There is an infinite number of Social Networks that people flock to daily. Depending on your fancy, if you live in the U.S., then you might be a regular Facebook user, browse for videos on YouTube, and update your status on Twitter. However, around the world there are people on all different types of Social Networks and if brands restrict themselves to only Facebook and Twitter, they are missing the boat.

The ever-blossoming population of mothers online are engaging and playing on CafeMom and MeetUp.com. Hip young artists and emerging technology kids are often found utilizing Tumblr, iMeem, DeviantART, and searching for their daily videos at VideoSift and Vimeo. There is a Social Network for everyone and anyone. From Disaboom (an online community for people with disabilities) to Mobikade, (a mobile community for people in the U.K.) there are endless possibilities for people to interact with others who share similar interests.

Where do brands fit in to all of these Social Networks? That is where the Social Om ℠ theory comes into play. Om is defined as the whole universe coalesced into a single sound, representing the union of mind, body, and spirit that is at the heart (in this case of a brand).  Before jumping into the “chosen” networks, like Facebook and Twitter, brands should consider all networks that might apply to them and their consumer. Being present in all Social Communities that their customers are will improve brand presence and perception control.

Being present on many Social Networks does NOT mean a brand has to contribute to them all. If the brand feels it can communicate best through Facebook, but wants to be present on CafeMom, the CafeMom profile should clearly state that the main community hub is located on Facebook (with a supplied link). A unified presence across all networks should be maintained. This will control the mind, body and spirit of the brand in the eyes of the user in each community. By unifying the brand name, URL, content, tone, and voice across all Social Platforms prior to seeding and maintaining a meaningful level of engagement, the brand’s audience will become accustomed to this presence across the internet.

I love product packaging; I’m actually obsessed with it.

In late February of this year I noticed a change in my favorite orange juice, it looked different, and not in a good way. So I did what any curious package design junkie would do, I Googled it. Low and behold the New York Times and about billion other people noticed this too.

The New York Times article titled “Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging” sparked a conversion that spread like fire in the Advertising world as well as in the Foodie world. Package design junkies and consumers alike were taking their complaints to the web and posting their displeasure on blogs and other social media outlets like twitter and Facebook. They felt that the packaging was “ stupid”, “ugly”, “resembles a generic brand” and countless other unfavorable comments.

Normally, like any other large corporation (Tropicana is owned by PepsiCo) they would ignore such complaints, as they do not add up to even the smallest percentage of their consumers, but this time it was different. Neil Campbell, the President of Tropicana North America, said the following in an interview about the new packaging:

“We underestimated the deep emotional bond” they (consumers) had with the original packaging. “Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded.”

“The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them.”

“What we didn’t get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn’t something that came out in the research.”

After reading this article and peering through some of the numerous blogs I tried to think about what this means to Morpheus Media and its clients. Several important points came to mind.

- Social media will tell you things that standard focus groups and research will not, plus the feedback is boundless and instantaneous

- Consumer feedback or lack there of will help gauge where your brand is on the social scale

- Social media gives brands the opportunities to respond to consumer complaints and strengthen brand loyalty

Tropicana took the comments seriously and started to pull the new design and roll out the old one. Starting March 1^st the old packaging was back in stores along with new campaign ads.

From 2004 to 2006, Social Platforms were not as popular as they are today. Facebook was only open to college students with valid .edu email addresses. MySpace was in its prime being used by 15-30 year olds on a regular basis. Twitter was in its infancy and only being used by a select few who were in the Internet (pre 2.0) industry.

From 2007 to 2008, Social Platforms we know and love seemed to improve and expand. Facebook opened to the public and increased engagement levels by offering Applications. MySpace came into its own by specializing in Music. And Social Networks expanded to other countries.

