Facebook remains top social network, Google+, YouTube battle for second

According to eMarketer, a digital marketing analysis firm, Facebook is still the number one social network by a large margin, but second and third place go to Google’s Google+ and YouTube.

Facebook is in the lead, but the Google’s double-team of Google+ and YouTube isn’t far behind.

Social Media Checklist For New Websites & Businesses

As a startup company or small business, it is no longer an option to ignore social media as a means of communication, promotion and possibly even recruitment or revenue. That’s true for any business new to the internet, as well.

However, diving head-first into an ever-expanding realm of social media networks can feel overwhelming at best. Each platform has not only a unique audience of users, but also its own idiosyncrasies when it comes to usernames, imagery and usage.

Below is a step-by-step guide to establishing business accounts on the top eight social networks. As time and personnel are already stretched thin at many companies, it’s highly unlikely that you will be able to maintain streams of valuable content on each of these networks from the get-go. In fact, there are still plenty of Fortune 500 companies out there who can’t, either.

Establishing Your Business Account

The most crucial first step in entering the social game is securing your brand name, or some standardized variation of it, across all of the networks you can get your hands on. Even if you don’t intend to be an active user of a platform, it is better to own your brand name there just in case, rather than risk someone else taking it.

Once you have set up basic accounts on each top social network, take a step back and focus on the one or two platforms that have relevant audiences for your brand and enable you to sustain meaningful content. Focus all of your team’s energies there for the first 6-12 months of your social campaign, until you have justifiable reasons to expand into new territories.

First Steps

• Enter your brand name on Knowem.com to see if someone has already claimed your name on various social networks. Find one version of your brand name that is available on all of the top networks to ensure consistency.
• Send this “Ridiculously Exhaustive Social Media Design Blueprint” to your designer and have him/her create appropriately sized imagery for each network you plan to have a presence on.

Facebook

Use if: You want to reach a massive audience with a diverse array of content types.

• Create a Facebook page for your business.
• Claim a username for your page so customers can easily find you at Facebook.com/YourBusiness instead of Facebook.com/pages/you/203948203957. (Note: Once set, your username cannot be changed — so pick wisely!)
• Upload a profile image that will still be “readable” in a tiny thumbnail form around the site. Logos or brand stamps work well and allow users to easily identify your content throughout the site.
• Upload a cover image that expands beyond a logo to visually represent your brand. This is the largest piece of real estate you will own on the site and your best opportunity to establish a tone for the profile. See Hubspot’s cover photo dos and don’ts for more tips.
• Ensure all applicable contact and “About” information is completed on the profile, and ensure that the most applicable “Category” is chosen.
• Use your page’s “Short Description” (Settings > Page Info > Short Description) to display your tagline or a one-sentence summary of why your business is great. This description can be automatically displayed when other people share the link to your page, so make sure it’s a good description.
• Authorize page administrators at appropriate access levels so multiple people can contribute content to the page.
• If appropriate, upload historical “milestones” for your company, industry or products by backdating posts. Prevent these posts from flooding the news feed of any existing followers by checking the “Hide from news feed” option.

Twitter

Use if: You have frequent updates or content with a “timeliness” factor.

• Create a Twitter account. (There’s no distinction between personal and business accounts here.)
• Claim a username for the account, which will also become part of your profile URL (twitter.com/username).
• Upload a profile image, header image, and background, ideally all with coordinating color schemes and messaging. Remember that your profile image will display sitewide in a tiny thumbnail, so it should be visually concise.

• Include your website URL in your profile content for easy access.
• Familiarize yourself with Twitter 101 (made by Twitter specifically for businesses!) to learn more about hashtags, @ replies and other network best practices.

Google+

Use if: You have a physical location and want to appear in local search results.

• Visit google.com/+/business/ and click “Create a Google+ page” in the top-right corner.
• Sign in with a Google account that you control, and choose the category that best describes your business.
• List your business’s name and website, and confirm whether your content is appropriate for all age groups.
• Under “Settings,” add a phone number to the page, and confirm that number via an immediate text message or phone call.
• Click on the “Profile” item in the left navigation, then the “About” tab at the top. In the “Links” block below, you should see a “Link website” button. Click this to produce a snippet of code that should be placed on your website in order to link your profile and your website.
• Ensure that all location and contact information on this profile stay up-to-date, as Google uses your profile here to provide your address, phone number and more in local search results.
• Once you have established the page, go to plus.google.com/dashboard and click “Manage this page,” then “Verify this business” underneath your address. Confirm the business’s mailing address, and a postcard containing a unique PIN will be mailed to you. When the postcard arrives, follow the verification instructions on it to complete the process.

YouTube

Use if: Your business could benefit from product demos, testimonials, or putting a human face to your brand.

