As many of you know, I was asked to speak at the Big Africa business conference in Harare, Zimbabwe. Quite a few people have asked me how this came to be: Did I know the conference organizers? Did I submit a speaking proposal?

The opportunity came to me because of my efforts to build online relationships across the globe. The invite can be traced back to a Tweet, which led to an email, which led to a call, which led to the invite. To top it off, Sumèr was asked to write Big Africa’s website copy and help them refine their marketing message.

If I can end up halfway around the globe, speaking to an eager audience of business owners—all because of reaching out online—then you can, too. (By the way, if you haven’t seen the clip from the event, click here).

Below are 5 tips for building online relationships that last and produce results:

1. Become friends with your favorite bloggers on social media: Friending bloggers on social media platforms is a great way to stay in front of and build relationships with your peers and target audience. Blogs often have an area on the sidebar that features direct links to the bloggers’ profiles on social media. Take advantage of this by visiting their profiles, adding them as your friend, and leaving a friendly message for them on these profiles. I’ve reached out to some of my biggest key influencers this way. It’s powerful, and it works.

2. Comment: Build relationships with others by commenting on blogs, Facebook walls, videos, Tweets, answering LinkedIn questions, and more. Comments should offer additional valuable advice, compliment the post, or provide constructive criticism—with respect. I suggest searching blogs and social media platforms for topics related to your interests and your industry and commenting on these areas at least once a week.

Also, if you are commenting on a blog post, do not put your website or blog URL in the body of your comment. This often shows up as spam and will not be accepted as a comment. There is a designated area in the comment section that asks for your blog or website URL, as well as your name and email address. This is the only place you should place your blog or website URL.

On the other hand, if you’re commenting on a social media post, feel free to put a link to an article or post that you wrote. But do not constantly bombard people with your own articles. Instead, ask questions, provide additional advice, and recommend someone else’s article as a valuable resource. The whole point of commenting is to build rapport with others and show you are an expert in the industry or topic yourself.

3. Ask Engaging Questions: When you target certain social media users with a question pertaining to their industry or to their interests, you’re are engaging them and illustrating that you are interested in what they have to say. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is—it shows that you took time out of your busy day to ask them for their valuable expertise.

One of the most effective ways to engage and build relationships is to ask bloggers questions in their comments section that pertain to a post they wrote. Just remember to subscribe to the comment thread or check back frequently—the last thing you want to do is ask a question and never return to the blog to engage in the conversation.

4. Share and Support: When you mention bloggers or online friends / acquaintances on your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Twitter, and / or StumbleUpon, ezine, or blog, it not only adds diversity to the content on your page, but it also shows that you seek out valuable information and support the tips and advice that these people provide. Also, don’t forget to encourage followers or readers to contact you with questions, and post links to websites or pages that interest your audience. Give freely, be generous, and people will love you.

5. Send out personal invitations. Whether you’re asking someone to become a fan of your Facebook company page, sending an invite to a special event, or an invitation to an upcoming webinar you’re hosting, customize your invitations so that they connect with the receiver on a personal level. Take a quick look at his or her profile, and mention something specific: “Hi, Sue, we both like Cary Grant. I’d like to invite you to my fan page, where we can talk about his movies.” Tell her what’s in it for her. Two or three authentic, personal invitations per day have the potential to open numerous doors for your business.

Frustrated because you can’t seem to connect with prospects online? Not sure of what your company needs to be doing to market online? Join Michelle Salater for her free webinar on Marketing in a New Media World. Click here to register for the event.

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On a weekly basis, I have a conversation with a handful of companies who are looking for unique ways to reach their market and continue to nurture existing clients. Whether it’s a conversation with a prospect or client, vendor or colleague, there is a common thread: company owners are scrambling to keep up with the changes in technology and to attract and keep the attention of their target market, and these owners are uncertain as to why they are not engaging with prospects the way they used to.

Things have changed: how markets react, how people search for information, prospects’ attention spans, and prospects’ purchasing behavior.

