The Increasing Trend of Social Media {Infographic}

 Social Media  No Responses »
Apr 162013
 

Social media are creating a big revolution in our society.  Because of the big influence of social media, businesses have to spend long hours every week on social media to ensure their business growth.

  • 50% of mobile traffic in UK is for Facebook.
  • YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
  • The huge number of followers of Facebook is sufficient to become the third largest country in the world.
  • A new member joins LinkedIn every second.
  • Pinterest has the distinction to become the fastest site to achieve 100 million visitors in 2012.
  • Over 100 million people are using Instagram.
  • Over 200 millions people are active on Twitter.
  • Only 14% trust advertisements.
  • Social media is used for business by 93% of marketers.

In 2012, every minute in every day, 100,000 tweets were sent, 1684,478 posts were shared on Facebook, 2 million searches were done using Google and 48 hours of videos were uploaded to YouTube.   Such a revolutionary influence of social media impacts offline behavior of people also in a big way. For example 1 in 5 couples meet online. 3 in 5 gay couples meet online. 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.

Increasing Trend Of Social Media

NO Facebook! Google Plus is the Key to Earn Small Business Success!

 Social Media  No Responses »
Apr 092013
 

google plusOf late, there is a lot of discussion surrounding Google Plus and the way it’s useful for business promotion especially for smaller business ventures. The fact is, since its inception, Google Plus has been a beneficial place for business promotion, much better than Facebook and other social media sites. Hence smaller businesses, which were leveraging this social media platform, are seen getting outstanding results in terms of conversion and revenues. Since it is owned by Google, the giant search engine, it could prove to be a great gateway to flourish your business online. The below is the list of ways to earn success for your smaller size businesses on Google Plus.

It’s growing with a faster pace

If you check the growth of Google Plus, the rate of growth and its popularity in terms of social domain seems to be much faster than Facebook and other social networking sites. Facebook was launched in 2004 has now reached to 800 milliongoogle plus users, while Google Plus in less than two years has pumped in more than 400 million people over it. Technically speaking, the growth rate of Google Plus seems to be four times than Facebook. Small businesses often look for growth, hence to get success in less duration Google Plus could be the option for you to promote your business online. Lastly, considering the presence of Google, you get better search results with Google Plus when you consider it in your online marketing strategy.

Better search results

The search results that you find having images is often the posts by different Google + users. The number of Google + account holders makes this happen over the search results. It is usually accepted that the posts, which are carried out by qualified users are now be able to influence the search results and thus gain better ranks. Also, Google Plus users are now being considered as more trusted users as compared to other social media sites, hence they are more likely to give better results over the number of searches carried out over Google. If you are able to post quality content for your business, the results you get would be far better than the others. Lastly, with competent business promotion strategy, you could end up getting more local searches, which is not possible over Facebook or any other social media sites.

Better tools for your business marketing

Google is a big family wherein you could find a number of tools and products available online, that can help you in your business promotion provided you base your online marketing strategies on Google Plus. Once you start using Google Plus for your business promotion, Google will help you in providing better ways through its various tools like Gmail, Maps, Search, and YouTube to make your business venture more visible before your target audience. Small businesses can therefore employ a good team based on experiences marketers to create effective content and promote their products and services over Google Plus along with linking up relevant content found with different authors and users. In this way, with competent strategy over Google Plus, you can end up getting favorable search results for your business.

Final word

With passing time it seems that slowly and steadily Google will be shifting all the things over Google Plus. Therefore soon, it will be used like a search engine, to find better and personalized results. At such junctures, small businesses, which struggle hard to reach to their small and specific target audiences, can find Google Plus as the best resort to find better results.

Follow Fresh View Concepts on Google+!

Facebook Business Pages: Back to the Basics

 Social Media  No Responses »
Apr 022013
 

facebook business pageWhy should your business use Facebook? With more than one billion active users and over half of those users signing on every day, it can be great way to get inexpensive exposure for your company. It gives you the opportunity to attract potential customers who would not have otherwise known about your company.  Facebook can also be a great way to provide customer service quickly and efficiently.  Facebook is most valuable when used as an extension to of your company website.

Social Media is now widely accepted as a major player in any company’s marketing mix.  It is no longer just a trend, and can have major ROI when properly implemented.

