Once you’ve followed people in your usual networks like Twitter and Facebook, asking topical questions to do with your industry can reveal some very interesting answers and pave the way for some great discussions and information sharing from your peers:

What made me eventually commit to the network was the fact I was blown away by two things:

1. The number of my peers already signed up: it was staggering
2. The raw honesty from founders / business owners

Here’s a question illustrating the honesty on Quora. It’s asked about FriendFeed by Bret Taylor (the co-founder):

His answer (highlighted in yellow) was refreshingly straight to the point and honest. No sugarcoating.

How many times have you seen honesty like that on Twitter? Or responses from the founders themselves on LinkedIn? Or even questions like that on Yahoo! Answers? I can recall many wrongly-presumed accusations flying about on Twitter which usually ended up in a storm of misunderstandings due to the 140 character limit restricting people from explaining themselves fully.

Could Quora be the ideal platform to generate discussions and evoke honesty on hot topics?

What’s also interesting is that Robert Scoble, one of FriendFeed’s die hard users, has taken to Quora too.

Despite all of this honesty and the questions that have fuelled massively active discussions, I must agree with what many are saying; Quora’s concept is nothing new. It does perform better than the rival Q&A platforms namely LinkedIn Groups, Yahoo! Answers and Twitter, but will that be enough to ensure it’s not just a flash in the pan?

On that basis, all that’s needed is one of the older networks to update their platforms to encourage more interaction (perhaps through easier sign ups, more open public conversations and a better layout) and Quora is blown out of the water. Noone wants an extra network to log into so the only way Quora can guarantee survival is if it integrates – perhaps one of the aforementioned networks will make an offer?

Another curious question about Quora: why can’t you link directly to answers? At least a USP of Quora would be the ability to quote people within high profile blogs and news articles. (Mmm links!)

Follow me on Quora: Joanna Butler

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Quora’s Curious Compulsion for Honesty is a post from: Search Engine Chocolate

Twitter on the other hand has been experiencing a few glitches, and this time it’s not just the appearance of the infamous Fail Whale. While at Think Visibility, I was searching Twitter for the hashtag #thinkvisibility to reveal feedback from delegates real time. It seemed to work well until I saw my friends tweet with the correct use of the hashtag, but noticed their (un-protected) tweets never appearing in the Twitter search results. More recently there have been issues with direct messages being delayed – something I actually first experienced about a month ago – and @ replies going missing.

Do you need trust in order to engage fully with a social media website?

Before I hand over my personal information and fully engage with a social media website, I need to trust it. I don’t know if I’m the only one to feel this way – perhaps I’m in the minority? But seeing the aforementioned glitches and issues has made me lose a bit of trust in social media in general. I want them to work as I find them rewarding and fun to use, both personally and professionally. But how can anyone be expected to trust a website with their personal information when it is not technically sound, can’t decide how it will use the information or has no clear strategy?

With Facebook having more than 175 million active users at time of writing and Twitter growing 1,382% year-over-year in February, that’s a lot of valuable, personal information that should be protected. Facebook is lucky that its users have integrated it so much within their lives that it will be a long time before people begin to quit. Although saying that, I overheard someone yesterday say that they quit it for the exact reasons above. Is the tide turning?

Have you experienced the glitches? If so, have they changed the way you use social media websites?

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1. Google +1 is Missing a Social Carrot

Social Media Websites: A Trust Issue? is a post from: Search Engine Chocolate

It brings me to say this: get offline! I (probably like many of you reading this) spend a lot of time reading news websites and blogs, using social media to connect to people and brushing up on my skills online. But nothing substitutes actually meeting other professionals in the flesh and sharing your experiences. Unique and exciting opportunities arise from relationships forged in person.

Never networked before? Don’t panic! Most events such as Nott Tuesday have a really relaxed atmosphere – just be yourself! As a first networking event I highly recommend going down to your local Twestival charity meet tomorrow night (events in 175+ cities worldwide, I am helping organise the Nottingham Twestival). Why? It’s about as informal and fun as a networking events get PLUS it’s for charity! If you use Twitter now, it’ll be like meeting your friends for a drink after work. Except better because you may meet a potential new business partner, employer, colleague or friend!

Networking is also a great way to air new business or career ideas too – so many great minds in one room; it’s the perfect forum.

Here’s a handful of other organisations with networking events to try:
(These are UK based – if you can recommend events outside the UK, feel free leave a comment!)

• The Chartered Institute of Marketing: marketing-centric seminars, workshops and networking events held nationwide.
• Business Link: seminars and events for businesses on anything from starting up to tax to IT and eCommerce.
• eBusiness Clubs: nationwide events on a wide range of topics including marketing, business, legal issues and business advice.

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1. Online Marketing and Me: 2008 to 2009
2. My SEO Workshop Slides from the Chartered Institute of Marketing Conference

Online Marketeers and Technology Professionals: Get Offline! is a post from: Search Engine Chocolate

2008 began by making the decision to move into online marketing. Having previously been a professional website designer for over 8 years, the step into online marketing was one of my best decisions yet. My first step was to enroll on an online course with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and gained a Professional Development Award in e-Marketing in July. Becoming a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing alone has opened many new doors; I’ve been to as many seminars, workshops and networking events as I possibly can and loved each one as they’ve either given me the chance to learn something new, meet other marketeers or teach people about Internet marketing.

