Sunday, 31 August 2014

Top 10 Twitter Stories Of The Week



Need a little weekend reading?
We’ve compiled our top ten Twitter stories of the week, which includes news that 83 percent of Fortune 500 companies now use Twitter, a look at the top metric on Twitter Analytics (now open to all), a study which suggests that Snapchat is becoming more popular than Twitter with young people, a Twitter cheat sheet and why Twitter say they are “happy” for users not to tweet.
Here are our top 10 Twitter stories of the week.
Twitter has always been popular amongst America’s largest corporations, and a new study has revealed that 83 percent of the Fortune 500 are now active on the platform, an increase of 6 percent from last year.
Twitter revamped its new analytics dashboard back in early July but the update, useful as it was, was only available for Twitter advertisers and those with verified accounts. Good news: yesterday, analytics.twitter.com opened its doors to everyone, which means you can finally see just how well (or poorly) your tweets are doing.
Remember when everyone thought Snapchat was just a novelty app? Something trivial, used by kids? How we all rolled our eyes when Snapchat had the audacity to turn down a $3 billion buyout from Facebook? And do you also remember, earlier this month, when we told you that Snapchat is now more popular than Twitter amongst 18-34 year-olds? Well, a new study has revealed that 70 percent of U.S. college students now post to Snapchat daily, compared to just 11 percent who do the same on Facebook.
Here’s a quick question: what colour is Twitter blue? That is, what’s the hexadecimal code that Twitter uses for their colour scheme?
Around 40 percent of all registered Twitter users do not tweet, and approximately 2-3 times its 271 million active users – somewhere between 540 to 710 million people – view Twitter content across the web but do not login. That might be a problem for some companies. But Adam Bain, president of global revenue and partnerships at Twitter and considered by many as CEO Dick Costolo’s second in command, is fine with that.
Earlier this month Twitter revamped its advertising interface to make it a lot easier for marketers to setup and launch their campaigns. In particular the new system is a big improvement for newcomers to Twitter ads, with clear campaign objectives and step-by-step instructions outlining what’s possible on the platform.
Technology is a growing part of the classroom, with tablets and smart TVs quickly integrating themselves into the curriculum. But fast-paced change – and the fact that students are often miles ahead of both teachers and parents when it comes to the latest apps and social networks – can intimidate even the most tech-savvy teacher. Here’s a quick-start guide for teachers who are looking to incorporate Twitter into their classroom as a learning tool, without getting lost in the millions of tweets sent every day.
Are you considering using video in your social media campaigns? That could turn out to be a very smart play. Video can generate three times as many monthly visitors to a website, and users spend up to 88 percent more time on sites that include video.
The U.S. federal government has spent almost $1 million in the creation of an online database that has been designed to “detect political smears, astroturfing, misinformation, and other social pollution” on Twitter.
Rumours about shopping functionality coming to Twitter have been circulating for quite some time now. In July a “buy now” button was seen in the wild by some users of Twitter’s mobile app, and earlier this month a payment and shipping option appeared on the Twitter Android app for a select few. Now, things are really heating up, as reports suggest that Twitter is having serious talks with payments startup Stripe about implementing e-commerce features on the platform, which could launch later this year.
Did you know we have a newsletter? Sign-up to receive a daily digest of all things Twitter, sent straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up for the AllTwitter Newsletter.
(Twitter image via Shutterstock.)

How To Use Linkedin Effectively

Why Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing has two main functions; connecting with users and generating links. Social Media Websites allow users to promote and share content in ways that just weren't feasible before the Internet. Understanding these technologies and figuring out how to best utilize these services for your brand can take you far with customers online.
Social Media Marketing should not be used solely to gain traffic to a Website. Instead, Social Media Marketing should be used to network with your audience and to build relationships with potential customers. Use Social Media Websites correctly, and you will have the chance to build name recognition, increase the reach and awareness of your brand, and connect with a large audience.
Search Engines reward Websites that have quality links pointing to them. When a user saves a link from your Website to a Social Media service, search engines take note. When users deem your Website valuable, search engines will too.

Social Media Marketing in 3 minutes

Buy FB Likes to Launch the Social Media Campaign of Your Brand

Social media has changed the very dimensions of socializing. Facebook in particular, has even removed geographical and political boundaries that hinder socializing. This is one of the many reasons people decide to buy fb likes. While it might not seem necessary, there are people who are very conscious about the way their posts are received by their friends on Facebook. There are some who go another level ahead and buy 500 Facebook page likes. If not anything, this shows that these people care for the way they are received in the social networking site.
While Facebook was essentially meant to connect different users with one another, the real cherry was picked up by the businesses. Business organizations, whether small or large saw in Facebook the opportunity to reach out to their audience in a large way. There are several people who are now using Facebook as the sole means to connect with their favorite brands. These brands on the contrary are using the same medium to get back to their patrons. While the heavy weight brands enjoy thousands of likes from their patrons, it is always great for small and mid-size businesses to start with some. Here are some compelling reasons to buy fb likes.
Impact of Facebook pages
Almost everyone that has a profile on the social network would know the relevance of user likes on Facebook. Facebook pages that have a mammoth number of likes and even larger number of people following the posts reflect the very images of the brands that they are hosting. While this can get tough at times, there are several things that can be done to start to start with some significant amount of likes in the page. This has made a great impact of the Facebook pages for brands on the general public.

Facebook for brands
There are several brands that have rolled out a significant part of their advertisement budgets in favor of Facebook marketing. While there are several many business houses that have done so, not all can be said to have been at the best of their capabilities. While some of these houses try the tested way of social media promotion, there are others that choose the simple way and buy 500 Facebook page likes. This makes a great way to start off the social media campaign and slowly the number of likes on the page also keeps increasing.
Advantage of having higher likes
Facebook is one of those places where the greater publicity people garner for themselves, the better is the productivity that they can gain from the brand. This often makes the brand more and more sensitive towards the people that they are targeting. At the same time, this also allows people to have a different look towards the brand. On the who, this is something that makes a great launch pad for the brand from where it can go whichever place it likes. Needless to mention, it all starts when brands buy fb likes for themselves. Besides, these likes can be generated at a very low price with the aid of a good agency.
Article Source 

Saturday, 30 August 2014

Five Tips Friday: Tracking Social Media Leads

On Wednesday we mentioned in passing one way to track leads from social media marketing. Today we thought we would expand on that little note and talk about 5 ways you can track social media leads.
1. Include a unique phone number in your social media profiles
It is common (and logical) to include your basic contact information in your social media profiles, including your standard 800 and/or local number. An alternative to help track social media leads would be to create a special phone number that would only be included on social media platforms. While the system will not be 100% perfect, any phonecalls to that special number could be tracked as leads from social media marketing. The essential part of this idea is to make sure that the person who answers the phone is able to track the phonecall in a system like salesforce so the lead can be recorded and nurtured.
2. Use Twitter lists and G+ circles to help track potential customers
Based on your knowledge of the industry and the types of interactions you have with people on Twitter and G+, you can create lists or circles so that you can make sure you track their interaction with your brand and nurture any potential leads. It is important to remember that people can see the names of lists they are added to on Twitter, so you don’t want to call your list something like, “People I need to call.” Create a system so that you know what different lists represent even though the names won’t necessarily associate with that purpose. You will still want to support this kind of system with Salesforce or something comparable so you can record important interactions. Eventually you will want to move your relationship with the people on this list to one-on-one communications.
Related Resources from B2C

3. Keep track of people who interact with your brand on multiple social media platforms
A “like” or a follower is not necessarily a reason to celebrate. However, it can be useful to keep track of people who are interacting with your brand on multiple platforms, and social media makes this extremely easy to do. If you notice that someone is commenting on your blog, “liking” your Facebook posts, and following you on Pinterest or Instagram, it may be worthwhile to send them a special customized email expressing appreciation for all of their support. From that point you can see if they simply like your content or if they might be genuinely interested in the products you’re selling.
4. Invite your social media network to join your e-newsletter list
Make sure that your website has an easily accessible area where people can subscribe to your e-newsletter list (assuming you have a regularly scheduled e-newsletter that you can send). While these leads cannot necessarily be attributed directly to social media, if your e-newsletter database continues to grow you know you are probably contributing to that increase through your social media efforts. If you use this tactic, make sure your e-newsletter offers content that differs from what you post online so that no one feels inclined to opt out of one or the other.
5. Customized Landing Pages
Finally, we’ll suggest one of our favorite methods for tracking leads – the customized landing page. All social media platforms allow you to enter a URL in your profiles. The most common thing companies do is enter their homepage – xyz.com. Instead, use this valuable space to drive traffic to a customized landing page where leads can be captured via a sample request form or an RFQ form. The special landing page will only be accessible from your social media platforms, so be sure to measure traffic to the page consistently. This is the best way not just to track leads but also to qualify them.
How do you track your leads from social media? We’d love to hear from you!
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/6411362281 via Creative Commons


Read more at http://www.business2community.com/social-media/five-tips-friday-tracking-social-media-leads-0982749#BZ1rsDtFBgz6WIBC.99

Friday, 29 August 2014

Real-World Education for Modern Marketers

Marketers' Perceptions of Real-Time Marketing [Infographic]

Some 88% of marketers say real-time marketing is important to 2014, according to a recent survey by Evergage.
The company surveyed 100+ marketers across 18 countries to find out what they think about real-time marketing in 2014.
One finding is that "on average, marketers are using real-time marketing across two of eight different channel," according to Evergage's infographic based on the survey.
Some 48% of respondent use real-time marketing on social channels and 45% use it on their website.
Marketers say real-time marketing helps...
  • Increase customer engagement (81%)
  • Improve customer experience (73%)
  • Increase conversation rates (59%)




Thursday, 28 August 2014

Building Your Action Plan for Social Media Marketing

7 Marketing Lessons From The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge demonstrates the power of social media to influence cause marketing on a national scale. The Challenge was a perfect storm of social media, celebrity and grass-roots philanthropy, producing hurricane-strength viral social engagement during the dog days of summer.
Unlike a hurricane, the Challenge showed how social media can be harnessed, directed and managed for a social good. According toFacebook, between June 1 and August 17, over 28 million people have joined the conversation about the Ice Bucket Challenge including posting, commenting or liking a challenge post and 2.4 million videos related to the ice bucket challenge have been shared on the social network.
Even if we don’t see another social storm like this again, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge holds several important lessons for marketers trying to reverse engineer the secret of the ALS campaign’s remarkable success.
Source: AP Photo/Elise Amendola
#1 Time It Right
The Challenge got underway in June and peaked in August. Its timing was perfect and it was a feel-good counterpoint to the images of violence in the Middle East and in Ferguson, Missouri that have dominated the nightly news cycle.
Summer is a popular time for vacations and many are able to enjoy a more relaxed work schedule. School is out and extended hours of sunlight allowed people to participate in the Challenge and video their super soaking after work. Plus, the nature of the Challenge matched the timing; an Ice Bucket Challenge would not have been as well received in winter. Anyone want pneumonia?
#2 Make It Personal
The idea of pouring ice-cold water on your head to raise awareness for a charity didn’t start out as an ALS dedicated awareness campaign. Yet, former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, who has ALS, made it personal, leveraging his social network and a dedicated team of friends and family to spread the word.
#3 Mix In A Few Celebrities 
The promotion became viral after a few local celebrities and sport figures took up the challenge. Their huge following allowed the Challenge to explode out of Boston and expand nationally, organically, attracting an eclectic mix of A-list celebrities and famous faces who have risen to the Challenge.
And having some guy named Gates involved doesn’t hurt, either.



#4 KISS
Keep It Simple Stupid, or KISS, is the well-worn design principle stating that simple designs often perform better than complex ones. In the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the rules are simple. Accept the challenge and get drenched in ice water or donate to ALS. The challenger picks who gets challenged next. The three and four word hashtags (#IceBucketChallenge #ALSIceBucketChallenge) made it easy to remember and share.
#5 Consider Street Credibility

It was the “bet you won’t do that” schoolyard tease that added a playful touch of social stigma and self-consciousness to the cause marketing campaign. Who could possibly turn it down? Now that the Challenge has gained national exposure, it’s a point of pride and social standing to be challenged, adding to its widespread appeal.
#6 Focus on the Goal 
Although there has been some criticism about the tendency for a viral cause marketing campaign like this to encourage self-promotion and “slacktivism”, the charity is the ultimate beneficiary.  The ALS Association has attracted hundreds of thousands of new and potential donors, receiving $41.8 million in donations from July 29 until August 21, compared to $2.1 million during the same period last year. With global awareness and a sizable war chest fueled by a flood of new donations, the Association is able to move one step closer to a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease.
#7 Reputation Matters
If your business or charity is planning the next viral marketing campaign, your brand’s reputation will be the key to a successful campaign. The management team needs to be able to handle days or weeks of intense local and national media exposure. Businesses can protect their brand and take advantage of the spotlight with a proactive public relations strategy and a well-defined communications plan that precedes launching any marketing campaign.
Even if you are not able to replicate the next ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, “a shared commitment to charity and community, extending from the board room to the mailroom, can have a powerful positive impact on company reputation inside and outside the company,” explains Todd William, founder and CEO of Reputation Rhino, an online reputation management and marketing consultancy in New York City.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is/was just a once-in-a-lifetime event, right? Under the right conditions, the perfect social media storm can be duplicated. There are many actionable lessons for marketing professionals looking to create the next social media sensation.

6 Backstage Social Media Platforms Every Marketer Should Be Using

By now, most marketers understand the importance of social media marketing; not only is it an inexpensive way to build a following and promote your brand’s content, but participation in social media could also become a major factor in the ranking algorithm for search engines like Google. If you’re like most marketers, you’ve focused on the “big three”: Facebook for the biggest audience, Twitter for the fastest updates and public profiles, and LinkedIn for the B2B business professionals.
In addition to the big three, there are a number of other social platforms that have gotten attention: YouTube is the biggest and most popular platform for any video-based marketing, and Google+ is used often because—let’s face it—it’s a Google product, and they reward its users with better rankings according to correlation studies by Moz and SearchMetrics. But there are countless platforms beyond the most popular options, with hundreds of millions of users between them, that most marketers aren’t taking advantage of yet.
Let’s take a look at some of the powerful social media platforms you can use for your brand beyond the major players:
 1.Pinterest. As I wrote in The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014, the popularity of image-based platforms is on the rise, and Pinterest is one of the best and most popular image-based platforms around. Pinterest’s format allows viral content to spread quickly, since its share feature “re-pinning” encourages fast travel from user to user, and there are no signs of the social powerhouse’s momentum slowing down anytime soon.
If your business has products that can be shown off with well-taken photos, Pinterest is perfect for you. Create boards revolving around your main product categories and promote your material in new, creative, or artistic ways. You can also create infographics or share pictures of your company if you don’t have tangible products in your business model. No matter what you do, keep your brand voice consistent andwork Pinterest into a rhythm with your other social media profiles by cross-posting your images. The more consistent you are and the more visually appealing your images are, the better you’ll fare.
2. Instagram. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms around, with 200 million active users and an average of 60 million photos shared every day. Since Instagram is mostly populated with individual users sharing photos with their close friends and family, marketers have overlooked it as a viable social media option. However, the sheer number of users alone makes it worth exploring.
Create an Instagram account for your business and connect it to your company’s Facebook and/or Twitter account. Instead of using the Pinterest strategy of showcasing highlights of your products and services, use Instagram to demonstrate the personal side of your brand. Take pictures of your office and coworkers, and of any events you are attending. Use hashtags wherever it’s appropriate (just don’t overdo it) and engage with other users on a regular basis by commenting on their photos and responding to their comments on yours.
3. Tumblr. With over 130 million blogs, Tumblr is a blogging powerhouse, yet it’s still overlooked by most marketers. Tumblr used to be a semi-underground refuge for teens and young adults looking for a new way to express themselves, but since Yahoo purchased the platform for $1.1 billion in 2003, its “hotness” factor has started to wane.
That doesn’t mean it’s no longer useful. Think of Tumblr as a social version of a traditional blog. It’s a new outlet for you to publish and distribute your content, and since other users can connect to your blog with ease, it’s easier to build long-term connections. The best way to use Tumblr is as a niche division of your brand—for example, Target uses Tumblr to advertise and promote different fashions associated with the brand. Tumblr users do tend to prefer images and videos over written content, but it’s a good idea to use both if you want to attract the largest possible audience.
4. Sulia. Sulia is a relatively new platform that’s attempting to segment and filter the endless stream of content that social media users tolerate. Twitter feeds and Facebook feeds in particular tend to be filled with unnecessary updates and pooled results, forcing users to embark on a hunt to find the content that’s relevant to them. Twitter lists attempt to control this by allowing users to segment who they follow, but Sulia is an entire platform dedicated to a more refined experience.
Sulia is a content platform like a communal blog, but it allows users to categorize their content and search based on user-tailored “suggested posts” and posts that are trending within the community. With Sulia, you can write to a focused section of your audience and build a more relevant readership. You might get fewer readers with Sulia compared to a mainstream publisher, but the types of readers you get will be more relevant for your brand and therefore, will be more likely to convert.
5. Bubblews. If nothing else, Bubblews is a great business idea. Instead of posting all its own content or relying on its users to generate free content it can leverage, Bubblews shares all its ad revenue with its contributors. Right now, there aren’t that many people using Bubblews, so the revenue being shared is miniscule and the readership is limited. However, as it grows, there is a key opportunity for brand promotion.
Think of Bubblews as a guest blogging platform that can generate a separate stream of revenue. Write, post, and syndicate your content regularly on Bubblews and you’ll get the benefits of greater visibility and more possibilities for links and external brand mentions. Plus, if your content is catchy and starts to become popular, you’ll receive a share of all the ad revenue it helps to generate. Again, right now you can’t count on much revenue to come in, but over time, Bubblews could evolve to become a formidable platform in the social media world.
6. Snapchat. Snapchat started back in 2011, but because it’s been used mostly for personal exchanges, it’s slipped by the eyes of most marketers. However, as I mentioned in my article Your Guide to Using Snapchat for Marketing, about 400 million snaps are sent each day by about 26 million users in the United States. Pictures and videos sent via this app are self-destructing as a privacy measure. That means your target audience will only have a few seconds to read and remember your message. In a way, that’s advantageous considering the painfully low attention span of your average user—it’s a way of almost guaranteeing their attention for those few seconds. But at the same time, you need to compress your messaging to ensure it is memorable.
Compared to other image-based apps, Snapchat is somewhat less efficient. It takes more time to follow and get to know your potential users, and it takes significant effort to create an image or message that will only last for a few seconds. Still, it’s worth considering as part of your broader strategy.
You certainly don’t need a presence on every one of these platforms in order to run a successful social media campaign, but if you want the most relevant audience and the best potential results, it’s important to think outside the “Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn” box.

Twitter For Beginners

10 Surprising Things You Should Know About Social Media (Infographic)


Did you know Fridays are funny on Pinterest? Or that brands have one hour to respond to someone on Twitter? Or that Twitter has six distinct communication networks? 
Social media is evolving so rapidly that it can be tough to keep up. 
The infographic below by digital marketing firm Mainstreethost is another great resource, revealing 10 surprising facts about social media. I consider myself a pretty savvy person when it comes to social, and even I’ll admit a few of these were definitely eye-opening.
10 Surprising Things You Should Know About Social Media (Infographic)
This story originally appeared on PR Daily
Article Source  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236782

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

10 Social Media Marketing Tips for beginners

What is social media marketing?



Social media marketing is the process of building awareness about you, your products or services through the various social media channels. The ultimate goal of any social media marketing campaign is to drive traffic to a website, increase the visibility of a product, gain more social media followers or find more customers.
The most popular social media networks today are: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr and Linkedin.

Why is social media marketing important?

Social Media marketing is important because:
  • It’s the fastest way to spread the word about a new product, service or news item – A tweet can go rival in minutes and spread a message around the Word faster than TV or other traditional media
  • It’s a trend – Millions of people spend a good amount of their time on social media networks so if you ‘need them’ you know where to find them
  • It’s the new marketing – Back in the old days marketers found out that many people spend time in their cars driving so they thought of the billboards on the roads. Today people are spending time on social media so as a marketer you have to start thinking this way too.
  • It’s the new influencer – more and more studies indicate that social media is turning into business as well with more companies stating that they have found customers from Facebook or Twitter.

Social Media Marketing tips for beginners

How can you take advantage of social media? How can beginners build a proper social media presence fast? Read and follow our 10 tips below and don’t forget to follow us on FacebookGoogle+TwitterPinterest!

1. Decide which social media platform(s) to use

As a beginner to social media you have to choose one or two social media platforms and concentrate on those rather than trying to work on all platforms at the same time. This is a mistake that many beginners do and at the end they quit without having any benefit.
A nice way to find out which platform is best suited to your niche is to find the influencers and analyse where they have success. For example find out the leaders in your niche and check out the number of Facebook fans, twitter followers, Google+ followers, Pinterest followers etc.
If they have 100,000 Facebook fans but only 10,000 twitter followers then this is a good indication that FB is more suitable for your niche than twitter. It is also a sign that you are more likely to have success with FB than twitter so you can use your time more efficiently and engage more on FB rather than any other platform.

2. Optimize your social media profiles

Once you decide which social media tools you will use (at least for the beginning), the next step is to optimise your profiles on those sites. By optimizing your profiles you increase your chances of getting more followers and it is also a good way to boost your SEO efforts.
Some general rules that apply to all sites are:
  • Use a real photo, showing your face – avoid using animals, places or anything that is not real. Social media is about connecting people and if you want to have a trusted profile you need to get out of your cage and put your face on the web!
  • Write a good description about yourself or your company – What is your background or expertise? What are you proud off? Mention this is your profile.
  • Give an indication to users what type of info you will share – Although this is not necessary, I like to read in profiles what kind of info to expect from the particular person.  For example in my twitter profile I wrote: “..tweeting SEO, social media, internet marketing tips and advice”.
  • Include a link to your website (where applicable) – On Facebook include a link in the ‘About section’, on Twitter and Pinterest in the ‘Web site Section’, on Google+ in the ‘Contributor to’ section. In other words, do use your social media profiles for SEO purposes as well.
I suggest you read SEO boost your social media profiles article which includes more examples and instructions on what you have to do to each social media site for more exposure.

3. Connect your website or blog with your social media pages

After you have your social media profiles ready the next step is to connect your website with your social media pages. There is a certain procedure to follow for each platform and it is very important that you do it correctly.
A correct binding between the two means that search engines and social media websites know which website corresponds to which social media page. For example when I created the Google+ page for reliablesoft.net, Google+ did not know that this was the official page of the site until I have added the publisher verification code on my site.

4. Add social media buttons on your website

Besides connecting your website with the respective business pages on social media, you also need to add social media buttons on your website so that readers can easily share your content.
Depending on the platform there are many ways and plugins to do that, I suggest you search Google using “how to add social media buttons to xxxxxx” – replace xxxxx with the platform your website is based. For example if you are using wordpress search google for “how to add social media buttons to wordpress”.
As a general rule of thumb, keep the buttons above the fold to increase exposure and have in mind that larger buttons get more clicks than smaller buttons.

