In the past, the ‘@’ symbol was just used to separate your email id from the domain name. Then Twitter adopted it, and now it seems to be present on the entire social media network. So what caused the evolution and the success of ‘@’? It started in the year 2006, when a freelance designer..

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Snapchat is the fastest growing app along with being an interesting marketing tool. It’s attracting many users consistently and investors love it too. The most quoted figure of its daily active users is 5 million. It is estimated that users share around 400m snaps in a day, a figure which has increased substantially in number..

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Posting on Facebook, tweeting, sharing pictures on Instagram, or creating a LinkedIn profile; all of it seems very easy, but when it comes to doing it for your business, it becomes challenging. When it comes to social media marketing, organizations and individuals need to know their game as conventional marketing techniques may not work on..

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The technology takeover is here. As a small business owner, you know you can’t fight it anymore. Whether you’re excited, apprehensive, or both, you’ve decided that the best thing for your business is to get tapped into the opportunities available to you online. But where do you even start? From building your own website to..

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October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) wants consumers to know valuable tips and advice on how to be safe online. ICBA and the nation’s community banks encourage members of the public to stay informed and become educated on how to prevent their financial information from being stolen..

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To be successful at selling, brands need to make emotional connections.  The technique used to accomplish this is learning the specific words and phrases that your buyers use.  These keywords provide a powerful way to make an emotional connection with your buyer. You know the term, “the customer is always right.”  Well, these keywords prove..

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Users now use Twitter, Facebook, and apps such as Zeebox to draw attention to TV shows, the social tools have inadvertently killed traditional TV advertising.  Television stations have transitioned their ads to audiences on Facebook, Twitter, and Zeebox.  As a result, television advertising is dying out. It’s important to note the types of programs that..

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While the practice of marketing your content becomes mainstream, you’ll see a lot of marketers use it in a way that won’t work – forgetting that educating the audience is the primary goal. Make your content marketing better If you look at each platform as the traditional classroom and that you’re the teacher, you can..

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Adding useful real-world elements to your brand messaging will connect your customers to your brand.   Reality marketing is customer-generated content that delights your customers.   In order to be real, you need to add elements of storytelling to your online marketing.  This is part of humanizing your brand – appealing to your customers emotions. Following are..

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Karen Leland, author of Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business, gives advice to help you drive website traffic, build your brand, and increase business on the Pinterest platform.  To optimize your appearance in search and attract more traffic, give each pin a perfect description and include relevant keywords.  You can be deliberate with what you..

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If you’ve heard it once over the last couple of years, you’ve heard it a million times – if you’re marketing strategy doesn’t include social media marketing, it’s time to add it.  Even though the majority of people in the US still use traditional search engines to find anything they’re looking for online, users, especially..

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Social Media Marketing strategies continue to evolve and marketing professionals are constantly having to change their methods.  In addition, Google’s algorithm continues to be updated.  So it’s important to improve your content marketing strategy continuously.  Stay focused on producing high-quality content that works to engage your audience.  This way you will remain relevant in your..

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On July 1, Facebook silently removed the 20 percent text rule required for Page Cover Images from its page guidelines.  However, the 20 percent rule for Cover Images remains in two sections of Facebook Help.  It’s possible that these sections haven’t been updated to reflect the change yet. In Facebook Help the sections are: What..

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Using hashtags on #Google+ is different than using them on Twitter.  Unlike clicking on a Twitter hashtag that takes you to a different hashtag-specific stream, when you click on a Google+ hashtag it will take you to other similar hashtag posts in the stream.  Google+ will also show you related hashtags. You can also search..

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Facebook’s popular photo-sharing app ,Instagram will now have video.  Facebook is trying to stay competitive, since Twitter’s video-sharing app, Vine is growing.  On Thursday, Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder said users will now be able to record and share 15-second clips.  All they have to do is tap the video icon in the app.  Users will..

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Facebook recently announced that it’s launching the ability for users to follow conversations via #hashtags.  Even though people were using hashtags before, there was no real functional value.  According to Facebook’s blog post, the company confirmed that it’s not a new idea and stated that it will be “similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter,..

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Building your business’ brand isn’t easy.  From the moment you begin thinking about starting your business, you have to consider how you want it to be perceived, who your target audience will be, and how you reach them.  Your brand is representative of your products and services.  Consumers should be able to learn everything they..

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Social Media Examiner recently released its annual Social Media Marketing Report.  The study reflects that 80 percent of marketers aren’t planning to use daily deal sites in their future campaigns.  In this study 3,025 marketers were surveyed.  The most significant points determined by this report will be highlighted in this article. There’s been a decrease..

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There are user generated groups filled with jokes about rape and domestic violence along with gruesome images of assaulted women on Facebook.  This week, Facebook announced that it’s stepping up efforts to eliminate such gender-based hate speech from its site after protesters sent around 60,000 tweets to advertisers making note of these posts.  Facebook apologized..

