#LoveTwitter - Twitter reaches the BIG 010 - Happy Tweet-Day to you (March 21, 2016) - Thanks everyone for making history!

See Twitter's 10th Birthday video thanking everyone.

TWITTER LOVES EVERYONE! Happy 10th B-Day Twitter #LoveTwitter

Twitter thanks everyone on it's 10th birthday for making history! Twitter has a very thoughtful and symbolic video celebrating 10th birthday.

Still no definitive business model nor any $ profits yet Twitter continues to spread wings, ripple effects and much intrigue!

Why can't politicians be like Twitter?

Wishing TWITTER many more twitterers, tweets and TweetDays!


According to Stan Schroeder, writer of Mashable, Twitter's B-Day is today -- last year I was wrong, I thought it was March 22nd, but it's indeed March 21st -- the first day co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted his very first tweet.

Here is Schroeder's article from Twitter's 6th (back in 2012), Happy 6th Birthday, Twitter!


Twitter hasn't changed much with the exception of it's phenomenal growth which is currently at 320 million users (February 2016), a usage increase of over 11% vs. last year and +60% increase in the amount of tweets per day.

Last year Twitter recently reported they have 288 million active monthly users and 500 million tweets per day https://about.twitter.com/company.

This year, according to DMR stats, Twitter sees 100 million users log in each day and as of February 10, 2016 there are 320 million people using twitterand 1.3 billion registered Twitter users.

Surprisingly, less than 1/4th are U.S. (23% or 62 million), and over 3/4ths of these users (77% or 209 million) are outside the U.S. According to many resources including Mashable and SocialMedia, Twitter had about 200 million accounts a year ago (2014), and averaged 400M tweets per day. While this statistic may be debatable since others including Mashable indicate that Twitter has over 500 million, Twitter itself has reported that as of February 2013, they have 200 million users. Not surprisingly, 80% of Twitter active users (400 million) are mobile.

Below is the original blog post written back on September 22, 2009 all about Twitter:

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

"Twitter reaches the BIG 009 today! Happy Tweet-Day to you!" is part of the "evergreen marketing insighter" series by Gloria Buono-Daly This blog is updated every year on Twitter's birthday and was originally written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009.

Twitter reaches the BIG 009 on first day of Spring! Happy Tweet-Day to you! March 21, 2015

Happy 9th B-Day Twitter.

Still no definitive business model or $ profit yet Twitter continues to spread wings, ripple effects and much intrigue! Wishing you many more twitterers, tweets and TweetDays!

According to Stan Schroeder, writer of Mashable, Twitter's B-Day is today -- last year I was wrong, I thought it was March 22nd, but it's indeed March 21st -- the first day co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted his very first tweet. Here is Schroeder's article from Twitter's 6th (back in 2012), Happy 6th Birthday, Twitter!

Twitter hasn't changed much with the exception of it's phenomenal growth which is currently at +31% usage increase in the past year and +25% increase in the amount of tweets per day. Twitter recently reported they have 288 million active monthly users and 500 million tweets per day https://about.twitter.com/company.

Surprisingly, less than 1/4th are U.S. (23% or 62 million), and over 3/4ths of these users (77% or 209 million) are outside the U.S. According to many resources including Mashable and SocialMedia, Twitter had about 200 million accounts a year ago (2014), and averaged 400M tweets per day. While this statistic may be debatable since others including Mashable indicate that Twitter has over 500 million, Twitter itself has reported that as of February 2013, they have 200 million users. Not surprisingly, 80% of Twitter active users (400 million) are mobile.Below is a blog I wrote back in 2009 all about Twitter:

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

"Twitter reaches the BIG 009 today! Happy Tweet-Day to you!" is part of the "evergreen marketing insighter" series by Gloria Buono-Daly This blog is updated every year on Twitter's birthday and was originally written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009.

Twitter reaches the BIG 008 today! Happy Tweet-Day to you!

Happy 8th B-Day Twitter.

Still no definitive business model or $ profit yet Twitter continues to spread wings, ripple effects and much intrigue! Wishing you many more twitterers, tweets and TweetDays!

