Social Media Marketing

The Google I/O is an eagerly awaited even every year and is a Mecca for techies and geeks. This year attendees were not disappointed as Google announced the launch of a host of new applications, features and changes to existing Google products and services. Perhaps the most important launch at the event was that of the new Google+. Google’s social networking website has been redesigned and is packed with new features. Google+ users were welcomed by the revamped Google+ on Wednesday.

Most social media marketers and companies stick to Facebook and Twitter for all their social media and content marketing campaigns. In this global economy where valuable customers and leads need to be found from all countries to expand companies, these social media channels are not enough. With over a billion active users and because it is the top social networking platform in many countries, Facebook is the safe choice but there are many other social networks that you have probably never heard of that are more popular than Facebook in quite a few countries.

Content marketing and social media marketing can be highly labor intensive and time consuming for businesses. In fact, according to a marketing survey conducted by Curata - creating original, valuable and high-quality content on a regular basis is one of the biggest challenges that most companies are facing. Publishing content regularly, marketing content through the right channels, responding to consumers and readers, managing social media pages, etc. can become a monstrous task for a company. So how can companies ensure that their brands are being promoted effectively without too much effort? Look to your loyal and satisfied customers.

The believe it or not list on recent social media trends - do tell us what you think and what are your predictions on what's to come on the social media scene.

As a social media marketer, you must have your hands full with Facebook and Twitter marketing. This does not mean that you can ignore the rising star in the social media landscape – Pinterest. Granted that it is a photo sharing website that had a lukewarm response when it was launched - but now this photo-sharing platform has more than 20 million users - most of whom are very active. Pinterest is now one of the biggest social networking platforms – at par with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and is also one of the biggest photo sharing applications after Instagram. In fact, a recent Nielsen report indicates that more than 20% of Pinterest users purchased a product after seeing it on Pinterest.

Marketing is a complex and confusing activity, especially for small businesses and start-ups. Most entrepreneurs are looking to make business contacts and attract a more professional audience. LinkedIn is a great platform for this purpose.

Twitter is an important part of any social media strategy and to use it well is to get more customer engagement. If you have a Twitter account, you have most probably seen the number symbol (#) used before certain words, which sometimes make no sense. This symbol along with the word or phrase is knows as a hashtag.

Social media marketers and content marketers flock to Pinterest, Facebook, WordPress and Twitter but for some reason they forget all about Tumblr. This micro-blogging platform has over 40 billion blog posts, more than 85 million users and receives over 17 billion page views per month. Any content writing, social media marketing or blog writing service that is worth its salt should not write it off so easily. Tumblr is a social networking platform that has a clean and versatile interface that is beneficial to any content marketing or social media marketing strategy.

Any company wanting to reach a larger audience, increase sales and lead generation, and connect with customers must have a presence on Facebook. However, most companies fail to make a mark on the largest social networking site. Studies show that even companies that post regularly on their Facebook pages – even six or seven times a week - fail to reach even a quarter person of their fan base. This means that all the content published on your company page manages to reach or is seen only by just over 15% of your fans. Moreover, Facebook has never officially revealed any formula to increase the reach that content has but knowing the new EdgeRank algorithm could help social media writers create Facebook optimized content.

Content creators and marketers have been learning and honing their skills over the years. Content marketing as an industry is constantly changing as new platforms for marketing are gaining popularity. Not a long time back, most companies pumped out content without really targeting it towards the right people. However, as content marketing strategies of most companies are maturing it is clear that content marketers have to pay attention and listen to their customers or followers.