Every company has its own experience on Twitter. But whether a business has been here for a couple of years or just a few months, its twitterers tend to find that certain approaches lead to success. In this section, we share that wisdom, which falls into a couple of big categories.

Think about Twitter as a place to build relationships

Instead of approaching Twitter as a place to broadcast information about your company, think of it as a place to build relationships. Put into practice, that means you could do things like:

Include in your Bio and/or custom background the names (or @usernames) of the people twittering from your company account. It’s also a good idea to include additional contact info, like email addresses.

Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and products—and be prepared to address concerns, offer customer service or thank people for praise.

Tip: In addition to keeping an eye on your @messages, you can use our Saved Searches feature to easily track mentions of your product, brand, company, etc. From your Twitter home page, simply run a search, and then at the top of your results page, click “Save this search.” A link with your search term will appear on the right side of your page, and whenever you click it, you’ll get real-time results for that query. To delete a search, just head to the top of your results and click “Remove this search.”

Use a casual, friendly tone in your messages.

While you shouldn’t feel compelled to follow everyone who follows you, do respond to some questions or comments addressed to you.

If you like a particular message, retweet it. People often appreciate the sharing and amplification of their ideas, so look to retweet cool stuff.

Post links to articles and sites you think folks would find interesting—even if they’re not your sites or about your company.

Make sure your tweets provide some real value. You know better than we do what is valuable, but here are few examples to spark ideas:

• Offer Twitter exclusive coupons or deals
• Take people behind the scenes of your company
• Post pictures from your offices, stores, warehouses, etc.
• Share sneak peeks of projects or events in development

Don’t spam people. Twitter’s following model means that you have to respect the interests and desires of other people here or they’ll unfollow you. The most common way to run afoul of that understanding—and to thus look like a spammer—is to send unsolicited @messages or DMs, particularly when you include a promotional link.

Of course, if you run an account that focuses explicitly on sharing exclusive coupon codes or sale information, you’re probably just fine posting promos. But tread carefully, and consider explaining in your bio or background how the account works.

Tip: You can test the waters by sending just a few promos to start, and then continuing only if people show interest.

To make sure you’re not spamming folks, we also suggest you avoid the following:

• Posting duplicate updates to an account: Posting the same update over and over throughout the day is considered spammy and a possible violation of our terms of service.
• Cross-posting duplicate updates to multiple accounts: If you post the same update to multiple accounts, you could violate our terms of service.
• Following churn: Following and unfollowing the same people repeatedly, as well as following and unfollowing those who don’t follow back, are both violations of our terms of service.

Tip: Think you’ve encountered a spammer? Let us know, and we’ll look into the account. You can alert us to spam profiles by sending a direct message to @spam! In addition, you can block the spammer by heading to their account page, and on the right side, clicking the block link (they won’t know you’ve blocked them).

Understand the real-time nature of Twitter

Messages on Twitter are short, quick and able to reach people wherever they happen to be. That combination makes it an instantaneous medium, which has a couple of implications for businesses:

• You can ask questions, float ideas and solicit feedback on Twitter—and expect pretty quick replies most of the time.
• If you’ve just launched a product, ask users what they think or search for real-time tweets from people talking about your product. You can also ask or search for feedback on new ad campaigns you’ve launched, stores you’ve opened or murky issues you have to handle.
• When people raise customer service issues on Twitter, they generally expect a quick reply—within a day, if not within a few hours, depending on the nature of your business. Keep an eye on your @mentions.

Measure the value of Twitter

Before you set up measurement tools, focus on the quality of your engagement, and use your gut to check how things are going. How’s the feedback and interaction with your followers? Are you responding to most or your @messages? Are most tweets about you positive? Or if they started out largely negative, are they coming around? Are more people beginning to engage with you and mention your company?

Next, think about quantifying your experience. Although it can be tricky to add up the value of relationships, Twitter does lend itself to measurement in a few ways—especially if you’ve already defined what you hope will be different for your company in three months, six months or a year if you succeed on Twitter. Tactics like these can then help you assess your progress in meeting that goal:

• Keep a tally of questions answered, customer problems resolved and positive exchanges held on Twitter. Do the percentages change over time?
• When you offer deals via Twitter, use a unique coupon code so that you can tell how many people take you up on that Twitter-based promotion. If you have an online presence, you can also set up a landing page for a promotion, to track not only click-throughs but further behavior and conversions.
• Use third-party tools to figure out how much traffic your websites are receiving from Twitter.
• Track click-throughs on any link you post in a tweet. Some URL shortening services let you track click-throughs.