5. Find and follow the influencers in your niche

So far we have selected the most appropriate social media tools for our niche, optimized our social media profiles, connected our website with the social media pages and added the buttons on our pages for more interaction. The next obvious step is to find people to follow but most importantly to gradually build our tribe of followers.
I would say that there are 5 basic steps to follow to get more followers and these are described in points 6-10 below. Before getting into that, you should first find and follow the influencers in your niche.
It is almost certain that they will not follow you back because you have a new account with no followers but doing so is important for 3 reasons:
  1. Social media platforms will use this information to make suggestions on who to follow so by following popular people in your niche is like telling them that you are also in that niche.
  2.  When you follow popular people who are likely to get followed by others as well. A trick many people use is to follow the followers of a popular person because they know that some will follow them back as well.
  3. They will most probably share important and useful information about the niche so you have a chance to learn something new and re-share that with your followers.

6. Keep a balance between following and followers

Once you start following people you should always have in mind that it’s better to keep a balance between the number of people you follow and the number of people they follow you back. This is important especially in Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest and the reasons are a lot:
  • Software applications are using this ratio (followers/following) to make suggestions on ‘who to follow’ so if you have a very high ratio you minimize your chances of getting new quality followers.
  • It is a matter of trust – Who do you think has a trusted profile: someone with 1000 followers but following 2500 or someone with 550 followers that follows 510?
  • A balanced profile is better for SEO – SEO’s have been talking the last couple of months about the importance of social media for SEO and how things are changing and although it is not yet confirmed, it is more likely that people with strong social media profiles are in better position that those with weak profiles.
A strong profile in this case is someone that has more followers than following and someone that is followed by people who are considered influencers in the niche.

7.  Share interesting content (text, images, videos)

This is the foundation for having a successful social media marketing campaign. When we talk about publishing content we always say that ‘content is king’ and this true in social media as well. If you share interesting and useful content you can get more re-shares, more visitors to your website and under some conditions more customers as well.
What is interesting content? From my experience (and certain studies) this is a combination off:
  • Articles/Stories/Pages related to your niche but not only from your own website.
  • Interesting statistics about your niche
  • Motivational Quotes related to your niche or otherwise
  • Research studies
  • Images and Videos
  • Funny stuff- whatever your niche, you can share once in a while a joke, a funny image or video to make your followers smile.
  • Don’t forget about hashtags – hashtags (#) can make your content more searchable so don’t forget to use hashtags in the networks that support it (Twitter, Google+).

8. Post many times per day but don’t overdo it

A common question by people who are just beginning on social media is “how many times should I post per day?” The answer depends on the network. There are many studies analysing the effect of posting frequency and some best practices are:
  • Facebook personal page – As many times as you want
  • Facebook business page – No more than 1-2 times per day and no more than 7 times per week. There are studies that support this guideline.
  • Twitter – The more you tweet the more exposure you get.
  • Google+ Business page and Google+ profile page – as many times as you want but don’t overdo it because this may create the opposite results.
  • Pinterest – a few times per day is enough

9. Don’t forget to follow back

Most people concentrate on how to get new followers but they forget to follow back those who have already followed them. Every day you should create the habit of viewing the people who are already following you and decide who to follow back. If you don’t do this on a regular basis then most likely some will un-follow you and this is why you may sometimes notice a decrease in the number of followers.

10. Follow the rules and be patient

Social media networks have rules to keep spammers away. For example there is a limit on twitter on the number of people you can follow per day; there is also a limit on Google+ on the number of people you can add/delete from your circles, Facebook has its own rules etc.
This means that it may take some time to build thousands of followers so you need to be patient and not try to rush into results either by breaking the rules (your account will be suspended) or by spending your money in ‘buying followers or tweets’ or anything similar.
Try to spend your time in creating a great social media profile that will stand over time and why not become one of the authoritative profiles in your niche.

Conclusion

When it comes to social media there are 2 important pillars. The first one has to do with the setup of your social media profiles and the second one is about usage i.e. how you use your social media account.
For the first pillar it is important to engage in the networks more suited to your niche and to have a proper connection between your social media pages and website. For the second pillar it is important to follow the right people, be followed by the right people and share relevant and interesting content always by adhering to the rules of the different social media networks.
10 Social Media Marketing Tips for beginners by