Is Your Business SmartPhone Ready?

Does your business have a mobile marketing strategy?  If you’re not interested in creating opportunities to market via mobile devices, you at least need to be prepared for them.  Nielsen expects smartphones to account for more than half of the US mobile phone market by 2011, is your business ready?

SmartPhone Quick Statistics

• Only 3% of smartphone users only use their phone for voice communications only
• 50% of smartphone users have Wi-Fi
• Slightly more males (53%) than females (47%) use smartphones
• 2/3 of smartphone users are personal users and 1/3 are business users

Get Your SmartPhone Game Tight (i.e. business ready)

Create A Mobile Version of Your Website & Blog

50% of Smartphone users have Wi-Fi, and that number is only going to increase.  As users utilize their cell phone for internet access, it’s imperative that your website and blog is mobile friendly.  If your site or blog is run on WordPress , there’s a plugin that does it for you. HERE

Get your site and blog easy to use via cell phones.  I recommend drawing back on Flash applications and any other format that cannot be viewed on most smart phones.

Is It Time For An App?

It’s time to  take a serious look at creating a mobile app for your business.  The IDC (International Data Corporation) is predicting this to be a banner year for mobile apps.  They’re predicting that iPhone apps will triple, Android apps will quintuple, and the Apple “iPad” arrives.  Obviously the mobile app business is big.

However, this does not mean that you 100% need an app.  ONLY CREATE AN APP IF YOU CREATE VALUE.  Simply creating an app that distributes content or blog posts is a waste of your time and you’ll find little adoption from users.  As app users grow, so does competition.  Without a compelling app, your will most certainly be lost in the vast void of noise.

Look Into Location Based Opportunities

Last week at SXSW, FourSquare added 100,000 users in 10 days.  If there was any doubt in your head before…get over it.  FourSquare is a player and here to stay.  If your company can take advantage of utilizing FourSquare for marketing purposes, do it.  Here’s a quick post how.

More tools will be coming down the pipe regrading Location Based, get your creative juices flowing for opportunities to take advantage of them.

Make It Easy To Buy Your Stuff

Make it easy to do business with you.  Offer a variety of options for customers to give you money.  Look into smartphone payment systems like Square or TabbedOut, and PayPal’s mobile App.

So even if a mobile marketing strategy isn’t a top priority for your business, you need to be prepared to meet users where they’re at…and they’re using smartphone platforms.  Get your business ready.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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I’m sorry…I just can’t let this story die.  There’s just too many lessons we can apply back to social media marketing and Public Relations.

So as we all know, a Pickle has fan more fans than the band Nickelback.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the lead singer, Chad, that the whole thing is tougne and cheek.  It’s a joke dude.

Apparently the “Rockstar” (I’m using this term as loosely as I can because I don’t know anyone who can actually call this rock music)…the Rockstar ego cannot allow to lose to the pickle without a fight.  Tonight Nickelback went on the attack.  Basically, they cried like rockstar babies and want the page banned. (Even Perez Hilton weighed in)

Here’s the PR lesson folks…they come directly from The Art of War by Sun Tzu.  And one from Bugs Bunny.

No general should fight a battle simply out of pique

I’m sure it comes as a slap in the face, but really Nickelback…really?  You seriously care about this?  This is how you chose to spend your time?  To go after the group and trying to get it banned from Facebook is only justifying how much of a turd sandwhich the group all thought you were.  Congrats to proving their point to everyone who wasn’t a fan yet.

Why fan the fire?  Do not pick a fight out of emotion, you play into their hands and will be crushed by them.

It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat

The disposition is clearly not concealed.  Your disposition is now on the internet and is going viral faster than swine flu.

A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen

The point of the group was to get more fans than Nickelback…they won.  Here’s an amazing video of the victory dance (thanks Lindsay Allen).  Why pick a fight with an army that’s bigger and at their strongest point?  And especially when your band has no talent.