As a web marketing consultant I also became a Qualified Google Advertising Professional. Simply studying for the exam was a great experience – it’s not often you have the chance to get a qualification from one of the key players in your industry. I also created web marketing packages to offer to clients for services such as search engine optimisation, Google AdWords, email marketing and more, and gave one-on-one training sessions.

One of my most exciting achievements of 2008 has to have been speaking at web marketing seminars. It’s something I’d never thought I’d want to do, but I got an incredible kick out of it. Having the opportunity to actually talk to a room of professionals about their understanding, concerns and needs for online marketing was fascinating. I came away able to drastically improve my approach to my current and prospective online marketing clients by understanding them better and improving our packages and support.

I’d had experience of search engine optimisation (SEO) as a web designer in the past, but never had the chance to focus 100% on it, research it to the depth I have now or create and implement an SEO marketing plan. In 2008 I did exactly that and got a new website ranking on page 1 in Google for its top 10 keywords, from initially appearing on page 10, in just 1 month. A personal best (so far – watch this space!) and something I wasn’t even sure was possible in such a short time frame, but with a lot of planning and hard work, including with the great team I’ve been working with, we did it.

So what does 2009 hold for online marketing? I’ve been using more and more relatively new services such as Twitter, and as everyone is predicting, those services will undoubtedly become more and more widespread. It won’t be long before I’ll be creating web marketing packages for my clients that will include them in their overral marketing plan. Customer relationship management and online PR is made so much easier with those services, and taking advantage of them will be key to keeping a competitive edge online in 2009.

As for my career? Hopefully, much more of the same rewarding experiences and achievements. I’ve learned that qualifications in marketing are great for creating firm foundations of knowledge, but it’s the experiences that are the most valuable. Therefore, I’m going to be grabbing every opportunity that comes my way with both hands and giving it my all. But also, just as online marketing creates a unique two-way communication channel between businesses and clients, I’m going to make sure I give as much as I get in this industry by contributing where I can to research, development and training in online marketing and become a true online marketing evangelist!

What are your career goals or online marketing predictions for 2009?

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2. 5 Online Marketing Motivators
3. My SEO Workshop Slides from the Chartered Institute of Marketing Conference

Online Marketing and Me: 2008 to 2009 is a post from: Search Engine Chocolate

Twitter can be used as an online marketing tool, not only to promote services or products, but also aid online PR and customer relationship management. Below are my top ten fundamentals Twitter business users can’t afford to ignore:

1. Businesses: follow your followers.

Customers can only use the direct messaging system on Twitter if you are following them, so be available for them to contact you. Also, by following your customers you can read their tweets (including replies to you) and therefore understand what concerns they currently have. This may open up new marketing opportunities, but most importantly, it means you can respond to queries or complaints positively and publicly, thus enhancing your online PR. Twitter is a fantastic opportunity for online customer service and relationship management.

2. Twitter is a ‘pull’ medium. What’s in it for your followers?

Twitter users select to follow you, not the other way around. If a customer of your’s has chosen to follow you make sure you reward them for doing so. Twitip has an excellent article on adding value to your Tweets. Give your followers a reason to follow you, enhance their lives and reward them for their interest. Some ideas are providing summaries and links to your news or blog articles, or giving positive helpful tips relating to your products or services.

3. Use your full name or business name

As Ryan Carson from Carsonified tweeted, use your real name on Twitter so people can connect and relate to you. A nickname or online name, unless it’s a well established brand, isn’t as easy to trust.

4. Be honest

Businesses using Twitter will reap the most rewards if they are honest with their customers. That includes admitting problems such as service down times. Naturally you will want to keep your tweets positive to promote yourself, but Twitter works best when you are honest rather than pretentious.

5. Keep (mostly) on-topic

Your followers will expect you to post tweets that are mostly related to you or your products or services. However, occasionally it might be appropriate to lighten the mood and break from the routine. For example, sharing a link to a humourous website (related to your sector if possible), or seasonal greetings. Adding a personal touch and character to tweets can make you appear more approachable. Be careful not to over do it though, you want to remain professional.

6. Make use of the Twitter Search

It may take a while before you attract many followers, so visit the Twitter Search page frequently to learn about your customers and what people are saying about you. Try a search for your business name, website address or even related services to see what the latest buzz is for competitors.

7. Thank your followers

Frequently overlooked, thanking someone for following you or when someone ‘retweets’ what you have said can go a long way. Remember to keep all your messages personalised. A generic automatic reply could have a negative effect.

8. Provide unique insight from your perspective

You have unique views, experiences and knowledge. Share that with your followers and distinguish yourself from the crowd.

9. Back to basics: good grammar please!

It should go without saying that all your tweets should be checked for spelling or grammatical errors. Some shortening of words due to the 140 character limit of tweets is acceptable, but should be last resort.

10. Update

Update regularly to keep the conversation alive. Now you’ve got followers, don’t let them forget about you. Twitter is yet another way to enhance your online presence and build your brand, so make sure you take advantage of it.

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing and Me: 2008 to 2009
2. Online Marketeers and Technology Professionals: Get Offline!

10 Twitter Fundamentals for Businesses is a post from: Search Engine Chocolate