YouTube Preparing to Launch Paid Ad-Free Subscription Service

Streamlined Service

nypost.com

There have been rumblings of an ad-free, paid subscription-based YouTube service for some time now, but in the past few days the rumors have been confirmed by Google officials. Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s head of content, confirmed that they were “fine-tuning the experience” at the Code/Media conference in Orange County late last week.

Paid, ad-free versions of otherwise free services have been proven to work well in the past. As of mid-January, around 25% of Spotify’s hulking 60 million-strong user base are paying subscribers, a ratio that it’s been healthily maintaining for almost a year. Spotify’s traffic figures are of course utterly dwarfed by YouTube, who rake in more than one billion users every single month.

This move will also play a vital role in YouTube’s increasing presence in the movie streaming market. Some full films are available to watch on YouTube, some legally, others not. You can also pay a one-off rental or purchase fee for certain films. With a subscription service, YouTube could eliminate or at least downsize this function and move a model more similar to Netflix.

This idea was actually taken for something of a test-drive back in 2013, when certain content providers were allowed to charge a subscription fee to access certain video channels. Partners during this trial run included National Geographic, Sesame Street and the PGA. It got some attention, but not anywhere near as much as some of the partners had hoped for.

Similarly, the Music Key service was launched to invited members as a beta back in November, enabling said users to watch music videos without any advertising between them and the content.

“We’ve invited our best users - it will launch in a few months to the public. It is a very important part of business. There are audiences who just don’t want to see ads. and in music - they want things like offline access. We want to deliver to fans and we want to deliver to creators a new revenue stream. This is an important initiative for us.” - Robert Kyncl

Currently Music Key is the service being earmarked for an imminent release, but it’s clear that it’s intended as a precursor to a more rounded, complete, universally applicable ad-free service.

Source: http://www.socialsongbird.com/2015/02/youtube-preparing-to-launch-paid-ad.html

Facebook’s 2 Million Advertisers

 Facebook's Advertiser Base Doubles 

dailyinbox.com

The number of Facebook advertisers has lept from 1 million to 2 million in the last 18 months.

Facebook is always trying to find new ways to modernise and open up their website to as many social groups and generations as possible.  Right now, the focus seems to be on businesses.

As many young adults are entering the adult world, having grown up with a Facebook account, starting a business on their reliable social media network will come as second nature. As for older companies who haven’t tried online marketing until now, who will they find first? Facebook: the most popular and accessible site of their time and their children’s time.

However, with Facebook increasing their business audience more and more every few months, it is questionable if Facebook really is the best way to advertise your business.

Facebook is known for its fickle nature. In 2010 its focus was on gaming. Some people signed up to Facebook just to be able to tend to their virtual crops and livestock on FarmVille. Then in 2014 there were over 93 million people playing Candy Crush every day, most of these were through Facebook. When Facebook bought Instagram it became an even bigger platform for photo sharing as well.

giantbomb.com

So right now, advertising is where Facebook wants to excel. Since 2009, Facebook’s been trying to build a relationship with businesses, which was done through the introduction of 'Pages.' At first, all this did was encourage an onslaught of youths to create pages with vaguely amusing names whose main focus was to rack up the likes. Thankfully, they moved on and pages are now being used for the reason Facebook intended.

With a recent addition of a ‘Boost Post’ function available on pages, there really are no limits for businesses. Except you must have over 400 likes… and be willing to pay.

There are areas you can edit when boosting your post, one being budget. Basically the more you pay the more people you reach. 3 GBP will reach 1,200-3,200 on an average page with 800+ likes. At the other end of the scale, 99 GBP can reach up to 54,000 people on a similar page.  But this is for just one post and if you want it go for more than one day, and then you need to pay at least 1 GBP a day. However, allowing businesses to spend as little as 1 GBP a day, can be helpful for smaller businesses and budgets.

There have been fears that the traffic this feature brings to your page is not always legitimate; one business stated that although the likes on their page increased, the actual interests and locations of these people were not suitable for their product.

However, what seems important is to remember to edit all the settings that are available and make sure you’re specific with location and target audience, or you could end up wasting your money.

Facebook’s efforts have been impressive and although Google is still in the lead with over 4 million advertisers, Facebook has done in less than 3 years, what it took Google to do in five.  The fact that advertisers in Facebook are increasing at such a rate seems to suggest that this method is working.

Source: http://www.socialsongbird.com/2015/02/facebooks-2-million-advertisers.html

Instagram Introduces New Analytic Tools

 App Becomes A More Viable Tool For Brand Promotion

Ever since Facebook bought Instagram for a cool $1 billion back in 2012, the photo sharing site has been in an enviable position. With the economic support of Zuckerberg’s social media empire behind it, it has been able to grow and develop without the immediate pressure of having to monetise the attention of its 150 million+ dedicated users.

Nothing good lasts forever, though, and the time has come for Instagram to start turning its attention to the uncool issue of revenue generation. That spectre has been floating around the app for about a year now, since Instagram started inserting ads into users’ feeds back in late 2013. Additionally Facebook leaked their Snapchat rival bolt via an Instagram banner ad last month, so users have had plenty of time to get used to the idea of beautifully filtered photos trying to sell them stuff.

Source: techcrash.net

Now it seems as though the app is starting to get serious about appealing to marketers. It’s rolled out a suite of deeper analytics to allow advertisers greater insight into how their campaigns are performing and being shared – or not, as the case may be. Although the service has been selling ads for a year, it’s been difficult for those investing to have any real ideas about the returns they’re getting. So far the system has relied upon the Instagram team manually updating advertisers on how their campaigns are getting on, which is good for building relationships with marketers but not so great if clients want a more data-heavy idea of how they’re doing.

While the new system will allow advertisers to see how their campaigns are doing in real time, they won’t be able to make adjustments with the same flexibility; for example, by making increased on-the-fly investments in campaigns which are garnering unexpected levels of attention. Presumably this won’t be long in coming, however.

