Optimizing Social Media for Your Brand

Using social media can be an overwhelming task for many individuals. I've created a video presentation that serves to help those getting their feet wet in social media, or those looking to expand their reach. Starting with understanding your brand, we move into the do's and don'ts of how to use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. 

Feel free to watch it directly on the Youtube channel!

Social Media Facts from 2013

Battle of the Sexes in Social Media

It shouldn't come as a surprise that women are the gender that dominate social media. Women love to talk, socialize and gossip, so naturally, they would be the ones more actively involved in the "social" aspect of social media.

The men, however, they sure dominate the visual aspect taking in the most viewers on YouTube. According to the Infographic below (I know, I can't help how much I love INFOGRAPHICS!), about 25% of men watch YouTube daily, compared with 17% of women.

In video streaming, women are not too far off, but clearly men are watching more and are much more active in the professional social media pages, such as LinkedIn.

This is really important information for marketing and targeting the correct demographic for your product.

So there you have it...Battle of the Sexes in Social Media in a nutshell.

Learn the Hashtag

Here we go again with the INFOGRAPHICS...what can I say? I love them! Here's a great way to see which #hashtags you should use when Tweeting:

If you're unable to zoom...check it out here.

Create Perfect Posts on Social Platforms [INFOGRAPHIC]

So many times we post without even thinking about it. The same way many people have not filter on what comes out of their mouths, the same occurs in what they type within social media. 

I found this great Infographic on "How to Create Perfect Posts on Social Platforms" by Myclever Agency. I'm a fan of visual images when it comes to remembering and learning and frankly, this infographic is much more interesting than having me outline it; but for a detailed posting on this, check out this article. 

Create Perfect Posts in Social Media

Believe it or not, you can create a "perfect post" within each social media outlet. Maybe it won't be absolutely perfect, but it will optimize the views and reposts it receives just by following these great tips found in this Infographic. 

Infographic source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/files/2013/06/perfect-social-media-posts.png

(Source: mycleveragency.)

Learn When to Disconnect from Social Media

According to the Social Media Report 2012 by Nielsen, American's spend over 520 billion minutes online, either through their mobile device or computers.

This has increased 21% in one year. Mobile app usage alone increased 120% in one year. These numbers are staggering considering we probably look like drones over our technology usage day in and day out.

The Social Media Report 2012 by Nielsen

While I love the benefits and opportunities that social media offers, such as networking and marketing, it is incredibly important to know when you just have to shut it off.

Amanda Bynes vs. Rihanna

In light of the current storm between Amanda Bynes and Rihanna, I thought it only appropriate to drudge up a previous blog post I wrote.

In January of this year, I posted on "Celebrities in Social Media: Best and Worst" where I voiced my opinion on celebrities championing the social media arena, while one celebrity, not so much; of course, out of ALL the celebrities that failed in social media, I chose to highlight Amanda Bynes.

Periodic Table of Social Media

While I hated science and especially the Periodic Table, this a creative way to layout social media that we use today.

Provided by Social Media Today, here's an insightful infographic:

Source: http://visual.ly/2013-periodic-table-social-media

Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Media

Source: SocialMediaDelivered.com

If you're going to invest your precious time in social media for yourself, company or organization, make sure you're getting the most out of it.

You may have great content and exciting tweets, but if you're not posting it at the most opportune times, you may just be wasting it.

Social Media Work Flow [Infographic]

Tips to Increase Website Traffic Using Social Media

According to Hubspot.com, social media accounts for 1 out of every 6 minutes spent online. If social media accounts for 1/6 of the time people spend online, what is your business doing to capture some of that attention?

Check out this quick video showing how to generate leads through social media.
NOTE: This is an advertisement for Hubspot's services, but the stats represented in the video are great for understanding how social media can create business for you.

After seeing the importance of using social media to generate traffic, what is the next step?

Stay relational in a digital world

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Source: http://www.nielsen.com/

It is easy to be consumed in social media, since it has become the norm in the United States. According to the Nielsen Social Media Report, Americans spend over 2 billion hours on social media per month. 

 

As a society, we are spending more time in the digital world than the real world. 

 

Let’s face it, unless you live under a rock (or are Amish) there’s no real way to avoid social media interaction in the digital world (if you’re reading this, you’ve made my point). Even those that have tried to avoid it for so many years have succumbed to its addictive nature.

Social Media Legal Woes

With the amazing growth of social networking and social media, it’s only natural that there be legal implications resulting from the millions of users that participate in it daily.

For millions of users to be on any given platform, such as Facebook and Twitter, those numbers ring loudly with advertisers and affiliate partners. They want your attention, especially if they can gear their advertisements towards the specific demographic they want.

As a result of the bottom line, the privacy policies from these social networks has changed to include the distribution of personal information to affiliates and advertisers. This hasn’t gone without notice from the general public.

Here are just three legal controversies that have taken place in the social media world in the last year:

1) Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts

December 2012, Morgan Stanley was sued by a Massachusetts regulator for “violating the terms of a 2003 settlement that involved 10 brokerage firms being penalized for allowing investment bankers to influence research functions during the dotcom bubble,” as covered in Forbes. This occurred after Facebook went public in May of 2012 and “stocks falling flat shortly after” (Schaefer, ¶1).  

With Wall Street banks informing only certain clients and not all investors of their views on the growth outlook for Facebook, those investors that were left out of the loop complained and sued.

Also sued were Facebook and its executives. BBC reported on the same issue in a broader view in this clip:

 

First of all, with Facebook being the largest social media network with the most amount of users, it’s 95% guaranteed that most social media legal controversies will include them in some way, shape or form. As big as they are and as much control as they have, they will forever have their legal team busy in lawsuits.