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Winning the Job Interview

FROM THE INTERVIEW HERO…

Hello Friend,

My name is unimportant. For now, I must remain in the shadows. You can just call me Hero.
What I’m about to tell you could make you angry. It could make you very angry. And frankly it should make you angry. In fact, I hope it makes you furious. I hope it makes you so furious that you’ll pay attention. Very close attention. Even after all these years, when I think about it, it still makes me mad. I’ll tell you why I’m so mad in a minute…

BUT FIRST LET ME TELL YOU WHO I AM.

I’m an executive recruiter, a search consultant, or more commonly known as a Headhunter. My job is to help companies find top talent so the companies can accomplish their goals, profit and grow. Paid by the companies… to accomplish their objectives… so they can grow. And I’m paid very very well. I’m supposed to represent them…not you the job seeker. In the process I have become one of the most successful, sought-out and highest paid recruiters in America. I’ve made millions. I say this not to boast, but to assure you that this is the “real deal”. I am not some ex-Human Resources Director that couldn’t make it in my world if their life depended on it.
I am the real deal and I’ve come here to help you.

HERE’S WHY…

Over the years, I began to think about all the people who don’t have the huge advantage of a professional search consultant on their side. Someone who can guide them, coach them, and show them how to win their “Dream Job”. I thought, “Those poor folks are at a terrible disadvantage. What about those folks whose industry has been hard-hit? Who will help them? Will they just be left to twist in the wind? Left without a chance to win their dream job? Where can they turn to get accurate and effective job-hunting and interviewing strategies? Who will be their champion? Who would be their hero?”

So I looked around and found nothing…then I asked my colleagues the same questions …and they just laughed and it made me mad. “No will help them,” they said. Then it occurred to me that no one cared …that, “Those folks would just have to figure it out themselves.” You know…a lot of people think that you should “look out for number one” and the devil can take the rest. Well I don’t.

THE MORE I THOUGHT ABOUT IT …THE MORE MAD IT MADE ME …FUMING MAD!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It may surprise you to find out another little-known truth that could really make you crazy…I’ll get to that in a minute. But first,

HOW DID WE END UP HERE?

While most of us were living our lives and dreaming our dreams of the future; a future filled with promise and security… the world changed. For some of us it happened slowly over a period of years.
For others it happened overnight. A downsizing… a right sizing… a reduction in force… no matter what they called it, somebody just lost their job. “Somebody” by the millions. Maybe it’s you; maybe it’s not you but someone you know. As I write this, unemployment is almost 9% and in some places it’s over 10%! That’s 1 in every 10 people out of work!

And it’s getting worse, not better…

And I guarantee that even if you have a job, unemployment is like a rock tossed in a pond. The ripples are affecting you. They’re affecting you in so many ways that you don’t even know and can’t even count.

Maybe you are unemployed, underemployed, in the wrong industry or profession, or maybe your whole industry just became obsolete. Maybe you’re lucky and it’s not so bad. Maybe you just want to look at options to upgrade your current job. Or maybe it’s just a gnawing tummy-twisting sense of insecurity. A feeling you can’t define …a feeling you can’t shake …a feeling that something isn’t right. A feeling that something needs to change or else those dreams you hold so dearly will evaporate just like the value of those stocks we had in our 401Ks. I hope not, but maybe …JUST MAYBE.

YES, I’M MAD AND I’M GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
I’ll BE YOUR CHAMPION…
I’ll BE YOUR HERO!

After being involved in literally thousands of interviews from staff level to senior executives, there’s one little-known truth about winning your dream job and advancing your career and really having a shot at your dreams, that outshines every other truth. I studied it backward and forward, I analyzed it up and down hoping I was wrong, praying that I was missing something. But I realized, it simply “is what it is…”

AND WHEN, I FINALLY HAD TO ACCEPT THIS LITTLE-KNOWN TRUTH IT JUST MADE ME CRAZY.