On a functional level, businesses will not only be able to see how their investments are working but will be able to plan and execute them via a dashboard interface on their desktop – previously advertisers have had to operate via mobile along with the rest of Instagram’s users.

Source: oficinadamarca.com

When it comes to encouraging marketers to see their site as a viable option for investment, developers have two ways to go. They can alter the experience of using the app to make it easier for advertisers to get greater access to users, as Twitter have done in their recent decision to insert favourited tweets in people’s Timelines, even by people who the user doesn’t follow. The problem with this, as Twitter have discovered, is that people don’t like having unwanted content shoved in their faces for sake of appealing to marketers.

The alternative, which is the route Instagram seems to be following (for now), is to set up a sophisticated set of tools for marketers behind the scenes so that they can best manipulate the platform as it is. The main advantage of this, of course, is that since users don’t see anything they don’t have anything to complain about, apart from a sneaking sense of discomfort as posts which seem to prominently feature Coke products start to crop up more and more.

Why businesses should be on social media

The social media world can be a daunting place. It's a world that is growing rapidly, with new features, platforms and apps appearing all the time. Whether for personal or for business use, it's hard to keep track of the newest trends, let alone learn how to use them. With this in mind, it's understandable why some companies want to shy away from social media. Every business, from large corporations to fledgling companies, already has an abundance of tasks to do. Social media ends up being another thing to add to the list.

The fact remains that social media is imperative in the modern business world. It's not just a phase, and it will continue to develop and grow, whether you choose to take part or not. Social media is the future of marketing and promotion, proving itself as an essential tool to boost your company. To put it bluntly, the sooner you get involved, the better off you will be. Don't get left behind.

Should you jump on the social media bandwagon? The answer is a resounding 'yes'. There have been many studies into the beneficial effects of social networking and marketing in recent years. A McKinsey & Co study in 2010 found that companies that embraced social media were “more likely to be market leaders”. The advantages of social media are clear: you can monitor your networks to figure out the return in your investments; you can easily measure the effectiveness of your campaigns; monitor the growth of your accounts and increase your social media reach. So how does it work?

It's all about understanding your brand and your customer base. With the right strategy, social media can make marketing and service a whole lot easier. You can essentially engage in your sales. Social media marketing allows you to monitor brand management whilst creating brand awareness by connecting with customers. At the same time, you can focus on service and monitor troubleshooting problems.

What could you achieve through the right social media strategy?

Exposure

Over 80% of online marketing firms report that social interaction between customers and businesses is the key to social media networking. Through word-of-mouth marketing, you are sure to boost your brand awareness. Exposure is key for growth, and virtual word-of-mouth marketing can help you achieve this. We trust friends over brands or adverts, so giving your customers a trustworthy product is essential. Want proof? A recent study showed that 75% of people are somewhat or highly likely to share content they like online with friends, co-workers or family—49% do this at least weekly (Chadwick Martin BaileyConsumer Pulse 2010).

Reputation Management

Social media allows you to monitor both your online and offline presence. You can see what customers and competitors alike are saying about your business. This is a huge advantage, allowing you to use the insights gained to fix problems. You can show your human side by answering questions on forums and message boards. This lends a personal touch to your business, which is harder to obtain offline. Furthermore, you can demonstrate the expertise you have in your niche, building trust with your consumers.

Branding

Through social media you can generate a recognisable identity. The tools available online can build up hype about your business, in a way that creates a buzz. If marketed in the right way, you can increase your social media reach. The more fans and followers you accrue, the better reach you'll have. UEFA, for example, passed the 37 million mark in 2013 due to their effective social media strategy.

Cost-effective

An online presence can save you lots of money in the long-term. Much cheaper than the traditional advert, cross-platform networking allows you to build your accounts and customer following without breaking the bank. It is time-consuming, but there are lots of options to hire people or distribute tasks. Social media marketing is a huge advantage for smaller companies, allowing them to compete with the larger corporations in some areas.

Measure effectiveness of campaigns

You can use many different platforms, such as Google Analytics, to monitor your online presence. Thus, you can review which online campaigns are successful. It allows you to analyse and track engagement and progress year-over-year, so that you can move forward faster by learning your former faults.

Boost your search engine rankings

The more of an online presence you have, the higher you may be in search engine rankings. If you want a higher ranking for your online networks, you can include follow links. These can be found on many networking platforms or news sites.

Explain yourself

With 24-hour customer interaction, can come 24-hour customer complaints. Well, hopefully not, but should the situation arise, be proactive about it. It is much easier to show an understanding, trustworthy side to your business online. If customers can see that your business is accessible and trustworthy, they are more likely to walk away satisfied. Through negative comments you may end up making huge improvements to your company. You may even end up finding new ideas for your business.

So start simple: establish your presence on a network that is in tune with your brand. Once you've got to grips with this, you can start to cross-promote across other platforms. So take a deep breath, dive in and get social. You won't be disappointed.

2013's Top Memes and Viral Videos

So 2013 a lot has happened online and offline, we've got a new Pope after Pope Benedict retired for the first time ever. But 2013 surely will be known as the year that marketeers didn't fill the pockets of the television execs but instead invested heavily in online advertising and had much success. Finally cracking the internet and getting videos shared and viewed across the world. Some people will question the ethics of this but what ever happens we had a lot of laughs on the way.

January Duke Street Hazard

Slipping over can be a painful and embarrassing thing to happen to us, however in January 2013 of this year a street in Norwich became an overnight hit. With the recent bad weather and the pavements being very icy, you'd be foolish not to try and record the outcome. Hence forth the Duke Street Hazard arrived. An 8 minute long video with a catchy dance number added to it has got over a million views. I'm sure it created a lot of laughter at many offices up and down the country.

February The Harlem Shake Arrived!

Cam from the land down under with 4 friends just mucking around and at its peak had 4,000 different versions of the craze being uploaded to YouTube every day. Although The Harlem Shake wasn't just a viral hit it changed the future of music. With the US chart company Billboard counting YouTube popularity in its listings. The song itself was a true viral hit with the original inspiring others to re create their own.

