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Twitter Trends and Tragedies of 2012

Everyone can harness the amazing capabilities of social media sites like Twitter to strengthen a business. Let’s look at the top Twitter trends from last year.  And… Just when you thought you were done reading 2012 re-caps, here we are with another!

Lauren Leto, the creator of the website Texts From Last Night, once said, “Twitter provides us with a wonderful platform to discuss/confront societal problems. We trend Justin Bieber instead.” It’s funny – unavoidably, spirit-crushingly true, but funny nonetheless. The truth is that mass communication tools have always been very powerful. Yet they have probably always been wasted on spreading trivial news and gossip. The telephone changed the world, connecting people across vast distances … so they could exchange recipes or gossip about extramarital affairs. If you look back at human history, you likely can find that letters delivered by horseback, hieroglyphics, and maybe cave paintings have been misused by someone to tell someone else something that was unimportant.

Social media “is what it is,” as my father liked to say (about pretty much anything). It’s up to each one of us – and yes, that includes you – to harness its amazing capabilities into something useful. Socialty can help you make the most out of Twitter, and many other social media services. We help clients leverage social media into something that works for you and works to strengthen your business.

Let’s take a look at the top Twitter trends from last year.

Among the famous people who started their own Twitter accounts in 2012 are soccer legend Pele (@pele), rock icon Neil Young (@neilyoung) and Pope Benedict XVI (@pontifex). According to ABC News, on December 10th the Pope had 608 thousand followers, and that was before his account’s first tweet. One month later, 1.4 million and counting.

Twitter has 140 million active users, and 1 billion tweets are sent about every 60 hours.

The most retweeted message of 2012 was from Barack Obama, who sent “Four more years.” and a picture of his wife hugging him. This low-key celebration of his re-election as President of the United States was retweeted over 800 thousand times and favorited by 300 thousand users. A distant second was pop singer Justin Bieber’s heartfelt message “RIP Avalanna. i love you” when a 6-year-old fan he had befriended died of brain cancer. The message had 224 thousand retweets.

ABC News listed several “Conversations of the Year,” topics that drove messaging through the roof in 2012. These include the aforementioned U.S. national elections, the Summer Olympics in London, and the February 11th death of singer Whitney Houston.

Other important moments for the Twitter service in 2012 involved the boundaries of human life on our planet, and the exploration of another. Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive from the edge of space was one of Twitter’s “Conversations of the Year,” according to ABC News. Other notable tweets that were viewed by millions included live images of Hurricane Sandy – tweeted to Earth from astronauts aboard the International Space Station, live updates of the NASA mission to Mars as Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted from the shuttle’s command center as the Curiosity rover touched down on the Red Planet, and a tweet by film director and part-time adventurer James Cameron – sent from over 35 thousand feet under the ocean during a dive to bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Another cool look back at the top trends on Twitter in 2012 was published by the blog at HootSuite. (HootSuite is a Canadian social media management system that helps users to manage multiple social media accounts.)

HootSuite pointed out that 2012 on Twitter was all about passion, patriotism and battles, with the Summer Olympics and the U.S. elections as its two main examples. I think we all read some heated and grouchy if not downright mean messages. According to HootSuite, election Tweets peaked at over 320 thousand per minute, as the blogger asks us “Should the traditional saying, ‘no politics at the dinner table’ apply to Twitter as well?”

But HootSuite also noted that events like Hurricane Sandy, in which people are afraid or even helpless in the face of disaster or tragedy, show that Twitter and other social media can be a source of support, info and news. “In the aftermath of Sandy’s massive destruction, social became a channel for the world to help and send warm thoughts to those left in the dark,” the blog said.

I think we all should remember Twitter in 2012 for being a way people deal with and make it through life’s difficulties, just like in years past and during important global events. (The Arab Spring Uprisings leap to mind.) In 2012 we saw widespread power outages in and around New York City and other northeastern metropolitan areas – and we also saw simple gestures of kindness and solidarity like store owners stringing together “power strips” and giving free electricity access to passersby. The iPhone, Android smartphones and other “smart” devices proved their value to many, as we saw thousands of people who otherwise had no way to contact far away friends and family, using social media as much as they used simple phone calls as a lifeline. In 2012 we again saw Twitter used as a way for ordinary citizens to communicate with authority figures. Small-town mayors and other civil servants monitored Twitter and responded to questions, complaints, and even the occasional pleas for help, with the touch of a few buttons or a few taps on a touch-screen monitor.

Twitter in 2012 was also a major source of information for consumers. Tech products, like the Apple iPhone and iPad, drove major spikes in tweet traffic as tech experts and clueless “newbies” alike talked back and forth about upcoming items, when they’d be released and whether or not they were worth buying. Likewise, corporations continued to learn that a fan-base on Twitter can turn from a powerful help into a harmful critic if social media managers aren’t careful. Blogger Seth Fiegerman at Mashable compiled “11 Biggest Social Media Disasters of 2012” – among them:

  1. McDonald’s attempt to get #mcdstories trending, only to have the hashtag hijacked with fast food horror stories
  2. Snickers candy bars being eaten by British celebs in Twitter pics, which wouldn’t have been bad if the company knew that it’s illegal in the U.K. if it isn’t revealed as a paid endorsement
  3. Chick-Fil-A’s founder’s anti-same-sex marriage stance, which ignited many flame wars across social media
  4. Chick-Fil-A’s subsequent related controversy over whether or not the company created a fake Facebook account to defend the company after a Jim Hensen’s Creature Shop Puppet toy recall (ironically, a fake online accounts is called a “sock puppet”)
  5. American Apparel’s attempt to turn Hurricane Sandy into a promotional opportunity, offering 20% off for those in states affected by the storm, in case they were “bored.”

So with the old year behind us and 2013 well underway, we at Socialty hope you’ll remember to the highlights and lowlights of 2012 from Twitter and other social media platforms. And if you haven’t already, contact us to provide you with top-of-the-line social media services for your business. We provide high-quality content and account management, so in 12 months when you look back at 2013 you can say “I’m glad I had Socialty in 2013 to help keep our business growing!”

 

Sources for “Twitter Trends and Tragedies of 2012” were:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/12/top-twitter-trends-of-2012/

http://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-trends-2012/

http://mashable.com/2012/11/25/social-media-business-disasters-2012/

 

 

Keywords:  Twitter, social media, 2012, HootSuite, business, ABC News, Socialty Inc., Hurricane Sandy

 

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by Socialty Inc on January 31, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on January 31, 2013

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/twitter-trends-and-tragedies-of-2012/

2013 and Socialty – Social Media Resolutions for a New Year

As Socialty looks back at 2012, let’s discuss some New Year’s resolutions for your small business social media on Google+, Pinterest, Twitter and more.

It’s a blogging tradition at New Year’s – looking back at what happened last year and using your first blog to try and make sense out of what’s to come. Honestly, it’s probably also a way for bloggers to be productive while recovering from all that New Year’s celebrating! So as Socialty looks back at 2012, let’s also talk about what to do in 2013!

Here are some suggestions for your small business New Year’s resolutions. While many so-called resolutions are ignored or forgotten within a few weeks, you shouldn’t turn your back on these! Start with a vow to make the most out of your social media marketing efforts. While catching up on the college football championship game and putting away those holiday decorations, take a minute today to review your social media accounts. Here are a few things you can change to make a world of difference this year …

If your business has a corporate website, you may qualify for a Verified Google+ Page. Check out http://bit.ly/QvXPhT and consider making a request to have Google verify your page. It isn’t very complicated, if your page meets the qualifications – the most important of which is probably, “Your Google+ page must already have a meaningful number of followers.” Rumor has it they mean hundreds of followers (not just 4 or 5, like your Uncle Marty’s crab wine distillery).

Pinterest rolled out official business pages back in November. Previously, individuals and corporations shared the same features on Pinterest. But now, your business can have a page with a suite of additional features. If your company has a Pinterest page, take a few minutes this New Year and change it to a business account (if you haven’t done so).

Also last Fall, the social media service Twitter introduced cover photos for profile pages. You can personalize your page with any header image you choose. From the “settings” menu icon, click “design” and then “change header” to do so. In the New Year, resolve to freshen up your Twitter page with a new cover photo every month – it makes the virtual “place” look a little nicer for your followers!

Another quick idea: review your business’ Facebook page, because it’s often easy to forget to keep the details updated when you’re “liking” and replying to status updates; check and update your privacy settings on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

Finally, let’s look forward to February. Twitter users beware! Your social media outbursts and shares will have to deal with a change to Twitter’s URL shortener – the short links will now be two spaces longer. This means a tweet’s content will have to be two characters shorter. But thankfully this also means that every month, followers will receive 2,000 less characters from Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian!

So now you have a few social media resolutions for the New Year. Remember that at Socialty, it’s our pleasure to make your social media accounts thrive and prosper every year! Contact us today and find out how Socialty can help you and your business. We mean it when we say that in 2013, “Keep social and carry on!”

Tags: social media,Twitter,Facebook,Google+,social media positioning,Socialty Inc.,Pinterest,social media marketing

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by Socialty Inc on January 14, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on January 14, 2013

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/2013-and-socialty-social-media-resolutions-for-a-new-year/

It’s Better To Have a Short Memory On Social Media

“They said WHAT?!” 

Leaving the past in the past is hard to do in any area of life, but it’s one of the most important strengths of successful businessmen and businesswomen. If another company or individual has written something negative about you on social media, it’s beneficial for you to work out the differences and move forward.

It’s ok if you personally dislike certain comments and it’s ok to disapprove if another firm conducts itself in an unethical way, but that behavior always reflects poorly on them. Don’t make it worse and don’t let emotional responses get in your way. Making money, attracting new customers and expanding your own business are your important goals. Regardless of problems on social media, take a deep breath and move forward.

One of the most famous businessmen in the world is Ted Turner, the founder of American cable television channels TBS, TNT and CNN, former Vice Chairman of Time Warner and former owner of the Atlanta Braves and World Championship Wrestling sports organizations. For decades, Turner held a grudge against rival media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose businesses include cable network FOX News.

In 2003, after Turner called Murdoch a “warmonger” and criticized FOX News during a speech, British newspaper The Guardian recounted that their decades-long rivalry had begun during a 1983 yacht race, when a boat sponsored by Murdoch crashed into and sank Turner’s boat. Turner was so enraged that he had challenged Murdoch to a fight, offering to televise it. “When Mr. Murdoch launched Fox News in 1996 as a direct competitor to CNN, Mr. Turner said he was ‘looking forward to squishing Rupert like a bug’,” The Guardian continues. “He also compared his rival to Adolf Hitler. ‘How do you make peace with a mega-maniac?’ Mr. Turner once said of Mr. Murdoch.”

Like many of us, as years go by, Turner has softened. Known as a staunch supporter of environmental causes, as a land preservationist, and as a philanthropist – he once gave $1 billion to help the U.N. create the United Nations Foundation charity – Turner said on his 70th birthday in 2008 that he had made peace with Murdoch. Turner had read that Murdoch’s company NewsCorp “was going green” and had sent Murdoch an encouraging and congratulatory letter. Murdoch wrote back and the two eventually had lunch together at one of Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants.

In any business, not just at the heights of international corporations, learning to leave the past behind and move forward is a sign of true professionalism. It doesn’t matter if you’re running your own small business, managing social media on behalf of your boss, or just trying to get along with customers on Facebook, you will face conflict. It’s how you deal with conflict that matters. Most importantly, you must strive to leave the past in the past. Do what is needed for your business today. The first step must be taken every morning when you get out of bed, and that is to let go of animosity, negativity, and hard feelings. Start fresh!

Source for The Guardian article quoted above:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/apr/25/newscorporation.pressandpublishing

Source for Turner’s 2008 comments (Fora.tv video):

www.dailymotion.com/video/xgk3yp_ted-turner-and-rupert-murdoch-bury-the-hatchet_news

tags: professionalism, business management, conflict resolution, small business, Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, CNN, FOX News

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by Socialty Inc on December 20, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 20, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/its-better-to-have-a-short-memory-on-social-media/

When it’s time to “cut the cord” we’re here to help…

Life isn’t always fair, and if you’re a business owner we’re sure you know that the business world is a lot like life. You have to deal with a lot of different problems, you have to be prepared for a multitude of possibilities, and a business will usually go through a crisis or twelve every year.

Socialty wants to relieve some of your stress by helping to expand and maintain your business. Having a website and using social media platforms make the playing field more level for small business owners around the world. Your online presence helps you to foster good relationships with your customers and to spread the word about your brand to new people.

Twenty-five years ago it may have been sufficient for your parents to write down names and numbers in a Rolodex or to input them on an Excel spreadsheet. (Raise your hand if you remember Lotus 1-2-3!)

Social media services like Twitter and Facebook can help you build your clientele, but then it’s also critical that your business plan and budget include making the effort to work on the upkeep. Maintaining your existing customers as repeat visitors is usually tied to consistently updating your social media accounts, and that’s where Socialty can give you some expert help!

You don’t live in your parents’ business world and nowadays almost every small business can benefit by using social media. But sometimes it’s hard to take that first step. One legitimate concern is “Am I spreading myself too thin?” If you can’t find time to utilize Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram, perhaps the best choice is to get a pro to do it on your behalf. Sometimes you want to get it done, but it’s a matter of money. However, as the old saying goes, you “have to spend it to make it.” And although social media may seem like a waste of time to some people, there are mountains of studies and plenty of evidence that the SMART, WELL-MANAGED and PREPARED business managers are catching up with the rest.

The trick to social media positioning really comes with understanding that customers and clients everywhere are basically alike. They want to be respected, valued and treated like their dollars matter. Using social media is great even if you just post the same boring printable coupon 5 times a month, but it’s REALLY awesome if you can have a lively, thought-provoking discussion about your service, or a fun and entertaining blog article for your customers to send along to a friend!

Your business won’t necessarily need to set up five social media pages across all the different sites. It’s unnecessary and usually it results in less than satisfactory results. Instead you can have Socialty establish a Facebook timeline with a beautiful image gallery, or a popular Twitter feed with a lot of new followers. It takes time to build success and it’s worth it to focus on quality, not quantity.

Whether you want Socialty to help you develop business contacts on LinkedIn or to help with attention-grabbing corporate e-mails, it’s important as a business for your social media to reflect your values and beliefs. That’s the easiest system to build trust and establish real and lasting relationships with customers. Sure, you can see when a longtime client is having a birthday. With Socialty you could also have the ability to rest easier, knowing that every one of the clients who follow your social media will receive a birthday e-mail and a special offer to go with it!

The theme to a long-running sitcom went like this:

“Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.”

So make sure your customers feel like that.

And don’t just charge ahead without a strong plan for social media positioning. On Google search for “social media foul-up” and you’ll get over 20 million results. Stay connected with clients but do so with the confidence that your business won’t be fodder for a funny story starting with, “Hey, did you see that tweet they sent out?” Socialty Inc. can help you KEEP SOCIAL AND CARRY ON!

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by Socialty Inc on December 17, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 17, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/110/

The Good, The OK and The Bad….

Which social media sites are right for you and your business?  We recognize that a single approach to marketing will never fit all situations because every business is different. The greatest benefit of letting Socialty fulfill your online needs is that we can use our knowledge, skill, experience and talent to determine if certain sites do or don’t match your needs!