Here it is…THE TRUTH:
On any given day, in any hiring manager’s office, in virtually any company in the USA and probably throughout the planet, the truth is this: It doesn’t matter that you are the most qualified, the smartest, or the hardest working. It really doesn’t matter! Someone else will probably get your dream job…

WHY? I know it’s hard to believe, and IT’S NOT FAIR…but with alarming regularity, the most qualified, deserving, and capable candidates will finish 2nd, 3rd or not even get invited back for a 2nd interview.
I’ve seen it over and over… hardworking deserving family men and women miss out on jobs that were a perfect fit. I’ve seen one person’s career take off like a shot out of a cannon while a “more qualified” person continued to struggle. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times. Don’t fool yourself. It’s probably happened to you. You know I’m right…and yes, IT’S NOT FAIR.

HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?

It’s the God’s honest truth. I know it’s not fair, but the people who consistently win the great jobs are not always the most qualified. The truth is that the people who consistently win the great jobs are the ones who win the interview.

THIS IS SO VERY IMPORTANT, I WILL REPEAT MYSELF… THE PEOPLE WHO CONSISTENTLY WIN THE GREAT JOBS ARE THE ONES WHO WIN THE INTERVIEW.

To put it plainly and simply, he who WINS the interview is he who WINS the job. I know this because I have often been the one who helped them win it.

AND NOW I AM GOING TO HELP YOU WIN TOO!

THE SECRET INFORMATION THAT USED TO BE AVAILABLE ONLY TO A PRIVILEGED FEW IS NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU!

This is what this website is all about; winning your dream job. I use the term “win” because I want you to really get it. I want you to really understand that this is a competition.

IT’S REAL AND IT’S FIERCE AND IT’S NEVER BEEN MORE COMPETITIVE THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW. AND IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER.

BUT LOSING DOESN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES.

After I finally calmed down, I decided to do something about it. I decided to do something for the underdog. I decided to do something for the guy or gal who does not have an inside track or great relationship with a headhunter who can give them that edge…can give them that huge advantage that will help them win. If you already have a great headhunter, then you might know what I know and you’ll go into your next interview with an unfair advantage. But if not, get my SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB and you’ll go into your next interview with a huge advantage. You will have the deck stacked in your favor for a change. You’ll be able to compete on a level playing field with the candidates who do have someone like me coaching them. You’ll be able to compete because you have me, your Hero, on your side.

AND I CAN HELP YOU WIN, AGAIN AND AGAIN!

One thing is for sure; nothing will change until you change. With the help of the SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB, available here, you can make the necessary changes and create real and lasting change for the better in your life by nailing your next interview and winning your dream job.

THE GOOD NEWS IS…

This deep recession and sluggish economy won’t last forever. That robust economy that seems so long ago will return. But when it does you’d better be ready. You’d better be prepared. If you are prepared, your life will flourish! And if you are not ready? Well …what has the last year gotten you? Expect a lot more of the same.

DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE! Take advantage of this SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB now. Get a jump on the millions who will whine and complain about the tough times then wait until the last minute to act! I’m amazed at how few really seem to understand that THIS IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL, THIS IS YOUR LIFE!

WHAT I AM OFFERING YOU HERE WILL MAKE MY FELLOW HEADHUNTERS FURIOUS.
QUITE FRANKLY, I DON’T CARE! THIS IS JUST TOO IMPORTANT. YOU ARE TOO IMPORTANT.

You can beat them at their own game. But you must be armed and prepared with the SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB only available here. Order today by secure checkout and start WINNING!

If you are one of the millions who feel that it is time for a change in your career, a change for the better, you are in the right place at the right time. If you are unemployed, underemployed or just sick and tired of waiting for something to happen, this SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB is written especially for you. The tools and techniques available in the SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB can get you back into this highly competitive job market and can accelerate your career with real world techniques and information available only to the privileged few until now.

Sure there are some basic interviewing techniques that you can get online for free but that information is not even in the same ballpark as what I offer here. What they offer is weak and quite frankly there’s a reason it’s free. It’s worth exactly what they charge: $0…nada…zilch! Using their tired old information is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. Don’t.

If you want that “edge”, that “unfair advantage” and insider secrets that a lucky few get from top headhunters like me, then you should get my SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB today.

TO WIN YOUR JOB INTERVIEW YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

And it’s finally available right here! Right now

The SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB is available for INSTANT DOWNLOAD for only $9.95. Buy with confidence using PayPal secure checkout and get ready to WIN your interview!

Click to buy via PayPal secure checkout.

ORDER NOW FOR $29.95!

I know there are a few other interview guides out there. Believe me I’ve done my research. But most will cost you 3-10 times more than what my SECRET GUIDE TO WINNING THE JOB costs!
What’s more, most are written by human resources flunkies that couldn’t make it in my world if their life depended on it. Frankly, if these folks were any good, they would be working at one of the top executive search firms, like me, and making hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they make now.

Who would you rather trust? An expert at the top of his game who’s made millions helping people win the top jobs or an HR manager whose day consists of explaining health care benefits and maternity leave policy to their company’s staff? If you needed heart surgery, you’d want a heart surgeon right? You wouldn’t go to a general surgeon. You’d go to a specialist

LEARN MORE AT WWW.JOBINTERVIEWHERO.COM

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Of all the social networks out there, LinkedIn is used primarily by professionals for networking.  LinkedIn users post job postings, career change announcements, questions to professionals in certain industries, pitch ideas and much more.  The key is how to get connections to talk to and connect with?  Well, much in the same way Twitter is used to gain followers, there are some tips and secrets to get traction quickly.

To make it quick and easy, here’s how to add 500+ connections in 24 hours.

1. Setup a LinkedIn account (if you don’t have one)
2. Get your profile setup and add all your information until your profile is 100% complete
3. Join the TopLinked group – http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=42031
4. Get approved in TopLinked
5. Join the OpenNetworker group – http://www.OpenNetworker.com/a/?a=21398
6. Import the contacts provided
7. Send personal invitations to all
8. Reply to all the email thank you

That’s it.  Get 500+ connections from a wide array of people, industries, levels and interests.

Good luck in your network.

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Almost anybody can easily learn how to make money with Google Adsense. Before we enumerate the steps, let us understand how it works first. Every time a keyword is typed on Google, the search results page will also display paid advertisements by website owners through another Google program called AdWords.

This comes out as the “Sponsored Links.” Once you sign up for Adsense, the same advertisements are allowed to be placed on your website for free and you will receive a portion of the income each time a surfer will click on the link.

Now to make money, start off by filling up the Adsense application form and confirm the email automatically generated by Google. Afterwards, Google checks your website if it has potential to bring in traffic with which access to the account will be activated in one to three days.

If you don´t have a website, you can still set up a blogger account and created a blogger blog, fill it with some unique content post and then apply for Adsense through it.

Original content can be tracked by Google, and make sure that your website is worth catching attention. Put yourself in an unbiased shoe and ask yourself: if I did not make this website, will I even be browsing this page?

The content need not be literary awarding winning pieces but it should read well and simple to understand. Plus, it should provide some useful information for the searcher.

Once approved, you can now log in your account and carefully read the terms and Conditions. There are several ad layouts you can choose and just paste the ad code in your website´s page.

Properly evaluate which ads are relevant to your content and which ones have the strongest possibility of bringing revenue. Strategize the location of each ad. Having that fixed, also focus on your content and make it look professional.

Not all topics pay out equally as well. To make money in adsense, you need to develop content for high paying adsense keywords such as mortgage, loans, insurance etc.

Learn how to make money with google adsense. Check out the best tools and services that can help explode your adsense income.

Article Source: How To Make Money With Google Adsense – Earn Passive Income Online With Adsense

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Ok, twitter is going bonkers! Newscasters, grandmas, cops and corporations are all twitter-crazy.  Here’s the top 10 twitter apps to make your tweets more pleasureable.

1. Twitter Atlas

Fresh Logic Studios has built an addictive Flash mapping interface, aggregating worldwide “Tweets” (Twitter messages). The screen refreshes every six seconds or so with a different Twitterer’s status report; and profile details are displayed on top of their location on a map. A toolbox allows you to toggle between views – and the Microsoft Virtual Earth graphics are stunning. Each of the Twitterers has their own lollipop on the map to note where they are, plus there’s (limited) language support. But the Atlas isn’t just a visualisation device for status junkies. There’s also a practical side: users can get directions, search for local shops and services, find out what events are coming up in places around the world, and even see where the most expensive petrol stations are around.

What’s it missing? The ability to get only your Twitter group’s tweets shown on the map.

2. Squawk

Those enjoying a Second Life have a few options for social network integration. One of the most impressive is Squawk, which links up your gaming application with services including Twitter and Jaiku. There’s an introductory how-to video for installing the service (note: you’ll have to find it as an object in the SL ‘metaverse’ and then configure it). There’s also a good social network devoted to tracking Squawk’s progress, letting those not in Second Life peep in on the locations of top squawkers.