The correct answer comes from Bugs Bunny

If you can’t beat em…join em

The response that wins that battle is not to fight…it’s to jump in and ride the wave.  Why stop the momentum.  If 1.4 million fans and counting think you’re a tool, you do not prove them correct.  You have fun with it.  You can’t run against a river of moving water…but you can use that water’s momentum to carry you.

Here’s the correct response:

• Create a fast video with yourself in a pickle costume or wearing a “Pickleback” t-shirt.  Write a 2 min song about the group and about pickles.  Throw it on their fan page, your fan page, and on Youtube.
• Create a video congratulating the Pickle’s victory.  But let them know that they won the battle but not the war.  Let them know that Nickleback fans are the best in the music industry and they won’t go down without a fight.  Then email your base and get them into the game.  Tell them they need to fight the pickle and tell their friends who love Nickleback to join the Nickleback page.  You’ve now just engaged your community and let them in on the fun.
• Walk around in a “Pickleback” t-shirt and let the paparazzi see you.  They’ll print it and show what a good sport you are to the world and can have a little fun.  It shows you’re a regular down to earth guy…and not a pompous 5 yr old who can’t take a joke.

If you find yourself or your brand deep in a fight with a viral virtual army…assess the situation and take a deep breath.  If the information is deliberate lies and truly hurtful to your brand, fight.  But when the whole thing is tongue and cheek reindeer games, see if there is an angle to join in the fun and take away the opposition by beating them to their own punch.

Social media marketing is an intense battle for attention.

You’re not just in a fight with other industry competitors…you’re battling everyone and everything.  If you have attention coming your way like this…ride the wave by changing the tide.

This is DAY 24 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Your Customers Are Telling You Something Right Now

The real time web has gotten quite a bit of buzz, but are you actually using the available tools?  There are several areas where you can apply using real-time data to affect your business and your social media marketing.  Use the real time web to gather specific data.  Don’t let the amount of data at your finger tips paralyze your decision making ability or your social media marketing strategy. Have a predetermined list of information you are looking for.  Use these suggestions to boost your business.

Find Targeted Prospects

Do a quick search of Twitter and type in a few keywords that signal a potential interested customer.  If there are a few tweets where it looks like you can jump into a conversation, go for it.  Otherwise just follow the folks who are chatting and perhaps there will be a need down the road.  Even if they don’t buy right away, you’re now following targets you know have an interest in what you do.

Track Industry Trends

Use real time search engines like Sency, Icerocket, and One Riot to look at what the most popular infomation and links that are being shared about your industry, company, or products.  This can instantly offer advice about what your next blog post should be about, what customers are chatting about, and what customers are looking for.  It’s a good way to stay on top of competitors and get a feel for your industry.

Provide Customer Service

There are a good number of topics people chat about out on the web.  Naturally one of those is complaints.  Use monitoring tools available to scan the real time web for any of your current customers having problems and take care of them.  Comcast and their Comcast Cares Unit is probably the most well known company who uses Twitter for customer service purposes.  But I’ve been approached several times when tweeting about particular products.  Diffuse angry customers early.  You don’t know want folks online going nuts over your product without any response from you.

Online Campaign Tracking

I use Clicky every day to track my website analytics.  I use Clicky rather than Google Analytics because Clicky is in real time.  By keeping track of what links are drawing in the most traffic and what time of day, I know when and where to get the best ROI for links I share on the web.  This takes much of the social media marketing guessing game out of the equation.  You can use the service for free and I highly recommend it.

Instant Feedback

Maybe you have an idea for an event or a new product.  Why not bounce some ideas off of your networks and get the pulse before you go into dedicating a lot of time and money.  These obviously aren’t scientific surveys, but if this project is small you can get a feel if you start moving forward.

Information can often determine the difference between success and failure.  Utilize the real time web to give yourself a winning advantage.  I’d rather know things that are going on as the happen than after the fact.  Become a true Real Time Marketer by being smart and utilizing all of the tools in your belt.

This is DAY 18 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

Get the Real Time Marketer Directly to Your RSS HERE

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Is Your Social Media Strategy On Track?

