Use your networks to send out cards

If you are like me and you spend quite a bit of time hanging out on social networks social media websites online, then you know that your friends’ and family members’ birthdays and other special occasions tend to pop up out of nowhere, and you are left to scramble and purchase something online and send it to them.

You can now use the same social network or social media website that you are on all day long to buy and send gift cards online securely. E-commerce startup Friendgiftr is the first to launch a special new service that lets you send gift cards through your favorite social network. In fact, you can now send gift cards from retailers and merchants like the Gap, Pottery Barn, Barnes & Noble and Starbuck’s. And you can send gift cards through five different social media web sites: Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, Ning and Bebo.

Friendgiftr’s one-of-a-kind network is the first and only social media-based online storefront to offer actual purchasable retail and restaurant gift cards to hundreds of millions of social media site users.

Using the Friendgiftr application, you can buy or send gift cards that are valued between $10 and $100. Send them to just about anyone, including friends and family members. It doesn’t matter what the social network is , the process of buying a gift card using the Friendgiftr application is the same to make a purchase. Just select both the card and the amount. Enters the recipient’s name, their email address, and a personalized message. Then put in your payment method. That’s it.

Need a Social Media Company Policy?

Unless there’s only one person who will be handling your social media efforts you should set some guidelines in place. Now, by this I don’t mean you have to write a huge document that limits any hint of spontaneity from your team. Quite the opposite. A company policy lets them know what they need to know to communicate the company message effectively, and what they should and should not do.

People are more comfortable knowing the rules
There are people who are simply terrified of social media. Where to start? What to say? How to use the tools and would they get in trouble? A little guidance and training and they will be just fine. Use your social media engagement policy as a way to show them the ropes and give them models to follow.

Three good reasons for a social media company policy.

1) Set branding standards for communication
Clearly you can’t have people making up their own logos and color schemes for your company. If you have a style guide, put the best bits in your company policy document. It saves everybody a lot of headaches if they can create a profile with an approved logo and a color scheme that reflects the company without guessing. Make the resources they need available and they’ll be more likely to dive in and you won’t have to assign a hall monitor.

2) Educate your team
What terms do you use to describe your product? Are there particular industry or work related terms you need to have associated with the product? Are there terms you NEVER want used with your product? Here’s where you educate the team.

3) Set expectations for behavior
Again, if people know the rules and what is expected from them they are less likely to make mistakes. State clearly what standards of performance you expect. A little personal responsibility and some common sense goes a long way. This also sets the company nay-sayers a bit more at ease.

What goes into a typical company social media policy doc?
Rather than blather on, here are some examples to learn from. Scan a few and you’ll get the idea. Then adapt to fit your own needs.

• Intel did a fabulous job with their social media guidelines. It’s clear what they expect and the whole thing is in clear easy to understand language.
• Cisco’s policy is a little cryptic, but it does outline employee responsibilities on social sites both corporate owned and external networks.
• D.M. Scott posted an overview of the social media efforts of the U.S. Air Force on his blog, complete with flow charts for responding to a blog comment that are as detailed as one might expect from the government.
• GM’s blogging policy is short and to the point and then references Charlene Li’s recommendations for more information.
• Sun’s “Guidelines on Public Disclosure” are much like Intel’s. Simple, to the point and all about transparency.
• Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center blogging guidelines clearly state the goals of the Walker’s blogs, with advice on finding images, responding to comments and refers to the EFF’s legal guide for bloggers.
• The BBC has a hands-off approach to personal blogs as long as the writer does not identify themselves with the BBC on their personal blog. Staff are allowed to talk about programs, etc, but are required to include a disclaimer for personal editorial comments on blogs.
• Here’s what HP says in their “Blogging Code of Conduct”:

Did you know....

I saw this report and found it interesting.... thought I would share :)

"As social networking becomes increasingly widespread, more employers are using these sites to screen potential employees.

