Erik Qualman's Blog, page 630

Back to the Future – Where will Social Media be in 2015?

It is hard to believe that only 32.77% of the world’s population has regular access to the internet. Considering that ten years ago only 12.5% were online, a lot has changed and it is reflecting in our day-to-day activities. In the age of mobile technology, social media has become much more than a platform for basic communication; it has become engrained into user’s everyday lives.  People are jumping online at all hours of the day, and with social media becoming the last thing people check before they go to bed and the first thing they check when they wake up, it has become a powerful force. Users are sharing breaking news, stories, experiences, reviews, photos and videos more frequently and faster than ever before – with over 100 hours of video footage loaded onto YouTube every minute its clear to see that we have not only grown to adore the power of the internet but it has been integrated into our buyer behaviour, making it a powerful tool for brands and businesses.

The ‘social’ boom is not yet over, in this year alone China is predicted to see a 140 million rise in internet users, triggering great ecommerce growth and users on social platforms. Recently China leapfrogged America to become the biggest trading nation in the world.  As economies evolve and populations keep rising, living standards and access to the World Wide Web should inevitably increase. With the previous in mind, social media will receive an increased amount visitor’s year on year. What does that mean for existing users and how will it evolve to cope with increased demand and cultural differences and sensitivities?

Search Engines

The way we search and access information is constantly changing, search engine algorithms provide the most relevant searches for queries based on complex mathematical equations.  Google, Baidu and Yandex are three of the biggest search engines in the world, the way they enable us to search directly effects social media and viscera.

Google regularly alters its algorithms, changing the way we search and filtering out old/bad results. The Penguin and Panda updates released by Google penalised website for having to many links with aggressive exact match anchor text, duplicate content, keyword stuffing and more.

So why is this relevant to social? Social media is one of the factors Google takes into consideration when ranking a website in the SERP’s. If a website like ‘hotcrossbunsandjam.co.uk’ had the same seo profile as ‘hotcrossbunsandchocolate.co.uk’ but one had more interaction with social media, Google would take preference on the website that has made the effort socially.

With that in mind, it isn’t by a stretch of the imagination to believe that Google might be planning an algorithm update around bad social media practices. As social media is becoming an ever increasing factor in rankings, we could see something put in place by 2015 to stop businesses buying Facebook “likes” and “shares” to increase their social profile. Black-hat tricks that increase a business’s social score probably won’t be the only thing to be hit, unnatural shares maybe targeted to stop spammers from pushing out the same messages via different accounts across medias.

Having a cleaner and spam free social platform should help businesses and user experience improve significantly.

Diversification & Features

As more cultures dive onto the Worldwide Web we could see social platforms change the way users interact based on laws and preferences in different counties.  A great example of this is in Japan where Twitter added a new feature called ‘lifeline’,  Japan was the first region in the world to receive a service that suggests which official government Twitter accounts should be followed if a disaster hits. The idea was sprung after last year’s earthquake and Tsunami, proving that feature for different cultures will become more prevalent in world day social media by 2015.

As the big social media platforms become more and more popular around the world we could start to see different services appearing, like Facebook’s business networking features in Japan. LinkedIn in the country has been unable to grab a foothold on the business community. Facebook however has become the preferred social network among job hunters and university graduates.

With opportunities around the world for social sites to gain ground in current or new areas of communication, it’s likely that media which takes risks in expansion will benefit greatly as countries establish their online communities.  In India and Brazil, opportunities for social networks to monopolise the emerging markets can’t be ignored.

As we have become familiar with our social group’s one change that could enhance Twitter and Facebook is the introduction of ‘tribes’. As social media is one of the biggest ways we consume news, and is often the first place we come to consume it, the development of tribes could help users control their news feeds.  Google+ has led the way in terms of grouping contacts, Facebook and Twitter could help users divide friends, colleagues and acquaintances, streamlining and declogging feeds could provide ‘greater’ social interactions.

User Control

By 2015 social users could be given more access to their preferences, not only within their news feeds or social groups but with themes, features and apps.  Bridging the gap between having a blog and a social media account could provide businesses and regular users with a greater experience, giving them the power to add personal touches to their accounts.

Facebook could constantly display news in a separate feed from feeds we have an interest in, like sport or music.  Bringing in better integration between social media and other websites could help businesses attract customers towards their products/services and offer users smarter and more update information.

Unlocking social media dashboards could be the key to better usability; however for such a large audience could it be achieved? MySpace offers profiles that are compatible to your pretences, giving you the ability to change the look and feature on a single page. Did we get bored of the platform or personalising our preferences? Either way it’s foreseeable that Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn could be looking at Myspace as a way of moving forward into 2015.

Looking back what the industry predicted would happen through the years:

Mashable: 5 ways social media will change our lives (2009)

Business Week: Social Media Trends for 2010

Search Laboratory: The value of friends to brands

Business Insider: The future of Social Media (2011)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Marketing & College Students: It’s Not About Where, But When

When you plan a marketing campaign, there are several different routes you can take according to what your future goals are for your brand. For advertising, don’t just think of WHERE your product will be according to the placement of the product on a shelf, the location of your business, or at what street or highway your place the billboard, but timing and planning WHEN your target will see the advertisement. WHEN your target market sees your advertisement is especially an important criterion for a social media campaign and timing online is everything.

Social media & college students - Shutterstock

News Feed Advantage

It may take some time to gather enough information from your social media networks to analyze and determine at what time of the day and which days of the week work best to target your audience online. In general, but not for every target, the best times of the day include the early morning when everyone is up,  the hours between getting home from work and dinner (otherwise most everyone is preoccupied with 9 to 5 jobs), and around bedtime during the week. Forget the weekend when people will most likely be out and about.

College and Social Media

If weekends are slow for social media promotion, then you can bet the summer will be as well. Especially for college kids who are preoccupied with work or internships during the day and spending time with friends and family at night. Targeting college students during the academic year with social media tends to be better during the day when students are in between classes with a flexible schedule compared to targeting other adults who work all day. A social media campaign is perfect to target college students because they have more time to be online to read about the latest updates with friends or what upcoming social events are being planned, making the mid-day the perfect opportunity to share your next sale or special known online.

Based on their weekly class schedule, college students will get into a routine and create a habit of when they check social media sites on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. 56% of the 1 billion student Facebook users check it on a daily basis and 12% check it every couple of hours including 32% of them at meal times. College students don’t just spend a couple of minutes on these social media sites either. On average per month, student Facebook users spend a whopping 405 minutes or almost 7 hours and 89 minutes for both Pinterest and Tumblr! What about on a daily basis? The average daily Facebook time is one hour and 40 minutes and that’s just as an excuse to take a break from the real world and exams.

So besides seeing that so and so is now in a Facebook official relationship, checking out the latest photos from last weekend’s party or bar scene, or the latest scandalous celebrity Tweet; what else are students doing on social media outlets? They may like, follow, or pin your brand, but they will not be online just to check out your latest update. Students are interested in what products and services their friends are interested in and pay more attention to what they post online because it comes from a person, not a direct brand and a friendly face is more relatable than a logo. If your message does create enough interest amongst a couple of students, then it will further spread with word-of-mouth to their classmates and friends both online and offline. Again, your timing has to be right and the promotion has to really grab their attention to stand out from the constant updates from their friends and other brands.

If you cannot reach your college audience where they are most of the weekday offline, then social media gives you the best market entry for students to learn about your brand. For most of their day, students will either be on campus, work, or at their residence with few opportunities to see advertisements outside of the online world. Especially on campus, it is difficult to reach out to college students unless you have built a partnership with the university such as purchasing ad space in student planners that are handed out each year to new students. Fortunately, because they are connected to your account and brand, chances are they will see your promotions online no matter where they physically are at that time.

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How Should You Format Your Message?

College students are busy either always on the go, spending time with friends or in the library studying for midterm exams. They will not want to read something long and detailed so be sure to keep it simple and short. Be sure not to repeat the same message. Change up your online marketing strategy by sharing different information or links relating to your brand because everyone is interested in what the next product or service offer will be, not what the best was on repetition.

Students and Brands Can’t Escape Social Media

More and more colleges and universities are utilizing social media platforms to connect and share what is happening on campus with current and prospective students. Social media is even being used by high school students as far as showing how interested they are in attending a certain university by uploading videos of them sharing their school spirit with the administration office. Colin Huber, a writer and social media coordinator, of Oregon State University stated that if they see a video of a prospective student wearing a beaver suit (the school’s mascot), that the office would immediately  take note of it and would reach out to that person. For Division 1 college sports, an athlete will send footage of them from a race or game to share their schools with college recruiters across the internet, not just their best times and performances statistics.

So what are you waiting for? If you are struggling with your current social media plan to reach out to college students, work on your game plan because during the school year, online is where they are at.

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Using Social Media to Peruse the Job Market

In today’s market, trying to find a new job is sometimes like trying to find a needle in a haystack alongside thousands of other competitors digging around in the same bale.

Luckily, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are here to help you not only find the needle, but turn it into a successful career. And, as long as the proper steps are taken, social media can become your own personal online job recruiter.

So, what are some steps to take when using social media to search for a new job?

First and Foremost: Clean Up Your Act

In order to reflect yourself and your skills in the best professional light possible, it’s necessary to thoroughly comb through your online social profiles and make sure there are no posts or pictures that might count against you.

Besides, whether it’s jobs in retail or business careers you’re looking for, professionalism always comes first.

This isn’t to say you should rearrange your entire social life and come up with an online alter ego, but rather edit your profiles for the purposes of appropriateness. In other words, if you’re using social media to find a job, you better believe employers are using social media to find out more about you too.

If all else fails in the profile arena, set your Facebook profile to private in order to limit the amount of information potential employers can ultimately find.

Build a Supportive Profile

Certain elements in your profile work as a first impression when you reach out to employers using social media, so it’s important that everything from your profile picture to your headline reflects the type of job you’re pursuing.

Facebook profile pictures change everyday, but if you’re using this particular social network for job searching purposes, it’s a good idea to keep your picture consistent and professional.

Since LinkedIn is the go-to social network for both employers and candidates, it’s a good idea to build a solid profile with a straightforward headline pertaining to your skills through LinkedIn and then link to it through other social media avenues like Twitter and Facebook. And with LinkedIn, the more skills and endorsements you have, the better.

Spread the Job Search Word

The whole point of taking the social media route when searching for a new job is letting as many sources as possible know you’re on the hunt. So, don’t be shy – simply let your social network know you’re looking for a new job.

Likewise, it doesn’t hurt to add some details about what line of work you’re looking for.

So, make consistent Facebook posts with job search updates and specifics, let the Linkedin crowd know you’re up for grabs, and Tweet your resume to increase your job searching presence.

Do Some Social Media Research in Advance

Social media works both ways, so why not use it to find out more about the company your interested in and its current employees and hiring managers.

Employees and hiring managers might have their Facebook profiles set to private, but their LinkedIn profiles probably say enough to give you a rough idea of the job at hand and the type of people that the job is looking for.

As you can see, social media and job-hunting work together to make searching for employment much easier than finding needles in haystacks.

Photo credit: careerdirectionsllc.com

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Banking on More Social Media

Social media is an outlet where everyone can have a platform.

That being said, businesses are reaching out to more than just their local customers; any company can have a global reach thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The banking world has joined in on this social ‘gold rush’ – the mining of customers in the public arena.

This social presence is all about bringing a brand into the homes of millions. When people can recognize a brand and connect instantly, it brings the bank into their lives. Eventually the bank becomes who they think of when they need financial services.

Social Banking

Banks are hoping that they can put a personal face on their businesses; every bank wants to outperform their competition.

By reaching more fans or having the most shares, they can stand at the top of the social banking game. While people can’t yet do their banking through social media, reaching out and receiving customer service in an instant has moved financial services forward.

People, be they paying bills, creating a budget or following up on past deposits or withdrawals, are able to check their accounts through mobile apps and reach customer service by contacting banking reps through their social accounts. While sensitive information cannot be shared on these networks safely, general questions can be answered.

Who’s Doing What?

Many banks are active on Twitter, but it seems that the most active banks are small, hyper-local institutions. These banks are working to reach their customers and not a global audience.

Larger banks are using Facebook far more as it affords more room to post images, information, and any private messages can be more detailed.

Outside of the United States banks are far more active on Twitter.

The UK and Philippines rank high in having more banks on the social network that are active. These banks are reaching out to their customers with Twitter through tweets, Twitter images, and videos via Vine.

The fastest growing banks on Facebook are, as with Twitter, local branches and regional banks.

Large national institutions do have a presence though the smaller banks have more to gain by being more active. They may lack the backing of a big name which means their strategies need to be more competition based.

Strong social media presences can help a small bank grow while the lack of presence can hurt some of the already wounded larger banks.

Who Is Doing It Right?

Out of all banks using social media, Chase in the U.S. is reaching more customers than anyone else in the world. With nearly four million ‘likes’, the bank is well over a million ‘likes’ ahead of the second most popular, Capital One.

These banks are engaging customers, reaching out to new clients, and offering solid financial information that can benefit all consumers whether they are customers or not.

Some banks are using Facebook and YouTube in combination.

These two powerhouses of social media can reach millions quickly and every post has the potential to ‘go viral’. This can be a great thing for a bank that is trying to break out of regional services and go nationwide.

So, is your bank banking on social media to cash in on more business?

Photo credit: growbusiness.co

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5 budget friendly online marketing strategies

If you are in the tight budget, then you can still build a robust online marketing for your business. However, one thing you have to remember that on the online, you have to understand it well before you exploit it gracefully as well. It is observed that you can build a good online marketing strategy despite your tight budget. Actually, you have to use your intelligence to explore this great opportunity as well. Moreover, you will see that if you apply it in the wise manner, then you will able to do online marketing for your business. Even, you have to keep in your mind that you have to build your reputation through these marketing strategies for your organization also.

Despite your tight budget, still you can make your business to stand on the online community through the different kinds of marketing strategies. The reason is that on the internet, only the business will stay which will able to maintain the commitment and quality products. Therefore, it is the real magic of the online business. However, it will not be very easy to build your reputation on the online, and then you will require patience and robust marketing strategies as well.



Social media group

When your finance is tight, then you can do your online business by creating the social media group as well. The reason is that it will give you enough opportunity to explore the power of the social media group. Moreover, you will observe that it will create the considerable amount of the footfall in your website when you will create your social media group. Practically, it is very much powerful tool for your business as well. Actually, the social media group is the powerful medium, which will cater the enough information about the prospective customers in such a way that you will easily realize that how many visitors from your social media group, will be your royal customers for your business products as well. Moreover, you will get the real information through the group discussion with its members and you will understand how you can direct your business in the right direction according to the customer’s requirement as well.

Endorsement by local celebrity

Even, you can endorse your business products by any local celebrity. The reason is that it will make your business products to reach to the prospective audience in the end as well. Actually, if you take the help from a local celebrity, then you will able to save a lot of money for endorsing your business products despite having your tight budget. If you like to hire the international celebrity for endorsing your business product, then you should keep enough money ready for it. The reason is that it will empty your pocket. Therefore, it is a better option for you to hire a local celebrity for endorsing your business products for your online presence as well.

Good blog

If you are serious for promoting your business on the internet, then you should create a blog for your company. Therefore, it will bring the large numbers of traffic to your blog and you will able to do a big business as well. A blog can make or break the business on the online. Therefore, you should remember it as well. If you build the better blog for your business, then it is sure that you will get the positive feedback from your visitors. Therefore, you should provide the quality content for your business blog and it will steer your aim to the higher level as well. Even, the best content will make the positive impression on the mind of the visitors to your blog as well. You should never think that you would have to spend a lot of money for developing a blog for your business. Rather, you will need to spend only a couple of dollar for it.

Target market

If you target your market gracefully, then you will able to exploit it well. However, if you do wrong in this direction, then you will never achieve success in this case as well. Therefore, the targeting the market is an essential element of your online marketing strategy. When you will do the market research for your business, then you should do it in the right direction and you should do it with precise care as well.

Search Engine Optimization

If you like to survive on the online, then you will have to use the search engine optimization for your business website. The reason is that the SEO will help your business to reach to the prospective buyers of your business products. Nevertheless, if you wrongfully use the search engine optimization, then your business will be suffered at the extreme measure. Therefore, you should always remember that you have to maintain and understand the principles of the search engine optimization as well.

Therefore, you can do business on the online despite your tight budget. Nevertheless, you have to apply the right marketing strategies in the right direction if you like to be successful in this regard.

This Post is written by Kelly. She is a writer/blogger. She writes articles on Technology, social media, wordpress, Gamification, website development and software development etc.

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Can Social Media Harm Your Company’s Reputation?

Are you active with your company’s social media accounts? Wondering if you are doing it right or doing more harm than good?

There are some simple things to keep in mind when you are so exposed, such as on social media.

Here are some tips and tricks to remember when you are posting on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media site:

Not Separating You From the Business

One of the key ways that you can end up hurting your business is by not separating your personal account with your business account. Never think that you can just have one social media account and use it for both your personal rants and raves and your business dealings.

Make one account for your business that you keep completely separate than your personal. Try not to even put the same links on both pages.

Posting Pics and Memes

Do you retweet or share pics and memes that some may deem offensive?

It is hard to determine who is going to take offense at what, so keep that in mind the next time your finger hovers over the share icon. All it will take is one person on your followers to not like what you’ve sent and you could be targeted for negative online reviews and comments.

Keep your business account solely for posting your helpful tips, your products, your promotions, and comments about the weather and the city you’re in.

Employee Use

Another way that social media can harm your company has nothing to do with what you post and how often you post it.

When employees spend their days on their smartphone or on company computers on social media sites, they get distracted and it ends up being a time-suck of productivity. Restrict social media sites through your online services and make sure that your employees are working rather than tweeting or doing status updates.

Infrequent Updates

This is a fine line, you don’t want to post too often and you don’t want to post too frequently.

Set a schedule and make sure that you are doing status updates and posts that are of value to the reader. This means don’t ever make it a platform for a hard sell, in fact the less you talk about your business the better your readers are going to respond.

Own a hardware company? Talk about the 10 best uses for a socket wrench. Yes you can include a small link to your socket wrenches. But this gives value to the reader and doesn’t seem pushy.

Social media is one of the best ways that companies can stay in contact with their customers and provide them with up to the minute reports on new stock and promotions. However, it is also lightning fast and can have a faux pas spread like wildfire.

If you find yourself trying to put out a social media fire, make sure you act quickly, consider using different options such as a tool like  to remove any personal or company information you do not want the entire world seeing, and by all means do not ignore the matter.

In doing so, you can help your business stay on the right side of the spectrum.

Photo credit: webseoanalytics.com

 

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5 Bigtime Companies Nailing Social Media

Social media comes with a massive built-in audience that stretches across almost every niche market there is, so it’s no wonder big companies consider social media big business.

Although most companies nowadays use social media in one form or another, some companies simply do it better than others.

With that in mind, here are five huge companies that really know how to use social media to their advantage:

1. Target

When it comes to hitting the bull’s eye with social media campaigns, Target is on top of its game. The Target brand is already highly recognizable due to its trendy commercials and contemporary style, but it’s also a huge advocate of all forms of social media.

Target is a cross-media powerhouse house, staking its social claim in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Instagram Tumblr, and LinkedIn. And, with Facebook alone, the superstore has already implemented applications for wedding registries and digital coupon bargain hunters.

2.  Subway

The king of the foot-long sandwich is also becoming social media royalty. Subway has almost 40,000 sandwich shops in 100 different countries, so it’s no wonder social media fans follow Subway in droves.

In fact, Subway has one of the largest Facebook pages of any food vendor with more than 20 million fans. Not only that, when Subway tweets, 1 million followers listen. And why shouldn’t they? The sub shop’s known for handing out promotions by way of social media all the time.

3. Starbucks

Going head-to-head with Subway in social media statistics is everyone’s favorite coffee shop, Starbucks. The Starbucks brand knows social media is as ever-present as their coffee, and to prove it, they have amassed more than 25 million Facebook fans.

In addition, Starbucks and social media translate to promotions and other deals for avid followers. Starbucks uses Twitter to answer customer questions all the time, but it also tweets discounts to followers on a regular basis as well.

4. Ford

When Henry Ford rolled the first Model A out of his factory in 1902, he definitely had no idea the ways in which his company would market automobiles 100+ years later. More so than any other car company today, Ford has taken social media to heart.

