If you’ve been reading my blog and following my tweets, you’ll know that I am a huge evangelizer of StumbleUpon for marketing and professional use.  I consume my media a little different than other people.  I’m not an RSS person.  I know the blogs and websites that I find resourceful and will visit them.  I search for the latest conversations on Twitter to see what people are talking about.  And I use StumbleUpon to help me find new sources of relevant information that I might be interested in but might never have found otherwise.

Let me explain it another way: I’m the type who, despite having hundreds of songs in my iTunes library, will still often visit my Amazon Recommendations for personalized introductions to new music.  So StumbleUpon is the exact same thing for the web, always recommending new and insightful sources of relevant information based on my ratings.  And it’s terribly addicting.  If you are unfamiliar with how StumbleUpon exactly works, read this great how to article on StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon has now significantly increased their value and become the latest social media application that consumes my time through its addicting functionality through the release of the new StumbleUpon for iPhone app.  In doing so, they have delivered on the promise of the mobile web.  Here’s why:

1) We’re Browsing the Web from Our Phone More Than You Think

According to a recent report from AdMob, more than 10% of Internet traffic is accessed from mobile devices and mobile traffic from each major region of the world has increased at least 4x in the last two years.  We are demanding that we are able to access the same websites on our phone that we do on a PC.  Because StumbleUpon wasn’t available on the iPhone, I started using a competitive service for several months.  Other businesses should be forewarned that they face the same risk if they do not get on the mobile bandwagon.  Now that StumbleUpon is on my iPhone, and they have created a killer application, I am back to being a loyal stumbler

2) Mobile Web Browsing Needs to be Optimized & Fast

One of the challenges for any web-based iPhone application is the ability to get information that is both optimized for the small screen and displays quickly.  StumbleUpon has delivered on both of these by displaying websites surprisingly quickly and perfectly optimized for the small screen.  Furthermore, all of the buttons that you can press are represented by clear icons which are of a large size, so it makes it very easy to navigate around the iPhone application with only one hand.  Finally, SU cleverly added an indiscreet progress bar at the top of each web page which is so often missing on mobile applications.  Browsing the internet on a phone can be tedious because of the need to type in a URL; with this new iPhone application the process is now painless because displaying new and relevant content can be accomplished with just an easy press of the “SU” button.  And it’s fast and optimized to boot.

3) Major Web Functionality Needs to Be Available on the Phone App

Some web services create iPhone applications that do not contain all of the functionality that you are used to using on their web version.  While StumbleUpon does not have as much functionality when compared to a rich site like LinkedIn, SU gets a big thumbs up here for putting their major web functionality into their iPhone application.  I would take it one step further in saying that the iPhone user interface is simplified to the point that I almost enjoy stumbling more on my iPhone than on my PC!

4) Sharing is Caring

StumbleUpon is part of my daily routine of daily content curation and sharing.  SU has made it incredibly easy to share your recommended sites across social media through Facebook and Twitter.  I have been using the Twitter share feature and can tell you that it is very easy to use through this iPhone application.  It is hard to tweet out a recommended blog post while browsing the internet on an iPhone; StumbleUpon makes it easy.

If you want to see what stumbling on an iPhone looks like, check out this great video:

If you’re a stumbler please subscribe to my stumbles.  If you’re not a stumbler, just started stumbling, or have any StumbleUpon questions, please comment!  Thanks!

Hopefully after reading my blog post on 6 Great Reasons to Become a Business Exchange User you have registered on the professional networking site and are already actively sharing and reacting to content as well as making new industry contacts.  Today I want to discuss one of the valuable aspects of Business Exchange, and that is the ability to quickly find new and targeted news and information for business.  I believe showing you how to curate social media content in Business Exchange will best illustrate this point.  And if you’re not a Business Exchange user yet, this will hopefully show you an example of the value of being on the site!

If you’re looking to find content on the web for any particular subject for a specific purpose, some of the best ways of doing this are performing searches on Google and more recently Twitter and Facebook.  Social media provides a wealth of opportunities of finding targeted information, but one often has to first find and then trust the source of that information.  For instance, you could join a relevant LinkedIn Group and look at what news is being posted on a given subject, but each group on the same subject will give you different results.  RSS Feeds of bloggers provide another great source of content, but you have to first know what blogger to subscribe to.

