Anyway, long story short, they came!  They came!  They came!  They came!  Bearing Boston Cream Pie and Milk n Cookies flavors and coupons, they came!  Okay.  I’m okay now.

Thanks to this episode, I will say that now I “get” Twitter.  I had been on Friendster, MySpace, and most recently, Facebook since the early aughts, but only started a Twitter account last year, updating it infrequently.  While I was following the @BenJerrysTruck and tracking the truck’s movement (slightly obsessively), I began to read other people’s tweets and started following people I liked.  I felt like I was the first to know about special things (though I know I wasn’t the “only” one ). Today I started following TJ Maxx because I saw that a friend was and, damn it, I want a chance to win that handbag by retweeting too!

Now I’m hooked.

Before this I had preconceived notions that Twitter was too promotional.  Who cared what I was saying?  Why should I care about what someone else wanted to tell the entire world in less than 140 characters?  Turns out there are people who care about what I say and turns out I want to know what other people/places have to say, whether it’s promotional or not.  Twitter users can see what ideas their friends, idols, and favorite places have to say or offer in brief, digestible snippets.

I’m not the only one to hop on the bandwagon:  A very recent compete.com survey found that 31 percent (of 3,119 surveyed) report checking out Facebook fan pages or Twitter feeds of retailers, up from 17 percent in the third-quarter 2009 survey.  If my math is right, that’s almost double in less than a year.

As you can see, the reasons to engage with twitter are many!  You can probably tell that from my own examples.  And, it goes both ways.  If people are looking to learn about what’s hot in SEO, about life @451Heat, or random awesome recipes, they can follow me at @mlspriest. It’s really about finding that one “hook” (in my case, Ben & Jerry’s) to see how Twitter might work for you.

The process begins by creating a Google Places account (this used to be called Google local listings). It is one of the best and easiest ways to increase your customer base economically, as it is absolutely free! Recently, Google launched Google Tags, a new advertising feature, which helps you stand out from the competition. It adds a small tag beside your listing in the Google Places “7-pack” and charges a small $25/month fee to use this feature.

Once you set up an account, be sure to fill out as much information as possible because it definitely affects the rank of your listing and adds more credibility to your business. You will have to “verify” this listing, which can be accomplished by entering a verification pin you can choose to receive by phone or mail.

Here are some important factors you should consider when optimizing your Google local listing:
•    Put in your exact address and choose the most relevant business categories
•    If the opportunity presents itself, use a keyword in your business name (for example:  Brother & Sister Moving Company)
•    Add photos and videos of your office and products/service.  Many businesses aren’t currently taking advantage of this feature, so you can one up your competition quite easily in this respect.
•     Offer a special coupon in your profile, which will encourage users to both visit your business and (hopefully) write a positive review on your Places page.
•    Submit your business information on local search engines, local databases and local business listings
•     Make sure your information on superpages.com and other local-based information sites and user review sites is accurate, as these citations will show up on your Google Places profile and are thought to improve the optimization of the profile.

Hope this information helps your local search optimization efforts. Let us know if this post helped you set up your Google Places account. Share your thoughts and experiences.

Recently the 451 team listened in on a free Business Wire webinar titled “Press Releases and Twitter: What to Expect When you Tweet Your News Release.” Experts on the call were Monika Maeckle and Joseph Miller with Business Wire. As an agency specializing in blending PR, social media and search marketing  for integrated campaigns, the 451 team is practiced in using Twitter to promote client news, but webinars like this one almost always provide a few useful tips. Business Wire polled the audience listening in, and we were surprised to learn that 25% of those polled weren’t on Twitter and out of the 75% of listeners using Twitter 65% of them use Twitter.com as their primary Twitter application.