Promoting Your Facebook Business Page

So, how do customers get to your Facebook page easily?  There are a few ways.  Put a link to Facebook on your website; this is a great way to connect your customers to everything you have on the web. You can also put a link to your page in your monthly email newsletter.  This has become a standard in most emails, and can be easily integrated.  One of the ways Facebook gives you is a Custom URL (username).

To use this feature you must first have 25 fans, but it is well worth the wait, which is usually only a matter of days if you make sure to promote your page.  This gives you the ability to put your company name (if you prefer) in the link.   For example, we use FreshViewConcepts as a username, so our link is www.facebook.com/FreshViewConcepts.   A custom URL makes it easy for your customers to remember, so they do not have to go hunt down a direct link to your page.Facebook cover photo- Fresh View Concepts

Posting to Your Facebook Page

Now you are ready to start posting!  You can post about what products or services you offer, specials you are having, or company news.  But be careful, you do not always want to talk just about your company.  Although your fans follow you because they want to know more about your company, they become “burnt out” when they hear too much.  Give them information they can really use that also complements your business.  For example, Fresh View Concepts posts about the company, but also posts about the latest trends in social media and web design.  Also, you want to make sure you are interacting with your customers.  If they comment on a post or ask a question, answer them back promptly.  This will let them know you care about what they have to say and how they are feeling.  You can also have a bit of fun and make your page fun for your fans.  Ask questions with the ‘Questions’ feature or make it a poll!  It is a great way to get customer feedback about a product or service.  If you wanted know what your customers thought about a new product, this would be the tool to use.

This leads us to EdgeRank.  Think every time you post something it is seen by everyone of your fans?  Most likely, it is not.  Facebook uses a specific formula to determine which posts each user sees.  If fans interact with your page continuously; liking posts, commenting, and sharing; this increases the chance more people will see your posts.  Links, pictures, and videos also have a higher ranking than just a regular status update, so include those when you can.  If your fans are interacting, it is more likely that their friends will also interact.  This is because of the likelihood that an interaction will post to the fan’s timeline.  Bottom line, engage your customers!

Facebook Analytics

How do you keep track of what is working and what is not?  A Facebook business page gives you the tools to track almost everything from new likes to post interactions. ‘Overview’, ‘Likes’, and ‘Reach’ tabs gives you information by weeks and months.  It tells you how many new likes you have and if it is up or down from the previous week/month; as well as how many weekly/monthly active users you have, lifetime likes, how many post views, and how much post feedback you received.   These tabs give you tons of information on how users are interacting, whether its liking a post, commenting, or even how many are unique visitors.  It also tells you what age groups and gender your users are and what country and city they are from.  Pages your users are looking at are also shown.  These tabs can give you good information on which posts were looked at the most, and can help you sort out which types posts are working best for your company.  It gives you total impressions (views) and feedback percentage (percentage based on how many fans you have).

Now that you have all the basic tools for your Facebook business page, it is time to put it to work!

Why LinkedIn is Important for Your Professional Future

 Social Media  No Responses »
Mar 262013
 

LinkedInWhile over 200 million people have LinkedIn profiles across the world, many are not actively involved with LinkedIn on a regular basis.  Many profiles are lacking professional information, profile images, recommendations, and regular updates.  One might say, ‘Well, I already have a job, why do I need to bother with LinkedIn?!’ or simply believe they do not have time to update their information.  Although LinkedIn may not be at the top of your list of social media networks to spend your time on (like Facebook), here are a few reasons for using LinkedIn that you may want to consider:

Creating Connections

Connecting with other professionals in your field may help improve your job performance.  Use your connections to learn more about your field by reading updates and asking questions.  You may find an unexpected connection that can help you accelerate your career or that could be a potential client.  Connections are also a great way to learn about networking events in your area. Interact with your connections to find out more about them.

Online Resume

Whether you have a job or not, having all of your professional information up to date on LinkedIn is a great way to promote yourself.  Your LinkedIn page is basically like an online resume and can help you add strong connections, find a job you are looking for, or tell others about your accomplishments and expertise.  Are you a business owner? It can get your business in the hands of those who can use your products and services.  Get your name out there!  You never know when an opportunity can present itself.  Listing the company you work for on your LinkedIn profile and interacting with those who are interested in the company, can help attract potential partners and clients.