• Go to YouTube.com and click on “Sign In” in the top-right corner.
• Sign in with an existing Google account (make sure you’ll be comfortable sharing these credentials with anyone else who may need to contribute to YouTube work), or click “Create an Account” and follow the prompts.
• Once signed in, click on the user icon in the top-right corner and from the drop-down menu select “My Channel.” In the next pop-up, click the link at the bottom that reads “To use a business or other name, click here.” In the “Name your channel” field, input your business’s name, or a branded username that people can use to find you.
• In the “About” tab of your new Channel, list “custom links” to your website or other online properties, as well as “social links” to other networks.
• Also in the “About” tab, provide a Channel description, and upload channel artwork to brand your page.

LinkedIn

Use if: You are in a B2B space, or you want to speak to a more professionally-oriented audience.

• Log into a personal LinkedIn profile and in the main menu navigate to Interests > Companies. Then, in the top-right corner, click on “Add a Company.”
• Enter your company name and your business email address. (Note: LinkedIn will only allow you to activate a new company name if you have a company email address like me@companyname.com. If your LinkedIn account was set up with a personal email address, you will need to first add a business email to your profile before moving on.)
• Populate the following fields of LinkedIn’s prompts with general company details and products or services.
• Upload a version of your logo as the page’s profile image. You will need three separate versions sized at 100×60 (displayed on the company page) and 50×50 (displayed throughout the network) pixels to complete the profile.
• Upload a page banner (themed similarly to Facebook cover photo) sized at 646×220 pixels.
• Create unique banners and thumbnail images to highlight your top products and services. Feel free to use these labels liberally if your business has less traditional offerings.

Pinterest

Use if: You want to target a female audience and have great visual content.

• Use http://business.pinterest.com/ to sign up as a business page. (If needed, this page also provides a link to convert a formerly “personal” account to a business one.)
• Provide contact information and establish a username for your profile.
• Upload a 165×165 pixel version of your logo or brand stamp.
• Connect other existing social networks to your profile if you want to push out Pinterest activity to those platforms.
• In your profile settings, enter your website’s URL. Verify your ownership of the site by uploading an HTML snippet.

• Review this cheat sheet to optimized Pinterest image sizes in various post types.

Instagram

Use if: You can create interesting visual content on a regular basis.

• Download Instagram from the App Store or from Google Play to a mobile device.
• Sign up to create a new account.
• Upload a 110×110 pixel logo as the profile image.
• Include your site’s URL in the profile settings.
• Use the “bio” area to provide an overview of your value propositions.
• Review the Instagram for Business blog for tips, trends, and examples of successful brands.

Foursquare

Use if: You have a brick-and-mortar location.

• Search for your business’s name on Foursquare.com to see if a profile already exists. In the likely chance that it does, you can follow Foursquare’s prompts to claim the listing. If your business is not already in their system, opt to create a new location.
• Enter a phone number for Foursquare’s validation system to contact. You will immediately receive a call at that number with an automated system asking you to state your name and the name of your business. A code will then appear on  your computer screen, and you’ll be prompted to enter this code on  your phone.
• Following phone verification, a “final verification” is required, via either a one-time payment or a free postcard mailed to you at the listed business address.
• Once verified, ensure that your business’s address, phone number, operating hours and other details are accurate on the profile.
• Link other social media networks as applicable.
• Post available specials for customers to unlock.

Anything I forgot? Let me know in the comments!

(Also, feel free to check out my SEO Checklist for Startup Websites on Search Engine Land!)

21 Tips of Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Agents from Wispond.com

Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Agents: 21 Tips from Wishpond

40 Most Popular Social Networking Sites of the World

"Social networking" has been around forever. It's the simple act of expanding the number of people you know by meeting your friends' friends, their friends' friends and so on. In fact, many of us today use Twitter and Facebook to promote our existing and upcoming businesses. And people looking to connect with other business-associated contacts usually move to sites like LinkedIn, but one need to understand that social media is beyond Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogs. After observing and running an analysis on hundreds of Social Networking sites I have listed down 40 most popular social networks across countries.

1. Facebook: To access Facebook.com, you must create an account on the site which is free. Facebook's terms of use state that members must be at least 13 years old with valid email ID’s. After updating you're details, your Facebook profile is generated. Using Facebook.com you can:

o Browse and join networks, which are organized into four categories: regions, colleges, workplaces and high schools.
o Pull contacts from a Web-based e-mail account, into Facebook.com.
o Find friends in several ways, including search engine to look for a specific person and lot more.
o Facebook has recently crossed 500 million users and is the most popular Social Networking site of the world.

2. MySpace: On MySpace, your social network starts growing from the first day. When you join MySpace, the first step is to create a profile. You then, invite friends to join there and search for your friends on already profiled on MySpace these friends become your initial Friend Space. Once the friendship is confirmed all the people in your friends' Friend Space become part of your network. In that sense, everyone on MySpace is in your Extended Network. As part of terms of MySpace, the user must be at least 14 years old to register.

3. Twitter: Twitter is a very simple service that is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about social networking service providers. When you have a Twitter account, you can use the service to post and receive messages to a network of contacts, as opposed to send bulk email messages. You can build your network of contacts, and invite others to receive your Tweets, and can follow other members' posts. Twitter makes it easy to opt into or out of networks. Additionally, you can choose to stop following a specific person’s feed.

4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an online social network for business professionals, which is designed specifically for professional networking, to help them find a job, discover sales leads, connect with potential business partners. Unlike most of the other social networks, LinkedIn does not focus on making friends or sharing media like photos, videos and music. To start using LinkedIn you need to register and create a profile page. To register to LinkedIn, you need to provide personal information. You can update the profile with your education and job details and a summary. Additionally, you can also give and receive recommendations from co-workers and bosses. There are more than 75 million professionals registered on LinkedIn.

5. Bebo: In the United Kingdom, Bebo is the second best social network. Bebo allows users to create social networking profiles for free. It offers many of the same features as other social networking sites. You can register a free account with Bebo and upload photos, videos and information. The site lets you connect with old friends and make new ones using a unique user interface. The site boasts users from more than a dozen countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Poland, France and Germany.

6. Friendster: Friendster was one of the first Web sites to bring it into mass culture. It was designed as a place to connect with friends, family, colleagues and new friends over the Internet. However, it went beyond just a one-way communication. Using Friendster, you can connect with friends and family, meet new people through the connections you already have, find people with similar interests, backgrounds or geographical locations, join groups by activity, school or interest, interact through message posts, games, blogs and application sharing, and share your details with the Internet community.

7. Hi5: Hi5 shares many similarities with many social network sites; however, it introduces some twists that make it worthwhile for people who love trying out new and interesting online communities. However, it is not one of the popular sites in the United States. This was a strategic move from the founder, therefore, Hi5 claims around 60 million members from more than 200 countries other than the US. One of the site's biggest transformations is the addition of many entertainment options, including games.

8. Habbo: The Habbo online community is inhabited by pixelated, cartoon-character alter egos. You can meet others in public rooms (nightclubs, restaurants, shops) and create private rooms for selected friends. Habbo employees heavily moderate the site, catering to its solid teen user base. Most of the users of Habbo are between the age group of 13 – 18 years. Although, a major part of the users are from the U.S., Habbo social networks is very popular in places like the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Finland and more.

9. NING: Ning is the leading online platform for the world's organizers, activists and influencers to create social experiences that inspire action. It helps you create a safe and secure place online for like-minded people. Ning takes the idea of groups to a whole new level. The ability to create your own community makes Ning a great home away from home for organizations and groups looking to fill the social void.

10. Classmates: Classmates.com is different from most social networks, in the sense that most of its features are available to premium member. The price for premium members depends on the length of the agreement – shorter term results in a higher cost per month. Classmates.com is primarily used to reconnect with old classmates. The site features a search engine that lets you view other people who went to the same school you attended. Creating a basic Classmates.com profile is free and easy. However, most of the advanced features in Classmates.com are only available to paid users.

11. Tagged: Tagged is a blend of social networking features that MySpace and Facebook users will find very familiar. Tagged was designed to help users meet lots of new people with similar interests in a short amount of time. You can access and register directly or be invited by a friend to join Tagged. This is a free social network that allows you to view your friends’ newly uploaded Tagged photo album. Tagged encourages its users to meet strangers based on shared interests, with the idea of growing your network to meet as many people as possible.

12. myYearbook: myYearbook, the best place to meet new people and one of the 25 most-trafficked sites in the United States. myYearbook has Flash-based games, and the games incorporate Lunch Money (the myYearbook virtual currency). It includes a virtual economy through which people can purchase of gifts which members send to each other. Lunch Money is also donated by members to their favourite charity. In 2010, myYearbook donated money to the Haiti Relief Fund to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

13. Meetup: Meetup is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. It makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

14. MyLife: MyLife (formerly Reunion.com) is a social network service. MyLife can search over 60 social-networking sites and other information resources on the Web. MyLife searches the web to deliver accurate and timely results. Even in cases when you don't immediately find who you're looking for, MyLife continues searching and provides updates and alerts. MyLife suggests friends and contacts you may know based on your profile information and existing contacts. It also intimates you when someone else is looking for you. MyLife gives you a global view into the most popular sites your friends are part of, including LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace as well as 50 other sites.

15. Flixster: Flixster is a social networking site for movie fans. Users can create their own profiles, invite friends, rate movies and actors, and post movie reviews as well. From the site, people can also get information about movies, read user-generated movie reviews and ratings, converse with other users, get movie show times, view popular celebrity photos, read the latest movie news, and view video clips from popular movies and TV shows. Flixster.com also operates leading movie applications on Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

16. myHeritage: MyHeritage is a family-oriented social network service and genealogy website. It allows members to create their own family websites, share pictures and videos, organize family events, create family trees, and search for ancestors. There are more than 15 million family trees and 91 million photos on the site, and the site is accessible in over 35 languages.

17. Multiply: Multiply is a vibrant social shopping destination, but faster and more convenient, where sellers and buyers interact. A user's network is made up of their direct contacts, as well as others who are closely connected to them through their first-degree relationships. Users are also encouraged to specify the nature of their relationship with one another, making it possible to share content based on relationship. Many shoppers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have made the Multiply Marketplace a favourite shopping destination.

18. Orkut: Orkut is a free social networking website where you can create a profile, connect with friends, maintain an online scrapbook and use site features and applications to share your interests and meet others. The prerequisite for logging on to Orkut is that the user must be over 18 years old. Currently, Orkut is the most popular in Brazil. The number of orkut users in India is almost equivalent to those in its original home in the United States.

19. Badoo: Badoo is a multi-lingual social networking website. It is gaining popularity in emerging markets like Russia and Brazil. The site allows users to create profiles, send each other messages, and rate each other’s profile pictures at no cost. However, features that are designed to make user profile more visible to other users are provided at a cost. Badoo includes geographic proximity feature that identifies users’ locations based on analysis of their network connection. This lets users know if there are people near their current location who may wish to meet.

20. Gaia Online: Gaia Online is a mix of social networking and massive multiplayer online role-playing games. It is a leading online hangout for teens and young adults, and offers a wide range of features from discussion forums and virtual towns to fully customizable profiles and avatars. It provides a fun, social environment that inspires creativity and helps people make meaningful connections around shared interests such as gaming, arts and anime.

21. BlackPlanet: Initially, BlackPlanet was designed as a way for African-American professionals to network. Since then, it's grown and evolved as a site operating under the principles of Web 2.0. Members can read other members' blogs, watch music videos, chat with one another, look for new careers and discuss news. Though BlackPlanet is not restricted to any community, this site is more popular amongst African-American. This site helped Obama to connect to nearly 200,000 potential supporters.

22. SkyRock: SkyRock.com is a social networking site that offers its members free web space where they can create a blog, add a profile, and exchange messages with other registered members. The site also offers a specific space for members who create blogs showcasing their original musical compositions. SkyRock is very popular in France and French speaking markets including Switzerland and Belgium. The site is also available in English, German, Dutch and Spanish. It’s very popular in the European Union.

23. PerfSpot: PerfSpot provides a web portal for people of any age, gender, or background to share their interests and favourite things on the web. PerfSpot currently publishes its site in 37 different languages, with comprehensive moderator team based in the U.S. and the Philippines that screens through up to a million pictures on a daily basis.

24. Zorpia: Zorpia.com is a social network that has a large international community. Zorpia’s features include profile customization, networking features and an incredibly detailed search. Zorpia has an impressive music section featuring popular artists like Ashlee Simpson, Vanessa Hudgens, Alanis Morissette and more. You can purchase a Royal Membership for extra networking options such as an ad–free profile, extra profile design features and unlimited messaging.

25. Netlog: Netlog (formerly known as Facebox and Bingbox) is a Belgian social networking website specifically targeted at the European youth demographic. On Netlog, you can create your own web page with a blog, pictures, videos, events and much more to share with your friends. Netlog is pageview market leader in Belgium, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey. In the Netherlands, Germany, France and Portugal, Netlog covers the second place. Pan European, Netlog is the market leader. Netlog is localized in over 25 languages, to enable users from around the world to access the network.

26. Tuenti: Tuenti is an invitation-only private social networking website. It has been referred to as the "Spanish Facebook”, by many social network watchers. It is one of the largest social networking sites in Spain. It allows you to set up a profile, upload photos, link videos and connect and chat with friends. Many other utilities, such as the ability to create events, are also offered. From 2009, utilizing a simple interface, Tuenti user can change their language to Catalán, Basque, Galician, and English. Tuenti is also available as an iPhone App.

27. Nasza-Klasa.pl: nasza-klasapl is considered one of the largest and most used social networking sites in Poland. It primarily brings together school's students and alumni. The site is in polish therefore restricting its popularity only to Poland and polish speaking people. Nevertheless, it claims to be the most popular networking site in Poland, and therefore, has found its niche in the competitive social networking space. The site where one might say, new meets old, where the intractability is like Facebook, yet traditional with old styled forums.

28. IRC-Galleria: IRC Gallery has been one of the most popular social networking sites for over 10 years, in Finland; with over 5.5 lakh registered users, 90% of which use the site regularly. IRC-Galleria is popular within the age group of 18-22. To be able to create an account with this site, at least one of the uploaded images must be accepted by the administrator. While regular users can upload only up to 60 visible images, you have the option to upgrade to VIP status that enables you to upload 10,000 visible images. Using this site, users can communicate with other users, comments on photos, and join over a 100 communities.

29. StudiVZ: StudiVZ is the biggest social networking site in Germany. It is also popular in German-speaking countries like Switzerland and Austria. This site works as a student directory in particular for college and university students in Europe. The site allows students to maintain a personal page that containing their personal information like name, age, study subjects, interests, courses and group memberships (within StudiVZ).

