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I’m always looking for new ways to enhance my AdWords accounts, so I was excited when Inside AdWords let me know that Google has added a new course to the AdWords Online Classroom. This course is designed for those of us who may not be familiar with all the Opportunities tab has to offer. After viewing the video you will have a better understanding of how to improve your campaign with keywords, keyword bids, and budget ideas. Implementing these changes will let you extend advertising reach and increase your return on investment for your accounts.

Google is releasing a new version of AdWords Editor that you’ll want to keep an eye out for. Jason Shafton at the Inside AdWords Crew breaks down some of the new functionality and shares a number of resources to look into it further. AdWords Editor 8.0.1 is going to help us manage our local ads, has collapsible and expandable panels to help us organize the interface, adds progress bars, additional error messages to help narrow down mistakes, and some other helpful additions. At the time of this post, the latest version was still 7.6.1 but keep an eye out here for the new one.

I’m beating this topic to death because of its importance and I’ll probably continue to do so, at least through September, but we have another Search Alliance article this week. This one is from Tina Kelleher at the adCenter Blog and highlights some resources the Microsoft Transition Center offers.

Check out The Adventures of PPC Hero: Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management at http://www.ppchero.com/. Copyright © 2007-2010 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.

Rule #1 of Twitter use – be helpful – right? Does that make sense to you? Absolutely. Can you screw up your implementation of Rule #1 and ruin your Twitter presence? Absolutely. By the way, this rule applies to all forms of social media.

Let’s look at the idea of sharing in the context of two questions:

• What to share
• How to share

Automated social media – efficiency versus effectiveness

You can automate parts of your social media presence. ReTweet buttons are a simple example: two clicks and you’ve Tweeted a useful link instead of typing it all out. You can even set up automated Tweets, similar to E-Mail autoresponders. Similar examples apply to other social media tools.

But here’s the important question: Why automate?

There’s two ways to answer this question. One answer would address the methods used (efficiency). The other answer delves into the more important question: what’s your objective? What do you hope to achieve? What do you want your audience to do? This reply delves into effectiveness: Will automation help you achieve your goals?

When being helpful looks like spamming

Recently, Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz (http://ittybiz.com/what-should-i-tweet-about/) seemed to declare war on “useful” Tweets and called for a return (or resurgence) of informal Twitter chat, even designating a hashtag for this purpose. A closer read of the post reveals the following key idea: You’re not being helpful if you’re just presenting a guise of being helpful and creating a continual barrage of links.

Worse still, if all you’re doing is generating “helpful” output, you’re losing a big opportunity.

We’ve all seen these accounts, the ones that just post titles and links. The worst offenders only link to themselves. Actually, the worst offenders lie about what they’re linking to, but we don’t need to go there.

Since your blog posts and articles really should be helpful, pumping them out in an automated stream helps your followers by extension. But when it looks obvious that it’s a machine at work, not a human being, it cheapens the gift by excluding the humanity.

Too much of this and it’s indistinguishable from spam.

When being conversational looks like spamming

On the other hand, if your social media output is purely social, you’ve need to be mindful of how this activity builds your business. A number of celebrities or successful entrepreneurs churn out “personal” and “social” content with a minimum of links. Some look like they are just musing out loud or talking to themselves.

Granted, they may have less free time than working stiffs like you and me. But they don’t look like they’re doing one of the most important things: listening. They’re just broadcasting, which is darn close to spamming.

The automation mindset obscures the need to listen

Automation is great. It allows you to focus your time and attention on other things. However, when information is being sprayed from the proverbial firehose, listening becomes even more critical. People used to come directly to you with letters, phone calls and formal meetings and you had the ability to respond or deflect. Now they talk to each other instead or they just complain to audiences, not to you.

If you delegate one thing, sometimes it’s easy to delegate a related activity.

I know that’s the MBA way, but you really need to think about delegating this activity. You are the best listener and engager. You’re the one who should care.