One great way of finding great content has been to use social bookmarking sites such as Delicious and StumbleUpon.  StumbleUpon provides you a way to “stumble” and discover new content, but if you’re in a hurry and looking for something targeted, it may not be the most ideal solution.  Sure, you can search for content by keyword, but there is no way to sort through dates to understand if the content is new or old.

Delicious, in that aspect, is better in that not only does it allow you to search through everyone’s “tags” or keywords associated with information on blog posts and bookmarked websites, we can now do a search on bookmarks that were posted in the last day, 12 hours, 4 hours, 1 hour, 15 minutes…all the way down to 5 minutes!  The problem with Delicious, though, is also the reason why it’s great: all tags are user-generated.  This means that there are separate tags, and thus separate searches that must be made, for a simple term like “social media” (hint: “socialmedia” will yield you far better results).

Now comes Business Exchange, which you should already know is one of my favorite 6 social media sites for B2B social media marketing.  The beauty of Business Exchange, from a content-searching perspective, is that information is not only up-to-date but in that it is rationally categorized.  Remember, Business Exchange is run by the folks at Bloomberg, so they understand the need to organize the information into rational categories for easy consumption, just like we are reading the newspaper or the latest edition of Business Week.

I focus on targeted social media content for this blog post, so let’s look at the different categories that Business Exchange provides us for finding social media content: (I have included the term “Social” to show you additional content)

As you can see, if you had a particular interest in finding information on not just “social media” but more targeted information such as the latest news on “social media analytics,” the category already exists and relevant content is there for you to find as well as share.  The above list is by no means comprehensive in that there are additional categories for the different social media channels (Facebook and Twitter actually have multiple categories), but you already see how fundamentally different the content is structured when compared to all of the other social media sites.

The other important factor is in finding new content, and once again Business Exchange delivers.  Every category has information divided up by the following tabs:

In most cases, just looking at the most active listings that are being viewed and reacted to by other professionals will provide you new and targeted content.  Choosing the other tabs such as News, Blogs, and Reference will display additional news and information.

If there was any room for improvement on Business Exchange, it would not be in the platform itself, but in the number of users and thus volume of submitted news and blog posts that is available.  Every user generated content derived website has the same challenge in that its value is only as big as we join and actually contribute to the site.  There are no official numbers out, but my hunch is that Business Exchange, being newer, may not have as many users as Delicious and StumbleUpon.  That is one of the purposes for this blog post, to get you to hopefully join and contribute to make _our_ Business Exchange an even better site!

If you’re already a member or plan on joining, please make sure to follow me on Business Exchange!

What have your experiences been with using Business Exchange?  Any other websites that you recommend for finding new and targeted news and information on social media?

While everyone knows that Facebook is the default choice for any business-to-consumer (B2C) social media marketing, what social media channels are important for businesses hoping to engage with other businesses (B2B)?  How can these types of businesses use social media to engage with their potential clients, gain mindshare and be perceived as a thought leader in their industry, and increase potential clients visiting their website?  Here are the six that I would recommend to most businesses.  Note that, in order to create a sound social media strategy, you should not limit yourself to these 6 B2B social media channels and should also make sure that each site is appropriate for your particular industry.  Creating a social media strategy is about strategic relevance and focus, not comprehensiveness.

1) Your Website & Blog

What most people forget is that social media does not exist in a corporate vacuum and it is only an extension of your marketing, not a replacement.  You will still be doing email marketing as well as other types of traditional marketing, although I do know some start-ups who are putting their marketing budgets solely into social media.  Regardless, you need to lead people somewhere from the conversations in social media to acquaint them with your business and start engaging in a conversation that will hopefully lead to a conversion in the future.  This is why your website is even more important with the advent of social media, and you need to make sure that your website is “social media optimized” to lead others to your social media profiles as well as to help others share your information throughout their social media channels.  Finally, another important part of social media is sharing content, and creating a blog is the best way to achieve this.  Make sure your blog is active and website optimized before engaging in social media.  So before you get active on the other sites listed below, get your own house in order.

2) LinkedIn – Your Hub for B2B Social Media Marketing

If there is one site where decision makers at your potential customers are it is LinkedIn.  Need I say more?  And if you signed up for LinkedIn and nothing happened, make sure you check out the book I wrote to help all professionals maximize your LinkedIn presence.  You can also read my previous blog post on how to get more leads from your LinkedIn presence by avoiding the mistakes that a lot of small businesses make.  Don’t wait for LinkedIn to happen…make it happen!

