Are you Tweets getting maximum exposure?

One question that often surfaces is when is the best time to Tweet on Twitter?

Recently Buddy Media completed a study to determine when the best time to Tweet was along with other key pieces of information to keep in mind to maximize the exposure for your Tweets.

Here is a quick summary of the points from this study:
• Tweets Sent on Saturday and Sunday had a 17% increase in engagement

• Sending your Tweets between 8am and 7pm bummed up the engagement by 30%

• Shorter is better – Tweets that are 100 characters or less had 17% more engagement

• People like Hash Tags – Tweets with hash tags saw twice as much engagement

• Using more than 1 or 2 hash tags however is not effective

• If you want a Re-Tweet– Ask for it – Tweets that asked saw a 12x increase

The infogragphic below from Fuse Works Studios does a great job a painting a picture of this study

twitter infographic best practices maximizing your tweets infographicA Twitter infographic by Fusework Studios

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LinkedIn Tip – Personalize Your Connection Request

When you reach out on LinkedIn to connect with someone new be sure to take a minute and personalize your connection request.  This doesn’t have to be a long note, just let them know why you want to connect with them.  This could be that you are interested in what they do, you are in the same industry or that you are in a group together.

Taking the extra few minutes to do this will help you start your connection on the right foot.

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Pinterest is getting a new look

In January Pinterest began to test changes with a small group of users and after taking the feedback and making improvements these changes will soon be rolled out to everyone.

Some of the changes are subtle, but very handy.

This new look from Pinterest will make the site easier to navigate, find information and also to get back to where you started.  A new navigation feature is being introduced that will really help you move around.

The New Navigation Features from Pinterest:The new navigation from Pinterest

A view of the new navigation from the Pinterest Blog

 

 

The new look from Pinterest will make pins larger and also show you more options to allow you to find more that is interesting to you.  You will be able to see other items from the same boards as well as other items that were pinned from the same web site.

A sneak peak at the view of the items on the board and from the source:Pinterest Related Items

A sneak peak of the related items from the Pinterest blog

One other change we are hearing about is the ability to hit the back button and get back to where you started from no matter how far you have gone to other boards or pins.

If you have the new look already we would love to hear your thoughts.

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How Users are Interacting on Pinterest

Have you wondered how users are really interacting on Pinterest and how this interaction is driving traffic and or sales?  The  info-graphic below from Wispond does a great job of illustrating how users are truly interacting.

A couple of key findings that we like to share are the following:

  • Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than those that come from non-social channels
  • 69% of Pinterest users buy product they find from their Pinterest network, compared to 40% of users purchasing products from pages they had ‘Liked’

One other interesting finding was that pins with prices included received 36% more likes than pins without prices.

How are users using Pinterest

 

Info-graphic from Wispond

 

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Using Social Media to Build Trust – Increased Trust does provide a Return on Investment

Increased Trust does provide a Return on Investment

One question we often get is, “How do I know Social Media is working and what will my return on investment be for participating in Social Media?”

This is a great question for companies to be asking.  We typically answer this question with the fact that you may not see a direct return on investment for your Social Media efforts right away and your ROI may not at first correlate directly with increased sales at first.

One huge benefit that we see a lot of companies getting from their use of Social Media is an increased trust in their brand.

Typically people do business with people and companies that they like and trust and building this relationship takes time.  Social Media is not a short cut for building trust and a relationship with your prospects and clients – it is however a vehicle.

A companies Social Media presence can be utilized to start a dialogue with your audience and begin to build that trust by sharing information ( not just selling) and having a conversation with your audience.  Spending time on this step up front to build trust and a relationship will help you down the road move these relationships into your sales cycle and turn them into customers and hopefully advocates for your brand.

Forbes recently shared a great post titled 6 Ways Brands Build Trust Through Social Media that provides a good overview on 6 steps you can take to start the process of building trust.

Keep in mind that Social Media is Social and you must build relationships.  Once you understand this and begin to do so you will start to reap the ROI of increased trust for your brand.

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Have you wondered how Social Media Can Help You Grow Your Business??

We are often  asked,  “How Can Social Media Help Me or My business?”  We wanted to answer this by sharing with you some results that were seen recently due to Social Media sharing.

A church we have been working with recently has begun to embrace Social Media because they see the value in reaching out and connecting with the current members of the church as well as others in the area that may be looking for a church to call home.

One Sunday morning the pastor of this church was preaching a great sermon and a portion of this sermon was caught on video.  This clip was shared on Facebook and the next week that particular service had a 38% increase in the number that attended.  This translated to an increase of about 50 people in just one of the services that are offered at this church on Sunday.

The pastor of this church did do something when he realized he was being videoed that helped, he stopped and encouraged the congregation to share and post on Facebook their thoughts and comments about the service.

