The following post comes from our Inbound Marketing Channel sponsor HubSpot.

The FBI recently posted a Request for Information (RFI) for a “social media application.” But, it was really a request for a social media monitoring application. Why? Because the FBI recognizes what many inbound marketers already know and many others are discovering: There’s gold in them thar social media data.

You can use the same social media monitoring attributes the FBI wants to use to catch bad guys to generate and nurture leads, identify hot spots (good and bad), and close more deals.

We all want more clicks. We all want a magic formula to get clicks. We also all know (at least those who are firmly planted in reality) that there is no such beast.

There is, however, research that is being done all the time to help give some guidance regarding how to best navigate the emerging social media marketing landscape. One person who does a lot of this research, especially around Twitter, is HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella. His latest look into the world of Twitter and how you might be able to optimize your efforts on the social network looks at some of the variables that go into generating more clicks on Twitter.

Take a look at this infographic that examines insights gleaned from Zarrella’s research. Have you found similar experiences in using Twitter? Do you have your own “secret sauce”? Care to share?

In life timing is everything. That’s why there are so many people that say, “Hey! That was my idea!” when something gets popular. There are plenty of thoughts out in the marketplace, especially in the world of social media and more than half the battle is having your thoughts heard over the others. With all of the noise in the social media space it becomes a game of figuring out exactly when the best time is to say what you have to say.

HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella has studied this. This comes as no surprise considering his moniker as the “Social Media Scientist”. What he found is something he calls “Contra Competitive Timing”. Zarrella likens this phenomenon to being at a party.

I think we are starting to head into a very good direction with regard to social media and its impact on business. We are moving away from the irrational exuberance (read: overselling) of its impact by those in the Valley toward a more realistic perspective of just what impact social media can have on brands. That is healthy since it is best to find where the balance lies in almost every situation in order to find a strong and likely more lasting solution.

A study from AYTM Market Research (I don’t know who they are either) and reported by eMarketergives some insight into just how important social media can be regarding brands. The first chart talks about Facebook.

If there was ever a group of people that are coming up through the ranks that have been more mystery around how they should be defined its Generation Y. We have early Boomers, late Boomers, Generation X and now Generation Y. They are different for sure and a recent study conducted by Millenial Branding and Identified.com takes a look at this mysterious group that will be imposing its considerable will and weight on everything we do for quite some time to come whether we like it or not. Click through for an infographic summarizing the results.

Some of the major findings include:

80% of Gen-Y list at least one school entry on their Facebook profiles, while only 36% list a job entry. They define themselves by their colleges instead of their workplaces.

I saw this ad for the first time today while I was doing something I NEVER do which is watch Face the Nation (I am usually at church but am under the weather in case you care).

All I could think about is how Google’s ecosystem is truly built to help businesses from soup to nuts. Even with Google+ being a question mark (and a big one at that), it’s hard to see a business thinking that Facebook can do more for their business than Google.

Is it an either/or or a both/and situation in the Google vs. Facebook business war? What’s your opinion?

Marketing executives and those that they badger for information still today often walk away frustrated from the problem of accurate and actionable measurement of campaigns of all sorts. Marketers used to be able to hide behind vague metrics like eyeballs and overall demographics of whatever medium they were using. The imperfections of the measurements were accepted and everyone just went along their merry way because you have to advertise to do business, right?

Then along comes the Internet and promises of hard numbers to help marketers make better and more targeted efforts that can be measured down to the nth degree. They can be measured but many are finding even those measurements fall short. eMarketer reports on a study conducted by Ifbyphone and their “State of Marketing Measurement Report” shows that marketers still feel many offline options are more measurable than online.