3) Twitter – The Potential Viral Spread of Tweets Cannot Be Ignored

There are enough business leaders and decision makers from virtually any industry on Twitter to warrant its attention.  Twitter membership is now 50% greater than LinkedIn.  Add in the facts that a Twitter Profile is now almost becoming a default part of a LinkedIn Profile as well as understanding the viral way in which tweets on Twitter get spread and you soon start to see the potential of utilizing Twitter as part of a B2B social media marketing strategy.  I am currently working on my 2nd book which will help you and your business maximize your Twitter presence, but until that’s published, check out my Twitter case study of how NOT to use Twitter.  Stay tuned for more good Twitter blog posts for business in the near future!  And remember, Twitter is not just about tweeting…it’s about engaging, striking up and joining conversations, and respecting others.  But if you engage wisely, Twitter may lead your next customer your way.

4) StumbleUpon – Traffic Generating Community

Part of utilizing social media is to help your company and website to get found.  If you are a consumer brand this is easier to do, but niche B2B businesses can be challenged just to drive any traffic to their website.  StumbleUpon is actually a lesser known social bookmarking site, but because of its algorithm and 10+ million users who like to “stumble” or navigate through several sites at at time, some studies have shown that StumbleUpon actually attracts more traffic to your website than any other social media site outside of Facebook.  My personal experience with StumbleUpon has been the same, even surpassing Facebook.  It is important to note, however, that StumbleUpon should not be used just for SEO and it is a social networking platform in its own.  In addition, because you will need to be sharing content as part of your social media strategy, think of StumbleUpon as your company’s content recommendation engine.  You may not find your Fortune 500 customers on StumbleUpon yet, but I do see an increase in small businesses joining the platform…and there are other compelling reasons listed above that should convince you of SU’s value.  Once you get set up on StumbleUpon, make sure to subscribe to my stumbles for recommend reads on social media strategy.

5) SlideShare – Present Your Business to the World

My newest fave is SlideShare, which in essence is a site of professionals and businesses uploading their PowerPoint presentations.  SlideShare in itself is one of the top 1,000 most visited sites on the Internet according to Compete.com, and it’s traffic is equivalent to more famous sites such as the social bookmarking site Delicious.com.  SlideShare is significant for businesses because this is where other businesses are putting up their presentations, so just as you Google the Internet for information, many businesses and decision makers are coming straight to SlideShare to look for relevant information to help them solve their business problems.  Business usage of SlideShare is increasing to the point where SlideShare rolled out advertising services to allow businesses to get more views of their presentations as well as generate actual lead data from views.  Start with your corporate presentation and then upload your marketing presentations and see what happens.  You may be in for a pleasant surprise!

6) Business Exchange – Network with Industry Leaders and Become the Thought Leader

Business Exchange is literally the Business Week of Social Networking.  What I like about it is that it is similar to LinkedIn in terms of demographic but it gives you the ability to network with and share/learn information with/from other professionals in pre-defined categories and industries.  For instance, for the topic of social media alone there are actually categories covering analytics, branding, business failures and successes, design, social media in the workplace, social media innovation, job hunting, marketing, operations, privacy, training, and social media vs. old media.  Find your industry’s category(s), start sharing information that would interest decision makers in your industry, and build out relationships as you would on LinkedIn.  And, once again, after you sign up please follow me on Business Exchange for the latest in social media strategy.

B2B social media marketing is like anything else social media-related: new tools, old rules.  Business has always been social.  You just need to find where your audience is and get used to a new paradigm where you professionally network with others and try to gain mindshare in a virtual, online world.  That is, in a nutshell, B2B social media marketing.

Any other sites that you would recommend to add to this list?  Please chime in!

And if you’re confused with all of the choices out there and unsure as to how to go about strategizing for your company’s specific B2B social media marketing needs, contact Windmills Marketing for a free initial consultation.

O.K., I am going to admit that I first joined StumbleUpon as part of a strategy that the “SEO [Search Engine Optimization] Gurus” recommend to create backlinks to your blog content from social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit.  The idea being that the more links you have from other sites, the higher your SEO will be.  And, as anyone who has ever used StumbleUpon just for this reason will tell you, you quickly realize that you are just wasting your time because just by thumbing up your own blog posts you are not gaining any significant additional traffic to your website.  From my own analysis, most of these types of people either stop wasting their time or hire a Virtual Assistant to do the “Social Bookmarking” for them.

And you know what?  These people are missing out on so much that StumbleUpon offers.

