Social media expert and author David Meerman Scott (whose content is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content) speaks about marketing and social media around the world. In a new video that he released this month, he tells the story of the number one question he’s asked at the vast majority of speaking engagement he attends — how do you calculate the ROI on social media marketing?

Instead of going into a detailed explanation of social media ROI, David asks his audiences three simple questions, and with a show of hands from audience members as they answer each question, he demonstrates what he calls social media ROI hypocrisy. You can see for yourself in the short video below which includes snippets from his actual audiences at events held in multiple cities across the globe.

What do you think of David’s method of explaining the hypocrisy of social media ROI?

As a 20-year marketing veteran, I’m in agreement with David in terms of the blind focus that many business people have in delivering ROI numbers for social media marketing initiatives. We live in a world of information paralysis where we can’t act unless the numbers tell us it’s okay to do so. Social media marketing is a long-term brand building strategy that includes short-term tactics, but it’s power comes from its ability to deliver long-term, sustainable, organic growth. There’s no place for “brand” on the company balance sheet, but there is no doubt that brand equity is a valuable business asset.

Social media conversations are similar in that there are currently few ways to accurately track ROI, but that doesn’t make social media any less valuable to an organization. It’s difficult to track ROI on many ads or on press releases, but companies still invest in them because they’ve been around for a long time. Social media is new and easy to question. It’s the organizations that don’t wait around for the numbers to act on the social media opportunity that will succeed in the long-term.

What do you think?

It’s that time of year where we’ll start to see lots of articles about trends that affected 2011 and predictions for trends that will define 2012. Often these kinds of posts just recap what was popular during the prior year without really diving any deeper than that.

Today, I stumbled across a great article from Greg Jarboe from Reel SEO that provides a more strategic look at three YouTube trends that defined 2011 that look beyond popularity numbers. In his article, Greg cites three key trends:

1. Video Clips that Drive Citizen Movements

2010 was the year that Twitter became a vital part of real-time citizen movements from political uprisings to efforts to help victims of natural disasters, but in 2011, YouTube brought a new visual dimension to these movements. As Jarboe explains, videos uploaded to YouTube by people on the streets during political uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya have changed the way people get information and ultimately, the way people think and act.

2. Streaming Live Events

Jarboe also cites the launch of YouTube Live, which integrates live streaming of events into the YouTube platform, as another trend that defined 2011. From the British Royal Wedding to concerts and interviews, the addition of live streaming brought a new dimension to YouTube that is likely to grow in use and importance for years to come.

3. Tools to Create Online Videos without a Video Camera

YouTube also launched a new section of its website that highlights partner companies and tools that people can use to create online videos without a video camera or much of the traditional equipment that video publishers require. Suddenly, the ability to create online video content is easier than ever and available to more people than ever!

Bottom-line, Authoritative Content publishers understand that popularity doesn’t always equate to strategic trend analysis. It’s trends like the ones Jarboe referenced in his article that truly defined 2011 and will have an ongoing and significant effect on online video in 2012 and beyond.

What do you think were the YouTube or general online video trends that defined 2011? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Flickr

Another blog that is syndicated through Newstex has been recognized for its authoritative content!

WomenOnBusiness.com won the Best Blog award at the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business at an awards ceremony hosted by Sara Eisen of Bloomberg Television and attended by 300 people in New York City last week. This year’s winners were chosen by over 200 judges through multiple rounds of judging among a record 1,300 entry applications.

The Stevie Awards honor women executives, entrepreneurs, and the companies they run worldwide. In 2002, Paul Tharp of the New York Post referred to the Stevie Awards as the “Oscar Awards for business.” Coincidentally, the 24 karat gold and crystal statues given to winners are made by the same company that makes the Oscar, Emmy, and Clio Awards — R.S. Owens.

WomenOnBusiness.com was founded by Susan Gunelius in 2007 with a goal to offer a place for women in business to demonstrate their thought leadership, share their expertise, develop their professional platforms, and learn and grow in an authoritative and credible media space.

Visitors to WomenOnBusiness.com can share their business news by submitting press releases for publication, submitting guest posts, or joining the team of volunteer contributors.  Additionally, business women who write their own business blogs can add their blogs to the Businesswomen Bloggers Directory. All features on WomenOnBusiness.com are offered free of charge.

WomenOnBusiness.com has been named to numerous “best blog” and “best website” lists including Forbes’ list of the top 100 websites for women, Forbes’ list of the top 20 marketing and social media blogs for women, and the Little Pink Book’s list of the top 10 business blogs for women. WomenOnBusiness.com was a finalist in the Best Blog category in the 2009 and 2010 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and 2011 marks the first time the blog has one this award.

