I recently read an article titled “6 New Terms to Use When Measuring Social Marketing Efforts” and thought it worthy of sharing.

You see, most of us know these terms and use them on a daily basis – this puts the terms into a social setting and helps you get a better perspective. The follow is the terms;

1.Attractions. It’s not quantity but quality that matters in social media. Being able to attract a qualified, quality following is a real social marketing skill. It isn’t about spending huge amounts of money to grab people’s momentary attention. It’s about a slow and steady build of identifying and reaching the right people and then connecting with them for the long term. Did you just spend $250,000 on a funny series of videos and got 23,000 fans on your Facebook Page? Sucker. Most of those people will ignore you from here on out. They may have clicked “Like” during your campaign, but they really don’t care. Are you attracting the right people ,or are they just empty numbers?

2.Participations. Your investment in developing content should be measurable. But what is the value of a comment, or a “like” on your status update? A retweet of your tweet? There can be an algorithmic calculation of the relative or exact reach of the participant, the number of posts from you, the number of overall fans or followers. But is it those numbers that matter here? Facebook Insights offers a “Post Quality” metric, a metric calculated on a rolling seven-day basis that uses the percentage of your fans that engage when you post content to your Page. But how else can you calculate participations? And more importantly, how are you appreciating the value of those who are participating with you in your social channels?

3.Interactions. Do you know how to leverage an online community? Once you get a community going, it seems to take on a life of its own. But good community moderation and management means that you can artfully leverage the interactions and turn them into actions. There is value in those interactions, not just between your customers or potential customers and you, but also those between the customers and potential customers themselves. How are you identifying and measuring these interactions? Have you calculated how much time and money you are saving in the long run because of the more direct and intimate customer service interactions you can have in social channels?

4.Actions. There is a vast difference between impressions and actions. Impressions are nebulous because you really have no idea if someone actually saw your ad. Actions are measurable. Social marketing can drive actions, although it often takes some time and a few steps in between. Don’t be turned off by the time it may take to get to the action. There is a great deal of value in the steps between.

5.Transformations. In marketing, a conversion occurs when a prospective customer takes the marketer’s intended action (usually when the customer moves from browsing to buying). But in social marketing, there is another kind of conversion that I’m calling the “transformation.” An example of transformation in social marketing: Picture the disgruntled client who vocalizes his or her frustration or displeasure publicly on Twitter or Facebook, a blog, or any other platform that they can access because of the advent of social media tools. Your company has been listening to the chatter in social channels, and a representative from your company addresses their concerns immediately. That person realizes that you are not only listening but that you care and will work to find a solution to their issue. They transform from angry customer to champion of your company’s brand. There is an incredible value in the transformed customer.

6.Transactions. The transaction is the closing interaction, the goal. Keep in mind that you want these transactions to happen more than one time in many cases. And this does not always refer to a monetary transaction i.e. a sale — that’s easy to measure. A transaction could be signing up for something; filling out a survey; referring a friend; sharing information. What are you trying to get people to do? When they do that, a transaction has occurred. How valuable is that to you? And what are you giving your customers in the transaction? A quality product or service? A discount? Additional perks of some kind? How are you communicating to your customers (or friends, fans and followers) that they are more than a sale? How are you showing them that they are a part of a valuable relationship that you are willing to maintain?

So, these are a few terms put into social perspective – I didn’t write or invent these terms though I do like how they have been layed out to help us better understand what some of the things we are trying to accomplish with our social media strategies.

Let me know what you think.

Written by Kevin Conway.

OK, I finally said it publicly, Social Media for business is Crap! .

