5 top social media security threats
There’s plenty of information out there about the benefits of integrating social media into your overall marketing strategy and how to dip your toes in the water. But how much thought have you given to the risks? This Network World post from Chris Nerney covers five of the biggest social media security threats that enterprises could encounter.

SEO + Social Media + Blogging: When Will Big Business Catch Up?
Crispin Sheridan, Senior Director of Search Marketing at SAP in New York, shares highlights from Hubspot‘s recent ”2011 State of Inbound Marketing Report” via this post on Clickz.com.

Behold the Awesome Power of Social Media
Bnet‘s Steve Tobak recaps the recent viral social media storm surrounding artist Stevie Koerner and retailer Urban Outfitters. The article shows how social media has the power to emotionally charge a situation and negatively impact a brand regardless if the company is legally in the right.

B2B Marketers and Social Media – The Catch 22 Situation
Sometimes it might feel like the success of our social content and SEO optimization efforts are tied to the whims of Google and their continual tweaking of their search algorithms. To some degree it may be, but this Technorati post from Amit Saxena provides some helpful direction to B2B marketers on how to cope with the fluctuations.

5 Top Marketing Blogs by Entrepreneurs
I’m always on the look-out for new blogs to add to my newsreader, and this post from ReadWriteWeb‘s Danny Wong provides some noteworthy alternatives to the traditional marketing streams out there.

13 ways to get your clients to think like a blogger
Continuously creating new content for a blog can be a daunting task for some. This post from Arik Hanson provides numerous tips to jumpstart your brain and get the words flowing.

Facebook and Email are NOT distractions, but necessities!
This “energetic” post from Peter Shankman schools readers on how to properly use Facebook and email for business rather than seeing them as distractions.

How to Measure Your Facebook Engagement
This SocialMediaExaminer post from Facebook Diva, Mari Smith provides a wealth of information on measuring your Facebook page’s level of user engagement.

How the Fortune 500 Uses Social Media

Social Media Responisibility
Mike Myatt shares a truly scary story about social media’s frighteningly blurred lines when it comes to online/virtual behavior versus living responsibly in the real world.

9 Must Have Gadgets for Social Media Nuts
Adam Mills provides some helpful holiday gift giving suggestions for that social media addict in your life, in this post on TheNextWeb.com.

Social Media and Blogging: The Common Sense Approach
Chris Crum shares highlights of an interview with Unmarketing author Scott Stratten, conducted during this year’s Blogworld Conference, in this post on WebProNews. The full interview is included here:

Making the real-time Web relevant
The future of online search includes getting information in “real-time.” This CNET post from Tom Krazit gives a great overview on the new direction in search and the struggles that search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing are working through to provide information as it happens.

7 B2B Social Media Tools you haven’t heard of
This SocialMediaB2B.com post from Adam Holden-Bache provides seven new tools that are worth checking out. I’m impressed to finally come a across a list of tools that are all new to me!

10 Tricks For Getting Inspired to Write
Have you officially launched your blog, but have found it difficult to continually come up with fresh ideas for creating content? This Copyblogger post by Jonathan Morrow provides great tips and techniques for writing inspiration.

Will It Blend? – iPad
The long-lasting popularity of BlendTec’s “Will it blend” videos continues with the demise of a shiny new Apple iPad.

Hackers turn to social media to attack companies
This SFGate article provides food for thought for companies who have employees engaging in the social media space, and the vulnerabilities that come with the territory, as hackers find new ways to exploit internet users.

How the enterprise is going social
This CNET.com post by Dave Rosenberg recaps Gartner’s recent predictions of both success and failure for the social side of enterprise.

Social media: Listen less and sell more
Spring Creek Group principal, Clay McDaniel, suggests that 2010 is the year to leverage social communities to produce real sales – and provides some useful tips on how to move in that direction.

Tips for Promoting New Blogs
Enterprise companies and small business alike are starting blogs as part of their social strategies, and all of them run up against the same challenges. Thomas McMahon from the TopRank Online Marketing Blog shares 12 tips for getting your new blog noticed.

Small Business Leaders Prefer ‘Passive’ Social Media, For Now

Why All Media Soon Must Be Social
Kirk Cheyfitz, CEO and Chief Editorial Officer of Story Worldwide, suggests that “social media” is not to far away from being plain “media,” and he provides a few excellent stories to strengthen the idea.

