so Tweet Smart on Twitter.

3.  Post contradictory information on your LinkedIn Profile. This most likely applies more to those applying to graduate school because there is not much return for high school students using LinkedIn at that early stage in life.  Nevertheless, many colleges make you send in a resume or some proof of what jobs or positions you have held throughout your young life.  If the dates and information on this form do not match what you have on your LinkedIn profile, you are perceived to be lying about something.  No college wants to let in dishonest people as academic dishonesty is a huge issue that leads to expulsion in many cases.  Make sure all your information is consistent across the board on all your profiles, especially LinkedIn.

4.  Act Like An Idiot on YouTube. This depends on context.  Many idiots on YouTube are strategically being idiots because being an idiot is sometimes silly and being silly is marketable on YouTube.  However, there is a difference.  If you are the guy on YouTube smashing beer cans on your head with you name associated to the video, make sure you remove those ties.  While the ability to smash beer cans on your forehead may be a huge asset to your party plenty social circle, it is a huge liability to colleges.  College Boards will not be amused.

1.  Biking directions for Mobile.

According to Google’s blog, since 1956 May has been recognized as National Bike Month in which “Bike to Work” day falls during the week of May 17-21.  In an effort to make it easier for bikers, Google added a new feature to Google Maps: Biking directions for Mobile users.  Using this feature, mobile users can receive customized bike routes, bike-only-trails, roads with bike lanes, and more.  It is essentially a new layer in the Google Maps API in which users can see these new features.

2.  Gmail Drag and Drop Images into your messages.

Yesterday night Google posted news to the Gmail blog that now, users can drag and drop photos from their computer into their Gmail messages.   This function only works to its fullest in Chrome at the moment but if you are accessing Gmail in Chrome you can send pictures to your contacts by simply dragging and dropping them from your desktop.  You can resize them too.

3.  Social Search

This is probably the biggest.  If you are not already aware of it, then you will be soon.  It is nothing new but it is changing the way SEO practicioners work and has shifted the weight of the Google search algorithm to social.  Be sure to check out this article on Google’s social search for SMO and Search Engine Journal’s take on the changes happening to search.

For more information on how to use Google’s tools such as the new social search and Google maps for your business consult the Art of Social Media Optimization blog, The Social Capitalist.

Starbucks is a master of consumer marketing and the king of turning problems into promotional opportunities.  Excelling at everything from social media to their in store displays, they have done it again with a new promotion.  The Starbucks Happy Hour Promotion kicked off this afternoon with half price Frappucinos made to order.  Starbucks plans for the promotion to be held from the hours of 3-5 PM until the 16th of May.

During the promotion you can get half price Frappucinos made any way you would like.  The whole effort is meant to boost sales during their slow hours, the afternoon.  So far, it is working and it has only been a day.

Starbucks as a smart brand and marketing company has held a number of successful promotions with efforts to boost sales by promoting x or y.  For instance, free refills or everyone’s favorite”free pastry day” work wonders at getting people into the store and in many cases, buying more than a free pastry, Frappucino, or a refill. The company company spreads the word on mobile and social media channels allowing their best marketers (coffee lovers and fans) to do the work for them. People can sign up for Starbucks messaging alerts on their website and get immediate notification on promotional deals going on at Starbucks on their mobile device.  After Starbucks puts the message out, people are there within minutes to be the first to enjoy the deal.  Sending out a promotion like this one and expecting people to show up only works if the channels are set up, and in Starbucks case, they have an intricate universe of talkers and social media users spreading the word via Twitter, Facebook, text, and more.

To read more about how smart companies use social media marketing for promotions, visit The Social Capitalist.  The Social Capitalist is a blog on the Art of Social Media Optimization.

The Facebook Open Search is an extremely useful tool for people and professionals.  What are Facebook’s 400 million users saying about you, your company, or your industry right this very minute?    Facebook Open Search has a number of uses for the average Facebook user as well.