The solution: balance the automation with the personal touch

But you’re still limited by the same number of hours per day. Automation may be a key component of the way that you communicate with the world. It may be delivering valuable results to you. If you want to automate Tweets to your blog posts, that’s fine. But mix it up. Respond to feedback, both on your blog and in Twitter. Carve out some time to look for relevant conversations.

If you feel comfortable doing so, try:

• using your Twitter accounts to just “hang out” and being social
• acknowledge people (customers, suppliers, potential customers, remarkable people)
• strike up a new conversation
• experiment

Just don’t be the guy or gal who gets a machine to talk into the wind. After awhile, too much “helpful” and too little listening just makes your voice blend into the cacophony we all live in today. And that’s when you surrender the permission you earned to be listened to.

As Jason says, the comments section is yours.

Editor’s Note: Mark Dykeman of ThoughtWrestling and Broadcasting Brain is one of 12 new authors coming to Social Media Explorer. We’ll explain more on Monday.

IMAGE: Megaphone by Kimba Howard on Flickr.

Related articles by Zemanta

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The page views have spoken! Below we have gathered PPC Hero’s four most visited, and hopefully most valuable articles from April. Whether you’re a new or long-time subscriber, you may have missed these insightful and helpful PPC management tips.

Jen holds the honor for writing our most trafficked blog in the month of August. In her post, Jen tells you everything you need to know about the Google Adwords Segment tab. This handy feature in the Adwords interface gives you a multitude of reports for managing your accounts efficiently. Take some time to mine through the data within the Segment tab and be assured that you will discover even the finest details of your account performance.

Have you had the opportunity to explore the recently released Experiments setting from Google? If not, Erin has a rundown of her experiences with the new Adwords tool and even shares some of her results over the past month. This tool makes A/B split testing a breeze and after reading Erin’s list of pros and cons, you’ll be ready to make smart, tested adjustments to your account in no time.

Ad text testing is complicated, time-consuming, and some might even say painful. Lucky for you, Jessica is here to … well, to agree with you. Have no fear though, she brings tips, tools, and experience to guide you through the nightmares of ad text testing.

With the upcoming Bing/Yahoo merger, Amy kindly delivers a Bing tip to help with your transition. Specifically, Amy covers all the details of Bing dynamic ads. Dynamic insertion is a great strategy to boost account performance as you can deliver many highly targeted ads to customers while only drafting one ad text. Take Amy’s lead and start preparing for the Search Alliance today!

Check out The Adventures of PPC Hero: Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management at http://www.ppchero.com/. Copyright © 2007-2010 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.

Short Messaging Services (SMS) may seem a little passé with the onslaught of smart phones and mobile applications… but it’s far from dead.

SMS, or “Short Message Service,” is the most widely used data application in the world, with 2.4 billion active users, or 74% of all mobile phone subscribers… SMS is perfectly geared towards mobile marketing applications given its highly personal nature, nearly 100% open rate, ability for highly targeted content based on numerous metrics and its inherent reach in terms of two way communication with consumers.

A fantastic paper, The mobileStorm 2010 Mid Year Mobile Marketing Report is available that has a wealth of information on the mobile market – including platforms, applications, social media engagement, ecommerce and much, much more.

One of the discussions in this whitepaper is Location-Based Services (LBS) & Advertising (LBA). Recent polls suggest that consumers are very open to location based advertising. Facebook Places, Foursquare and GoWalla are becoming popular applications for businesses to connect with consumers… but an advancement in SMS technologies called ‘geo-fencing’ may prove very popular as well!

With the introduction and wide availability of user-location data, it’s increasingly being used to enhance SMS campaigns in terms of relevancy. A concept known as “geo-fencing” involves setting a digital perimeter around a given location, such as a retail store or restaurant, and then SMS messages can be dispatched to users entering that perimeter. Opted-in subscribers of a deli’s mobile program could automatically receive a time-sensitive coupon anytime they come within a mile of the restaurant, for example, providing instant value to the user and driving instant sales for the deli.

