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  • Social networks have exploded in popularity in the past year: More than 4 in 10 (43%) among those who are online now use social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn—up from 27% a year ago.

  • Marketing professional in the healthcare industry may be missing a golden opportunity to meet the sometimes-desperate needs of patients, to become more relevant and supportive in the long arc of their journey to better health. If they do, they will win their respect and loyalty, their adherence and behaviors will change to improve their overall health, and the financial bottom lines of healthcare brands will strengthen. Everybody wins. Here are three steps to ensure health care isn't left behind in the social-media sphere.

  • Before you enter the relatively new frontier of social media, you need an action plan. Although the costs are low, social media tools require extensive maintenance to be effective. Your strategy needs to fit your corporate culture, resources, and customer expectations. Twitter is probably the best place to test the social-media waters to see if it is right for your company.

  • How much do you know about your customers right now, at this moment? A lot of companies can show you composite profiles that describe their target customers, including job titles, needs, obligations, and goals. No doubt about it: It's important to know those things. But relying solely on such information to connect with customers is like trying to strike up a conversation with a cardboard cutout. It just isn't enough.

  • Recently, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sued Twitter for the misappropriation of his name by an anonymous account holder (the now vacant @TonyLaRussa) who had a whopping four followers. One issue that the incident brings to mind is Web anonymity and the plethora of online trolls, squatters, and the like that reside on social sites such as Twitter and Digg.

  • Bird-of-mouth (noun): The spreading of news or information via Twitter.

  • Streaming Music 2.0

    Infographic

    Top 40. Jazz. Alternative. To stream music online, you have several choices. Whether you want radio or individual songs, some of the more popular sites are radio paradise Pandora, Last.fm, iLike and imeem—and a relatively new site.

  • Social network popularity is growing. So much that even TV is noticing. Major brands now list URLs not to their websites but to the social networks that they're on. "Look for us on Facebook" or "Follow us on Twitter" is becoming more widespread.

  • We Love Eric

    Infographic

    We've seen the power of Twitter's community used for good: spreading vital information during natural disasters, distributing Amber Alerts, and raising money for charities. Now imagine using not only Twitter's power but also the celebrity of the Nine Inch Nails.

  • Effective networking is all about giving. One of the best ways to give to your network members is to help them build their personal brands. And if you help them build their brands on the Web, you demonstrate how savvy you are about the new Web 2.0 world we live in. And, for marketers, being savvy about social media is essential! Here's a list of 10 free or very low-cost Web 2.0–focused personal-branding gifts.

  • There are many similarities between social-media marketing and email; but they are two distinct marketing channels, and they should be used separately to enhance or magnify, not just promote, each other. Think of it this way: Social media is for awareness; email is for retention.

  • Have you ever heard the expression "eat your own dog food"? It's a concept that essentially means that one is "walking the talk," or leading by example. Many companies have talked about being "customer-focused," but how many really are? Unfortunately, just saying you're committed to doing something is dramatically different from actually doing it. There is no place where this idea is truer than in the world of social media and online communities.

  • Headfake (noun): A situation in which you are familiar with a person's online avatar picture, which gives you an inaccurate idea of how that person appears in real life.

  • You're a marketer who's hip to the idea of social media: You have a blog, you know Facebook inside and out, and you can Tweet with the best of them. But the big question is, Are you listening as well as talking? Here are some of the top tools for listening to and monitoring the online chatter about your brand.

  • Twitter in Real Life

    Infographic

    Twitter has swept the world as an Internet phenomenon. What would it be like if we lived out our offline lives speaking in 140 characters or less? The results would be hilarious, if this video is any evidence.

  • The first few months of 2009 have already been tumultuous for reputations. So what can be done? Below, some of the findings of that online-reputation study as they relate to seven realities of managing online reputation in today's world—and some solutions to strengthen your reputation in the months ahead.

  • Today's buyer is in control. This transition means that our sales teams are no longer required as a conduit of information. Industry websites, vendor sites, blogs, social media, and search all make the required information readily available and, by doing so, leave the sales representative out of the room. As a result, it's impossible for the sales rep to read a buyer's physical body language to understand what aspects of a message are of interest and determine whether the prospect wants to move forward. Marketing teams must therefore instead read a buyer's digital body language—his or her Web activities, email responses, search activities, and engagements in events and demos—to understand what messages are working.

  • If you're a mother, or perhaps you have one, check out this fun promotion by MomsRising.org to celebrate someone you consider "Mother of the Year."

  • With all that negativity about today's job market, a bit of lightheartedness doesn't hurt, right? Well, looks like Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma City, has done so by creating THE dream job for a Twitter and Facebook power user who's a wino (no joke).

  • Twitter has seen massive growth as an online communications tool, especially with the recent influx of celebrity personas (Ashton, Oprah) using it. But perhaps no celebrity has found more success with Twitter than Tony Hawk, who is using it to bridge both his real and his virtual communities. What are the lessons for marketers?