According to Stan Schroeder, writer of Mashable, Twitter's B-Day is today -- last year I was wrong, I thought it was March 22nd, but it's indeed March 21st -- the first day co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted his very first tweet. Here is Schroeder's article from Twitter's 6th, Happy 6th Birthday, Twitter!

Twitter hasn't changed much with the exception of it's phenomenal growth. According to many resources including Mashable and SocialMedia, Twitter has about 200 million accounts and averages 400M tweets per day. While this statistic may be debatable since others including Mashable indicate that Twitter has over 500 million, Twitter itself has reported that as of February 2013, they have 200 million users.

Below is a repost from the original Twitter article from the AllThingsDigitalMarketing blog as posted on September 22, 2009.

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

"Twitter reaches the BIG 008 today! Happy Tweet-Day to you!" is part of the "evergreen marketing insighter" series by Gloria Buono-Daly written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Be on the Lookout for Another LookBack Enhancement: Coming to your Facebook Soon

"It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s rare to be able to touch so many people’s lives, and I try to remind myself to make the most of every day and have the biggest impact I can."
~~ Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

Most of us know by now that Facebook celebrated its 10 year milestone with LookBack, a 1 minute, auto-generated video of your life on Facebook. The photos were automatically selected by Facebook based on popularity, viewership, etc. Many liked but many also complained because the photos included (unintentionally) ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, nasty comments and other drunk messaging, etc.

Facebook reacted quickly with a tool that lets you edit out any photos or nasty message posts enabling you to replace with another from the collection. Unfortunately, you are still limited to the auto-selected photos by Facebook (you cannot choose from your entire Facebook photos). Don't fret just yet; This limitation will be changing soon.

Be on the lookout for another LookBack enhancement. The Facebook tech team is working on an editing tool that will enable users to remove and replace content to their LookBack video from other photos in their respective Facebook account.

Did you notice your LookBack yet? Find yours at https://facebook.com/lookback/ ‪#‎FacebookIs10‬

Post by Gloria Buono Daly.

In our world of dense network connectivity (i.e., Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.) and now with Facebook's latest LookBack, do you believe our culture is becoming overly narcissistic?

I was actually very happy and surprised by my LookBack. Although I'm not crazy about the fuzzy photo quality or the loooong Facebook intro and ending logos. I try not to spend too much time there but with the latest LookBack, coupled with my curiousity it's very tempting to spend hours on Facebook.

How about you? What's in your Facebook LookBack?



Below are my handpicked Resources about Facebook LookBack; bookmark this as this list will grow:

♦ You can now edit your Facebook.com/lookback video, PIX11.COM, http://pix11.com/2014/02/06/you-can-now-edit-your-facebook-look-back-video/
♦ Hilarious Parody Shows What Those Facebook 'Look Back' Videos Really Look Like http://www.businessinsider.com/hilarious-facebook-look-back-video-2014-2
♦ A handdrawn history of Facebook, Mashable, (only thing missing is the latest addition, LookBack) http://mashable.com/2014/02/06/facebook-look-back-parody/
♦ Link to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, Lookback video, Facebook Feb. 5, 2014 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10101251383040151&set=vb.4&type=2&theater
♦ A New Way to Look at Facebook, The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/facebook-paper-iphone-app-stream-new-look.html
♦ Paper Stories from Facebook, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/paper‎
Facebook Launches Paper, A Curated Visual News Reader Feb. 3 on iOS, TechCrunch

Photos are from screen captures from my computer, unless otherwise indicated.

Follow me at @GBDaly


Photo of FB comments are screencaptures from my FB account.

“Be on the Lookout for Another LookBack Enhancement: Coming to your Facebook Soon ” is part of the evergreen marketing insighter ▲▲▲ series by Gloria Buono-Daly


Please visit this blog frequently and share this with your social media and professional network. Thanks.

Twitter reaches the BIG 007 today! Happy Tweet-Day to you!

Happy 7th B-Day Twitter.

Still no definitive business model or $ profit yet Twitter continues to spread wings, ripple effects and much intrigue! Wishing you many more twitterers, tweets and TweetDays!