Below are 4 compelling reasons why you should start using StumbleUpon.  Yes, I know, SU had its heyday and is facing competition from sites like Digg and Reddit.  In fact, many lament that StumbleUpon is on its way down.  I disagree: the strength of SU is in its algorithm which delivers as promised: it helps you discover the Web.  And if we all start becoming heavy users, users like you and me can help raise the quality and freshness of the content that appears when we stumble.  So let’s start stumbling!

1) StumbleUpon Helps You Discover the Best of the Web…in Less Time

I often get asked where to go to find relevant information with all of these blogs and Web 2.0 sites out there.  Look no further: the more you stumble, the more relevant of user-voted sites it will recommend to you.  It’s simple: you install the StumbleUpon browser toolbar, and whenever you see something you like or dislike, you select the thumbs-up or thumbs-down button.  You don’t have to do it for every site, but the more you do it, the more SU will know about you and your interests.  Then, when you are ready to “Stumble,” or randomly view a site that the StumbleUpon algorithm recommends to you, you simply select “Stumble” and you will be navigated to a site that was selected based in part on your previous rankings.  I have found some great and relevant blog posts on SU that just didn’t show up on other popular social media channels in this way.  If you want to find more targeted information, StumbleUpon also gives you the option of “Stumbling” by category, so that all of your results would only be websites that others categorized for you.

If StumbleUpon sounds addicting, you’re right!

2) StumbleUpon Helps You Find Interesting People to Follow

Once you find a website that you like, assuming that you are not the first to submit the site to StumbleUpon, you can also see who first submitted the site as well as who else favorited the post.  You can then go to their profiles for more potential informative websites to discover.  You can consider it “social networking connected by ideas” because these people are giving the same opinions on the same websites that you are!  It can work the other way around as well: if you submit your own “discovery” or first-time submitted website, you can see who else favorited it afterwards and find relevant people to follow in this way.

Once you find people you want to “follow,” you “subscribe” to their feeds of websites that they favorited.  You can then go to your customized feed, similar to your Twitter or Facebook Wall, to discover new content.  But it’s more than just a Twitter stream of tweets: you can discover new websites by most recent views, top rated, most shares, or even categorized by the tags that interest you.  The more relevant the content is of the people you “subscribe” to, the better the content will appear both in your stumbling as well as on your “Discover” page on SU.

3) StumbleUpon has a Unique Advertising System: You Can Buy Traffic to Your Website

What if you still want to somehow tap in to the StumbleUpon market and use it to drive traffic to your website?  SU actually welcomes advertisements, at 5 cents apiece, to the URL and category of your choice.  SU reviews each advertisement submission to ensure that the content matches the proposed category, but if it does, you can now insert whatever website you want into the stream of content that stumblers view.  The more thumb ups you receive, the more other stumblers will start to see your content.

I know this sounds weird, but if you are confident in your content, why not lead SU users to quickly discover your site?  On the other hand, if you just want to lead people to a landing page or sell something to them, chances are this strategy will work against you and you will receive thumb downs, which will prevent others from stumbling your site.  My advice: utilize a blog post that adds value and indirectly leads people to want to see the rest of your website.  Social Media Marketing 101.

Also, if 5 cents a view sounds cheap, it is.  The reason?  Visitors from SU have notoriously high bounce rates.  After all, some of them were “just stumbling!”

4) Yes, Using StumbleUpon Will Lead to More Traffic to Your Website…Organically

At the end of the day, similar to a Twitter ReTweet, as you stumble more content and hopefully start discovering a lot of new content that has yet to be stumbled, you will gain new subscribers who will see more and more of your content.  Since you can’t automate following and un-following like you can on Twitter, you are  required to physically vet out those that you want to subscribe to and begin relationships with (isn’t that what social media is supposed to be about?).  It also requires you to share more information about websites that you recommend and less self-promotion about your own, similar to Twitter.  But should you have the right content, have created the right relationships on StumbleUpon, and have shared in the thousands of websites and thus have become a “StumbleUpon Channel” for others, the potential rewards for traffic back to your own website are huge: I have seen websites that have registered 100,000+ views just from SU alone.

I have only been using SU over the last few months, so I am still discovering new ways of using it.  Heavy users, I am sure, have longer lists of benefits.  But hopefully the above will convince you to stop sitting on the sidelines ans start stumbling!

How have your experiences been?  Do you prefer another social bookmarking site to it?  Please inform us all!  And please feel free to subscribe to my content on StumbleUpon!

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