Most of the business owners I come in contact with would agree with me on the above statements. And, if asked, they agree that they need to invest in the future of their company and change the way they communicate and interact with prospects, current clients, and old clients.

However (and here is where it gets real interesting), when I ask these business owners if they are ready to update their website or have it redesigned, completely change their message, ditch the brochure and business cards they’ve been passing out for the past 5 years, well, their answers are contrary to their willingness to grow their company.

I hear a variety of responses, some of which go something like this . . .

• No one comes to our website, so why should we bother?
• The budget isn’t there right now.
• We’re using social media and don’t need to worry about it.
• My spouse doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
• I’ve hired my brother’s nephew’s friend to help with online marketing because he’s in college for IT.

These business owners want to grow and change with the times, yet they’re unwilling to invest, to step up and do what they need to do to produce the results they desire.

I understand budgets might be tight or that your team is spread thin, but here’s the truth: if you want to compete in the market place (both on- and offline), then you’re going to have to invest in your brand identity and in your marketing efforts.

How prospects and current clients perceive your brand is of vital importance to the growth of your company. Why? Because appearances matter, and they are the key to your business success. Businesses change, just as people do. As we do with our physical appearance, our homes, and the items we purchase, companies must keep their brand image current.

Not only does your business image matter, but it also has a lasting effect. Psychologists call it the halo effect. When the visual message you put out into the world is positive, the prospective client you just handed a brochure to or invited to check out your website or blog will assume that other aspects about you are also positive.

The reverse is also true—if you make a negative impression, you don’t always get a second chance to undo a poor first impression. Online, you often have one chance.

Your business image—whether on your website or marketing collateral—is the strongest sales tools you have, no matter which business you may be in. The tone, the design, the message, and the images you use, all must reflect your company’s brand personality. A professional image must be reflected in all your marketing, and your brand image must be consistent.

If your website is spectacular, but your messaging is diluted or confusing, you won’t get the results you’re working for. Similarly, if your print collateral is top-notch but your online presence looks outdated, you’re going to project an inaccurate image, which will deter your prospects from choosing to do business with you.

From creating a strong brand image to changing how you communicate, you’re going to have to step up sooner or later. Why wait until you lose major clients or get passed up by another company?

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Each day I read the Ragan.com headlines and often learn something new and valuable. But, the other day, as I was looking over the headlines of the day, I came across a post, What social media words do you want to retire? I found the content of this post to be a bit off. The author of this post, Danny Brown, discusses five of his least favorite social media words and phrases and why he dislikes each.

One of his disliked phrases, which actually stuck out to me as an important phrase, was “Transparency is key.”

Here is Danny’s reasoning behind why this phrase, out of many others, should be “put into the social media retirement home.”

“Transparency is key. Unless it’s okay for us to lie about ourselves and make us sound more interesting than we are with tall tales and over-hyped statistics, then isn’t this a given in everything we do, and not just restricted to social media?”

Now, I understand that when people throw this term around without understanding what this phrase truly means, it can be frustrating. But, by no means do I think that “Transparency is key” should be thrown into the social media retirement home, and here’s why:

I most definitely see Danny’s point about overused social media phrases and words. Many people have the same exact point of view. Sometimes it can get extremely annoying when people throw around phrases without understanding the true meaning behind them.

However, I do think that, if used in the correct context and backed by intelligent ideas, “Transparency is key” holds true. I would have to strongly disagree that transparency is a given in everything we do. Transparency is much more than simply telling the truth about your business and using zero exaggeration. In my opinion, understanding what “transparency” means in a business environment goes way beyond being truthful in your business practices.

Many business owners and entrepreneurs often don’t understand exactly what it means to be “transparent.” The truth is, transparency can come in a variety of different forms. A face behind a brand, a strong and clear business message (on all marketing materials), and even a credo or philosophy section on a website are all forms of transparency. These elements enable your prospects and current customers to connect with the brand on a personal level.

And, often, strategically expressing your business transparency is an acquired skill. In fact, transparency is a branch of marketing. Is everyone educated in the effective practices of marketing? Probably not. So then, why is being transparent in our business practices “a given,” as Danny says.

