Check out the Royal Wedding tomorrow, Friday, April 29^th!  How will you plan to follow the Royal Wedding?

Waking up at 5 a.m. ET to watch the broadcast on all major may not be probable for some.  There are several other options where you can follow the Royal Wedding online while enjoying some tea and crumpets in the comfort of your own home.

Official Website

The official website is http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/ .  The site will link together the official Royal Wedding’s Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr accounts.

Facebook

The British Monarchy Fan Page will be hosting a live feed of the Royal Wedding on their page.  The page will be updated with stories as the event progresses.   The British Monarchy would like all Facebook users to share their stories of their experiences on the day of the Royal Wedding.

Twitter

The Royal Wedding’s official hash tag will be #rw2011.  The BBC News Channel (@bbcroyalwedding), CNN News and their broadcasters (@royalweddingCNN), and the Today Show (@royalwedding) will be keeping the Twitter world updated with information throughout the wedding.  Tweet any comments or information with the hash tag #rw2011.

YouTube

A live feed will be broadcasted without commentary of the wedding beginning at 5 a.m. ET.  The official YouTube channel is names The Royal Channel.  Viewers will be able to upload videos of them sending a message to the engaged couple.

Flickr

Viewers at the wedding will be able to upload their photos of the Royal Wedding to the British Monarchy’s Flickr page.  These pictures will be from all around London.  The British Monarch will be holding a contest judging who uploads the best pictures of the day.

The Royal Wedding has turned into a social media event.  How will you plan to follow the Royal Wedding?

Social Media Optimization (SMO) integrates several social media sites and activity with the goal of driving new and existing customers to website content.  SMO allows companies to make their content easily accessible and shareable across all social networks.  The more shareable and interesting the content is, the better.

Social Media sites have become more popular than search engines in some parts of the world.  Facebook is the leading social media site, bringing in 55% of the social media traffic.  Google dominates the search engine traffic.  Of the overall web traffic, Google brings in 9.3% of web traffic and Facebook brings in 7% of web traffic (mashable.com).

The use of SMO will increase traffic flow to websites because the social media sites are driving all traffic to the specific website.  Several websites are beginning to receive more traffic from social networking sites than from Google.  Some of these sites include Comedy Central, Forever21, Etsy, NFL, Threadless, Netflix, and Match.com.

A huge part of SMO is the idea of sharing between friends.  Friends encouraging friends, through social media, to check out different brands and websites increases traffic greatly.  When someone hears about a brand from a friend they may be more inclined to check it out because their friend is a reliable source.  Friends are generally interested in the same things.  Sharing also ensures that the content is reaching the correct people in your target market.

Facebook leads all other social media network in sharing at 24%.  Twitter is steadily increasing their sharing, with almost half of Facebook.

SMO helps with Search Engine Optimization as well as reaching your target audience.  SMO is very positive for the brand because people are able to view content and websites through widgets, applications, mobile, and social media.

How will you use social media optimization for your company?

This set of Forever stamps, a part of the US Postal Service’s new “Go Green” campaign, is wonderful! Created by award-winning animator, filmmaker, and illustrator Eli Noyes, these stamps are a colorful and playful reminder of the small things we can do to have a positive impact on the environment, with the designs featuring different genders, ages, and races. The USPS is also providing eco-friendly mailing materials, including recycled tote bags, postcards you can plant, and even a Family Activity Kit. See all of the designs at USPS Sustainability.

Recently, passersby at the Place du Palais Royal in Paris had the pleasure of experiencing “la Machine à voyager” (The Escape Machine), a wild, interactive public ad for France’s SNCF, a travel agency. Co.Design called this campaign “genius,” “the most fun marketing campaign of the year,” and one “of the best campaigns we’ve seen in recent months.” More specifically, marketing-wise, Suzanne LaBarre of Co.Design explained, “[The Escape Machine] does two things guerrilla marketing should always do: it’s got tangible stakes (vacation!), and it grabs the holy hell out of your attention.” And it certainly has gotten attention, virally spreading across the web. Looking at SNCF’s YouTube channel, it looks like they have done quite a few unique guerilla public displays before (check out all the “bienvenue” and “au revoir” videos from August 2010).

A collaboration between advertising agency DDB and digital artists Pleix, see The Escape Machine in action below.

Skittles is known for having pretty outlandish and absurd commercials, and its new global campaign is no exception. Produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, targeting non-U.S. markets from Europe to Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, the new commercials feature everything from a tiny human in a mysterious tiny closet to human-sized pigeon-people pecking Skittles off the ground. It’s hard to say what these visuals have to do with the Skittles brand, but TBWA\Chiat\Day New York explains that the focus is “the idea of the rainbow and draw[ing] literal connections between the candy and the rainbow.” Check out the first 3 spots below and prepare to be baffled.

