The guys at Freestyle Interactive ((Source)), a digital marketing group based out of the United Kingdom, have come up with an interesting infographic. Obviously, they know a thing or two about social media networks (or at least they are supposed to), and it seems that they also have a thing about superheroes. Then again, who doesn’t? [Read more…] about If Social Media Networks Were Superheroes…
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, 3 new blogs will have come into existence. There can be no doubt that the world wide web in general, and social media sites in particular, are becoming more crowded and more competitive every second. The result? Standing out from the crowd is getting harder and harder.
Social media marketing is both necessary and extremely challenging. Blogs are an integral part of SEM, but simply building one isn’t enough. You need to get people to read what you write!
That being said, there are myriad resources that have become available which can help you promote and measure the success of your blog. Below you will find a definitive guide to some of the best resources online.
Some sweet, simple and easily actionable tips for blog promotion from Google itself, although we also love their disclaimer: “This is in no way a science or guarantee; it’s simply a few suggestions with which many bloggers have found success”. If you know little to nothing about blog promotion, it’s a good place to get an idea of the basics without getting overwhelmed.
21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
SEOmoz offers some great, detailed advice for bloggers who want not just more traffic but better, more targeted traffic. There’s a lot here to help diagnose why your blog might be fledgling, and what to do to remedy the situation. [Read more…] about The Ultimate Guide To Blog Promotion
At work? In the living room while watching TV? In bed?
I don’t know about you, but I am online pretty much throughout my waking hours. I have a convenient excuse reason, too: I work online! I am not addicted to the Internet. Neither am I addicted to Facebook. It just so happens that I need these tools for work. Just because I update my status all the time does not mean anything. I’m not like those people who update their Facebook status from – you guessed it – the loo!
Where is this coming from? I just read a press release from AIS Media, a digital agency that recently conducted a survey on where people usually update their status on Facebook; that is, where they are physically located when the access their Facebook accounts.
I don’t know what they were thinking, but they did ask a very personal question in the survey: “Do you ever use Facebook on your mobile device while you’re in the bathroom?”
I suppose the survey was anonymous as, according to AIS, 27 percent of their respondents answered yes. Of those who answered yes, 54.4 percent were women while 45.6 percent were men. More so, those who do use their mobile devices in the bathroom to update their Facebook status mostly fell in the 30 to 49 age category.
AIS, being focused on social media marketing, had some pretty important-sounding conclusions:
While it may seem humorous to survey people about their Facebook usage while in the bathroom, the results underscore the proliferation of consumer social media usage and their strong need to stay connected. For businesses and brands, social media offers an opportunity to engage potential customers like never before.
They’re probably right, but I think it means one thing: we need to get a life. (Ooops, did I just say we?)
We have to face it – the popularity of the traditional way of greeting people during Christmas has slowly been declining over the years. You may say I am stating the obvious, but if you think about it, Facebook might not be the main thing to blame. Some guys at Mintel International actually points out that the decline in Christmas card sales started way back in 2005. Today, though, experts are pointing fingers at social media sites – not just Facebook, mind you.
One of the purposes of Christmas cards is to do some catching up, and with people being more connected on a daily basis these days, the need for the former is fast become non-existent. Think Facebook status updates – at least once a day for most people. Think tweets – definitely more than once a day for those who are on Twitter. Then there’s e-mail, instant messenger, text messaging, e-cards, and so on. All of these things are so accessible and do not take up much time. Compare that to having to purchase Christmas cards, writing notes (manually!), and posting them.
With the mindset and fast-paced lifestyle that people have these days, it is not such a surprise that Christmas card sales are way down, is it?
Enter Facebook card app Fun Cards. To be honest, I haven’t used this app even though they have been up since 2007. Christmas 2010 is not here yet, but 8 million cards have been sent so far.
Things do seem ominous for the Christmas card, don’t they? How about you? Are you going the Facebook card route or are you going to try for something more tangible?
Photo via SMU
I think it is safe to say that 98% of us have a Twitter account, active or inactive. Like with all social media applications people are driven by the amount of “friends” or “followers” they have. I also started with that drive, following people who’s time line seemed interesting and hoping the would follow back. But after almost four years with a Twitter account I can’t really care anymore, and that notion was confirmed with the clear overview of my account given to me by ManageFlitter.
ManageFlitter is a web application that helps you to easily unfollow people based on criteria such as are they following you back? How active are they on Twitter? I follow people that haven’t tweeted in so long I forget I follow them. With ManageFlitter I can easily pick them out and unfollow them.
There is no doubt about the phenomenal rise of Twitter. The recent infographic we posted is but one testament to that. For many Twitter users, it has been somewhat of a blessing that the service has been free for four years now. While it doesn’t seem likely that they will start charging everyone to use Twitter, it is but time for the service to start generating considerable revenue for itself.
And, it looks like that’s exactly where they are headed. If you noticed about two weeks, a new account called Earlybird was launched. Yesterday, it was opened up to followers. No one knows much about it, but speculation is rife that this is the beginnings of Twitter’s campaign to make money. To matters more mysterious, Earlybird’s tweets are private, leading people to think that it is going to be a channel for good deals and exclusive stuff from outside retailers.
Twitter has not made a formal announcement as to what Earlybird is really all about, but the guys at ReadWriteWeb were able to get tidbits of information from Twitter:
Carolyn Penner, friendly communication contact at Twitter Inc., said to us by email after publication: “There are interesting things in store for @earlybird. Keep waking up early and you might be the first to find out what they are.”
So what do we know? It’s gonna be interesting. We need to wake up early. We’re being led by a carrot on the proverbial stick. We’ll keep watch and wait anyway.