Social Media Roundup - February 2013
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Social Media Roundup - February 2013

Social Media Usage: What It Means to Marketers

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.

Facebook's New Graph Search Provides Local Opportunities

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:

  • Find people who are already customers and fans of your business and make them a great offer.
  • Discover local journalists who have mutual contacts and give them a fresh story.
  • Find new talent to hire.
  • Survey people who are interested in a specific product.
  • Create a great photo gallery from photos your customers have taken. Search for photos of your location and ask for permission to share them.

This is going to be fun to play with, and could be a game-changer for Facebook Page owners.

Facebook: Fan Pages Are for Businesses, Profiles Are for People

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:

  • You are actually in violation of Facebook's user agreement, and could be shut down. You wouldn't like it if that happened.
  • You have no way of tracking how well you're doing on Facebook. There's a lot more information available to a Business Page owner than to a profile user.
  • You don't have access to any of Facebook's tools for promotion and advertising to more than 1 billion people (and counting).
  • The new Facebook Graph Search will soon change how people find information on Facebook. Until you have a Business Page that people can Like, you won't be able to harness the power of Graph Search.

How to get more "Likes" on your Facebook Page

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.

8 Tips on Getting More YouTube Views: Add Videos to Pinterest

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.

7 Reasons You Should Consider a Business Page on Google+

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+:

  • It's growing fast (it's the fastest-growing social network ever).
  • It influences search ranking for websites, because shares or "+1s" (the Google equivalent to the ubiquitous Facebook "Like") influence rank on search engine result pages.
  • It improves your ability to be found locally, because Google+ Local pages are indexed into Google's search results. If you have a business that you want found in local searches, G+ is a no-brainer for you.

Facebook Embraced Mobile in 2012 - Did You?

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.

SEO: 4 Reasons You Need It

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:

  1. SEO is long-term.
  2. Always put your visitors before the search engines.
  3. There is no secret to SEO success.
  4. Link building is forever.

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.

Update Your Online Listings Today!

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:

  • Many small businesses have seen inaccurate listings and become discouraged.
  • 70 percent say they don't have time.
  • They have no idea how to optimize their online presence. This is something a good local SEO consultant can help with.

Twitter's Vine Video Sharing App Opens New Marketing Possibilities

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.

Published: February 20th, 2013

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