Today, Social Media is whatever the user wants it to be. Accessible by Mobile, Application, or Website, Social Platforms can be updated and used on a frequent basis. Because the speed of Social Media consumptions has rapidly increased, platforms are visible in multiple locations. As the future of Social Media and the value of Social Platforms continues to unfold, we will see many advancements in targeted platforms. Trending in Social Media has defined our culture. What was once a platform that kept us engaged for hours now keeps us notified and up to speed in just a few seconds. To become more beneficial for advertising campaigns, the goal should be to keep users engaged for longer periods of time.

As a Social Media marketer, I believe that expansion of these practices will start to encroach on traditional marketing campaigns, infiltrating subway billboards, and become more prominent on Search Engine result pages.

While the event was informative, I would be remiss if I did not compliment the group on their new digs.  For those of you who have not yet been to the new location it really is a great space.  There was a progressive vibe present during the networking and there was bloggers lounge built for pros.

Although I was unable to stay for the entire event, I enjoyed the sold out show.  I look forward to attending the next few events at this location and just wanted to thank Tamar for her insights.

While there appears to be no immediate fix to keep the engines from propagating bad intel, I believe the short-term fix is a strong mixed media presence.  If any company is concerned of how the market currently perceives their bottom line, a social media presence can help bring truth to value.  If bad information is being spilled then think of how rapid a response a Twitter message (tweet) or blog post on the companies website can be produced to refute.  This can occur almost instantaneously and in real time.  If United even got wind of this report last week and had an active social media presence, reassurances could have been issued in a much quicker manner than it takes the general media to pick up and cover the story.

As we accelerate into web 3.0 it is critical for organizations of every size and shape to be willing to connect directly with the community.  As of right now this is most easily done through social channels.  So as the markets continue to readjust themselves make sure you have a strong conversation occurring with those who are invested in your success.

On Monday, the company unveiled the simpler site design inviting users to try out the improved features, while still allowing them to revert to the current version.  Since the beginning of the year Facebook has been developing the new design, and over 100,000 users have offered feedback and suggestions on the project.  The new design is limited to begin with, but will be available to all of the 80 million plus Facebook users in the next few days.

The new profile design features tabs, “The Wall” tab being the default.  “The Wall” is now incorporated with the newsfeed.  The new design takes advantage of the ability to split up different types of information with simpler navigation.  There are also “Info”, “Photos” and “Boxes” tabs, as well as the ability for users to add own custom application tabs. It seems, however, that the new layout may not mesh well with some of the 24,000 existing platform applications that have been launched in the last year.

Today the fate of those existing applications may change as Facebook is holding it’s second annual f8 developers conference.  Topics include introducing the new Facebook profile, user experience with applications, advanced application building, mobile, and marketing applications on Facebook.  While many rumors have been swirling, some definite news came early.  It’s sure that we will see the Facebook payments platform in one form or another.  Facebook wants to find a way beyond advertising to help developers make money for their applications, and the iPhone App Store proves people are willing to pay for quality applications.  It is also known that Facebook will launch Facebook Connect, allowing third party services to authenticate Facebook users and merge profile data, with Digg as their launch partner.

It has also been speculated that Facebook will also announce a tier system for applications.  Each tier will have different rules for user engagement.  Top trusted applications that have proven themselves to have as good or better user experience as Facebook, such as iLike, will reside in the top tier.  There will be a middle tier, where the majority of applications will fall, followed by a bottom tier of untrustworthy applications.

With not only the new site design but more application developments breaking today, it seems these changes will live up to Facebook mission to, “…make the world more open and transparent by giving people the power to share.”

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Many questions came up at the conference, but one was recurring; “What tool should I use to track my clients in the Social Space?” As usual the same answers were coming up as I have heard so many times before. Google Blog Search, Google Alerts, Technorati, Blog Pulse, etc. These are extremely important tools however I wanted to learn about programs like, Radian6 which is a buzz tracking tool available for purchase. I am always interested in new ways to track buzz.

