What a surprise! Some of you may thought that this is it – here are evidence that social media marketing works and brings in $$$. Folks, wait a minute! By getting more followers you don’t get more satisfied clients – they are the same fans you had before – they just clicked that shiny “follow” button now.

The real value is not the number, but a channel you have to make a “call to action”, to buy your product or use your service. Without that, there is no use of your fans or followers. So the real question is how to speak with them and what your customers want from you, as a brand.

It is logical that your fans tend to buy more your stuff that everybody else, but how to make them love your brand (I don’t man clicking the button), how to make them buy. What are your thoughts on this?

Via: emarketer.com

products and services designed for Google users, including installable apps that integrate directly with Google Apps

These installable apps are easy to use because they include single sign-on, Google’s universal navigation and some even features that integrate with your domain’s data. Although I’m could not really see any use for those apps as I’m not an administrator of our company’s enterprise computing system, I checked the Google Apps Marketplace nonetheless. What did I find? Several cool online web apps that would really be useful if you’re running an enterprise system that uses Google Business Apps.

Here are some of the cool online business apps that I found interesting on the Google Apps Marketplace:

eFax – lets you send and receive faxes quickly, privately and securely anywhere you can access your email.

myERP.com – streamlines key processes of any operations – sales, purchases, CRM, accounting, inventory and logistics; reduces data entry and helps you to make smart and quick decisions.

Aviary Design Suite –  Aviary recently made all its image-editing services free to use. This app lets you create logos, slides, business cards and letterhead, retouch photos, make web templates and banner ads, develop podcasts and more.

Manymoon – lets you attach Google Docs to tasks, projects, and events, add project information to shared Google Calendars, gadget for collaborative task management in Google sites.

Socialwork – lets you share ideas, web links, email and Google Docs, share and access files from web or mobile and nice integration with Gmail, Google Talk, Google Docs; works on a secure environment as well.

So, are you using Google Business Apps? Will you be using some of these business apps?

CoTweet

CoTweet among many other features provides very handy and easy to use tweet scheduler. You will be able to schedule tweets for any date and time without any limits.

SocialOomph

SocialOomph is one of the best apps for auto-following users. As very powerful Twitter marketing tool it has tweet scheduler also. The best thing is that unlike auto-follow tool, tweet scheduler is available for free.

HootSuite

HootSuite is third powerful and feature rich application in our list  that includes also tweet scheduler. It is also very popular, web based multi account twitter client.

Twuffer

Twuffer is application built specifically for tweet scheduling. With this app you will be able to tweet pre-written posts and deliver to your followers remindings of upcoming events/podcasts/videos.

Su.pr

Stumble Upon owned URL shortener with some additional features including link scheduler for future publishing on Twitter and Facebook.

Twaitter

Twaitter actually is very powerful tool that may help you accomplish effective results in online marketing. One of the best features is that you can update all your social profiles as they have Ping.fm integration.

Taweet

Taweet, as they call it, is a social calendar – event promotion application for Twitter. If you are searching for application to do just tweet scheduling, this app is probably the best choice.

Tweet-U-Later

Tweet-U-Later is a small tool for tweet scheduling but I would like to see more features on this app, but if you search some very basic solution this may be your choice.

TweetFunnel

TweetFunnel is a multi user tool for Twitter where you together with your colleagues will be able to manage corporate Twitter account. Built-in tweet scheduler seams to be very standard with all features you may want from such tool.

FutureTweets

Future Tweets – I think name explains pretty well what does this application. This app build specifically for posting scheduled tweets and, with almost half million tweets delivered at the moment, it seams to be popular among Twitter users.

Below is some of the best tools you can bookmark and later use to convert PDF documents to the most popular formats.

Nitro PDF to Word

Very handy tool form Nitro software that converts PDF files to .doc and .rtf formats. Just upload your PDF file and receive converted document to your email.

Nitro PDF to Excel

Second tool from Nitro dedicated to convert your PDF to Excel file. Works the same as Word converter – enter your email and lay back.

ZamZar

Firs two tools was specifically designed to do one task – convert PDF files or Word or Excel. ZamZar on the other hand offers large amount of formats you can convert your document to. To list them all i would need to write a dedicated post – just go and see for yourself.

Free PDF to Word

Free tool that will quickly turn your PDF to editable Word document – isn’t that all you want?

Able2Extract

Very powerful software that will convert your PDF to Excel, Word, HTML, Text, PowerPoint (PPT), AutoCad (DWG & DXF), Images, Open Office formats.

Check out also Business Week article.

Did you know that users downloaded an average 3,7 apps each?

Did you know that one quarter of apps users download via AppStore are paid?

Did you know that average iPhone/iPod touch user is spending $10 on apps every month?

