The Latest on Social Media

What's the latest buzz on social media for businesses, freelancers and nonprofits? Here are some articles I've bookmarked in the last two months.

Demographics

Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites | June 2014
(eBiz | MBA Guide)
Official numbers for June. Who's on top?

Facebook Still Reigns Supreme Among Young Adults
(Mashable, by Andrea Romano)
Up-to-date stats for those who want to reach teens.

Issues & Opinions

Facebook Is Throttling Nonprofits and Activists
(ValleyWag, B. Traven)
An op-ed on the implications of Facebook's projected move to 99% paid posts.

6 Key Shifts in Thinking About Social Media
(Entrepreneur Magazine, Donna Moritz)
Is blogging coming back? What about Google+? Here is an expert's look at what's coming down the pike.

For Beginners

50 Expert Tips for Getting Started on Social Media
(Ryan Pinkham, Constant Contact)
What experts want beginners to know.

5 Ways to Establish Your Voice on Facebook
(Jesse Aaron, Social Media Examiner)
Is "being human" online harder that it sounds? This may help.

Pinterest Reveals The Most Popular Categories On Each Day Of The Week
(Search Engine Journal, by Matt Southern)
If you've been considering having themed posts on different days of the week, this might give you some ideas.

6 Steps to Build a Social Listening Dashboard
(Marcela De Vivo, Social Media Examiner)
Even if you decide not to maintain an account, It is important to establish listening posts to discover how people are talking about your business (or your competition!)

The Best Free Stock Image Resources on the Web
(Courtney Seiter, TNW)
So images are super-important these days, what if you're not a great photographer? Where can you find images on a budget?

Advanced Help

Twitter Launches An Interactive Guide To Help Small Businesses Reach Their Goals
(Matt Southern, Search Engine Journal)
A new, official guide to business uses of Twitter.

60 Awesome Social-Media Tools for Entrepreneurs
(Jeff Haden, Inc. Magazine)
Are you ready to begin using a management tool for your accounts?

Essential Social Media Design & Sizing Cheatsheet
(Salman Aslam, Omnicore)
Help sizing images for a BUNCH of social media platforms.


Four nifty ways to display and curate Twitter
(Joyce Valenza, School Library Journal)
One advantage of Twitter is how reusable your posts are. Take a look!

Twitter Photo Tips: The Ultimate Guide For Social Marketers in 2014
(Laura Roeder, LKR Social Media)
Twitter is more visual now! Here are some basics about the new best practices.

6 Ways to Get More Pinterest Followers
(Zoe Waldron, Social Media Examiner)
Make your Pinterest presence stronger.

Pinterest Tips

Below are my notes about Pinterest, prepared for yesterday's panel.

Should I start an account? Ask these questions:

• Are my demographics a good fit?
• What topics relate to my purpose that people are talking about
  & sharing?
• How will Pinterest fit with my other social media accounts?
• What is “success?” What are my goals? (these may well change)
• How will I know that I am successful?
• Who will contribute to the account? Do there need to be rules?

Advantages, Disadvantages

•  Little overhead: no design time, can create presence very quickly
•  High level of sharing, virality
• Completely visual
• Poor mobile interface for sharing
• Monitoring/management tools (ie Hootsuite) haven’t caught up
• Content is so different, can be time consuming to add to the mix

Create account & starter content

•  Use keywords in your account profile to enable discovery
• Add “Pin it” button to your toolbar
• Search out your peers and follow them; watch for ideas
• Start with minimum of 5 boards, have fun with the titles
• Start monitoring what is pinned from your website (“source” search)

Develop following, encourage growth

•  Add pins regularly
• Add “Pin it” to blog posts share your pins on Facebook & Twitter
• Add the Pinterest app to your Facebook page (It will add a badge to top)
• Explore keywords using Pinterest’s own search tool; “like” and comment on pages you would like to interact with
• Add Pinterest links to your website and paper publicity
• Explore keywords using a search engine like google. Search for terms like “xxx on Pinterest”
• Use #hashtags centered on your goals, like #Tucson #dogs #art #sunsets, picking ones people are likely to be searching.

Dos:

• Tap into emotion, know what motivates your audience
• Have fun, write creatively
• Descriptions are important
• Be selective. Create, hunt and pin the best of the best
• Share from your website (uploads won’t link back)
• Credit your sources
• Consider crowdsourcing pins

Don’ts:

• Skip the hard sell and direct, overt marketing
• Don't be egocentric; focus outside your business to your larger community
• Infrequency
• Poor quality images
• Disorganized boards where the pins don't match the desription

Polish and extend your page

• Choose interesting photos for your board covers, and adjust cropping
• Arrange your boards high interest --> low interest
• Experiment with content and monitor response
• Listen to your customers/clientele/members for topics
• Watch your peers for ideas
• Experiment & take chances; remember this is a new medium and you won’t really know what works for you until you try it

You have a good following? Get creative, try promotions

•  Contests
• Scavenger hunts
• Crowdsource recommendations