The Rise Of Mobile Social Media Use

Year 2011 has been dominating for smartphones and tablets. In fact, more than half of all mobile phone sales are occupied by smartphones already. It is the year where consumers sought and realized that the use of these devices can bring yet another effective and convenient way of computing.

Powerful mobile OS (Operating Systems), highly interactive and useful applications, increased phone memory and the ever-powered storage over the cloud which allowed users flexibility to access files wherever, whenever! These are only among of a hundred reasons why smartphones and tablets are overtaking feature phones.

Related: Top Social Networking And Blogging Sites Of 2011

MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA USE IS ON THE RISE

Whether it is a feature phone or a smartphone, the ability to access social media is a commonly used feature among mobile owners. About 43 percent of users access the web through mobile device such as mobile phones, iPad, e-reader and handheld music player. In the figure below, the 97 percent for computer use only suggests that still, computer is the most convenient way to use and access social media contents.

How do consumers access social media (Source:Nielsen)

SMARTPHONE FEATURES AND HOW USERS HAVE VALUED THEM

With wide capability ranging from the basics of making and receiving calls to checking out different places nearby down to mobile payment transactions and updating social status and news feeds plus the practicality of use over other devices, smartphones continue to be the most preferred gadget. The next figure below lists down the features commonly available in a smartphone device and how these features have valued by users.

While downloading and playing music is the most available feature for smartphones and global positioning system (GPS) is the most valued feature, applications for social networking has been the second available and most valued feature.

How does social networking compare to other features consumers have on
their phones? And what features do they value most?

MOST USED APPS FOR SMARTPHONE USERS

The on-the-rise popularity of smartphones and tablets which allow users install a wide variety of applications also made it possible for mobile social networking apps to be the third most downloaded app and used by smartphone owners. The most popular app for social networking across all operating system is Facebook  while Twitter is the number five most used app on Blackberry and Windows mobile operating systems.

Gaming apps (the most popular of which include Angry birds, Fruit Ninja and Tiny Tower) are still the most downloaded and used applications for smartphones While Weather applications are also highly in demand. Other categories for the most downloaded and used applications by smartphones users include music (Google Music is the most popular) , news, entertainment, banking/finance and dining/restaurant.

Top 10 Categories of Apps Used by Smartphones Owners Who Downloaded Apps

USERS WHO ENGAGED IN MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING

As teeny as thirteen (13) and eldest as fifty five and over (55+) years of age have installed apps for mobile social networking. The most highly downloaded app of which is Facebook followed by twitter with LinkedIn, a site preferrable for professionals, as the least most downloaded app. Ages twenty five to thirty four (25 - 34) have the highest percentage of social networking app users.

Percentage of Social Networking App Users by Age

Can Social Media Land You A Job?

Apparently, the growing community of people who goes online is dramatically increasing each year and there is no doubt that more and more people are using social media not just for communication but also for looking opportunities and careers. On the other hand, most popular companies especially those involved in business process outsourcing are utilizing social networking sites to get their target employees. So can the social media get you a job? The answer is YES!

And Facebook as the largest community on the web with over 800 million active user, leads in those social media that many users used to seek and successfully get their career although other social media platforms like Linkedin and Twitter are not left far behind.

See the infographic below as published in jobvite.com to learn more the statistical data on how social media strategy worked for getting and landing a job. 

Social Media and Thanksgiving!

This has been a heady combination. Something that is bound to make someone hungry. Turkey tweets and all those yummy Thanksgiving dishes are flooding popular networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Here is a cool infographic from Meltawater Group which has worked hungrily over the data around Thanksgiving. Check it out!

Top Brands and Measuring Social Media Success

With many small and medium businesses doing a number of stuffs to measure their social media success, it is curious to see how major brands get on their with their social media marketing and how they measure their brand's success. This is how major businesses like Ford talk internally about their social media ROI.

At Ford, they measure the sentiment!

This is simply quite amazing on how big brands perceive their social media outreach. When a businesses needs that one chart to measure their ROI, I am sure Ford does it in the best way possible.

For more such brands and how they track their Social Media ROI, read this article at PR-Squared.

Social Media Growth: Infographic

This is BIG. Another cool infographic on the growth of social media and how people are actively playing a role in making companies what they are. If you are a business owner, then you need to carry out the right kind of steps in order to see that more and more customers are able to find your company. Click on the image to see the bigger version. Cheers!

