I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn. In addition to being the biggest business social network with some 135 million+ users worldwide, it is a social networking platform that delivers business leads to me and to my clients on a regular basis. Without question, LinkedIn proves itself worthy of the time we invest there – in spades.

The fact that LinkedIn keeps adding new functionality on a regular basis, all with a view toward making the site better, the experience more beneficial and the interface easier — well, those are all things we like, too.

And speaking of adding things, according to a recent conversation onstage at the IGNITION conference in New York, Deep Nishar, LinkedIn’s Senior VP of Product Development admitted to Business Insider’s Henry Blodget, that LinkedIn adds 10 new members every 5 seconds. That’s a lot of users.

LinkedIn’s newly revamped version of CardMunch, the app that’s pretty much a digital rolodex, is another example of improved functionality. CardMunch takes all those business cards that you collect that invariably end up in the bottom of your backpack or back pocket and turns them into LinkedIn contacts.

All you need do is open the app and take a picture of a business card with it. CardMunch turns that business card into a contact and shows you that individual’s LinkedIn profile, their credentials, as well as the contacts that you have in common. You can also add notes as the card processes, which I think might come in handy.

If you’re one of those folks that still hasn’t figured out why LinkedIn is worth paying attention to consider this. LinkedIn is, for a huge number of business professionals, a way to assess how savvy a person is with regard to the web and the way business is conducted today. When you either don’t have a LinkedIn profile, or have a crummy one, it tells a story all its own.

And when you’re meeting prospects at trade shows, conferences or industry functions and handing over your business cards, realize that people have the ability to almost instantaneously check you out via your LinkedIn profile. This is yet another example of the real time world in which we live – and personifies business networking at the speed of light. Or business and capabilities vetting – or a combination of the three!

What does your LinkedIn profile look like? Does it do a good job of telling your story, your capabilities, provide a compelling reason as to why someone should hire you, consider partnering with the company you work for, etc.? Are you ready to have your business card scanned by CardMunch and your capabilities assessed? If not, maybe spending some time on your LinkedIn profile might not be such a bad idea.

Download the CardMunch app now and experiment. And if you’re not yet sold, click here to see how CardMunch works. After that, if you can resist downloading the app well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. (That corny line was just a test to see if you actually read all the way to the bottom. Did you pass?)

PS If we’re not yet connected on LinkedIn, why the heck not?

LinkedIn’s CardMunch App Turns Business Cards Into Contacts is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

We recently wrote about using a cool Instagram app that takes your stellar Instagram stream and converts it into a screen saver for your Mac.

Well, we found another cool way to leverage your Instagram photos with — wait for it — the newest, and to some, the hottest new social channel out there, Google+.

Considering Instagram is already commonly used in both Twitter and Facebook streams – it was only a matter of time before some coding whiz figured out how to integrate Instagram pictures into a Google+ stream as well. We do so love those people who figure all this stuff out for the rest of us.

So, how do you pull your Instagram photos into your Google+ stream? First you need to make sure that you have the following applications:

• Instadrop – This app automatically connects your Instagram and Dropbox accounts. So instead of just going into your feed, your photos will also automatically be dropped into a folder on Dropbox as well.
• Dropbox – When you create an Instagram folder on Dropbox this allows you to import that folder into Picasa and set it to automatically sync.
• Picasa app – And finally the Picasa app, as a Google product, automatically links to your Google+ feed. So all your fancy photos will appear directly in your Google+ stream.

Once these apps are installed, open up Picasa, go to Tools, then Folder Manager, then select your Instagram folder and make sure Picasa is set to “Scan Always.” And finally, the last step is find the folder in the sidebar of Picasa and select “Sync to Web.”

And that’s it. You’re all set. Happy Instagraming!

How to Integrate Instagram Into Your Google+ Stream is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

I travel. A lot. And when I find tricks, tools and apps that make it easier for me, I’m all for them. I’m also immersed in the world of mobile marketing, so looking at what others are doing in the space is always at the top of my list.

And when I’m stuck in an airport with nothing to do, which is often, well, I head straight to the Interwebs to see what new bright, shiny things I can find to play with. Or write about. Or buy.

An interesting new find is app called Weeels. Their description in the app store is simple:

Weeels is a fast, easy, cheap and efficient way for New Yorkers to call cabs and share rides with other passengers.

But it’s not just about ride sharing (and I think the folks at Weeels need to emphasize that more in their description in the app store and in their marketing efforts).

Weeels is also a socially-responsible initiative, aiming to cut down on carbon emissions, congestion and waste. Their tagline is “Engineering vehicle efficiency via systems design.” I work with engineers – I like it already. And watching this video made me like them even more, because they made me laugh:

Weeels Infomercial from Weeels on Vimeo.