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Social Media Today recently interviewed Ted Shelton, a strategy consulting leader at PwC and author of Business Models for the Social Media Cloud to discuss topics that will come up at the Social Shake-Up Conference where Ted will be speaking. When asked to describe why companies should focus on how they use social, mobile, and..

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Does your website look like a brochure and nothing more?  Websites should have coherent site structure or some form of rational organization.  Otherwise, site visitors will be lost.  Are you thinking about interoperability, interactivity, and social share buttons?  PC users have a hard enough time with certain websites, imagine how that affects mobile users.  Your..

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Pinterest has made a number of changes and upgrades over the last few months.  If you use Pinterest daily, a couple of these will make a significant change in your usage.  We’ve also put together a few marketing tips for this platform. Sending pins to your friends If you come across something on Pinterest that..

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You need to know which platform will work best for your business in order to have a successful social media marketing campaign.   So what social media platform is right for your business?  According to the 2012 social media marketing industry report, businesses need to get the answer to this question right.  In this report, 85%..

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You’ve set up your profiles on social platforms and you started your social marketing campaigns, but you’re not sure how to maximize your social media results.  Social media marketing will continue to evolve and trends will change.  However, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that your marketing campaigns don’t become outdated. ..

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Today businesses use social media to enhance their marketing efforts and to meet other objectives such as brand recognition, sales, increasing customer base, improving their customer service and increasing loyalty.  However, the majority of companies activate social media campaigns without a clear strategy. According to new research, 72% of businesses don’t have a clear strategy..

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Have you asked yourself this question; how do I measure social media marketing?  Are you concerned with how you learn the metrics to measure your social media campaign?  Don’t worry because there are tools available to help you measure the success or failure of a campaign.  Social marketers typically launch marketing campaigns and tend to..

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In 2012, it was revealed that time spent on mobile devices to access Facebook increased 85 percent, LinkedIn 114 percent, Pinterest 4,225 percent, and Twitter 140 percent.  That’s an overwhelming increase.  With 46 percent of social media users using their smartphone and 16 percent using their tablets, it’s time to focus our marketing on optimizing..

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A big shift that’s underway with YouTube’s ranking system is to rank videos based on being watched longer. If videos keep people watching longer, they will be given a higher ranking over those that only get clicks.  According to YouTube’s head of content partner marketing, Eric Meyerson, this should motivate contributors to create high-quality content..

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The power of a hashtag is expected to take off and all businesses should be prepared for this.  Facebook recently announced that it would begin supporting hashtags.  Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and other social networks have already been supporting them.  Depending on the user some words following a hashtag are written with no spaces and..

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Thousands of businesses use Twitter for micro-blogging.  Any business, large or small post short and precise updates to Twitter constantly.  Most businesses consider Twitter to be a combination of instant messaging and a chat room.  It’s somewhat of an open forum, however, businesses have the ability to limit their audience.  Regardless, Twitter is a magnificet..

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Noreen Hertz a British economist and author used social media conversations to predict who the winner of X-Factor would be.  Hertz believes you can predict real-world outcomes using social media sites.  She believes that using chatter from social media platforms will become a predominant tool for business forecasting.  Hertz told CNN at Names not Numbers..

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Up until a few years ago, the words “social media” and “marketing” were never used in the same sentence.  Today, marketing is not marketing without social media and networking.  Brands attain more recognition and advocacy through social media platforms.  Engaging followers and appealing to their personal senses are essential elements to successful social media marketing…

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Google has been driving local results since 2007.  The world’s largest search engine influenced the shift to local internet marketing services.  Because Google pioneered SEO, the company has always had the attitude that you either “play the game, or get left behind.”  Over the last couple of years, Google has been promoting its local business..

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Pinterest’s Web Analytics is a new set of tools that will help brands analyze the effectiveness of their content and social engagement.  Cat Lee, Pinterest product manager said, “The goal is really to help websites understand what content is resonating with people on Pinterest.” Businesses and marketers have been trying to figure out how to..

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Are you ready to take your marketing campaign to the social world?  Are you wondering where to start and what type of dashboard you will need?  To implement your social media marketing strategy you will need a good dashboard.  There are several key factors that need to be considered when shopping for dashboards.  You need..

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Social Madness is a corporate social media challenge launched by The Business Review and its parent company American City Business Journals.  Social madness measures the growth of each participant’s presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.   The contest will be based social engagement.  The local challenge starts on June 3, 2013.  The contest will conclude..

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Although Facebook is simple to use for most everyone, it’s not as simple for marketing.  There are a lot of reasons your Facebook page isn’t getting the fast follower response you would like.  Now that Graph Search is the new search feature, it’s even more important to use your page to engage your fans.  There..

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Are you following a brand in social media?  Are you enjoying it?  If you find you’re enjoying brands that you’re following, their strategy may be one of the following:  connecting with one of your passions or interests, entertaining you with their engaging personality, or providing interesting and/or important information to you.   As a business or..

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Are you looking for ways to increase leads and traffic on LinkedIn?  In December 2012, LinkedIn was visited by 94 million people in the U. S. This was an increase of 40 percent compared to December of 2011, according to Experian Marketing Services.  Regardless of whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, you should focus..

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Marketing requires excellent content.  Creating original content, having time to create it, and finding high-quality content are the top three challenges of content marketing, according to Curata’s B2B Marketing Trends Survey 2012 Report.   Content marketing is a major challenge for companies which is why 28 to 33 percent of marketing budgets is dedicated to this.

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Do you take the time to consider your online reputation?  Not only as an individual, but, do you consider your business’ online reputation?  It’s important to think about this before something negative happens. A few keys to managing your reputation lie in social footprints, knowing what others are saying about you, and staying positive online.

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Now that you’ve created followers on your social media platforms, you may start facing serious questions from upper management – how do these numbers improve the bottom line?  What was the ROI on this marketing platform?  Understanding social media market trends and reports will help you answer these types of questions.

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Be cautious when accepting friend requests on social media networks.  If you take a good look at your friends list, you’ll find that you don’t personally know everyone on that list.  Accepting friend requests from criminals is fairly easy to do.  In addition, it only takes one friend’s carelessness with who is added as a..

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Seven findings from Nielson and McKinsey’s Social Media Report (where consumers were surveyed to learn how they use social networks) are:  more time is invested on mobile devices, Pinterest use continues to increase, social networking produces positive sentiments, Twitter impels social television, social care is the new customer care, social ads get mixed feelings, and..

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Social Media marketing strategy is crucial to a company’s brand recognition.  Businesses need to understand social media marketing and which social media platforms to utilize.  Based on recent studies, a business’ brand needs social media marketing. The study conducted in 2012 by Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Ipsos ASI, and Bloomberg determined there is a..

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Using Instagram the correct way can lead to brand recognition for businesses.  As previously stated in my blog, Marketing Strategy for Social Media, Instagram isn’t a platform for every business.  However, if you use it wisely, you can include it in your social media marketing program. The key to post pictures; don’t post text or..

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Whether your goal is to own your own business, become a consultant, a speaker or an author, you’ll need to start with a business plan. Even if you launched your business years ago, it’s important to revisit and refresh your plan. In recent years, the economy, technology and consumer habits have changed rapidly and dramatically,..

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If you’re like millions of other people, you’re checking into at least one social network multiple times a day.  The most frequently used networks are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google + but there are many more out there that are used on a frequent basis. Although social networks provide a great way for us to..

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It happens all the time: The hard-working crew at a small business loses customers thanks to the sour grapes of one person. It could be a disgruntled employee, an angry customer or even a competitor, says V. Michael Santoro, coauthor with John S. Rizzo of Niche Dominance: Creating Order out of Your Digital Marketing Chaos…

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When it comes to your online habits, are you a Content King or a Social Butterfly? The difference matters to businesses who want to capture your attention on digital devices. A new IBM study of the media and entertainment market reveals that as consumers adopt an increasing number of digital devices, four distinct new “digital..

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Why are we talking about social media? Apart from the fact that today’s youth are being referred to as the ‘Facebook generation’ and that 65% of adult Internet users claim to use social media platforms? Social media has altered our interactions within our community and our perceptions of our relationships. It is in our homes,..

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Could 2012 be the year of 5G? According to an article by FT Tech Hub, even though TV’s Ultrabooks and Smartphones grabbed headlines at the Consumer Electronics Show, there was a quieter wireless revolution taking place that have the potential to provide important connectivity benefits for all our devices in 2012.

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According to Chelsea Hejny who is a social media writer at ShortStack, creating and managing a Facebook Page for your business or organization is only half the battle. For a Page to have real value, its content needs to be seen and shared. She provides six tips to improve your Facebook Page’s News Feed presence.

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Facebook currently has over 750 million active users, and that number continues to grow steadily. According to Compete.com, it is currently the second most popular website in the world (behind Google) in terms of unique visitors, and according to ComScore, the most popular social network overall.

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I am always searching online for new gadgets, gizmos, technology and anything and everything to do with social media.  Scouring through the blogosphere is one of the things that keeps me up til the wee hours of the morning. On one of my scavenger hunts while researching for the 5th part of our How to..

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Consumers are searching for your products and services online – but – is your website getting found? What has profoundly transformed the way people learn about and shop for products? The Internet! I know what you’re going to say…well, duh Sandra! However, it was only a mere ten years ago, that companies reached their consumers..

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