I applaud their creativity and social media marketing strategist as Marriott Hawaii’s Contest targeting Americans via Twitter is well thought out and well on it’s way to being a successful Social Media Viral Marketing Campaign.

One piece of advise for Marriott, please lose the ‘crashing wave sound’.  It’s a bit nerve racking and combined with the birds chirping out new tweets its a bit over stimulating for your visitors.

Find the complete rules for Marriott’s Twitter Contest here. The contest is only open to US residents so you won’t see me chirping about Twitter to participate. If you reside in the USA, then enter and start twittering away.

If you are interested in seeing an example of a great Twitter contest  – Check our Marriott Hawaii’s Twitter contest

Your Only as Good as the Monitoring Tool You Use:
Blending  the Mix: The importance of metrics and evaluating your Social media real time

Ten things you could do better today
Chris Brogan: A great reminder for those of us in the online world.

The Onsite Offsite Debate:
Conversations Matter, Bob Duffy:  “rarely should you establish a program that is focused on one or the other.  Meaning if you’re building a social media program it should include a branded community component, the kind that has your company logo proudly in the upper corner of the page, AND activity where most the people go, where the  logo isn’t on the page.”

My top Social media read of the week is the Onsite OffSite Debate post by Bob Duffy. Which so eloquantly explains what I may have failed to explain  successfully to a client or two Thanks Bob !

“OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.”  Openid.net

I have heard some buzz around the Internet about Facebook Connect this week. Is it the same as open ID ? All three (Open Id, Facebook Connect, and Google Friend Connect) allow users to interact with third party sites.

Google Friend Connect uses Open Social Facebook harnesses the power of a known interface.

Read Write Web’s Marshall Kirkpatrick has a great mind map outlining Facebook Friend connect and open Id features and merits.

I personally feel Open ID is great for blogger and social media applications. However it will be interesting to watch Google’s more easily integrated solution ( a few lines of code to insert) and Facebook Connect ( more complicated) .

If building a strong referral system is what you are looking for, you should check out Facebook connect and consider the power Facebook connect. Facebook takes accountability and their user base seems to contain more real users (less spam and trollers) who interact with their connections. This means more quality referrals and testimonials for your business.

Just a few of my thoughts on Facebook connect and Google Friend Connect. Please share yours as well by commenting or Digging the post.

According to Digital Response Internet Marketers are adapting to cater for women. “The internet is one of the key marketing areas where such firms are looking to improve the way they market to women, with an increase in target advertising among the methods being used.”

I would have to say that this is not just true of Reaching Women Online but there is a slow (time to speed it up folks) adaptation by most business’ when it comes to how we market to women.

Britopian the Social media Blog is talking about Disclosure, honesty, and Social Media. It took a while to watch the video (You tube size issue kept it from working for a few days) but was worth waiting for. It is nice to not just read about how to impliment Social media for business I enjoy being able to sneak into these events through video.  Stop by and listen to Andy Sernovitz’s three E’s to disclosure in social media on Michael Brito’s Blog.

No week is complete for me without catching up on Wendy Piersall‘s posts. This week she wrote a post featuring 13 inspirational Entrepreneurial Women in Technology.The list included:
- Kelly Anderson
- Blog Her founders Jory Des Jardins, Lisa Stone and Elisa Camahort
Of course Wendy herself should be on the list… So my list would have 14 inspirational women.
Click here for the post.

That is it for my weekly Blog Post favourites !

If you haven’t already … Be sure to add my feed to your Google Reader

Karrine

Interestingly Americans felt companies should use Social Media to;

- solve my problems (43%)

- solicit feedback (41%)

- develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)

- market to consumers (25%)

Social media is a welcome and non intrusive form of ‘discussion’. The study supports my feeling that as companies we need to use social media as a two way vehicle to promote building relationships and rapport with our customers rather then “marketing TO them” .

You can learn more about and see the Cone results by clicking here.