When you think about it, a city filled with cabs occupied by one person, many of whom are headed to the same destinations from the same places is not exactly the most efficient system. As a green gal, I’m drawn to concepts like this. As a social gal, I’m likewise drawn to Weeels.

Weeels is DIY mass transit. Push a button and get an affordable and convenient ride anywhere in the city. Easy to understand. Easy to do. Easy to benefit from. And the eco-friendly part of this concept mitigates the inconvenience of sharing a ride with someone else.

Weeels is only in New York City right now, but I hope that either they expand to other markets, or that others develop similar apps. To my way of thinking, there’s not much of a downside to reduced wait times, travel costs, carbon emissions, gas costs and congestion. And, from a business model standpoint, it’s really smart that their target audience is not only end-users, but also transportation providers, campuses, municipalities, businesses and the like.

Considering that mobile apps are developed at an astonishing rate but that a whopping 26% of them are downloaded and used only once, apps like this that actually give you a reason to use them on a weekly, or even daily, basis make a lot of sense. Now, of course, they need to market the heck out of the app. Another little step that so many developers overlook.

What about you? Have you heard of Weeels? Does it sound like something you’d use? Would my NYC-dwelling friends consider using this app? I’d love to hear what you think.

What say you? Do you see apps like this in your future? They sure seem to make sense to me.

Apps That Make Sense: Taxi Sharing is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Is your website mobile friendly? If not, let’s not beat around the bush – what exactly are you waiting for? Think about your own behavior in the past year – how many times have you accessed a website from your Smart Phone? And how many times have you been frustrated when you couldn’t read the doggone thing because it wasn’t mobile friendly? If you’re like me, that answer is a ton. Or as my friend, Erika Napoletano likes to say, a metric ton.

According to Comscore, over 60 million people in the U.S. own Smart Phones. All the major Smart Phone platforms, especially Andriod, continue to gain subscribers at a rapid rate.  If current sales trends continue at their 2010 pace, it’s possible that 50% of mobile phone customers will own a Smart Phone by the end of 2011. Yes, you read that correctly, 50%.

Hell’s bells, even my 73 year old Mother-in-Law has a Smart Phone — and she loves it.

Still not convinced? Morgan Stanley research estimates that by 2015, mobile web will be bigger than desktop.

That’s a lot of people accessing the Internet via their mobile phone. In fact, daily Internet usage via handheld device jumped from 29% in 2009 to 43% by the end of 2010. As more and more Smart Phone users are added each day, it’s easy to see the value of having a mobile friendly website.

Why Do People Keep Calling Me On My Computer??

I’ll bet there are some of you who’ve had that thought, aren’t there? In fact, I don’t think of my iPhone as a phone, it’s more of a handheld computer that lets me do everything I need to do – and sometimes more – no matter where I am. It’s my alarm clock, email delivery system, flashlight, address book, calendar, video view, game player, social media connector, camera, handheld computer, video camera, mobile payment device, QR code scanner — heck, if it could dry my hair and make me a cup of coffee, it might just replace every device I own. And I’ll bet many of you feel the same way.

50% of Small Business Owners Haven’t Even Thought to Check

And then there are small business owners. And sometimes large ones, too. Very few small businesses have websites that are mobile enabled. According to a 1&1 Internet, Inc. study, 50% of small businesses have never checked the appearance or functionality of their site on a Smart Phone. Never. Have you checked your website? Do you have a plan to take advantage of rapid Smart Phone growth and the dramatically increased use of the internet via a mobile device?

Most business owners don’t have the time or the expertise to figure out their next step. It’s easier and not as expensive as you think. Help is available if you need it. A mobile site may offer you more options than your current site.

If you’re thinking about creating a mobile app, make sure you consider mobilizing your existing website first. Don’t risk annoying your customers, losing them to your competitors or harming your brand with a web experience that doesn’t translate to a Smart Phone. And while apps are great, in our opinion, they aren’t the solution for every business.

Mobile Websites Are More Important Than Apps

Make sure that before you run off and invest a lot of money in developing an app, that you have a plan for how that app fits into your overall marketing plan.  And, of course, how it is you’ll market that app. Having one and having people download and use it are two entirely different things. And having an app because it’s the latest bright, shiny toy is potentially a massive waste of money. I digressed.

You might have figured that in our book, a mobile website is, in most cases, infinitely more critical to your business operations than an app. And if you’re not sure, any marketing firm that you’re working with who’s worth their salt will have many conversations with you about that before leading you down the path of building an app. If they don’t, fire them.