Did you know…

via GigaOM

This post is written by Niall Harbison

For people who are just starting out in the world of blogging one of the most frustrating things that crop up is the lack of blog comments that you receive. This even happens to more established blogs who suffer from a lot of lurkers (people who read the blog without ever announcing themselves) rather than people leaving comments. If you are lucky enough to get comments they can be the lifeblood of your blog and a great source of additional content and go on to be a whole new element to the blog on their own.

So what can you do to get more comments on your blog? I wanted to share some tips that have been very effective for me during the course of building all the blogs that I am involved with…

Reply to comments

This might seem pretty obvious at the start when you are only getting a couple of comments here and there but you should always take time to try and interact with people who have taken the time to share their thoughts on your post. People will begin to expect your replies and leave more comments in return and a real sense of community will develop on your blog.

Pose lots of questions

Although you may think that your opinion is the only one that counts there will be lots of topics that you cover that you don’t know every last thing about so it is good to ask your readers for feedback in the comments. Another good tip is to always finish a post with a question as that will provoke the natural instinct of the reader to answer your question immediately.

Write controversial content

You don’t need to go totally crazy on this one but do write content that polarizes people and makes them think about what they are reading and stirs the passion inside them to comment. Don’t forget that people don’t always have to agree with you and say “great post”, some of the most commented posts I have had are when people totally disagree with what you say.

Comment on other blogs

You’ll often hear people tell you to comment on blogs in order to grow traffic or increase the amount of subscribers you have but the real value here in my opinion is the amount of comments that you get in return. Rather than just fire hosing comments all over the place stick to a good batch of about 20 blogs and start building relationships with some of your fellow bloggers through the comments. Bloggers are after all the sort of people who like to have their voice heard and write so they are the most likely to comment.

Build a community

You have so many tools available to you these days to help you build your community from Twitter to Facebook and forums and you should be using these to leverage the amount of people coming to visit your blog. The key is saying interesting things on these other platforms so as you build a community and people feel compelled to come to your blog and comment.

Guest post:

Written by Niall Harbison

Niall runs social media agency Simply Zesty.

Barnes & Noble

B&N’s online bookstore has been around for quite some time now, but it only started offering ebook version of commercially published books recently. What’s so good about B&N’s online ebookstore is its tie-up with Apple and RIM for their respective Barnes&Noble mobile phone apps. If you still prefer to read on your PC or Windows machine, you can download B&N’s desktop reader instead.  B&N also offers discount coupons from time to time if you register and agrees to receive updates via email.

Amazon Kindle Books

Amazon’s Kindle Books online store may be the reasonw why the likes of Barnes and Noble and Sony decide to come up with their own ebookstore. The Amazon Kindle Book store supports downloading of ebooks directly to the Amazon Kindle. So, it is a must that you purchase the Amazon Kindle ebook reader. While this is an innovative idea, it may also be the cause of Amazon’s Kindle Book Store downfall. Not everybody have a Kindle Reader and definitely not everyone will want to buy it.

Sony eBook Store

Sony was lucky enough to snag a deal to give access to free public domain books on Google’s Book Service. But apart from public domain books, the Sony eBook Store also lets you purchase books which you can read on your desktop PC or Mac or from your a Sony eBook Reader. The Sony eBook Reader is Amazon Kindle’s fiercest rival to day. So with the launch of the Sony eBook Store, it has finally seal a official rivalry with Amazon.

Taylor & Francis

Features a collection of titles that you can buy in the current popular formats including DX Portable. It also supports ebook formats that can be read through Mobipocket, Microsoft Reader, and Adobe Reader. Taylor & Francis’ ebook collection consists of ebooks from Routledge, Routledge-Cavendish, Garland, CRC Press, Psychology Press and Taylor and Francis.

Cambridge eBookstore

Cambridge University Press’ eBookstore is fairly new so don’t expect the same depth on their ebooks collection as with their catalog of printed books. The ebookstore supports both Microsoft and Adobe Reader formats. You can also download purchased books on your handheld devices provided that it is supported by the ebookstore. This includes the Sony eBook Reader, Iliad ebook reader and more.

Harlequin eBookstore

Harlequin eBookstore also offers ebooks in various formats readable through Adobe Digital Editions, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket Reader. It allows re-downloading of ebooks you’ve purchased in case you’ve deleted it already on your PC or Mac. What the site didn’t say is whether it supports downloading on a portable ebook reader.

RandomHouse eBookstore

Random House eBookstore sells books online in various ebook formats including – Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader LIT, Mobipocket PRC, eReader formats for pocket PC, and eBookWise device.

Powell eBookstore

Powell eBookstores supports downloading of their ebooks on various popular ebook readers including the Sony Reader, Astak EZ Reader, BeBook, COOL-ER and more. It supports four formats of ebooks supported by the following readers – Adobe Digital Editions, Microsoft Reader, and Palm Device Reader. It also has DRM-free ebooks in PDF format.