Several months ago, the online site CMO.com published its annual Guide To the Social Landscape. Each year the guide, which is published as a downloadable infographic, lists the major players in online social media and grades them on strengths and weaknesses that are important to companies wanting to leverage social media for advertising and marketing.

The 2012 guide features 14 social media sites – from heavy hitters such as Facebook and Twitter to lesser knowns like Quora – and grades them in four categories: customer communication, brand exposure, traffic to your site, and search engine optimization. To explain further, CMO’s list looks at the potential for a company to build business utilizing a site in each of those four ways, and then uses the simple grading scale of “good,” “ok,” or “bad.”

First I thought we might take a look at the sites that were graded “good” across the board. To my surprise, none of the 14 social media sites achieved that spread! That’s probably a great sign that CMO’s list is trying for fairness. While leveraging these sites can be good for your business, the use of each social media site has limitations when trying to manage your online marketing activities.

Four sites did achieve the high grades of “good” in three areas and “ok” in one. These are Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube. All four scored high marks in regard to customer communication and brand exposure. Facebook and Twitter were stronger in building traffic to your site, while Google+ and YouTube were more useful for search engine optimization.

I don’t think the high marks for those well known and recognizable names are shocking to anyone. A mild surprise was SlideShare – a site that’s rated very highly by CMO’s Guide To the Social Landscape. In its first year on the guide, SlideShare (which has been around since 2006) is called “an awesome communication method for companies” and “a great place to promote your brand.” It’s rated “good” for customer communication and brand exposure and “ok” for building web traffic and for search engines. Subsequent to the release of this year’s guide, SlideShare announced on May 3 that it was being acquired by LinkedIn. Business Insider reported it to be a cash and stock deal worth $119 million.

So far, the social media sites we’ve been discussing have all had two category strengths (communication and branding) in common. StumbleUpon comes from the other direction. In fact, it’s rated “bad” for customer communication. The guide states “reaching existing customers can be random and costly.” For branding, it’s “ok” with the site’s targeting praised for its accuracy. Cost, however, is a drawback. According to the guide, StumbleUpon is “good” for both building traffic to your site and for search engines. StumbleUpon is among those sites that are a bit hard to explain to non-users. According to Wikipedia, “StumbleUpon uses collaborative filtering (an automated process combining human opinions with machine learning of personal preference) to create virtual communities of like-minded Web surfers.”

Similarly, Digg is a social media site where its users submit an outside webpage, and then vote the page up or down (called “digg”ing or “bury”ing, respectively). This is done through voting on digg.com or by websites adding “digg” buttons to their pages. CMO’s Guide To the Social Landscape ranked it generally “ok,” but “good” for brand exposure, which is attributed to the opportunity for promoting articles via Digg. The guide pointed to declining traffic across Digg as its primary weakness.

Also among the social media sites that received mixed ratings:

  • Flickr was “good” for SEO. The guide points out that “proper optimization can rank well in Google Images.” Unfortunately “even with tens of thousands of views” very low click-through to your site earned a “bad” rating.
  • LinkedIn was also “unlikely to drive any significant traffic to your site” (a “bad”) but received a “good” for brand exposure, especially if utilizing its company page features.
  • Pinterest was rated “good” for brand exposure and driving traffic to your site. The guide suggests “Contests” for the former and adding “Pin It” buttons to your pages for the latter. However, this social media service was rated “bad” for both communicating with customers and link values decreasing, stating “Pinterest recently n0-followed its links.”
  • Quora was “excellent for communication with high-level customers” and sharing your expertise (a “good”) but the drawbacks include most traffic staying put on the Quora site and no-follow links (a “bad” and an “ok”).
  • Reddit was “good” for driving traffic to your site but the guide mentioned not to “try too hard and get banned.” It was rated “bad” for increasing your brand exposure as most of the content is from major news organizations. Plus there’s a problem with image attribution which knocked Reddit down to an “ok” for SEO.

Only two social media sites received fairly negative ratings in this year’s Guide To the Social Landscape: Delicious (“Not enough brand recognition to make [it] worth your time”) and Instagram (which received a “good” for brand exposure but literally doesn’t have ways to communicate with customers, drive traffic to your site, or a way to incorporate SEO).

Visit the Guide To the Social Landscape at:

http://www.cmo.com/social-media/2012-cmos-guide-social-landscape

Keywords: social media, online traffic, brand exposure, websites, communication, ratings, socialty, search engines, marketing, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare, StumbleUpon, Digg, Flickr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Delicious, Instagram

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by Socialty Inc on December 14, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 14, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/the-good-the-ok-and-the-bad/

What can an online presence do for your small business?

As 2013 approaches, the American small business faces as many challenges as it ever has. Finding the right people, getting fair prices, collecting payments, accessing potential customers, keeping up with demand, finding ways to grow, accessing necessary capital, and affording marketing are all issues that business owners may lose sleep over.

However hard it is out there, having a little help can make a big difference! That’s what Socialty is here for. At Socialty we can help you with customer access, leading to new growth, new revenue, and new success! By leveraging social media and letting Socialty help you to manage your company’s online marketing, you can relieve your stress and improve your bottom line.