V3′s Al Bonner not only handles a ton of new business development, he’s also what we like to call our Mobile King (behind his back, of course). If it has to do with mobile – whether it’s mobile web, app development, QR codes and the like, Al is our man. He’s also the owner of Presentation Transformations, a business that helps people take ordinary presentations and turn them into killer ones. Al created the following presentation for me for a recent event and it tells you everything you need to know about the mobile web. And I’m pretty sure that after you watch it, you’ll think differently about how much attention you’re currently paying to the mobile web.

Here is a summary of some of the key stats from the presentation.

• 130,000,000 new Smart Phones purchased each year in the U.S.
• In 2009, 51% of SmartPhone users owned an internet enabled device
• In 2010, 63% owned an Internet enabled phone
• Daily internet usage via handheld device jumped from 29% in 2009 to 43% by the end of 2010.
• Most websites look fine on a desktop computer or on a laptop. The same site on a phone can be a frustrating experience
• Most desktop websites were not designed to be viewed on the small screens of mobile devices. Fonts can be too small, navigation can be clunky, Flash simply won’t work, lengthy page loads, etc.
• More than 10 Billion apps have been downloaded to date.
• The Apple App Store has more that 350,000 apps available.
• The average person has 60 apps on each iDevice (iPad, iPhone, etc.)
• But, out of all those apps, 26% are used just once.
• The iPhone represents only 25% of the Smart Phone market

Don’t have a mobile enabled website? Get going!!

Why You Need a Mobile Website is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Web analytics are a critical data component (or at least they should be) for marketers. And today, URLs are what matter – as much as cookies always have in the past. The analytics provided by URL shortening services are a marketer’s goldmine.

In today’s app-obsessed society, it’s becoming harder for marketers to track their consumers. Each app consumers use to access the Internet is like its own room within a giant hotel – when your customers access via an app, all you can see is a new visit. The inbound link is lost, along with the context of their visit.

Marketers and app providers alike have long relied on cookies to track consumers – the problem is that cookies have to be stored through a web browser. Since the tendency is now to share links via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter, these cookies are rendered useless. To compound the situation, consumers have also begun to revolt against intrusive toolbars and cross-tracking cookies.

Marketers and web analytics companies know that URLs survive sharing and allow them access to the engagement and behavior data they want – and need. So, with URLs being so important, how does the rise of URL shorteners like the ones developed by Twitter and Facebook impact our ability to track?

Emerging technology enthusiast and entrepreneur Alistair Croll says it best, “whoever owns the shortener sees the engagement between your consumers and the content you are producing, no matter where it happens.”

For instance, if you use Twitter’s built in URL shortener, t.co, THEY see your traffic behavior data – not you.

Hmmmm. What a treasure trove of valuable information that is. The spin on these kinds of URL shorteners is that they help combat spam, which is not inaccurate. But there’s more. So much more. The people who have the data win. Just about every time. And, in the case of Twitter and Facebook, they stand to benefit tremendously because of the value they can bring to their users – read that ‘brands’ – and advertisers – in the form of that data.

Here’s a snippet from the Official Twitter Blog on it:

In addition to a better user experience and increased safety, routing links through this service will eventually contribute to the metrics behind our Promoted Tweets platform and provide an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting to users. We are also looking to provide services that make use of this data, an example would be analytics within our eventual commercial accounts service.

Google recently rolled out its own URL shortener, goo.gl which allows developers to integrate the service into their applications. It not only allows for shortening and expanding URLS, but provides access to history and analytics as well. The access to the analytics via the API is a big deal, because applications can monitor traffic and usage – which is something that’s not readily available if you use other shorteners. For instructions on how to get started using the Google URL Shortener, here’s the scoop.

Do you think social media properties like Twitter and Facebook (specifically their Facebook Connect service) gaining the ability to produce aggregated reports for marketers will make them more valuable analytic tools? Actually, that’s not a question – we pretty much already know the answer.

Which shortener do you like and why? Or does it matter to you at all?

URLs Are For Tracking. Cookies Are For Eating is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

This is intended as a quick guide to help people new to the Twitterverse get some down and dirty advice on getting started and getting the most out of their Twitter experience. Always remember, that there is no one right or wrong way to use Twitter, only the way that works best for you. That said, avoid selling, pushing a message over and over and focusing only on yourself. Most people who truly are successful in the world of any social mediums will be the first to tell you that engagement is key. You have to give before you ever get (just as in “real life”) and, typically, you reap what you sow. Translated: Give a lot, get even more.

Use a good photo as your avatar (one of just you, not you and your wife, cat, pet hampster or you when you were 3 years old and very precocious)

Have a handle that makes sense. Use your real name if possible, or some shortened version thereof. Less characters in your handle are always better than more, as that leaves your more space for your message.

Complete your bio and include a link to your website or blog

2. Words of Advice

Have Realistic Expectations —-> You only get what you give in the world of social mediums (this can’t be emphasized enough)

Don’t use the platform as a broadcast medium. If you do this, you will be quickly ignored.