According to Stan Schroeder, writer of Mashable, Twitter's B-Day is today -- last year I was wrong, I thought it was March 22nd. His article from Twitter's 6th, Happy 6th Birthday, Twitter!

Twitter hasn't changed much with the exception of it's phenomenal growth. According to many resources including Mashable and SocialMedia, Twitter has about 200 million accounts and averages 400M tweets per day. Below is a blog from 2009 all about Twitter:

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Survival of the Digitalest?" Are we really living in an age of Digital Darwinism?

"There is no spirit-driven life force, no throbbing, heaving, pullulating, protoplasmic, mystic jelly. Life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information."
         -- Richard Dawkins, British evolutionary biologist, science author, TV/Radio personality

For all you digital diggers out there, check out this great article by Brian Solis. Indeed technology is creating deeper connections between brands and consumers and people.


Read and see for yourself if you agree that we really are in an age of Digital Darwinism.

Wishing you all an enjoyable, believeable, and DIGITALLY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Digitally yours,
The team at AllThingsDigitalMarketing

SMWF - North America, November 1 – 2, 2011: You should have been there!

See what you missed by reading some highlights of the SMWF (Social Media World Forum) - North America in NYC at The Jacob Javits Conference Center November 1st – 2nd, 2011.

The theme for this year’s SMWF conference was “Engage with the world of Social Media Marketing.”

On Tuesday, November 1st, over 2,500 professionals in all things digital and social media filled the exhibit hall at New York City’s Javits Centre to attend two days of one of the most premiere interactive conferences, SMWF. New to this year's event were panel discussion formats, tweet up panels, on stage interviews, open 'Q&A' portions, audience sourcing debates and break-out group discussions enabling attendees to explore in-depth the key social media platforms, and how they can enhance marketing.

There were over 100 leading social media speakers that read like a who’s who from all things digital marketers, social networks and brands providing a wealth of presentations about brand case studies with intensive workshops and plenty of networking among cutting edge players. The goal of the conference was to inform, interact, inspire and share how deeply social media can assist our businesses in connecting with and engaging customers. Mission accomplished!


"Track highlights included:
• Integrating social media into your marketing plan, and building your social media marketing toolbox
• How Social Media is being used for brand building
• How to engage with customers though Mobile Social Media and social media with mobile apps
• Building your Facebook, Linkedin, & Twitter marketing strategies
• Location based marketing
• Social Shopping - new influencers, voucher offers and real time social shopping
• B2B social media marketing
• Social TV – how social media is changing the way we interact with the TV
• Social CRM – internal social media, community building and management
• Top tips on selecting your Social Media Agency – the role of who does social media within your organisation
• Best practices for delivering PR campaigns across multiple Social Media platforms
• The new buzz word “Social Search”
• The Socialisation of the Internet with the impact of social credits and the open graph approach
• Social Gaming & Virtual Currencies
• Examining the differences between the Social Media market and other parts of the world
• Twitter applications and mash ups examined"

For many businesses, the trick is not just monitoring their social media conversations, but the ability to manage multiple social channels by combining elements of customer service, marketing and PR into a integrated customer and brand centric unit.

Among the booths I stopped by was Badgeville, an innovative social loyalty smart gamification platform. Using Badgeville, brands can reward users with real time achievements and reputation while at the same time driving user behavior, achieving business goals and measuring and optimizing user engagement. Badgeville looks like a fun way to keep customers connected to your brand.

Next up was a presentation by Jane Schactel, Director of Social Media for Bing and Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Mr. Youth.

Jane discussed the importance of two-way communications with users of products and the way users of social media tend to fall into four categories:


► Observers - not engaged but curious - like lurking;
► Fans who follow the brand and interact;
► Evangelists - people who actively post positive reviews/info about the brand, i.e., Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.;
► Ambassadors - often celebrities or public figures and often paid for their endorsement.