Proximity marketing is also on the horizon. Proximity marketing would allow businesses with Bluetooth or SMS-CB (Short Message Service – Cell Broadcast) will allow businesses to ‘push’ advertisements when a consumer arrives within reach of the transmission region. Since this technology often doesn’t require permission, it’s questionable whether or not proximity marketing will become popular.

This post was written by Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more. Douglas is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @douglaskarr.

Corporate Blogging for Dummies is now available on Amazon and in book stores. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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There’s a really good reason people love apps, and in particular applications from brands. They are often streamlined and simple versions of a company’s website or serve a specific purpose. There’s no annoying copy in marketing speak, no flash banners slowing down the page load, no pop-ups and, often, no confusion on where to go to get what you want. Why? Because mobile or tablet/iPad apps are supposed to be simple, serve 1-2 purposes and get out of the way.

Which is precisely what most users want from a corporate website.

A couple of years ago, everyone wanted to build desktop widgets. The thought was to take the core functionality of a website and make it easily accessible from one’s computer desktop. For Nationwide Insurance, for instance, it might have been a widget that helped you search for a car insurance quote by model and make. It probably didn’t do anything else, but that’s okay. It was a desktop widget.

The problem with desktop widgets was simply that tech people called them “widgets.” Mainstream consumers don’t know what a widget is. From 2006-2008, “What is a widget,” was in the top three or four questions I answered in every client meeting.

Now that Apple has made mobile and now tablet apps all the rage, what do we really have? We have a streamlined, narrowly purposed function-driven subset of your corporate website in an application that resides … on your device’s desktop. It’s a desktop widget for a smart phone or tablet, only we call it an app. Nationwide’s app — Cartopia — allows you to easily comparison shop for cars and find appropriate insurance afterward. It’s a neat app. And, to my knowledge, contains no pictures of company executives. (Thank goodness!)

Want to make your website kick-ass? Build it like you’d build an app. Think of the 1-2-or-3 things your main audience wants from your website, or cool stuff you can give them. Then just deliver that. And while you’re at it, build a little app-like icon that can reside on any desktop that takes people right to your website. Give them a mobile app that can live on any device … even a PC.

You think I’m crazy? Wait until you see the iMac Touch. (Which wasn’t rumored to be what Apple announces Wednesday, so we’ll probably have to wait.) What do you think will populate the desktops of Apple’s next big idea? Apps. Why not take them to everyone’s desktop now and beat Apple to the punch?

Don’t worry. Mr. Jobs has already conditioned the masses. As long as you don’t call it a, “widget,” it’ll work.

Related articles by Zemanta and Jason Falls

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We all know it’s coming. Some of us are excited while some of us wish it weren’t so. It’s certainly the biggest news in PPC marketing since…I dunno…AdWords? It’s tough to finally say it, but Yahoo and Bing are combining in, what they’re calling, “the Yahoo! And Microsoft Search Alliance.” I guess that wasn’t as scary as I thought. As they say, admitting is the first step. The real question is, what’s the next step and when should I get started? To answer those questions bluntly, the next step is to transition your yahoo account into MSN and you should get started (at least in educating yourself) now if you haven’t already. I realize that answer doesn’t help get the job done but I’m treating this article mostly as a resource center but partially as a classroom to help. There is simply too much information to summarize in one or even several blog posts but at least I can get the ball rolling, point you in the right direction, and ease some concerns you might have.

You might be asking yourself if you have a need for this information. Truthfully, it depends on what engines you’re currently working on. Basically, if you are running PPC on Yahoo or Bing, then pay attention. If you haven’t ventured into these PPC markets but are interested in doing so, read on to help understand the alliance. If you couldn’t care less about these engines but do work with AdWords, there is still some value in understanding how competing markets are changing. Honestly, the information is important to anyone advertising with search engines, just more so if you’re using Yahoo or Microsoft.