March The Lad Bomb

Invented by Chris Stark and his friends is a drink which is one part Jager the other being double vodka red bull. However this wasn't the viral hit. Christ from Radio 1 was sent down to go interview Mila Kunis about her latest film. This being Chris's very first interview with such a big star he is terribly nervous. But what results is something amazing Chris goes completely off topic giving Mila an insight into his laddish lifestyle and invites Mila to come watch the football with him and eat some chicken. It was like an awkward scene of someone trying to chat a women up at the bar but in this case was supposed to be an interview. But Mila found this hilarious and didn't want to talk about her film she wanted to learn more of the Lad Bomb and Sir Dosser. This is probably going to be the only time you see genuine interaction from a Hollywood superstar.

April The Biggest hit of the year

Not even David Attenborough could describe what is going on in this video but with over 90 million views and still counting 'how animals eat their food' is the hit of the year. Two friends some cardboard boxes cheap outfits and some plastic plates have created an amazingly funny video which has been shared across the whole world for everyone to enjoy and shows you don't have to spend a lot of money to make something go viral.

May The Social Media Savvy Astronaut 

Chris Hadfield was given this name by Forbes. but by tweeting and showing the world what his work was like working on the international space station is one way to get your name remembered by millions. But as a final sign off he sang David Bowie's Space Oddity from the station itself surely the first of a long line of music videos to appear from space. But heres to you Chris Hadfield for starting the trend.

June The Posh Burger

Chancellor George Osborne was working late one night preparing a speech and decided to order in a burger for himself to eat while working away at his tasks. While this was happening one of his aides took a snap and posted it to Twitter. This led to a huge backlash against Osborne as many people suggested this was a posh burger nothing of the greasy kind you would get a normal person eating after hours. This wasn't the end of the politicians plight into pictures of themselves while eating at their desk. Eric Pickles is a larger member of parliament, he brought many laughs on twitter when he tweeted himself eating a salad only a few days after the whole Osborne affair. Many people condemned this also has sly PR work as many people didn't believe Mr Pickles would be eating a salad.

July Sharknado

The picture says it all really. Sharknado, that's a compound word of shark and tornado - fit neatly into the "so bad, it's good" category of straight-to-TV movie. It was so popular though that a sequel was commissioned and fans on twitter were able to choose the name.

August Enter Twerking 

In August Miley Cyrus well and truly left her old image of Disney's Hannah Montana behind after her performance at the MTV VMA awards with Robin Thicke.

Enter a big foam hand a scantily dressed Miley Cyrus and Twerking became popular leaving most of the world with the mouths wide open over what they had just seen. But for Miley this was just the start and had everyone across the internet talking about her.

September Twerking Fail

This unfortunate video appeared in September of a girl trying to twerk upside down against a shut door but her friend opens the door sending her body crashing into the table and setting her legs on fire, where the video abruptly cuts. However, many people have asked whether the video had been faked after the girl in the video was interviewed on television.

October The Fearless Rabbit

In a lifetime certain things will happen and you'll look back and tell your friends such an unbelievable story that they would never believe and your left saying you should have been there to see it. Well thanks to YouTube now this has all changed you can capture even the strangest events.

This fearless rabbit chased and ran along side a van in Scotland in the dead of night not showing any fear from the fact it could be killed instantly. This video goes on for 5 minutes and brings these unbelievable stories to life.

November Serge the Party Llama 

When you go down to your local and think of things that your going to see that night. A Llama doesn't come to mind but a group of friends in France made this possible taking Serge on a night out with them. They were live tweeting his every movements of the night and also was pictured across several hundred twitter accounts.

December How to lose your job in 30 minutes

The final star of 2013 is Justine Sacco who literally lost her job in 30 minutes.

Justine a PR executive in the US had just boarded a plane to South Africa. By the time she had landed, she had lost her job, following a worldwide wave of criticism and a hashtag #hasjustinelandedyet - that trended around the world. Its fair to say that Justine has apologised and hopefully 2014 will be a better year for herself.

Best Times To Post On Social Media

Website Traffic From Social Media Sites

No matter what products that you sell online, you need traffic to your website. Traffic is absolutely essential to the success of any online business owner (and website), and the more of it that you can get, the better. It's something that you will want to learn and master if you want to get a constant stream of new traffic coming through.

In today's lesson, I want to go over some of the free "social" traffic strategies that you can use to drive lots of visitors to your website. They are all easy if you actually use them, but if you don't attempt and use them, how will you get traffic to your site? Here's the first way to get traffic to your site socially:

1) Social marketing
Social marketing is a very popular technique for marketing online. A lot of people are getting great results from using Facebook advertising, and I'm confident that you can do the same - but not necessarily from Facebook. There is Pinterest, Instagram, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Google+. So you're not limited to the social sites that you can market on.

There's also "social bookmarking". Some of the major social bookmarking sites are Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious, and more. To ignore these sites and this strategy is to limit your overall income. So be sure to use them. Here's another way to drive traffic to your site:

2) Blog commenting
With blog commenting, all you're doing is responding to blog posts with a high quality response that has relevance to the blog post - and that can help people to solve a problem, or achieve a goal. There are tons of blogs online that you can do blog commenting on. Just make sure they're within your same niche.

You can find related blogs by visiting the blog directories online, or simply doing a simple Google search. I do this all the time in my business. But honestly, I find that by doing a simple Google search helps me to find some high quality blogs - faster than just by visiting a blog directory. Here's another way to get traffic to your site:

3) Podcasts
A podcast is simply an MP3 audio file that contains information on it. You can find most podcasts from the site called "iTunes" (it's owned by Apple). This is similar to video marketing, but in some ways it's much more effective. Unlike YouTube where you can display your website address at the bottom of your video... with Podcasts, you will have to repeat and re-state your website address throughout your podcasts. But this is a minor issue.

When you create podcasts, always use your own voice. Don't try to skimp through things by using a "text-to-speech" robot. The quality of such a device is incredibly horrible. It's unappealing, and will drive your podcast users somewhere else. So don't use the speech software - always use your own voice.