More than half (53%) of employers reported in a recent CareerBuildere survey that they use social networking sites to research job candidates. Another 12% plan to start using social networking sites for screening.

Among employers who conduct online background checks of job candidates, 43% use search engines, 12% use Facebook and 12% use LinkedIn. Three percent search blogs and 4% follow candidates on Twitter.

Top reasons why employers disregarded candidates after screening online:

• Candidate lied about qualifications - 38%
• Candidate showed poor communication skills - 31%
• Candidate made discriminatory comments - 13%
• Candidate posted content about them drinking or using drugs - 10%
• Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information - 9%
• Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients - 9%
  
• Candidate shared confidential information from previous employer - 8%

Top reasons employers hired candidates after screening online:

• Profile supported candidate's professional qualifications - 61%
• Candidate showed solid communication skills - 41%
• Candidate was well-rounded - 37%
• Profile provided a good feel for the candidate's personality and fit - 28%
• Candidate seemed creative -24 percent Candidate conveyed a professional image - 22%
  
• Candidate received awards and accolades - 15%
• Other people posted good references about the candidate - 15%"

By Mike Sachoff

So, I guess the moral of the story is be careful what you post on your personal social media sites, it may come back and bite you in the butt.

Want to be Found in Real-Time Searches?

Real-time search is still an emerging concept. At this point, using a real-time search engine will bring you results by time/date. This doesn't always cater to relevancy, which is why there is still a lot of work to be done in this field.

So, if real-time results are based upon time/date, and the user's query, it stands to reason that time and those queries are the most important components in getting your content found in these types of searches.

1. Use Keywords

This seems obvious, but use keywords in not only your content, but in your titles, and your updates. If you're writing an article, you have to consider what people are going to include in their updates if they share it on a social network, whether this be Facebook, Twitter, or anything else.

More often than not, they are going to include the title. If the right keywords are in the title, then those keywords are also more likely to appear in any ensuing tweets, Facebook updates, etc. If someone searches for those keywords, they will be more likely to find your content in a real-time search.

The same goes for your own Tweets/status updates. Even if you are not sharing an article, if you want your update to be found, use relevant keywords. Again, obvious, but true.

2. Talk About Timely Events

Simply mentioning events that are current will put you directly into the results for any searches having to do with that topic, provided the right keywords are in play. This is a method that could and (surely is) being exploited by spammers, but that doesn't mean you can't provide legitimate conversation and simply put yourself on more people's radars, without throwing links at them every time.

3. Have a Lot of Followers

If you have a lot of followers or friends on social networks, or even just readers of your blog, you are going to get more people sharing your content. The more people sharing your content, the more impressions of your content will be making their way into real time searches.

There is no easy way to instantly get a bunch of legitimate readers/followers. It will take some promotion. Provide useful content that people will link to and it will spread virally. Provide clear ways for them to follow you (like links to Facebook pages and Twitter accounts on your blog).

4. Promote Conversation

Whether on your blog or on a social network, spark conversations. Talk about topics that people are interested in. This is tied to number 2. The more conversations you are involved with, the more retweets (and equivalents on other networks) you are likely to get. And again, this means more impressions in real times searches.

5. Include Calls to Engagement

Use buttons like Tweetmeme's and Digg's. These are buttons you can put on articles that show the amount of retweets/diggs that article has. They kind of act as a meter for engagement.

These buttons are certainly not all-encompassing. They only represent the conversation on 2 channels, and not the web in general. I'm sure there are other buttons that can be used in addition.

More importantly though, they provide a "call to action" to share the content. People can digg or retweet a story with a simple click, and you're one step closer to being found in somebody's real-time search.

Wrapping Up

Real-time search is much more basic (at least so far) than say, Google Search. You're not ranking for relevancy. Really, you could hardly call it ranking it all. It's about visibility. That means, you have to get people talking about your content/updates.

Social media by nature is viral. Real-time search is nothing more than putting things in chronological order. You have to keep people talking to stay relevant to "right now."