3. Twitticious

This little app from Alex Girard is about as stripped-down as you get – it doesn’t even have a GUI. But it’s a time-saver for those who’d like to link up their Del.icio.us bookmarks and their Twitter posts for later tagging and grouping. All the app does is take your tweets and route them to your Delicious account. With lots of Twitter networks set up specifically for this kind of link-sharing activity, this could be a golden life-hack. A word of warning though: there’s no turning off the service. Full marks go to Alex for making some amendments to the service, to allow your followers’ comments to also be added as links to your delicious account – as well as the Public Timeline’s, should you want that many links in your Delicious account!

4. Remember the Milk + Twitter

Alert and to-do service Remember the Milk has just combined its range of services with that of Twitter, meaning that if you include ‘rtm‘ as a friend in your Twitter network, your new task-oriented friend informs all of the web services that you’ve got synced up to Remember The Milk – and that can include iGoogle, Google Calendar and others. The smart bit is a series of commands that you can send to RTM via Twitter, using a few easy short codes. For instance, to get a list of these commands just type in ‘d rtm !tips‘ and you’ll get back a full command list. Once you get the hang of the commands, you’ll see how much time this can save, instead of flipping between devices or websites to update your lists.

5. Social Comic Book

It’s never going to win any prettiness awards, but the creative juices were flowing the day that Tim Wintle decided to mash up Flickr tags with Tweets. The idea is simple: enter your Twitter name, and the app creates a comic book of six panels – with your Tweets serving as the description in the panel and Flickr photos being pulled in that relate to your Tweets. Kind of like a visual Mad-Libs. Great idea – just a bit of a shame that some Tweets can’t find relevant Flickr photos to attach to them. Dust up the old design and it could be quite viral.

Another comic strip attempt is Tweetweet. Not quite as inventive as Social Comic Book, but still worth a look if you’ve got ten minutes to kill between meetings.

6. Twapper

Twapper hooks into your 30Boxes online calendar account and allows you to post tweets directly into your calendar from your mobile phone or online. It also allows you to see the Twitter activity of your network from within the 30Boxes environment. Another great feature is the ability to ‘roll your own groups’ of Twitterers. Whilst it helps to have a 30Boxes account to get the most from the integration, there are some features available to anyone.

7. Twit Bin

Why go to Twitter when Twitter can come to you? Twitbin’s a Firefox extension that nestles all your friends’ tweets into a sidebar. It’s configurable too, and the tiny ad at the bottom of the sidebar is something I can live with. BTW, it works just as well in Flock.

8. TwittyTunes

If you want to share what you’re listening to with the ease of Twitter, this is the browser plugin for you. It’s a sibling of the popular FoxyTunes extension, and supports dozens of players. So if you’re signed in to your Last.fm player, Twitty Tunes will let your Twitter friends know what you’re listening to. There’s even a social network devoted to the most recent TwittyTunes shout-outs, called Foxy Tunes Twitter DJ.

9. Twitterment

This one appeals to the statisticians and the buzz crawlers. This charts the ‘zeitgeist’ of what’s being Tweeted about across the globe. You can even see comparisons of one key phrase versus another, and what day of the week key terms pop up most frequently. For instance, here’s one that compares beer and sex. Not surprisingly, beer starts getting popular around Friday.

10. Flotzam

Flotzam started life as Flitterbook, a showcase mash-up of Flickr, Facebook and Twitter data – developed by Karsten Januszewski and Tim Aidlin for MIX07. It’s available only to PC users as a downloadable .exe or as a screensaver, but it’s well worth having a nose around. For Mac OS X users, check out some of the dashboard widgets collected in the Twitter Fan Wiki.

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Community and collaboration are wonderful things.

