Image by Cayusa via Flickr The FreshNetworks Guide to Getting Started in Social Media Tags: Buzz tracking Getting started in social media Matt Rhodes Measurement Online communities Social Media Brand Business customer communities Cyberspace FreshNetworks innovation Marketing and Advertising online communities social media social media measurement social media strategy Social network Social network service social networking social networks Technology Virtual community web 2.0 Over the last ten days we have shared our thoughts on four steps any brand should do when they are getting started in social media.

Image by Kaptain Kobold via Flickr What makes this site particularly interesting, though, is its use of Twitter, Facebook and Flickr as a way of generating content for the site and promoting participation. They can contribute images by tagging their Flickr contributions with the same tag. LEGO is a brand that many people are very passionate about, a brand people love and we’ve written before about how they use segmentation to engage their consumer base from children to enthusiasts in an innovative way. Now they have continued their innovative approaches

Rather than a brand trying to engage people separately in Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and every other social network and forum site, it is better to use these as gateways to somewhere else. So this IAB survey comes as no real surprise to us at FreshNetworks. Tags: Matt Rhodes Online communities Social Media Social networks Brand Branded content co-creation customer Research released by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the UK suggests that people are growing increasingly tired of requests to join brand pages or install brand applications in Facebook and other social networks .

Image by SlipStreamJC via Flickr We posted on New Years Eve the most popular posts on the FreshNetworks Blog in 2009 . Tags: Matt Rhodes Online communities Online research communities Social Media Social networks Top posts Business FreshNetworks FreshNetworks Blog market research marketing Mayo Clinic online communities Sainsbury Virtual community Wal-Mar Alongside some popular posts we covered a number of series of posts that were well read and referenced – here are three of the most popular. 1.

Image by Rae Z via Flickr At FreshNetworks we aim to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities and customer engagement online. Tags: Matt Rhodes Social Media Top posts Dannii Minogue FreshNetworks FreshNetworks Blog marketing online communities Social network Twitte In case you missed them, find below our top five posts in October. 1.

Image by Xavier Lozano via Flickr At FreshNetworks, we aim to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities and customer engagement online. Tags: Matt Rhodes Online communities Social Media Social networks Top posts facebook Facebook Connect FreshNetworks matthew effect online communities social media Social network Twitter Virtual communit In case you missed them, find below our top five posts in February. 1.

Image by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ via Flickr Tags: Buzz tracking Matt Rhodes Social Media Social networks FreshNetworks online communities social media social media monitorin Social media monitoring is easy, well at least the first part of it is – collecting mentions and stories about your brand, products or other terms. There are a lot of tools out there – from free social media monitoring tools to enterprise level solutions.

Image by Kraftwerck via Flickr When we’re managing online communities at FreshNetworks , we work hard to provide these 90 out of every 100 people something to do and a way to express their opinion, without having to start or add to an actual discussion. Tags: Matt Rhodes Online communities Social Media Social networks facebook FreshNetworks online communities retweet social media Social network Twitter Virtual communit Last week Facebook announced that it is rolling out what is, effectively, its own version of the retweet. The new ‘via’ feature

Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr Over the last few weeks since they were launched to all users, we have been experimenting with them at FreshNetworks and with our clients. Tags: Buzz tracking Matt Rhodes Social Media Brand facebook FreshNetworks Google Media online communities Services social media social media monitoring Social network Twitter Twitter List We’ve posted before about why Twitter lists are great and some of the uses that can be made with them. One clear and valuable use for them has become clear – as a free social media monitoring

Image by always13 via Flickr There’s something that everybody can learn here, and so it’s Required Reading at FreshNetworks this week. Innovation Matt Rhodes Required reading Cisco Systems ciscolive co-creation cocreation customer communities freshminds FreshNetworks Guy Kawasaki innovation marketing Mission statement online communities social media Social network Virtual community web 2.0 As we’ve written before, right now, in the current economic climate, it’s a great time for brands to innovate . In fact it is those brands and