Before initiating any social media marketing campaign, you need to really focus on a specific strategy.  Without a specific goal and execution path to success, your social media marketing campaign will not run on all cylinders.  Instead you may be moving…but you have no idea what direction.

Before you complete your strategy, make sure you answer these questions

Where Are Your Fish?

You need to know where your customers are most active.  It’s not feasible or smart for your brand to be everywhere.  Do your homework and figure out exactly what social networks your customers are active.  Fish where the fish are to maximize your return on your social media investment.

Why is This Valuable to Your Customers?

Before your brand gets social media activities underway, you need to answer what value this social media marketing is providing.  If you can’t answer without hesitation why your customers or potential customers will find your social media profiles valuable, you aren’t ready to create them.

Without value, you have no engagement.

Does This Create Engagement?

Aside from value, you’ll need to have a set of activities created specifically focused on creating engagement.  If your networks aren’t actively engaging in your activities, you’re posting worthless information that will result in zero benefits to you or your customers.  Make sure you have a path to active engagement.

Without engagement, is without success.

What Do You Want To Accomplish?

You need to have a reason for every activity you do.  Why do you have a Twitter profile? Why are you creating a Facebook page?  Every social media activity needs to be actively reaching a goal.  Know what yours are.

Why Will This Reach Your Goal?

Assuming you’ve already answered what your social media goals are, now you need to answer why your activities will reach them.  If you can’t answer why your social media activities will lead to your specific goal, then you need to drill down further or look at other social media options.

Not every network will lead to your goals, figure out what will give you the best opportunity for success.

How Long Will It Take?

What are your time-lines for your success?  Do you have one?  Most social media strategies either leave this part out, or are unrealistic.  Establish time frames so you can track whether or not you are likely to reach success.  Evaluate how your doing, adjust your timeline over time.

Do You Have Management Buy In?

Does upper management buy in to social media?  This is important because if they don’t…you’re almost guaranteed to fail.  Without the acceptance by management your legs will be cut right from under you.  Unrealistic goals will be wanted in an unrealistic time frame.  Once these goals which are already unrealistic aren’t met, you’ll be directed to engage in other activities.  Make sure they support what you’re doing and if they don’t, use your energy for persuasion.

How Are You Measuring Success?

So you’ve established goals, how are you measuring success?  If you’re purely tracking filling an event or sales that’s pretty straight forward.  But if a goal is something like “Brand Awareness”, you need some specific indicators to track how you’re doing.

How Are You Tracking Execution?

Along with tracking overall social media goals, you need to have a system set up to track activity.  You need to have a set of leading indicators set up and monitored.  Otherwise you’re basically driving blind.  You know that you’re moving but have no idea where on the map you are.  Track how your activities are driving the overall goal and adjust if needed.

Social media strategy is a long and tedious task.  But without the proper strategy and roadmap you’re making success as hard as possible.  You would never engage in any other part of your business without a plan, don’t neglect social media marketing.

Use these questions to test how strong your strategy is.

This is DAY 16 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

Get the Real Time Marketer Directly to Your RSS HERE

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Are You Showing Off All Of Your Feathers?

The social media marketing scene is completely saturated with companies that most likely do and sell the same things as your business.  Fortunately for you, most of them do not do it well.

While creating your social media marketing strategy, in addition to goals, you’re going to create execution tactics and procedures to achieve these goals.  One of the areas that should be on the top of your mind is “How Do We Become Memorable”.  Like most marketing, within the social media realm you’re biggest competition is not with companies selling similar products.

Your biggest social media competitor is people’s attention

What is going to make you memorable?  Why would someone choose to engage with your brand?  There are several areas to concentrate on that will boost user engagement, but I think one the most overlooked yet highly important is Personality.

Here are 5 quick tips to start inserting some personality into your social media marketing. (If you’re not convinced brand personality is for you, read THIS)

Use Pictures

Bring your social media posts to life by using pictures.  Let your  fans and network see a little behind the curtain of your world.  If you have any unique office decorations show them off.  At an activity or event, take a pic.  Use pictures to allow a behind the scenes look at what your company does.  (My favorite service for Twitter is Twitpic)

Have Opinions

This is going to cause most higher ups at big offices a massive panic attack, but the fact is that real people have opinions.  Real people have dislikes and favorites, some things drive them crazy, some songs make there work day go faster.  You’re a human being, not a robot.  Have opinions.