When you throw “Transparency is key” around without understanding the defining aspects of it, you are setting yourself up for speculation. In other words, transparency is not something you say you are. Rather, it’s something you illustrate through effective brand messaging.

Respectfully, I think to say that “transparency is a given” is an incorrect assumption.

What do you think? We’d love to hear in our comments section.

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3. Why Your Target Market’s Attention Span Is More Targeted Than Ever

Anyone can post anything on the Internet. This is why we have conditioned ourselves to quickly skim, scan, and scavenge the Internet for the good stuff. There is simply too much useless information on the web to waste our time reading through each article, Twitter post, Facebook profile, website, or blog post, and watch every video on YouTube.

Finding exactly what you’re looking for on the Internet can be a pain. This is why Internet users shift their attention instantly from one thing to the next.

As more and more information is added to the Internet each and every second of the day, the attention of web users is often tugged from one item to the next within mere seconds. Think about YouTube for example. To the right of each video you watch, there are suggestions for other videos you might also like. If the first video you play doesn’t grasp your attention, you’re going to click on one of the other videos suggested within just a few seconds.

If Internet users aren’t finding a video entertaining, a blog valuable, or a website informative, they’ll leave—it’s as simple as that.

Because of this small attention span, it’s important to understand what keeps your target audience focused. Where do they place most of their attention, and when are they most active online? Understanding and utilizing these essential components of your target audience’s attention span will enable you to quickly get in front of your prospects, grab their attention, keep their attention, and convert them into customers.

Whether your online marketing materials consist of a website, blog, social media profile, YouTube channel, or a weekly newsletter, they will not be found unless you actively promote and optimize your valuable content. Active promotion and SEO work together to enable your social media posts and online marketing content to surface in search results. SEO and online promotion work simultaneously as the catalyst for increasing brand awareness and finding followers who are key influencers.

In order to successfully promote your online marketing materials, and therefore, successfully promote your business, you must understand your target audience’s attention span. It’s small, targeted, and extremely specific.

The key to grabbing and keeping the attention of your target audience online is to place yourself strategically in front of them and know how to keep their focus on you.

Here’s how . . .

1. Become Instantly Visible: Real-time social media networks are a wonderful way to become instantly visible to your target audience. When you properly optimize your posts, are active throughout each day, follow the conversations your key influencers are having, and post relevant information on these social media sites, you are increasing your chances of visibility to your target audience and key influencers.

Based on the conversation your target audience is having, you can place relevant and valuable information right into their attention scope. These prospects will then be much more likely to lend you their attention.

2. Keep them crazy glued: Now that you did all the legwork to get in front of your prospects and key influencers, how are you going to keep their attention glued to you?
Your content—whether in the form of website copy, a blog post, a Facebook post, or a tweet—must be . . .

• A great or new find for your audience.
• Interesting to your audience.
• Engaging (whether through captivating words, interactive elements, or photos).
• Written so that it speaks directly to your market’s needs / desires.
• Truthful and authentic.
• Consistently stimulating.

3. Tell them what to do: Now that you have done the incredible—held your target audience’s attention online for longer than a few seconds—you can direct them to take action. Whether that action is to view another one of your videos, visit your website, email you, or visit your blog, you have to keep their attention and encourage them to connect with you. Even if they don’t immediately contact you directly, they may be following you via social media—waiting to receive your next bit of valuable and engaging information.

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At least once a week I hear from a reader that he or she has a Facebook fan page, but there is little activity. No one ever comments. No one answers questions. No one likes what’s being posted.

If this is happening to you, you are not alone.

To have an active fan page, you need to engage people, just as you would at an in-person meeting or party. You need to connect with them, which means listening and observing them first. Once you’re in the thick of things, keep watching and listening.

Check your fan page settings to make sure people can access your fan page. Go to “Edit Page” under your page’s picture, then go to “Settings” and click “Edit”. Look through each setting, and make sure your page is as accessible as you want it to be. Know your keywords and use them often.