As an avid user of Facebook, I understand that it’s a business, but in essence what they sell is our information and what our hobbies are to advertisers (I find that a little disturbing, but hey, I’m using it for free).

With that being said, this lawsuit was completely merited. The stock market is very tricky and can lead to huge legal implications if not used fairly and with best practices. What Morgan Stanley and Facebook did towards their investors was unethical, to say the least. That much was clear, which is why Morgan Stanley paid the $5 million fine to settle the charges. Steve Schaefer reported that even though Morgan Stanley paid the fine, they did so “without admitting or denying wrongdoing” (¶2). I guess this is one of those gray areas in life that money hungry people always seem to cross.

2) Facebook vs. Document Security Systems (DSS)

Here we go again with Facebook…real shocker! In this lawsuit, Facebook is being sued for patent infringement. Forbes contributor, Richard Finger stated, “The science behind these patents suggests that it facilitates the storing, retrieving, and sharing of documents” (¶2). In a press release quoted by Forbes read: “[These] innovations cover the manner in which users and application developers on the Facebook platform make connections between ‘objects, photos, people, events, and pages’ – which is the very essence of Facebook’s business” (Finger, ¶2).

All in all, the main way that Facebook has generated income has been through a stolen intellectual property taken from DSS and they want to make sure Facebook pays for it. It is estimated that Facebook could pay over $300 million for this over the next few years. The hearing for this case will be in July 2013 (Finger, ¶5).

This isn’t Facebook’s first run-in with stealing. The attorney’s hired by DSS are the same that got a jury to convict Facebook of patent infringement against Leader Technologies.

It’s time for Facebook to play fair! Hopefully DSS will get their earnings for the IP of the science behind the main income generated for Facebook. You would think a company as large and innovative as Facebook would create their own IP and patents instead of taking it from others.

3) Instagram Privacy Policy

  

Now this is more of a legal controversy than it is a legal case. This happened just last month and uproar ensued from users everywhere (including myself). Facebook purchased Instagram for a billion dollars, and that alone made users uncomfortable (ok, so I tried doing one without Facebook, but it just didn’t happen). Especially for addicted users of Instagram (definitely talking about myself), when the new privacy policy came out, we were very disappointed. 

Why? Check out this excerpt from one of my favorite social media blogs, Social Mouths: 

I guess for a billion dollars, they need to try to make their investment back somehow, so why not just sell all the rights of our users away and make a ton of money doing it? Unfortunately for us, unlike Facebook and Twitter, with Instagram, there’s no “opt-out”. As Will Oremus wrote in Everyone Is Ignoring the Much Bigger Problems With Instagram's New Privacy Policy, it’s a “take it or leave it” situation (¶3).

I tried uploading other apps similar to Instagram, some with even better filters, but unfortunately, none came close. So, instead of being radical and shutting down my Instagram account, I’ve continued uploading images with the awesome filters and realized this is one battle we won’t win.

References:
Finger, R. (2012, October 15). Just Another Lawsuit Against Facebook.....Maybe Not. Forbes. Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/2012/10/15/just-another-lawsuit-against-facebook-maybe-not/

Oremus, W. (2012, December 19).  Everyone Is Ignoring the Much Bigger Problems With Instagram's New Privacy Policy. Slate. Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/12/19/instagram_privacy_everyone_s_ignoring_the_real_problems_with_its_terms_of.html   

Schaefer, S. (2012, December 17). Morgan Stanley Hit With $5 Million Fine Over Facebook IPO. Forbes. Retrieved February 6, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2012/12/17/morgan-stanley-hit-with-5-million-fine-over-facebook-ipo-by-massachusetts/ 

Rihanna rocks the social networking scene

Social networking is a powerful tool for celebrities, athletes and businesses, and someone who has proven how to use it best is Rihanna.

Now you know social media has become a beast of its own when someone can be called the “most famous socialite online”, and yet that was a title given to Rihanna as she continued to break record numbers of fans and followers in social media.

Ranking #5 on Twitter followers starting 2013, Rihanna dominated social media in all of 2012. For the past two years, she and Lady Gaga have vied for the top place, but 2012 was her year. 

Generating the right leads

In my last post, I briefly discussed building an audience in social media using the online platform of the web to our advantage. Within those points I mentioned, the first was “Be specific in your marketing efforts.” This can make all the difference in the world.    

So once you have chosen your marketing strategy and have launched into the social networking within your demographic and target market, how do you generate more leads?

Building an Audience

When starting up a business, there are so many factors to consider, but the most important will be “How do I make money?” People don’t start up businesses to lose money and work hard with no compensation. Everyone who starts a business does so either because they want to do something they love and make money doing it, or they found a need they can fill and make money filling it.

Either way…it’s to make money. How do you make money? 

Creating a buzz using Social Media

Inspired by a reader's comment on a previous post, I decided to write about how to create buzz as a business in social media.

So where do you start?

A Day in the Life of Social Media....

Social Media is taking over our lives and society...by choice. We wonder what we did 10 years ago without it. You can't leave your home without your cell phone or all is lost.

We've become so dependent on technology and "staying connected" that we don't know what it is to not have access to Internet for over a day...I'll tell you what it's called: VACATION.

Check out this great video that gives a quick overview of a day in the life of social media.

One major point in this next video triggers many of my future blog posts:

"Only 14% of people TRUST ADVERTISING, and 90% TRUST RECOMMENDATIONS via social media"

Guess what that means: advertisers have already and will continue to infiltrate our trust, emotions, and buying decisions based on "recommendations" we see from other friends and family members participating in social media.

Check it out:

Power of Social Media