When people think of social networks, they often first think of places where people go to kill downtime by looking at fun pictures or checking up on the latest gossip. While that definitely describes one way that people use social networks, it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how social influences online behavior.
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Now that businesses of all sizes have realized that social media is here to stay, a significant percentage want to learn the best way to utilize these networks for promotional purposes. For many businesses, one of the biggest challenges is balancing employee sharing with ensuring that no one does anything that could damage the company's brand. Read the rest of this entry →

Why should Pinterest be part of your social media marketing strategy? Of all the potential answers to that question, the most compelling is the ability of Pinterest to drive traffic. Just as with SEO, not only can Pinterest drive traffic to your website, but it can send the type of targeted and quality traffic that's most likely to convert into actual customers.
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What kind of social media marketing does your business do? If you're like many other small businesses, your efforts are likely focused on one or two platforms. The most common choices are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. While there's a lot of value in building a strong presence on one of those platforms, it's also worth remembering that you don't want to put all of your eggs in a single basket. Read the rest of this entry →

Social media marketing is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, the latest CMO survey from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business found out that companies will spend more than 10% of their marketing budgets on social media efforts this year. "Social media, as a percentage of marketing budgets, is expected to more than double over the next five years," says Chris Moorman, director of the CMO survey, which surveyed 468 chief marketing officers in the U.S.

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