Take these 3 traffic tips and use them in your online business today. It will definitely be beneficial to you.

Good luck with getting traffic to your website today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8087404

How to Write a Rockstar Twitter Bio

What does your Twitter bio say about you? Don't think in terms of cold, hard facts — what does it really reveal about you to others?

As we've recently discussed on Mashable, your bio is one of the major factors that people take into consideration when deciding whether or not to follow you on Twitter, but it's even more important than that.

Your bio is searchable within the Twittersphere, meaning you need to think carefully about keywords. It will show up in search engine results for your name, so it has to represent the true you. It's also how you choose to present yourself to Twitter's 230 million users, so it's worth giving it some serious thought.

The Bio as an Art Form

Whether or not you agree with the The New York Times' rather grandiose statement that the Twitter bio is a postmodern art form, it's certainly a skill to distill the essence of your complex, multifaceted personality (or so we'd all like to think) into 160 characters.

Embrace the space available. Don't think of the allowance as a limitation; think of it as an opportunity to be concise. When you write your bio, actually compose in the window Twitter allows. This will help with structure.

Are you creative or commercially minded? If you fall into the commercial camp, it may help to think of your Twitter bio as a a copywriting exercise. The product is you and you have 160 characters not just to summarize it, but sell it to an indifferent, anonymous audience.

If you're more creative, you might enjoy approaching a bio as you would a poem. Every word you use must justify its place on your limited canvas, add meaning, appear in the correct order and work as a whole. 

 

The Bio as a Cliché

"Coffee expert. Twitterholic. Internet advocate. Music aficionado. Wannabe entrepreneur." This might read as a totally believable Twitter bio, but it is in fact gobbledegook: made-up, buzzword nonsense from the "Twitter Bio Generator".

Developed by Josh Schultz, the generator was designed to poke fun at the list-based bio format so beloved of key-word-minded Twitter users.

"I created that site a few years back just for fun, when I noticed a lot of similarities among Twitter bios," Schultz explains. "Folks using short, punchy phrases to describe themselves, including an inordinate number of 'social media experts' and all manner of 'mavens.' It was actually a bit of a joke: I included bits that could describe practically anyone on the Twitters, and threw in a few silly things, for flavor."

Could your bio be easily interchangeable with A. N. Other's Twitter bio? Could something you've written in your bio appear in the Twitter Bio Generator's database? Then you need to think of ways to make yourself stand out. 

Bio Basics

This should be obvious, but from the amount of typo-ridden bios out there, it bears repeating. Your bio must have perfect spelling and grammar. There are no excuses for mistakes. Run your text through a spellcheck tool or get a buddy to check it for you, but be sure what you've written is error-free.

Secondly, be consistent. If you are going for the list-based format, decided whether you're separating words with commas, periods or vertical bars, and stick to that. Capitalize consistently by choosing to write the entire thing in either sentence case or title case. The same goes for if you're mentioning usernames or using hashtags (e.g., @JohnSmith or @johnsmith, or #Football or #football) — keep to the same format for every example. 

 

Learn From Others

Don't create your bio in a vacuum. Do some research, study the different styles of bios out there and read what other Twitter users have written — especially ones with large followings.

When you've followed someone on the strength of his or her Twitter bio alone, consider what it was that prompted you to hit the "Follow" button.

Sarah Milstein, the 21st user of Twitter and co-author of The Twitter Book, has the following straightforward advice: "Look at a bunch of Twitter bios, notice which ones you like best, write a bio that imitates those." 

 

Find Your Unique Sell

From a professional perspective, make it clear exactly what it is that you do. This helps differentiate you from others with similar bios. Don't just state you're in a sales role, mention the industry in which you work. If you're a recruiter, what kind of candidates are your speciality? Do you work in marketing? Which industry sector?

"Your Twitter bio should position you as an expert in your field who serves a specific audience," states Dan Schawbel, author of Promote Yourself and Me 2.0.

"The objective is to position your personal brand so you're using the right keywords and clearly showing what your focus is so people read it and know exactly what you do and whom you serve."

As well as widening your appeal for potential followers, Schawbel suggests this tactic may help your future job prospects.

"I did a study with American Express and we found that 65% of managers are looking to hire and promote subject matter experts. The problem is that most people position themselves as generalists or 'Jacks-of-all-trades,' and that won't work in this economy," he says.

Consider SEO

The words you use in your bio don't just add up to create a picture of you, they carry some serious SEO juice. Tools such as Followerwonk can search Twitter bios on a keyword basis. Carefully consider what topics you'd like to be discoverable under, as you never know who might be searching for just those subjects.

"Followerwonk helps users find people through bio search, which is incredibly powerful for niche audiences and building brands," says Erica McGillivray, social community manager for Moz, the company that created Followerwonk.

"On Twitter, it's all about first impressions, while finding the right audience, whether you're reaching out professionally or just looking for new friends. By optimizing your bio to give the perfect details — your interests, location, job, company, love of cupcakes — you're telling the world why they should follow you. Why you're important," she says.

It's not just Twitter search you have to consider, but wider searches from third-party engines. "Write a bio that will motivate others to follow you on specific topics, those you most often tweet. Use keywords and be direct," says Michael Dobbs, group director of SEO at digital marketing agency 360i.

With news that Google Search has recently made moves to include hashtag searches, Dobbs also suggests: "Consider adding hashtags on keyword topics you'd like to be discovered against."

Be Unusual

"The idea behind your bio is that you want to provoke enough interest so that somebody will follow you back," Mark Schaefer, author of The Tao of Twitter, says. "Be honest and give at least a hint of what you do in the real world. Then, add something unusual or funny to stand out. For example, I identify myself as a consultant, author and social media bouncer. That often starts a conversation!"

On an online platform of over 200 million users, it can be hard to stand out, so don't be afraid to let your quirks show and don't hesitate to use humor in your bio. If you have an unusual hobby or a niche passion, include it, especially if it's something you're likely to tweet about.

"Your bio should reflect who you are, your values and what you have to offer others," states Louise Mowbray speaker, coach and branding consultant.

