Those of us here in the US will be taking time to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends this week.  That includes us as well.  And we’re thankful.

This has been a though year for everybody when looking at it through economic eyes.  This year has been a big transition for many of us.  We’ve seen successes and maybe a few successes-in-waiting.

But all-in-all, we’re thankful. We thank you for visiting or subscribing to our Orangejack Updates. We are thankful for all the great people we’ve met though networking opportunities this year. We’re thankful that in the last 6 weeks of the year we have and will be able to visit and spend time with most in our families.

We hope that, no matter where you live or whether you celebrate now or not, you are thankful for the gifts you have.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some turkey to gobble.

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS: Avoid the crazy crowds shopping this year and shop online at the Orangejack Mall. Check it out.

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It has never been easier than it is today to have a personal online presence. Websites like MySpace, Facebook, blogs, and all sorts of other social sites allow anyone to easily share and publish anything online. People are uploading videos to YouTube.com, sharing photos on Flickr.com, and finding interesting news on Digg.com.  

Consider going online and joining a community of like-minded people. It can be a lot of fun and quite rewarding. You can connect with your friends both locally and long distance. I’ve found that being online has not only strengthened local friendships, but also I’ve been able to reconnect with old friends, stay in touch with out of town family, and have even made some good friends with people I’ve “met” online.

However, when you venture online there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Do find one website community that you’d like to join and sign up. It’s usually free and easy. The decision of which one to join should be based on where your friends are or what you want to do. For instance, Facebook.com is great for connecting with friends. Linkedin.com is great for professional networking.  

Don’t sign up for every social website or blog right away. You’ll end up spreading yourself too thin. Pick one or two and start there.  

Do tell others a bit about yourself. Most sites give you an area to fill out a personal profile. Feel free to tell us what some of your interests, hobbies, and biographical information are. It is about being social and we want to get to know you.

Don’t tell us everything about yourself. There are some things that should stay offline. Ask yourself what you believe should be protected. Not everyone has the same answer. Use discretion when deciding to publish contact information like your email, phone number, and home address. 

Do upload a nice photo of yourself so your friends can recognize you.

Don’t use a photo that is potentially offensive or unprofessional.

Do add value to your profile by uploading or sharing things that are interesting. Communicating virtually can actually be quite real.  Social media sites are about having online conversations so participate.

Don’t post just anything online. Remember that if it is on the Internet, anyone can find it even if it is password protected. You wouldn’t want a perspective employer to see all the skeletons in your closet before an interview! Some have found it helpful to use a measuring stick before publishing anything such as “would you be okay if my kids, spouse, or parents saw this?”

Reconnect with friends and strengthen your friendships online. Reach out and meet new people on the Internet. It can be fun, rewarding, and even productive! Be yourself but use discretion. Just like in your offline practices, stay friendly and professional and you’ll go a long way!

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Orangejack LLC is an Internet consulting group based in Orlando, Florida. Started by Rob & Patricia Williams, Orangejack helps others use the Internet well through effective strategy, marketing, design and social media. Learn more at www.orangejack.com

Photo Source: davespilbrow

These charts all come from TheMarketingStudent.com and I think they provide some perspective on understanding how generations use various tools to communicate.

Notice in each of these he has sorted the method with increasing urgency.  Also notice how he says that Generation Y goes to Facebook first, email second.  I think for me email is first, then IM (including Twitter), Blog, SMS, Phone, Face-to-Face.

What about you?

Last week I was able to go to SWOMfest in Austin, TX (put on by the Society for Word of Mouth). It was a great time and I learned a lot, but others have written up notes and recaps so well that I’m going to point to and quote from them!

But first, if you missed my audio notes on one of my favorite sessions, Purpose from Haley Rushing, you can listen to them here.

Direct2Dell: SWOMFest 2008 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the SWOM

Going into the conference, I assumed that the discussions around WOM would primarily be about how they apply to large businesses like Southwest and Wal-Mart (and Haley Rushing’s presentation did not disappoint) but I was amazed at how well the same ideas worked for small business…The people at SWOMFest really did cover a broad spectrum from small business to large companies, marketing people and entrepreneurs, those new to social media and old hands at it. One of the most refreshing things about SWOMFest was the atmosphere- it was relaxed and casual, and not at all what you would expect for a “business conference”. It felt much more like attending a party; sharing conversations with friends old and new over some food and drink with the occasional event provided by our hosts to help keep things moving along. There was enough variety in the backgrounds of those in attendance that it seemed impossible that you could ever run out of things to talk about.

And when you get right down to it, talking is really what word of mouth is all about.