Maybe because my feeling for the hyped-up benefits of social media was recently confirmed by a top millionaire online guru. If you follow the most successful gurus his name is always at the top of the list. As a matter of fact, he was the first online entrepreneur to make a MILLION $$ in a day. That said, recently he published a PDF where he said “I think social media Su-ks”. When I read that I felt a sigh of relief, “maybe I am not off the tracks after all”. You see when you don’t “follow the pack” you tend to sometimes feel like you are going down the wrong path or at least missing an opportunity. Now, I must admit I use all the major social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo, etc, etc. However, not for direct marketing. And, even though I publish new product releases on Twitter, analytics tells me no convertible traffic comes from that source or Facebook. My primary use of social sites is for building backlinks, but that is for SEO purposes. And, of course the added exposure. i.e. “branding” doesn’t hurt.

However, I never felt like any of the exposure or traffic was ever really serious “convertible traffic”. In other words social media is used for entertainment and communication, ahh, socializing. “Socializing” people are not in the “consumer mode” when they are cruising the social sites. They are looking for friends, maybe a date, etc. Proof of this observation is that these social sites still cannot monetize themselves via paid advertising to nearly the level of search engines like Google or Yahoo. Why? Because you really cannot target potential consumers when they are out at their “buying behavior mode”, i.e. when they are specifically looking to buy a product or service. To try and pull social surfers out of the “social mode” and into a “buying mode” requires many steps before a behavioral shift is realized. Sure, you can start a dialogue and maybe down the road they will recall your business, but the effort to generate business is much more ROI effective using PPC or SEO. The one bright spot for social media as a business tool may be list building, but my own results have been mixed (via measuring quality of opt ins).

And yes, I have read the eMarketer predictions that social ad spend will increase by about 400% by 2013. But, these same groups are also publishing reports like today’s “Does Social Media Work for Small Biz?” where 88% of all small business owners say social media is not helpful to their business. Proof that most of us are not yet seeing the tangible benefits, i..e., sales, leads, etc, from our social media profiles. Personally I am not even seeing much return on creating and maintaining groups within the social media outlets. And, one of the most raved about tools within social media is creating specialized groups.

So, at the moment using social sites for business generation, in my opinion is still highly overrated. As an owner of several e-commerce business I don’t see myself investing advertising dollars in social media any time soon. And, even though there are those that will disagree, I don’t think many of them can show you their own e-commerce business that has experienced any serious ROI using social media. If anyone can show me any REAL results otherwise, please I am all ears. But please Hold the HYPE.

As Social Media continues to be a huge part of what Businesses need to do in order to help build their brands, I wanted to put together a list of websites that can help you get even more “social” with your business.

 I have compiled a list of 8 websites to help you get started. Facebook and Myspace are crucial however there is a plethora of other site out there too. Here is 8 to get started.

 Xing: Search this global site for business partners, contacts and professional opportunities.

APSense: Tap into an affiliate marketing revenue stream by promoting products and sites on your business profile, and get paid for the friends you refer.

Biznik: Join your local business community to connect and collaborate with nearby entrepreneurs, and find out about local seminars and events.

Entrepreneur Connect: Share ideas, join groups, publish content and promote your business on Entrepreneur’s own network.

FastPitchNetworking: Create a profile, product listings and blog, and take advantage of e-mail marketing and virtual trade shows.

GoBigNetwork: Get serious about fast growth in this startup community focused on finding funding, talent and expert advice.

Konnects: Build a network among other startup entrepreneurs and launch your own branded network when you’re ready.

Marzar: Connect with other business owners while promoting products and services in the marketplace.

Of course there is Facebook and Myspace so now is the time People – The year is ending and if you’re anything like my business, now is the perfect time to get out there with your social marketing.

I found this article written recently about looking for a job in online social marketing? It’s not what you know. It’s the number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and connections on other social network sites that matter, according to Nance Rosen.

Nance Rosen is a career coach extraordinaire and CEO of Pegasus Media World, a communications firm focusing on publishing, social media and seminar. Her insight into social media is one you all should pay attention too.

We believe in the power of Social networking and use it everyday as part of our strategies. We have used social sites like Twitter to increase our traffic and conversation rate to our two main properties of My Local Lookup and Beyond The TV. So while you’re here, click on the links provided in this post to learn a lot more.