Fourteen great minds on social media have shared thoughts on what 2009 may have in store for us. Here’s some of what they’re thinking:

* “Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology – it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful.” – David Armano
* “You may not always start the year as a leader, but you can certainly finish it that way.” – Rohit Bhargava
* “Intimacy touches emotion; emotion powers conversation.” – Pete Blackshaw
* “Doors are going to close all over the social web. Why? Because the money didn’t come the way people thought it would.” – Chris Brogan
* “The tipping point has not only *not* been reached, but could still tilt *away* from Social Media.” – Todd Defren
* “There’s a lot of fixing that needs to be done.” – Jason Falls
* “Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball.” – Ann Handley
* “We’re going to develop a set of better metrics to help guide, direct and validate ‘commitment’.” – Joseph Jaffe
* “The movement is rooted in a desire to have quality, not quantity, as people cocoon in the face of the economic crisis.” – Charlene Li
* “After a pre-qualifying wrestling match…” – Ben McConnell
* “These will be cumulative events and interactions that will build brand loyalty for the companies that pay attention to them.” – Scott Monty
* “The recession will force revenue results out of social technologies.” – Jeremiah Owyang
* “Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return.” – Andy Sernovitz
* “Suddenly, being Facebook friends with your mom will seem less ridiculous than following 4,000 strangers on Twitter.” – Greg Verdino

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As marketers ring in the New Year, talk naturally turns to what the year ahead holds. What will be the hot trends in marketing? While we don’t have a crystal ball, we at MediaBrains live and breathe online marketing every day, so we have our fingers on the pulse of what’s happening in the industry. And we see no slow-down in sight for new innovations in online marketing. Investments in all-that-is-interactive marketing will rise in 2009. According to Forrester Research, interactive marketing spending (also known as online marketing) will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012. To put this into context, interactive marketing, which currently accounts for just 8 percent of all ad spending, will increase to 18 percent of marketers’ total advertising budgets within five years.

Of course, no discussion of online marketing’s future would be complete without mentioning Web 2.0, an all-encompassing term used to describe the various “next generation” online tools marketers have begun to use. The ever-evolving technology that is Web 2.0 will continue to shape marketing for years to come. Already, more and more marketers have been experimenting with Web 2.0 applications including micro-blogs, mobile marketing, social networks and even virtual worlds. We predict more will take the plunge next year as companies begin to fully integrate these technologies into their marketing programs.

Here are the top Web 2.0 marketing trends we predict will grow in 2009:

1. Video
One aspect of the 2.0 trend that will really take hold this year is video. Of more than 5,300 business and IT professionals globally, 63% of respondents accessed online videos at least once a week, according to Forrester Research. Marketers have realized that video has the same impact as television – a capacity for drawing in viewers and capturing their attention in ways print can’t match. Product information and research is more compelling and valuable when viewed, rather than read from the printed page or computer screen.

2. Social networking
BtoB marketers who haven’t looked into social networking may be missing opportunities to reach their audience. In social networks, marketers find communities of like-minded individuals who want to engage with others and share ideas and opinions. This holds true in the business realm as well. A MediaBrains customer poll found that 58% of business users are on Facebook, and 53% report using Linked-In. We predict this will be the year that BtoB marketers attempt to harness the power of social media with the purpose of meeting business objectives.

3. Reputation management
Along with social media comes a whole new crop of challenges for BtoB marketers. One of the biggest: Reputation management. Building a business’ online reputation has been a challenge for marketers for years. But with the onslaught of social media venues to monitor and participate in, that job has become a whole lot harder – and more important than ever in 2009. The challenge: manage your online reputation as the number of business-related social media sites continues to grow exponentially.

4. Blogs
According to research by Universal McCann, 73% of users read blogs and 36% think more positively about brands that have them. Business blogs, by their very nature, are biased; however, they add a level of credibility, personal interaction, timeliness and informality that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate website. But for a blog to be successful, it has to be meaningful. So make sure the information you offer is relevant and valuable to your audience.

5. Micro-blogs
Out of society’s thirst for “sound-bites” and summaries, versus long dialogue, has risen the micro-blog. The most popular example of micro-blogging: Twitter. (Twitter defines itself as “a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.”) The appeal of micro-blogging is both its immediacy and portability. Posts are brief (typically under 200 characters) and can be written or received with a variety of devices, including cell phones. Even traditional media organizations, like The New York Times and BBC have begun to send headlines and links in micro-blog posts. BtoB marketers’ challenge: Finding creative and effective ways to harness the power of micro-blogging.

6. Mobile Marketing
Technology advances and improvements to handhelds allow marketing content and messages to now be delivered in a meaningful way to mobile devices. As iPhone and similar devices become increasingly “dummy-proof,” more consumers and business users are adopting and using mobile devices for a wide range of communication needs. Two-way messaging and mobile coupons are a few ways BtoB marketers use mobile marketing. This may be the year that mobile marketing deserves a closer look.