If you’ve signed into a Yahoo account in the past day or so, you’ve probably noticed something new. If the picture below doesn’t ring any bells, you’re guilty of ignoring your yahoo account.

This tab is Yahoo’s obvious way of reminding their current users to transition their account. Hopefully, by this point you can agree that this is a necessary evil. The next step is understanding the alliance. My recommendation is utilizing the resources provided from the source. Start with the Search Alliance homepage. Outside of taking the time to explain the reasoning behind the move, it’s also a great hub for additional resources. Yahoo has it’s own Transition Center page and coincidentally, there is a Microsoft Transition Center as well. I honestly feel that those are the best sources for understanding the change and the sites aren’t so deep that you can’t read through them quickly. There is no doubt that this transition is going to take some of your valuable time on the front end but in the end, you’ll have one less account to manage (yay!).

In addition to the pages from Yahoo and Microsoft, there are plenty of articles out there to help educate yourself on the topic (you’re reading one now). Check out our PPC Roundups over the past several weeks. I’ve been pointing out some great articles on the topic. In particular, the one in the previous link talks about how your bid strategy might (should) change.

Moving on in our transition, it’s time we start talking about the differences you’ll want to take note of. Yahoo has supplied a great document that has all the details you’ll need to understand the differences. To download it, sign into your Yahoo account, go to the adCenter tab shown above, and it will be on towards the right side of the screen. I’ve included a screen cap so you know what you’re looking for.

The document lists a number of changes that you will need/want to take note of. This will be of particular importance if you don’t have much experience working with Microsoft adCenter. First and foremost, there are a number of Yahoo elements that will not be supported in the adCenter interface. To hit on some examples of what won’t be coming with your Yahoo account, here’s a brief list:

Master Account Users (for those of you new to adCenter), Campaign Optimization, Content Match Budget Allocation, the Watch List, Ad Names, Long Descriptions, Enhanced Tracking Parameters, Age Bid Adjustments, Underage Blocking, Male/Female Bid Adjustments, Daypart Bid Adjustments, and Zip Code Level.

I highly recommend reading this document. In addition to pointing out the aspects you’ll lose in the transition, there are a number of recommended actions that should be taken before AND after you move your account. I’ve included a couple examples here to give you an idea as to what I’m talking about.

Hopefully you can see why this document is so important in helping with an effective transition. The only way for me to replicate that information would be to type it out word for work and I’m not a big fan of plagiarism.

So now that your account is prepped and you’re ready for the move, what do you do? It’s really not that difficult at all. If you go back to the adCenter tab in your Yahoo account, the second tool below the compatibility guide is a simple account download option. That tool will allow you to easily download your yahoo account so it can later be uploaded into adCenter – hopefully after you’ve taken the recommended precautions (last reminder to read the compatibility document).

Once you’ve got your campaign template from yahoo it can easily be uploaded into adCenter. If you don’t already have a Microsoft account, the first step is creating one. Once you login to Microsoft adCenter you should notice a “Getting Started” box towards the lower right portion of your screen. In that box is an option to import campaigns from Yahoo. Importing the account will be fairly straightforward, just follow the on screen prompts. Once you’re import has taken place, remember to go back to the compatibility guide to reference the items that are recommended to take place after the transition. Congratulations, you’re now advertising on the combined network!

I think the key component of making the transition a smooth one, is understanding why it is taking place and the primary differences in the accounts. I believe the alliance will be a good for everyone involved. I know I will really appreciate having one less interface to manage. Plus, the additional market reach for your time investment is outstanding. The only real gripe I have is that my office uses Apple computers so we’ll be fighting over remote use to desktop editor on our lone PC (unfortunately Microsoft Editor isn’t Mac compatible). Without knocking the PC folks out there, I really hope Microsoft Editor gets Mac compatible before the transition is complete. If not, it will be a bittersweet change around these parts.