Bing’s newly enhanced local listings will not only help the search engine continue to differentiate itself from Google (Bing being “The Decision Engine”), but will provide great value to businesses utilizing Bing’s business listings.

Bing’s Director of Product Management for Mobile Andy Chu told Fast Company that “fifty percent of mobile searches are users looking for businesses or entities related to local.” In addition, mobile searchers will typically come to a decision within an hour (as opposed to typically a week for those searching on a PC). Put simply, mobile searchers want local results – fast. As Fast Company noted, “That’s why it’s important for merchants to have as compelling information available as possible via mobile search. It could make the difference between that hungry searcher choosing your cute French bistro, or the one down the street.”

With Bing’s revamped local listings, businesses can verify and claim their pages faster, include deals and coupons directly within listings, and businesses like restaurants and bars can even include menus.

How are you utilizing local listings to differentiate your business?

Creating and optimizing original content for digital marketing is so important, as we’ve discussed before. Last week, Andrew Hanelly wrote a great post applying the lessons of legendary investor Warren Buffett to content development.

Buffett once said, “someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” As Hanelly explains, we need to remember that developing success with content marketing takes time! Specifically, no individual piece of content will “do the trick” by itself – a content marketing strategy takes time to grow and develop, gaining momentum, credibility, and trust among your audience or community. Even the smallest actions you take to improve your content marketing strategy could reveal the greatest benefits and rewards over time.

Buffett once said, “If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.” Hanelly expands, “don’t be afraid to experiment and innovate.” Recycling the same ideas from the past over and over again will not maintain success. It’s important to consider and utilize the best practices of content marketing, but not rely on the methods of the past. Rather, learning lessons from the past and applying them to today’s practices is valuable for developing new innovative and successful techniques.

Buffett once said, “Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.” For this point, Hanelly states, “Following the herd will ensure that you’re always just one of many… It’s true that you should fish where the fish are, but that’s also where all the other fishermen are.” This one is pretty easy to relate – don’t always follow the crowd, utilizing the same methods and channels as everyone else, or you’ll get lost in a sea of competitors.

Bernadette Jiwa recently wrote for David Airy’s design/branding blog on “framing your brand story.” As The Story of Telling prompts, “Get your message believed, not just noticed.” Your brand story makes a difference.

It’s sometimes hard to successfully communicate a brand message, as there are so many elements to consider. As Jiwa points out, “Where do you start? What’s the story you want your own brand to communicate? Who is your audience?… How will you stand out? Is it better to fit in?” Luckily, Jiwa suggests 10 key areas to consider when developing your brand story:

Mission
What are you doing right now, today? What happens because you exist?

Vision
What are or will be the results and effects of what you do in the future?

Core values
What are the attitudes and beliefs that shape your business culture?

Unique selling point
What’s your edge, the thing that makes you stand out?

Emotional selling point
What’s the intangible or aspiration that you sell? Think feelings not facts. Connection, freedom, ego, belonging.…

Brand essence
The core of what you do, the image it portrays and the signals it sends.

Tagline
One line that communicates everything.

Identity
How the consumer perceives your brand.

Name
The verbal hook on which all of the above hangs and is communicated, the icing on your cake. Comes in all the way down here at number nine!

Logo
Last but not least the visual hook that represents your brand, the cherry on the top.

Following up on our last post on small business’ social media usage, here’s an interesting statistic from The Future Buzz (Adam Singer). As it turns out, while Facebook and Twitter are valuable at driving traffic, they are only 2 of many sources – many, as in thousands, at least.

As Singer explains, “While Facebook and Twitter absolutely should have a place within a larger digital strategy, your marketing does not start and end with them. They’re outposts but not a hub… There is a huge mix of sites, networks and apps spanning every category that can become potential referrers… If you’re just spending time on Facebook and Twitter, you’re thinking small and missing a lot of opportunity.”

A couple of weeks ago, we explored how small businesses utilize their websites. Now, Postling and Mashable have conducted a study on how small businesses utilize social media.

According to the study, not surprisingly, Twitter and Facebook are the social networks most used by small businesses, with 78% utilizing Twitter and 75% Facebook. Twitter and Facebook usage is followed by LinkedIn, but at only 30%, with WordPress at 22%, Flickr at 13%, Tumblr at 11%, and Blogger at 10%. Obviously, Twitter and Facebook are the most used by a long shot. Similarly, Twitter and Facebook account for 97% of comments received across all platforms, so engagement is high, perhaps explaining their popularity. While Twitter drove the most comments, Facebook drove the most click-throughs on shared links.

See the infographic below for all of the findings from the study.