Most importantly, use your bio to let people know what you're going to bring to their Twitter streams — how following you is going to enrich their Twitter experience. After all, as Mowbray says, "Twitter is all about giving something of value to others for free."

Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Mobile Marketing - Using Social Media On Mobile Phones

Nowadays people use their mobile phones for many reasons, they spend a lot of time connecting with friends and accessing social media networks to share information, pictures and news. The majority of smartphone users will have a number of apps, but research has shown that the most frequently used of these apps are the social media apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The question this poses is in what ways and how often are people using their mobile phones to access social media networks?

Image www.gsmnation.com

Social networks were created on the premise of sharing your interests, photos, events, and recent news with groups of friends and have recently become increasingly used by mobile phone users due to the ability to update your status, to tweet and share photos instantaneously. This has changed the nature of social media sites, making them ways to share things in real time, which we would otherwise not have been able to do. This ability to update your social media profile immediately has led to increasing access of social media on smaller, portable devices over traditional desktop usage and findings have shown that smartphones and mobile devices are now the primary portal used to access services such as Twitter and Facebook. Improvements in access to 3G and 4G networks has further increased the access of social media by mobile users meaning we are even more likely to turn to using social media on a portable device.

Studies have even shown that social networking is now the most frequent activity on mobile devices and is even more common than gaming, with the average time spent on social networking apps by phone users being 24 minutes a day. In a Mobile Consumer Survey by Adobe in 2013, 71% of people were reported to use their mobile device to access social media. Research has also found that people are twice as likely to use social media on smartphones than on tablets, due to the fact that tablet users act more like they would on a desktop computer. This suggests that it is the small and portable nature of a mobile phone which is one of the main factors which leads people to use social media more as it allows them to update their profiles and statuses as events happen. For instance, mobile use of social media networks also allows people to check-in their location immediately when they are on the move so that they can inform their friends of their current plans. Access to social networks through smartphones has made this kind of communication possible, when previously real time updates on social media could not be carried out.

As the recent article on consumer behaviour and time spenton social media stated, people are increasingly using social media to alleviate boredom and as a way to entertain themselves. As young people these days constantly have their phones on them, and in the US 91% of adults have their mobile phone within an arm’s reach 24/7, it isn’t surprising that they will often access social media websites from their phones as a method of entertainment. This makes social media a good platform to connect with a wide audience of people, who will be reachable instantly through their smartphones.

Image www.flowtown.com

The increasing use of social networking apps specifically created for mobile phones, such as Instagram has also added to the increase in use of social networks on smartphones. This has increased the ability to instantly share what you are doing online with a group of friends, but can also be a valuable tool for businesses hoping to market their own products. With people constantly sharing information over social networks, using social media could be an imaginative way to target a new audience. Take a look at our past article on ‘26 Tips for Using Instagram for Business’ to see how Instagram on mobile devices can be a great way to market your brand.

Image www.theguardian.com

How often do you use social media on your phone? What do you do when using social media on your phone?

3 Mobile Tools to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

Have you figured out how to engage on-the-go prospects and customers?

Is more of your audience interacting with your business from their mobile phones?

If you want to enhance your mobile marketing, then keep reading.

I’ll show you three awesome tools that make mobile marketing easier.
Why Mobile?

Mobile is no longer something you can afford to ignore.

As customers’ adoption of mobile grows, you need to find ways to leverage mobile marketing tools to optimize their experience, no matter what device they’re on.

Whether you’ve already been experimenting with mobile marketing or are just getting started, the right tools help increase leads, engagement and sales.

In this article, I highlight three tools that offer easy ways to mobilize your social media marketing strategy.
#1: Send SMS (Text) and Video Messaging With Mogreet Express

One of the most powerful mobile marketing channels available today is SMS or short message service, which is also known as text message marketing.

SMS is a permission-based messaging tool that lets customers receive messages from you after they text a keyword or sign up using a web form.

SMS may not sound sexy, but it’s highly effective. Studies have indicated that 97% of mobile subscribers read an SMS (text) message within 15 minutes of receiving it. 84% respond within 1 hour.

Many top retailers actively use SMS to send out sales or product updates, special coupons or other important announcements. Coca-Cola focuses 70% of their mobile marketing budget on SMS/Text messaging.


Coca-Cola embraces the power of SMS to reach consumers.

So what does this have to do with social media?

Conversations with your customers shouldn’t end on Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform you currently use.

Mogreet Express lets you quickly create SMS (text) or video messaging campaigns to incorporate into social media and build a database of customers who want to receive your information and offers.

First, you create a keyword to title your campaign, and then Mogreet Express pairs your keyword with a shared short code. Make your keyword short and easy to remember.

After you’ve decided on a keyword, you’re guided through the process to set up the response customers receive when they opt in.


Mogreet Express lets you set up keywords in your dashboard to promote campaigns to your audience.

Now you’re ready to promote your campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The easiest way to do this is by using language such as:

“Become a Mobile VIP. Just text YOURKEYWORDHERE to 12345″ (this would be the short code that Mogreet Express provides to you).

Lane Bryant incorporates their call to action on a Facebook tab to connect with them. Their keyword is LBGB and their short code is 23705.


Lane Bryant added their SMS call to action to a graphic.

Once you’ve promoted your new SMS (text) campaign and customers begin to opt in,message them with valuable offers. This helps you stay top of mind, drive increased traffic (both physical and web) and create a new way to drive sales.

Set up a message to send to your customers in four steps:
Pick a send date and time. Use a marketing calendar and in just minutes, you can schedule messages for the next few months .
Choose your message type. MMS (video or picture) or SMS (just text). Adding short videos to your messages makes your communications personal and engaging.
Identify yourself in the message. Use your name, your business name or your brand, but clearly show who is sending the message.
Create your message copy. If you choose SMS, you only have 160 characters.




Mogreet's dashboard makes setting up campaigns easy.

You should include opt-out language in every message and Mogreet does this for you so you comply with the best practices of the Mobile Marketing Association. The opt-out looks something like this:


No more than X msgs/mo. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Msg&DataRatesMayApply.

Overall, Mogreet Express is a very easy-to-use SMS/MMS marketing tool for any small business owner. Incorporate your mobile call to action throughout your social media and you extend conversations with your customers beyond Facebook or Twitter. It’s a great place to start when adding mobile marketing to your social media strategy.
#2: Run Mobile-Friendly Facebook Contents With Heyo

Heyo makes it easy to build a contest on mobile that integrates seamlessly with Facebook. Not to mention it looks beautiful with the easy-to-use tools Heyo provides.

Nathan Latka, founder of Heyo, shared that Lilly Pulitzer worked with Heyo to mobilize their “Want It To Win It” tab right on Facebook because they didn’t want to miss out on all the traffic received from mobile Facebook users.


Don't miss out on all the mobile traffic to your contest pages.

To make sure mobile users receive the best user experience, Heyo’s smart URL automatically reroutes mobile users to the right location. If users are on a desktop, they’re sent to the native Facebook tab. If they’re on a mobile device, they receive the mobile contest application.


Lilly Pulitzer contest page from mobile.


Heyo's easy-to-use dashboard lets you create beautiful pages in minutes.

Heyo is the easiest way to create engaging campaigns that are social and mobile. Check out this tool if you want to drive traffic, leads and sales with a Facebook contest.
#3: Measure the ROI of Mobile Marketing With LogMyCalls

Did you know that people who search the Internet for food using their phone or tablet have nearly a 90% conversation rate? Or that 64% of searchers with smartphones convert within one hour of their mobile search activity?

One of the top converting metrics is a phone call. With such high odds of a mobile searcher clicking to call your business, tracking and measuring calls are vital.

LogMyCalls gives you a full suite of tracking features to track every call generated by your mobile advertising and measure the return on your investment.

Here’s how you get set up and start measuring which campaigns are performing the best in 4 steps.

Step 1: Select your numbers. Use your current phone number and convert it into a tracked number or choose new numbers and have calls to those phone numbers routed to your business or call center.


Select a local or toll-free number for your tracking.

Step 2: Name your route. This is where you associate the number with a specific marketing tactic. In this case, Facebook PPC.


Connect your numbers to your marketing campaigns.

Step 3: Set up your DNI. When someone clicks through from a Facebook PPC ad, a unique phone number is dynamically generated on your landing page. This allows LogMyCalls to track which online marketing efforts produced the phone call. This is done via a provided snippet of JavaScript.

Step 4: Track mobile calls generated from Facebook ads. This is your first and most basic report indicating call volume, date, time, etc.


Measure your call results with easy-to-read reports.

That’s it. When your customer is mobile and calls your tracking number from a Facebook ad, a billboard or any other mobile advertising unit, you easily identify which media outlets perform best and which convert leads to sales.

LogMyCalls makes it easy for you to understand how many leads and sales are generated from people who call via a mobile phone.

Your Turn

These tools help you reach your mobile customers no matter what device they’re on. There are more tools out there and as you use them, you need to make sure your website is mobile-friendly as these tactics ultimately drive people there.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these tools before? What other tools have you used? I would love to hear your thoughts about what works and what doesn’t. Please share your favorites in the comments box below.

How To Use Twitter As A Marketing Tool Part 1: Links

In this three part article, which will be posted in segments over the next three days, I’m going to describe some of the methods you can use, and practices you can observe, to promote your business and your products onTwitter. Today, I’m going to tell you how to post tweets containing links in order to gain the trust of your followers, increase your following and drive traffic onto your sales website.

I’m also going to describe how you can use hashtags to compliment your tweeted links. If you want more information on using hashtags than that which is provided in this article, have a look at an article we posted earlier this month, entitled “How To Run A Successful Multi-Platform Hashtag Campaign”.

URL Shorteners

Twitter’s 140 character limit means using URL shorteners in tweets is a must. Twitter has its own automatic link shortener, but it shortens links to 22 characters, which is still quite long. I wrote an article last week about SMF’s five favourite link shorteners, with bitly taking the top spot.

There are some who consider URL shorteners to be spammy, but bitly’s great features – customisable links, analysis tools and private links, to name just a few – make using the service a better option than wasting characters, even if some people won’t click on a shortened link. After all, as long as the content you are posting is good, people won’t care how the links you post on Twitter look.

Provide Value

Post links to content that will be valuable and interesting to your customers. You want to attract followers who might be interested in buying from your company so that, in the future, you can post deals and offers with links to you company website. You could even post links to deals that are exclusive to your Twitter followers, giving people even more of an incentive to follow you.

Use Twitter to break news about new products and company updates. Tweet the news with a link to a blog post or article detailing the announcement in full. If you’re announcing a product you could even post a link to a sales page. Make sure that you alternate between links to your own blog and websites, and links to other content you’ve found online that will interest your followers.

Make Them Sharable

The best way to ensure that your links get seen by as many people as possible is to make them sharable. If you provide your followers with links to interesting content, you’ve gone some way to ensuring the tweets get shared. Try not to use all 140 characters in your tweets, use around 100 so that people can put their own thoughts/comments in retweets.

As I said earlier, I’m only going to be talking about hashtags in relation to posting links on Twitter. Use hashtags to make your link-containing tweets more sharable and easier to find. Create and promote a hashtag about your industry, encouraging other users to tweet links to related content with the hashtag.

Drive Traffic

Ultimately, the reason you’re using Twitter is to drive traffic onto your website, so that more people will buy your products. You need to keep this in mind, but be careful, don’t just post links to your website and your products. As I said earlier, post links to content that is both valuable and sharable.

There is no point, however, posting valuable content if you don’t get anything in return. Make sure that enough of your links funnel your followers back to your website and sales pages where they can buy your products.

How do you use links in your Twitter strategy?

Integrating SEO and Social Media Marketing

Search engines are constantly trying to increase the search relevancy experience for users and are updating their algorithms more frequently. With search engines becoming stringent about link building policies and content usage, website owners now need to cautiously plan their SEO and digital marketing strategies.
The Twitter and Facebook revolution has forced search engines to give additional credit to social media activities. SEO and social media are made for each other pair. By integrating social media with SEO, companies can definitely achieve their digital marketing goals.

Here are some major factors you should consider while integrating SEO with social media marketing:

Picking the right keywords
Pick keywords people would normally search on social networks. Do not make a huge list of target keywords. More than 40% of the social network users engage through their smartphones and cell phones and don't like to type much while searching. Get insights from Google analytics about which keywords are mostly used by your visitors to search you.

Creating social presence
Create your company profile on all major social networking platforms. It is not important to cover all the social networks. Focus on those which are more relevant to your industry and can be easily managed. Customize your fan pages with clear call-to-action. Creating profiles on social networks is not just enough. You need to actively engage with your user community with content that adds value and helps you in reaching prospects.

Content marketing approach
Create optimized content which can be easily shared through social channels and can result increased visitors to your website. Content should be compelling and include target keywords within. Blogs, videos, articles, whitepapers, recorded events links are some of the most effective content for social marketing. Your updates and posts should be optimized with #hash tags on target keywords.

Website optimization for social media marketing
Link your website and corporate blogs to all major social profiles. Also give your visitors options to share your web pages and blog posts easily.

Setting targets for social engagement and conversions
Setting targets for new followers, replies/comments, favors/likes, enquiries, leads and sales can help you measure the ROI from social activities. Social media activities take lot of time, efforts and resources. Try integrating these targets with SEO and sales targets and ultimately with business goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7914481

A quick look at Ezeesocial (Infographic)

Social media is increasingly becoming a large of any businesses activity. There are a variety of platforms in which businesses can engage with other businesses and consumers in an instant. Ezeesocial lets you manage, monitor and engage on all your connected networks from one 'ezee' place.

Below is an infographic, detailing the main features of the social media tool. Be sure to try the 30 day free trial, and harness the power of Ezeesocial. 

Let us know your thoughts on this social media tool. 

Social Media Optimization: The 3 Reasons To Go With It

Today, social media divides people. Some people - a great majority in fact - cannot go through the day without logging onto their Facebook account. This is the little gossip area where they can know at a glance who has done what. Others not only do not use Facebook but they have an aversion for it. The gossip cloud above it has such a negative fingerprint on Facebook that they cannot see beyond it. The first group of people thinks they are embracing the trend, the second one thinks they are blessed to stay away from it.
Where is the truth in these two statements?

Let's be fair to everyone. As private person, social media is something you can totally live without. Whether you like or dislike this, tweet or not that, it has absolutely no incidence on you. However, if you are a businessman, you must step in social media. Why? Here are the 3 reasons why you do not have the choice.

• People. The majority likes social networks. We are not talking here about your competitors but about all the people you want to reach with your website, your services and your products. This is precisely why you must jump into the social wave and get carried around. Your clients are very likely to use Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You must take advantage of their dynamism to share data about your company and all the things you have amazingly done for them. People are not always ready to trust a website or ads but they already trust their friends.


• Today's Search Engines. Search engines such as Google love social media as well. Ranking algorithms evolve. In the past, counting the number of backlinks was the best way to assess the popularity of a website. However, search engines got tricked by link farms. Inbound links have lost their shine, at least the way they were. Today, ranking algorithms are more and more listening at people' opinions. Search engines can use behavioral data from websites i.e. bounce rate, browsing time etc. because it cannot be manipulated. Similarly, social networks represent a tremendous amount of data. If people like a website, they talk about it and each time they share a link, they create a backlink.


• Tomorrow's Search Engines. You have probably heard about Google Knowledge Graph. This is not quite ready yet but it represents Google engineers' dream, a world where Google knows what users want and gives them the answers regardless websites & backlinks... This feature relies on the ability to precisely identify the intent behind the query, to pull out the right entity and the corresponding data. Social networks can help building the entity around your company and it brings a web 2.0 feature to your website i.e. a dynamic interface that evolves with your company and grows with it.

You probably realize if you did not before that the social game is on. Do not worry. You will not have to go against your hatred for social networks. You always have the option to get a SEO company that offers SMO Services. Good luck and see you soon on Facebook, Twitter or Google+!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7894103

Why Social Shopping Is Great For Retailers

Social media has had a huge, positive impact on the retail world: retailers have a brand new platform to advertise on and engage with customers, while shoppers have somewhere to look for inspiration and ask for advice. Shops can also use social media to keep their fans up-to-date with new products and releases, or to post the latest offers and deals.

Retailers can employ a number of strategies, both online and off, to make the most of their social media profiles. Social media is aptly named: people use social networks to socialise with their friends and share their interests with others.

Communities:

Communities of users form based on their shared interests, where fans of particular activities, products or brands share their appreciation. Retailers can use social media communities to connect with their customers, discover more about their target market and find influencers to promote their products.

Users already access social media to find inspiration and ask their friends for advice when shopping. By ensuring that they promote their products on the right platforms, to the right audience, retailers can inspire users to buy their products, or better yet, to share these products with their friends.

Retailers can also look for bloggers and social media experts who influence the actions of other shoppers. Ask influential bloggers to review your product. A positive review on a popular blog can really boost sales. Your products might already have influential fans. Do some research online, found out whose opinion matters and ask them if they want to write about your products.

A happy, active community can help drive interest in your brand and the sales of your products.

Coordination:

Retailers should also coordinate their online and offline selling strategies. The social pinboard sitePinterest recently introduced ‘rich pins’ to the service. Thanks to rich pins, product, movie and recipe pins pinned from certain sites display more information about their subjects, saving users having to search off-site for it. Product pins display prices and link to the parent site where the product can be purchased.

Facebook has also recently released a new online shopping feature called SeeItShopIt. Using SeeItShopIt, retailers can create interactive posts, displaying catalogues of new products with prices and information clearly displayed. SeeItShopIt uses eye-catching images and clever widgets to catch the attention of the enormous Facebook audience.