7. SMS
Within mobile marketing, Short Message Service, known as SMS, has become the most popular branch. Why? To put it simply: People are obsessed with text. Technology has again played a big role here. Cell phones with full keyboards (versus the numerical 0-through-9 keypad) have become top sellers for business users and consumers. Turns out SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application on the planet with 2.4 billion active users, or 74% of all mobile phone subscribers sending and receiving text messages (according to Wikipedia). As a result, SMS has become a legitimate advertising channel.

8. Sales 2.0
This onslaught of Web 2.0 next-generation technology has mandated a transition to Sales 2.0, which is quickly becoming the new mantra for BtoB selling. In Sales 2.0, 80% of customers find you before you find them, according to Intrepid Learning Solutions. Sales now must operate in an “on-demand world” – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What exactly is Sales 2.0? The essential difference is that Sales 2.0 is focused on customer engagement – using Web 2.0 technologies to engage and sell, foster brand loyalty and cue sales reps in real-time to pivotal buying signals and drivers. Sales 2.0 is about authenticity, interactivity and creating a more collaborative environment. Customers are able to get only the essential information they need, while salespeople must stay focused on customer needs rather than on a pre-determined agenda. And with the near-immediate feedback inherent in Sales 2.0, marketers can refine messages and techniques more quickly than in the past.

9. ROI 2.0
Return on investment has always been top-of-mind for marketers. However, with the web came the ability to track and measure ROI in ways that were never possible in the offline world. The problem was: even 8 or so years into the Internet adoption curve, marketers still hadn’t quite figured out how to effectively measure the ROI of their online campaigns. They lacked clarity on what measurements were most meaningful. And at the end of the day, what did all those stats and numbers really mean to their bottom line? Today, marketers have begun to understand and leverage online ROI. There are more tools than ever to help marketers better understand and measure whatever it is that is most important to them: be it clicks, leads, newsletter sign-ups, and so on.

One last thing that is sure to impact marketers in 2009: the economy. Revenues in every sector will be impacted. At the end of the day, even with all the new web 2.0 techniques at marketers’ disposal, what will matter most, and help companies weather the storm, are tried and true attributes: a commitment to customer service and quality products.

What do you think will be the hottest trend in 2009?

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Step One: Make full use of your permission-based email software package. Kaye/Bassman has a ton of advanced features for handling your campaigns. It makes it easy to create and send your newsletters. It will manage subscriptions and bounced messages for you. It automates a lot of the grunt work involved in an email marketing campaign.

Step Two: You’ll have to decide what type of campaign you want to run and how frequently you want to send your messages. I recommend sending at least a monthly newsletter. Of course, if you sell more than one product, it might be a good idea to send multiple messages. Just be sure to keep your broadcast times consistent. You may consider sending promotional messages offering a discount or coupon for your product.

Step Three: Add a sign-up form to your website. The sign-up form lets you collect a group of addresses for your sending lists. We’ve found that it’s generally safe to import anyone who did business with you in the last year or so. Just make sure to send content relevant to what they purchased. (Always provide value!)

Step Four: Create an effective email template. A lot of email software programs include HTML templates. Our system actually comes with over 300 professionally designed templates. You can also create one in-house or use a graphic-design service.

Step Five: Develop quality relevant content for your messages. I cannot speak highly enough of providing relevant content for your customers. We all find it refreshing when, instead of the typical spam messages, we get an email that actually enhances our lives. As your contact lists grow, you’ll notice increased traffic on the day of and the days following a message broadcast.

Establishing a Recognizable Identity with your Customers

For most people, the majority of emails we receive are junk. As a result, we’ve developed an unconscious little ritual when we open our in-boxes. It seems at first glance that we would look to the subject line of a message to decide whether or not to open it. However, recent studies have shown that most readers check the ‘From’ name to see if they know the sender. At first, I was surprised; then I remembered another important rule for email marketing: the rule of identity.

When you send an email, you have to remember that the identity of the sender is just as important as the message content. Of course, part of establishing an identity requires providing premium content that gives value to your customers. But it’s just as important to use a recognizable ‘From’ name and address. This could be the name of your organization, or the name of a highly visible person within your organization. Most importantly, I have found that you must be consistent. Think of it like establishing an electronic friendship: over time, our customers will get to know our companies. Only after they get to know who we are will they check our subject lines for the message’s content.

Of course, this means that your subject lines should also serve to establish your identity.

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