Monday, 10 June 2013

Staying Social: Social Media Updates

Social media technology is constantly evolving and it can certainly be challenging to stay up-to-date with the evolution of familiar products. The business world has reached a point where social media participation is not only expected, but required in order to stay relevant among competitors. Here are a few updates from around the social media world to help you stay tuned into what’s going on within this infinite space.

•    In April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook Home , a new platform for the social network available on certain Android devices. At the announcement, Zuckerberg said, “Our phones today are designed around apps, not people. We want to flip that around.” Features include a live news feed of “friend” updates
as soon as you turn your phone on and reach the home screen. There is also something called “chat heads;” If you are having an ongoing Facebook Messenger chat with someone, their photo appears in a bubble in the margins of your phone so you can access the conversation at your convenience while you have another app open. In early May, Facebook announced that Home downloads had surpassed the 1 million mark. The company did not reveal how many of those who downloaded the software are active users. Monthly updates will begin on a regular basis in July.

•    In other Facebook news, if your small business has used Tweetdeck to manage both Twitter and Facebook accounts, you have realized Facebook is no longer available on this management service as of early May. (This inevitable change is a result of Twitter purchasing Tweetdeck two years ago.) The shuttering of the Facebook relationship has created an outcry from social media aficionados, many of whom are switching to HootSuite , which still supports Facebook.

•    LinkedIn  users now have the opportunity to add pictures and videos to their professional pages. This visual element provides a digital portfolio element of a candidate and helps users put summaries into actions. This feature is available in the summary, work experience, and education sections of the online resume and networking site.

•    In a study by Manta , small business owners flocked to social media outlets in the past year in a desperate attempt to increase sales. The report found, though, that their efforts have not shown a return investment. The survey questioned more than 1,200 small business owners, 50% of whom have increased time spent on social networks, and 55% said they utilized Twitter and Facebook to attract new customers and/or establish sales leads.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of social media outreach is establishing one audience (or maybe several) and learning what each needs from your outreach efforts. Experts recommend having someone on staff that can devote time every day to listening to customer feedback and being available to offer more information and alternatives to current business practices. Social media outlets provide an opportunity for businesses to personalize their brand and products. It can be difficult to reach an audience through a website with so much information. Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, can break down information into more digestible bites of information. It takes time to develop relationships, though, which is when small businesses will see a return on the investment of their time, which is just as valuable as their money.

Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet. Her mission is to help consumers stay financially savvy, and compare checking accounts.

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

6 Free Android Apps To Enhance Your Social Media Marketing

Apps are appliances made for devices based on android OS to expand the utility of the devices. As a manager for social media who is at all times on-the-run, you can be sure to depend on these important apps to stay engaged and connected with your social media. Android apps are available in large numbers in today’s large market. It is recommended you consider the 6 free chat apps to manage your social media marketing:

1 .Tweet Deck

With Tweet Deck, people can customize their experience with Twitter through groups, columns, saved searches and automatic updates to keep them updated concerning interesting topics and the public. This free app, Tweet Deck, allows users to follow what
other users ‘status updates are all about, and provide updates via links, sharing of photos, sharing of videos, and tweeting.

2. Hoot Suite

This app permits businesses to launch their marketing campaigns, send target messages to a number of channels, expand and identify their audiences using social media. Hoot Suite brings individuals together from a spectrum of social media websites, like Twitter and Facebook. Through Hoot Suite’s control panel, groups can collaboratively schedule updates to Word press, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, through mobile, desktop, or web platforms. Teams may additionally follow campaign outcome and business trends.

3. Gowalla

This free app, Gowalla, permits sharing of places users visit including contacts and friends, utilizing videos, pictures, and posts. Specialist of Social media can connect with the app through Twitter and also Facebook. This app currently offers iPad native apps, Palm, Blackberry, Android, and iPhone. Support for other phones may be given in the future times by 3rd-party developers.

4. Shareaholic

This free tool which is for Internet Explorer as well as safari and Firefox, consents to sharing all pages by its users, anytime, with more than 100 services for instance Google mail, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Word Press. The tool, Shareaholic permits the users to make their bookmarks simple and be able to find latest materials while they come on the Internet.

5. Zinzzchat

Share pictures, videos, and articles on different social networks with Zinzzchat. The free app lets you have new content to stay focused on marketing. You can use it on Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn.

6. Postling

Postling makes it simple for you to make content and thereafter post it straight to your blog in order to maintain new content on your blog even at times when you are not using your laptop. This is vital because your audience simply want new content.

The above 6 apps that will help you manage your social media marketing is ideal for your dealership to get more value and exposure from the social media, and get closer to your audience. Auto dealers who want to improve the effectiveness of their Social Media Marketing campaigns need to have these 6 apps to improve their social media marketing.

The chat apps will help marketers to engage their customers who are already mobile. Dealers can also monitor what is being said about them online at anytime and anywhere. They can promote positive mentions immediately and reach out for negative mentioned immediately. Remember if used correctly, free chat apps can be a driving force for your business.

Original: Android Apps for Social Media Marketing