LinkedIn is unto something. While company pages have been around for over 2 years, a few months ago LinkedIn started allowing us to “follow” companies and edit those we work for – wiki style. These enhancements, plus the addition of the news feed, made it clear that LinkedIn was starting to go beyond networking and recruiting.

Today, LinkedIn launched a new feature for its company pages (also known as “inPages”) that enables companies to showcase products and services. These products can be recommended and reviewed through a new Like-ish “Recommend” button. Users can also share to their feed, Twitter, etc.  If this becomes widely used, it will be quite valuable for companies seeking feedback and word of mouth, and more importantly, to users who are increasingly skeptical of advertising.

40 companies already have one of these enhanced LinkedIn pages and I’m glad to confirm that Samsung is one of them. You can see the enhanced Samsung Electronics global page we’ve updated with the new features, as well as the newly created Samsung Electronics America.

LinkedIn has unique challenges that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube don’t have in terms of company profiles: Company pages on LinkedIn may have thousands of users that identify themselves with that company so any changes, mistakes, or incorrect information could be problematic. Of course, this is just the Social Media Manager in me talking because this is also a big advantage for LinkedIn. Why? Because LinkedIn users are real people displaying their real information and making real recommendations about real products. With 80 million users with carefully selected networks, it is likely that LinkedIn will provide more opportunities for companies and users to engage in ways that would not be possible elsewhere. (more…)

Marcia Conner is a partner at Altimeter Group and the co-author of “The New Social Learning.” She blogs at http://learnativity.com/ and tweets as @marciamarcia.

The book is a good read for anyone interested in learning more about how companies can leverage social technologies and tools to become, well, better companies. I asked Marcia a few questions to go deeper into some of the topics on the book, and here’s what she kindly had to say.

1. If social learning is truly a competitive advantage, how can companies that are late to the game differentiate and compete?

The competitive advantage doesn’t come from the technologies themselves associated with social learning. It comes from the expertise and perspective your people have today that’s often never shared with anyone or put to use in the organization. Social media tools can provide venues for people to connect in ways they hadn’t before, differentiating an organization by the quality and brainpower of their people who now can build new approaches together that they couldn’t before.

2. In today’s culture of sharing, does it make sense for companies to publicly display real-time information about how they are performing and how consumers are talking about them on the social web?

Customer perception — heck, even employee perspective— has been posted on bulletin boards and user group meetings for years. If you don’t believe that, google your company then read 10 or even 20 pages into the search results to see all of the places where you’re talked about now. The trouble with many of those venues is that they are only from a narrow slice of your customers, often without additional insights from people within your organization who have additional information. By engaging with those people in those spaces… or better yet, creating venues for a healthy conversation about what you are doing right and what you need to improve upon, you are far more likely to learn from people’s experiences and correct misperceptions and give people with alternative (and possible more favorable) views a chance to weigh in too.

3. What is needed to inspire and create change at companies with an “anti-social” culture? (more…)

I have a few problems with “Personal Branding.” I’ve read a lot about the topic and the recommendations provided are all pretty good. Things like  creating a blog, signing up to services all over the web, tweeting, podcasting,  commenting, getting a yourname.com, checking-in, speaking at conferences, creating content, connecting on LinkedIn, name dropping, making fun of MySpace, etc.

I’ve done most of these things myself and they’ve all been helpful. I wouldn’t be a Social Media Manager if I hadn’t tried all of these. More importantly, doing them has been a fun and rewarding learning experience.

Still, I don’t like that ”personal branding” is sometimes sold as a roadmap to success. It’s sold as a way to make money and become a micro-celebrity. Celebrities are often associated with “personal branding,” as if the average person could ever be Oprah. I’m sorry but Oprah doesn’t need Twitter to be Oprah and if she wrote a book about success, I doubt she would start with “How To Tweet Your Way to Success.” The fact is Oprah happens to be a nice likeable lady that worked like crazy for many many years.

Another thing I don’t like when I read about “personal branding” is that they often fail to mention that actual branding at companies includes a heck of a lot more than just doing social media marketing. Sure, anyone can grab a marketing book and say “see, you can do all of these things, starting with the 4 P’s.” Again, just like with Oprah, McDonald’s did not become McDonald’s over night.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have huge respect for anyone that has ever written about the topic and I know their intentions are probably good (I myself try to share what I’ve learned about and in social media and would love to be able to even start writing a book some day).