Where should you be on Social Media?

We are all constantly debating the benefits and drawbacks of social networks such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (Sorry! MySpace). This may get daunting for those who are looking for ways and means to find the perfect social network for themselves. For example, if you are looking for a more selective way of saying stuffs to your audience, then Twitter isn't the place to be, Google+ is.

So, where should you be on social media for making the most of your online life? Here is an awesome infographic I found out at Mashable. Enjoy!

So, where do YOU want to be and why?

The Mobile Jump: 1 Billion Annually by 2016

By the end of 2011, over 420 million smart phones will be sold. That's how big? Up to 28% cell phone sales will be eaten up by smart phones. The research data has been published by the IMS research team. With more and more people embracing smart phones and the cost of smart phones coming down drastically, sales might touch 1 billion annually by the year 2016! 

Apple smartphone sales rose by 3% to a staggering 19% in this quarter compared to 16% last year. A total of 20.4 million smart phones were sold from Apple's stable. Coming up close is Samsung with 13% growth in the smartphone segment. 

Nokia, however, went down in a BIG way, from 40% last year to 24% this year. Hope Microsoft pumps in some real punch with the just-released "Mango" based smart phones which are rumored to have Nokia hardware. 

How do smart phones influence mobile marketing? Well! They are the marketing medium of the future. Increasingly, consumers are getting more services and products through deals specifically meant for them. To explain this phenomenon to you further, here is an infographic - 

InfoGraphic – Facebook vs Google+

So, the wonderful guys from Technobombs have come up with a detailed infographic on Facebook v/s the new Google+. Already? Yes! By the look of it all, Google+ has become a serious contender against Facebook. With Google Circles, Hangout and Huddle beating Facebook in a range of functionality, you and I can only marvel.

While businesses still don't have a clue about how to go in Google+ unlike Facebook where they can create their own page, I am sure folks at Google are working on it!

Here's the infographic. Have a look! 

How Mobile and Location Based Services are Shaping Social Media

Businesses from all around the world are waking up to the idea of Location-based services. They have made a fortune out of this little “addition” to social media. Popular retailers have made a fortune out of LBS such as FourSquare. Seeing the stupendous success of this popular location-based networking site, more and more companies are making a foray. For a full list, go here.

Now, we already know how smart phones have shaped the way business are reaching for their consumer. For those who still aren't sure about the importance of mobile phones, here is the infographic by the awesome folks at FlowTown.

The most important thing that needs to be noted is – these location-based services have made a fortune out of mobile phones only. Based upon the ratings given by fellow people, a user decides on whether or not to visit a joint. If you, as a company, give out special discounts via your company page in these sites, more and more people will recommend your services to their peers.

The market is highly driven by people who are looking for small discounts – between 10% to 20%. You can make tremendous amounts of profits through these. Most companies, however, are jumping into these sites just because “everyone” is in here. Unless you have a clear cut goal, you just cannot be on top of the race, no matter if you hire a social media person for $25,000 a year. Make sure that you are fully aware of your goals and what are you going to do to achieve the profit and sustain the margin.

As those who are embracing these services are still a small group, it is always advisable to start early than to wait till the majority embrace it “just to be sure”. The biggest advantage of going in it early is that you will have a huge grip by the time others go online and embrace this service.

Start early because location-based services are the future.

Blog Prob 5. Less or No Revenue

If you have Google Adsense installed in your blog, then chances are, you want to earn from your blog. However, you must know that blogging won’t pay you so early. Many bloggers don’t earn that much in the first few months or may be even a year. But do not be disheartened if you don’t see money, let alone profits from your blog.

The right strategy will help your earn from your blog

Less or No Revenue

Many people agree that blogging does pay you. There are bloggers who earn hundreds and thousands of dollars every month through various means. In order to earn like them, you have to follow certain rules and abide by them diligently.

Addressing the issue

• Never lose hope – Blogging requires patience. Blogs which start earning in the first few months are either related to some hugely popular brands or they employ shady means to achieve the target. Chances are, bloggers write quality content but when they don’t see profits they get discouraged and ultimately discontinue their work. Have some realistic goals and work hard to achieve these goals. And above all – have patience.

• Plan – In the previous blog, I discussed about the importance of planning. There are various ways of earning from one’s blog – Ad Sales, AdSense, Affiliate products, memberships, premium content, products sales and promoting services. As your blog grows, you may change your monetizing plans but overall, you need to draw a proper plan beforehand. Before asking others to buy your premium content, you need give them premium content beforehand. Build your reputation and create an audience ready to pay for your work.

• Never rely on one source – Keep your eyes open and create as many sources of income as possible. As your blog becomes popular, you will find new income opportunities headed your way. Decide properly as to the ones you need to pay attention to.

• Become a problem-solver – This especially holds true for business houses carrying out a blog. When you write on topics related to a specific industry, you know your audience is interested in your products/services. They will ask you to help them out in solving a problem or a solution. Help them and become a problem-solver. This will help in getting you loyal readers.

With these points, your blog, business or otherwise, will soon help you earn money. All you need to do is stay focused and keep blogging the right stuff! 

Image Source - AmitBhawani.com

Blog Prob 4. Lacking Genuine Audience

If you want your blog to enjoy long standing success, you need visitors to come back to your site over and over again. Without a genuine audience, your blog traffic may not rise significantly. They are like the foundations of your blogging success.

Genuine audience is crucial for your blog's success

Genuine Audience

People who regularly comment on your blog and keep returning to your blog site from time to time fall in this bracket. If you don’t have them, you are throwing stones in the dark.

Addressing the issue

• Encourage Subscriptions – A reliable way to get a quality audience is by asking them to subscribe to your blog. Gather email-ids and ask them to subscribe through RSS. Set these buttons on prominent locations on your blog. When subscriptions reach a healthy number, display it on your blog site. Also, another nice way would be to ask them to download eBooks.

• Newsletter – Now that you have their mail-ids, make them feel special. Send them beautifully designed newsletters with quality content in them. Make them understand that they are special to you.

• Design – There is always room for development. Upgrade your blog-site’s as well as website’s design in order to catch the attention of your audience. A unique design is the first thing that catches readers’ attention and they will feel the urge to subscribe immediately.

• Regular posting – Publish your posts regularly. But don’t overdo it! Publish post on a specific day of the week and on a specific time of the day. They will start expecting you to publish on that particular day of the week and so never let them down.

• Bring them to a conversation – Ask them to interact with you on Facebook and Twitter. This is a great way to develop quality audience and make them a part of your blogging success. Ask them what they would like to see from your blog. Give them what they want! 

 Keep the above points in mind when looking to develop a quality audience for your blog!

Image Courtesy - The Narrow Gate

Blog Prob 3. No Clear Strategy

Blogs have their own purpose and if you still are writing just because "They" are writing it, then soon you will find yourself in a difficult spot, if not already! 

Blogs need to have a clear strategy. When you are writing a personal blog, you write in a way to communicate your thoughts to your friends and family members. When you are carrying out a business blog, you need to set your priorities right.

No Clear Strategy

In case of a business blog, you need to create content that will not only welcome your visitors to whichever post, but also help sustain the momentum. They must feel excited to visit your blog again later on.

Addressing the issue

• Draw a Battle-Plan – You need to understand very clearly what you want from your blog. Will it just communicate your thoughts and aspirations? Or will it be written for highlighting your product and business?

• Content is King – Whatever you do, you need to write it in a way that will build your reputation over-time. Readers will start to take you as a guaranteed source of inspiration only when you give them quality stuff.

•  Design – Design speaks a lot for your business. Ensure to have a design that will welcome your visitor and allow them to go through your content seamlessly.

•  Aim high – You must have come across some of the industry leaders’ blogs during the course of your own. Aim to create content that will match-up to their standards.

Follow the above tips and you will see more visitors in the due course of time. 


Image courtesy - truliablog.com

Blog Prob 2. No Traffic!!

A blog is only as good as the traffic it generates. No matter how much you keep yourself busy with the blog, you still need motivation in the form of a steady traffic. Your blog can help redirect so many potential customers to your website. This will automatically result in higher sales. But even after carrying out a good blog, what if you are still not seeing the traffic increase?

