Cross Pollination Media | Social Media Strategy | Social Media Marketing

Wadja.com, a unique social networking site that uses labels to create people-to-topic connections, has introduced a re-design of its homepage and logo.

Over the last half a year, Wadja has evolved and grown into a unique Social Network that features streamlined, topic-specific conversations based on labels, and messaging. To reflect Wadja’s progress, the company has decided to re-brand its homepage and logo.

Maria Papathomopoulou PR Manager at Wadja notes, “We are delighted with the introduction of our new logo and the redesign of our homepage. The new homepage depicts label topics that our users have created, as well as ideas for labels that users could create. It also allows newcomers to the site to test the system before they subscribe to Wadja’s free service. It’s pretty neat! Once you’re in of course, you can do more by inviting friends and contacts to follow your label and create a community to discuss that one specific topic you are all interested in.”

The new logo has been designed in the same vein as the homepage, with Wadja’s own font and style, fresh and forward-looking. Both the logo and the homepage symbolize the new look and feel of the site – simple, clear, bold and different – all standards that Wadja aspires to and represents.

Wadja’s homepage is the window to the social network with a difference; one based on the bold new premise of creating forums (labels) that simplify and streamline social content and the ‘noise’ of real-time information flow, with all the advantages of online messaging and SMS.

The value of labels is derived from enabling the creation of communities that come together through their common interests, hobbies and activities. Wadja creates personal, customized, label “tags” and opens up a whole new world of messaging.

http://www.sociableblog.com

Social Media 101 will tell you that listening is the number one thing you can and should be doing to get the most out of marketing in the Web 2.0 world. It’s all about listening to your clients, customers, and community – paying attention to what they’re talking about and where they are talking – then, after spending a lot of time lurking, listening, and waiting, figuring out the right time to jump onto the dance floor and start that whole “customer engagement” tango everyone talks so much about.

While listening is imperative, critical, and tremendously important to the process – the engagement point is where the rubber hits the road.

But what if you’re impatient, what if you have a product or service you want to share with the whole world. How do you proactively promote yourself, without coming across as a huge jerk? Here are three ways to self promote, without coming across as a jerk.

Get over the “it’s not cool to self-promote” mentality

It IS cool…or at least, a necessary part of the process. No one will know you’re talking if you aren’t talking. Sounds pretty obvious right? Content may very well be king, but content doesn’t get found unless someone – aka – you put it out there for people to find. Don’t be afraid to promote your own work, products, services, and ideas – if you believe in them, and believe that other will find value in them – there should be no guilt in promoting it.

Promote other people 3x as much as you promote yourself

The quickest way to come across as a jerk is if ALL your doing is promoting yourself. Promote yourself, sure – but promote the heck out of other people. Find the influential people in your “market” or community and promote their stuff. A RT, a link in a blog post…these things equal respect. At the end of the day, you may have your own personal goals in mind, but everyone responds well to positive promotion for others. Give credit where credit’s due.

Be aggressive, but not intrusive

Let people know you’re out there, but also know when to back off – when to hold back and when enough is enough. If you rub someone the wrong way – don’t keep pushing your stuff on them – explain to them what you are/were trying to do, but don’t attempt to force them to buy into whatever it is your “selling”. Promotion is important, but there is a fine line between too much and “just enough”.

There is a “right way” to self promote the good things you are doing – take some of these thoughts into consideration and get out there and let the world know who you are (and more importantly why they should care).

Matt Cheuvront is the mastermind behind Life Without Pants. Take the next step by saying hello on Twitter and subscribing to his blog today!

http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog

Photo by benaston

Chris Dixon wrote earlier this month that the next big thing will likely be dismissed as a toy–too often we underestimate the pace and momentum of innovation and don’t look at what an item COULD be rather that what it currently is. It is with this in mind that I considered Apple’s new release, the iPad.

In the tech world, every innovation is based in either new technology or new convenience. Yes, that’s an oversimplification, but the biggest steps in innovative technologies are based in one or both of these things—think light bulbs, Facebook, electric keyboards, laptops, cell phones, the Adobe Creative Suite: all of these things introduced either a new technology or a new level of convenience. And at first glace, the iPad doesn’t really exemplify either of these two things.