My really big problem with “personal branding” is… the term itself. People don’t need to be more like brands. Brands need to be more like people. (more…)

The Samsung Galaxy Tab was unveiled today at IFA in Berlin. As Samsung USA‘s Social Media Manager, I’m a bit biased about all things Samsung (and Android in general), but I’ve seen the Galaxy Tab myself and it is truly an impressive device. I’ll keep sharing my thoughts on Twitter @SamsungEsteban & @SocialNerdia, but here are links to initial reactions from around the web so you read some previews/reviews and watch some videos/photos.

Engadget: Samsung Galaxy Tab Preview
Engadget: Live from Samsung IFA 2010 press event
Android Central: Samsung Galaxy Tab photo gallery
Android Central: Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab 7-inch Android tablet
Android Central: Samsung Galaxy Tab Hands-On [Video]
CNET: Samsung Galaxy Tab Photos
CNET: Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet goes official
CNET: Samsung: Galaxy Tab has leg up on Apple iPad
Gizmodo: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Runs Froyo, Has Flash and Measures 7-Inches
Into Mobile: Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Tab Android – 7 inches of Android tablet goodness
Mashable: Samsung Officially Unveils Galaxy Tab
Mobile Burn Samsung launches new Galaxy Tab Android 2.2 tablet
Mobiel Review Samsung Galaxy TAB. First Look
PC Mag: Samsung Introduces Galaxy Tab
PC World: Samsung Galaxy Tab Makes Its Intriguing Debut
Phone Arena: Samsung Galaxy Tab Preview
Samsung Hub (unofficial): Galaxy Tab gets official
TechIt: Fringing has just become more awesome on Galaxy Tab
The Droid Guy: Samsung Galaxy Tab officially exposed to select members of the US Android/Mobile Media
The Next Web: Samsung Galaxy Tab goes official, gets mid-September european release
Twice: Samsung Galaxy Tab Targets iPad

Stay tuned to @SamsungTweets and facebook.com/samsungusa for the latest news about the Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

Disclaimer: While I am employed by Samsung, the views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Samsung.

Sarah Austin was one of the first live streaming, life-casters popularized on Justin.TV and she is the founder of Pop17, “a collaborative blogging platform and web show that covers and tracks emerging web trends and tells the stories behind what’s going in social media.”

Sarah and I have a SXSWi 2011 Panel Proposal with Brandon Prebynski, Joel Cheesman, Christopher Kahle and Ryan Paugh. We’d really appreciate your votes and comments at http://bit.ly/howtogetajob by August 27th, 2010.

Listen to this entire 38th episode of “The Social Nerdia Show!” with Sarah Austin on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe on iTunes, stream from your phone on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming shows LIVE on blogtalkradio. Some show highlights and quotes are below. Enjoy!

Brands on Social Media

 ”When brands become a part of the community, it really feels like the brand is like your friend. You really love them, like you would a real person. In social media, they take on attributes of people because there are personalitieis behind the brand making tweets, answering questions, customer service, and establishing relationships with people, connecting with people on their interests, and offering something back to the community.” (more…)

Brandon Prebynski is an Emerging / Social Media Strategist at FKQ Advertising and Marketing and the host of a live USTREAM show called Web Trends. Brandon is one of the first people I “met” on Twitter; you can follow him @Prebynski.

Brandon and I have a panel proposal with Sarah Austin, Joel Cheesman, Christopher Kahle and Ryan Paugh for SXSW 2011 so please vote for us at http://bit.ly/howtogetajob before August 27th, 2010!

Listen to this entire episode of “The Social Nerdia Show!” with Brandon Prebynski on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe on iTunes, stream from your phone on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming shows LIVE on blogtalkradio.

Brandon recently joined FKQ so I asked him about his new role as a strategist. “It’s been great because within a set of guidelines I’ve been able to shape what the position is,” Brandon told me. He is helping clients create long-term strategies around marketing, customer service and product development.

He’s also been working on tracking, analysis and metrics. “We have this big myth out there that it’s really difficult to measure social media and there are many who say you can’t measure the results especially when it comes back to revenue, and that you can only look at trends over time, but frankly with the correct tools implemented correctly, you can sometimes measure it directly.” (more…)