Books on Board

Aside from supporting your usual ebook formats readable in Sony eBook Reader, Cybook/Opus and AzTak EZReader, Books on Board also supports mobile phone devices such as the iPhone, Palm and Blackberry handsets. This is in addition to allowing you to download and read their ebooks on a PC or Mac. Books on Board carry popular bestsellers in their ebook collection.

But gadgets on the labs page are just a beginning – if you want to experience more functionality and reach for other possibilities developers can offer, you need to search for gadgets on web yourself. Did I said search? Just read this article!

First you need to enable “Add any gadget by URL” functionality on Gmail Labs. To do so you need to go to Settings > Labs and switch to Enable button next to “Add any gadget by URL” gadget. After that you will be able to add gadgets by submitting the URL in the Settings > Gadgets page.

1) Twitter Gmail Gadget

There are several Twitter gadgets you can use but I found that this one works best for me. You can post instant tweets straight form the Gmail and browse your friend tweets. I would say that this gadget turns Gmail into pretty decent Twitter client.

Gadget URL: http://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml

2) gBook Facebook Gadget

gBook offers all the basic functions to never loose contact with your Facebook friends. You can update your status, see email and notifications straight form your mailbox. Feel free to search for other Facebook gadgets as I found this my favorite but there are few more.

Gadget URL: http://www.francesco-castaldo.com/fb-gadget/gBook.xml

3) FriendFeed

Keep track on your friend activities on the web using FriendFeed gadget. Everything is simple, nothing fancy – just the way you like it. On the other hand it would be great to see better Gmail implementation as in general it is a iGoogle gadget.

Gadget URL: http://friendfeed.com/embed/googlegadget/spec

4) Zoho Gadgets

Zoho have built several gadgets for different tasks. You can find Zoho Docs gadget for creating, editing, sharing, viewing all your documents. Then there is mail, calendar, tasks, planer and notes gadgets. You can find more information on Zoho gadgets page or just try them out.

Gadget URL: http://gadgets.zoho.com/zc/index.do

5) Remember The Milk

Yes you can use Zoho tasks what I described before, but trust me – for this function better use this one. It truly is “The best way to manage your tasks”. With the gadget you can review your existing tasks, create new ones, overdue and postpone them. Check out all the other features in Gadgets page.

Gadget URL: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/gadget/

6) Digg

With this gadget you can quickly browse all the popular stories on Digg. You always will be well informed on latest events and friend activities.

Gadget URL: http://digg.com/goog/ig.xml

7) MySpace

Pretty similar gadget to the Facebook and will let you stay connected with your friend over at MySpace.

Gadget URL: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/100080069921643878012/myspace.xml

8) Delicious

Simple gadget to display Delicious hotlist on your Gmail sidebar. Easily to browse bookmarks of different users.

Gadget URL: http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/delicious/delicious.xml

9) World Clock

gadget designed especially for Gmail and offers possibility to add current time of different places of the world.

Gadget URL: http://gad.getpla.net/poly/clock.xml

10) bit.ly URL Shortener

Small but useful gadget that will convert your URLs into short ones using Bit.ly service.

Gadget URL: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/107368512201818821991/bitly-shortener.xml

11) Calculator

Very nice looking calculator for your Gmail if you quickly need to count some numbers or do more advanced calculations.

Gadget URL: http://www.poturi.net/gadgets/calc/calc.xml

12) Google Map Search

Great gadget to find your desired location fast. With combination of Google maps it works really well.

Gadget URL: http://www.google.com/ig/modules/mapsearch.xml

13) Toodledo To-Do

Very powerful and feature rich gadget for organizing to-do lists.

Gadget URL: http://www.toodledo.com/widget/gmail.php

14) Ask A Word

Search Thesaurus, Dictionary and Encyclopedia without leaving Gmail. You can also use built in spellchecker to leave all misspelling mistakes in past.

Gadget URL: http://www.openinventions.com/spellcheck/openinventions_spellcheck.xml

15) Chuck Norris Fact Generator

This gadget is must have as it will give you something to smile about while working.

Gadget URL: http://marsupialmusic.net/stu/scripts/chucknorris.xml

I hope you find these gadgets useful and don’t hesitate to share your findings in comments below.

1) Prezi

I love this service! With the help of Prezi you can create very creative an well looking “zooming” presentations to surprise the audience. Check out the introduction video and you will see what I’m talking about.

2) Slide Rocket

Although it is a paid service they have very strong free version with most important features included – unlimited presentations and 250Mb of storage. Try! And if you like this service you can upgrade any time.

3) Zoho Show

Zoho always stands out with very rich applications from the side of functionality and offered possibilities. They have wide range of other business apps so you may want to check them out too.

4) Empressr

Also very good alternative to PowerPoint with many interesting features like easy embeddable content from Flickr, Photobucket, Google and others. Empressr have also nice sharing platform.

5) Google Docs

Best thing about Google products is that they are free, but maybe you will miss some features and will be forced to search for more advanced services. But for purposes to create simple presentation Google probably is the best choice.

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