No Traffic

We normally write a Blog to highlight the developments happening in our company. But the way we write them may completely turn the readers off. In such a scenario, you need drastic changes in the way the blog is written. Here are the tips which will come in handy –

Addressing the issue

• Re-Evaluate – Ask questions from the readers’ point of view. The way you write the blog must be different than the way other businesses write. You must highlight previously unknown facts about your product/services and make it interesting to read. Check the posts which received the highest clicks and compare them with the ones that engaged the readers (comments). The goal here is to write more about what people want, not want you want them to hear.

• Guest Posts – You are not the only one in your industry carrying out a blog. Even if this is the case, then there are ways and means through which you can attract a whole new set of audience – Guest posts. You can write about something completely different on someone else’s blog in order to bring variety into your writing. This will be a win-win situation for both the blogger as well as for your business.

• Social Media – The fastest way with which you can increase your traffic is by recommending it to your audience in various social networks. Blogs must be the kind of resource that they can check up on, whether they are on any particular social network or not anymore. Remember, MySpace is now almost forgotten. So, don’t just concentrate on your social media marketing skills solely on social networks, keep your blog at the center of your campaign.

It is a fantastic experience to see the graph rise with time. Ensure to carry out the right job and see your dream of getting more people to your blog, come true.

Image courtesy - www.ridelust.com

Blog Prob 1. Less or No Comments?

Blogs are the cornerstone of any company’s social media campaign. Many companies believe they are better off carrying social media marketing on various social networking sites. They overlook one simple fact – SMM is nothing without blogs.

A blog is like YOUR VOICE. There are many who believe that with the advent of micro-blogging sites like Twitter and others, blogging is dead. But it is NOT the case. A blog has many advantages. Those will be discussed later. This blog essentially discusses the reasons why your blog isn’t drawing audience and how you can rectify it.

No Comments

When you dedicate a lot of time to your blog, you need comments that will help you understand the needs and wants of your customers/readers. When there are no comments, then that means you have serious issues with your blog. You need to address this issue immediately or else you will find your entire social media marketing campaign, crumble.

Addressing the issue

·         Comment on other blogs – Let others know that you are there. Comment on their blog and leave your web link there. Also write meaningful comments that will get them to click through and visit your site.

·         Respond – Make sure to capitalize on whichever comment you receive. Ensure to reply on the comments that you get from time to time.

·         Controversial topics – OK! This may not be the brightest of ideas but hey! Any publicity is a good publicity!

·         Ask questions – Ask questions at the end of the blog that will make your readers comment on it. Readers generally comment on questions or points that they find interesting. So, work accordingly.

Stay tuned to this space for other problems that bug your blog and learn how you will be able to fix them as well. 


Image Courtesy - http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/

The History of Cell Phone

Probably many of you will be watching this post via your cellphone. I bumped into this infographic which explains the history of cell phones in an awesome manner. The infographic beautifully shows the development of mobile telephony and how has it changed our lives. 

Do you know since when camera phones are commercially produced? Watch this infographic below and know more about that amazing technology you have right now in your pocket. Happy viewing!

Courtesy - Milo.com

Cellphones have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. Businesses have especially taken key notice of this vast and untapped market. If you are a business house, then you need to tailor your website according a mobile visitor. 

Market Your BORING Business via Social Media

Social media marketing agencies have to deal with all sorts of clients. Now, it is a cool scenario when they have clients from the world of entertainment, sports, fashion and tech. There are materials available from the Internet and there is ready audience who would want to hear the latest developments taking place.

But what if you are dealing with a client who sells network cables or toilet seats? How will you be able to market the client in such a scenario? 

If you are a business owner who is short of ideas to market his product to people who really didn't care about it, then be assured, there are plenty of them.Social media marketing agencies have to deal with all sorts of clients. 

Courtesy - drewflaherty.com

Get Back To Basics

The first and the foremost thing that must do in order to rescue your business is – Get back to basics. You are selling something which helps people in some way or the other. Help your existing customers and potential ones with ideas on some of the most challenging issues they face. Give them ideas on a range of issues such as web conferencing, supply chain logistics and much more. They will start to take you as a guaranteed source of information and will spread the word out.

Be Creative

The least you can do is stop thinking that your business is boring. The moment you stop thinking like one, that is the moment when you start becoming creative about your product. Keep a track on what the world is talking about and think how you can place your product/service in line with what the world cares about. Connecting the dots and creating a new path will ensure that you will get more customers in a relatively short span of time.

