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A survey conducted by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange can help guide your business in using social media. The average American Internet user spends about 2 hours a day on social media. Social media users average 3.6 hours a day. It's even higher for business owners, women, and senior executives. Your customers and suppliers are there, and you need to be, too. One in three Americans check brands' social media pages regularly; higher for under-35s and business decision-makers. Social media is a tool for these folks: take advantage of it. Half of Americans engage with brands in social media channels. Again, the numbers are higher for younger people and those who have jobs that involve gathering information about businesses and markets. Social media is where the action is for deals and for assessing the markets.
Either you already have the new Facebook Graph Search, or you'll have it soon. What will it mean to your local business? What new, cool things will you be able to do? Try some of these:
This is going to be fun to play with, and could be a game-changer for Facebook Page owners.
Using a personal profile for a business is the classic Facebook rookie mistake. If you haven't yet converted your personal profile to a Business Page, fix it now. Here's why:
Size matters. You want to have lots of Fans visiting your page regularly to see, Like, and share your content. Here's a concise rundown - with lots of examples - about tactics that work to get more Fans for your Facebook Page, such as content, promotion, advertising, and cross-promotion with your websites and other social media channels. The two most important things in your social media strategy: 1) grow your network, and 2) develop and share good content.
Step-by-step instructions on adding YouTube videos to Pinterest to drive more YouTube views. Learn how to leverage the power of both these popular platforms. It's easy to do. And, if you use outside contractors, it's something they can take care of for you.
Marketers often underestimate the effectiveness of Google+. Google's social media platform now boasts more than 400 million users. While Facebook is much larger and has much higher user engagement, G+ is influential and useful. Here's what you can get from having a presence on Google+:
According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, "2012 was a big year for us. We made the big transition where now there are more people using Facebook on mobile every day than on desktop." In the fourth quarter of 2012, about 15 percent (157 million) of Facebook's monthly active users (MAUs) were using only mobile devices to access Facebook. In December 2012, 680 million of Facebook's 1.06 billion MAUs were using mobile, an increase of 57 percent year-over-year. Do you have a mobile strategy in place for your website? Mobile is where the Internet is going, and fast.
Got a shiny new website? Here are four basic things you need to understand about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), from Nick Stamoulis, president of Brick Marketing, a full-service SEO firm in Boston:
It takes time and commitment to get the best out of your website, so get started now. It's not as scary as it sounds.
Your business needs to be found on the search engines, but a solid 50 percent of small businesses never update the listings they have online. Those updates are crucial to gaining visibility on Google and other search engines. A survey of 350 SMBs by Constant Contact's SinglePlatform division sheds light on why half neglect this important Internet task:
Vine, a video sharing app from Twitter, allows to users create and share short (6-second) videos that can be easily shared to Twitter or Facebook. Signing in with Twitter allows Vine to pull in account profile information, allowing someone who enjoys a Vine video to learn more about its maker. Marketers can categorize videos using standard Twitter hashtags: as users browse videos sorted by hashtag, they will see other videos from users or brands using those tags. This development will be worth watching as businesses learn how to use it.
Daniel Lieberman is the founder of Daniel Lieberman Digital ("I speak Geek - You don't need to"). Based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., he helps companies, organizations, and individuals learn to use the Internet to communicate, market, and brand themselves using the most up-to-date tools and techniques. Contact him at 413-489-1818 or daniel@daniellieberman.org.