Appendix. Social Media Information Resources
To help you with more information about the social media field, we’ve created this index of key information resources on current social media business data, news, trends, advice, and much more. You can refer to categories of Communities, Industry Organizations, research Firms, Trade Shows and Conferences, Blogs, Knowledge Bases, and PayPal resources for information to help you understand and use social media for your business.
Communities
Business2Community
http://www.business2community.com/
This site provides an open community where professionals and businesses can connect with one another and the consumers of their products and services. Business2Community aims to provide a balanced view of the current business landscape based on social media industry news and trends, as well as real-world experiences. The site features daily news, information, and blogs focusing on marketing (traditional and online), strategy, branding, public relations, mobility, and trends.
Blubrry
Blubrry is a podcast and media community and directory that gives its participants digital means to make money, get detailed audience measurements, and host their own audio and video productions.
BlogHer
BlogHer is a community and media company created in partnership with women in social media. Women come to BlogHer to seek and share advice, opinions, and recommendations. BlogHer shares conversations and showcases guest writers and speakers covering social media.
Traffikd
Traffikd is an Internet marketing and social media blog that provides readers with practical, relevant information to use in online marketing efforts. This site maintains a list of social media and networking sites categorized by primary areas of expertise.
Quora
Quora is a continually growing collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses the site. The Quora community is a cache for the social media research that people find on the Web and share with one another.
Social Media Today
Social Media Today is an independent, online community for professionals in PR, marketing, advertising, or any other discipline where a thorough understanding of social media is critical. The site provides daily insights and hosts lively debates about the tools, platforms, companies, and personalities that are revolutionizing the way we consume information. All content is contributed by members and maintained by the site’s editorial staff.
Econsultancy
Econsultancy is a community where digital marketing and ecommerce professionals meet to sharpen their strategy, source suppliers, get quick answers, compare notes, help each other out, and discover how to master social media. Econsultancy also offers independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce along with its reports, events, online resources, and training programs to help members make better decisions, build business cases, find the best suppliers, and improve their prospects.
Industry Organizations
Social Media in Organizations
http://www.sminorgs.net/home.html
Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) is a professional community whose mission is to provide information and guidance about the organizational implications of social media. SMinOrgs functions as a global, virtual community complemented by a local/regional focus. Membership in SMinOrgs is currently free, and people can join on a variety of platforms.
Mashable
Mashable is an independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media, and technology. Noting more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, Mashable has engaged many online news communities. Mashable meetups are organized by this community. The Mashable awards is a community-nominated voting program that recognizes the companies, people, and projects that made the biggest impact on the digital landscape in any year.
GasPedal
GasPedal is a consultancy that helps merchants get started with word-of-mouth marketing, blogs, social media, communities, and viral marketing. Unlike an agency, they don’t do campaigns. Instead, they teach do-it-yourself methods to help merchants create an action plan and manage the program. GasPedal runs communities (socialmedia.org), blogs (BlogWell), and other social media tools as well.
Social Media Club
Social Media Club enables merchants to explore personal and professional pursuits by helping connect them to a community of peers based on geography and areas of interest. The organization focuses on social media as it applies to journalism, publishing, and communications, and is open to all social media professionals. Social Media Club’s primary mission is to expand digital media literacy, promote standard technologies, encourage ethical behavior, and share best practices. The site brings together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, toolmakers, and other interested collaborators.
Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)
WOMMA is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and advocating the discipline of credible word-of-mouth marketing. Through best practices, industry education, and member value, WOMMA advocates word of mouth as a solution to business challenges and a key component in the creation of Talkable Brands. WOMMA represents more than 350 member companies including brands, marketers, researchers, service providers, agencies, non-profits, and academic institutions.
Research Firms
Nielsen Research
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/
A global researcher in measurement and information, Nielsen is best known for its comprehensive rating system and reports. The firm provides clients with an understanding of what consumers watch and buy through insights that clarify the relationship between content and commerce. The firm caters to information for media, consumer packaged goods, telecom, and advertising. Nielsen has released its Social Media Report for the third quarter of 2011.
Forrester Research
http://www.forrester.com/rb/search/results.jsp?N=70909
Forrester Research, Inc. is an independent research company that provides advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 19 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. Forrester has several relevant white papers on social marketing.
ScribeMedia.Org
ScribeMedia.org focuses on the business, technology, and culture of digital media through words, images, and video. It is the flagship publication of ScribeLabs, a media strategy firm based in New York City. Their goal is to chronicle the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
MediaBadger
MediaBadger is an intelligence analytics software and online research firm whose research is used by corporations, government, and international organizations for market intelligence, corporate social responsibility, and public policy (foreign and domestic). MediaBadger integrates multiple data streams (social media, news media, internal data, and the Web as a whole) to extract insights.