Check out The Adventures of PPC Hero: Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management at http://www.ppchero.com/. Copyright © 2007-2010 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.

It was great bumping into John Uhri of Red Bit Blue Bit at Blog Indiana, this year. John does a really cool thing – rather than writing typical notes during discussions, he draws creative informational graphics (an infographic).

So, here’s a great infographic of Corporate Blogging for Dummies he did after reading through the book (click to download the full size)!

Thanks John! It’s great to see a visualization like this since it definitely compares to what we had hoped the key topics and information would be for anyone starting a corporate blog!

This post was written by Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more. Douglas is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @douglaskarr.

Corporate Blogging for Dummies is now available on Amazon and in book stores. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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I think Facebook could set a record in the amount of newsworthy material it produces in a week. The most recent news is Facebook launching of analytics tools. After reading about this on Fast Company I’ve decided that it’s a great addition to Facebook’s world domination. Kidding aside it’s a cool feature that will show who “likes” what without sharing personal information.

The tool shares data based mostly on demographics similar to Foursquare’s analytic business tool, which for most is old news. Both features allows companies to gauge who their main audiences are in terms of gender, age, location and language. Instead of wasting time on extensive research these charts will show who and where your target audience is. Although the new and improved Analytics for Websites, Applications and Pages are mostly targeted to app developers, content owners and publishers the people representing these brands can greatly benefit. I also recommend clicking the link above for some more step-by-step instructions to implement the new tools.

Here are 5 reasons why you WILL benefit:

1. Time Saver. Time is money and this feature is easy to read and use. Therefore is you know who, based on demographics, “likes” your product then that’s where you invest your time.
2. Capitalize on Content. For instance, if your brand has a FanPage you can look at how many users commented on posts to capitalize on what they find to be most interesting. Basically you can begin to give your audiences what they want. Also if you are an administrator of a Facebook Page you can now see analytics for referral traffic and stream stories in the Insights dashboard (read link above), as well as tab views for your Page.
3. Document. Document? Yes, you can now easily collect data with the new visualization tools. These will enhance you ability to view full screen, print and save graphs, which in turn will allow you to save and conduct quantifiable research.
4. Know Your Audience. The new features only show demographics of users, which is all you need to know about your audience or potential audience. The insights dashboard breaks it down for all domain administrators.Ê A couple examples offered for admins are a breakdown of contributions from users to active user count, demographics on authorized users and active users, and the number of times permissions are prompted and granted.
5. Websites, Applications, and Pages. You can use these tools on all three channels. There is no excuse to not use these new features.

This post was written by Kyle Lacy

Kyle Lacy is founder and CEO of Brandswag, a social media training and strategy company. He recently authored two books, Twitter Marketing for Dummies (Nov 2009) and Branding Yourself (Dec 2010) and is a highly sought after speaker. He writes regularly at his blog on KyleLacy.com and you can find him chatting daily on Facebook / Twitter

Corporate Blogging for Dummies is now available on Amazon and in book stores. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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Attorney David Castor, an attorney firm specializing in startups and SaaS businesses, emailed me over the weekend with the news that the FTC has settled with its first victim of new disclosure laws.

As part of the proposed settlement (PDF), PR firm Reverb Communications and owner Tracie Snitker must remove any iTunes reviews that were written by Reverb employees posing as ordinary customers and who failed to disclose a relationship between Reverb and its game developer clients. The agreement also bars Reverb and Snitker from posting further reviews on iTunes that pretend to be from independent consumers or that neglect to disclose any connection between the company and its clients, according to the FTC.

This is pretty scary stuff. In two decades, I’m not sure that I’ve worked with or for a marketing or PR firm that DID NOT go out of its way to promote its clients goods and services. I continue to promote my clients whenever and wherever I can – not because I wish to deceive the public, but because I believe in what they’ve accomplished. I try to disclose my actions each time – but I’m sure that I miss the mark plenty.