By using Facebook and Pinterest as, essentially, virtual store fronts, retailers can show their wares off to a larger audience. Social media sites like Pinterest and Facebook also make it easy for retailers to measure how successful their products are online.

Social media platforms have numerous analytical features, allowing retailers to collect data on how many impressions, likes and click-throughs their products are getting. Using this data, retailers can find out which of their products are popular and to who.

Some companies are even starting to introduce social media into their shops. A lot of shops, for example, have signs inviting customers to like their Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter. Nordstrom has gone a step further, mounting in-store displays featuring their most popular products on Pinterest. Thanks to the displays, users can find popular products both in-store and online.

By keeping their social media profiles up-to-date, connecting with customers and influences in communities and adding social media furnishings to their stores, retailers can keep their customers interested, up-to-date and in a buying frame of mind.

How do you coordinate your social media presence with your in-store strategies?

How To Run A Successful Multi-Platform Hashtag Campaign

Now that pretty much every social media platform supports hashtags, more and more companies are running campaigns either centred around a hashtag, or featuring one. Brands feature hashtags at the end of adverts, TV shows feature hashtags during the credits and celebrities use hashtags to advertise their appearances. In every instance, hashtags are used to drive conversation about a particular topic, but they can be used for a plethora of other reasons.

Hashtags can be used to advertise new products and campaigns, to run competitions and contests, to ask fans for their input about a company development, and to associate a brand with a popular news item. The best thing about hashtag campaigns, however, is they can be completely free. Of course, the more you (strategically) spend on a campaign, the more you will reap its rewards. Here are a few pieces of advice to follow when planning your hashtag campaigns.

Promote It:

• If you’re about to run a hashtag campaign then make sure the public know about it. Feature your hashtag in print and media advertising, or run a larger campaign with a featured hashtag. By promoting your hashtag as widely as possible, you can make sure that people will start talking about it.

• Make sure that you promote your hashtag campaigns across all the hashtag-compatible social media sites. Even if you’re running a hashtag competition on Instagram, you can still drive conversation about it on Facebook and Twitter, even if people cannot enter the competition from those sites.

• Of course, in the case of hashtags, Twitter started it all. If you’re planning on running a large hashtag campaign on Twitter, it’s a good idea to take advantage of some of the site’s advertising features to ensure a wide audience.

Make It Interactive:

• Use a hashtag that will encourage debate – a phrase that invites the public to give their opinion or make a joke. For example, Edge Shave Gel ran a campaign on Twitter asking users to say what irritated them using the hashtag #soirritating. The hashtag trended on Twitter as hundreds of users wrote quips and comments.

• You don’t even need to get involved in the conversation: Matalan advertised the hashtag #MatalanSummerTips on Twitter recently so that fans could exchange tips and hints on the site.

• You could run a picture or video campaign across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Vine, asking fans to post content around a specific hashtagged theme. Ben & Jerry’s ran the #CaptureEuphoria campaign on Instagram, inviting fans to post pictures of themselves enjoying ice cream. All the pictures were posted on a devoted microsite so that fans could view them.

• You can even engage with tweeps in innovative ways, gaining a wider audience in the process. A few weeks ago, Honda responded to a number of tweets containing the hashtag #WantNewCar with Vine videos. the campaign was very popular, catching the attention of a number of social media influencers in the process.

Be Topical:

• Create a hashtag campaign that is themed around a big event or news story. During Wimbledon, for example, sports brand adidas introduced two hashtags into the Twittersphere: #AllinforMurray and #Hitthewinner, the latter of which was also used by entrants for an online competition. #AllinforMurray was tweeted over 20,000 times during the weekend.

• People tweeted the #Hitthewinner hashtag in order to enter a competition: Murray’s fans could use the hashtag to play a real-time game during the match. To play, they had to first select an area of the court where they thought Andy would hit a winner, then tweet their guess before each set. Millions of people watched the tennis match, so, by providing fans with a way to interact during the game on Twitter, adidas ensured a large userbase. 

Give Them An Incentive:

• Create a competition where the applicants have to use a specific hashtag to enter, or one of a number of hashtags. Vodafone Netherlands recently launched #HashtagHolidays, rewarding followers with one of eight different holidays, each one based on a trending hashtag.

• Nissan recently ran a campaign which was interactive and gave competitors an incentive. Nissan asked fans to create micro-videos using the hashtag #VersaVid. They then featured some of the videos in a TV commercial, rewarding the makers of these videos with a $1000 Amazon Gift Card.

• You don’t always have to offer a big prize; instead, you can reward the best content by featuring it in a larger campaign. The best #CaptureEuphoria photos, for example, were featured on billboards and in magazines. Wendy’s is running a promotional Twitter campaign at the moment. The restaurant is creating videos featuring singer Nick Lachey and posting them online. Fans of the restaurant brand are being asked to tweet the hashtag #PretzelLoveSongs and Lachey is then incorporating these tweets into love songs about the new pretzel bacon cheeseburger. 

• You don’t always have to come up with your own hashtag either (though I suggest that you do). JELL-O recently ran a campaign using the popular hashtag #FML. The company gave small prizes to selected people who used the hashtag on Twitter. It is, however, difficult to tell how much JELL-O’s campaign permeated into the Twitter consciousness: with such a commonly used hashtag, it’s unlikely people would have associate JELL-O with #FML. 

Conclusion:
Every month, companies are thinking of new, innovative ways of using hashtags to promote their brands on social media. If you haven’t used hashtags yet, then I advise you start: introduce a hashtag to a campaign you are running currently, or incorporate a hashtag into a campaign you’re planning at the moment. If you’re new to hashtag campaigns, make sure that you experiment a little first by trying out hashtags on various platforms. A number of campaigns have gone awry because people didn’t check their hashtags, the most famous being, of course, Susan Boyle’s #susanalbumparty. The most important thing to remember, however, when you’re running a hashtag campaign, is to use the right hashtag: one that is relevant, catchy, unique and not too long.

How do you use hashtags to promote your brand on social media?