BrandQuery can help you determine the correct mix of emerging media tools for you and your audiences. Utilizing our bqFILTER process, we will evaluate your current efforts. Feedback may include recommendations to improve your efforts and suggestions on new areas in which to further attract and engage your audience. Based on your goals and objectives, we will develop a strategy that works for you, one that targets your audience where they live in the context of social and emerging media.

We will provide you with the how-to for engaging your audiences on sites like Facebook and Yelp, help you implement the tools needed to spread the word-of-mouth opportunities provided by social bookmarking, or teach you the jargon of sites like Twitter. bqFILTER helps you to become part of emerging media sites and social networking, finding the RIGHT mix of tools and tactics to strategically and effectively target your audience.

Here is a list of some of today's more notable emerging media sites and opportunities, what they are, and how they might benefit your company. By clicking on their logo icon, you will be taken directly to their web site.

Bebo In March of 2009, the AOL owned site launched Bebo Latino, targeting a U.S. Latino/Latina audience. Overall, demographics on the site predominantly reach a younger audience, 13 to 17 with the 18 to 34 demographic not far behind. Bebo reaches a demographic many companies find attractive.

Delicious Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows users to save and publicly share sites and articles they find notable. For businesses, having a Delicious account can allow you to collect any relevant articles or posts about your company and industry, and share them with your customers and audiences.

Digg Digg allows users to "Digg" various posts found on the web. When added to a site like Digg, your web site or business blog can attract new visitors as more and more people Digg the post. You can make it easier for people to Digg your blog posts by adding a Digg Counter widget.

Facebook You’ve probably heard of Facebook, as it’s one of today’s most prominent social spaces. What began as a way for college students to connect has now become a world-wide phenomenon. Individuals can create Facebook profiles and businesses, groups, and organizations can create Facebook pages. Demographics lean toward the more affluent internet user, and roughly one-third of Facebook users are over the age of 35. For companies that want to extend their Facebook reach further, Facebook Connect gives them this option. This tool is good for business bloggers; Connect allows bloggers to display recent Facebook users who have visited their blog via a sidebar widget, and Facebook users can easily comment on these blogs through their Facebook account as well.

Flickr Flickr is the most noteworthy social photo site. Users can sign up for free with a Yahoo account and host 200 images, or they can pay an annual fee for a Pro account which allows unlimited photos. Other noteworthy photo sharing sites include Picasa (a Google-based photo site and application) and TwitPic (with easy Twitter integration).

Google Wave Currently in Google's traditional "Invite Only" beta phase, Google Wave is set to take email to a whole new level. And as this video notes, that's only about 3.5 percent of what Google Wave can do. Expect this to... ahem... make waves in 2010 as more and more people join. Press about the new application will begin to dominate tech press outlets as well as encouraging more users when it moves from invite only to the general populous. Google Wave has insurmountable potential as a business application, from something as simple as teleconferencing to more complex uses including focus groups.

LinkedIn LinkedIn is the premiere business networking social site. Users display their resume and get recommendations from coworkers and supervisors. Companies look here to vet potential new employees or add job postings. Of late the site has grown to include blog feeds, twitter feeds, group discussions, and various other forms of apps.

MySpace Though MySpace has decreased in visits of late, the site is still very much a part of the social media mix. Given the right audience demographic, MySpace may be more attractive to your company than Facebook. Furthermore, MySpace continues to be a hot spot for music, comedy and entertainment-based pages, making it an ideal location for businesses and retailers that find themselves in or bordering those industries.

Reddit Like Digg, Reddit allows users to vote up or down a shared link. What makes sites like this noteworthy for businesses in that they help drive traffic, build external links back to a company's site, and more. Navigating through the ethics of such sites can be difficult. For example, will you be banned for submitting your own links? While we can assist you with these questions, we can also help you make it easy for others to submit your web site, microsites, or blog posts to sites like Reddit through various social widgets and applications.

RSS If you would rather keep your favorite sites and subscriptions private, subscribing to an RSS is the way to go. And it's necessary to have an RSS feed if you want others to be able to share information about your business blog posts too. From Google Bookmarks to adding RSS feeds to your browser toolbar, RSS is a necessary element to remain informed by your favorite industry blogs and notable competitor blogs.

StumbleUpon Also like Digg and Reddit, StumbleUpon allows users to quickly share links they recently found at random on the web. Having a post Stumbled can dramatically increase traffic and is a great way to generate link bait. Link bait refers to naturally generating back links to your site or posts from elsewhere on the web. By making it easy to share your presence on sites like StumbleUpon, you yield a higher probability of naturally generating these types of links. The more links there are to your site and your blog, the more people talk about you, thus creating a buzz around your company.

Technorati Technorati makes it easy to submit and claim your blog on this social site. From there, you gain "authority" as a blogger by frequently posting unique and notable content. With a Technorati account, you can monitor your favorite business and industry blogs or topics related to your company, competition, or industry.

Twitter Over the past few years, Twitter has quickly gained momentum as a great place to promote your business. Having a good strategy in place can allow you to gain followers and grow your audience. The jargon may take some getting-used-to. Share quick bits of information in 140 characters or less, and re-tweet (RT) prominent posts by giving users credit (@brandquery). Hash (#) to join a trending topic, or direct message (DM) a follower to help with a customer service item. And you can manage simply with Tweetdeck, allowing you to post to your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn accounts at the same time.

Yelp Yelp began as a tool to rank and rate restaurants, coffee shops, and bars in the San Francisco area. It has since grown to include customer ratings and reviews for businesses in multiple industries throughout the country. Businesses should, at a minimum, monitor activity. Creating a Yelp Business Owner account can not only assist businesses in monitoring their Yelp profile, it also provides a window of opportunity to connect with and engage the audience. This tool is perfect for small towns and neighborhoods. People with Yelp on their mobile phones use the tool to find places to eat and stay while traveling.

YouTube YouTube is the most well-known of all social video sites. It is also the second most searched engine (behind Google). Users create their own videos, often called User Generated Content (UGC), and upload them to the site. You'll find video blogs (vlogs), original amateur web series content, and even product/company video demonstrations and critiques. Other prominent video sites include Vimeo (high definition videos, often used by directors) and 12seconds (Twitter friendly). Video is a prominent player in getting a company message out to its audience.

info@brandquery.com || 815 Cleveland Avenue, Suite 200, Mount Vernon, Washington 98273 || 360/336.0152

© 2010 BrandQuery LLC