You can view the complete list of 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business recipients and finalists here.

Congratulations to Michael Englund, chief economist for Action Economics (whose content is syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content) for winning the September 2011 Forecaster of the Month Award from MarketWatch. This marks the third time that Michael, has won the forecasting award from MarketWatch.

Michael beat economists from Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Wrightson ICAP, and TD Securities for the September 2011 Forecaster of the Month Award. Of 10 indicators tracked in the September contest, Englund had 7 forecasts that were found to be among the 10 most accurate, and of the 43 forecasters in the September contest, Michael had the most accurate forecasts on 2 specific indicators, housing starts and new home sales.

It’s not surprising that Michael Englund has won the Forecaster of the Month Award multiple times. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry having spent significant time as chief economist at MMS International and Standard & Poor’s. As the principal director and chief economist for Action Economics, he leads a highly experienced economics team who create authoritative commentary, analysis, and forecasts that their audience trusts and depends on.

Michael Englund spent many years with MMS International where he pioneered the early stages of real-time economic commentary in financial markets. Today, Action Economics is a perfect example of authoritative content getting the recognition it deserves.

You can visit Action Economics to learn more about Michael and the Action Economics team and to read the authoritative content published there.

Congratulations, Michael!

Just in case you ever doubt the long-term benefits of publishing high quality, authoritative content, here’s a new piece of data to remind you that quality always wins.

In a great blog post on SEOmoz today, James Agate described an experiment he conducted to learn what type of link anchor text is the most effective in terms of getting a site ranked for a specific keyword phrase. James admits that his test was very small, but it did yield some interesting results.

First, he settled on an uncommon keyword phrase and purchased three distinct domains where he set up three mini-sites and 10 links to each from 10 link sources that index quickly. For each domain, he used a different anchor text link strategy. One site included irrelevant anchor text (e.g., “click here”). A second used keyword-rich anchor text, and the third used a mixture of irrelevant and keyword-rich anchor text.

James analyzed the results of his experiment and found that the best strategy for long-term success is using a mixture of irrelevant and keyword-rich anchor text links. He explains:

“Google perhaps isn’t quite there yet with their assessment of link context – the results of this experiment seem to suggest that Google still needs a hint and places a high degree of trust in the relevance of the anchor text (whether partial match or exact match). … Partial match linkbuilding in practice is the safest in terms of long term stability and potentially also the more effective now and in the future.

“In practice, a link profile consisting entirely of exact match links doesn’t look natural and is easy for Google in the future to de-value a huge proportion of your link profile in one fell swoop. Assess link opportunities also as promotional, brand awareness and traffic opportunities and look at ways to build a presence online that will survive a future that is likely to be less about links.”

Follow the link earlier in this article to read the full story about James’ link anchor text experiment. It’s worth a read.

At the end of the day, quality always beats short-term tricks to boost traffic to your blog. Keep publishing authoritative content, and your blog will be positioned for long-term success while the bloggers who paid more attention to link anchor text than quality of content will be scrambling to catch back up.

Image: Yuman

Congratulations to the Newstex Authoriative Content publishers who won 2011 Online Journalism Awards — ProPublica and OpenSecrets.

Both ProPublica and OpenSecrets were recognized for their outstanding online news journalism with awards from the Online News Association and the University of Miami’s School of Communications. Prize money for several 2011 awards was provided by the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The Online Journalism Awards debuted in 2000, “to honor excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media, and international news sites.” For the first time this year, award entries were open to news content produced for any digital device.

ProPublica, a non-profit news organization devoted to reform through journalism, was awarded the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site, for its Dialysis series. This isn’t the first time ProPublica has been recognized for journalistic excellence. ProPublica has won numerous awards including a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 and again in 2011!

OpenSecrets.org is owned by the Center for Responsive Politics, which is a non-profit research group that tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. The OpenSecrets.org site was awarded the 2011 Online Journalism Award for Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Small Site. Like ProPublica, this is not the first journalism award for OpenSecrets.org.

ProPublica and OpenSecrets.org both demonstrate the authoritative content that is being published online today and syndicated through Newstex to the people who need it to do their jobs. Congratulations to ProPublica and OpenSecrets.org!

Time for another interview in the Newstex Publisher in the Spotlight video interview series where we turn the spotlight on the bloggers, Twitter publishers, and video publishers who syndicate their Authoritative Content through Newstex.