The cardinal rule of social media is to be authentic in all you do. Be yourself. With that said, here are seven ways to have a conversation on FB with prospects.

1. Ask questions. These should be open-ended questions. “What are you doing this weekend?” is much better than “Are you going to watch American Idol tonight?” Both questions engage, but it takes more than a simple yes or no to answer the first.

2. Connect with them personally. Don’t be shy. Get out there. Congratulate Sarah on the birth of her grandchild, and ask Brandon how he felt when he got that award. Tell Mary you’re sorry her husband lost his job. It takes only a second, but they will remember you.

3. Be interesting. Post quotations that will get comments. Say something that makes people think, or state an opinion about a current event. It’s up to you how controversial you want to be, but be mindful of your audience. You want to be authentic, but you don’t want to push people away.

4. Share. Facebook is all about sharing—your knowledge, information, and time. Put yourself out there to help. Encourage fans to contact you with questions, and post links to websites or pages that interest your audience. If one of your fans posts a website you like, repost it and give him or her credit. Give freely, be generous, and people will love you.

5. Talk to key influencers. Find out who the key people are in your industry, and ask them to be your friend—see number 7 to find out how to send personalized invitations. Then talk to them about your industry and about themselves. Position yourself as a fellow expert with intelligent conversation and questions. Experts love to hang out with other experts.

6. Ask them to recommend friends to your page. Ask key influencers and passionate fans to recommend others to your page. Send them a personal message and ask if they know anyone who would like to become a fan.

7. Send out personal invitations. Ask people to become your fan or like your page. The way Facebook does this is impersonal. Customize the invitation. Take a quick look at his or her profile, and mention something specific: “Hi Sue, we both like Cary Grant. I’d like to invite you to my fan page, where we can talk about his movies.” Tell her what’s in it for her. Two or three authentic, personal invitations per day will increase your fan base more successfully than 20 impersonal fan requests.

You need to do all these steps consciously and purposefully. Know your reasons for everything you do to promote your fan page.

As Brian Solis notes in his book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, “To truly engage in Social Media, you need to be wherever the people who matter to you congregate, even if it requires your participation across many different locations. However, this isn’t a pass for you to start marketing blindly. Research, observe, and listen before even thinking about jumping in.” Absorb the culture of the community and participate as a person, never as a marketer. Social Media requires respect and intelligence.”

Engage and play with us on Facebook.

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Want to know a main reason why business owners have been increasingly frustrated? They don’t understand or realize that the way they are speaking to prospective customers is turning people away instead of attracting them. The PR strategies that worked one or two years ago are slowly crippling companies that continue to use them.

So what happened?

After years of mass marketing, prospects have become sick of being treated as a commodity and not as a human being. They are sick and tired of being sold to the same way. They’ve been there and done that. And they can see through the smoke and mirrors, see past the flashy images and catchy phrases, and see through an inauthentic marketing message.

So what’s a company to do now?

My challenge to you is to embrace the change, step back, and look at the grand picture of it all. The attitude and way you’re speaking to prospects should be much more conversational and less rigid and overly formal. This means no more textbook selling strategies, no more intellectual industry jargon, and no more hard sales. Sorry, but someone had to tell you.

Prospects are sensitive. And they have feelings. Companies that can tap into these feelings and needs and can connect on a deeper level are the ones who will come out on top.

Here are some steps you can take now to enhance the way you connect with prospects and clients:

1. Embrace the change: Live it, learn it, and love it.

2. Enhance your brand with essential traits: Authenticity and transparency are now the primary characteristics you want your business to portray. People on new media platforms are looking for relationships and for people to trust. They want to trust businesses that they’re buying from. They want to connect to the personality behind the business.

You can pretend to be authentic, but if you don’t have a solid connection to your target audience and a trustworthy and transparent business model, you will be exposed soon enough.

Here is an example of a company that lacked transparency and authenticity, ultimately resulting in distrust among many of their consumers:

According to an article written by Kevin J. Allen on Ragan.com, “Mattel crisis teaches lesson in humanity,” Mattel had difficulty gaining trust back from parents after 19 million toys were recalled from 43 countries—their 28th  toy recall in the last seven years.