Obviously you need to be conscious about what you’re projecting to the universe, but this doesn’t mean you need to be walled up behind a boring ball of plain Jane posts.

Personal brands can get away with a lot more flexibility than big corporate brands, but being part of a large corporation is not an excuse to not showcase and share opinions.  If you never say anything of substance, why will anyone care?  I can disagree with someone’s opinion and still support their product.  If I see a brand out there and sharing their real experiences I’m much more likely to follow that brand and engage.

Use Video

There is no better way to show off your personality than using video. Video is a medium that offers an opportunity to bring to life what print cannot, you.  Video offers a chance to be a moving breathing person.  You audience isn’t reading your words, they’re seeing you.  After watching a few video posts, if done correctly, your audience can really feel a sense that they know you.  (I really need to take my own advice, I plan on rolling out some video posts soon).

Engage

I recently had a conversation with a Chicago sports radio personality and blogger about getting more exposure for himself.  In our discussion we researched a few Facebook Pages that would fit his demographic, one of these pages was the Chicago White Sox.  They have about 200,000 fans, and a large amount of fan posts and comments.  Unfortunately, there is no engagement from the actual team…none.  The administrators post and walk away.  Sports fans are loyal.  They’re not likely to leave their favorite team because of lack of Facebook engagement, but the team might have better opportunities to sell merchandise and fill events if they were.

St. Louis has the 3rd biggest Mardi Gras in the world.  The official Facebook page for this event has 7,000 fans.  Again, you’ll see lots of fan engagement with little to NO interaction from the page administration.  I’m willing to bet more than 7,000 people showed up to the more than 30 events that were hosted.  If the page had more interaction perhaps the smaller events would have had better attendance.

As much as I scream about social media Engagement, Engagement, Engagement…it’s still not the rule but unfortunately the exception.  You should feel lucky and honored someone out there actually likes your brand enough to take the time to leave a comment or ask a question.  The least you can do is thank your fans and answer their questions letting them know they’re appreciated.

Think Outside The Box

Get creative!  Or if your creative juices aren’t flowing, then just look and see what others outside your industry are doing that you love, and apply it to your business.  Some successful examples are…

Mascots – Not every brand can get away with an alter ego but Chicago’s Berry Chill does a great job with Yogi Jones.  The lovable character tweets daily and thanks his fans when Berry Chill is mentioned on Twitter.

Contests / Events – Groupon is creating a contest called Live Off Groupon that will give away $100,000 to one person that can live an entire year off of their coupons and not spend a dime.  (don’t bother applying, I’m already going to win it! )  What better way to show off their service than have a fan live there whole life for one year on it.

The battle for attention is going to be your biggest competition when executing your social media marketing strategy.  Succeed by creating some brand personality in your social media marketing.

This is DAY 15 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

Get the Real Time Marketer Directly to Your RSS HERE

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Social Media is certainly the hottest thing in marketing since well, a few years ago when “Web 2.0” was.  But with all of this buzz, comes a tsunami of information.  So much information that not only is it hard to tell good from bad, but so much information that many untruths become the rules.

There are an awful lot of myths roaming about in the vast endless void of cyberspace.  Here’s a quick list of some of the biggest you should avoid.  If you or your company are going along with these myths as truths, it’s time to change your paradigm around how your company is seeing Social Media’s marketing ability.

It’s Fast

Given the real-time nature of social media, one would think that it’s fast.  But it’s not.  The way that news and information travels is now at light speed, but social media marketing is slow.  Social media, is obviously a social tool, but businesses and brands need to tread those waters lightly.  It takes a tremendous amount of time to build up the trust of your networks to become a valued member.  Make a commitment for the long haul.  Take the time and energy needed to develop trust with those in your networks. It takes time to create value.  That’s the most valuable thing a brand on social media can do.

