There really is more art than science when it comes to getting retweeted on Twitter. For individual influencers and organizations with a lot of clout, it’s easy. Justin Bieber could post a link to a blank white page, call it “A white bunny in a snow storm”, and still get thousands of retweets. For the rest of us, it takes practice and creativity. The infographic below is good in that it has some strong statistics and best practices, but businesses wanting to use Twitter the right way should take much of it with a grain of salt. For example, it recommends saying things like “Please Retweet” or “PleaseRT”…

In recent years, social media has become the fuel to boost celebrity popularity. Whether it’s Amanda Bynes tweeting about whom she’s going to sue, or even Bieber himself tweeting his feelings towards Anne Frank, celebrities have made social media into the ultimate popularity tool. Justin Bieber is quite an impressive young man. He started his music career at a very young age and built one of the biggest fan bases in history. Bieber was originally discovered via social media by Usher, who discovered the teenager on YouTube. Since then, Bieber and his people have maintained excellent social…

A father and son walked onto a car lot and started looking around. As the salesperson approached, the son, 14- or 15-years old, was clearly directing his father towards a particular new vehicle. They met the salesperson in front of a Chevy Cruze and told her that they wanted to take it for a test drive. As car deals go, this one was a pretty easy one. The negotiations were tough – they were informed buyers who paid well under MSRP after discounts and rebates on a 2013 with 2014 models rolling out – but otherwise it was pretty quick. They knew what they wanted and didn’t need much convincing that it was the…

Since 2005, YouTube has transformed itself from a small website where the average person could share home videos to the MTV of the 21st century. Its first video was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim in April of 2005. It showed that the site was originally meant for amateurs to post videos about their daily lives. However, since 2010 the most-watched videos on the website have been from signed recording artists like Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bruno Mars and South Korean pop sensation, Psy. But how did this happen? Even after Google bought the online video service back in October 2006…

Going viral today matters as much as having a hit record. But you don’t want to do it in the wrong way. Social media platforms are the world’s kiosk, and any artist would be foolish not to dedicate himself to building a viral presence. But as important as it is to gain new followers, it’s even more crucial to keep them . . . and keep them engaged. Here are five social media don’ts for aspiring musicians.   1. Don’t let your online profiles collect dust You’ve heard it said that idle hands are the devil’s playground. Or how about this one: if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to…

Twitter is still the most used social network by businesses. This surprises some, but the latest statistics showed that 77% of businesses were on Twitter versus 74% on Facebook. It’s not a big difference, but it’s still at least a little surprising to many who view Facebook as the big social network and Twitter as the other guy in the field. Twitter is easier. It requires less time. It’s more about communication than popularity and there are no algorithms that can make your efforts meaningless like they can on Twitter. I’m not suggesting that businesses should be on Twitter and not Facebook. On the…

Anyone who has been on Twitter as long as I have (6 years I believe) knows that the site has gone through major transformations in the past. Lately, Vine might be the only major change in a while but there was a time when it seemed like proper Twitter etiquette changed week by week. When I first started, links were magical and very few people posted them. Today, many accounts post nothing but links. This is a big mistake. If you post only links, you’re really not posting anything at all. Why? Because people aren’t really following you if that’s the case. Run some tests. Use bitly or goo.gl or other click…

It doesn’t matter whether you like Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga. The fact that the #1 and #2 most followed accounts on Twitter are about to flip positions is important for the sustained success of Twitter. The key to understanding why is in the audience. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s adults. One of the biggest reasons that MySpace was beaten out so easily by Facebook a few years ago was because MySpace did not grow its base up and down. It had a niche, the people who were in or just out of high school in the mid 2000s, and did not do enough to appeal to the next generation of young people nor the older people who…

Social media is growing so quickly. It seems like yesterday that Ashton Kutcher was trying to get to 1 million Twitter followers ahead of CNN. Now, the new magic numbers are higher. On YouTube, the next great milestone will be one billion views on a single video and “Psy – Gangnam Style” is now the top contender to hit the magic number first after passing Justin Bieber’s “Baby” with over 800 million views. According to Techcrunch: The video made its YouTube debut on July 15 and currently has over 5.3 million likes and about 320,000 dislikes. Bieber’s “Baby” – which had a nice run at the top of…

The dance world is a blazed with this latest dance craze known as the Gangnam Style with yet another YouTuber taking the world by storm, no, this time it’s not Justin Bieber or Lil’ Wanye, this time someone who we can relate to a little more has gone viral and has caught the attention of celebrities, having them tweet and even inviting them to their daytime show, like Ellen did. …