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!

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

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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Twitter Benefits for Business

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May 292012
 

The famous micro blogging sensation twitter has recently become very popular and hit the mainstream as people from all over the world be it local people to actors, athletes, singers, cricketers are adopting it as a great medium to communicate and send updates as their status and also about the upcoming events.

Among social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, cases that are more beneficial are being found in Twitter.  The reason is that many people are using it in a wide number of ways. The main reason why people are choosing it all over the world to communicate and business is its flexibility of using, many existing technologies that it can support, and business strategies.

10 Business Benefits

Twitter is really found business beneficial as a social networking site. Lots of success stories and case studies document beneficial business that people have had through twitter. So let us discuss 10 such benefits many of which having real time application.

1. Monitor real time conversations

Monitor real time conversation of your company or brand through twitter. It will first help you in marketing and enables your management team to view the feedback of your company from local people. Free and effective tools such as TweetDeck and HootSuite are available for effective searching.

2. Extend customer service

It is a main forum for customer service as being used by many companies and organizations. Many well-documented articles can be found if anyone searches for it in the net. People may even call your company in Twitter.

3. Brand awareness

One of the best benefits is that people can promote their brand or company big way through twitter. They can use twitter as a medium for keeping their brand in top of everyone’s mind be it promoting transformer toys or kitchen goods or food material or home decorative, twitter allows you to promote all out there.

4. Offer helpful links and headlines

Another way to promote your brand is by driving traffic to your website such as blogs, facebook links, YouTube channels and other helpful links, headlines to your webpage. Website is the main forum in the net where people from anywhere will be able to know about your brand and where you can also ask for money, registrations and products of your brand.

5. Catch problems early

Discover customer problems, interact with customers, talk about problems and issues regarding your products and potentially damaging PR issues and solve them before they cause problems. Then pick up conversations and respond to the customer quickly.

6. Find new business contacts

Want new business contacts?

Well, don’t worry as long as you are a twitter user. It also enables you to find new business contacts and enhance, promote your business through apps like “Twellow” and “Advance Twitter search.”

7. Enhance business relationships

You will learn more about your customers if you follow them and this will help you to connect with your clients well during meeting. Your client may greet you like a close person to him though he knows you very little and this is possible only through interacting by Twitter with clients.

8. Promote your blog content

Twitter also enables you to promote your blog content if your company has a separate corporate blog. You can also get immediate feedback by posting you blog URL directly on Twitter.

9. Understanding tool

Twitter can also be used as an understanding tool by the business organizations to see what the company’s position now is and what next target they are looking for. Though there is much competition in the market, you can learn about the company, their interests and their future products through Twitter.

10. Keep up on news and trends

Through Twitter you can keep in touch with the latest market products and trends. This may also help you while completing with other brands as they might not have access to real time market news as you have through Twitter.

 

5 Interesting Stats on Social Media

 Social Media  2 Responses »
Apr 242012
 

I recently conducted a survey to see which social media sites people used most frequently and why they used them and not others.  Here is what I found:

1. Which social media sites do you use most frequently?

‘Twitter’ showed a 60% usage rate and ‘Facebook’ collected the remaining 40%.  ‘Google+’, ‘Pinterest’, and ‘YouTube’ received no votes and the ‘Other’ option was also unused.

2. Do you Share Pictures?

‘Sometimes’ received 60% and ‘Yes’ received the remaining 40%.  ‘Always’, ‘Never’, and ‘Who Care’s had no votes.

3. What do you like most about the your social media site of choice?

50% said ‘I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA!’,  33% said ‘All my friends use it’ and 17% said ‘It’s easy to use’.  ‘ I don’t use social media’ and ‘Other’ had no votes.

4. What would you change about social media?

80% answered ‘Just a few tweeks, like easier sharing and seeing all my friends posts, not just some’ and 20% answered ‘Nothing, its great and its free’.   ‘Everything, it sucks’ and ‘Other’ had no votes.

5. Why don’t you use other social media sites as much as the one you chose in question 1?

This one got some interesting answers!  50% said they ‘Don’t have time’, 17% said because ‘Their friends aren’t on it’ and 33% answered ‘Other’.  No one answered ‘Boring’, ‘Don’t Care’, or ‘They all suck’.

The ‘Other’ answers are as follows:

–”I do use other sites, but this is not a fair comparison. You can’t compare something like Facebook and Youtube and ask why you would use one more than the other without limiting the question to some kind of function that they share. One is a totally different value proposition than the other. That’s like asking why you don’t go to the movies more than you go to Taco Bell.”

–”I use them all!”

The survey was a simple one, with only responses required.  No gender, age, education, or job information was required.

I find it interesting that in Questions 3 and 5, it mattered if their friends were on the social media platform.  Are you influenced by what social media sites your friends are on?  Would you use Twitter if no one you knew were using it?

In Question 5, do you agree that asking why you don’t use one social site as much as another is not a fair comparison?  Or do you think there are connected reasons of why you use Twitter more than Facebook?

It was nice to see in Question 4, that most people are generally satisfied with their social media platform of choice, and wouldn’t change very much about it.  What would you change about your social media site of choice?

What answers would you have chosen if you had taken this quiz?

If you were conducting a social media survey, what would you have added/subtracted from the survey?

Free 2012 Content Calendar

 Marketing  No Responses »
Mar 262012
 

Have you been stuck day after day wondering what you need to post on Social Media and your blog?  Do you find yourself struggling to get your content out when you want and on a consistent basis?  It is very important to your business and your customers to get content out!  You have more content then you think and your customers are hungry for it!

It is never too late to start!

Fill out the form below and discover how easy it is to formulate when and what you will post day to day and month to month with your FREE Content Calendar!

This is a great tool for anyone with trouble figuring out what content to post.  You can easily fill out the calendar month to month or even for the whole year!

Get your Content Calendar Now!

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Holy Pinterest, Batman!

 Social Media  No Responses »
Feb 162012
 


Pinterest is a hot topic across all social networks!  No wonder it is the fastest growing social platform right now!  There is a common factor that connects most Pinterest users, they are addicted!  Let’s see what people are saying about Pinterest!
Follow Me on Pinterest

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