Perhaps you’ve already set up a Twitter account, a Facebook business page, or maybe you even started a blog. How can you really leverage your Social Media Outlets and make it work for you? How can you use these online tools to attract new customers for your business? Utilizing social media correctly often requires remembering a simple rule of thumb: simply put, your following will mostly include the people who have done business with you. So to encourage repeat business and attract new customers, Socialty can help you set up one, two, or all of the following ideas!

A popular way to leverage social media is an online promotion. Take a product or service and offer a discount to your online fans. Posting a printable 10% off coupon (with the proper maximum value and/or “limited time only” text) could be a great start! Large companies use this kind of incentive to bring customers into their stores and restaurants all the time, and it improves word-of-mouth (“sharing”) advertising from customer to those all-important friends of the customer!

Use your blog or Twitter account to combine a compelling offer with interesting content. If you own a restaurant, for example, you can get Socialty to help you write and publish a weekly message about new menu items. But you could also have an online poll asking for anonymous feedback about a new dish. Or ask followers to suggest improvements, with the best idea tied to a contest or in-store event. Then take pictures and Socialty can “tweet” them to all your online customers.

Always continue to encourage customers to sign up for an e-newsletter or e-mail offers. You can enter the new registrants into a monthly drawing for a free item or discount. Keeping a constant, steady, but unobtrusive amount of information flowing from your business to the social media communities is the key! (And it’s also Socialty’s specialty!) Once established, you want to keep the online relationship active, because whether they’re a daily customer or someone who purchased something once last year, it’s all about the potential return!

Here’s a true story from my own life: as I wrote this blog, I was about to celebrate my birthday. In the back of my mind, I was wondering where my family and I should have a fancy dinner … I logged on to Facebook, and a locally owned restaurant (where I dine infrequently) had announced a menu change. They had shared a .PDF document of their brand-new menu. I viewed it and thought “I’ll have to go back there someday” … but I just went on with my day. A few hours later, I received an e-mail from the same restaurant. It turns out I had filled out my date of birth when I signed up for e-mail offers, and of course, it was an offer for a free entrée! I called my spouse and set up the birthday dinner.

Without these two online social media efforts, would this business be earning money from my family and friends on this occasion? Probably not. It always pays to advertise, and social media can and will provide your business with more and more leads, referrals, and revenue as the years go on.

There are many different methods of using social media to attract people to your business. Contact Socialty and start strengthening your existing online presence today! We help small businesses to utilize all the social media sites and services to improve relationships with customers.

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by Socialty Inc on December 11, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 11, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/what-can-an-online-presence-do-for-your-small-business/

Your Small Business Should Be On Pinterest!!

On November 14th, Pinterest announced a potentially game-changing addition to the three-year-old photo sharing social website. Businesses are now able to register accounts that have been designed with features for businesses, instead of for individual users. Companies that already have a Pinterest account can easily convert it into a new business account.

“Thousands of businesses have become part of our community, giving great ideas, content and inspiration to people on Pinterest,” wrote Product Manager Cat Lee on Pinterest’s official blog. “Whether it’s Anthropologie sharing awesome clothes, Whole Foods sharing tasty recipes, the Smithsonian sharing fascinating collections, or Amazon making products easy to pin, many of us have been inspired on Pinterest by businesses. We want to help more businesses provide great content on Pinterest and make it easy to pin from their websites.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Pinterest, try to imagine what would happen if you gave an old-fashioned bulletin board with “SHARE ALL YOUR GOOD IDEAS!” written on it to Martha Stewart, then locked her inside an empty room. According to one study by Experian, Pinterest had 104 million visits in March, ranking it behind only Facebook and Twitter as the third most popular social media site. Time magazine had called it one of the “50 Best Websites of 2011,” but one of its drawbacks was a lack of functionality for business owners. Sure, visiting Pinterest had become an integral part of the day for many Facebook users and iPhone owners, but for those who wanted to harness its social media popularity as a marketing and promotional tool, it was less than ideal.

Now a business can link to its official website so it’s listed on its Pinterest profile. For example, K-Swiss can now verify that its Pinterest page is company-operated and linked to http://www.kswiss.com/ . A company can also add buttons on its own web pages to make it easier for visitors to “pin” items on Pinterest or follow their feeds on Pinterest.

Pinterest users (or “pinners”) have been praising the addition of business accounts. The move has been received as both an example of listening to user requests and as a shrewd tactic to keep growth strong for the social media channel. Other social media sites have differentiated between people and institutional users. In 2007, Facebook introduced pages for corporations, schools and sports teams that others could “like.”

The benefits of creating this social media presence for your business are numerous. First of all, it’s neither expensive nor very difficult. Second, now you can register pretty much any unusual business name (such as Se7entyse7en – and yes, I just made that one up) instead of just a first and last name combination. Third, more businesses using Pinterest means more content created, repinned and shared. This increases the user base and that increases the number of people your small business can subsequently reach!

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Another cool feature was launched recently. On November 10th Pinterest co-founder and CEO Ben Silbermann e-mailed pinners worldwide to announce that a user can now create up to three “secret boards.” Items pinned to a secret board can be repinned to public boards, but the repin won’t link back to the secret board. Got that? As a simple example, a Pinterest user can now create a secret board to share pictures or designs in-house with co-workers, allowing easy communication with the rest of a project team. In many cases, this could make sharing parts of a project more simple than typing out e-mails and making sure all the right co-worker addresses are included.

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tags: Pinterest, social media, business websites, idea sharing, Cat Lee, Ben Silbermann

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by Socialty Inc on December 7, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 7, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/your-small-business-should-be-on-pinterest/

LinkedIn, It’s Here to Stay…

At Socialty, we have a simple, yet elegant, mission: to help small businesses manage their social media campaigns and online reputations. Socialty creates dynamic content, manages your presence and engages users to create word of mouth buzz. We use an online approach that focuses on sites such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.

Today let’s take an in-depth look at LinkedIn, one of the fastest-growing social media sites. LinkedIn maintains a specialist approach to social media marketing.

On October 16, LinkedIn held a press conference to announce its new profile page design and other changes, upgrades, and statistics.

Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner began the event (also streamed online from company headquarters in Mountain View, California) by saying that LinkedIn is “about connecting talent with opportunity at a massive scale.” The social media networking site and its features aren’t “just tools that enable people to find their dream jobs,” Weiner said, “but tools that enable people to be great at the jobs they’re already in.”

The CEO then shared LinkedIn’s company mission statement: “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” He then emphasized the word professionals, and said that is the context with which LinkedIn creates value for its members as a social media service. Worldwide there is “one social platform – LinkedIn – that has that exclusive focus on a professional context.”

Weiner stated that LinkedIn has over 175 million registered members, and has added 50 million of those in the last year alone. LinkedIn is currently adding an average of 2 new members every second. Interestingly, Brazil has recently become the fourth nation in which more than 10 million LinkedIn members reside. The other top countries are the United States, India, and the United Kingdom.

LinkedIn ultimately helps professionals “connect, find, and be found by other professionals,” said Weiner. It has become “the professional profile of record.”

The CEO pointed out a phenomenon, saying that people update their profiles when they aren’t looking for work. He contrasted this to a traditional resume, which is often only dusted off and updated when a job change is wanted or needed.

Weiner went on to talk about the increasing importance of what LinkedIn calls “mobile solutions,” using the social media site via smartphones and tablet applications, especially via the iPad. He announced that mobile utilization (how often LinkedIn is being accessed by a person using an app) has increased from 10% last year to 23% now. In other words, LinkedIn is being used more and more by people who aren’t necessarily sitting at a desk in an office.

Weiner seemed proud to announce that over one million unique website domains have deployed a “Share On LinkedIn” button. This allows any LinkedIn member to easily post links from interesting or enjoyable online content to their own LinkedIn page, which then is viewable by that member’s professional contacts. Also, thousands of companies are utilizing a button to “Apply With LinkedIn” which makes filling out online job applications easier.

Over the last few months, LinkedIn has improved or introduced several features, said Weiner. He included:

  • A redesigned homepage at http://www.linkedin.com/
  • New capabilities for receiving optional notifications
  • New capabilities and apps for smartphones
  • Apps for the iPad tablet
  • The Endorsements feature (which allows members to vouch for other members who have a certain skill or ability)
  • A feature allowing members to “follow” professional luminaries
  • Long form content publication made affordable/free for those luminaries
  • “Engagement increases” such as status updates, “like” buttons, and the ability to comment on other peoples’ content

The press conference was then turned over to Deep Nishar, Head of Product for LinkedIn. He led off with a statement of the company’s product philosophy. It is to “build insanely brilliant and simple products that change people’s lives.”

Nishar then announced statistics provided by comScore, Inc. (http://www.comscore.com/) – LinkedIn has 135 million unique visitors per month and ranks 26th overall in the entire world (as of August 2012).

One month ago, said Nishar, the site launched a new design for the “LinkedIn Company” pages. It features insights into what is going on at a given company, and potentially it can share fresh information. On one corner of the page, the new design features “How You’re Connected,” listing “First Degree Connections” (people you know), “Second Degree Connections” (people those people know), and total employees of that company who are members of LinkedIn. Nishar added that the new company pages also feature a products section and a careers section, and that currently there are over 2 million “LinkedIn Company” pages.

Nishar then spoke about “LinkedIn Today.” He called it the “defacto professional trade magazine” for members and stated that by utilizing the knowledge of who members are, what members’ networks are, and what industries they are part of, it provides a tailored view of daily news they should be reading. It “gives insight and helps [the members] do [their] jobs today.”

The Product Head then mentioned that LinkedIn recently launched its “Top Leadership Series,” a sort of long-form blog which is being written by “150 of the most powerful business luminaries” from around the world. They represent 11 countries, he added, and they post “about what they care about to share it with the community.” The group includes a Nobel Prize winner and a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” grant winner. The group as a whole has authored 29 books from the New York Times Bestseller List.

Nishar also expressed his pride in the “Endorsements” feature, repeating that LinkedIn is adding 175,000 new profiles per day (about the same as 2 per second), and announced that profiles on the site are now being viewed 25 million times every day.

When you choose to bring your social media campaigns to Socialty, you can definitely count on our company’s expertise to help you to create, freshen up, and then to maintain a dynamic profile page on LinkedIn.

In 2012, it’s more important than ever that you and your company’s interests be represented accurately and honestly on websites such as LinkedIn. Isn’t it time for you to contact us? Then you can “Keep Social and Carry On!”

