Twitter: Inane Chatter or Powerful Conversation Channel? Our Ford Story in 140 Characters
by Anne Deeter Gallaher

The power of social conversation and social networks in creating fresh marketing approaches is illustrated by a Deeter Gallaher Group case study that follows a car dealership’s foray into the stream of social media.

With the support of our innovation-game clientele, we are honing the two imperatives for anyone wishing to pursue successful social media campaigns: significant investment of time and dedicated people and financial resources.

To be effective in social media you must — engage people in two-way conversations, share ideas and information, measure results and opinions—there is no way to circumvent the huge investment of time and resources on the public timeline. These media platforms might be free for now—Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook—but the man hours and agency hours to create strategies, engage customers, and measure feedback is far from free. Tempering our insatiable desire to learn and absorb all this information with the economic realities of billable time is a Herculean struggle. I know we are not the only firm working to achieve this balance and trying to define the elusive ROI.

Do a quick search of the #marketing, #IABC, or #likeminds hashtags on Twitter, and you’ll find lively debate on social media’s ROI. Whether it’s Return on Investment for the CFOs, Return on Influence for the CMOs, or Return on Information for the CIOs, every client wants and deserves a measurable return.

Business owners and agencies alike wonder, What’s the best social media engagement for us to follow? Should we begin with a 10-page strategy or a one-page blog decision tree like the US Air Force? The good news is that there is no one prescribed methodology for social media success. Listening is not scientific, and it doesn’t take a degree in marketing to glean results from your efforts.

For us, we have created a blend of traditional and social media that is producing impressive returns for our clients. Our latest case study involves Pennsylvania Ford dealer LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, Ford Motor Company, and social media marketing. This is our version of The Ford Story:

1. Engage in social media first by listening to people of influence. Ford’s Global Digital Communications Director, @ScottMonty, tops our list of communicators who provide highly informed, highly valued tweets. His Social Media Marketing Blog is a perfect place for businesses to learn the art and influence of social media.

We engaged with Scott on Twitter and have learned an MBA’s worth of strategy and networking just from listening to him. Soon our listening turned to talking (that’s happened on several occasions with our Twitter friends like @HowellMarketing, @TrendTracker, @CMEGroup).

More important, On June 24, 2009, we brought him to Harrisburg for a professional development seminar on Social Media and Business co-sponsored by Deeter Gallaher Group, LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, and the Harrisburg Chapter of IABC.

Ford’s success in the social media realm has attracted international industry attention and a branding award by the Society for New Communications Research, as well as a recent surprise $1 billion profit announced in the WSJ.

2. Communicate to all your audiences. The printed word is not dead, declares Tyler Cowen in his opening sentence of Three Tweets for the Web. But how can you garner the greatest media mileage from an article that’s in print? A perfect meld of traditional and social media can begin with the op-ed or an 800-word column “opposite the editorial” in a publication.

More over, On May 29, our client Richard E. Jordan II (@RichardEJordan2) wrote an 800-word op-ed that was printed in the Central Penn Business Journal’s transportation issue. Rick Jordan is CEO of LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, in Lemoyne, PA, the number 1 dealer in the Philadelphia region. As part of a campaign that includes full-color ads, targeted event sponsorships, and public relations, Rick’s op-ed offered timely C-level insight in his own words. Teamed with social media, the op-ed packs a strong communications punch.

3. Take it into the social web. As soon as the Central Penn Business Journal ran the article and posted it to their Web site on Friday, May 29, we began tweeting it (which drives traffic to the business journal’s site as well) and linked it to Rick Jordan’s two company Web sites: www.LBSmithFord.com and www.SmithLandUSA.com.

It’s wise to tweet articles using a measurement tool like bit.ly so clients and agencies have an accurate analytic of the force of social mentions. Within a few hours, ““Is Ford at a Competitive Disadvantage? PA Ford Dealer Responds” was tweeted and retweeted across the public timeline.

It caught the attention of @ScottMonty and @Ford. The quality and value of the conversation on Twitter is what propels retweets, so in blog postings or guest columns be careful not to minimize the credibility of powerful language and clear writing. The influence from retweets is vast and deep, forming simultaneous media channels. In addition to Ford dealers on Twitter who retweeted Rick’s op-ed, the article was retweeted by @riGMBlog, @DrivenMediaComm, @nadaguides, @dtdbob3 and throughout central Pennsylvania.

