As it is nearing holiday shopping crunch time, she said that social networks are especially important because consumers are going there to find last-minute gift ideas. For this reason, O’Shaughnessy told us that marketers should take advantage of these opportunities.

She advises that they make clear goals, target a very specific audience, and have a clear call to action. If these steps are applied, she believes they can have a successful holiday season, while meeting the needs of consumers.

He explained to us that social tools gave The Roxy Theatre the chance to tell its story and relive its highest points with a new relevancy. As a result of this campaign, the Roxy Theatre has rebuilt itself and has even influenced other venues on the Sunset Strip to get involved with social as well.

For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

As he explained to WebProNews, a social business starts internally and needs to come before a social brand. He said that a business should do more than just “say” they believe in social media. It needs to exhibit social behavior within the business.

If businesses create this social culture within, Brito believes that they will be able to be smarter and more effective in their overall social strategy.

WebProNews is partnering with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. BlogWorld takes place November 3-5 in Los Angeles and includes speakers such as Michael Brito. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

Pamela Eyring, the President and Director of The Protocol School of Washington, believes that it is necessary for professional purposes. As she explains, social media can be very effective for consumers and businesses, but one wrong move can cause a very harmful impact.

She advises users to consider how their actions on social sites reflect on their own brand or image. By taking this into consideration before a user posts, he has a better chance of avoiding pitfalls.

One of these people is Tim Mayer, who had a long tenure at Yahoo holding titles such as VP of Search Products, VP of Search Business, and most recently, VP of North American Audience. WebProNews spoke with Mayer at PubCon Las Vegas to learn more about his intuitions and why he believes they will come true.

First of all, he believes that we are dealing with a much more competitive search environment. As Bing brings new innovations to game, Google responds with their own developments. The search industry has also recently seen changes to the search experience with the launch of Google Instant. In addition, Google has made dramatic changes to Local search.

“I think… very prominent changes are going to continue to happen throughout different verticals and have more interaction with the search experience in the future,” he said.

Mayer told WebProNews that he sees mobile search growing in the future. As he explains, 1 out of every 5 searches are expected to be mobile searches by 2012. He believes this will grow even more as mobile and tablets become more popular.

Incidentally, people use apps more often than they use the browser on these mobile devices. But when they do use the browser, their queries are much shorter. In a move that would better serve users, he said that voice interaction would continue to grow in the future.

Another area he sees growth in is with brands. In the past, many offline brands did not have an online presence. For this reason, users would go to places such as Yahoo to meet their needs. Today, however, most offline brands do have an online presence that users want to interact with, which gives an added value to vertical search engines such as YouTube and Amazon.

How do you see these areas growing in the future?

As Relationship Marketing Specialist Mari Smith explains, many of these Web icons, if you will, make a name for themselves by being very personable and by giving away free information. In order to make a profit, she suggests that these personalities turn their knowledge into the product.

“The monetization part comes from whatever you have given out for free,” says Smith.

In other words, people need to take the content they have built and expand it beyond free information by creating products both virtually and physically. Smith believes that people should do this gradually.

For example, start with a free webinar on a topic showcasing your expertise that proves your value, and also include an offer at the end. Based on the response of this offer, people then have the opportunity to develop a customized product, event, or even a series of programs to further intrigue their audience.

What challenges have you faced while establishing yourself as a brand?

At the BlogWorld Expo, WebProNews sat down with José Chacón, the company’s Director of Marketing in North America. He talked with us about Lexmark’s involvement in social media and why they believe it is important.

For starters, Chacón says that social media is a continuous learning process, which is one of the reasons the company attended BlogWorld. As he explains, Lexmark believes so strongly in the power of social media that it sent its entire marketing team to BWE and even launched a product at the show.

Up to this point, the company had never before launched a product in this way. However, by launching the Lexmark Genesis at BWE, consumers were not only able to see and touch it, but they were also able to blog, tweet, and talk about it on other social media platforms.

The product is said to redefine printing and allows users to capture, organize, share, and, of course, print. Chacón says it has the ability to scan and digitize content in less than 3 seconds. The company also launched Twitter and Facebook applications as part of its SmartSolutions offerings. These SmartSolutions let consumers print photos directly from their Twitter feeds and Facebook walls.

