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With the holidays around the corner and seasonal online shopping on the rise, the LinkShare TweetShop Tool comes at an opportune time for publishers to share more online and take advantage of increased interest among online shoppers.

In the advent of the Twitter-adoption explosion, this new tool brings a host of new possibilities to our affiliate network that is easy, fun and effective at driving revenue.

LinkShare, a leading performance marketing network provider, today announced the LinkShare TweetShop Tool that enables anyone with a Twitter following to monetize their Twitter feeds, and easily turn customized tweets into an effective shopping tool. Generally available to publishers in its network, this innovation further demonstrates the company’s commitment to creating applications that are Easy, Fast and Open – easy-to-use, fast-to-market, and open across channels – and is the latest feature in LinkShare’s Bento Box, a showcase of new tools and applications.

More than 50 million live Twitter accounts exist today with approximately 4.6 million people using Twitter on a daily basis, according to recent research by RJMetrics and Quantcast. These numbers represent a massive demographic with huge market potential that is largely untapped as few companies today have successfully created ways to monetize Twitter feeds.

Additionally, nearly half of all “value hunters” – a new market segment identified in a recent survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates – are searching online for the best deals and promotions. Since this growing segment of online shoppers purchase something online once a week or more(3), they represent a growing consumer base that will be using tools like Twitter to find new products, search for deals, and satiate their everyday retail needs.

“With the holidays around the corner and seasonal online shopping on the rise, the LinkShare TweetShop Tool comes at an opportune time for publishers to share more online and take advantage of increased interest among online shoppers,” said Mark Kirschner, CMO, LinkShare. “In the advent of the Twitter-adoption explosion, this new tool brings a host of new possibilities to our affiliate network that is easy, fun and effective at driving revenue.”

With the LinkShare TweetShop Tool, publishers can easily customize tweets through the user interface which automatically creates a shortened URL that directs an online shopper to the landing page for the recommended object of affection.

Through three easy steps, publishers can turn their Twitter stream into a new revenue channel. Just Pick, Point and Post.

• Pick the item to tweet about.
• Point out the cool-factor.
• Post as an updated tweet without the hassle of having to both find the webpage of that item and shorten the URL to fit into his/her tweet.

In light of the recent FTC rulings regarding full disclosure for endorsements, sponsorships and the terms and conditions that apply to any special offer, LinkShare recommends following common sense guidelines when using its new LinkShare TweetShop Tool, such as those developed by the Performance Marketing Alliance:

• Avoid tweeting false or unsubstantiated product claims
• Never create a fake/spam twitter account just to post new advertisements
• Clearly and conspicuously disclose any connections with the advertiser and/or the affiliate network
• Be creative! If it is an ad, it should sound like one, but go beyond a product pitch
• Don’t abuse it. Daunted followers will stop following you and this will undermine your credibility you have built up in your online community

To check out the buzz on this new LinkShare TweetShop Tool, hear what industry experts have to say and add to the conversation, search and/ or tweet on the following hashtag: #TweetShop.

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Social media marketing is more than having the obligatory Facebook page, blog and Twitter account, according to a new book by Shiv Singh, vice president and global social media lead for Razorfish.

Instead, his new book, Social Media Marketing for Dummies, explains that marketers should be focused on reaching and building online relationships with influencers–those people who can have a substantial impact on a brand’s reputation and sales.

“Social Influence Marketing offers new opportunities for marketers to engage consumers with a brand,” said Singh. “This book cuts through all the clutter about social media in the marketplace and provides clear insights about how to use this new medium to achieve marketing and business objectives.”

In writing the book, Singh drew on extensive client work at Razorfish, including implementing social media marketing programs for Victoria’s Secret, MillerCoors and Levi Strauss & Co. Full of examples, the book is divided into four sections that walk the reader through the scope of Social Influence Marketing, from defining the fundamentals to laying out an actionable plan.

Specifically, the book:

• Debunks common misconceptions about social media marketing and explains how it integrates with other marketing disciplines
• Describes the steps for planning, managing and measuring social media marketing campaigns, even providing advice for choosing technology and advertising vendors as well as specific recommendations
• Discusses how to leverage social media with existing marketing efforts, emphasizing the need for an authentic brand voice
• Presents the 10 best practices and common mistakes in social media marketing

Social Media Marketing for Dummies is available for purchase at bookstores nationwide. More information about the book, including further insight from Singh, can be found on his blog at www.goingsocialnow.com.

About the Author:
As the Vice President and Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish, one of the world’s largest interactive agencies, Shiv Singh advises clients on how to leverage digital technologies to develop meaningful and value-driven customer and employee relationships. He leads Razorfish’s Social Influence Marketing practice, the company’s approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve clients’ marketing and business objectives. In addition to writing extensively on social media, he has also spoken on Social Influence Marketing at conferences such as South by Southwest, the ARF Annual Summit, Adweek Social Media Strategies, DMA Leader’s Forum, MediaBistro Circus and OMMA Global. He was also recently named one of Advertising Age’s 2009 Media Mavens, a distinguished industry honor and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, Adweek, Reuters and USA Today discussing digital marketing. Shiv completed his undergraduate studies at Babson College and conducted graduate research into social networks at the London School of Economics & Political Science. He blogs at www.goingsocialnow.com and his twitter ID is @shivsingh.