4. Capture the serious attention of C-levels. Knowing how authentic and innovation-focused Mr. Mulally Ford’s CEO is, I felt he would appreciate reading what Rick Jordan had written as “a Ford foot soldier on the front lines of American car manufacturing.”

The day the op-ed ran, I sent an email to Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally with the article link in it. Was this a long shot? Perhaps. Do CEOs really care what people say about their brand? The great ones do. Rick Jordan had quoted Scott Monty, Alan Mulally, and Bill Ford in his fresh perspective on the automotive industry from the dealer’s viewpoint.

5. Never underestimate the power of conversation. The following Monday morning, Mr. Mulally sent a personal email with genuine remarks and appreciation for the “PA Ford dealer” viewpoint. He sent Rick Jordan a personal email as well. Astonishingly, our email exchanges were in the midst of GM declaring bankruptcy on June 1. As a Fortune 10 executive, Mr. Mulally certainly has global concerns that demand his attention, but his willingness to listen and respond to a Ford dealer’s first-person perspective defines his leadership style and successes.

The lesson is that social media conversations are extremely important to a company’s marketing and branding strategy. It’s also an opportunity to carry timely, unfiltered business information straight to the corner suite.

Is Ford listening? Absolutely. Are your customers listening? Yes. Are you telling your story? Social media demands a top-down mandate. If the CEO of Ford Global deems it valuable to sit with his Social Media director Scott Monty and engage consumers in two-way conversations, then certainly it’s a wholesale embrace of new media channels by Ford. Mr. Mulally has invited the “empowered consumer” into Ford’s product decision-making through blogs, the Fiesta movement, and The Ford Story video collection. Clearly the public has responded with renewed brand enthusiasm.

What did the LB Smith Ford CEO Rick Jordan think of our traditional and social media marriage? “I am a social media believer, and although I’m not in my 30s, you’ll find me on Twitter (@RichardEJordan2) and below on YouTube.

“I understand my role as the CEO involves communicating with our customers and the community in many different channels.”

Beginning on Twitter, Rick’s conversations with @ScottMonty evolved into a conversation with Alan Mulally, and he has now achieved a social media Grand Slam. Mr. Alan Mulally will be the first honoree at The Second Mile’s “Celebration of Leadership 2010” event in Hershey, PA, sponsored by LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury.

“We are thrilled to invite and honor Mr. Mulally to tell the Ford story of turning the Ford ship around to 1,200 people in our business community,” says Rick.
“Our social media investment and commitment to a conversation has yielded more Return on Investment, Influence, and Information than we have ever imagined.”

The Deeter Gallaher Group, a Harrisburg-based marketing firm, has always taken pride in its tagline: “Powerful language. Smart marketing.SM” The advent of social media, however, has caused us to internally recognize a new ethos: “Powerful conversation. Smart marketing.”

Anne Deeter Gallaher is owner and CEO of the Deeter Gallaher Group LLC, a marketing/ad/PR firm in Mechanicsburg, PA, delivering Powerful language. Smart marketing?.

She can be reached at ADG [AT] DeeterGallaherGroup.com and @AnneDGallaher on Twitter.

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We Care: 5 Easy Steps to Make Listening a Form of Activity

By Anne Deeter Gallaher

Are you tired of reading and hearing about Twitter? You’re bombarded by social media seminars. And now your clients have started asking whether their businesses should have a LinkedIn account, a Facebook fan page, a Twitter profile, or all of the above. (For a complete social media platform base, you’ll also need a blog, a YouTube account, Flickr, and Digg!) It’s time to conquer social media anxiety and join the conversation.

Where should you begin? With the same basic communications protocol @DaleCarnegie explained in 1936. In chapter four of How to Win Friends and Influence People, “An Easy Way to Become a Good Conversationalist,” Carnegie writes about former Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, who said, “There is no mystery about successful business [conversation]. Exclusive attention to the person speaking to you…Nothing else is so flattering as that.” Carnegie observed that “Dr. Eliot’s listening was not mere silence, but a form of activity.”

For a business owner, the thought of paying employees or agencies to listen in silence in social media channels seems wasteful. Businesses need customers, not conversation monitors. Or do they?

The most successful businesses understand their markets, their customers, and their suppliers. The best companies are futurists, trendseekers, customer-centric, and great listeners. The quickest way to forge connections in all these areas is the public timeline, and the ROI can be immediate. By following Ford’s @ScottMonty or @comcastcares you’ll quickly discover the value they bring to their companies just by listening.

Although it’s hard to convince management and clients that being productive now includes listening to hundreds of 140-character tweets or reading industry blog posts from consumer bloggers, that’s precisely the truth. New media has snatched new mindshare, and business media channels no longer cater to the elite. Consumer opinion rules.

To ease into the conversations, here are some simple steps to help you find and listen to people in the social media sphere:

1. Choose one or two platforms to engage in. While you are “doing” business—producing, servicing, selling—smart companies are listening to conversations about their competition and searching the public timeline for opportunities to create their own Blue Ocean Strategy. Listening on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and reading blog posts from consumers in your industry provides enough data to develop a competitive landscape. What’s your competition doing? Who are their customers? Is there a need being unfulfilled? Is there a weakness? Is there a service delivered unsatisfactorily, hence an opportunity? You’ll find your answers in social media channels.

2. Choose what topics to listen in on. Dedicate at least one hour per day to explore conversations of interest and consequence. On Twitter, use the Search function to find people talking about your products or to discover wholesale conversations on your topic—energy, analytics, IT, commercial real estate, non-profits. On Tweetdeck, you can organize your columns by topics and listen to real-time, continuous conversations. As a branding firm, we listen to @Wegmans, @Ford, @comcastcares, @JetBlue, and @Gevalia. We listen to streaming topics which are connoted by a hashtag—anyone talking about #IABC, #marketing, #PR, #likeminds, #entrepreneurs, and #CEOs is noteworthy to us. It won’t take long to find pertinent topics to listen to and influencers in your fields of interest.

3. Choose who to listen to within a topic. You can’t possibly listen to everyone who’s sharing online, but you can discern who is sharing the best content and who has valuable connections. Find the industry experts by evaluating their tweets. Unfollow the people who don’t add value. We listen to PR colleagues @HowellMarketing, @MikeLizun, @SueYoungMedia, @thinkBIG_Blog, @AmberCadabra, @demicooper, and @kimschaumann around the world and learn from them. We read their case studies and comment on their blogs.

Who are the influencers in your field? Glen Gilmore (@TrendTracker) has developed such a strong knowledge-flow and group of followers that he is a media channel himself. The quality and value of his tweets attracts more than 60,000 followers who use him as a Search engine. Follow the people he tweets and retweets.

4. Listen to countertrend and divergent views. Try not to follow only like minds. Listen to those who rebuke social media and who have opposing political, trade, and business views. Learn why people feel social media is a fad and from that column, you will discover more influencers. Read a mashup of blog posts and comments from sites not related to your field to make your own product and consumer research richer. Regardless of industry, listen to local (@CPBJ, @andreacecil, @bydanielvictor) and national media (@WSJ and @USAToday) and local and national businesses (@Starbucks, @DunkinDonuts, @JetBlue, @mayoclinic, @Nordstrom). Listen to leaders and CEOs like @CEO_INGDIRECT, @jack_welch, @shelisrael, and @Scobleizer.

5. Build a rich personal and business community by listening. You can quickly discover where @SuzyWelch is on her new book tour, what new fast food account @ThePowerofSmall won, or what @garyvee says about wine. Your community on Twitter will be filled with people who are passionate about writing books, raising children, starting businesses, running governments, protesting governments, training for Ironman competitions, and curing cancers. Listening to them is the foundation to building your community.

Frank Eliason is @comcastcares and tweets from Philadelphia. His job is to “listen” to Comcast customers who seek his advice and tech help or who need to rant or rave about Comcast’s service. His real value is to be the ears of the corporation. The biggest signal he sends Comcast customers is that he is listening to them—Comcast Cares.

By engaging in social media for marketing, knowledge, or friendships, you are initiating a two-way conversation that begins with listening. And that sends a powerful message that says “I care.”

If you missed my first “Featured” article title: “Twitter: Inane Chatter or Powerful Conversation Channel?” just click on the link. It’s a Powerful In-depth Case Study on Ford Motors Enjoy

The Deeter Gallaher Group, a Harrisburg-based marketing firm, has always taken pride in its tagline: “Powerful language. Smart marketing.SM” The advent of social media, however, has caused us to internally recognize a new ethos: “Powerful conversation. Smart marketing.”

Anne Deeter Gallaher is owner and CEO of the Deeter Gallaher Group LLC, a marketing/ad/PR firm in Mechanicsburg, PA, delivering Powerful language. Smart marketing?.

She can be reached at ADG [AT] DeeterGallaherGroup.com and @AnneDGallaher on Twitter.

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Like anything, and this is especially true of working with social media, the more you give, the more you get. In other words, the more often you tweet the more activity you’ll generate. Some suggest that you tweet a few times a day, every day. Not every tweet needs to be profound. But they should all be useful.

It’s important that you don’t abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets ought to be about offering your followers useful and valuable information. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise you’ll be perceived as a spammer, and no one wants that tag.

Imagine if you had a large number of people following your tweets? Some people have tens of thousands following them. If you had something to promote and you had a large following, you could quickly and efficiently alert a lot of people of your promo. It acts sort of like a mass emailíng blast to your house email list, but it’s a heck of a lot easier and faster. This is the power of Twitter.

One thing that I’ve noticed with Twitter is that it can seem overwhelming at times. The sheer information on Twitter, the ‘how-to’s’, tutorials and all the other ubiquitous advice on how to use and take advantage of it can seem hard to understand and implement. So here’s an easy-to-understand list of the top ten ways in which you can use Twitter to market yourself, your business and your website.

The Top 10 Ways To Use Twitter for Marketing:

1. Use it to promote new pieces of content you or your company create to drive traffic to your site. From online articles to blog posts or from videos to webinars, each time you add something to the Web that is of value, tweet about it and include a link. (Most people on Twitter usewww.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short.)

2. Use it for learning new marketing ideas, strategies and techniques. If you follow the right people, and you have to be picky about who you follow, you’ll get pointed to a good amount of useful tutorials, videos, e-zines and other things that teach you about marketing.

3. Use it to get new customers. Use Twitter’s search to find people who may be interested in your product or service. There are many ingenious ways to search for people on Twitter. For example, if you sell red widgets you could go to http://search.twitter.com and find people who have tweeted specifically looking for red widgets. To do this, type the following into the search box: red widgets?

• You’ll notice a lot of the results will be of others selling red widgets. These ones will all obviously have links in them to direct people to the site they’re selling red widgets on. To weed these people/tweets out, use the negative sign like this: -http red widgets?

• Since every link has ‘http’ in it, using the negative sign in front of it will cause your search results to not include any tweets with links in them.

4. Use it to build your email list. Use Twitter’s search to find people who may be interested in the monthly newsletter you send out to your house email list. Invite these people to join.

5. Utilize Twitter plugins or add-ons such as TweetMyBlog or The Twitter Updater, which both automatically make tweets of every new blog post you publish. Also check out TwitThis. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the Web page and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their followers on Twitter.

Finally, look at TweetLater, a service that allows you to write lots of tweets at once and then schedule them to go out over time.

Get The Full Story and (5) Additional Ways Here, Enjoy

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With the huge outbreak in the online media and platforms like, blogs, forums, microblogs and different types of social networking sites people have an effective place to express their opinions and influence others. In the online world people own the brand. Social Media Monitoring is to keep track of all the conversations happening in the online world.

Social Media Monitoring is all about figuring on what the objectives are, listening, refining the talks, analyzing and taking action. Social Media Monitoring and analysis can be used by a brand to improve a product, get feedbacks, customer service, market research or any marketing and communication.

Listen: It is very important to “listen” to what people are talking about your brand, your competitors and the industry as a whole. People and their opinions influence your customers. Watch out for any complaints against you or your competitors, as it is the best opportunity to showcase your customer service to them and show that you care and value customers.