VisiOne Online Research
http://visioneonlineresearch.com/
VisiOne Online Research, a division of Webbed Marketing, provides its clients with search and social media services data to support online marketing strategies and plans with the right content for the right connections on the right channels.
evolve24
http://maritzresearch.com/solutions/social-intelligence.aspx
evolve24 helps companies understand how they are perceived and how those perceptions can impact their businesses. The research firm also provides strategies and steps that merchants can take to respond to those perceptions. As a Maritz Research company, evolve24 uses leading-edge technology and social sciences to design systems that continuously analyze vast amounts of traditional and social media data.
Social Media Examiner
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
One of the world’s largest online social media magazines, Social Media Examiner helps businesses discover how to use social media to their best advantage. The emagazine includes comprehensive articles and videos showing how to use the best social media tools along with original case studies, reviews of the latest industry research, and advice from social media experts.
Trade Shows and Conferences
SXSW Interactive
The 19th annual SXSW Interactive festival will take place March 9–13, 2012 in Austin, Texas. An incubator of cutting-edge technologies, the event features five days of presentations from bright minds in emerging technology, scores of networking events hosted by industry leaders, and a full lineup of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games, and startup ideas the community has to offer. From hands-on training to big-picture analysis of the future, SXSW Interactive previews what is unfolding in the world of technology.
SocialMedia.org
http://www.socialmedia.org/events/
SocialMedia.org hosts events where members share social media ideas and best practices. The BlogWell event provides blogs and case studies on how some of the best social media programs were implemented.
Social Media Business Summit
http://www.blogworldexpo.com/2011-la/social-media-business-summit/
The Social Media Business Summit provides an exclusive three-day track, presented by social media thought-leaders and corporate professionals, empowering companies with the tools to use social media to gain exposure, engage with quality customers, and grow a business.
Social Media World Forum
http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/
The Social Media World Forum features five venues on four continents. The forum covers the world of social media, including branding, location-based technologies, social shopping, B2B, social CRM, social gaming, and more.
iStrategy Conference
http://www.istrategyconference.com/
iStrategy is a two-day, digital media conference for senior executives looking to build a digital strategy. iStrategy is held biannually at each of four regional event locations in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The conference spans all areas of digital marketing, including social media, SEO/SEM, mobile, WOM, affiliate, email, and display.
Mashable Media Summit Meetups
http://www.meetup.com/Mashable/
Mashable Meetups are community-organized events that focus on social, digital, and technology topics. Any member of the Mashable community can attend the meeting to network with locals or organize a Mashable Meetup to foster a community within the industry. The Meetup provides members with the offline opportunity to meet with companion Web enthusiasts to discuss social media and technology.
Community Managers Meetup
http://www.meetup.com/CMmeetup/
The Community Managers Meetup is a place for community builders to connect and learn from one another. The Meetup is open to community managers, social strategists, social media marketers, and others working to build community online or off. The Meetup brings community managers together to share what they are learning and gather some best practices while strengthening relationships between professionals in the social media space.
Social Commerce Strategies 2012
http://www.wbresearch.com/socialcommercestrategies/
The Social Commerce Strategies 2012 event is a three-day focus on all aspects of the sociology of sharing online and how merchants may better capitalize on this growing industry’s social commerce trends.
Blogs
Brian Solis
Brian Solis is recognized as one of the prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. Solis also contributes to Fast Company, Businessweek, AdvertisingAge, Harvard Business Review, and Mashable.
TopRank
http://www.toprankblog.com/category/social-media/
TopRank’s Online Marketing blog provides insights, resources, and commentary on a range of digital marketing and public relations topics, including the latest trends and news in social media and marketing.
Social Media Explorer
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/
Social Media Explorer provides insights, opinions, and learning around the world of social media marketing, online communications, conversational marketing, digital marketing, public relations, community building, and branding, as well as perspectives on the current state of social media.
The Social Media Marketing Blog
Scott Monty’s blog offers insights on social media marketing as it relates to large brands and their use of various online tools, postings, and more.
Logic + Emotion
David Armano’s insights, ideas, and opinions on doing business in a connected age include topics that discuss the impact of social media on marketing.
The BrandBuilder Blog
http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/
The BrandBuilder Blog provides commentary and discussions about brand management and social media best practices. The blog includes significant information on social media statistics and trends.
The Future Buzz
The Future Buzz is a blog about Web marketing and PR strategies, spreading “buzz” on the social Web and building long-term visibility for merchants’ brands and businesses in a fragmented media society. This blog mainly caters to the interests of marketers, freelance writers, entrepreneurs, artists, small business owners, and public relations professionals.