Today’s interview is with Robert Farley who writes about politics and culture on Lawyers, Guns, and Money with several of his friends and former classmates from University of Washington. Watch the video interview below to learn more about Lawyers, Guns, and Money and what makes it unique and authoritative.

Visit the Newstex YouTube Channel to watch more videos in the Newstex Publisher in the Spotlight Video Series. Be sure to check out the Newstex Publisher in the Spotlight Playlist, and keep your eyes open for new video interviews coming soon!

A recent study by GlobalWebIndex sheds light on how people are using sites like Twitter and Facebook and what they want from online publishers. Turns out, authoritative content from online publishers is in “high demand” among microbloggers (e.g., Twitter users) and social networking users (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn).

The study reveals that the online audience is interested in getting new knowledge and being entertained by online publishers, particularly from brands. That means a huge opportunity exists for authoritative content publishers to create and share content that educates, interests, engages, helps, and entertains the online audience.

In other words, many microbloggers and social networking users are aware that there is a difference between authoritative content and “all the rest,” and they want more of that authoritative content.

When it comes to how Internet users actually use social sites, activities vary by site. For example, Facebook users are uploading more and more videos and pictures to their profiles and groups.

On the other hand, Twitter users are far more likely to share content created by other people by tweeting links, linking to videos, linking to news stories, linking to blogs, and so on. Other common daily activities include publishing personal photos and other images, offering opinions on products or brands, and commenting on events they plan to attend. You can see the specifics in the table below.

As the data from this study demonstrates, Twitter, Facebook and other social sites aren’t just for teenagers and people who want to waste time online. These sites are now important sources of authoritative content and have become some of the first sites that people go to in order to get information, ask questions, and share useful content — particularly professional content.

And if people are looking for authoritative Twitter and blog content online, you can bet they’re looking for it through their corporate, legal, government, and university libraries and systems. That’s just one more reason why syndicating your Authoritative Content through a licensed-syndication provider like Newstex is so important to help you broaden your audience and exposure.

Image: eMarketer.com

When Michael Jackson died, the first source to report the news was a blog, TMZ.com. When Anthony Weiner tweeted inappropriate pictures of himself, the story began to spread thanks to a conservative political blogger, Andrew Breitbart. As Rita Braver of CBS News reports in a recent article entitled Welcome to the Blogosphere, “What a clear sign of the growing clout of bloggers.”

Earlier this month, I wrote a post here on the Newstex blog about the 30% decline in tweets from U.S. Congressional members following ‘Weingergate.’ The online conversation is both starting and spreading through user-generated content, and bloggers have become a key component of today’s communications stream.

However, as Braver points out, “There doesn’t seem to be any way that anything catches up with bloggers, or any way of addressing whether the blogger really does something or says something that’s not true.” She makes a valid point. However, there is a large number of bloggers who exercise journalistic integrity and work very hard to publish Authoritative Content that people can trust.

The term “blog” became akin to a dirty word a few years ago. Today, it’s making a comeback as more traditional news organizations, companies, universities, and other respected people and groups launch their own blogs. Some of these online publishers might choose not to call their blogs by that name, but as William Shakespeare’s Juliet spoke, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Authoritative Content blogs are here to stay and they’re getting noticed and getting the positive recognition they deserve as reliable sources written by experts. It’s time that the larger population learned that not all content is created equal — and that goes for blogs, too.

What do you think? Are all blogs created equal? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

What is Newstex Authoritative Content? Joelle Norwood, The Media Mama, asked Newstex President Larry Schwartz that question at the May 2011 BlogWorld and New Media Expo East in New York City, and he packed tons of information into a 1 minute and 40 second video shot by Joelle on the Blog World exhibit floor!

I love Larry’s reference in the video to Newstex as a “content pusher” that pushes content from Authoritative Content publishers to respected distributors who deliver it directly to audiences who need it to do their jobs and are unlikely to find it otherwise. It sums up Newstex’s message at BlogWorld and New Media Expo East very succinctly, which was — We’ll pay YOU to grow YOUR audience. It really is that simple.

In the video interview, Larry also mentioned some ways that end-users use the content syndicated through Newstex Authoritative Content as well as how important factual archives are since end-users might search for content from years ago when they’re conducting research. Business, financial, and legal content are just three of the hot topics that end-users are looking for on a daily basis through Newstex Authoritative Content.

You can check out the full video interview below.

Be sure to watch Joelle’s playlist of BlogWorld videos on her YouTube channel. The videos are short and interesting!