It will Replace Marketing / Advertising

Despite what Internet marketers and even most social media marketers or “gurus” will advise, social media is not designed to take over your marketing or advertising.  Social media and marketing do not and cannot exist as separate business  pieces.  Social media is one piece of the bigger marketing picture.  It’s role is to complement what you are already doing in your business.  Use online channels to show the best of what you and your company does offline, online.

Social media may replace a section of your marketing that you have determined as low on ROI, like how Pepsi dropped their Super Bowl ads this year and replacing it with a  social media campaign.  But Pepsi is not dedicating their entire marketing to social media.  Complement and expand marketing efforts with social media, don’t replace them.

It Will Solve Our Sales Problems

Social Media is not a miracle worker.  It’s not the Mother Theresa for your sales.  If you sell a crappy low value product, no amount of YouTube videos or Twitter followers, or strategy will fix that.  Social media can get you in front of a larger audience and new targets, but the people behind all those profile pics are not robots…they’re still people and it still takes the same ole good product at a good value to sell to them.

It Will Expose Our Problems

I used to work for an extremely large company that is a dominant player in an “old” and low-tech industry.  Management was terrified of social media tools because in their view it would be used for nothing more than a sounding board for all of our unhappy customers and everyone that hated our products.

And they were right.

But if you have droves of customers who are angry and unhappy…I have news for you…Those people are talking anyway.  They’re talking to their friends and many are probably talking about it online on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and forums.  So staying out of social media doesn’t keep you safe from bad exposure, it prevents you from fixing it.  What better opportunity to monitor and seek out unhappy customers, and then solve their issues.  Not only are you helping a customer, you’re now broadcasting to anyone else that you address issues.

The broadcasting  of product or company problems on social media are going to happen with or without your involvement.  If you are not monitoring and staying out of the fight, you’ve left a tremendous opportunity for a competitor to take care of your customer’s issues for you.

It Works

Not everyone is a Gary V, or Zappos.  You can’t expect windfall profits and super amazing things to begin to rain from the sky…all from Social Media.  I will argue that almost every business can benefit from some level of social media activities, but you need to be realistic.

Set goals that apply to your business and your demographic.  I recently chatted with a business owner who was disappointed that 1,000 members haven’t flocked to a new network she created.  I asked where this 1,000 number came from?  How was this determined as the goal?  Was it based on local demographics, similar companies have seen those results, how was this goal selected?

Don’t expect great things from social media if your goals are set up so you’re guaranteed to fail.  You wouldn’t set first month sales forecasts to reach $1 million dollars if you’ve never seen those numbers before.  Treat social media with the same thought and strategy as other parts of your business.

Social Media marketing can produce some powerful stuff…but do your homework, build a strategy, execute, analyze.

Let me know how I can help.

This is DAY 2 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

Get the Real Time Marketer Directly to Your RSS HERE

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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I really find it fascinating and yet unbeleiveable when a large brand or company jumps into social media…and seems to kind of “not get it”.

How is this possible?  With millions of marketing dollars dedicated to huge in-house teams, and an additional large chunk of cash tossed at Marketing or PR agencies…shouldn’t somebody be coming up with mind blowing ideas?

Yes social media is a fantastic way for a brand to create a true connection with customers.  And yes, social media is a medium in which you can truly create a personality online.  But not every social media platform is a good idea for your brand.  Not every social media tool makes sense for your product.

WILL BRANDS PLEASE CREATE VALUE!

Case And Point:

Today Ford announced that they’re producing lines of cars that Tweet.  Of course this got my attention becasuse I can see there actually being a sensible way to connect a car to your social networks.  Unfortuanely, it doesn’t appear that the Ford cars will do that.

According to Ford, they will produce a range of vehicles which can read motorist’s twitter messages to them as they drive down the street.  You can read the full article HERE.

Uhhhh, that’s it?  You’re tying a motor vehicle to my social networks and all it’s going to do is read me Tweets?  Rather than listen to a creepy robot voice, I’ll stick with my Sirius radio and read my own tweets…from my phone.