Job Alerts

LinkedIn now recommends jobs that match your profile and shows job listings in your network.  LinkedIn also has an option to send out email alerts for recommended jobs.  This particular feature can come in handy for many users looking for a job, wanting to switch careers, or move up in the corporate ladder.  For those that own a business and are looking for employees, LinkedIn gives the ability to post job listings.  Many times, applying for a job on LinkedIn is as easy as showing the potential employer your LinkedIn profile, another important reason to keep your information up to date and complete.

LinkedIn Groups

Joining groups on LinkedIn can be a great way to communicate with others in your field and gain access to tons of resources.  Search for groups in your field and even groups in your area.  This can be an invaluable resource for connecting with people who can get you to where you want to be.

Follow Fresh View Concepts on LinkedIn!

Connect with Nina on LinkedIn!

5 Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers

 Social Media  No Responses »
Mar 192013
 

twitterWith more than 200 million active users, Twitter is still one of the fastest growing social media networks along with LinkedIn and Pinterest.  With this many users, it may seem inevitable that once you sign up, followers will flock to follow your account, especially those familiar with your brand.  Gaining Twitter followers is not quite that simple.  Here are five ways to help your brand gain Twitter followers and brand ambassadors:

Tweet and Tweet Often

Tweeting less than once a week is not going to put you on the fore front of news streams.  In fact, tweeting less than once a week is no recommended.  Tweet as often as you can with relevant, interesting content.

Tweet Great Content

You have put your heart and soul into your business and want to share it with the world through social media.   Tweeting great content will drive people to follow and interact with your brand.  Where do you find this great content?  Here are a few ways:

-Content Creation: Content is still king and writing and maintaining a blog on your website can provide great content for your Twitter followers, which in turn, will get them looking at your website.

-HootSuite Streams:  Pick two or three topics that represent what your business is about and topics you believe your followers will be interested in.  Create a stream (or streams) in HootSuite that will collect tweets with the keywords of your choice.  This can help sort through some of the Twitter clutter, and provide you with great content to share with your followers.

-Google Alerts:  Pick two or three topics like you did in HootSuite and set up Google Alerts to give you content from all around the web.  This can be customized to alert you once a day or in real time.  Depending on the topic, you may want real time results to create buzz around a particular topic.

Interact!

Providing great content will get your followers tweeting and retweeting what you are sending out to them.  Interact with those who are sharing your content.  Thank them for sharing and retweeting your content and strike up conversations with people you follow for discussions and debates on topics relevant to your business and followers.

Follow Others in Your Industry

Twitter has provided its users with a “Discover” tab that takes information you have provided in your profile and information you tweet about and gives you who to follow recommendations.  Following people in your industry will get you tons of great content to share with your followers, ways to interact with others interested in the same topics, and examples of tweets that work.

Make Your Profile Stand Out

Recently, Twitter has changed the aesthetics of the Twitter profile.  Now, in addition to a basic profile picture and background, your Twitter profile can also have a header picture that is 1252×626.  Use this to its full potential to represent what your brand is all about.  Make sure your bio tells the most about your company and that your profile picture is your logo or a photo that best represents your brand as a whole.

Using these 5 steps, your brand will be headed towards a socially interactive and successful future on Twitter!

Follow us on Twitter!

Pinterest Web Analytics

 Social Media  No Responses »
Mar 142013
 

Today, Pinterest has announced a new feature that will let you view just exactly what is being pinned from your website and what type of people are pinning, Pinterest Web Analytics!  This is exactly what marketers have been waiting for since the launch of Pinterest business pages in November.

With the new Pinterest Web Analytics, business pages that have switched to the “new look” of Pinterest and have a verified website, will be able to access these analytics.  Pinterest has made it easy to view these new analytics.  Simply click on Pinterest Web Analyticsyour company name at the top of the screen and click on “Analytics”. Some of the new features include:

Site Metrics

With Site Metrics, business pages can see impressions of their pins and the reach each pin gets within the Pinterest community.  Remember, these are important factors because each pin is attached to the URL it was pinned from.  Other features in the site metrics let you see what is being pinned from your website and which pins are being clicked on.