Instigator Blog
http://www.instigatorblog.com/
Ben Yoskovitz’s blog is about instigating discussion, driving ideas, and building better businesses. Focused on social media, entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, and technology, all with a dose of humor, the Instigator blog offers startup insight to entrepreneurs.
Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan explores the use of social media and social networking tools, as well as helping individuals work smarter. He uses social media and technology to help build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Brogan merges his experience in technology with a zeal for social media to show organizations how to use these tools inside the firewall, as well as how to build authentic conversations between coworkers, customers, and business competitors.
BlogPulse
BlogPulse is a blog search engine that also analyzes and reports on trends, as well as daily activity in the blogosphere.
Technorati
Technorati collects, highlights, and distributes global online conversation for bloggers. Touted as the first blog search engine, Technorati is a media company serving blogs and social media sites and connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation. Technorati indexes more than a million blogs and is a major source for the top stories, opinions, photos, and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics, and business.
Knowledge Bases
FuzeDigital
http://www.fuze.com/subpage.aspx?n=4&t=3&gclid=CPW3v8PHm6wCFQJO3godVSSwBQ
FuzeDigital is a social knowledge base that allows community members to create new content and improve existing content. The community knowledge base includes supporting infrastructure and metrics that facilitate, motivate, measure, recognize, and reward broad stakeholder participation that help organizations guide and manage conversations to focus on business goals.
Social Media Executive Seminars Knowledge Base
http://www.socialmediaexecutiveseminars.com/knowledge-base
This site offers a broad collection of case studies, corporate policies, research, reports, trends, and predictions on social media, culled from various Social Media Executive Seminars.
Digital Trends
Digital Trends helps merchants make the most of hi-tech social media lifestyles by focusing on products with cutting-edge functionality, exclusive new product reviews, and editorials and technology news about trendsetting consumer products and services.
Internet Retailer
http://www.internetretailer.com/home/
Internet Retailer is one of the largest providers of objective business information on social media market trends, technology, competitive practices, and people that are shaping the ecommerce industry. Internet Retailer defines ecommerce business broadly to include all forms of consumer and business transactions on the Internet that involve a purchase and exchange of value.
MindTouch
http://www.mindtouch.com/solutions/knowledge_base
MindTouch provides purpose-built social help desks and knowledge bases with solutions that layer social and collaborative capabilities over existing systems and deliver strategic value to their customers. Product help is strategic for user assistance teams, product and marketing teams, community managers, and product evangelists as they build engaged communities around their brands to increase top and bottom line revenues.
Lithium
Lithium offers a single suite of products for engaging social customers. Lithium helps clients find customers, listen to their conversations, and respond in an intelligent way. Lithium helps merchants understand customers’ influences in contributing to a company’s marketing, commerce, customer service, and product development activities.
Practical eCommerce
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/
Practical eCommerce provides common sense articles and advice to help smaller businesses succeed online through social media. The site includes podcasts, email newsletters, educational webinars, live online courses, and a companion site, Ecommerce Developer, for coders, designers, and developers of ecommerce sites.
CMO.com
CMO.com reviews relevant social media content from more than 100 leading sources, including major business, advertising, and marketing industry publications and websites. The site provides a library of more than 4,000 articles. CMO.com also searches posts from thought leaders and influential bloggers, publishes articles by industry experts, and selects, categorizes, and posts new content daily.
BizReport
BizReport is a leading source for Internet business, social media, and ecommerce news. Attracting a diverse and influential audience of business professionals, the BizReport website delivers breaking news, in-depth reports, and interviews with social media industry leaders. BizReport is linked by a broad range of online finance and investment portals, technology companies, and ecommerce sites.
PayPal Resources
PayPal Partner Directory
https://www.paypal-marketing.com/emarketing/partner/global/home.page
PayPal provides its business partners with key payments technology and comprehensive support to grow ecommerce ventures. The PayPal Partner Directory lists a wide variety of possible partners and provides areas of support for marketing, technology integration, social media issues, communication needs, and joint account planning.
Magento
http://www.magentocommerce.com
Magento provides a rich set of implementation tools, techniques, and APIs for merchants to build their own online stores. Magento’s developer- and user-based community can be found at http://www.go.magento.com.
Xcommerce
Xcommerce is an end-to-end, multi-channel commerce technology platform designed for all the ways consumers choose to shop today. Merchants can make the most of current commerce technologies that are easy to access on a single platform. Developers can benefit from a robust, open ecosystem to integrate and innovate, armed with a complete set of commerce-related tools and capabilities.
GSI
GSI helps deliver an engaging ecommerce shopping experience to customers through their ecommerce, multichannel retailing, and interactive marketing services for the world’s major brands and retailers.