Sure, it has a color screen, but is that really enough to set it apart from the Kindle by $200? Perhaps, depending upon how it is leveraged. With email access and content creation apps like iWork, suddenly a color screen means being able to create and edit content on the fly, something the Kindle certainly can’t. However, a netbook would give the iPad a run for it’s money here, as the iPad restricts you to the use of one app at a time. In terms of cool features, the iPad has a handful, but the biggest oversight is the lack of communicative properties. Any device that doesn’t facilitate users connecting with each other misses a huge opportunity to appeal to a larger audience. A smart phone can match the iPad on email and surpass it with communication options, from phone to text and and MMS to free chat IM and the like.

That’s not to say that they won’t sell like hot cakes. For early adopters that haven’t already purchased a netbook to accompany their smart phone, this could be the perfect next step; more functionality, more ease, and simply more packaged in one platform. The Kindle provides no more than the convenience of having your subscriptions and novels all in one place; the iPad has just that much further to travel with additional features. I think my hope for the Apple tablet was that it would surpass the Kindle by leaps and bounds and create a new category of mobile technology, a kind of alternative laptop that’s smaller, lighter, more affordable, and just as powerful. Unfortunately, with the iPad missing key technologies as simple as a camera, I think the iPad only skipped the surface of what could have been a huge splash for the tech industry.

However, I do believe that the iPad will be picked up by fanboys and girls and will get the same kind of frenzied response as most of Apple’s most recent innovations, and just like Chris reminds us, each generation will bring new features and functionality. Watching full-length movies on a decent-sized hand-held screen is nothing to scoff at; it just might not be what we were expecting. As the iPad continues to evolve with better technology and increased convenience, it’s audience will grow significantly from the already-excited public it has already attracted. And what will this mean for marketers? Opportunities galore.

The Barnes and Noble Nook already has a perfectly sized space for a banner ad. Many smart phones already have ads on their apps to help reduce their cost. Look what has already happened with the iPhone–now imagine a bigger screen, a better platform, and new technology. So begins the race to best leverage this new medium. Contextual ads, anyone? GPS-based coupons? The opportunities are endless. Add that to the fact that this will welcome more media consumption and it’s a marketer’s dream. We’ve only got 60 days until the first models hit stores. Now is the time to start thinking of how you and your brand can benefit from the iPad.

Claire Grinton is a brand strategist and writer based in San Francisco. Find more from Claire or contact her at claire[dot]grinton[at]gmail.

http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog

Photo by Thomas Hawk

So it turns out everyone is listening to their friends (duh!) and now everyone is also listening to strangers. A recent poll indicated that 90% of consumers trust the opinions of friends and 70% will trust the opinions of online reviews. Check out the beginning of this video from a segment featured on Good Morning America .

So what does that mean for you and your business? It means you better get listed on those rate and review sites and be sure you are taking advantage of your business presence.

Rate and review sites such as Yelp.com are excellent for judging what people are saying about your company, your brand, your services and your products. It provides free sentiment reports and the chance to say you are listening and ready to make positive changes. It makes sense to drive your clients and customers to these sites and encourage feedback–both positive and negative. You can attempt to solicit the same type of feedback on your Facebook page, but the reviews have a greater chance of being considered during decision-making if the opinions are on these sites.

Another reason to get involved on these sites is to use it for free advertising. Because anyone can list a business, it is important to ensure your business representation on these sites is accurate and appropriate. Add links and photos where possible and create the best experience in addition to a user reading the reviews. Also, provide a valid email address in case any reviewer would like to contact your business directly as opposed to publicly.

There are also a lot of industry-specific review sites, which might make sense for your company. Sites such as CitySearch.com target businesses by geography and OpenTable.com focuses on the restaurant industry.

So how do you manage this social media initiative? Check all rate and review sites to see if you current business is listed. If not, set up your page and add all your pertinent information. Frequent the pages about once a week to check for review entries. Review all positive and negative remarks and be sure to take action when necessary. This might mean that if someone posts something negative, you might have to look into the issue or address the person directly and attempt a resolution.

Overall, these sites can be an important part of a social media campaign and can leave a lasting impression on your current or prospective clients/consumers.

Jen Cohen is a social media and marketing maven knocked down many times in 26 yrs. Something Creative http://somethingcreativemarketing.com

http://www.socialmediamarketing.com/blog