And, the more technologically advanced Ford vehicles become, the more they rely on social media to get the word out. With the introduction of the company’s first fleet of all-electric cars, Ford turned to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to market and followers answered back by the millions.

5. T-Mobile

It seems pretty obvious that a cellular provider would use social media to reach its audience, but nobody in the smartphone world does it better than T-Mobile. So, it comes as no surprise that T-Mobile uses sites like Facebook and Twitter for marketing.

But, where T-Mobile breaks away from the rest of the pack is the fact that they use social media for recruiting as well. When seasonal hiring rolls around, T-Mobile posts and tweets job openings on all the major social media sites.

So, whether it’s a social savvy sandwich shop, a big time hotel owner like Steve Wynn, or coffee for the digital masses, when social media and big business partner up, followers listen.

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Some Social Media Sites That Ultimately Failed the Test

Social media sites fail for a variety of reasons.

Some grow outdated and are replaced by new, more user-friendly sites (such as Myspace being edged out by Facebook). Others fail to hit the right note with users from the start, such as the iTunes Ping service.

Whatever the reason for the failure, these sites can teach new social networks what not to do.

1. MySpace

Launched in 2003 and now owned by Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake, MySpace had a promising start. The most-visited social networking site in the world from 2005 until early 2008, the site was edged out by Facebook in number of users.

MySpace suffered from several key problems. Its developers focused more on developing an advertising platform than a social one, and didn’t provide easy ways for users to connect with each other.

Timberlake and Specific Media launched a new beta version of the site in January 2013. The jury’s still out on whether the partnership will be able to save the ailing site.

They already had a misstep in early June: The developers deleted all user information from the classic site without warning (including personal emails and blog entries), creating a major outcry from users who lost several years’ worth of data.

2. ITunes Ping

A study in misunderstanding your users, iTunes Ping launched in 2010 and shut down just two years later. Meant to be a social network and music recommendation service all in one, Ping failed in several important areas.

First, while Facebook integration was part of the unveiling demo by Steve Jobs before the service launched, that integration was gone by the time users got their hands on it. With no easy integration with other social networks, Ping cut off an important means of sharing music.

Ping also had strict rules that put too many restraints on users’ experience; this, along with the fact that Facebook already made it easy to share music, sealed Ping’s fate.

3. Xanga

Launched as a book and music review site in 1999, Xanga soon morphed into a blogging platform. Users were given a “Xanga site,” which consisted of a blog, photoblog, videoblog, audioblog, a mini-blog called a “Pulse,” and a social networking profile.

More powerful and innovative blogging platforms such as Blogger and WordPress, along with the introduction of MySpace, took the wind out of Xanga’s sails, resulting in a steady decline in users over the past several years.

4. Friendster

Now a gaming site rising in popularity in Asia, Friendster started out as a social network. It preceded MySpace and Facebook, and was one of the first social media sites to reach more than a million members.

Unfortunately, Friendster suffered from slow loading times that frustrated users, and didn’t focus enough on sharing and connecting between users. When MySpace and Facebook entered the scene, Friendster’s users flocked to them (although the site remained popular in Asia).

Finally, in 2011 the network was re-launched as a social gaming site, still receiving most of its visitors from Asia.

This is just a sampling of the social networks that have come and gone. Those that have remained and flourished did so because they understood user needs — and the “social” aspect of social media.

Photo credit: wallblog.co.uk

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Which 5 Social Media Sites Am I Missing Out On?

Businesses missing out on social media are also missing out on an opportunity to connect with their audience.

Current and potential customers use social media sites everyday to keep in touch with the world, so it’s no surprise that businesses using social media are part of their customers’ world as well.

With that in mind, which five social media sites are the best in terms of businesses connecting with not only customers, but other businesses as well?

1. Foursquare

Customer word of mouth is great for local businesses both large and small. With Foursquare, when customers check into coffee shops, restaurants, and retail shops, they’re able to receive promotions, rewards, and other deals just by letting others know they’re there.

In other words, Foursquare promotes business by encouraging that customers notify their own fan base whenever they’re enjoying what that business has to offer. And, the more customers’ check-in, the more traffic for the business through word of mouth promotion.

