Now that it's more than halfway over, it's safe to say that 2015 is turning out to be another big year for social media. As a result, countless businesses are relying on this channel as a primary driver of their growth. Regardless of where your business is at in terms of growth or using social media, it's helpful to know about the trends that are shaping the marketing that's being done via social media.
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Although hashtags started out as something that only applied to Twitter, as a result of their ongoing popularity among social media users, they’ve become part of other sites like Instagram and Facebook. Hashtags have become so ubiquitous that even if someone doesn’t know what this term means because they’re not an active social media user, chances are they're at least one ad that included a term or phrase with a pound sign in front of it. Read the rest of this entry →

When Google originally rolled out Plus, many people were skeptical that the network wouldn't last for long. Since Google has a reputation for rolling out lots of products, only to shut them down a few years later, there was a good reason for people to be skeptical. But even though products like Reader weren't able to avoid Google's chopping block, Google Plus continues going strong. In fact, Google has taken multiple steps to integrate Plus more deeply into their ecosystem. Read the rest of this entry →

The Realtime Marketing Lab tour helps marketers discover the best social media tools for realtime marketing, and gives them access to the companies creating them. They have designed and are promoting an atmosphere that feels more like a sandbox test environment, where participants can feel at ease while getting hands on experience with these various products while also receiving a deeper education that will help them pick the best ones for their business.

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Because social media has become so ingrained in most people's daily lives, any company that wants to get grow should be utilizing the appropriate social media channels. Not only does social media provide a way to get in front of new potential customers, but it also provides a way to increase engagement with existing customers.

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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 →