Brains On Fire’s Spike Jones: SWOMFest Wrap-up

• Everything you do as a company should be purpose-driven
• Stories are the ideal vehicle for WOM
• People do not yearn for tech specs and product features in the same way as they yearn for stories
• The 5th P is Participation [Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and Participation]
• Why don’t companies embrace WOMM? Fear. Disbelief. Ignorance.
• Align social media with your purpose.

Jackie Huba: SWOMfest ‘08 highlights

The Thriller dancers kicked off the conference. They were an ad-hoc, amateur troupe that met for the first time early on the morning of our event.

If you live in the USA (this site has an International following so I wanted to be specific!), we want to remind you and encourage you to go vote on Tuesday.  We will be doing our part, please do yours.

Though there are plenty of places online to get election coverage (like CNN, Yahoo, NPR, Vote411 or Wikipedia), I want to point you to a few (perhaps unique) places to follow the elections.

You can use Google Maps to get updates on electoral votes, House races, and Senate races.

Make up your own election results on an interactive map (kinda like the map the CNN guy is using).

You can see the current buzz live from Twitter.

If you missed the debates or speeches you can watch them for free on Hulu (along with a lot of election humor too!) even though they tend to repeat themselves.

You can always track what is the latest news from Google for “Election 2008“, “John McCain“, and “Barack Obama” - or just go to Google’s Election 2008 site.

But by all means, please get your facts straight, decide who to vote for, find your place to vote, and go vote, then get a free cup of Starbucks coffee! And if you find any irregularities while at the polls, use the Twitter Vote Report (listen to NPR explain it) and/or YouTube to video your vote.

After you’ve voted, feel free to post this sticker I made on your website!

PS- Feel free to comment, but we ask that you not campaign for anyone in particular. This isn’t a political website.

I’ll be attending the first ever SWOMfest in Austin, TX this week.  I’m really looking forward to it.

SWOM stands for Society of Word of Mouth.

I’m really looking forward to re-connecting with some and meeting new folks.  Leave a comment if you’re going as well!

Since Dell is a sponsor, maybe I can get mine fixed! The screen on my laptop doesn’t work but I have an external monitor.  My laptop is like a desktop now!

See y’all in Austin!

UPDATE: They are going to try and livestream the conference.

Conclusions: SEO drives 75%+ of all search traffic, yet garners less than 15% of marketing budgets for SEM campaigns. PPC receives less than 25% of all search traffic, yet earns 80%+ of SEM campaign budgets.

If you’re unfamiliar with what SEO, PPC, and SEM are, let me quickly explain:

• SEO = Search Engine Optimization. It’s the marketing disciple of how to get websites to show up high in the search engines’ organic listings (that’s the normal search results you use after a search)
• PPC = Pay Per Click. It’s the marketing technique where you buy advertisements to show up on the side of a search engine’s sponsored links (that’s the ads sometimes at the top or on the right side of a search results page)
• SEM = Search Engine Marketing. It’s the Internet marketing strategy that is often a combo of SEO & PPC techniques.

Personally I believe that social media is it’s own discipline inside of an online marketing strategy.

Back to the conclusion that SEOmoz came to: Look at this heat map results from a study of where people typically look on a search results page:

You’ll probably notice that most people look at the first few results in the organic (SEO section) than look at the ads (PPC section).  I’m sure you didn’t need an image to prove it - you already know that from your own use of Google.

So why do companies like to spend the bulk of their budget on something less reliable? I think there is a perception that it’s easier to pay for ads.

It’s tough to show up in the search engines well.  It takes work but is obtainable.  It takes someone who knows what they are doing to optimize a website so that it ranks well.  When you rank well you show authority and relevancy without paying for it.  Most people assume that’s better than someone paying to rank well.  And our experience has taught us that the organic listings are reliable.  It’s just how Google works.

I believe there is a place to use Pay Per Click techniques.  It can work effectively if done well.  That’s why it takes a good overall strategy incorporating SEO, PPC, and Social Media (SM) when appropriate.  It all comes back to your goals and your audience.

If you are ready to be more effective with your website, let us know.  We take a full, overall approach and use what is best for the job.  Not all strategies are created equal so let us help you figure it out and get it done.

I got this today visiting a site.  I was shocked.  I’m on a PC running Mozilla Firefox but apparently that’s too advanced for me to see what this site wanted me to see.

They have spent valuable resources (hopefully not much!) to communicate a message or have visitors do something they feel is important.  However they are going to require me and anyone else like me to leave and come back when I’ve got the stuff they want me to have.

I understand designing for a particular audience, but don’t do it to the exlusion of another.  But if you MUST, then at least give everyone else an alternative site.

If you are on Facebook and you tend to update your status line and you like to text message people, there is no reason you shouldn’t also be on Twitter.  Today on 170spoons I explain why and how.

Facebook:

Twitter: