vendredi 2 mai 2014

TwitterToolsReviews

TwitterToolsReviews


5 Tips for Optimizing Your Blog for Mobile

Posted: 01 May 2014 07:16 PM PDT

Rosie Barry-Scott

5 Tips for Optimizing Your Blog for Mobile image 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Blog for Mobile

Here's a riddle for you: what do a restaurant, park, bus, and a dinner table have in common? If you guessed, "Everyone sitting around / standing on / walking through them is staring at a smartphone," ding ding ding! I'll leave aside my musings on what this means for our society as a whole, and stick more to the basic idea here that this is proof that mobile usage is continuing to skyrocket.

In fact, over half of the entire earth's population has a smartphone, with half of those users turning to their phones as their primary access route to the internet. That means that if you run a blog — especially one that comes with an attached store — it's likely that the bulk of your readers are consuming your work on a smartphone. Problem is, if your blogsite isn't optimized for mobile, it's just about impossible for your users to interact with it — and the stats say they want to interact, as mobile sites have been shown to increase user engagement by up to 85%.

A clunker of a website that doesn't scale for mobile also makes you look out of touch, and therefore perhaps not the most authoritative blogger to consume.

Altogether, these make for more than a few excellent reasons to make your site mobile friendly. Let's take a look at 5 tips for optimizing your blog for mobile to get started.

1. Streamline your site

First things first: if your site is an unwieldy tangle of huge graphics and "click here!" buttons, your visitors are bound to get ticked off. Big photos often won't load on small screens (or they'll take forever in doing so, and you have about 3 seconds max to keep a visitor's attention), and, um, have you ever tried to click a tiny button with massive thumbs?

Here's what to look out for:

  • Long Posts: If you're going to do them, break them up with bolded headers and give yourself plenty of paragraph breaks. The rule of thumb is: if it's easily skimmed, it can stay. If not, keep breaking things up.
  • Flash and Java: iPhones don't support Flash and many other phones don't support Java, so avoid them both.
  • File Sizes: As we mentioned above, graphics that are too big are too much of a risk, so make sure to keep your file sizes small.
  • Number of Pages: Unlike on desktops, the majority of on-screen navigation on smartphones and tablets happens via scrolling. That makes a one-page website ideal for the mobile platform, as users can simply scroll down to find what they need. However, having other pages isn't out of the question, just as long as they're easy to find and click in a prominent menu. What you want to avoid is an overly categorized site that feels like a maze. And no pop up windows! (They're obnoxious on a desktop, rage-inducing on mobile).
  • Text Entry and Clicks: Got a form you want your visitors to fill out before going any further? A survey that requires a number of taps? Again, you can do both of these things, but keep them to an absolute minimum. Even the most user friendly mobile platform doesn't negate the fact that text entry and precision screen tapping are both difficult on tiny mobile screens.

2. Make it responsive

If you haven't heard of responsive design, you've definitely interacted with responsive websites. A responsive website is one that — you got it — responds differently based on the kind of device used to access the site. On a smartphone? The site automatically shrinks down to fit a smartphone screen, so you won't have to scroll horizontally as well as up and down. On a tablet? A laptop? Same thing. Responsive design means automatic customization to suit each user, which is pretty nifty.

If your blog is hosted on WordPress, getting it to be responsive is pretty simple: from your admin panel, just go into the store and select a responsive theme that suits your style. Voila! You're ready for mobile. Most other blog sites will also have responsive templates, but choices seem to be a bit more limited.

If you did your own web design or hired it out onto a different platform, responsive design can be a bit more tricky to implement, as you'll either need to do a complete redesign or make some serious tweaks to your HTML and CSS. In that case, it may make more sense to design a separate mobile site to which users on mobile platforms will be automatically redirected, or to at least do this temporarily while you're building your responsive site.

The other nice thing about having a separate mobile site is that you can maintain a non-mobile site that allows you to do whatever you want, flash video included. However, I personally think this is a null point, because the trend in UI design is purposely towards minimalism, and it's not a good idea to think of your main site as a place where you have free reign to get overly complicated.

3. Integrate Instagram

Photos are essential for drawing in and maintaining the attention of your visitors (especially in longer blogposts), but legit photos come with hefty licenses and, as I mentioned above, if they're too big or in the wrong format they're not guaranteed to actually load on a mobile platform. But none of that matters if they've already been formatted to work on mobile devices via a third party site like Instagram.

With the help of a number of different Instagram widgets, you can easily stream your Instagram photos right into your blogposts (again, it's extra-easy on WordPress). Alternatively, all public Instagram photos come with an embed code these days, so it's easy to spot a photo you like on a friend's feed and post it to your blog while still giving credit where credit is due.

4. Keep it secure

As the recent Heartbleed episode has proven, security is a huge problem on the internet in general, but it's all the more so in the Wild West of mobile devices. A recent report from the mobile security company, Lookout, entitled "Mobile Threats, Made to Measure," cites adware, chargeware and malware as the greatest risks to mobile users, especially those in countries where regulations are sparse. You can keep your own site from getting hacked and help to safeguard your mobile visitors by taking the following steps:

  • Stay Up to Date. Has your platform notified you of an update? Great. Do it, now. Oftentimes updates contain patches for security flaws.
  • Change Your Username and Password. Especially if your username is "admin" and your password is "12345." It's also a good idea to change your password on a regular basis.
  • Dole Out Admin Privileges With Care. Sure you love your boyfriend now, but in 3 months? Yeah, you might not want him to have admin privileges to your blogsite. Keep it limited to the absolute minimum users.
  • Scrutinize Your Advertisers. Ads are often targets for malware, so grill any advertisers on the security measures they take before signing up.
  • Be Wary of Photos. They can hide malicious code. That's why the Instagram trick mentioned above is a much better idea, as is purchasing photos through a respectable stock photo site.
  • Stick With Widgets. Applications can be filled with junk, so when you're looking to give your site a little more functionality or wow factor, stick with the widgets already vetted by your blog platform.

5. Test, test and test again

Of course, responsive design isn't perfect, and it's not 100% guaranteed it will resize to just the right size for every kind device and screen (hey, give the code a break, the mobile ecosystem is pretty diverse). As a first step, gather all of your friends with iOS, Android and even Blackberry smartphones and tablets to see how it all works. Does it look nice? Is all of the text readable? Do pictures and videos load across devices? Do the social buttons work?

An even better idea is to use an emulator — a tool that lets you simply and quickly test across an even broader range of devices.

Takeaway

These days, optimizing your blog for mobile is just as important as having a blog in the first place. With one, you'll be far better able to engage readers and pull them deeper into your site. Plus, a responsive site just makes you look "with it" and someone deserving of a follow. Good luck!

The post 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Blog for Mobile appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews.

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Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels

Posted: 01 May 2014 06:38 PM PDT

Mike Stenger

Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels image vine web update

Vine added a personalized stream to its website back in January, and today launched version 2.0 that now includes all the features users come to expect.

After signing in, there's no longer just a single stream of videos from people you're following.

On the top left, users will notice three familiar icons:

Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels image vine icons

The Home button is the main stream where you can see everything from your followers, and the eye-con takes you to an "Explore" page (pictured above).

Reminiscent of Google, a large search box sits directly below the logo, and Vine features playlists of select videos across different categories on its homepage.

Users can also dive into the 12 unique channels ranging from Comedy to Sports, and there's also a couple sections on the homepage to feature people worth following:

Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels image featured viners

Below Channels, you can see the latest most popular videos, and check out Trending Tags AKA hashtags. With search now built-in, that means you can fully explore videos around hashtags on the web.

The star icon is home to the Popular Now page, and a search box on the top right is always visible from the Home and Popular Now pages.

Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels image vine web search

You can click on your photo next to the small search box to visit your profile, access settings and logout.

For those without a Vine account, the "Explore" page is shown by default, letting anyone and everyone discover the highly underrated social network.

The post Vine Receives Major Site Update, Adds Search And Channels appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews.

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3 Easy Ways Nonprofits Can Use Content Curation To Cure An Ailing Blog

Posted: 01 May 2014 03:57 PM PDT

Julia Campbell

3 Easy Ways Nonprofits Can Use Content Curation To Cure An Ailing Blog image origin 4352535111

Blogging is a vital piece of the online fundraising and digital marketing puzzle for nonprofit organizations, yet so many do it poorly.

"But I don't have the time keep up with the blog!"

I have heard this all too often. The benefits of nonprofit blogging are vast, but it still seems too overwhelming for organizations short on time, staff and resources.

So what is the cure for an ailing nonprofit blog? Content curation!

Content curation is the act of collecting, filtering and sharing the best information on a specific topic. [Tweet "Content curation is the act of collecting, filtering & sharing the best info on specific topic. via @JuliaCSocial "]

The best content curators also add their own spin to the article, blog post or video that they share, explaining why it is important to their community and why they chose to share it.

Content curation is not about sharing links as you find them.   It is finding great stuff amid the noise, annotating it, organizing it, and adding your wisdom or perspective and sharing a collection of curated links in a context or time that adds value. – Beth Kanter

Welenia Studios created a great infographic about the process of content creation, which they call "the art of finding, grouping, organizing or sharing the best and more relevant content on a specific issue".

3 Easy Ways Nonprofits Can Use Content Curation To Cure An Ailing Blog image what is content curation

Here are 4 ways that nonprofits can use content curation strategies to inject life and new ideas into an ailing nonprofit blog:

Newsjacking.

Sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts are free emails that you receive daily or weekly featuring the latest news on a topic of your choosing. Sign up to get a Google Alert for your cause, for example, "domestic violence", "wetlands preservation" or "animal abuse".

What is happening right now that is relevant and timely? What is of interest to your audience? Also called "newsjacking", how can your organization add to a trending discussion that is gaining traction in the news?

How to do it: Choose an article or blog post (or video or photo, etc.) and write two paragraphs about the issue – why is it important, why did you choose it, what does it add to the overall discussion? Make sure to cite the original source and link back to the article.

Infographics.

Infographics are everywhere! According to a fabulous interactive infographic from Neomam, our brains crave infographics because we suffer from information overload. Info presented in a visual and colorful format is 80% more engaging and about 323% more accessible. [Tweet "Info presented in a visual and colorful format is 80% more engaging. via @JuliaCSocial"]

How to do it: Search Pinterest or Google for your cause plus the word infographic. For example, "environment infographic" or "hunger infographic". Add one or two paragraphs on your blog summing up the most interesting points of the infographic. Make sure to cite the original source and link back to the infographic's creator where possible.

Scoop.it & Storify

Free online tools Scoop.it and Storify are great places to curate interesting information on a specific topic and then share it to social networks.

How to do it: Sign up for Scoop.it and Storify and create your free account. Use one or the other to start (I personally prefer Scoop.it). Identify up to 3 topics that are relevant to your mission, your organization and your audience. With Scoop.it, you can post a link, add a short summary and then add your own insight. You can then share it to all your social media sites for further exposure.

In conclusion, content curation takes time and effort to do well.  However, it can be a perfect compliment to content creation efforts like writing a blog, sending out a regular email newsletter and posting regularly on social media.

More resources:

Content Curation Tools

15 Topnotch Content Creation Tools

13 Reasons Our Brains Crave Infographics

How does your nonprofit use content curation strategies and tools? 

photo credit: Claus Rebler via photopin cc

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Can Snapchat’s New Feature Benefit Brands?

Posted: 01 May 2014 03:53 PM PDT

Upasti Basappa

You get an epic Snapchat from a friend, captioned with a question. But alas, there's nothing snap-worthy around you. You could take an awkward picture of the growing mound of clothing on your floor or send a captioned blank snap (finger on the lens). Thankfully, there's now a sufficiently less sketchy solution. Snapchat just launched two new features on its platform that allow users to send messages and share video streams with their friends.

The chat feature, which was presumably launched to compete with Facebook's acquisition of messaging giant WhatsApp and Vine's newly launched messaging service, allows users to swipe right from their Snapchat feed and "text" their friends.
The feature stays true to the essence of Snapchat—the conversation self-clears once both parties have seen the messages or exited the screen.

"Until today, we felt that Snapchat was missing an important part of conversation: presence. There's nothing like knowing you have the full attention of your friend while you're chatting," Snapchat's recent blog post claims.

Its second new feature is an innovative solution to this problem. Users can chat with any number of friends simultaneously, but can only share video streams with friends who are "here." The notion of being "here" is decidedly different from that of being "online." You appear online to everyone on your list, but you're only "here" when you're actively within a conversation screen. This facilitates a highly personalized, intimate, one-on-one interaction.

This feature isn't aimed at competing with video conferencing platforms like Skype or mobile video options like FaceTime. It encourages a completely different kind of sharing. It isn't a conversation as much as it is the sharing of a moment in which two users are "here" together. You're feeling not saying, experiencing not conversing.

For instance, it's your best friend's 21st birthday and you want to be there when she pops a bottle of champagne and blows out her candles. A friend at the event could share a video stream with you live, instead of capturing it and sending it to you post facto. The sender also doesn't have to contend with recording or picking the perfect moment and can switch seamlessly between both cameras.

While this is great news for users, it isn't as much of a coup for brands, given that it would be impossible for a brand to really leverage this feature in its current form. They can't possibly be "here" with thousands of loyal customers and potential consumers simultaneously.

However, the tech-cycle seems to begin this way, more often than not. Companies roll out features to excite and attract consumers, not brands. It is once they develop a solid user base that they begin to optimize it for advertisers in order to monetize (e.g. Instagram ads). While Snapchat hasn't gone the monetization route as yet, it added a broadcast element to its platform in October with its "stories" feature. If Snapchat combines its new video streaming capability with a similar broadcast feature in the future, video streaming could become an innovative new way for brands to stay relevant and interesting in the market.

What's also important to note, however, is the shift in attitude this development will foster. It encourages hyper "real", live interaction hinged on the sharing of an experience. Whether it's explainer videos for cutting edge products, viral campaign spots, or hilarious behind-the-scenes shorts that showcase company culture, video advertising has taken the digital industry by storm due to its unparalleled ability to convey the essence of a brand to consumers.

However, sometimes producing a video requires a financial undertaking and a significant amount of time and effort. Sharing or entering a moment through video streaming requires none of these things and most importantly, allows the brand to retain a sense of complete, unedited authenticity.

Imagine having "live" sessions available for your users to click into and experience with your brand. Your customers could click in for a behind the scenes look at your company, interact with your celebrity brand ambassador as part of a promotional campaign, or even "attend" the launch of your product and see people interacting with it live.

Watch this space for where "Here" actually goes!

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Your Strategy Checklist: Is Your Social Media Outdated?

Posted: 01 May 2014 03:35 PM PDT

Rocket Post

Staying up on trends and continually evolving a plan are essential to a successful social media marketing strategy. Therefore, it follows that an outdated social media strategy is an ineffective social media strategy. But what makes a social media strategy "outdated"? While there are plenty of things you shouldn't make part of your social media strategy, there are a few techniques that once may have been considered effective but now, well, now we hate them.

Here are 6 outdated strategy tactics that every content marketer should avoid. Your Strategy Checklist: Is Your Social Media Outdated?  image 179469000 600x590

  1. Asking for a like or retweet. Coming right out and asking your followers to like, retweet or share something is an outdated social media strategy that users see right through. Instead of asking for basic interactions from your fans, provide valuable content and then ask for their opinion. Change your copy from "Like this if you agree with our theory on the Flying Spaghetti Monster!" to "Do you think a Flying Spaghetti Monster can exist based on our research? Share your thoughts!" Not only will you receive more interactions, but they will be higher quality, with your target actually providing valuable insights into how they think and work.
  2. Setting up an automatic direct message on Twitter. If you've automated your entire social media strategy, you have a problem. Social media is meant to be personalized, fast-paced, real and in real-time. Sending automated tweets can be bad enough… sending automatic direct messages is even worse! Instead of setting up a direct message system that will undoubtedly annoy new followers and possibly cause them to unfollow, why not take the time and reach out to new followers individually with a tweet or question that seeks to get to know them a little better. Ask what kind of content they're following for or just thank them for following with a direct tweet as opposed to a direct message. Your followers will appreciate the time you spend on personalizing your relationship!
  3. Using outdated and annoying buzzwords. Things move fast online with new ideas constantly being shared and elaborated on. So it makes sense that a lot of these trendy buzzwords can lose their punch pretty quickly, especially with so many marketers including them in their regular, everyday vernacular. Avoid using outdated and annoying buzzwords like "synergy" and "crowdsourcing" in your social media strategy. Present new ideas and new words that we can use until they're no longer cool!
  4. Sending everyone who follows you on Twitter a LinkedIn invitation. You just got a new Twitter follower. Great job! They deemed your account worthy of including in their daily feeds, on Twitter. Don't take followers away from your Twitter feed by sending a LinkedIn invitation. Chances are, your LinkedIn strategy and your Twitter strategy are very different… or at least they should be! Don't overwhelm new followers by asking them to follow you somewhere else. Instead, focus on providing the quality content that encouraged them to follow you in the first place!
  5. Using your personal Instagram as your business/brand Instagram. In real life, most people try to keep business and personal lives separate. While this line is certainly being blurred by the startup movement, the philosophy still holds true on our social media checklist. Particularly Instagram. By combining a personal and brand account, you're diluting your message and confusing your followers. Create an Instagram account for your brand where the updates are strictly related to your business or company philosophies. If you still want an account where you can post pictures of Saturday night beers or your family trip to Disneyland, make a completely separate account.
  6. Overusing and misusing hashtags. Hashtags are one of the most overused and abused marketing tools on social media platforms Twitter, Instagram and now Facebook. Many people think that adding 10, 15, 20 tags is a great way to generate interest in a post. And sure, adding hashtags like #love, #peace or #tranquility will probably get you a few likes, but it won't actually create real interest in your posts OR brand. The best way to use hashtags is to promote specific events or to aggregate updates regarding a particular topic, like #SXSW2014. Look at hashtags as a way to find people talking about your topic of interest, not to generate likes or shares.

Using social media specifically to generate buzz is a mistake. Instead, be honest online and approach social media how it's meant to be approached: in real-time and as a tool for discussion, not promotion. Double check your strategy with our social media checklist and make sure your techniques aren't outdated!
Can you think of an outdated strategy that we missed in our social media checklist? Comment below or Tweet us!

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5 Social Media Facts Every Marketing Professor Should Know

Posted: 01 May 2014 03:21 PM PDT

Evan LePage

In the modern business, marketing is far ahead of most other departments when it comes to social media use. That being said, many higher education marketing programs are still playing catch-up, with social media being added to courseware as an afterthought rather than building courses around this powerful new technology.

Fully preparing marketing students to enter the industry should now involve a much more comprehensive social media education. With that in mind, in 2013 HootSuite University launched the Social Media for Marketing Curriculum, a resource that covers everything from social media advertising to engaging your online community.

Apply Now

The ways in which marketing departments are using social media are complex and varied, so simply touching on social media in courses isn't enough. If you're still not convinced that social media should be a core part of marketing programs, here are 5 facts that might change your mind:

1) 93% Of Marketers Use Social Media For Business

When only 7 per cent of marketers say they don't use social media for business, it leaves little doubt to the importance of social media skills for those joining the field.

Of the 93% of marketers using social media, most didn't learn about social media in school. They were forced to adapt and pick up these skills, while learning how to fit social networks into their marketing strategies. Students who have already developed these skills would have a huge advantage when entering the market.

2) Businesses are drastically increasing their social media budgets

A recent survey of CMOs showed that social media's share of the marketing budget is expected to double in the next five years. And that increase isn't segmented into a specific area either; it applies to business-to-business and business-to-consumer services and products, four areas where social media spending will rise from under 10 per cent to over 20 per cent of the marketing budget in the next half decade.

The old saying "follow the money" should apply to marketing education programs. They should be focused on preparing students for new marketing techniques as much as (probably more than) established areas of marketing for which the share of the budget is decreasing year after year.

3) Advertising is moving online

One area where marketing budgets are dropping, and fast? Print advertising. Last year, internet advertising surpassed newspaper advertising spending for the first time. That trend will probably continue forever.

In 2013, Internet advertising expenditures surpassed newspaper ad spending for the first time, accounting for 21% of all advertising dollars. While social media represents only a portion of internet advertising, spending on social media ads is expected to exceed $11 billion by 2017.

4) Marketing Departments Are Hiring Based on Social Media Ability

Ultimately, we go to school to better prepare us for our careers. With job postings involving social media having grown 1,357 per cent on LinkedIn since 2010, developing social media skills seems like a clear career move.

Among job titles related to social media, "Social media marketing" is the second most common. Social media manager, which came out on top, and many of the other titles involving social media will often fall into marketing departments as well.

"I've had several students tell me that being able to communicate to potential employers that they were HootSuite Certified really helped them in their interview. They were able to show that they weren't just learning theory, but were actually getting experience with social media management," says David Altounian, Professor at St. Edward's University teaching social media in his marketing classes with HootSuite University's Higher Education Program.

It's clear that today's employers are expecting new marketing hires to have social media skills. Educating marketing students on social media not only prepares them to enter the modern marketing department, it gives them an advantage over long-time marketers but are less knowledgeable about the technologies.

5) The Fastest-Growing Age Group on Twitter is 55-to-64 Year-Olds

Social media is mostly a young person's domain, and young people don't spend money… right? Actually, the 45-54 age bracket is the fastest-growing group on both Facebook and Google+. And on Twitter, often thought to be void of parents, the fastest-growing age group is 55-to-64 year-olds, up 79% since 2012.

The reality is that social media is a tool for all age groups now. As such, it is no longer viable for really any business to ignore social media, regardless of the demographics of their customers. For universities, that makes social media education essential. Business students need to be taught the digital skills required in today's workforce.

HootSuite University's Social Media for Marketing Curriculum includes assigned readings, videos, and homework built around a class project where students apply principles learned in class to hands-on marketing experience with a real-world client of their choosing.

HootSuite University's Higher Education Program is currently being used in over 300 global institutions including Columbia, NYU, and Syracuse University.

Are you a professor looking to teach social media in your classroom? Apply to HootSuite's Higher Education Program and gain access to free teaching resources and tools, ensuring your graduates are fully prepared for their future jobs.

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How To Make The Most Of Hashtags

Posted: 01 May 2014 03:14 PM PDT

Nikki Peters

How To Make The Most Of Hashtags image hashtags

"Hashtags" is a term that many may have heard, but not necessarily know very much about. It has fast become a social buzzword and it's now encroaching on more and more social media sites. In essence, the hashtag is a word or full phrase prefixed by the hashtag symbol (#) which are hyperlinks to relative topics. Originally a stand out feature belonging to Twitter, it can now be found on Google Plus, Facebook and Instagram.

How It Works

When using hashtags, you are posting links directly from your update into a forum of related, categorised topics, words or phrases. In essence, it allows both you and others to search for keywords or phrases related to your market by collecting all updates which share the same tagged content and grouping them into one place. For example, if you hash tagged #SocialMedia in an update and then clicked on the tag, you would be taken to a page where that tag has been used by others. From there, you can reply and connect with people who you know are talking about the same interests.

How To Make It Work For You

Hashtags are a simple yet effective social marketing strategy for any business simply because they are a really great way of connecting with people and thus, expanding your audience or customer base via social marketing. By adding a hashtag to your social posts, you are increasing the level of engagement as you are creating links to allow others to find you.

 

For example, if you're a book shop, you could be using #Books followed by the genre #Crime #SciFi #Romance and so on. This way, people can not only see what you have on offer if they are searching for those keywords.

If you're company is having a sale, be sure to hashtag #sale so that you have an extra marketing tool at your exposure to target more people.

Avoid Making A Hash Of It

Although they are a fun, quirky and key social marketing tool, it is possible to use them in an adverse manner which could do your brand more harm than good. Key hashtag do's and don'ts are:

  • DON'T jump on the bandwagon. Just because a certain hashtag is trending, don't try and use it to your benefit if it's irrelevant to your brand. For example, if #OneDirection is the days most popular tag, adding it to one of your updates about the new kitchen appliances your shop is now selling is inappropriate and could result in ridicule and bad feedback.
  • DO keep it simple and keep it short. Single words are great for hash tagging and so are short phrases, but adding full sentences wont work as it becomes hard to read and looks odd. For example #thiswouldbearathersillyuseofhashtags!
  • DON'T use spaces or punctuation between words if you're using more than one. You can differentiate between words by using capitals instead. #ForExample
  • DO remember to use it across all social platforms. Long gone are the days when it was a Twitter exclusive, be sure you use them on Facebook, G+ and Instagram also to really make the most of them.
  • DON'T over hashtag. You only need one or two tags per update. Hash tagging too many words per update will look wrong and defeat the purpose of impact key word marketing. #Do #Not #Hashtag #Every #Word – Watch the video at the end to see how using too many hashtags can look.
  • DO remember that you don't need to just think of what it is you're hash tagging. Search the various platforms for keywords that hashtags flag to see who else is talking about those topics and then reach out to them.

Conclusion

Social media hashtags are a really excellent way of both marketing your goods and offers as well as finding others who have posted about them and allowing you to connect directly. It's a proactive tool which all businesses should be embracing on social and increasing engagement and consumer audience.

#Over #Use #Of #Hashtags!

Photo credit: quinn.anya via photopin cc

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LinkedIn Reports $473 Million In Revenue For Q1 2014

Posted: 01 May 2014 02:50 PM PDT

Mike Stenger

LinkedIn Reports $473 Million In Revenue For Q1 2014 image linkedin q1 2014 earnings

LinkedIn recently passed 300 million users, and today the social network announced its earnings for the first quarter of 2014.

Revenue saw a 46 percent jump year-over-year to $473.2 million, and earnings per share were at 38 cents.

This is up from analyst expectations of $466.5 million and earnings per share of 34 cents, though further expenses added up to a $13.4 million net loss.

That led to a stock price decrease of over four percent in after hours to $154.20 where it's currently hovering.

U.S. users accounted for the bulk of revenue at nearly $285 million or around 60 percent, and like revenue, Premium subscriptions are also up 46 percent.

In the second quarter, LinkedIn expects to earn anywhere from $500 to $505 million, and looks to exceed $2 billion in revenue for 2014.

From CEO Jeff Weiner:

"The first quarter was strong for LinkedIn in terms of our member engagement and financial results. We made significant progress against several strategic priorities including expanding internationally with our China launch, extending our shift to content marketing, and furthering our goal to make LinkedIn the definitive professional publishing platform by giving members the ability to publish long-form content."

While there wasn't an update on mobile figures, in Q4 2013, the social network announced that 41 percent of users now come from mobile devices.

Speaking of mobile, LinkedIn finally rolled out the ability to upload photos via the iOS app, and will soon make its way to Android and the mobile website.

Photo credit: ttnk

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My WordPress Site Is Live! Now What?

Posted: 01 May 2014 02:03 PM PDT

Greg Taylor

My WordPress Site Is Live! Now What? image whats nextCongratulations! Your new WordPress site is live — but this is not the end, trust me when I say this is just the beginning.

Now that your site is live you need to know where you go from here? What is left to do for your site? How do to track success? How can you keep the momentum rolling? These are all things that you should be thinking about.

What Happens Post-Launch

Post-launch is the make or break time for good WordPress Development teams. Trust me, no matter how dialed in your team is, something will go wrong. At a minimum an issue will pop up that needs to be dealt with.

As a client, new user or even experienced user — do not panic. 90% of everything that goes wrong post-launch is transparent to your visitors. In the same token, if you are a (newer) WordPress Developer 90% of what pops up is not noticed by your client.

Whatever comes up, just deal with it as soon as possible. If it's not mission critical schedule time to make the fix. Just do it.

What's Left To Do For Your Site

Being a WordPress user (or developer) is not a spectator sport. Keep track of your analytics. Go tabs on Webmaster Tools to make sure you site is in good health.

Test concepts. Test content. Test conversion rates. I can't stress the importance of testing, measuring, and refining. Marketing Press often refers to this as the Review, Refine and Repeat phase of the project.

Review what is happening on your site. This includes traffic, conversion, SEO ranking etc. Measure everything and anything, and make improvements to your site. If you are a business owner and your WordPress site is here to help grow your business you should be measuring these metrics just as your sales manager manages his sales team. It's that important.

Use Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools and SEO Ranking Reports to help guide your web marketing decisions.

How Gain Momentum and Keep It Going

The easiest, scariest and hardest thing to do is get and keep momentum rolling, because it takes work.

Creating and publishing content is not for the lazy.

Create content and post it regularly to your site. Let you voice and subject matter expertise be heard and seen. Post relevant videos to your site. Write OpEd pieces. Practice marketing Youtility.

The more you post good and sharable content to your site the better chance you have at your site being found through search engines.

So again, Congratulations on getting your awesome WordPress site launched! Now it's time to put it to work.

The post My WordPress Site Is Live! Now What? appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews.

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Why People Aren’t Reading Your Blog

Posted: 01 May 2014 01:52 PM PDT

Monica Montesa

Why People Arent Reading Your Blog image EB2F84F3567456BD3F9A82B489F3B9 h296 w526 m2 bblack q99 p99 cEPHtZfMTA company blog is a must-have asset. And there are plenty of stats to support that statement.

Yet despite the hard evidence, there are still skeptics who have trouble justifying devoting time and money to it.

Their biggest problem with blogging?

That it doesn't work or directly drive business.

To that, I (along with many other marketers) would simply say that they aren't doing it right. Or giving it the time to mature.

There are plenty of reasons why people are completely devoted to certain blogs and couldn't care less about others. And they all fall under three main categories: The content itself, distribution methods, and strategy.

Let's dive a little deeper.

The Content Problem

One of the most common blogging issues brands face is learning how to shift the conversation away from their favorite topic: themselves. If you're blogging about your products, services, and all of the wonderful things you've done and continue to do to make the world a better place, you're already starting on the wrong foot.

Consumers today seek out brands that provide value to their lives, not the other way around—which means your blog must be totally and completely audience-focused. (If you want to talk about your company and all of its achievements, then start a separate company news blog.)

So what should you write about?

An understanding of your buyer persona will be key to determining your target audience's needs/values/beliefs. Once you have this information, you should create content that reflects or satisfies their needs and questions. It can also entertain or educate them— just try to avoid straying too far from your industry. Content that's completely irrelevant to your brand isn't going to be effective.

At the same time, make sure every blog post is optimized for SEO. This will ensure the content you're creating is actually discoverable by Google, which is how people will find your content when they enter a related search query.

The Distribution Problem

Sharing your content is almost (if not equally as) important as creating the content itself. Why spend hours crafting the perfect post that no one will ever see? Market your blog by distributing it through email, social media, and any necessary websites.

In addition to sharing content yourself, you want to make it easy for others to share it as well. Add social sharing buttons to every post so your blog has the opportunity to reach new audiences.

The Strategy Problem

At first glance, a blog looks like a simple tactic. But you'll need a strategy if you want it to be successful.

From a design perspective, both the blog web page and the posts themselves should be optimized for success. Pay attention to layout, colors, and images. The more visually appealing your blog is, the more credible you'll look and the more your audience will want to read what you have to say.

Which brings us to our next point. If your audience is hooked on your blog, you'll need to supply them with a constant stream of content to keep them satiated. Writing consistently and frequently is essential to a successful blogging strategy—plus, it'll help build your reputation and help you rank better on Google.

To help you get organized and sustain this kind of strategy, create an editorial calendar and get the right staff (whether internal or outsourced) to take the blogging reigns—it's more work than you think, but it's definitely worth it.

Image courtesy of MSN Living.

Why People Arent Reading Your Blog image d6fcb3a4 0113 44fc 95fa 08fe9fb9b045

The post Why People Aren't Reading Your Blog appeared first on Twitter Tools Reviews.

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