30. Xing: Xing, (formally known as openBC/Open Business Club) is a professional networking tool. It is popular in countries like Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. Xing is similar to LinkedIn and claims to have professionals from over 200 countries. Xing has two features Basic and Premium, depending on weather the user wants to use the site for free or at a cost. It is available in different languages including English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Dutch, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Hungarian; French and German being the most popularly.

31. Renren: Renren (formerly called Xiaonei Network) is one of the largest social networking sites in China, and caters to people of Chinese origin. It is very popular amongst college students. Renren also has a WAP version, which users can access through mobile phones. It features an instant messaging service for its users. Users can use the same username to log in both Renren and Kaixin. Renren appeals more to Chinese college students who use internet cafes, while Kaixin001 targets Chinese white-collar workers who have internet access at work.

32. Kaixin001: Kaixin001 is a popular professional networking tool in China. The target audience for Kaixin’s, are typically white-collar middle class who come from a first tier city. This site in China is extremely popular among people who work for multinational companies, ad agencies and other white collar companies. Kaixin001 has gained much more popularity since 2009, because social networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were blocked in China.

33. Hyves.nl: Hyves, pronounced hives (from beehives) is the largest social network in Netherlands, with many Dutch visitors and members. Hyves Payments and Hyves Games, allows you to play games and pay friends through the social network. Hyves provides usual amenities of a social networking site, including profiles, blogs, photos, and so on. ‘Hyven’ (Hyving) became a common word in Dutch, and is gaining popularity across Europe.

34. Millat Facebook: MillatFacebook is a Muslim-oriented social networking website. Originally launched in Pakistan, it has gained popularity in Arab counties as well. This site came into existence after Facebook was banned in Pakisthan. Millatfacebook offers video chat, bulletins, blogs, polls, shout box, and customization of profile page. Members can change the page CSS and design it on their own will.

35. Ibibo: Ibibo stands for iBuild, iBond. It is an Indian social networking site. It is an umbrella site that offers a variety of applications under its social network. The services offered include games, blogs, photo unlimited storage, mail, messenger, videos, free SMS service, mail, polls and surveys.

36. Sonico: Sonico is a free-access social networking website focused on the Latin American audience. You can do a to rage of things in this site including search and add friends, interact with friends over message, update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos and videos, organize events, play games with other users. Sonico, more importantly, let’s its members more control over their profile by giving them three distinct profiles that the user can organize based on the need: a private profile, a public profile, and a professional profile. This site is popular in Latin America and other Spanish and Portuguese Speaking Regions.

37. Wer-kennt-wen: Wer-kennt-wen, is one of the most popular social networking website in Germany. It is by an invitation-only social networking website, and only for people over 14 years old. The site provides the user to write blogs, chat with friends, and write in their guestbook. It provides users a social community for people, to interact with anybody they want.

38. Cyworld: Cyworld is a South Korean social network service. It has had a big effect on Korea’s Internet culture. Many renowned Korean socialites and celebrities have accounts where they post upcoming tours and works. Cyword has networks in South Korea, China, and Vietnam and is gaining popularity across Asia and the Pacific Island. Users have access to a profile page, photos, drawings and images uploading, an avatar, neighbourhoods, and clubs.

39. Mixi: Mixi is primarily for Japanese. Mixi offers options to meeting new people, send and receive messages, writing in a diary, read and comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities and invite their friends. The site requires users to own a Japanese cell phone which bars anyone who is not or has not been a resident of Japan.

40. iWiW: iWiW (abbreviation for International Who is Who) is a Hungarian social networking web service. The site is an invite-only website, where a user can provide personal information. Users can search for friends using the search tool. iWiW allows users to log in to external websites using their iWiW credentials. iWiW is also available for iPone and Android.

The list is tentative. You might want to add your thoughts to the same. Please feel free to share your opinions in the comment section below. I will soon revamp the list and take your suggestions into consideration.

10 Best Social Media Management Tools For Social Media Managers

Social media is one of the most effective ways for you and your business to get more traffic and generate new leads. Having a presence on all the major networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is a necessity these days for any business. But what tools are the social media gurus actually using to manage these multiple accounts?

 

1 Hootsuite

HootSuite is the most popular social media management tool for people and businesses to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks like Facebook and Twitter from one web-based dashboard. Hootsuite has become an essential tool for managing social media, tracking conversations and measuring campaign results via the web or mobile devices. Hootsuite offers a free, pro and enterprise solution for managing unlimited social profiles, enhanced analytics, advanced message scheduling, Google Analytics and Facebook insights integration.

2 Buffer

Buffer is a smart and easy way to schedule content across social media. Think of Buffer like a virtual queue you can use to fill with content and then stagger posting times throughout the day. This lets you keep to a consistent social media schedule all week long without worrying about micro-managing the delivery times. The Bufferapp also provides analytics about the engagement and reach of your posts.

What's the difference between Hootsuite and Bufferapp?