Screen grab of Mattel website

In response to the recall, as stated in the article, “(Mattel CEO Robert) Eckert and the entire corporate communications department at Mattel took the ‘We’re mothers and fathers too’ approach to getting angry parents back on their side . . .

By attempting to humanize themselves and come off as sincere, concerned parents, the team gave the public a window to its cold, dystopian corporate culture. Every syllable and mechanical gesticulation in Eckert’s video is scripted, presumably by the automatons in the company’s legal department” (Kevin J. Allen, Ragan.com).

Mattel’s apology lacked a sincere and human approach. There was no personal communication or relationship nurturing with consumers, only mass apologies as seen in Mattel’s response to 300 media inquiries in the U.S. According to the above article, these 300 responses were the only responses to media and concerned consumers.

Imagine what an untrustworthy reputation could do for your business.

3. Release your personality. Conversational tone is shifting from a formal, business tone to more of a casual tone. Speaking to prospects as if they are in a meeting room isn’t going to cut it. They’re on your level and they’re looking for someone to connect with—a personality to relate to, share feelings with, and learn from. They key being someone and not a corporation.

4. Join the conversation. With the average amount of minutes U.S. citizens spend on social networking sites and blogs increasing by 143% year-over-year (Nielson Company), it’s apparent that more and more people find social networking sites and blogs to be an important part of their everyday lives.

Graph owned by Nielsen Global

Our desire for relationships and socializing is quite clear from the increase in time spent on new media outlets and the rapid progression of social media sites, blogs, video sharing, and discussion forums. Listen and interact.

When companies begin to listen to what people want and need, they can connect with them, gain their trust, and share their brand story. And that’s the exact order. No mixing and matching here.

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I’m often criticized for not sharing on my website or blog the awards that Sumèr and I have received. My answer: I don’t know why; I just don’t. Not a good answer, I know. And, yes, I know I should publicize my achievements better. (I’m trying…check out my Social Sightings page) .

As a web copywriter, I’ve come across company owners who are also reluctant to spread the good news when they win a business award or recognition for their achievements. Just like me, they don’t publicize the fruits of their labors nearly as often as they should.

Why is that?

Are we modest, or are we publicity shy? Perhaps, but more often it’s simply because we don’t know how to brag about themselves. I know this is my situation; I have no problem spreading the good word when it comes to my clients.

The bottom line is this: Companies that win awards or that are recognized stand to bring in more business by boasting about how great they are. Business success attracts more success—and attracts clients.

So, how does a company toot its own horn without going overboard? Here are five easy ways to get the word out:

1. Publish a press release. Press releases can be a priceless tool to attract clients. The main thing to remember is that your press release needs to be timely and newsworthy. For example, winning business awards for graphic design is newsworthy. Make sure you distribute a release within a week or two of the award so it’s timely.

2. Share the bounty. Did your printing company pass the million-page mark? Celebrate by having a special for clients. Offer them a gift if they join you for cake on Friday at 3 pm, or announce a month-long discount on printing. If you know a few weeks in advance that you’re nearing that millionth page, have a contest guessing the hour you print that magical page. The winner gets his or her next project printed for free. The possibilities are endless.

3. Write a small report and make it go viral. If you’ve been recognized by an industry group for your work, write a short report on how you made it happen. Give the nitty-gritty details of your business success, and make sure that contact information and links to your site appear throughout the report.

Then publish it and share it for free. Send it to your email list and encourage people to read it and send it on. Give it to those who have related, noncompeting companies and encourage them to use it as a freebie for their clients. Put it on your blog or on your site as a free download with an announcement of your accomplishments. Brainstorm ways to get it into as many hands as possible.

4. Boast online. Send a quick broadcast email to your list with the announcement. Put up some information about the award on Facebook. Tweet it. Digg your press release. Splash a big, bright message on your website, and then Stumble it.