Who is Pinning Your Content

See what pinners are pinning by clicking on the tabs in the toolbar, Most Recent Pins, Most Repinned, and Most Clicked.  You can also select a specific date range for your data set and export the data if desired.  Using these analytics, you can see how people are interacting with your content and start to hone down on your target audience.  You can test content to see what is working and what may need to be tweaked.

New Look

Pinterest has also rolled out a cleaner, more organized look for their ever growing social media platform.  It is easier than ever to add new pins and boards and interact with other pinners.  With the new look, pin comments have taken a back seat, but not to worry, they are still available when clicking on the pin itself.

The guys at Pinterest were kind enough to make a short video to explain all of the great new features that were rolled out today.  Take a look!

Follow us on Pinterest!  (New pins coming soon, we promise!) pinterest

Growing Importance of Building your Online Presence

 SEO, Social Media  1 Response »
Feb 152013
 

Online marketing is growing in popularity by the day. Marketing does involve a whole lot of moving parts. More importantly, with each passing day, there is a rapid increase in the number of online elements required to carry out e-marketing. But it needs to be kept in mind that online marketing is a complete system that can be operated only by proper assembling and integration of the major parts into one single format.

Online presence is definitely the key to success irrespective of the type of business conducted to the virtual medium. It is not about the transaction procedures or social media networking or even about purchasing online ads. What matters most is how well the online presence is maintained.

It is necessary to develop or build a complete Online Presence. The process is very similar to construction of a very tall and sturdy building, floor by floor, step by step, in some specific order or stages. The stages of building an Online Presence may differ from one individual to another but the motto will be to reach the top of a virtual, integrated marketing system. Below provided is a seven-stage model to build a complete Online Presence without facing any complex jargon.

The 7 Stages of Online Presence:

Content Platform –> Organic SEO –> Email Marketing –> Social Media Marketing –> Online Advertising –> Mobile & Location –> Analytics and Conversion

Content Platform

Content Platform is the first stage that involves developing a strong listening station with certain tools like TweetDeck, Google Alerts, Sprout Social, etc. This will be the starting point from where the user will gain an insight view of the market, the available important groups, and associated competitors. This is also the stage where initial starting of the work through right keyword sorting takes place.

Organic SEO

The online presence should be such that the name keeps getting listed at the top of the search engine page. This can create a big difference between success and failure. SEO procedures can be highly time-consuming and complicated. However, online marketing and business sites can achieve positive results by following the organic SEO concept. This concept comprises of 3 major elements:

  • Informative contents filled with rich and right set of keywords
  • Ensure to make it search engine friendly
  • Drawing quality links from higher ranked sites

Email Marketing

Choose a reputed ESP and try to build a list of all those email subscribers who have shown interest in the site. In fact, social media can well be the tool to carry out this process effectively.

Social Media Marketing

Creating accounts in reputed social media sites Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can be beneficial in developing a strong Online Presence. However, a group of dedicated clients should be targeted to start proceedings.

Online Advertising

Online advertising through Pay per Click process can be very effective. In fact, creating backward link to reputed sites and vice versa can also be beneficial for the cause. Google Adware can be used to carry out the PPC advertisement process in a proper way.

Mobile & Location

The marketing website needs to be mobile and tablet friendly. Using tools like GoMobi, WPTouch, or Tekora, websites can be made mobile and tablet friendly. Mobile and tablets are extremely important gadgets these days. Hence, marketing websites that are mobile-friendly in nature and through which shopping can take place will definitely catch attention of many.

Analytics & Conversion

Measuring the success rate is extremely important and then tries to convert it into one step higher. There is no limitation to success rate. Some of the best analytics tools are Spring Metrics, Google Analytics, and Kiss Metrics

Facebook Marketing Tips for Freelance Photographers

 Marketing, Social Media  No Responses »
Dec 182012
 

Although anyone with a decent smartphone can take high-quality pictures these days, professional photographers are still extremely sought after in a wide range of markets. Even with HD video and the 4G streaming capabilities a lot of us have, nothing captures the moment like a breathtaking picture. Thus freelance photographers are still in high demand, and using Facebook to market your photography business is a great idea.

If you’re a general freelancer looking to use Facebook to market your business, you can find great tips here. But if your goals are specific to freelance photography, then the tips listed below might help you gain some recognition.