Here are a few more key takeaways from the webinar:

• The most Retweeted content is “news”
• Thursday afternoon is the best time for tweets; Friday is the best for Retweets
• Hashtags are very important – they extend the reach of your news
• It’s not just about the amount of followers you have, but more about providing content to those who are most relevant (Monitter.com)
• Use trending topics in tweets to help gain exposure
• Whatthetrend.com helps you find out what is trending on Twitter and why
• Danzarella.com: Social Media and Twitter guru advises, “Don’t be negative. Always say please. Don’t follow more people than are following you.”
• Useful tools for finding journalists online include journalisttweets.com and muckrack.com
• Interesting Twitter project: Measuring User Influence in Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy - http://twitter.mpi-sws.org/

Do you tweet your news? What best practices do you swear by for expanding the reach of your announcement?

-451 Team

Their responses were fascinating and I learned a great deal of just how different- and similar we are. Here are the highlights:

1. The importance of “the team” – American PR agencies most commonly service accounts in teams. This concept resonated well, as the class shared their companies run the same way. However, they take the team concept to a new level. Seniority is taken very seriously. One woman shared that she was a vegetarian until joining a new company where her team dined on either meat or seafood everyday at lunch. Since she was junior to the team she gave up her vegetarian habits to fit in- as expected.

2. The challenge of managing your personal brand – The class was surprised to learn about the challenge many American students launching into the corporate world face today- managing all the information they’ve shared about themselves online via social media tools. Too often college grads have to wipe the online slate clean to remain attractive to potential employers. The class was unfamiliar with the term “social media,” many were on Facebook, but few had profiles on LinkedIn. Some shared that they have struggled with the “friend or not to friend” issue when dealing with employers or clients. Their solution was to establish two accounts on each site- one personal and one professional.

3. Still a boys’ club – The class shared that the PR teams at their companies work mostly at night, because they are busy taking reporters out for cocktails. We discussed how this was more accepted in the past in U.S. culture, but largely today reporters are too busy and often have editorial policies in place that prevent them from accepting meals or gifts from PR folks.

4. Transparency is in the eye of the beholder – When talking about traditional PR pitching, one man volunteered that it is typical for reporters to ask for and then print word for word as an editorial article content provided to them by a company. I shared how this is less common among U.S. press, with contributed articles disclosing the company author being more acceptable.

Overall, it was clear that while there are great similarities with the international concept of PR and marketing, there are significant differences in how practitioners in other countries achieve the same end result. What international PR practices or trends have you noticed?

Enter social media. Delhi Traffic Police and citizens created a Facebook Fan Page to catch these offenders. The page allows citizens to post photos of lawbreakers who the police fine depending on the offense.

The Delhi Traffic Police Fan Page has 17,700 fans to date and over 3,000 incriminating pictures have been sent to the Page.  Out of these 3,000 pictures of offenders 665 tickets have been issued!

Although this seems like a good idea in theory, I don’t think I’m quite on board with the Fan Page. Not only are there privacy issues at stake, but how can the Traffic Police know the pictures are real? With popular tools such as Photoshop, a car’s license plate can be easily manipulated or the color of a car can be changed.

Despite some negative feedback around the world, Delhi Traffic Police continue to support this page.  Could pages like this one spread to the U.S.?  Would you support the idea that someone could snap a picture of you and send it into the police? Do you think these Pages really help in the fight against reckless drivers? What are your thoughts?

-Becky Greenwood

According to a Nielsen study released last week, social media and online games are now more popular than email.

The study found that Americans spend nearly a quarter (23 percent) of their time online posting comments, pictures and videos on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, making it the most popular online activity among Americans.

Nielsen found online gaming is the second most popular online activity, accounting for ten percent of online use, while e-mail ranks third at a little over eight percent.

As a 23 year old working at a social media marketing firm, I’m not surprised by these findings, but I’m sure many people are! Hopefully, these findings are a wake up call to corporations that are reluctant to get involved with social media. There is so much opportunity for businesses in every industry to connect with target audiences on social networking and online gaming sites as well as through email campaigns. Knowing who your audience is and from which outlets in particular members are consuming information, is the most important starting point. This is knowledge is key to building an effective and integrated social media strategy.

