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How to Add Your Microblogging Network to Ning – In 5 Minutes or Less « ShoutEm

March 25, 2009 Melinda Leave a comment

How to Add Your Microblogging Network to Ning – In 5 Minutes or Less

Posted by: Ivan Brezak Brkan on: 27/02/2009

In: Featured| Help & Tips Comment

So, you like Shout’Em and your users are shouting all the time. However, you want to integrate it with your site even more. Well, for those using Ning networks, it just got that much easier.

What is Ning?

While Shout’Em lets you create your own microblogging network similar to Twitter or the now defunct Pownce, Ning lets you create your social network think Myspace. While Ning has lots of neat features, it does unfortunately lack microblogging. This is where Shout’Em comes in – with widgets

Do I have to be an administrator of the network?

No, certainly not. While we let admins add their Shout’Em networks as full pledged parts of the network, users can add the Shout’Em application for Ning themselves to their profile and load their message streams. So let’s get to it:

For admins – How to add Shout’Em to your network

Select the Manage tab;

In “Your network” settings click on Features;

Select Text box from the available features and drag it to your layout;

Go to your Shout’Em network and click on Widgets in the footer;

Copy the code from the “For Ning admins” option;

Locate the Text box you added on your network and click Add Text or Edit;

Paste in the code and save;

You’re done – Howly Shout’Em Batman Good job

via How to Add Your Microblogging Network to Ning – In 5 Minutes or Less « ShoutEm.

Google Analytics Blog: Web Analytics Tips & Tricks: Using Google Analytics to Create an Optimization Plan

March 25, 2009 Melinda Leave a comment

Web Analytics Tips & Tricks: Using Google Analytics to Create an Optimization Plan (posted Tuesday, March 24, 2009 on Google Analytics Blog. Click link for full article)

Let’s face it, your website is never really finished. Testing pages is an inexpensive way to manage a constantly shifting audience and market. It’s great for:

  1. Increasing ROI on your advertising
  2. Teaching you about the likes and dislikes of your customers
  3. Trying out alternatives used by competitors
  4. Breaking down preconceptions about what works
  5. Convincing a stubborn boss to try something new

What and where to test?

So where do you start? First you need a goal. What do you want users on your site to do? Complete a form, buy something, sign up for a newsletter? Without a goal, it’s difficult to optimize, so you should be sure to define one if you haven’t already.

Once you have a goal, you can use Google Analytics to identify those pages that are having the biggest negative impact on the total number of people “converting,” or achieving that goal. These are the pages to test.

Landing Page Report

Top landing pages report

(Content > Top Landing Pages)

This report gives you instant insight in how well (or poorly) your landing pages are performing. You want to find pages that have both high “entrances” and a high “bounce rate.” These pages are costing you a lot of visitors.

Goal visualization report

(Goals > Funnel Visualization)

The funnel visualization in Google Analytics shows you where people leave during your buying process. For example, the below report shows that 40% of the 200 potential buyers left during “Step X” in the checkout process. Average order value is $100. This means the merchant is losing up to $8,000 in revenue every month due to “Step X.”

Chris Brogan on Social Consciousness as part of Social Media

March 23, 2009 Melinda 1 comment

SXSW Flash Panel: Corporations & Social Media on Vimeo on Vimeo

Chris Brogan is one of many who are actively committed to supporting social causes

Chris Brogan is one of many who are actively committed to supporting social causes

Chris Brogan has a big voice. He’s a top blogger, marketer, and entreprenuer/innovator around social media.  But one thing Chris does, usually in the background, is to support the OTHER kind of social – helping the community and in particular those who need our help.

This partnership with the community represents the best of the web – using our influence, access and personal relationships to drive good. Here, Tyson Foods works to help end hunger, and Chris starts a fascinating panel with a nice, long discussion about Tyson and their great efforts.

As social computing is becoming more and more mainstream, people want to know how it fits into what they’re already doing. The short answer … it helps your audience understand you better and find reasons to like (or not like) you. When it comes time to make a purchase decision, who will be chosen?? The nameless, or those who have made a positive impression on you one way or another??

I’d love to start a list of philanthropic efforts that are supported by people and enterprises. Got some to share?? Post them (and their links here)! Tag them “philanthropy”!

And watch the video – it’s pretty great!!

30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook

March 23, 2009 Melinda 1 comment

30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook.

In my continuing quest to help others use tools better, more efficiently, and more expertly (without having to figure it all out themselves), I wanted to share this blog post with you. It’s from Josh Peters, a freelance social media consultant from Salt Lake City, Utah. He authors a blog at Shuaism.com.

“Think LinkedIn is the only place for business? Facebook is growing rapidly and it’s becoming a destination for businesses and business professionals alike to establish a presence. Here are over 30 Facebook applications to help promote, network, communicate, collaborate and accomplish more with your business.”

Click on the link to view the entire post – it’s a keeper for sure.

Do you have any suggestions or best practices that simplify online communications, marketing, or outreach??

If you’re USING any of these tools and ideas already, what do you think?? Which are your favorites??

Submit To All Social Bookmarking Websites At Once | BloggerStop.Net – Blogger Help, Templates, Widgets

March 22, 2009 Melinda Leave a comment

I’m on a mission to help streamline all the tools and processes around using social applications for personal and business use.

Aggregators are things that take one act and repeat it for you automatically, so you can concentrate on the real value of finding and commenting on things that you feel are useful or important. Create a post and share it so that anyone anywhere can find it, using any platform.

Submit To All Social Bookmarking Websites At Once | BloggerStop.Net – Blogger Help, Templates, Widgets.

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