IBM turns 100 and produces this viral video!

IBM turns 100 this year and produced this inspiring video that chronicles all of their innovations by year since the company started in 2011 as the Tabulating Machine Company. I actually went to the IBM stockholders' meeting back in 2008 in Miami and had the chance to speak to the CEO, Mr. Sam Palmisano. I am an entrepreneur at heart, but if there is one company I wouldn't mind working for it would be IBM. This is a rather long video, but it is interesting, educational, diverse and well worth the watch! Enjoy!

Dave McClure on Startup Metrics

Introducing Magento Mobile for mCommerce

5 key ways to increase your # of followers on Twitter

Our friends at webseoANALYTICS posted an article with 20 tips to increase your followers on Twitter. I took my 5 favorite topics and contributed my own thoughts below:

1) Be an active user -> this is the only way to build brand awareness, credibility and provide true value to your followers. I would recommend posting a minimum of 3 tweets a day.

2) Use #hashtags -> By using hashtags, you can do two very important things: Listen and Contribute. By listening in on specific hashtags such as #NOLA (New Orleans, LA) you can find out what is important to the community. After you have a grasp for how your tweeps are using certain hashtags, then it is time for you to contribute specific value. Check out some PR hashtags commonly used at the Mr. Public Relations Blog.

3) Add your twitter name wherever you possibly can -> Business cards, email signatures and website banners should be a great start. If you are a retail store/restaurant then every customer should leave the store with a coupon in hand that has your twitter handle on it loud and clear.

4) Interact with other people -> After all, isn't this what twitter is all about? The easy thing is that people on Twitter are naturally social and usually ask questions or tweet comments that prompt a response. Be sure to answer the questions that you really know how to answer and retweet posts that you feel your followers would view as interesting. After doing this regularly, people will begin to return the favor. Also, make sure to reach out to CEOs, authors, politicians and who ever else you don't think will respond to you. I promise you will be happily surprised in this hyper-interactive world of sharing.

5) Send quality tweets - > Quality Tweeting is what separates the imitators from the originators in the Twittersphere. Take time to research trends and articles before packaging your thoughts in a clever way. Providing value mixed with humor and interesting news is a great way to build influence. Using platforms such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck will allow you to schedule out tweets in advance and measure the clicks on each tweet that includes a url.

* Remember to have fun and be patient. Success on Twitter is definitely a journey!

You can read the entire article from our friends at  WebSEOAnalytics and contact my company, BluReach , for information on our custom social media packages.

Overdrive Interactive launches SocialEye, a social media ROI dashboard

Our friends at Overdrive Interactive in Boston recently launched a dashboard to help your marketing/PR department find some calm in the storm of social media metrics. Check out the promo video for the new dashboard:

SecondMarket is an electronic marketplace for privately owned companies...such as Facebook

Secondcrunch is the marketplace for illiquid assets and private company stocks. Click on the link below to hear a Secondmarket managing director talk about how this market really works at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference last week : http://blip.tv/play/goRrgeHADAI.m4v

In the video, he spills the beans and says that 40% of the trades over the last year have been Facebook and Linked & Zynga make up another 25% or so. He does not give specific valuations for these businesses because he knows the companies are allowing him to do this and don't necessarly have to. Great idea. Any body want some Facebook stock for Christmas?

The Value of Twitalyzer.com

There is one stat from social media metrics website Twitalyzer.com that we really love: Impact Percentile

According to Twitalyzer, our Twitter @VisionAndGrowth, is in the 25th percentile which means we have a higher impact than 25% of the 182,000 active Twitter users worldwide.

This is a good milestone to know where we are as far as brand awareness and where we want to be. As time progessess and our brand grows we hope to measure our impact and get to the 75th percentile within 2 years.

Good news for you, more relevant content ahead!