Social Media Development — Three Case Studies, Part 1 of 4
Conrad Hall kicks off a four part blog post series that chronicles three bloggers who have been very successful using social media to build their businesses while having their blogs at the center of their strategies.

Reporters and editors increasingly use social media to source, research stories
Freelance writer Helen Leggatt shares some impressive statistics from a recent Cision/George Washington University survey that shows how journalists are migrating to social media at an incredible rate.

Can Domino’s Turn Around Their Cardboard Reputation?
Rohit Bhargava highlights Domino’s recent campaign that spans both traditional and social media spaces, where they have invited (and publically shared) customer criticism – both good and bad.

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino: Social Media, FUN and ROI

9 Tips for Enriching Your Presentations With Social Media
Savvy business professionals looking to create more interactive and attention grabbing presentations will find value with Olivia Mitchell’s tips for engaging audiences with the most popular online social media platforms.

Is Social Media Privacy an Oxymoron?
Erik Qualman from SearchEngineWatch discusses the decision between maintaining personal and business presences on social media platforms. While not a new topic, it certainly warrants revisiting as privacy features on various sites continue to evolve.

10 Tips for Better Business Blogging
New Marketing Lab’s Colin Browning provides details on his 10 tips for better blogging that are part of the presentation he gave at IDC Insights. He includes his presentation materials via Slideshare as well.

Top 10 biggest social media stories of 2009
From Twitter to “Government 2.0,” Vator.tv’s Ronny Kerr chronicles some of the biggest acquisitions, valuations and emerging technologies throughout 2009.

What makes a blog successful?
Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk shares stories of blogging success straight from her own experiences.

Create social media guidelines to engage your customer
This post from Daniel Burrus on TechJournalSouth.com is one in a series containing advice on creating social media guidelines. This pick zeros in on the importance of establishing clear and consistent focus across the company.

A Call for Social Media Guidelines
The topic of social media guidelines continues with this post on PharmExec.com – recapping some of the biggest issues facing the health care industry as it attempts to engage in social media.

A Few Guidelines for Drafting Social Media Guidelines
This post from Chris Crum rounds out a trilogy of picks on social media guidelines and features video interviews with Wayne Sutton and Patrick O’Keefe.

4 steps to Get Rid of Twitter Spam

What Social Media Monitoring Won’t Get You
Monitoring your brand online and the plethora of tools available to select from are all the rage of late, while Facebook’s popularity as a place for brands to plant their flag has also exploded. This post from Jason Falls reminds us that access to the vital conversation behind Facebook’s “walled garden” are not accessible by social media monitoring tools.

Get Off Your Computer and Become a Better Blogger
Want to become a better blogger? This post from James Chartrand on CopyBlogger provides some great advice on how to do just that, and it starts by stepping away from the keyboard.

9 digital trends to watch in 2010
This fun read from Nuri Djavit  on iMediaConnection shares 9 interesting predictions for digital trends that “could be” in 2010. 

Create a Virtual Office
Last, but certainly not least is this guest post on WomenEntrepreneur by our very own Christine Perkett where she expands on how a virtual workplace can benefit your company.

CEOs Say: How To Be An Executive Blogger
Good stories and advice for CEOs looking to blog or just to become better bloggers.

10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets
Did you know that your Tweets aren’t really searchable forever? ReadWriteWeb’s Sarah Perez shares 10 ways to back them up.

Five ways to help your CEO embrace social media
A little post from “down-under” that gives some advice on how to get the top brass on board with your social media strategy.

Why Facebook Wants FriendFeed
Om Malik shares his point of view on why Facebook’s acquisition of Friendfeed is not about Twitter but more about Google.

Box-Office Weekend: Brüno a One-Day Wonder?
Another example of how Twitter has changed the “product launch” game by accelerating the word-of-mouth process with potentially negative side-effects.

YouTube Will Be Next To Kiss IE6 Support Goodbye
Fans of Internet Explorer (do any really exist..?!) who frequent YouTube are now being notified that the platform will be dropping support for IE6 in the near future. Gone are the days where web app developers felt the need to continually support aging browser technology as to not “upset” the user base.

Can a Company Take Social Networking too Far?
Chris Pirillo shares this almost unbelievable news about retailer Best Buy’s odd move with their new “social networking requirements” for employees.

9 keys to the perfect corporate blog
Michael Estrin provides 9 tips to help companies to provide a more compelling corporate blog.