In regards to advice for other brands, Chacón says that social media is the future. If brands want to maintain their presence in the marketplace, he recommends that they embrace it.

WebProNews recently spoke with Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and VaynerMedia about finding success in business. He told us, “You cannot build a real business unless you work your butt off.”

As he further explained, to build a lasting and sustainable business or brand takes years. He advises people to get heavily involved and interact with their community. In addition, he says brands need to understand the power of social media and realize that there is power in it.

To get further advice from Vaynerchuk, check out his latest book, Crush It!

In an interview with Abby Johnson at SXSW, Ford explains that communicators should think qualitatively in terms of what people are saying, instead of quantitatively.  In addition, now as brands are getting more involved in social media, they need to realize that they might not like the feedback they receive.

If you are not ready to hear honest feedback, then maybe new media is not the place for you. Ford says, “Engagement only works if you’re prepared to engage on your side as much as you’re expecting the audience to engage.”

He also points out the harm in a brand “over-promising” its ability to engage if it cannot. Unfortunately, many Web 2.0 business models are built off of strategies for engaging the audience, but if the brand is not providing anything in return, it is essentially asking for unpaid labor to build its business.

Once a brand is involved and is ready to engage, Ford says it automatically thinks that the only way it can react to negativity is by responding. Instead of focusing on what to say next, Ford suggests that brands find solutions for the real problems. He said hearing is not listening.

If a brand wants to produce positive press, a brand should send a message that is additional material for the conversation the audience is already having. In the end, this will make the message spreadable.

Are you actively engaging your audience and truly listening?

According to Todd, storyteller marketing has been somewhat abandoned due to the short-sided nature of performance marketing. Most search marketers think in terms of click-to-click or campaign-to-campaign, but storyteller marketing takes a bigger commitment.

Todd recommends that marketers look at communication goals and understand what they want people to believe about their business. Once that is determined, marketers can then develop a storyline with those goals integrated into their brand.

Next, Todd says marketers need to commit to that storyline for a minimum of three years. While this doesn’t mean using the same ad over and over, it does mean building and developing the storyline in a variety of ways.

Storyteller marketing is a powerful way to connect with people, so why not utilize it?

Eric Brown of Urbane Apartments realized this back in 2004 and found social media to be so effective that he eventually dropped all print advertising and paid advertising online. As he pointed out, print advertising has a shelf life, but anything put on an outlet such as a blog, does not.

After a business becomes active in social media, Brown said you will find that people are less likely to attack your brand since they know you will respond. Although you cannot control the conversation, you can participate, which largely influences the control factor.

Brown advises other businesses to get involved in social media. He specifically recommended blogs and said they provide the greatest amount of leverage for the lowest amount of investment.

While advertisers realize the need for customized and engaging content, they do not always understand that their video may not go viral. Vernet said a viral video is “a real moment happening.” Although competing with viral cat videos is difficult, advertisers can succeed by using creativity to create good online content.

The 30-second spot doesn’t work online. Instead, advertisers need to look beyond traditional tactics and look for new opportunities. Vernet said:

“I think what advertisers have to do is start thinking outside the box and say, how do I associate my brand with a cool piece of content or a theme…”

In the future, Vernet sees users going directly to the Web for content and being able to find a particular show on multiple sites across the Web. He believes the future is online and advises advertisers to invest more money toward online advertising and targeted video content.

Bensen is careful to point out that you can never be done with building a brand, because it is a continual process.

After you begin building your brand, you must also monitor your brand. Listen to what the community is saying about your brand, whether it is good or bad. While it is important to address the negativity your brand may receive, Bensen says it is also very important to “thank” the positive feedback.

If you are able to build a positive community for your brand, it will act as a strong advocate when negativity pops up. In some cases, the community may be able to handle the situation on its own, which could even be more effective than the brand intervening itself.

He went on to say that they understand the importance of having their own YouTube channel. This allows brands to have control over the message they send out to the public. Another method for maintaining that control is hosting video on your own site, as we do here at WPN. With video hosting, there are costs involved as well as the need to provide high quality production to reinforce the brand.

Overall, people are beginning to take video a lot more seriously. Ryan still refers to the space as the “Wild Wild West” but says we are starting to see inklings of what it could look like in the future.