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Forget what you think you know about social media. You want real results…then it’s time to get real about the reason why you are using Twitter.

If you have a desire to connect and engage your target audience and drive more traffic to your website or blog, the Twitter Success Blueprint will guide you to an exciting new level in your business.

The Twitter Success Blueprint is the product of hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of research into the most authentic and effective methods to use Twitter for business.

In February of 2009, Sarah Prout, the author of Twitter Success Blueprint, was interviewed on LA Talk Radio. In a little over a year, Sarah has achieved amazing business results and attracted various media opportunities through her work with social media.

Sarah has written articles for high-profile business networks, blogs, magazines and a bestselling audio program — opportunities that were all generated through her time on Twitter!

Some of Sarah’s Social Media Adventures include….

• Selling Twitter (#followfriday) ad space on her face in a world first eBay auction!
• Being recommended by more people for #followfriday than OPRAH!
• Being consistently ranked as one of the Top 20 Tweeters in Australia.
• Personally tweeting with Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk has more that 3 million followers)

All this to say, Sarah knows Twitter…and her new ebook imparts all of the wisdom she’s garnered from the experience.

Here’s a few highlights:

• How to Attract Thousands of Followers at warp speed
• The Secret to Branding & Promoting Your Business with Twitter
• How to Use Key Words for Social Media Success
• Relationship Building/Connection Strategies
• Total Automation Techniques to Save you TIME & MONEY!
• How to Create Media Buzz with Twitter
• Plus much more!

Sarah will guide you through a step-by-step method to adopt some of her creative strategies and stand out from the crowd.

The Twitter Success Blueprint table of contents:

• The Truth About Twitter
• Branding For Success
• Follow Frenzy
• Twitter For Corporate Use
• Tweet Success
• Twitter Etiquette
• Connection Strategies
• Monetizing Your Tweets
• Plus Bonus Sections!

To grab your copy of Sarah’s breakthrough Twitter Success Blueprint, click here.

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Those who read this blog regularly know that I tend to find my marketing inspiration in unusual (and often unorthodox) ways. Consider this fair warning…today shall be no exception.

The single best piece of marketing advice I can offer you as we close out 2008 is this — if you aren’t yet using the social media phenomenon that is Twitter — get off your keister and start.

Right now.

Over the holidays, my husband and I were watching a marathon of reruns of NCIS. We really haven’t been fans of the show for very long, so this provided us an opportunity to catch up on the episodes we’d missed. My favorite character is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon. Harmon’s character is a no-nonsense, “just the facts” kind of guy, and is well-known for cutting his coworkers off mid-sentence, and, on occasion, hanging up on them when they get too verbose. Ouch.

A light went off in my head when I realized that many 21st-century prospects are a lot like Gibbs — if we want to hold their attention, we need to cut to the chase.

Twitter is an excellent tool to help you hone this precious skill. Twitter provides you just 140 precious characters to convey your message — something that Gibbs could certainly appreciate.

Legendary salesman Elmer Wheeler was a big fan of this concept, saying “Sometimes your first 10 words—or your first 10 seconds—are as important as the next 10,000!”

Social media has developed its own shorthand to help us keep our messages short. Here are a few of the more popular abbreviations:

LOL : laugh out loud
ROFL : roll on floor laughing
BRB : be right back
AFK : away from keyboard
THX : thanks / thank you
TTYL : talk to you later
YW : you’re welcome
GTG : go to go
SRY: sorry
NP : no problem
FWIW: for what it’s worth
IMHO: in my humble opinion
LMK: let me know

Don’t misunderstand me – I am not advocating you begin spamming the social media sites with endless sales pitches. Social media is first and foremost to establish relationships. We all know that folks will buy from people that they know, like and trust — focus on those goals, and the sales will surely follow.

Speaking of following, if you’d like to follow me, you can do so by clicking here, or on the link at the top of the column to your right. I will endeavor to keep my messages short, sweet, and entertaining.

Until next year!
Traci

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At the risk of sounding like Joan Rivers, “can we talk?”

I want you to raise your right hand, and promise to answer me honestly. No, I won’t know if you’re fibbing, and that really isn’t the point of this little exercise anyhow. I mean, you’ll know…and what’s the point in fibbing to yourself?

So I ask you — are you hung up on your “Twitter numbers?” It seems like everywhere you turn lately, there’s someone out there offering to help you quantify the Twitter experience.

Twitter maintains a count of your followers, for example. You hear lots of folks tweeting about wanting more followers, and hoping to reach certain high-water marks. Good grief — I haven’t seen this much attention given to numbers since the first season of Lost.

In the last two weeks, we’ve seen the emergence of new tools that offered to provide your Twitter ranking, as well as your Twitter Value.

So my question is this…are we getting too caught up in the numbers, and losing sight of what’s really important?

For what it’s worth, here’s my take on the situation. We all have heard of the Pareto principle, even if we haven’t heard of it by name. Essentially, it boils down to 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers.

Knowing this, why not focus on quality, rather than quantity?

Don’t judge a tweet by its number.

Instead, focus on making genuine connections. Twitter offers a venue where you can learn about new resources, share ideas, and establish relationships.

To lose sight of that defeats the entire point of social media.

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