Nike Censors LeBron James Dunk Incident; Creates Needless PR Fiasco
Nike takes the heat as they learn a lesson about transparency – the hard way.

Blogging Truth: No One Likes Your CEO
Lisa Barone from Outspoken Media serves up this fun and entertaining post about why your company’s CEO might not be the best person to write the corporate blog.

Since When Are Blogs Not Social Media?
Brian Clark from Copyblogger reminds us that the blogs were the original form of social media and still hold tremendous value in your social media strategy.

Life after 80, or what World of Warcraft can teach you about marketing mastery
Christoper S. Penn channels your “inner-gamer” with this fun look at how World of Warcraft compares to marketing strategy.

How P.F. Chang’s Uses Twitter to Be Awesome
Word of Mouth Marketer, Andy Sernovitz shares this inspiring interview that she shot with Kelly Morehead of the restaurant chain P.F. Changs. Their innovative use of Twitter is a story that B2Cs’ can learn from.

Comment Marketing for Beginners
Shannon Paul applies a fun “red light, green light, yellow light” approach to the basics of “Comment Marketing.” Be sure to read (and contribute to) the comments for more insight.

HOW TO: Get Retweeted on Twitter
Pete Cashmore posts some interesting data (via Dan Zarrella) on re-tweets and re-tweet behavior. Good food for thought when using Twitter as part of your social strategy.

Timing Is A Critical Success Factor for Blog Posts
Michele Goetz expands on the importance of blog post timing and shares an example of how the great posts can fizzle out of the gate, but come back to life when the timing is right.

Buy Twitter Followers: 100,000 for $3479
It was only a matter of time. Once Twitter started to make a routine appearance on nightly news and mainstream media channels, the scammers and low-end profiteers started coming out of the woodwork. Got some extra cash laying around to buy followers who have absolutely no interest in what you have to say? Read on for pure comedy.

Blogging Is Dying; Twitter Is to Blame
Crayonista, Joseph Jaffe shares an interesting perspective via MPDailyFix.com (cross-posted from JaffeJuice.com) on how Twitter might be causing blogs to fade away.

Search Engine Tools, useful resources
As I’ve mentioned in previous Picks posts, we need to continue to always teach the basics. Barry Hurd does just that by sharing a short list of useful (and free) search engine tools to use when doing keyword research.

15 Things Social Media Can Do for You Today
David Finch believes “We often get so engrossed in the ROI, measurements, and tools of social media that we forget real life examples of how social media can work.” To support that notion he shares 15 ways social media can help change the way you interact online.

Google Asks Common Man “What is a Browser?” Common Man Has No Clue [Video]
Adam Ostrow shares this entertaining “man on the street” video that demonstrates how little the general public knows about basic technology. It teaches a valuable lesson on how difficult it is to get people to adopt new technologies into their lives – something Google is currently facing with trying to get people to adopt the new Chrome browser.

Are You Spreading Yourself Too Thin?
Jacob Morgan provides some food for thought around the idea of creating multiple accounts for your business on each of the platforms that you are adopting as part of your overall social strategy. The topic definitely deserves consideration to avoid diluting your efforts.

16 Boring but Important Ways to Make Your Business More Social
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the “cool-factor” of the shiny new social web-apps that get released each week. Trying to figure out how to fit all these tools into your company’s social strategy can often distract you from many of the basic things you can do that will often make a bigger (social) impact. Shannon Paul shares 16 “boring” strategies for making your business more social.

Lessons Learned from 3 Years of Blogging
Are you still struggling with the idea of starting a blog and the what content you should create for it that will contribute to its success? Rebecca from the SEOMoz blog shares a plethora of lessons learned from the last three years of her blogging experience.

Are Newspapers & Big Media Dead? Think Again… My Contrarian Take
The continuing speculation over the fate of print media is far from over and there are certainly a lot of interesting takes on the topic. Chris Treadaway shares six interesting reasons why hyperlocal on-line media won’t win out over big print media.

Community Managers Must Deliver ROI: Commandments For Surviving a Recession
Jeremiah Owyang provides sound advice to Community Managers on how to step up their game, provide continuing value and (most importantly) help keep their jobs in these tough economic times.

Are we really ready to move beyond Social Media 101?
Many of us in the PR and Marketing space have been teaching the basics of Social Media for quote some time now. Some might think its time to elevate those teachings to the next level. However, LiveWorld’s social media evangelist Bryan Person shares some incite in this MediaBullseye.com guest post on why that’s not the case and advises those who teach to “keep beating the drum.”

