Social Media News For The Week Of 7/19/13

Twitter Leads Fortune 500 Social Media Surge

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research has released the results of their study of social media use by Fortune 500 companies. The research found Twitter usage among the 500 has surged by over 70 percent since 2012, with 77 percent having an active Twitter account. Facebook use is up 4 percent to 70 percent usage, or 348 companies. Corporate blogs are on the rise with 171 companies, or 34 percent, actively blogging. Full Story Here:

 

In Business, Everybody Uses Social Media For Work; The Question Is How

Business use of social media is goal-oriented, according to Forrester’s B2B Social Technographics study of social media use. The research found that business decision-makers prefer LinkedIn for business purposes over Facebook. 48 percent use LinkedIn for both business and personal purposes, and 26 percent for strictly business. 42 percent use Facebook for primarily personal reasons and 37 percent for both business and personal usage. Full Story Here:

 

Social Media Automation: A Beginners Guide for Small Business Owners

Small business owners are confused about social media marketing. They see large companies successfully leveraging the medium and they wonder why it doesn’t measure up to their expectations. Social media marketing success cannot be measured in raw numbers, such as new leads for the month, in the small business environment. However, ignoring social is not the answer either for small companies. This article provides good advice about how to automate social media marketing without seeming “spammy”. Full Story Here:

 

It’s time for social media to grow up

Having a clearly established social media strategy for business is much more than having set up accounts on social networks, planned content for six months, and engaged with your audience. A social media strategy should have a sense of what the purposes are for the efforts and how they fit into the goals of the company as a whole. Full Story Here: 

 

 

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LinkedIn Changes Update

Change seems to be one constant feature on social networks. Sometimes the change can just be a small tweak to the look and feel of a site or maybe a few new welcome features. Or they can be in the form of a major makeover, as in the case of the changes that have been rolled out on LinkedIn recently. The site looks completely different, with a much greater emphasis on visual content. This is in keeping with the trend across other social networks as well.

Included in all the changes is an updated Privacy Policy and User Agreement, the addition of a tagging capability for users, easier navigation, and the appearance of sponsored content. LinkedIn has also eliminated the Answers section, a popular feature, but only with a small minority of users.

 

Profile Multimedia Gallery

LinkedIn has replaced Apps with an easy to use gallery for the sharing of images and videos in the profile page. The profile will also support PowerPoint presentations, pdf, and mp3 files.

 

Sponsored Content

In keeping with developments at other social networks designed to increase revenue, LinkedIn is now presenting sponsored content to its users.  Agreeing to receive such promoted posts is part of the new network Privacy Policy and User Agreement.

 

New Site Navigation Tool Bar

An important component of its updated look is the new tool bar for users. Site navigation is grouped together in the easy to use bar and all new messages, notifications, connections, or comments are clustered together on the bar as well.

 

Tags

Reflecting popular practice on other social sites is the new tagging capability. LinkedIn users can now tag either individuals or organizations in their status updates. Whoever users tag in a post is then notified in an email notification.

These new changes to LinkedIn come about as a result of the network’s efforts to grow and prosper alongside their social media competitors. The competition among social networks is helping to drive an enriched user experience for all.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

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Ask Questions

Are you missing an important opportunity to listen to your followers and gain valuable insights?

Reaching your business goals is very likely dependent on a thorough understanding of your customers and prospects. Why not simply ask them for their input? You can easily use your social media presence as tool to gain an understanding of your customers’ needs and experiences. Asking questions will encourage this important resource to get involved and give you the reliable feedback to act on.

Get started today with a 30 day free trial at OnFast.com.

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Keep it simple

Write as you speak and your blog post will come alive. Here are a few suggestions that you may find helpful.

First and foremost, keep it simple.  You don’t need 3-4 syllable words to get your point across.  Structure your blog post so that it is easy to grasp. Use bullet points and sub-titles where appropriate. Try to offset your text and make it pleasing to the eye. Don’t go long.  To hold your readers interest keep your posts short, easy to understand, factual and to the point. If you are offering directions organize them into simple steps and number them. Lastly, and most important, include a picture.

Taking the time to make your post simple will win you friends, readers and repeat guests. Remember the old axiom: “Less is more.”

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

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Political and religious posts could backfire on you

Having an opinion is fine, but expressing views that might be contentious, will be considered radical or insulting to some of your business’s audience.  This is especially true if your posts insinuate that people that don’t share your beliefs are wrong.  Controversial posts are not a good idea when your intent is to promote your business.

Ask yourself this question: Do I want to risk alienating a large number of followers and potential customers if they don’t agree with me?  Probably not.

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Blast Messaging

Most people tend to check their social networks at the same time every day.  For that reason, the majority of their messaging goes out at the same time too.  Followers don’t want to see their timelines spammed with message after message from the same source! What’s important to you at the moment may not be of interest to your reader. A more methodical thought out approach to social media and blog posts will produce better results

You should space your messages out for maximum impact.  It’s far better to post messages at intervals throughout the week than it is to post one after the other at the same time.  Blast messaging is not effective.

One important feature of OnFast.com allows business posts to be scheduled in advance. Visit OnFast.com for a free 30-day trial and try this feature for yourself.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

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Social Media News For The Week Of 6/28/13

Social Media Tips: How to Manage Your Facebook Business Page in Eleven Minutes a Day

Time is money when you are running a business and trying to fit social media into your schedule can be a challenge. However, effectively leveraging Facebook for your social media marketing efforts does not have to be time consuming. This article provides an excellent plan for accomplishing your goals without taking too much of your valuable time. Full Story Here:


How Social Media Has Helped My Business

How social media marketing impacts a business can be sometimes hard to measure. Many times the positive effects go unnoticed, unless you ask your customers. Businesses with a social media presence, who take the time to ask their new customers how they heard of the company, many times will find out that it was through social networks. Provide quality content which is relevant to the lives of your audience and customers will continue to be driven to your company. Full Story Here:


Midsize Business More Mobile and Social

Small and mid-sized businesses are becoming increasingly embracing social media and mobile technology, according to a new survey by Cbeyond Inc. The cloud and communications services provider released the results of its Summer 2013 Cbeyond Business Leader Snapshot, finding that nearly 60 percent of growing companies plan to increase their tech budgets over the course of this year. Firms are finding that mobile social business are effective tools in attaining their goals for growth. Full Story Here:


The Rise of Social TV: How Social Media Is Amplifying TV Advertising

People love use social media while watching TV, according to research by Business Insider. 62 percent of audiences are simultaneously watching TV while on their social networks. A significant amount of them, at 25 percent, are talking on social sites about what they are seeing. Recognizing this growing trend; marketers, in what is being called Social TV, are trying to figure out how to best capitalize on this phenomenon. Full Story Here:

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