THE "WATCH-OUT" SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS 2014

IDEA-BASED ECOSYSTEMS

The primary reason people use social media is to showcase their own identities. It's essentially like a giant selfie. This is why a local cupcake shop will get more Facebook likes than a local construction company. It's a reflection of who we are. Any time you can tie your brand to the identity of the customer, you'll have a win on your hands.

THE AGE OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD

In recent years, people have gone from information hunger to information overload. People would almost rather give out their social security number than their email addresses. But if you can become the go-to source for relevant information on a specific topic, customers will seek you out like they reach out to Upworthy and Pinterest.

SELL IT IN THE VIDEO

Internet users are more likely to finish a 30-minute video than they are an article. If you're not using online video, you're missing a big part of your audience. Plus, customers are increasingly making purchases directly through videos. A few examples: a new service called Insay and Target's "Falling for You" video campaign.

THE 4-SCREEN REVOLUTION

Consumers frequently use multiple devices at once--TV, mobile phone, laptop, and tablet. It wouldn't be pretty surprising if in 10 years, all that might be one device, but in the next two to five years, we actually expect an increase in the number of devices we are using at once. For companies, the challenge is to find ways to interact with users on multiple screens and to cope with ever-shrinking attention spans.

DECODING DIGITAL SIGNALS

Analytics are very significant to understand customers and change ways on how best to reach them. If 50 percent of your traffic is from mobile and your website isn't optimized for mobile phones, you're going to lose half of your traffic right there.

BUILD THAT SOCIAL LITERACY

All of your employees need to be social media savvy, not just the social media team. Each individual should be a creator, curator, and connector, and organizations should focus on agility, aggregation, and adaptability. Above all, people should be posting content that is relevant to the customer. You don't want to be like the person on Facebook who only shares updates about their dog.

THE POWER OF REVERSE-ENGINEERING

Companies should look beyond their own niches and industries when it comes to marketing ideas. Sometimes a company in an entirely different industry will have a great marketing tactic that none of your competitors have ever considered. So, watch out and think outside your comfort zone! Here's a good example!

FACEBOOK LIKE: BEHIND THE SCREEN

Ever since Facebook installed the ‘like’ feature, seeming like you care about what your friends say and think has never been so easy. Just kidding. The Like button was an ingenious idea to quickly and easily get people involved with interesting posts and organizations.

You can attest to this: Like us on Facebook here! Wasn’t that easy? Now you’ll end up with great ideas from the perfect media companion.

Moving away from our self-promotion: Facebook has actually created and entire new way of marketing to the masses. The only problem is, unlike google, Facebook doesn’t get to keep the money from it. Facebook pages are free to create. Even though promoting your company’s Facebook post to a ton of people can get pricy, a free status update is always an option. Here's what happening behind a "Like" on Facebook!

THE DONT'S OF A FACEBOOK PAGE

Are you using your Facebook page as your website? Don’t! It screams amateur. Everybody has a website these days, even if it’s only on WordPress. That’s okay! Not just for bloggers anymore, WordPress sites can be made to look like topnotch professional websites through the use of fabulous and highly versatile themes that can be purchased quite reasonably. But there is a place for blogging… enter, Facebook!

SAVE THE BLOGGING FOR FACEBOOK

Your professional website site is where you will have all the slick ads, graphics and cool themes. Your Facebook page is where you want to do your blogging, post the news happenings and so forth. Make it your friendly page! It’s social networking after all.

That being said, do you actually blog on Facebook? If you don’t then start doing it! Imagine visiting a company’s Facebook page and noticing that it hasn’t been updated in months, or years even. Nothing is more of a turnoff than that. Some companies create a Facebook page with minimal information and then forget about it. Why even bother? We’re not exaggerating in here when we say they are losing out on the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Post a really good bargain on your Facebook page and encourage your customers to share it with their friends. You’ll get new customers without having to pay for any advertising. And since you’re not paying for the advertising, you can afford to make it a really enticing bargain. Sounds cool right?

DON'T SPAM YOUR CUSTOMERS

If you post too often on Facebook, friends and customers may not go so far as to unfriend you, but they will turn off your posts, which is like unfriending you without you knowing it. Uhh… that’s bad! We all have friends who seem to have nothing better to do than update their status on Facebook, and they’re just plain annoying. When a business does it, we have no compunction with turning them off.

How frequently should a business post updates to Facebook? Every other day is totally fine to keep your fans engaged. Posts should be interesting and of real value, as well as short and to the point. Some good topics for Facebook updates are significant discount offers, brand new products available, expanded business hours, addition of a new employees, as in a new hairdresser at a salon or masseuse at a spa, or anything else that might be of actual interest to the customers.

SOCIAL MEDIA: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR A BUSINESS?

Most Businesses that use social media as a part of their Marketing strategy treat social media as a broadcasting medium. At first blush, social media feels like a cheap and powerful bullhorn. It is, but don’t be surprised when blasting messages in one direction–from you to them–only generates a trickle of traffic. The trick is to get people involved, and keep them involved.

The Action plan: Since the dawn of retail, sweepstakes and giveaways have been a great hook. For ideas, query contest or sweepstakes or giveaways on Google. Maybe you’ll read about how a computer store sold more laptops by holding a contest for free iPads that required people to make their entry on the store’s Facebook page. Formulate a similar marketing campaign that fits your niche. If you have a bakery, you could hold a contest for free customized birthday cakes by requiring participants to enter on your Facebook page. Voila! Not only have you scared up more customers, you also have an instant focus group to test your cakes and other goodies.

Click here to find out what social media really does for a Business!

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FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS?

Social media has become a crowded space, and picking out the best channels for your company to invest your resources could pretty much be a daunting task. If you hop on the bandwagon for every new social network, you may not be able to keep up with the demands. So what’s the best social media platform for your business?

You’ll want to consider your industry, your resources, and your goals for being on social media, but there is one network that should be weighted more heavily in your decision-making process- FACEBOOK! It's is still holding onto its crown as king of social media, and it’s the best place for your company to devote at least some of its energy. Are you thinking Facebook for your Business? Here's why!

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