Don’t spam others. Posting constantly about you, you, you and what you do, do, do is S.P.A.M. Don’t do it.

Finding time in already packed days to participate in any social mediums is difficult, figure out what works for you. Suggestion: Pick two 15-30 minute blocks of time that you allocate as “Twitter time.” Add them to your calendar and respect it.

Be yourself. Be real.

Next Steps ………………….

3. Jump Into Conversations
It’s expected. That’s how you integrate into the Twitter community and people are rarely surprised
when you contribute to a discussion.

4. Add Value – Establish Credibility
Content (Create content! Share a blog post, picture, video, etc.)
Tweet About What You Know (and you know a lot!)
Links (Links to information you have discovered and want to share)
Opinions (“I am using Google Chrome and it’s really fast!” or “I bought the new Kodak zi8 camera and highly recommend”)
Ask Questions (“Anybody use Vertical Response for eNewsletters? What do you think?)”

5. Be Generous – Be a Good Citizen
Comment on things people post, say or discuss. Engagement means being a part of things, not just an observer.
Give advice when someone asks a question or needs help (“My MacBookPro crashed after clicking on a bad link, what do I do?”)
Re-Tweet (RT) things that others post (Suggested guideline, for every 1 message about yourself, spread 8 messages or information shared by others)

6. Follow Back
When someone follows you, unless they’re a spammer or a bot, it is a compliment and should be considered as such. Twitter sends you a notification when someone new starts following you and you can check out their profile, links, etc., and then easily follow them back.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking someone not worthy of a follow, simply because they are not in your field
or don’t “seem” interesting to you. I personally think it’s a mistake as, by so doing, you limit yourself to people just like you. What about everyone else? Some of the best interactions and opportunities come as a result of things or people who are different from you, but who are interesting in their own right. Keep an open mind, be adventurous.

7. Using Twitter to find customers or search for subject matter that might interest you

Twitter search
Searches all tweets for your particular topic and returns tweets matching your search in chronological order.

Twitter advanced search
This allows you to do a local search, search for tweets to or from a particular person or exclude certain words
or phrases.

TweetDeck
Most often used as a desktop Twitter application (and my personal favorite), but it has great search functionality and lets you save searches for keywords and topics.

Twitterfall
Searches for keywords and hashtags (#) and automatically updates the results page. This is great for
conferences, events or for locating people interested in or talking about things that interest you.

8. Finding interesting people

TweepML
A simple format that makes it easy to share lists of Twitter users (I love this app!)

Twitterment
Very cool site that allows you to search for past tweets but also allows you to search for bios. So, if you’re interested in people who work in a specific industry, this can help you find them, as long as they’ve included that information in their bio.

TweepSearch
Indexes Twitter bios and allows you to search them

Mr.Tweet
A great service to help you find and follow good people, based on recommendations of others. It is also quite an honor to receive a Mr.Tweet recommendation from another. This is a great place to start when it comes to finding interesting folks to follow.

Twitter Lists
Twitter lists function allows you to view lists created by other users to find interesting people to follow. Everyone’s interests are different, so find someone that you respect, are interested in, pay attention to, etc., and look at their profile page and, specifically, their lists. if those people sound interesting to you, click the “follow” button and you’re now following the people on that list

Listorious
This is a terrific directory of all the best lists on Twitter

9. #Hashtags. What the heck are they and why do I use them?

People use hashtags (which is essentially this symbol: #) to search, and/or identify subjects, events and other things of interest. For instance, if you’re looking for posts about a certain topic, you can do a Twitter search using keywords like: #socialmedia #fitness or #motiongraphics and find interesting information, conversations, links and other things very easily.

This is also the way that people identify events, gatherings or conferences that are taking place as a way of tracking what’s happening. So if you see lots of tweets in your stream that look like: #140Conf, #gno or #blogchat those connote certain events or conversations that are occurring and you can either just pay attention and see what’s going on, or jump in and participate. You can also search those hashtags at a later time and see what happened, who contributed, etc., which is pretty cool.

Hashtags can be a great source of information for you, as well as a great way to identify people who are interested in the same things that you are and/or whom you might be interested in following.

10. Apps That Might Make Twitter Easier
TweetDeck
HootSuite
Seesmic

There are many other topics that I didn’t touch on, but the hope is that some of the information contained in this post is helpful and puts you on the path to understanding the world of Twitter a bit better, getting you on the path to more fulfulling interaction and engagement in a shorter time span. And, as always, if you have any questions or just want to say hi, find me @shellykramer !! Tweet on.

For Newbies: 10 Quick Guidelines to Getting the Most Out of Twitter is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency