When a group of people from a business begin to engage in ways of promoting their businesses what are some of the ways that pop into their heads right away? Some think through commercials other through billboards and some might think by putting ads in the newspaper and magazines. But in today’s fast paced business world you need a platform that will be able to effectively communicate in a fast manner with customers if you want a good turnout for your business. So as you hear these tips what do you immediately think, Facebook, twitter, or other social media platforms. Well the answer is the newer social…

Some infographics are long for the sake of being long. They take up way too much space to make very few points or to present data in ways that simply don’t make sense from an graphic perspective. Then, there are those infographics that are long for a valid reason. This is one of those. Social media is ever changing. In many ways, this is a good thing. Innovations come through change and the major social networks are all much better than they were just a couple of years ago. Other changes are annoying, especially for businesses that rely on their social media presence as a venue to drive engagement, communication,…

The days of businesses focusing their efforts on entertaining their fans on social media are behind us… at least they should be. Today, people expect more out of businesses. They expect to be shown things that they don’t normally see from their friends and family. If they follow a business, they aren’t looking for that business to post funny cat pictures or memes. They get enough of those already. One of the most popular things we posted this week was on a car dealer’s Facebook page. It wasn’t a hot concept car or a restored muscle car. It wasn’t some local attraction or hometown hero. It was a picture…

Believe it or not, people are still using flip phones, Motorola Razors, and phones with buttons!… what? But those folks are increasingly in the minority. A new study by Princeton Survey Research Associates International found that 61% of American cell phone users are now using a smartphone. But why now? I think social media plays a huge role. Here’s why:   It’s always with you Right now the only way to connect with friends and family through social media is through a PC/Mac, tablet or a smart phone. So unless you want to wait till you get home to make a Facebook post about how excited you…

In my recent exploration of various social media profiles being used by local businesses, I found a disturbing trend. While there are definitely those who are doing it right and utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest the right way, there are also plenty who are simply failing at it miserably. They are forgetting the most fundamental aspect of managing their profiles, namely posting the right way. There are components of this infographic by MyCleverAgency that I don’t fully agree with, but they are minor points, opinions really. For the most part, the advice is sound. You should…

There are too many opportunities out there in the world of social media that makes it a bad idea to ignore the medium. Businesses can make an impact if they put in the effort. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready. It’s still possible to put in minimal effort and have a decent presence. When it’s time to put in full effort, you’ll be better prepared if you have a nice string of daily content that fills your pages. Automation is a bad idea and can do damage in the long run, but there are ways to put in a little bit of effort and still do okay, at least holding down the fort until you’re ready to blast off. Diversity…

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…

The use of social media to report events has become a normal occurrence. Any time anything happens that is newsworthy, many turn first to social media, plugging in Twitter hashtags and searching the Facebook news feeds for information. As disorganized and young as the industry is, it has been influential in getting the word out during times of crisis. There’s a caveat. It simply isn’t as correct as traditional news sources. The space allotted for reporting, both professional- and citizen-based, isn’t enough to paint a full picture at times. There are also those who intentionally mislead through…

With Verizon vans rolling down the road being called “NSA Surveillance Vehicles” and every tech and political blog on the internet complaining about the US government’s collection of personal data from the citizens, innocent or not, it is impossible to visit a social media site without hearing something about the controversy. The people are mad and they’re letting others know about it. There’s a problem with many of the complaints, however. It doesn’t apply to everyone, but for those who are so completely open about their lives on social media, it definitely smells a little hypocritical. That’s…

The internet gives everyone a voice, and that’s a beautiful thing. However, the things people say online can actually have a bigger impact than they think. When an unhappy customer goes online and leaves a bad review of a business, other customers take it to heart and the company looses business– maybe just a little at first, but when companies start to develop a bad reputation online, it can spread and grow in the blink of an eye. Luckily there are ways that businesses can help prevent that.   Creating a good online presence Everyone wants to have a strong online presence, especially businesses….