Potential customers also look for others opinions before they make the purchase decision.

Participate: It not about just listening, you need to get engaged and converse with people. If you respond timely to any of the questions it reassures the faith in your brand among the people. Even if your brand is not talked about its essential to know the key influencers and what are they talking about. Make a plan and start conversation at relevant places and establish your footprint so that you are equipped for any future talks of your brand.

Respond: When you are monitoring the conversations you know the happenings and can implement relevant responses. A proper response goes a long way in spreading the good about your brand in these times of the ripple effect like Twitter.

Tools: There are many paid and free tools to keep a tab on the conversations. It could be as simple as setting an alert through Google, Yahoo etc, searching for your brand name or the relevant keywords on Twitter, Social Media aggregators like Social Mention, Same Point, Backtype.

There are paid tools, which help in monitoring and analyzing the brand such as radian6, Collective intellect, TechrigySM2 to name a few.

About Position2 — Position2 is a leading Search & Social Media Marketing firm that delivers continuous growth for its customers through its proprietary “Surround & Intent Marketing” methodology. The company’s adaptive technology solutions are customizable to customers’ evolving marketing needs.

It delivers integrated Search & Social Media Marketing solutions that engages prospects at multiple touch-points in the online environment.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/position2 – Website: http://www.Position2.com

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1. Authorize your API connections. It seems like every other week a new Twitter scam pops up sending DMs on behalf of many unsuspecting users. Of course you can change your password to protect yourself, but many apps require an authorization for your account. Be sure to check http://twitter.com/account/connections to make sure everything there is legitimate.

2. Twitter provides their own widgets. There are apps galore out there, but did you know Twitter has developed their own series of widgets for you to use on websites, blogs and elsewhere? Check out http://twitter.com/goodies/widgets to find widgets to show search results, your recent tweets, or your favorite tweets. Here’s a quick sample of a search widget, showing scrolling chatter ahead of the 2nd TWTRCON conference coming up on October 22 in DC (want to attend? I have a 20% discount code: TWTRAC – I think the agenda is shaping up to beat the first one in SF earlier this year…) [Reading via feed? Please click through to the post to see the widget.]

Get The Full Story Here, Enjoy

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Ten Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers:

1. Explain to your followers what retweeting is and encourage them to retweet your links. Retweeting pushes your @username into foreign social graphs, resulting in clicks back to your profile. Track your retweets using retweetist.

2. Fill out your bio. Your latest tweets and @replies don’t mean much to someone that doesn’t know you. Your bio is the only place you have to tell people who you are. Also, your bio is displayed on Twitter’s Suggested Users page. Leaving it blank or non-descriptive doesn’t encourage people to add you.

3. As @garyvee says, “link it up.” Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, email signature, and everywhere else you live online. Also, check out the great feedburner-like badges from TwitterCounter for your blog.

4. Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them. Quality content coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your content, they’ll add you. Learn more about #hash tagging here.

5. Bring your twitter account into the physical world. Every time I give a talk, speak on a panel, shoot a podcast, present slides, or hand out business cards, I figure out a way to broadcast or display my twitter account.

6. Take pictures. Pictures are heavily retweeted/spread around. This one from US Airways Flight 1549 has been viewed 350,000+ times. For mobile pics use iPhone apps such as Tweetie or Twitterific, both which support on the go uploading.

7. Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason added thousands of followers…brilliant.

8. Follow the top twitter users and watch what they tweet. Pay attention to the type of content they sent out and how they address their audiences.

9. Reply to/get involved in #hash tag memes. search.twitter.com lists the hot ‘trending topics. Look for the #hash topics and jump in on the conversation (see #4 for links to #hash instructions).

10. Track your results. TwitterCounter will show you how many new users you’re adding per day and Qwitter will email you when someone unfollows you after a tweet.

If you enjoy this content, add me at twitter.com/kevinrose, thank you.

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About 230 packed the conference at the Holiday Inn, including reps from Bank of America, Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas. Walmart sent three from its Arkansas headquarters.

Keynote speaker David Armano told a spillover crowd that businesses on social media today are like teenagers experimenting with sex: They don’t know what to do, but they really want to do it. Then they’re disappointed when they finally get to do it.