1: Let Your Profession Show Through the Page

Ambiguity doesn’t cut it with freelance photography. There’s a lot of competition out there, and unless your Facebook page actually reflects what it is you’re doing, people are going to gloss over your page. Think about capturing a user’s attentions in an understated, elegant way. You’ve seen a good Facebook page before (and if you haven’t, browse some of the top brands). They’re not outlandishly colorful or packed down with bloated page elements. They’re attractive and utilize the space wisely by taking advantage of what they post.

Most of all, however, these top pages let you know what it is they’re about. Follow the successful formula and show off your profession.

2: Step Outside of the Box

One of the top ways a freelance photographer is going to gain attention is by showing off their work. You have a solid opportunity here to turn your quality photos into unique page posts which will hopefully earn a lot of likes, start a lot of dialogue, and earn you a lot of recognition. But look beyond simply posting “quality.” Play to your market by posting unique, captivating photos that they cannot see anywhere else. Originality trumps all when you’re trying to stand out amongst the competition.

3: Market to a Broader Range

One of your goals as a freelance photographer is to earn gigs with quality publications. Another goal, equally important, is to be recognized for your work. You want to extend your reach past simply marketing for a publishers’ eyes; you want to develop a fan base and brand yourself as any business would. Face it: You’re a business now. And while you may be a business of one, it is a business nonetheless. To that end, your goals extend beyond clients. You have to get your brand out there and recognized.

4: Utilize the Facebook Platform

Choosing the right ad management app is important when attempting to fully utilize the Facebook platform. Yes, Facebook does come chocked full of features, like their Custom Audiences which allows you to market directly to your contacts, and other features to help you gain some recognition. But much of what you’ll do is ad-driven, from turning posts into ads and running multiple campaigns to successfully driving traffic to different locations. Familiarize yourself with ad-creation and management.

5: Show Some Consistency

This isn’t a single tip per say; it’s more like a wide assortment of tips under the same banner of consistency. You should set and adhere to a schedule for posting as a freelance photographer. You also need to reply to people who reply to you or who message you about information. Consistency also refers to the quality of the pictures you’re showing. It’s not enough to put your best foot forward the first time; you have to continually shatter the mold and create that proverbial “wow” with your material.

There’s no one-size-fits-all handbook of freelance photographer success when dealing with Facebook. The truth is that you’re only going to get out what you put in, and that depends on your quality, your consistency, and your willingness to brand yourself to your market. These tips can help, but it’s up to you to follow through.

How to Create a Facebook Cover Photo

 Social Media  No Responses »
Nov 212012
 

More than 1 billion people have the ability to use Facebook Cover Photos to express their own individuality.  This also includes business pages and Facebook cover photos can be a great way to let people know what your business is about through a simple picture.  Facebook cover photos can help you capture new and potential customers who would otherwise not know what your company is all about.  Many people on Facebook simply “skim” business pages, and this gives you a way to reach out to those people, who may otherwise “skim” right past your Facebook business page.

How to Make a Facebook Cover Photo

Facebook cover photos can be 851px wide by 315px tall.  This gives you quite a bit of space to tell a story.  You will want to leave a space blank in the bottom left corner for your business profile picture, normally around 190px wide by 100px tall.  A good rule of thumb is to use your logo as your business profile picture and the size this picture can be around 125px by 125px.  Here are some examples of excellent Facebook cover photos:

Our Facebook cover photo shows we are mainly social media oriented, but also have a website design side!

Facebook cover photo- Fresh View Concepts

You can also integrate your Facebook cover photo and your business profile photo so that they almost merge together as one photo.  Armani does this well.  You want to make sure that the colors and lighting match so that the transition is seamless.

Facebook cover photo- Armani

Sprite also does an amazing job at integrating the two photos.  Although they are not perfectly matched, you know that Sprite made the label bigger for a reason.

Facebook cover photo- Sprite

Another great example is Coca Cola.  They remind you why you love Coca Cola and how it makes you feel.

Facebook cover photo- Coca Cola

 

These examples are just a few of the hundreds of thousands that could help inspire you when you design your Facebook cover photo.  Make sure that your cover photo really showcases how you want others to perceive your brand. Choosing not to use this Facebook feature could be a costly mistake, as completed profiles are a sign that you care about how you are viewed by others in social media.

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