Social NetworksMirna Bard

The Future of Mobile Search
Posted Oct 19th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Google, Mobile, Social Networking With | 3 Comments

It was only a few short years ago that mobile searching meant driving to the nearest library and ploughing through dusty tomes to find information that would at best be slightly out of date, and at worst, utterly wrong.

The development of mobile phones has changed all this, and it is now easy to search for information wherever a phone signal can be found. This has opened up a whole vista of possibilities and has been extremely successful. Now many businesses, as well as millions of individuals, not only use mobile searching as one of their key methods of accessing information, but as a new way to access tools such as mobile billing.

Recently, there have been a number of developments that promise to take mobile searching to a whole new level and maximize its potential to such a degree that it may even become the dominant search platform of the next decade.

Google has fired the first salvo in the battle for mobile search dominance with the launch of Google Instant. Essentially a real-time search engine, current estimates are that it can on average take two seconds off a search. This, of course, may not seem like much but when you consider how many searches an average business’s employees carry out in a month, the total time saving becomes significant. (more…)
Ask Mirna: What criteria do you suggest people use to select a social media expert?
Posted Oct 17th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Ask Mirna, Business, Social Media With | 5 Comments
Question: There are so many pseudo social media experts out there, each with his or her “solution,” that it’s become overwhelming to identify the real McCoys. What criteria do you suggest people use? – Jim Taggart, LeadershipWorldConnect

Answer: Thank you for asking a very important question, and for trusting me to answer it for you. I am asked this same question at least once a week. Unfortunately, the real social media experts are buried under all the hype of the fake experts because the real ones don’t have time to go calling themselves experts so they can pitch you on why you should have 100K Twitter followers, and why you should hire them to do the job. The true authorities in any industry are not hard-selling 24/7. They are too busy strategizing, sharing, learning, educating, creating, experimenting, executing, testing, growing, and helping others thrive.

It is difficult for me to answer this question without being too controversial or self-promotional. However, my intent is to always educate and create awareness. Thus, the answer is not only based on my opinion, but also years of business experience and thousands of hours of research and execution to back it up.

So, how do you weed out the pundits from the fakes?

First, let’s define expert. Here is how Wikipedia defines the word:

“An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.”

Having extensive knowledge about a topic beyond the average person makes you an expert. Your skills training and credentials make you an expert. Your years of experience and education make you an expert. However, given the above definition, the word expert should not be a self-proclaimed title. This title should be earned and given by peers after a person has logged tens of thousands of hours, and the results should speak for themselves.

Hence, your social media expert is NOT:
- Someone who shows you how to use the latest feature on Facebook
- An individual who tells you to just create pages on the major social networks
- Your web designer or programmer
- Your previous mortgage broker who has moved on to social media because it is the next hot industry
- Your virtual assistant
- Someone who is simply online
- Someone who has five different types of businesses going at once to see which one makes the fastest buck
Am I an expert in social media because I live and breathe the Web every day? It’s possible. However, I wouldn’t use that term. I am a student of my work. I am constantly learning, experimenting, and educating. My expertise and knowledge are put to the test every time I have a new challenge, a client, or a new project. If I can’t prove that I have some expertise when the situation calls, it doesn’t matter what I call or describe myself. (more…)
An Infograph – Promises and Fears of Social Networking
Posted Sep 22nd, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Social Media, Social Networking With | 6 Comments

From high school students to executives, everyone is using social media to connect in different ways. It may be because with such a large user base tapping into the web, there really is something for everyone. Job seekers turn to LinkedIn for career connections. Musicians are still turning to MySpace to make a name for themselves. Marketers are giving their products a voice through Facebook and Twitter. Publishers are re-inventing themselves with new ways to deliver content.

With this infographic, we’ll take a look at a few of the fears and promises of each of these points of view and try to shed some light on why it works.

More Social Networking History

The first social computer network was created in 1978 with CBBS, the Chicago Bulletin Board System. Bulletin Boards were hosted on personal computers connected through telephone-based modems. These systems allowed for access to decentralized forums (Usenet), social gaming and file transfer.

The next evolution was dial-in networks such as America Online and CompuServe. One of my favorites in this time period Sierra’s ImagiNation Network which replaced the text based BBS systems with a rich gaming environment that took the form of an amusement park. You could create avatars, chat and connect for games.

Even before Friendster, the connection concept was online with SixDegrees which started in 1997 with the idea of connecting contacts, then it was MySpace with its powerful database.