Armano is with Dachis Corp., a new social media consulting firm in Texas founded with $50 million in venture capital. He closed his talk by telling businesses to look beyond this teenage phase.

“It’s time to grow up,” Armano said. “Social media is here to stay. In five to 10 years we won’t even be talking about this stuff.”

He compared the change happening now to when e-mail became commonplace.

He cited Best Buy’s use of social media to allow sales employees to share expertise and best serve customers in all of its stores. So if a customer in one state has a question about a computer modem, a sales rep in another can help. Representatives from utilities Duke and Piedmont said they are looking at using social media for a variety of customer service needs rather than just alerting them in emergencies.

Charlotte’s Kathleen Hessert – famous for teaching Shaquille O’Neal to tweet – told a crowd that knowing how to post on social media and knowing the right way to represent your company are two entirely different things. Social media have boomed, and many businesses must play catch up, she said. “It took 50 years for TV to build the audience social media has in five,” said Hessert, who runs the consulting firm Sports Media Challenge from her six-person office at N.C. 51 and Carmel Road.

Bank of America vice president Sidney Echevarria, one of several BofA managers at the conference, said he believes social media can help in “flattening the organization,” so expertise can be shared throughout. Many people know how to use Twitter and Facebook personally, but using them within an organization requires new strategies, he said.

Jason Keath, who organized the conference, plans a follow-up event in Charlotte, and is planning events in Nashville and St. Louis.

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Howell Marketing, By Amy Howell — I have not yet figured out why I love Twitter so much, but the truth is, I do. It’s like music… how do you know “why” you like a certain song? It moves you, it speaks to you, it reminds you of some old high school memory

(Joan Jett, KISS—ok, now you know my age ) or an old boyfriend…whatever.

Twitter reminds me of music: there’s something for everyone, it’s intuitive, it’s fun and it’s timely and informative. I’m a music lover and truth be known, my secret wish in life is to be a famous singer but since that will never happen (and you don’t want it to let me tell you), I leave the singing to the experts.

One fun thing I have noted is all the music on Twitter! Music Monday, all the music follows, all the music blips, all the access.

If you love music as much as I do… I would like to introduce you to Jeff Mello he’s someone you should follow as he’s made his mark (in my humble opinion).

More over he’s smart, savvy, kind and relevant — he not only knows his music but he engages his followers and is gracious as well as fun. So, Jeff (and he has no idea I’m giving him a “shout out here”) you have inspired me to think about music, Twitter and some fun thoughts to “learn” ways to advance the Twitter causes.

Here are my “Music” matches to the “Twitter Guidelines”, Just click on the links below they brought back a lot of memories for me, Enjoy

1. Be Original: “Mustang Sally—Ride, Sally Ride” (I also thought of “She’s a Very Kinky Girl” the kind you don’t take home to Mother…she will never let your spirits down)

2. Be Polite: “A Little R E S P E C T”

3. Be Bright: “Start Spreadin’ the News….New York New York (Frank)” (Liza) which one do you like the best?

4. Be Community Oriented: “We Built This City”…built this City on Rock and Roll!

5. Be Creative: “A Bottle of Red…Bottle of White”

6. Be Compassionate: “You’re the meaning of my life, You’re the inspiration”

7. Be Focused: “827-5309″ Jenny Jenny, Who can I turn to?

8. Be Tough: “I Will Survive”, As long as I know how to love I know I’ll stay alive!

9. Be Engaged: “Whenever I See Your Smiling Face”, I have to smile myself cuz I love you, yes I do!

10. Be Fun: “Slip Slidin’ Away” ah, all along the waterfall with you, my brown-eyed girl…sha la la la la la la la la la la t da, brown-eyed girl, you my brown-eyed girl…”

For more helpful insights, tips and ‘Breaking New’ you can reach Amy here:

Amy Howell, President and CEO, Howell Marketing Strategies, LLC

408 S. Front Street, Suite 104 Memphis, TN 38103

(901) 521-1453 office – (901) 351-7186 cell

Twitter: Amy Howell – Web: http://www.Howell-Marketing.com

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One of the many reasons why Yahoo! 360 and MySpace have increased in popularity is due to the fact that they cover a wide variety of different topics, issues, and interests. MySpace and Yahoo! 360 do not focus on one particular group of individuals or one particular hobby. Instead, they invite all internet users to join. While this may be good, it gives you a wide selection of online friends to choose from, it can also be considered bad. On many of these websites a competition has brewed. That competition has been to see who can get the most friends. This may result in you not really getting an online friend, when you are supposed to be.