The consumer-centric brand requires four things:.
1. Utility - meet a customer need;
2. Entertainment - publish content your users will enjoy but remember this is NOT a commercial;
3. Reward - reward users with coupons, contest prizes, etc.;
4. Recognition - give loyal users badges, a feature on the site, a special offer, etc.

Parting thoughts: Social media can give more relevance to search and search can give more credence to social media.

Lastly, I visited the Meltwater Buzz Booth, a social media monitoring platform. Melanie Zachariades explained how Meltwater Buzz can help you mine your social media mentions and gain insight from them.

So what do you think the long range effects of social media will be on brands? Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and a host of others are changing the ways businesses see and interact with their customers.

Many thanks to SMWF for continuing to provide such informative and exciting conferences!

by Carol Nissen
Writer, AllThingsDigitalMarketing.com
Digital Advertising and Marketing Director, Rhythm Dynamics

For more information visit: SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD FORUM
“Social Media World Forum is the leading social media marketing event that connects marketers, digital brand managers, agencies, monitoring, pr, gaming, tv, mobile and many other practioners and sectors embracing social media marketing. Running in London, New York, Cape Town, Dubai & Singapore, the SWMF event covers key areas such as building your social media marketing plan, social crm, social shopping, social search, monitoring & measurement, B2B social media, location based marketing, social tv, social reputation, community building, crisis management, gaming & virtual currencies, mobile social media and much more. Each social media series event will get right into the nitty gritty of these changes, giving delegates a way to learn, engage, debate and understand the latest in social media marketing. Our aim is to bring together the Social Media community worldwide to debate the hot topics, and network within a free to attend exhibition format. A fully packed agenda looking into how brands can use social media as a marketing tool, the latest tips and tricks, how brands are moderating and measuring their conversations and results, and how the major social networks are positioning themselves within the market.” For more information visit http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/

The 41st NYWICI Matrix Awards: Big Effen Deal? You Bet It Was!

“Last thing, for Rosie, if you are ever in your life getting some award and you think: Why me? Just keep moving and say, ‘Why the eff not?’” -- Idina Menzel , star of "Wicked," and Matrix Award Honoree. Menzel was the final honoree, and her closing remarks were an encore and testament to Rosie O'Donnell that despite all of the controversy she has endured, Rosie is truly an inspiration!

So many highlights at NYWICI's Matrix Awards. I just had to get my most memorable moment out right away. I must say the most impressive and inspiring moment at Matrix Awards for me was when I had the opportunity to ask Matrix Awards Honoree Cindi Berger my question of the day. Of course, I also asked permission to ask Rosie O'Donnell, and Cindi graciously approved. This year's Matrix Question of the Day had to do with success and was directed to everyone, attendees, honorees, and presenters:
"OK everyone knows that you've made it, you're a success, when did you know you made it?"
"I knew I made it when Lois Smith took me on."
-- Rosie O'Donnell

Besides all this, I was so inspired and in awe to meet PR legend and retired celebrity publicist Lois Smith (right photo). Besides work with Rosie O’Donnell, Smith’s career includes many other A-listers from the likes of Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Whitney Houston, Martin Scorsese, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sean Penn, Dick Cavett, Liza Minelli to other iconic entertainment luminaries including Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier. When asked the Matrix question of the day, Smith replied with a happy sigh:


"Oh, I have no idea; I'm still trying to figure this out." -- Lois Smith

I was honored and impressed to meet, Matrix Honoree, Cindi Berger, publicist and managing director at PMK/HBH,(left photo). Besides work with Rosie O’Donnell, over the past two and a half decades, Berger has handled PR for a long list of A-listers including Star Jones, the Dixie Chicks, 50 Cent, Harry Connick Jr., Billy Crystal, Jessica Simpson, Bette Midler, Sharon Stone, Barbara Walters, Tyra Banks, and Mariah Carey. Berger is known for turning celebrity damage control into an art with her signature "no comment" comment. When asked Matrix question of the day, Berger replied in her true gracious, style:


"Sort of a combination of everything. It's not just one moment. It's moments like this where you go well I guess I've made it!"
-- Cindi Berger

Marketing Strategist, new products expert, and Matrix Honoree, Robin Koval, President, Kaplan Thaler Group (right photo), who has been a driving force in the advertising world for over 20 years replied with delightful insight:





"The most important thing when you know you made it is that you never know you made it. You just keep doing it every day and then one day you wake up and you're saying who is that girl in the corner office?" -- Robin Koval

American journalist, television newscaster, author and Matrix Honoree Gwendolyn L. "Gwen" Ifill (left photo), is truly an inspiration. As managing editor and moderator of Washington Week and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, Ifill has moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates it became clear to me why she is known for her "razor-sharp historical perspective and political analysis. Ifill is also the author of the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.