How Lisa Genova used social media to turn a self-published book into a NY Times bestseller
Best selling author David Meerman Scott shares an abbreviated version of fellow writer Lisa Genova’s success in using social media to propel the promotion of her book “Still Alice” all the way to the top of the charts. Her complete success story and many others can be found in David’s latest book entitled “World Wide Rave.”

Podcasters report their top 3 podcasting tips (Part 1 & Part 2)
Marketing consultant Devon Dudgeon shares TONS of podcasting tips in this two part post. The tips were submitted by seasoned podcast veterans around the globe and are aimed at those who have been thinking about getting there own podcast off the ground.

Why blogs matter
“Q: Who reads blogs? A: Journalists”; Shannon Paul delivers another thought provoking post that shows why blogs might just be the ultimate tool in your social media arsenal.

Image Credit (sans modifications): Jade Gordon

Death of Education and the Dawn of Learning
Here’s a great post on the Servant of Chaos blog that speaks to the way kids communicate in a Web 2.0 world and how the education system needs to catch up. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s employees and customers. Will your business survive if you don’t join the social media/network space?

Charity Auction: Buy Yourself a Social Media Guru
Buy yourself time with one of five social media and online marketing experts as part of this excellent charity auction. The toughest part will be deciding on which guru to bid on with the talents of Chris Brogan, Joseph Jaffe, Aaron Strout, Geoff Livingston and Greg Verdino up for grabs!

Basic Business Blogging Suggestions
Speaking of Chris Brogan, this post he wrote earlier this week provides some nice basic information for companies that are just starting to launch a blog. As usual, Chris’s community of readers are providing great comments to the post, so be sure to read through those as well!

Pork and Beans
I’ll wrap up this week with something entertaining. Here’s a link to the new Weezer video that has been released by the band to promote the new single. The relevance? They included noteable internet “celebrities” in the video which is a sure-fire way to boost it’s potential for going viral.

Image courtesy of James Duncan Davidson

One of the Tuesday afternoon workshops; Intro to Blogs & Social Media Marketing 101, hosted by Nick Gonzalez (SocialMedia), Eric Eldon (VentureBeat) and Trisha Okubo (eBay & Omiru fashion blogger) was my first observation point. The workshop was well attended, and though many more experienced bloggers probably found it fairly basic, they indulged the audience with their presence, rolled their eyes and probably left patting themselves on the back for how much further ahead of the game they were than others in the audience. For others it was an eye opening experience that provided some great basic tips on how to get into the game or be more effective as a blogger and micro-blogger.

Here are the Top Ten take aways Nick, Eric and Trisha shared during the session:

1. Create content that’s easily packaged and reusable for example; Top Ten Lists and How-To’s
2. When blogging or micro-blogging provide news or exclusive content that’s not available elsewhere
3. Remember Seth Godin’s Purple Cow use catchy headlines and out of the ordinary content to draw attention
4. Take advantage of blogging distribution channels and measurement tools such as; FeedBurner, Digg, StumbleUpon, Yahoo Buzz, Friend Feed, Facebook, Techmeme, Del.icio.us, and Aide RSS to ensure maximum distribution
5. Let your fans know when a new post is up, email influencers and key sources cited to let them know you’ve posted and ALWAYS give credit to other bloggers and use link backs on Twitter, and other micro-blogging applications, whenever appropriate
6. Do offer free advice and incentives like a free informational PDF file or white paper as an incentive to gain new subscribers
7. Guest write on other blogs and offer the opportunity for other bloggers to guest write for you
8. Share opportunities with other bloggers and get involved in the community, posting regular comments on other blogs
9. Meet other bloggers in the ‘real world’ to get know each other in person
10. Be passionate about your content and don’t shy away from including some of that passion in your blog profile page, the more your readers know about you the more they will connect with your content.

Hope you found this information helpful. Just remember if you do end up using this content in your own blog or micro-blog please follow tip #5 and cite PerkettPRsuasion as the source! :)

Aaron used Ustream to broadcast the presentation live during the event itself and the recording is available below. If you currently write a blog or have been contemplating starting one, this is an engaging “must-view” presentation packed full of great tips to take-away and implement.

Note: This is a long presentation that clocks in at over an hour, so be sure to set aside some time! Once the video player caches enough, you might also want to skip ahead a minute or two into the video as the live feed captured some footage before the actual presentation begins.