Hootsuite provides a more complete solution that allows you to schedule updates and monitor conversations, whereas Buffer isn't a dashboard that shows you other people's content. However, Bufferapp has superior scheduling flexibility over Hootsuite because you can designate very specific scheduling times and change patterns throughout the week. Hootsuite recently introduced an autoschedule feature that automatically designates a scheduling time based on a projected best time to post. This can be effective to use, but doesn't have the same flexibility as Buffer since you don't really know when a post will be scheduled till after doing so. What's the right solution for you? Many people use both Hootsuite (to listen) and Bufferapp (to schedule), including me, and it really depends on your posting needs. In my opinion though, if Hootsuite we're to introduce more scheduling options this could spell trouble for Buffer! But then again, Buffer could be working on some cool new dashboard that would rival Hootsuite's offering, time will only tell.

3 SocialOomph

SocialOomph is a neat web tool that provides a host of free and paid productivity enhancements for social media. You can do a lot with the site which includes functions for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plurk and your blog. There are a ton of useful Twitter features like scheduling tweets, tracking keyword, viewing mentions and retweets, DM inbox cleanup, auto-follow and auto-DM features for new followers. Social Oomph will auto-follow any new follower of yours on Twitter if you like, which could save you a ton of time if you normally like to reciprocate follows. Social Oomph is so effective at increasing social media productivity that I use the site every day but haven't had any reason to actually log in there since last year!

 

4 TweetDeck

Tweetdeck is a web and desktop solution to monitor and manage your Twitter feeds with powerful filters to focus on what matters. You can also schedule tweets and stay up to date with notification alerts for new tweets. Tweetdeck, who was purchased by Twitter, is available for Chrome browsers, as well as Windows and Mac desktops. Recently they closed down their mobile apps to re-shift focus on the web and desktop platforms.

 

5 Tweepi

Tweepi is a unique management tool for Twitter that lets you flush unfollowers, cleanup inactives, reciprocate following and follow interesting new tweeps! The pro version allows you to do bulk follow/unfollow actions of up to 200 users at a time making it a pretty powerful tool for Twitter management.

 

6 SocialFlow

Social Flow is an interesting business solution to watch real-time conversation on social media in order to predict the best times for publishing content to capture peak attention from target audiences. Some major publishers use Social Flow which includes National Geographic, Mashable, The Economist and The Washington Post to name a few. Social Flow offers a full suite of services that looks to expand audience engagement and increase revenue per customer. In addition to its Cadence and Crescendo precision products, SocialFlow conducts an analysis of social signals to help identify where marketers should spend money on Promoted Tweets, Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories, extending the reach and engagement for Twitter and Facebook paid strategies.

 

7 SproutSocial

Sproutsocial is a powerful management and engagement platform for social business. Sprout Social offers a single stream inbox designed to help you never miss a message, and tools to seamlessly post, colloborate and schedule messages to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The platform also has monitoring tools and rich analytics to help you visualize important metrics.

 

8 SocialBro

SocialBro helps businesses learn how to better target and engage with their audience on Twitter. It provides tools to browse your community and identify key influencers, determine when the best time to tweet is, track engagement and analyze your competitors. Socialbro analyzes the timelines of your followers to generate a report showing you when the optimal time to tweet is that would reach the maximum amount of followers for more retweets and replies.

 

9 CrowdBooster

Crowdbooster offers a set of no-nonsense social media analytics with suggestions and resources to boost your online engagement. The platform provides at-a-glance analytics, recommendations for engagement and timing, audience insights and content scheduling to optimize delivery.

 

10 ArgyleSocial

Argyle social is social media management tool for savvy B2B marketing. It allows you to merge social data with sales and marketing numbers to identify and engage with more prospects, qualify and quantify better leads and build stronger relationships with social media actions.

So what's your favorite social media management tool? 

Source: http://dashburst.com/best-social-media-management-tools/

Some Do's and Don'ts For Building a Social Bookmarking Network

Developing a strong presence on social networking and bookmarking sites doesn't involve complex formulas or algorithms. Sure, sites like Digg and Reddit have algorithms, but your best bet is to focus on the two major pillars of success on social bookmarking sites - great content and a network of users to promote it - rather than focusing on racing to the front page.

Building your social bookmarking network involves more than just adding users to your friends list. Participation is required - it's what gets you noticed. Voting for, spreading and commenting on other users' content shows you're willing to contribute to the community.

Keep reading for nine basic do's and don'ts when building your social bookmarking networks.

DO friend, IMvite and follow power users - but DON'T become a pest

The best place you can start building your social media presence is by making friends with power users. They have literally hundreds, if not thousands of friends, and a vote on your content from them can often translate into additional votes from their followers.

But remember, everybody is busy. They most likely won't have time to digg, vote or retweet 100 links a day or answer a beginner's questions personally. Be sure you vote on their content and respect their time.

DO participate in the SOCIAL part of social bookmarking - but DON'T be a troll

Commenting and participating in conversations on social bookmarking networks isn't so much about being social as it is about taking the time the to look at other's submissions.

But don't be too controversial just for the sake of stirring things up, and don't reply to something just to disagree. You can try to be funny, but remember not everyone will appreciate your sense of humor, so be careful.