Watch the entire press conference at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqfefJ6SYTk&feature=plcp

Keywords: LinkedIn, members, social media, professional, socialty, connections, page design, media campaigns

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by Socialty Inc on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on December 4, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/linkedin-its-here-to-stay/

“What Should I Do?” A Natural Question Regarding Social Media Marketing

“What should I do?” It’s a natural question. What’s the best approach to use when your business is ready to take the plunge and enter one or more social media services? Socialty can guide you in the right direction, whether you’re an “old pro” or a “newbie” using the social media websites.

First, consider your reasons for using social media. Is it important to you that (relatively speaking) it isn’t expensive or time consuming? Do you feel like it will be fairly easy to do? Perhaps most importantly, is your existing customer base using it? What about potential customers? Which group(s) do you want to reach out to?

Second, ask yourself to mentally (or even better, in writing) list the goals for your business relating to online presence and social media use:

  • Do you want to match up against your competitors? That’s a reason for a lot of business owners that have been “left in the dust” behind more tech-savvy companies. There’s no shame in that, but perhaps it’s time to get serious about social media and let Socialty help you catch up with them.
  • Perhaps you just want a way to contact existing customers. “Liking” your business page on a site such as Facebook will keep the customer informed by opening a line of communication between you and them. You can tell them about special offers and discounts, for example, and they can tell you exactly what they like or dislike about your company.
  • Maybe in your case the main goal will be to promote your products or services, which in turn will increase awareness of your business. You might only need to target a small town where you’re located, or a worldwide potential audience. The best news is that social media not only lets you easily self-promote your business, but good word of mouth is readily visible from one customer to the next through online reviews, comments and discussions!

Third, it’s time to think about the costs. Better than 4 of 10 businesses choose not to budget for social media marketing. However, a majority of businesses spend something – if only a small amount of money – on leveraging social media for their business, which greatly improves the likelihood that it will result in a positive impact on the bottom line. But it need not “break the bank!” Of those businesses spending dollars, more than 1 in 4 spend less than $100. As the old saying goes, a little goes a long way! Socialty can help you stretch those dollars to get the most out of them.

Small Business Info-graphic

That brings us to another point. Who’s going to do all the work? It isn’t backbreaking, muscle-straining labor, but social media marketing is time intensive and requires thought, planning, and good old-fashioned follow-through. Many businesses don’t employ anyone to run social media efforts, but increasingly (as the benefits become more and more obvious) owners and management are realizing why they should do so. You can try to do it yourself, and sometimes that’s a successful approach.

However, we at Socialty usually hear from our customers that the plan didn’t work out. In one way or another, whether it’s a lack of time to write and post blogs or e-mails, difficulty learning the “ins and outs” of social media systems like Facebook and Twitter, or unexpected occurrences that shift attention away from the necessary upkeep like updating pages and responding to online questions, business owners often find that it’s worth using a service that has the skills needed and that will put in the time to make it work!

The next step is to figure out which social site(s) you want Socialty to target. For many businesses, using Facebook is a great place to start. According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg the site recently surpassed one billion active users every month! It is a great site for “sowing seeds” to grow your business. Many Facebook users are more likely to buy your products or pay for your services if they choose to receive updates from you via their News Feed. You can “reap the harvest” by using Facebook to increase brand loyalty and to drive repeat business back to you! To complete the circle, promoting online social media is possible through your storefronts and/or through print, radio, television, or virtually any kind of advertising.

Another of the most popular social media services is Twitter. Unofficial estimates are that over 500 million people have Twitter accounts. You can “tweet” a message of 140 or less characters (letters, numbers, symbols) to consumers who choose to “follow” your business. Of course this can be a deceivingly easy process, with a language of its own that can take time to master. What you should write, when you should tweet (and how often) can change how successful or unsuccessful your efforts are. Socialty can help by formulating a plan customized to your business, its goals, and its customers.

Other sites you may want to utilize include YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. Each of these can have a tremendously positive effect on your business, but each also has its own intricate features, strengths, and risks. For example, you wouldn’t want to post a video on YouTube that acts as a commercial for your business, only for a rival business or disgruntled customer to write hate-filled or obscene comments about it! Socialty can protect your online reputation and also help direct complaints to the appropriate people for resolution.

In short, Socialty is ready to help you today to reach your goals in social media marketing! If you have a plan, we can help you execute it. If you need a plan, we can help you create one.

The best approach is to let Socialty create, update, or take over your social media program. Your business will be in great hands with a professional company, you won’t have to worry anymore, and you can “Keep Social and Carry On!”

 

 

Links to the sites Referenced above:

 

http://www.intuit.com/websites/small-business-social-media-infographic/

 

http://newsroom.fb.com/News/One-Billion-People-on-Facebook-1c9.aspx

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_virtual_communities_with_more_than_100_million_users

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by Socialty Inc on November 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Social Media
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Posted by Socialty Inc on November 3, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/what-should-i-do-a-natural-question-regarding-social-media-marketing/

Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses… Why Socialty is for you!!!