What do you think? Are these findings a wake-up call for businesses?

Nearly all businesses are using social media marketing in their marketing plans. Social media marketing is a hot topic that is increasingly popular. College grads are expected to understand every aspect of social media as they enter the workforce. The problem with this is that many colleges have not established social media courses designed to prepare students for marketing jobs. How are students expected to know the ins and outs of social media marketing, if they can’t take a course focused on the topic? Sure, we all know how to friend someone or tag pictures, but we can’t learn how to market businesses effectively through standard Facebook use. (And that goes for other social media outlets as well) Many colleges are starting to explore the same notion, and are beginning to develop a curriculum centered on social media. Colleges are now starting to realize that social media is not just a trend, and that there is real opportunity for students to learn and excel in future jobs, if they are equipped with an understanding of social media.

Respected business schools, including Harvard and Columbia, added courses in social media to their MBA curriculums. These courses are taught by leading social media experts in the field. This is a great start for social media education, but is it really enough? Without the proper knowledge in undergraduate studies, marketing and businesses students are missing out on an important area of marketing. A lack of social media marketing knowledge can be a huge issue for students entering the work force. I propose that students who are interested in a career in marketing should be required to take at least one social media class in their undergraduate studies; not only would this prepare students for the workplace, but it would help evolve the field.

What do you think? Is there enough social media in marketing programs? Are professors educated enough to teach the subject?

-Becky Greenwood

We have entered into an age where almost everyone depends on the Internet to support his or her daily needs. Whether it’s to look up directions to a new restaurant or to chat online with an old friend, we’re constantly using the Internet. Let’s face it; we’d be lost without the web. It’s interesting to think about life before the Internet, when there was only print, radio and television to keep us entertained and up-to-date with current events. But now, the Internet has altered our traditional habits and has even changed the means by which professionals and businesses are approaching new ways to enhance their marketing strategies.

Businesses are now more inclined to use the Internet to reach out to consumers because it provides various ways to establish valuable connections with people they would not have met otherwise. This instant link creates the potential to communicate freely with their intended market and clients of interest. Many have found social media marketing to be a viable source to use to advertise their efforts and gain the right clientele.

One of the many reasons why social media is such an effective medium of communication is that it isn’t overly expensive as compared to traditional forms of advertising. While it does takes a significant amount of time and patience to navigate your way through various social media sites, the effort put into establishing a strong social media presence is incomparable to how much it would take to advertise through other media forms.

Social networking has developed significantly over the years and websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites are still continuing to grow. Social media has exceptionally changed the way people interact amongst themselves and with their media. Millions of people are online managing their social media sites on a daily basis. This provides the perfect opportunity for advertisers to grab the attention of new consumers. Social media has left its mark and drastically changed advertising forever.

Do you agree? What do you think about the impact of social media on advertising?

- Elaine Nip

Chitika, an ad network, recently published interesting results from a study of 41,103,403 impressions of search traffic coming into its network between June 13 and June 19.

Chitika found that 26 percent of organic search traffic was the result of three-word searches. Two-word searches followed with 19 percent of organic search traffic. Four word searches followed that with 17 percent, and finally, one-word searches accounted for 14 percent of organic searches.

Interestingly, Chitika found that queries beyond five words see dramatically decreased organic traffic, but this is different with paid clicks. The ad network found the highest ad click rates were for queries five, six and four words. After six words, clicks dropped significantly.

Are you surprised by these results? Will you change your SEO strategy based on this study’s findings?

For more information on this study, visit here.

Are you itching for the weekend? So excited to celebrate the 4th of July? Check out this slideshow highlighting some cool iPhone applications to test your knowledge, to show your love for the USA and, if you’re like me, to keep yourself occupied during that long car ride to the Cape. I’m not driving, don’t worry.

Have you tried any of these? Know of any other cool USA themed apps? Let us know!

-Cristina