2. Instagram

When it comes to visual marketing for business, Instagram is the perfect platform for sharing images. It cuts the social media clutter by simply concentrating on pictures. So, for those businesses with products or brands to sell, Instagram is a great visual showcase.

And, even if a business isn’t product oriented, the Instagram platform allows for the sharing of photos revolving around business culture, behind the scenes company photos, and inside views of how a business operates.

3. LinkedIn

As for business-to-business networking, LinkedIn is a social media site with B2B in mind. For individuals, LinkedIn acts as an online, interactive resume that’s one can update, and available for the entire business world to see

For businesses, LinkedIn is perfect for customer relationship management. Not only can customers find in-depth information and business profiles on participating companies, but businesses are able to form relationships with other business in the same way, thus strengthening B2B networking.

4. Facebook

The king of all social media is also a great tool for businesses trying to reach their audience. And, with over 1 billion users, Facebook has one of the largest audiences on the web.

Although Facebook isn’t thought of as a site for marketing, businesses are able to reach interested customers through Facebook Business Pages. With a business page, users can “like” products, “friend” the business, and both receive and share deals on their own terms.

5. Twitter

The great thing about promoting 140 characters at a time is it’s short, sweet, and thanks to Twitter, it has the potential to reach an audience that’s 300 million users strong and growing. With Twitter, businesses can self promote and tweet about the services and products they have to offer.

Likewise, once a business gathers followers, those followers can choose to re-tweet marketing efforts thus creating traffic. But, it’s important to keep in mind that with millions of tweets a day, a business that doesn’t have something important to say will likely be lost in the sea of tweeting.

Whether promoting real estate, the best accounting software or computer services,  businesses that use social media sites like the ones above can feel confident that they’re reaching a huge audience on a daily basis.

Photo credit: buyrealmarketing.com

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Social Media and Finding a Divorce Lawyer

Social media can be a great way to learn about businesses and services in your local community. This includes finding a divorce lawyer.

There are many ways to use social media to find a lawyer that will meet your needs.

How Lawyers are Using Social Media

Many lawyers are using blogs to share their knowledge and attract new customers. Blogs can be a great way to provide people with free information and answer commonly asked questions.

Most people searching for a divorce lawyer will have a lot of questions about how the process works. A blog can explain to people what they need to know and how to prepare for an initial appointment with a lawyer.

Many lawyers are also using LinkedIn. After all, what better way for people to find a lawyer than look to see who their friends and loved ones endorse?  A lawyer’s LinkedIn profile should outline their areas of expertise and education as well as show who has endorsed them on LinkedIn.

Facebook is also used by a lot of lawyers. A lawyer’s Facebook page is a great way to reach younger people and offer links to a blog or relevant news articles.

Twitter is another commonly used form of social media. Divorce lawyers can offer quick tweets to reach people who may be looking for more information about obtaining a divorce. Some lawyers choose to answer questions via Twitter as well which can provide potential clients with fast responses.

Many lawyers are also using social media to connect with other professionals. It can be a great way to gain referrals and obtain word of mouth advertising.

How to Find a Divorce Lawyer

When you’re looking for a divorce lawyer, one of the best places to start is by asking friends and family for suggestions. Gain as much information as you can about other people’s experiences with a specific lawyer to help you make a decision about which lawyer is right for you.

Conduct some online research to see what others have to say as well. Social media and online review sites can offer valuable information about lawyers who specialize in divorce cases.

Consult with a few lawyers before choosing one. Some lawyers offer free consultation while others charge a fee. It can be well worth the price to meet with a few different lawyers to make sure that you find one that you feel comfortable working with.

Ask questions about fees up front so you are clear about what it will likely cost you. It’s important to have a clear idea about how you’ll be charged and what services are likely to cost.

It’s important that you feel comfortable with any lawyer that you pick. After all, a divorce lawyer will learn a lot about everything from your personal finances to your sexual history.

A good lawyer will have a clear understanding of why men and women divorce and will be able to meet your needs throughout the process. Make sure you will feel comfortable being open and honest about anything that you’ll need to discuss.

There are many ways to find a divorce lawyer in today’s world. Social media certainly offers people new ways to gain insight into which lawyer might best suit their needs.

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