Sure, there are other blogging platforms and content management systems you can use on your own domain, but none are quite as popular or powerful as WordPress. The following are resources for starting your own blog on WordPress including choosing a domain name, purchasing your domain, hosting, WordPress installation, themes, plugins, settings, essential pages, backups, updates, and more! Network Solutions – Domains are cheap (or even free) but only if you get a one year annual hosting agreement along with them. Hosting Your Domain. DomainsBot. MORE >>

Since most social media programs are not tied to existing systems in support, marketing, and product innovation, it’s very difficult to collect the disparate data and make sense of it Framework: Social Media Measurement Compass A Framework for Social Analytics View more documents from Susan Etlinger In particular, I’m fond of how the report lays out a measurement strategy based on organizational model and maturity, there are different strategies to deploy depending on the internal structure. Why are social analytics so important? The compass idea illustrates this clearly. MORE >>

Collectual these folks own social media budgets: LIST [link] in reply to spicedawg56 1 week ago « Community Platform Pricing for New Clients Scorecard: Should Startups Have Community Managers? Couple your email newsletter content with additional website content on a blog for improved commenting. Try out a short series of audio podcasts or video podcasts as content marketing and see how they draw. Practice delivering quality content on your blogs, such that customers feel educated / equipped / informed. Turn your blog into a mobile blog site with Mofuse. MORE >>

This becomes invaluable if you ever want to switch to a more robust content management system like WordPress or Drupal, or if you ever wanted to sell your website.  After purchasing your domain, go to My Account , then click on Domain Manager. Total DNS Control Section Edit the points to IP address for the A (host) Record and set this to the following IP: 67.207.139.81 A (Host) Record Option Editing the A (Host) Record IP Address Log in to your Posterous site and go to the settings page. Its not very difficult to set up, either.  Questions? MORE >>

Despite the explosion of innovation, expect a Social Business Suite to appear that consolidate many of these features for enterprise buyers] Categorization is crucial in managing this rapidly evolving space It’s very difficult to completely segment this space as many of the vendors cross into multiple categories so I’ve separated it into major function groups. Yet don’t discount other systems, as when you look closely, Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL are also social networks, and will continue to innovate as well as aggregate. Social Media Management Systems. MORE >>