A few questions that came from the crowd were really important ones; “How do I track new social platforms?”, “How do I produce metrics?”, “How can I prevent poor brand reputation?” Now we got to the good stuff. Using Summize Sentiment, Summize, Ask.com’s Blog Search, as well as some other hot new tools are great ways to track progress of your clients in the social space. There is yet to be a fully functional tool outside of Page Manager to track your clients Facebook metrics, as well as many restrictions on doing so. Friend Feed, was not voted on as being helpful as of yet, but still a really cool tool to see what large groups of social networks are doing as a whole.

While I was at the conference, Trackur was released by Andy Beal. It has been released with a two week free trial that is fluff free. This tool searches images, blogs, articles, and video all at once. It also has the power to search Twitter statuses which is so important to us and our clients being the buzzword of the year.

It can be expensive depending on the rate you need it. The pricing ranges from $18 to $197 per month depending on the amount of keywords you need tracked. It comes from somebody as trusted as Andy Beal, so there is no going wrong. I have seen him speak at previous conferences and his intelligence should be rewarded. Beal admits; there is no big office and he operating Trackur from his home. Additionally, he is definitely readily available for questions and comments on the tool.

After trying the tool out for two weeks, I find the tool extremely useful and important. This tool might be outdated in a few months by the next tool but in the meantime it is great for brand management, news alerts, competition analysis, and blog research. The only noted downside is the lack of a noise filter. Trackur will return lots of noise surrounding your keywords, while Google Alerts can filter out garbage. However, the amazing upsides to this tool that goes beyond all other tools are described well in the Trackur FAQ:

* Trackur can cover data sources outside of Google’s Index;
* Trackur has a more sophisticated management, web-based interface (Google Alerts just uses email;)
* Trackur allows you to store a history of alerts, whereas for Google you have to keep holding onto emails; and
* Trackur shows you a larger list of sources that mention your keywords – Google Alerts only shows you up to five items that appear in a 24-hour period.

Brian brought up some amazing points in this session:
• Companies on Twitter should be using it to monitor and communicate with their clients.
• It is important to approach people as people, individually and personally while conducting outreach in social spaces.
• Using Social Media tools to search for brands is much more helpful than searching on search engines.
• Always consider the long term. The sky is the limit for how brands reputation online can be damaged or improved in the long term of social media success or failure. The content spread around the internet will never disappear.

It was only a few months ago that Radiohead released In Rainbows, their seventh album. The album was available for digital download at a price chosen by their fans. This innovative approach has since opened a new door for musicians eager to share their music. On April 29th Coldplay took Radiohead’s idea and made it their own by offering a free digital download of “Violet Hills,” the first single off of their highly anticipated fourth album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Hitwise recorded that U.S. visits to www.coldplay.com increased by 1800% since the bands new single was available free online in comparing April 27th data to April 29th data. Not only did traffic surge, but the site also quickly crashed. On that day their site ranked #1 among the Bands and Artists category, whereas two days prior to this the website ranked at #305. Hitwise data for the UK revealed that Coldplay exceeded Radiohead’s success by generating a daily market share of 19.87% in the Bands and Artists category on April 29th.

Perhaps this triumph for Coldplay can be attributed partially to their new website which aside from providing the free download also includes numerous other promotions. The site is hosting a competition to win free tickets to concerts in New York, London, and Barcelona. Fans can also embed a widget promoting the concert and Coldplay updates on their MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and even their own sites. Another part of the site features graphics containing album artwork and videos of the band which are slowly “unlocked,” or made visible to the visitor as the concert dates approach. Hence, fans keep coming back. In addition to this content, there is also a unique band timeline that highlights a memory from each year since the bands conception. This timeline is composed of concert video, early show posters, and hand written notes from band members. The lack of a traditional discography or bio section illustrates that this is a band with a solid following that needs no introduction.

The presence of this loyal fan base could be responsible for the high level of traffic to the site and further demonstrates why free digital music distribution may only be a successful business model for already established musicians. Regardless, Coldplay should be credited with taking what Radiohead started as an alternative strategy to another level. Their long awaited return to their fans comes not only with what sounds like another amazing album, but with an innovative marketing approach that targets the band’s audience where they come to find their music first…on the internet.