Ninety years ago, radio broadcasting was becoming the most popular way for businesses to reach American consumers. Salesmen touted programming in a wide variety of formats and genres, from classical music to news & weather to dramatic plays, and businesses sponsored many of the popular programs during what is now called the Golden Age of Radio. The Bell Telephone Hour, The Voice of Firestone, The Planters Pickers, and Champion Spark Plug Hour are examples of how sponsorships made corporations and manufacturers into household names in the days before commercial interruptions became commonplace.

Sixty years ago, television began its ascent as a primary medium for informing, educating, entertaining, and again, advertising. Today, 60 minutes of broadcast or cable/satellite television includes about 16 minutes of commercial advertising. It’s an expensive option, but if planned and executed correctly, businesses using the TV medium can reach thousands or even millions of consumers.

Fifteen years ago, Internet marketing became a crucial part of advertising strategy. Banner images on web sites and the often-maligned pop-up ads were early methods of using the Internet to grow your business.

During the last decade, and especially in the last few years, social media has become the cutting edge for business advertising. Social media blends the technology that many consumers have at their fingertips with social interaction. Consumer-generated “buzz” – including reviews, rumors, and reactions to official news announcements – will usually result in more traffic to company web sites, and can drive sales, increase utilization of services, and expand brand recognition and loyalty.

Social media has exploded as a business promotional tool because, unlike traditional media (newspapers, radio, television, film) social media advertising is relatively inexpensive and very accessible to almost everyone.

Which brings us to SOCIALTY. We have a simple, yet elegant, mission: helping small businesses manage their social media campaigns and online reputations. Socialty creates dynamic content, manages your presence and engages users to create word of mouth buzz. We use an online approach that focuses on sites such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. We also create blogs and email marketing campaigns that delivers your brand directly to users via email. Socialty can help a company take its brand to social media sites, paralleling a company’s existing media outlets. The ultimate benefit in optimizing social media is keeping the fans and followers of your small business interested in your products and services, and ultimately, attracting new fans and followers, and transforming them into loyal customers.

A primary concern of most small businesses is cost; “How will this decision help or hurt my bottom line?” Socialty not only understands this, but can help guide you through the decision-making process, developing a plan that fits your needs and goals.

Let’s take a look at a couple of great examples of companies that use social media to expand their online presence, reported by MP Mueller, a blogger for The New York Times.

Mueller writes that a three-year-old luxury watch e-retailer named Melrose Jewelers rolled out its Facebook page, YouTube channel, and a blog to great success. “The company has seen a 71-percent increase in year-over-year sales (and collected more than 100,000 Facebook “likes”).” This result might be better than average for many social media ventures, but a couple of things stand out in this report.

First, the marketing director of Melrose Jewelers recognized an obvious divide between groups of its customers. Facebook is great for reaching younger, technologically inclined people. For older, more wary customers, the Facebook page and its posts and comments lent credibility to the business. Even those concerned with making a high-end purchase online can be affected by the positive discussions about the business via social media!

Second, the online jeweler also used a Facebook application it commissioned from a third-party programmer to promote some of its products. Through developing a quiz that users could take, it drove buyers toward a certain item based on answers. This kind of personal tailoring is still a huge attraction to consumers, no different than the traditional sales tactic of matching a customer to a product “just right for” that person.

Nellie Alkalp, a small business owner and blogger on Mashable.com, made a couple of points that are important to remember. Just having your social media presence established isn’t enough. In a lot of cases, stated Alkalp, “a neglected social media presence will reflect poorly on your business. It’s actually better to not have an account if you don’t have the time and resources to actively manage it and participate.”

Along the same line of thinking, Alkalp also wrote that social media isn’t free. That is to say that even if building a Facebook page or creating a YouTube video doesn’t cost your business, the time and effort to build up and then maintain it will take its toll on your resources. Whether you’re a one-woman LLC, a small chain of stores, or a large corporation, working on social media takes capable people, numerous hours per month, and in general requires planning and execution to succeed.

That’s where Socialty can help you. Whether you need to take those first steps onto the social media scene, or you possess established pages that aren’t utilized enough, we will work with you to reach your goals. By understanding your needs as a small business, developing a plan for your social media can make an insurmountable task suddenly seem less difficult. By building, then maintaining your social media presence, Socialty can make your professional life easier. The goal is to get your business to where you want it, with speed, professionalism, and flair.

Socialty Inc.’s motto is “Keep Social and Carry On!” Like the old verbiage from the British Government at the beginning of World War II, Keep Calm and Carry On, we wanted a tag line that would convey just that… We’ll keep our clients social (“Keep Social”): blogging, Tweeting, Facebook-ing, and keeping them current for search engines. Meanwhile, you can “Carry On” with making your business succeed. We will Facebook, Tweet and blog clear, concise and coherent posts for the world to view.

Over the years, the media has changed dramatically. But that doesn’t mean your business has to suffer dramatically! Get the service you need. Solve your social media problems. Maximize the ways social media can help your business. Contact Socialty today and get started!

Links to the blogs Referenced above:

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/small-businesses-that-understand-social-media/

http://mashable.com/2012/06/25/small-businesses-social-media-tips/

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by Socialty Inc on October 19, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Socialty Inc on October 19, 2012

https://socialtyinc.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/social-media-marketing-for-small-businesses-why-socialty-is-for-you/

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