"I’m still figuring that out!" -- Gwen Ifill

Also answering "Question of the Day," Matrix Emcee, Lesley Jane Seymour (right photo), editor in chief of More Magzine. I was fortunate to get the chance to ask her the my Matrix Q of the Day. Seymour is known for repositioning magazines and highly regarded for developing editorial programs that result in National Magazine Award nominations to spearheading signature cause-related programs, including Time to Talk Day, which raised awareness for domestic violence and the One World/One Wish campaign for the international relief organization Save the Children. She is also the author of two books: On the Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue (Random House), and I Wish My Parents Understood (Freundlich/Penguin). Here's what Seymour said when asked the Matrix Q of the Day:


"That's a good question. You know, I think you never really know that you've gotten there. I think you're always struggling. You're always struggling, You're always never thinking you're there. I mean, if you're like a normal person, you just are going from the next thing to the next thing. I mean for me, the most important thing is being out there and able to help other women. Because that's what communications does, I believe. And once when I was at Marie Claire where I started getting out there, traveling to Africa, and going places by myself and covering things for women elsewhere, for me that was the turning point. And I don't know if it would be a success but that's when I understood I was powerful and I could do something with who I am." -- Lesley Jane Seymour



Stay tuned for more on NYWICI Matrix Awards luncheon by visiting this blog regularly or subscribing to the RSS feed. Hope to see you all at Matrix 2012 same place, same time, on Monday, April 23, 2012!

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Every year since 1970, NYWICI has awarded outstanding women in communications the prestigious Matrix Awards. The long list of past winners reads like a who-is-who of exceptional women in the fields of advertising, books, broadcasting, film, magazines, new media, newspapers and public relations and is a true reflection of achievements by women in communications. For more information visit NYWICI.org

My Little Quote for the Little Black Book of Career Advice

"Business, like life, isn't always fair. Whether on the job, volunteer assignment, whatever, I believe there will be situations when office politics or economic conditions just might attempt to compromise integrity, talent and career potential. Sometimes, we will need to burn those faulty infrastructural bridges in order to build greater ones to redirect your career path. Success is NOT about fitting in, popularity, or having the highest title or salary. Success is all about standing true to yourself and the accomplishments you achieve amidst all those obstacles along the way. So go ahead, change course, and don't forget to enjoy the ride!" -- Gloria Buono-Daly

I would often wonder if I was the only person who ever imagined that directing one's career sometimes required breaking those darn, dysfunctional, ties. Why kid yourself? I quickly learned that many coaches, HR experts and top leaders share this sentiment. We can't all be blinded by that very, old, cliche, intended for the docile masses in the workplace -- "don't burn bridges." I'll leave with where I started, "business, like life is unfair," but goes on. We all win when we continue to redirect and reinvent ourselves even if we happen to burn a few. Share your own career wit and wisdom quote by visiting
◄►Little Black Book◄►

By the way, Dee Dee Myers, the first woman to serve as White House Press Secretary, as well as being the second-youngest press secretary is campaign empowerment ambassador. Myers is also Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair; an analyst for CBS News; popular lecturer on politics, the media and women's issues; and author of the New York Times best selling book Why Women Should Rule the World. To read Myer's celebration of women and to learn more about her visit ◄►Empowerment Journal◄►

You might enjoy reading some career wit & wisdom from many notables including the likes of 2011 Matrix Awards Recipient, Gwen Ifill, and former Matrix Award Honorees and Presenters, Arianna Huffington, and Nora Ephron, etc.