This is another case of a BIG brand getting into social media only because it’s popular, and not thinking about the value.  Ford will use this to say they’re saving lives from this “innovation” by keeping drivers less distracted.

To me, it’s just a missed opporuntiy where a tired brand could really make a splash.   This is actually a shame, because Ford is doing good things in the social media space.  But I think they missed a real opportunity here.

Why not have a car that adds value to your social networks?

As @calebgardner suggested in an online conversation with me…

Now that would be some features.  Now we’re talking value!

How about these truly social innovations:

• What if the car had a facebook app that tracked your trips?
• What if the car could tweet your gas mileage so you can track how you’re doing
• What if you received a coupon sent to your phone when you needed maintenance
• What if your car sent a message on Twitter & Facebook when you have car trouble so your friends can help out
• What if your car tweets you music selections based on your MP3′s you play

Or if you really want to get original:

Why not have your car come with it’s own profile that you customize.  Then your car sends Tweets to you about what radio station you’re listening to, the car facts, etc.  Then you truly give a connection and personality to your car.

There are many reasons for big companies and brands to jump into social media…but just signing up makes them seem uncreative and more like they’re trying to catchup.

If you’re going to play with social media…WOW us with some real value and truly innovative ideas.

(Note: Ford is including a Pandora app as well…and I do think that is a great feature.  But the Twitter thing blows my mind)

Get the Real Time Marketer Directly to Your RSS HERE

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

Related posts:

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The 5th P of Marketing

The 4 P’s of marketing have been a pillar of marketing education since I can remember.  They’re taught by every marketing professor and written about in every marketing text book…but are they outdated?  Do they address the business needs of today’s social environment?

If you’re unfamiliar with the 4 P’s of marketing here they are:

• Product
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

While I agree that these “P’s” are vital for marketing…I mean its tough to make sales without a Product.  You need to determine a fair Price.  Figuring out the appropriate Place to sell your Product might be a good idea.  And Promotion of it seems like common sense.  They still don’t seem to offer that extra push that businesses need to succeed in today’s social business environment.

While studying these 4 P’s in college, and constantly hearing about them in presentations since…I always felt like something was missing.  Even if each of these were executed well, it still leaves room for marketing failure.

Because of technology and the Internet, we live in an abundant  time where just about any product is available to us.  Because of these same technologies, in many aspects the playing field for competition  has been leveled.

So when all things are equal…why do people buy?

This is of course the million dollar question…and one that does not have one specific answer.  But I do know one effective way to get customers to buy your product…so I thought I’d introduce a new vital “P” that is more appropriate in the time of real-time marketing and social media.

Personality

No longer can you have the luxury of business as usual.  The economy is in the tank and getting by with the old formula doesn’t work.  You must differentiate.  You must stand out.  So why not use one of the least expensive ways to differentiate, utilizing social media tools…specifically to add a personality into your business.

Here’s why personality works:

Because people tend to buy from those the like, know, and trust.  And yet…none of the old marketing “P’s” seem to cover any of these factors.

Unless you’re selling a product you have a monopoly on, you’re going to have competition.  So when I have a need, and a friend who sells a quality product that fills that need…I buy from my friend or contact.

• Personality gives you a brand to root for because you like the person behind the profile.

• Personality creates loyalty by establishing a sense of common ground and unity between customer and brand.

• Personality differentiates between competition because customers feel some connection to a brand.

• Personality creates and attracts a dialogue, offering information customers can value.

• Personality gets targets to look at a product they might not normally be interested in.

• Personality boosts referral sales because people like helping other people, and when they feel like they know you…they’re happy to refer leads your way.

Creating a personality for your brand cannot be achieved overnight.  It takes genuine strategy, hard work, and time.  But when done right, you’ll have an endless potential for new and repeat customers in your targeted demographic.

So next time you’re diving into a marketing book, lecture, or discussion and the 4 P’s come up…think about Personality and you’ll have an instant leg up.

This post has been graciously sponsored by The List.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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