5. Throw a party. If cake on Friday afternoon doesn’t seem like an appropriately grand celebration, go all out and throw a party. Advertise the party to those people you want to see, especially current or prospective clients. Who’s going to turn down a party? Alert the media. Have guest speakers or maybe a band. It’s your call. After all, you’re the star of the show.

Use your imagination and come up with more ideas. You could combine these ideas or come up with new ones. Anything that gets your name out there in a positive light is great for company.

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Photo from images.apple.com

Before you can create an online promotion plan for your business, it’s important to ask yourself the following fundamental questions:

1. What are my goals for the future of my company?
2. What do I want to achieve through my online promotion efforts?
3. What do I want people to know or perceive about my brand?
4. What action do I want people to take as a result of my efforts?

Once you have a clear understanding of what you want your online promotion efforts to accomplish, it’s time to create a strategic plan. Some people find planning dull, overwhelming, or downright boring. I can assure you, the more you plan, the more you are clear about what you want and where you want to go, the easier your efforts will be, and you’ll achieve the results you want more easily and quickly.

Here are 4 steps to creating a promotion plan that delivers results:

Step I: First, you have to know what you want to achieve. You must define success. If you have a strategic objective, use that as a guide. In addition, I suggest you sit down and interview yourself.

Some of these questions might include…

1. Do I want to attract new clients? And what type of clients?
2. Do I want to build solid relationships with a handful of key bloggers?
3. Do I want my Tweets mentioned in The New York Times?
4. Do I want to be featured in Martha Stewart Weddings online?

Be honest with yourself. What is it that you really want? Write it down.

It’s important to note that success isn’t always about having 4,000 fans or 8 million followers. What’s more important is the connection you build with your online network. If you only have 100 fans or followers and a handful are retweeting your posts, that’s much better than having 300 fans or followers and no one interacting with you or sharing your information.

Step II: Depending on your goals and the nature of your company, decide how you will promote your company online. By no means are you expected to use every possible online platform—you’d end up pulling your hair out.

Instead, use vehicles and platforms that will meet your needs and objectives. This sounds simple enough, but you’d be amazed how many companies are unclear why they’re doing what they’re doing. Do you know why you’re on LinkedIn and Digg, or even have a blog? Do you have a Twitter account because you were told that’s what attracts clients, or are you Tweeting with a purpose? Again, this goes back to step one—you have to set goals and know what you want.

In deciding how you will promote and what online platforms are best for your company, take inventory of what you’re doing now. Make a list of what’s working and what isn’t. Look over the list and ask yourself why that is. Are you actually connecting with your target market or key influencers? How can you better engage your network? Are you on the right platforms to connect and engage?

Once you are clear, choose a set of 2 – 3 social media platforms that you plan to be active on. If you’re already on a few and they work for you, stick with these social media sites. Remember, it’s better to be active on a few than to be on too many and never participate or add to the conversation.

Step III: If you have a business blog or plan on starting one, create a blog editorial calendar. Eliminate last minute blogging, topic searching, and optimizing by creating an editorial calendar in advance. Here you can break down each topic you would like to discuss on your blog over the course 1 – 3 months.

When you have a blog schedule, sit down and write a few blogs at once, remembering to incorporate key phrases in the first paragraph of your post—without being unnatural. Batching is always a great way to hone in on your writing skills and get a few posts out of the way.

It’s also extremely helpful to create an organized blog promotion schedule in your plan. Each week, set aside time to comment on like-minded blogs, ask other bloggers if you can be a guest blogger, or ask others to guest blog for you, and request to be on like-minded blogrolls.

Step IV: Set time durations for each task. When creating a plan, you want to ensure you set specific time durations you will spend on each task. If you don’t do this, you’ll quickly find yourself over stressed and unclear of the time you’re spending on these tasks. In your plan, write the specific time you will spend on each platform and what days you will post on these platforms. Often, setting weekly tasks is the best way to digest a larger promotion plan.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in our comments section.

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Within days of launching Buzz, Google is trying to thwart a PR nightmare for privacy violations. Seems they launched the new social media platform without considering users might not appreciate a feature that automatically linked them to others without permission. Users expressed their concerns and anger, so Google changed the system to include an auto-suggest model.