Here are a couple:

• Product Research: Find out what people are saying about a product you want.  For instance, if you are thinking about buying an iPad, do you research first.  Do an open search using the Facebook open search to see what everyone is saying about a particular topic, like the iPad.  Is the response good, bad, or so-so? Know what real people, not marketers or companies, are saying about your potential new purchase is critical to weighing in on your decision making process. Use the social search to find out.
• Movie Recommendations: Find out what people are saying about that new movie you want to see.  Production companies put a ton of efforts and money into making sure the word of mouth about their movie is strong because we want to see the movies our friends see.  No one wants to be the one left out of the conversation while everyone else is laughing about a funny movie quote.  Use the Facebook Open search to find out what people are saying about movies you want to see.  Is it worth going to see it in the theater? Search and find out.
• Reputation Management: Are you a pretty popular person? Kind of “a big deal” on Facebook? Well find out.  Search your name on the Facebook Open Search to find out if anyone finds you worth talking about.  What are they saying?  If you are not someone people are talking about, would you like to be?

What about your business or your industry? What are people saying about you on Facebook on a professional level? To find out how to use the Facebook Open Search for social media marketing and more articles and helpful tips on social media optimization, please visit

Interactive and digital marketers are all about using Flash to engage consumers in their marketing campaigns. In the digital marketing handbook of 2010, it was reported that Flash would be the number one technology digital agencies and advertisers would be using much more of in 2010.

However, Apple’s infamous Steve Jobs made a written statement this week with multiple reasons on why Apple’s mobile products will never support Flash.   In Steve Job’s  long open letter on flash , he lists and describes all the reason why Apple has decided not to support the technology on the iPad, iPhone, and iTouch.  Apple promotes the use of HTML5 over flash.

This basically means that new developers and new media agencies wanting to reach Apple users with interactive techniques will just have to learn to love HTML5.

On the other hand and around the same time this week, Google’s Andy Rubin revealed that the upcoming version of the Android mobile operating system will fully support Flash technology.  It looks as if the Android is more willing to play nice with developers.  On the developer end of things, the differences between the two technologies is more apparent as Flash is  largely covered with ActionScript and and HTML5 has new parsing rules and elements different from Flash.  Which technology will work best to engage consumers is the question digital agencies are asking.

For more articles on the evolving art of interactive marketing and social media optimization, visit The Social-Capitalist.

Sources:

NY Times, “Google’s Andy Rubin on Everything Android”

Apple, Steve Job’s, “Thoughts on Flash”

The Social-Capitalist, Digital Marketing Handbook

After just one week, the Facebook ‘like’ button has already been added to over 50,000 sites and the number is growing.  Many developers and site owners are enthusiastic about the opportunity to integrate with Facebook and take advantage of its 400 million active users.  Using Facebook’s web-wide “Like” button in conjunction with their “Open Graph” allows websites to drive traffic from Facebook’s to their corporate sites.

The button also provides a major opportunity for viral exposure as anyone that “likes” a site gets an update posted on their profile for their networks and friends to see.  An additional benefit to developers, site owners, and web surfers using the button is that anyone logged into Facebook can get a more customized search experience as Facebook searches will show sites your friends like.  There is still debate over privacy issues and Facebook has been known to test the waters there.

Given Facebook’s tools are only about a week old and already gaining a ton of traction, people are starting to ask if this like button is going to take over the importance of links in search.  Facebook calls the like button a form of “social links” explaining that they are actually better than links because of their relation to specific users. If this like button really takes off it presents a huge competitor for Google’s search as it challenges the entire basis of their algorithms.  Essentially, Google indexed the web for its users and now Facebook is showing that it can get its users to index the web for them with their “like” button.   So will “liking” replace the importance of linking from an SEO standpoint? Will social media optimization (SMO) become the new SEO?

For more articles on SMO and Liking as the New Linking please visit The Social-Capitalist or better yet, “Like” the Social Capitalist on Facebook!

Sources:

Pete Cashmore on CNN Tech

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