My Best of 2011

My 2011, and a little of the best - focusing on social media and learning:

1. The most popular Google videos this year - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-were-we-watching-this-year-lets.html

2. Google's top search terms this year - http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/google-announces-top-search-terms-of-2011

3. Mashable's Awards (5th)  - winners announced (social media, entertainment, business, technology)  - http://mashable.com/2011/12/19/mashable-awards-winners/

4. Person of the year Time Magazine - The Protester - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102132_2102373,00.html

5.  My best book of the year - I'm Feeling Lucky  - The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 - Douglas Edwards - although technically not a marketing or a business how to book, I'd give this to anyone wanting to learn about business -it's an incredible and insightful book about Google.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1766361/im-feeling-lucky-google-employee-number-59-tells-all

6. Amazon's Best Books of the Year (so far) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000698051 
- read, read, read!

7. My best social media/marketing blog - We Are Social http://wearesocial.net/ -

it's mainly info about the UK, I think their Mashups are extremely valuable!

8. Ad Age's Best Social, Media Campaigns this year (UK) - http://adage.com/article/special-report-book-of-tens-2011/ad-age-s-book-tens-social-media-campaigns/231498/

9. My best ad of the year (funny and brilliant) -  by New Zealand's Transport Agency http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIYvD9DI1ZA -  

if you love ads (or work in advertising) - Best ads (interactive, TV, print and outdoor) week by week - http://www.bestadsontv.com/
(a fantastic resource)

10. My best Facebook community page - Toby the Wonderdog -  https://www.facebook.com/drkatrinawarren - where pet owners come and share their pet stories.

12. 5 Twitter people I admire and learnt from this year (trust me I have zillions!):

Kerri Sackville - https://twitter.com/#!/KerriSackville

NZJayZee - https://twitter.com/#!/nzJayZee

Pam Moore - https://twitter.com/#!/PamMktgNut

Servant of Chaos - https://twitter.com/#!/servantofchaos

JoJoebi Designs - https://twitter.com/#!/jojoebi

13. and lucky last - my best two free eBook providers (just need to give some details and download)

BuddyMedia - whitepapers - http://buddymedia.com/resources/white-papers

Hubspot - whitepapers and eBooks - http://www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-whitepapers/

14. Bonus! Here's a free eBook library - focusing on marketing - http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/products_ebooks.htm

15. And if any of you are looking for blogs/bloggers  - (or just to learn and connect) here's The Best Australian Blogs 2011 winners (and others) a competition run by the Sydney Writer's Centre http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/enter.html

Social Status will be open over the holiday season, so if you need anything (training, tips or advice), give me a call, Tweet, email, comment on Facebook or even arrange to meet me for a coffee (gasp!)

Wishing you all a very happy holiday and for those of you finishing work this week - a wonderful new year!

5 social media resources on tools and advice

Chris Brogan said ” There are lots of people throwing “social media expert” out there. Hell, I had it as part of my “about” on my blog, but I’ve chosen to just say that I advise people. It’s more accurate, because expertise is fairly darned fleeting out there right now.”

Here are 5 resources I have come across, with advice, tools, suggestions and tips - to help you with your social media.

1. 12 Best Social Media Tools You Should Be Using  - try out some of these tools - John Paul advises that you "Find a few you like and work for you and learn to use that tool perfectly to get the best results."

2. Want to be successful on social media? - Listen to your mother - all the advice given to Michelle Shaeffer and how she  believes it applies to social media.

3. Passion and honesty in your writing will help you build a relationship with your community - so radian6 encourages you to Write passion into your social media content 

 4.  Social Rabbit believes that owning a dog and using social media have more in common than you may have realised - 6 things dogs and social media have in common 

5. Is your business ready for social media next year? - here are some templates from business.gov.au to help you plan and give your business direction.