Twitter Turns 5 Today - Happy Birthday to You.

Would you believe it, today is Twitter's 5th B-Day.

Still no definitive business model or $ profit yet Twitter continues to spread wings and ripple effects! Wishing you many more twitterers, tweets and B-Days!!!

Below is a blog from 2009 all about Twitter

Twitter, a micro-blog with a 140-character-limit blurb known as a “tweet” having potential to create a chain of social media networking events that can lead to exponentially larger alterations of social media networking instances. Twittering appears to have maximized the power of connecting. In less than 4 years, it is  estimated that there are over 250 million twitter accounts worldwide.

But if you think that Twitter and the bird’s far reaching effect is enough to make your media campaign a success, try spreading your wings and flying. You just might find yourself in a nose-dive!

Of course, everyone is twittering, with hopes of creating shifts in perspectives that will lead to greater connections, better businesses and stronger communities.

It’s been said that a sea gull’s simple flap of a wing can change weather, and so too a simple tweet can create ripple effects in the customers, employees, friends, colleagues and even those people and entities that you have never known and now suddenly have become your followers.

Why then are there still no analytics for measuring effectiveness, or tried and true processes and marketing solutions from this bird?

Although Twitter’s wide massive appeal has grown so quickly in such a brief time, it is still considered new. Twitter became available to the public in 2006 but really gained momentum in April 2007. According to Wikipedia “The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest, SXSW, festival. During the event usage went from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.” This all occurring after the Web 2.0 buzz of 2006, which arose 2 years after the first Web 2.0 Oreilly Conference, October 5 – 7, 2004, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA.

Today, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a social networking marketing campaign and Twitter is just one of the many digital integrated marketing tools. Besides having experience, skill and passion about what you are communicating, successful social media marketing requires a well thought out, detailed, marketing plan and timeline. Even with all this, there are still no guarantees; What works for one company or person  may not be as effective for another.

While there are no magic bullets that will guarantee the overall success of your campaign, below you will find a listing of some helpful tips to guide you through the process of integrating twittering into your corporate digital marketing programs:

1. Create momentum with effective communications and set up kick-off meetings well in advance of your deliverables

2. Optimal participation is key. Schedule regular (weekly or bi-weekly) meetings (virtual or in person) and involve as many employees/departments in your organization.

3. Ensure that your meeting handouts include guidelines for branding specs, e.g., having company logo included on all tweets, regardless of whether a company is using different blog/tweet names for different products,/themes, etc., appropriate tone, buzzwords, keywords, etc.

4. If your social marketing media campaign calls for multiple bloggers and twitterers, make sure your respective tweet names match respective tweet blogs; This information should all be mapped out (e.g., spreadsheet) and incorporated into your digital marketing plan alongside all of the other marketing tools you will be integrating

5. Use common sense and discuss best practice to ensure employee tweeters know their leaps and bounds when contributing to avoid compromising your blogs/tweets integrity and reputation

6. Tie in tweets with your company’s blogs – an example is how Martha Stewart’s tips, ideas, etc., from her blog into tweets – again, not necessarily coming from someone from her company, but created such a brand following that followers as well as employees include her ideas in their blogs

7. Understand and learn of the importance of following potential customers, existing customers, vendors, suppliers, etc.

8. Incorporate short and simple auto-respond tweets for new followers – assuring real-time reply in the event no one is able to respond immediately; Although the majority of folks recommend not using auto-responds, my suggestion is to test the waters but keep auto-responds short, thanking them for connecting and sharing relevant information.  If you feel auto-responding is working against you, simply remove it. At least you can say you gave it a try.

9. Understand the importance of hashtags and other application enhancements and use them carefully. E.g., including hashtags in your tweets, e.g., #followfriday; and applications, Tweet Meme, etc. There are pros and cons to hashtags - some folks feel the short 140-character blurbs get distorted from the #hashtag symbol while others are embracing it. So far, I haven't been incorporating hashtags into my tweets. I plan on giving #hashtags a try soon.

10. If you are interested in following please feel free to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gbdaly

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009