Be Informative

Regardless of how BORING you think your business is, there is always some or the other development happening. Make sure to interview industry experts, government spokesperson and potential clients. You will be amazed to note how many CEOs would be up for an interview than an appointment. Make sure to thank them after the interview and have your marketing department devise ways and means to spread the word out to your existing clientele.

Feedback 24x7

Feedback is crucial to any business’s success. Make the most of it by regularly asking your clients on what they want from you and devise your products and services around them. With their comments getting attention, they will feel wanted and will turn loyal to your business.

A business may be boring but with the right kind of ideas, you can turn around your business and ring in more profits. So, are you game?

Twitter Is NOW More Secure Than Facebook

This just made my day. 

Twitter has taken the lead out of most of the social networking sites by introducing a nice feature which will make your Twitter-experience all the more secure. With this option, you can now permanently enable the HTTPS feature for your profile, thus effectively shielding your website from attacks.

Click to Enlarge!!

HTTPS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure allows you to send encrypted messages across the network. This effectively decreases the chance of somebody else hacking in to your site and playing with the data.

Now, Twitter has transferred most profiles into the secure category for quite some time but the new features enables you to permanently shift your profile in to the secured category.

How to Enable It?

Go to the “settings” tab of your Twitter profile and enable the “HTTPS only” feature. That’s it. You are done! (See the image above!)

Mobile users who access Twitter must make sure to log in via https://www.twitter.com rather than http://www.twitter.com for enabling the secure connection. Twitter will be soon updating its system by enabling this security feature for its mobile phone users as well.

Facebook should enable this security feature as soon as possible without which users are nothing else but sitting ducks!

How Social Media Monitoring Can Shape Your Business

Social media has made businesses all across the globe, stand up and take notice of this phenomenon. But with social media, you just cannot keep away from monitoring. In fact, monitoring social media is crucial to any business’s social media success. In this blog, I will tell you everything you need to know about social media monitoring. Have a look!

Why Is Social Media Monitoring Important For Your Business?

Social media is the new-age customer support. Earlier, whenever a customer had a problem with a company’s service, he/she would call them up. The customer support helped solve the problem (let’s just look at the brighter side of the picture). 

Now-a-days, people don’t use the phone anymore. Whenever they have a problem now, they get on some or the other network, Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. For example, have a look at this video in which a customer took the assistance of Youtube in order to drive home the point against the airline company. It went viral, by the way.

So, companies need to know what is being said about them across various social networks. And many need to go a step further by listening to what is being said about their competition. This will help in stopping a major PR breakdown later on.

Where Should A Business Look?

Typically, businesses must start with themselves – What is being said about them, their services, their employees, their offers, campaigns, anything.

Next, they must track the talk going about their competition. Furthermore, they can track their competitors’ employees and the whole “hiring and firing” cycle.

Tracking their area of specialization is another key strategy. Any new development must be reflected by your business with reference to new technologies, marketing strategies etc.

What Are The Metrics Businesses Look Forward To?

Mostly, metrics tie back to three essential requirements. Here they are –

•         Awareness – The number of mentions that your brand is getting coupled with the positive/negative sentiment that your brand is generating will tie back to awareness.

•        Sales – Things which tie back to “Sales Metric” are the Click-through, or offer redemptions.

•         Loyalty – If you want to know how to gauge this metric then you need to know the amount of recommendation your brand is getting from your customers.

One must know that monitoring a social network alone cannot help you get the complete picture. You need to take the assistance of many networks. Remember, monitoring can make or break your social media campaign. So, be very careful.  

Understanding Social Media: Infographic

Social media usage can help companies streamline their marketing campaigns. Here below, I found out this nice little infographic from the wonderful folks at KISSmetrics which will surely help you in that regards. Check it out!

Twitter Tips for Beginners!

Twitter now provides the quickest and the sure-shot way to gain more publicity and find more customers. 

Here, you are able to communicate your business’s vision as well as share interesting links with your audience. If you are on Twitter, you can follow experts as well as newbies and stay on top of the trend.

If you are beginning with Twitter, here are the tips which would certainly help you gain more audience and bring in the profits.

•  Begin with a “Hi” – Twitter is just like the real life where in order to get more listeners, you need to communicate the right ideas. Introduce yourself, your company and your visions and how you aim to contribute more towards the betterment of the community.

For reading further tips look up at tomraftery.