This is just one example on how Social Media can help you grow.

Here is the video that was posted socially that resulted in the 38% increases in attendance the following week:

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Social Media in 2013

Now that 2013 is officially here I have been putting the finishing touches on my goals that I want to accomplish this year both personally and professionally as well as incorporating my Social Media Goals into the mix.

2012 brought with it a lot of changes in the Social Media landscape along with a lot of new users of Social Media both personally and professionally.  A lot of small businesses began to jump on board and realize that they needed to add Social Media to their business and marketing plan to connect with customers and also attract new prospects and customers.

As we began 2013 Social Media plays a very important role in marketing, customer service and even how employees connect and work.  If your business did embrace the adoption of Social Media in 2012 you really should do so in 2013 or you may just find yourself left behind.

Here are some of the most recent posts and articles on Social Media for 2013 that I feel are worth sharing.  These selections provide some good insights and predictions on what we may see in 2013.

5 Ways Social Media Will Change the Way You Work in 2013

How Social Media Usage Will Change in 2013

21 Social Media Predictions for 2013 From the Pros

2013 Social Media Predictions for Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and More

 

 

photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa via photopin cc

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What makes content go viral ?

In today’s market we are all subject to several pieces of content daily.  This content can range from news stories that are just so hard to comprehend that we just can’t turn away from, an update from your family or that video or photo everyone is talking about and sharing.

If you are marketing online you want to be the creator of that piece of content that everyone is talking about.  You want to go viral.

But, what makes content go viral?

Often viral content has an entertainment factor to it.  It is something that is cute, funny, eye catching, informative or everything above.  Another factor is often tying the content into a cause.

This video of a driving dog was done to spread the word about dogs who have been abused, abandoned, or just forgotten and help them find new homes.   The video received 2.6 million views in 5 days.  I would say it is an example of something that went viral:

 

We would love to hear some ideas of things that you have seen go viral.

 

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Weekly Top Social Media and Tool Finds for October 27th

Weekly Top Social Media Finds for October 27th

Every week I get the opportunity to read some great information from others on Social Media and using it.  I also get to review and evaluate several great tools and how they can be used online to either improve your business, use in the classroom or to just connect with others. I will be sharing these great finds from time to time in a weekly recap post.

Please feel free to comment on and share any of these great finds.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a great tool.  I have often described it to people as an online vision or goal board, for that reason I loved seeing this post that describes it just as that!  Vision Boards and Pinterest: A Goal-Oriented Match Made in Heaven

Twitter

Have you attended a conference recently and as you registered were given a hash tag to use on Twitter for the conference?  This is becoming more and more popular to get attendees to tweet at conferences.  The good news is that this works and increases engagement.  Here is a great post that shows the results. Now Proven! Using Twitter At Conferences Increases Attendee Engagement

LinkedIn

One of my favorite undiscovered tools on LinkedIn is LinkedIn Answers.  This is a great tool to find out what people in your target market or industry are looking for – it is also a great way to increase your creditability.  This post I came across this week does a wonderful job on showing how to use this tool. The Ultimate Guide to Linkedin Answers

Blogging

This is a great post from KISS Metrics that I came across that does a wonderful job of providing a list of resources for those that are interested in increasing your blogger outreach program as well as resources for guest blogging. The Ultimate Resource Guide to Blogger Outreach and Guest Blogging

Tools

Have you ever wanted to create an animated video?  Here is a tool that does exactly that for you. http://goanimate.com

Google BookmarksHotmailWinkGoogle ReaderBeboBlogger PostDeliciousLinkedInPingStumbleUponSphinnTumblrWordPressLiveJournalPlaxo PulseSpurlDiggFacebookFriendFeedPlurkRedditSquidooTechnorati FavoritesTwitterShare

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Finding Images for your Blog…. We have a resource for you

You have decided to jump into writing a blog and you have your blog post written and now it is time to pretty it up with some great images.  This is often something that stops a lot of new bloggers, where do I find images for my blog?

A lot of new bloggers will often just go to Google and do a search for images, however doing this could put you in hot water for copyright violation.  Another method that a lot of bloggers use is that they will use stock images, however these images usually have a fee for using them and sometimes this can be pricey.

One option you can always use that will only cost you your time is to take your own photos and use them on your blog posts, however we know that not everyone has the time to do that or the skill.

Here is a resource that you can use now and it will not cost you.  You will need to be sure to include the source of the image, but the nice thing is this site provides that for you.  The site is Photo Pin and you can search by topic and then select the image you want to use and then be sure to provide credit.

blog images

Here is a sample image form the site

images photo credit: laverrue via photopin cc

As you can see it is a good quality image.  All you need to do to use an image from this site is to use a credit at the end of your blog post or under the image as we have done above.

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