This could change everything. As your company wishes to deploy comment strategies, linking strategies, promotions, etc… it appears all of it could be a criminal act if it’s accomplished within the United States and doesn’t disclose a connection between the company and clients.

• Will Nascar drivers have to announce their sponsors in every interview because they’re wearing a hat or drinking a soda? Will they have to put a disclosure below each bumper sticker?
• Will Political Action Committees (PACs) have to announce on every comment on every site that they’re part of an organization with a paid relationship with the politician? How about when they send thousands of members to go answer polls online?
• If I mention a client in a presentation or speech as an example that’s not related to our relationship, do I now need to disclose they are a client?
• What about fans and follower counts? I don’t have a means of disclosing how many people follow me or how many people I follow because they’re clients or I’m a client. Isn’t that number swaying public opinion and used for marketing?
• I just wrote a blogging book where I utilized many of my clients and vendors (including Alerding Castor) as examples in the book. Am I going to get fined because I didn’t disclose that we may have, or once had, a business relationship?
• Will product evangelists at conferences need to wear a badge or hat that states that they’re going to talk about their clients, products or services?
• Sometimes I target companies and write about them, or introduce myself for the opportunity of building a business relationship in the future. Do I now need to disclose when I’m buying them a coffee or shaking their hand that I am doing it because I’m hoping to get their business?
• Will celebrity voice-overs and appearances in commercials now need to end with them telling you that they are a paid endorser of the product or service?

I understand that the law is attempting to thwart deceitful practices, but the problem is that my entire online persona, my twitter account, my Facebook statuses, my websites, and my writing are ALL based on relationships I’ve had with businesses. My company’s income is based on how well my clients are marketed. I am a paid advocate for them – twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. I’m not trying to deceive anyone… but I am trying to increase authority, awareness, and evangelize on behalf of my clients. Who else am I going to talk about?!

You might as well put the cuffs on me now and throw away the key.

Or I could move to Canada and keep doing what I’m doing. There’s the loophole folks… move your deceitful practices offshore.

This post was written by Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more. Douglas is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @douglaskarr.

Corporate Blogging for Dummies is now available on Amazon and in book stores. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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There’s a 96-inch long white board in my office. It is where I collect my thoughts for specific projects as I’m writing, planning or producing them. It is currently full of lists and reminders for a client’s digital marketing and social media strategic plan. I go through notes from client meetings, make lists of potential strategics or tactics, throw broad concepts and ideas up, enumerate client concerns, brand values and relevant research and then I study the board for a while.

As I was doing so last night I realized a picture of the board might be helpful for those of you out there working on strategic plans for your organization. No, we don’t all think or process information similarly, but when I see how someone else does it, I always get an idea or two. So here’s my board:

For obvious reasons, I made the image small and even blurred some of the words, but look at what you can read:

When I see the image, the first few things that pop off for me are these words:

• Goals
• Target
• Business Goal
• Primary Concerns
• SEO
• Insights
• Core Values
• Content
• Needs

No, you can’t read all those because of the resolution of the image, but those are the items that pop off the board to me. There are other ideas and concepts there, tucked away in the greens and oranges and blues. (No, there’s no system to my color coding other than to separate ideas from one another.) But the important things I think about have little to do with blogs or Facebooks or even monitoring solutions. I’m focused on the task at hand: what are the client’s goals, who are they talking to, what do they want to say and what does success look like for them?

Whether or not analysts, social media bloggers or even my friends on Twitter think my client work is innovative or pioneering or even good at all matters not. The only person whose opinion does is the client. This is what I focus on when I’m writing strategic plans or thinking about overall strategies for the people I work with as a digital marketing consultant.

What about you? What do you focus on? How do you think and process? Do share. We’ll all be better for it.

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