DO embrace multiple social networks - but DON'T spread yourself too thin

There are literally thousands of social media networks and instant messaging utilities out there. Joining multiple social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Yahoo! Buzz is a great way to expand your reach. Manage your time wisely, though. Creating and maintaining an active profile can be a lot of work on some sites, so don't spread yourself too thin.

DO submit content from community favorite sites - but DON'T submit commercial content

When you're a part of a social bookmarking community like Digg, Newsvine or Propeller, it's likely you will notice certain sites make the front page regularly. Being the first to submit new content from these sites can be a great way to get noticed.

On the other hand, submitting content that has no place in the community you're in is one of the sure-fire ways to fail at social bookmarking. If you appear self serving, folks will vote your stuff down and remove you as a friend. Be sure what you're promoting is worthy of votes!

DO submit content from a variety of sites - but DON'T consistently submit content from a single site or short list of sites

This may seem obvious, however, there are many people who only submit their own content and occasionally make comments on or vote on other stuff. This is a red flag that you're only in it for the marketing, which is not the image you want to project.

The best way to avoid looking like a marketer is to submit articles, etc. from a wide variety of websites that fit the bookmarking site.

DO sign in, vote up, retweet and comment regularly, DON'T leave huge lapses of activity in your accounts.

One of the keys to successful marketing through social bookmarking sites is being a regular. Taking too much time away could mean all of your hard work going to waste. It's not that you can't take a well deserved vacation. But the more available you are to vote and spread submissions of others, the more influence you will have in gaining exposure for your own stuff.

DO perform favors for your friends - but DON'T ask for too much without giving something back

Help your friends out and they'll help you! Don't wait to vote up or retweet your friend's submissions. If you go out of your way for them, the more likely they'll do the same for you.

Don't ask too much without giving something in return and if you ask someone to vote or retweet something, be sure it's top quality content. Eventually, people will avoid or ignore you altogether if it's not.

DO act like a human being, DON'T act like a computer or robot

The basis of social media like bookmark networking sites is the human touch - the fact that a real person cares enough about a topic to pass it along to others who they think will also care. If you're trying to get content out to as many people as possible, you need to act like a real person. Be friendly and have conversations with others online from time to time.

DO keep at it and DON'T give up

Like anything, building a network for social bookmarking sites takes a lot of time and hard work. You don't have to spend all day everyday on social media to be successful. But you need to find a routine you're comfortable with and stick with. Persistence is the key to success.

Most Important Etiquettes of Social Networking

Social media, including sites like Twitter and Facebook, can help you find a perspective client and connect with people who can assist you with growing your business.

While I highly recommend you read this entire article, I thought I’d highlight some of the do’s and don’t here.

# DON’T spam. Ever – Self-explanatory, no?

# DON’T keep everything private. – Online privacy is important. It’s very important. But if you’re keeping every social interaction private, why are you even taking part in social media? Stick to emails and instant messengers and text messaging if that’s your goal, and stop making everyone else feel like your “club” is too exclusive.

#sabotage

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com
DON’T “go after” competitors. – If your competitor does something stupid, comment on it to your heart’s content. But don’t take part in social media sabotage — trying to bury their posts or news stories, trying to get them banned from social media platforms, or pretending to be an unhappy customer for example.

# DON’T create multiple handles to “gang up.” – If other people aren’t supporting your viewpoint, that should tell you something. It’s never okay to comment using multiple fake identities to try to support your own point (making it look like several people are agreeing). Not only is that idiotic, but you will get caught and exposed.

# DON’T try to incite a mob mentality. — In addition to not setting up multiple identities of your own, also avoid trying to incite a social media mob. If you blatantly go around telling everyone to comment on something with the same opinion, you’re guilty of manipulating the conversation. Share a link? Yes. Tell people what to say or encourage them to gang up? I don’t think so.

# DO think before “speaking.” – Yes, social media involves the ability to publish your thoughts instantly. But just because something pops into your head, it doesn’t mean it should be shared with the world. Think first.

# DO personalize messages and introductions. — When you first connect with someone new and they don’t already know you, go ahead and say hello. Let them know how you came across them. It’s a little less creepy and you might just make a great impression.

# DO think (and network) outside your circle. — If your social networks only involve people who agree with you, you’re living in a box. It’s silly at best.

# DON’T post questionable photos of others without their permission. — Regardless of whether or not you legally need a model release to post a certain photo, don’t post anything questionable or compromising of someone else unless you check with them first. It’s just the right thing to do. And if you don’t, remember this — karma’s a bitch. You have no idea what they have on you.

# DON’T send automated messages to new followers. — When someone follows you on Twitter, don’t use automated tools to immediately bombard them with messages (no matter how sweet you think you’re being in your not-so-personal “hello”). Remember, it’s not just you annoying them — others are doing it too.