Now it’s all about Facebook, which has more users than the population of any country in the world outside of the U.S., China or India. Television took 13 years to become as popular as the Internet, which only took four years. More than 100 million people have joined Facebook over nine months.

Guest Author: This is a guest post by Brian E. Young, a graphic designer and illustrator who blogs and podcasts about creativity at www.Sketchee.com.
Is Social Media a ‘Get Rich’ Scheme or Competition?
Posted Sep 8th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Social Media, Social Networking, Viral Marketing With | 7 Comments

Do you want THOUSANDS of friends/followers within days/weeks?

Please become a liker of my Facebook page because I need to reach 1000 likers!

Make money FAST using social media…

Let me show you how I made $100K in one day using social media…

Learn how to grow followers FAST on Twitter…

Anyone can make money using Twitter…Learn how NOW!
Any of these sound familiar? I have lost count of how many of these messages I receive per day. I am sure you have too. Tired of them yet? I know I am!

If you spend any time on any social media site, you will find that there appears to be a race to see who can have the most friends/followers or who can find the quickest and easiest way to get rich using social media. There are schemes that can help you get thousands of new people to follow you on sites like Twitter.

There are even sites that sell friends by the thousands. If any of these come across your e-mail or your social media accounts, please IGNORE them. Two words: “Buyer Beware!” And, if you are sending out these messages, please STOP!

Social media is not for people who want to get rich fast nor is it a competition. There is no short cut to using social media. Social media is another powerful tool to help you build genuine, quality, and long-term relationships. It is NOT about the quantity of friends or likers you have. If you are using social networking sites to increase the visibility of your business, the concept is very simple. Think of it as taking your offline networking online.

When you are at a networking event, you connect with people and try to build relationships. Then once you establish credibility, you may try to introduce people to your products and services. And, if you have given enough value, you will automatically attract your ideal clients. Well, the same rules apply to social networking. It is truly as simple as that! No need to reinvent the wheel.

When trying to build your likers and followers on social networking sites, you must think about your target audience and not how many followers you are going to have by the end of the month. For example, imagine you sell steaks. They might be the juiciest, tastiest steaks in the world, but if you try to sell them at a raw food convention where there are thousands of people, guess what? No one will buy! That’s what it’s like when you gather 20,000 people through random methods just to get followers on whatever social network you are targeting. I guarantee that this approach will not get you the results you are looking for and will not increase your business in any shape or form.

Now, imagine you take these amazing steaks to a meat-lovers convention. Do you think these people might be interested in your food? I bet you’d sell out in no time! Keep this in mind when you are finding followers on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon or any other social network. You need to focus on targeted followers — the ones who appreciate the value you provide and are interested in what you have to offer.

In summary, social media isn’t a competition to see how popular you are . . . unless that happens to be your sole purpose (But, why would it be?). However, if you are there to increase the visibility of your business, you need to start looking at things differently. Quality follower or likers will make all the difference in your bottom line!

Follow these 12 social media tips and see the difference it makes in your business:

1. Have a strategy
2. Use listening skills
3. Provide value
4. Build credibility/rapport
5. Be genuine/honest
6. Be conversational
7. Be interesting/amusing
8. Be creative (think outside the box)
9. Be consistent
10. Use proper etiquette
11. Be patient
12. Most importantly, have fun!

Am I missing any schemes? Please list any hype that you have seen or received in the comments section below . This will help educate others and prevent them from making costly mistakes.
3 Major Reasons You Shouldn’t Ignore Competitors on Social Networking Sites
Posted Jun 16th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Business, Social Media, Social Networking With | 10 Comments

Last month, I ran a poll asking what everyone thought about befriending competitors on social networking sites. Despite the fact that many businesses fear competitors or malicious copy-cats who watch their every move online, 66% said “Yes,” 26% said “It Depends,” and only 8% said “No” to befriending competitors on social networks.

If you are not engaging with competitors online you are missing the real point of social media and its many benefits. You should be embracing the opportunity to converse and establish relationships with competitors who could help leverage your success online.

Below are three major reasons you shouldn’t ignore competitors on social networking sites:

Market Research

Monitoring what your competitors are doing online will help you figure out their strengths and weaknesses as well as identify any opportunities and threats. What better way to discover what they excel at and what holes they have in their strategy than befriending them on social networks. (more…)