Buzz is a new media tool that directly integrates with Gmail and allows users to share information such as links, photos, messages, and videos. With Buzz, they hoped to tap into their 176 million Gmail users and take down Facebook (which has over 400 million active users).

Google apologized to Buzz users in The Official Gmail Blog on February 13, 2010, saying, “We’ve heard your feedback loud and clear, and since we launched Google Buzz four days ago, we’ve been working around the clock to address the concerns you’ve raised. . . We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We’ll continue to do so.”

Read the full apology here: Official Gmail Blog.

With social media privacy concerns growing, this does not look good for the Internet giant. They might be able to fix the issue quickly, but will people be able to trust this new social media platform?

Below is Google’s video about all the wondrous things we can do with Buzz.

Will you trust your privacy to Google Buzz? Let us know in our comments section.

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You might think that social media tracking is impossible or too time consuming—that the only way to track your efforts is by observing reactions and comments others post on your social media platforms. If this were the case, every business participating on social media would be running around like a chicken without a head.

If the above cliché applies to you, then you’ll want to check out the tracking tools below and find out which tools fit your needs. You’ll find that with a few tracking tools, you’ll get your head back in no time.

There are a variety of highly specific tracking tools that are free or low-cost. Some only track blog influence, others track public relations and company reputation, while others track efforts on social media. All of these areas of tracking are essential in mapping your online success.

Below are some of the top online tracking tools . . .

1. Collecta: This real-time search tracking tool pulls up live feed of any keyword or phrase you choose. For example, if you want to search the social media realm for your business name or a competitor’s, you could do so in the Collecta search engine box. Some items that could pull up include articles, blog posts, and comments on blog posts, Twitter, Jaiku, Identica, Flickr, TwitPic, yFrog, YouTube and Ustream. http://www.collecta.com

2. Brandwatch: With so much information on the Internet, it’s easy for searching and tracking to take up your entire day. You have to sift through relevant conversations, search for mentions of your company, and monitor mentions of your competition. But with Brandwatch, you can increase business productivity and decrease the time you spend looking up important information. Brandwatch works to track conversations in the blogosphere and other online media platforms and provides simple and easy-to-read charts to illustrate online success and exposure. http://www.brandwatch.com/

3. KnowEm: Created to support all types of businesses in finding out where their names are mentioned on social media networks, KnowEm works to eliminate brand and content theft. KnowEm not only assists you in securing your brand across social media platforms, it also shows you how to confront these sites to have your brand released and returned.  http://www.knowem.com

4. Who’s Talking: This search tool helps users search for topics of interest to them—searching over 60 social media platforms for results. This tool gets you where you want to be quickly and easily and helps you join the conversation. http://www.whostalkin.com

5. Socialmention: Describing themselves as the Google Alerts for Social Media, Socialmention sends daily email alerts to you regarding the mention of your brand on social media sites. You can also use it to track your competition, topics of discussion, news, etc. http://www.socialmention.com/

6. Trackur: Used to keep track of your online reputation and to track social media efforts, Trackur is designed to track what is being said about your company all across the Internet—from news pages to blogs, video to images, and forums to social media platforms. http://www.trackur.com/about.php

7. Filtrbox: Searching real-time conversation across new media platforms, Filtrbox informs you of all conversations you want to know about online. You’ll know when and where a potential customer comments on your blog or Facebook and be able to instantly respond. Filtrbox also shows you how to use Twitter more effectively. http://www.filtrbox.com

8. Viralheat: Providing its users with detailed and easy-to-read charts, analytics, and insights, Viralheat shows you exactly where your business is being mentioned and how to engage with others in the conversation. http://www.viralheat.com

9. Netbase: Great for corporations, publishers, the media, and government platforms, Netbase provides consumer insights, research and development, and other forms of content intelligence online. http://www.netbase.com/consumer-insights-corporations

What other successful tracking tools can you think of? We’d love to hear about them in our comments section.

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