# DO use your real name whenever possible. — At a bare minimum, use a recognizable name (such as a common pen name everyone already knows for you). When you interact anonymously, very little holds you accountable for your actions and words.
# DON’T excessively link to your own site(s). — This is another common sense one. No one cares about your site enough to want to see a link to it in every message you send out there in social media land. You’ll eventually just be viewed as a link spammer.

# DO give back. — Social media is a two-way street. Give as much as you get. Better yet, give even more!

#stalker

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com
DON’T turn into a social media stalker. – Please don’t follow people around on the social Web like a lost puppy. It really is rather creepy. Unless you’re best buds, no one wants to see you not only on Facebook and Twitter but also on all of their niche social sites ranging from crocheting to auto body repair.

# DON’T invite everyone you know to every social media tool you decide to use. — If they’re already networking with you in two or three places, that’s enough. Really. Unless the new service is completely ground-breaking, don’t nag them with invites.

Consider these rules while you are chalking out your SMM marketing plan and you can stop worrying about your efforts backfiring on you.

Certain Things You Must Know About Social Media

It is now a buzz that social media marketing will merge into other marketing activities and there will not be opportunity for a separate Social Media marketer. So, Do you have a career in social media marketing? Will social media have a life apart of all other marketing activities? Well, I think that the answer to both of these questions YES.

As it said, Brand is the community of people who feel affinity to it. We use different tools like TV, Facebook, print ads, events, Twitter to communicate with that group. The main goal is the connection between community members and the brand. You would want to make existing members more engaged and bring in new people.

It’s a bit like public relations, but on a much more personalized way. In some cases you will be talking to a single person or a small group on the other hand you can use TV to reach millions in a way that community expects you to. For example TV ads will be personalized… though! Not just that we show ads based on the interests and behavior of the viewer but the ad content itself will be personalized with the name of the person, favorite color, earlier purchases or activity on the social networks.

The community manager’s work will span all channels and strive to be as personal as possible. So, you could say that you are doing web banners or TV ads, but they wouldn’t work without the social context. This is insanely powerful! One ad agency used my name and the name of my girlfriend in the character dialog. This ad ran a few months ago and I still remember the ad and the context. This can be scaled!

Social networks will be the core and marketing will be the tools to build it. Post-sale interaction will grow in tremendously as the real experience of using the brand will make people more engaged and willing to share their experiences. You lay your marketing plans by analyzing the underlying social graph. Then you put a post here, a discount there, maybe a TV ad in certain region, etc.

As Jeremiah Owyang pointed out one on one social media doesn’t scale. This means that the task of social media marketer will be to build and nurture the true fans of the brand. True fans will be the group that helps you scale without losing personal touch. You will give away a lot of control but the rewards will be worth it.

In contrast, the social media marketer has to train the people inside the company to interact with the community. Achieving authenticity may be difficult for some and helping them to relate to the consumers of their work is very important.

Social media marketer, community manager or SMO, call her what you will. The one who builds the stickiest social graph around their brand will win. Now technology has given us the tools to actually measure and work with that social graph...


Amit Giri,
Social Media Expert,
Virtual Consulting

How to Add Google Plus Page Administrators

When brand pages were introduced on Google Plus, adding page administrators was not an option.

If you were logged in under your personal account and wanted to post something for X brand, you had to log out and login with X brands info. It wasn’t very convenient to say the least.

But the good news is that there is now a way to add managers to Google Plus pages and this quick tutorial will show you exactly how to do it.

Note: click images to enlarge.

How to Add Google Plus Page Administrators

Step 1 

Login to Google Plus using the username and password for the profile that is associated with the page in question.

To be clear, pages must be associated with a profile, and connecting them with a personal account probably isn’t the best idea.

Step 2

Once you are logged in, select the page in question that is associated with the Google Plus profile you just logged in for. Make sure you select the page, not the profile because the manager option is only associated with the page.

For this example click where you see the arrow pointing to “1 Page.”

Step 3

Click the settings button in the top right hand corner.

Step 4

Click “Google + Settings.”

Step 5

Now  click “Managers.”

If you didn’t do Step 2, you will not see the word “Managers” as shown in this screenshot.

Step 6

Insert the email you want to use to manage the Google+ brand page.

If you want to be able to use your personal Google accounts while acting as an administrator, make sure you use you personal Gmail account for this step.

Step 7

After clicking “Invite” in Step 6, an email will be sent to the email address you provided. Upon receiving click the red “Become a manager” box.

Step 8

After clicking “Become a manager” in the previous step, a new page will come up that allows you to select the email address you will be using for moderation.

Select the address and click “Continue.”

Step 9

This step confirms that you want to become a manager of X page. You’ll need to check the terms box and then click “Accept.”

This screen confirms that you are now a manager for the page. Click “Manage Page” to get started.

Once you become a page manager, this screen shot shows you where you can toggle back and forth from your personal profile, and the page account you manage.

Hopefully this information will help you set up Google Plus page managers, which will likely make the service more convenient to use.

Two thumbs up for no more logging in and out of various accounts!

For more info email me :<a href="amity.mrt@gmail.com">Amit Giri</a>