If you are looking to join a social networking website that is more focused on creating friendships or partnerships between internet users that have the same interests, you will want to focus on social networking websites that have a particular focus. Many times, these websites are known as specialty social networking websites. Online, you should be able to find a number of these specialty social networking websites. Many have focuses on important issues, topics, and hobbies, such as pet owners, religion, travel, and much more.

When it comes to many specialty social networking sites, many individuals want to know what sets them apart from the rest. Honestly, it is the community. As previously mentioned, specialty social networking sites tend to focus on a particular topic, issue, or hobby. This means that if you are a devoted Christian and you would like to speak to other Christians, you will want to join a Christian networking site and so on. The difference between specialty social networking sites and traditional ones is that you will automatically be paired with hundreds, if not thousands, of other internet users who share the same interests, views, or beliefs as you.

Another one of the many benefits to joining a specialty social networking website is that you are, in a way, safer than those who are members of other networks. Not all, but a large number of specialty networking sites require activation before joining the site. Before activation can occur, many internet users are required to state their reasons for wanting to the join the network or they may be required to fill out a small questionnaire, often pertaining to the social network in question. In many cases, this will help to determine whether or not an internet user really has an interest in the topic focused on by the network in question.

As previously mentioned, specialty social networking websites allow you to automatically be paired with a group of individuals who share the same beliefs, views, and interests as you do. This mean that you don’t have to spend hours researching a person or speaking to them, just to learn what they are or are not interested in. Essentially, this enables you to jump right in and start making friends, almost as soon as you are granted access to the site that you have chosen.

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As previously mentioned, your social networking profile is important when it comes to meeting other internet users. This is because, in most cases, internet users are looking to chat with someone who has the same goals, views, beliefs, and interests as they do. Without a personal profile, it would be difficult or impossible to tell what your interests are. That is why social networking profiles are not only important, but they are needed.

When it comes to social networking profiles, a lot of focus has been placed on what you should include in your profile or display on your profile page. It has been said that pictures produce the best responses, as well as detailed personal information. Although a picture and detailed personal information may help to increase your page views, you may be getting views that you do not necessarily want. Despite what you may believe, most social networking websites do not have restrictions on who can view your personal profile. In fact, internet users, even those that do not belong to your online community, can easily see profile.

Since anyone, literally anyone, can see your social networking profile, on most social networking websites, you are advised to be cautious. Essentially, this means that instead of focusing on what you should put in your online profile, you should be focusing on what not to put. This is one the best ways to protect your safety, both on and offline.

As previously mentioned, pictures are often recommended with social networking websites. If you are interested in positing a personal picture of yourself in your online profile you can do so, but you are advised to carefully choose that picture. While you will want to look your best, you are advised against posting a picture that is too revealing or seductive in nature. Most internet users can look at these types of pictures without feeling a thing, but for others these types of pictures spell danger.

If you make the decision to post a picture of yourself in your social networking website profile, you need to be careful about the rest of the information that you post. Although you may not necessarily think about it, a picture is just a picture, but combined with your name and address, it could be a deadly combination. You are advised to only post your first name in your profile. This will make it more difficult for anyone to try and contact you off of the internet.

It is also advised that you carefully choose your location. A large number of online social networking sites require that you select a city, as well as a state. If it is allowed, you may only wish to list your state and not the city. If you are required to list the city and the state that you live in, you may want to think about using a nearby city or town, especially if you live in a small town. If an internet predator wanted to contact you and you lived in a small town, it could be fairly easy for them to find you. That is why it is advised that you carefully select the answer to the location question.

In addition to the above precautionary measures, it is advised that you do not post detailed information on your children, the location of your home, your income, or when you will be leaving for vacation. By keeping these and the above mentioned points in mind, you should be able to enjoy online social networking without having to always look behind your back.

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