Many companies have invested heavily in paid and organic social media marketing. But storm clouds — very large and dark ones — are gathering on the horizon, which threaten to blow away its marketing value. For years, social media has been the online marketing no-brainer, the obvious investment, the sure thing.

But there is no such thing as a sure thing — just ask the 1980 Soviet Union Olympic hockey team or the Super Bowl III Baltimore Colts. Here is a recap of why the future of social media marketing is not nearly as secure as you may think.

• Big tech platforms are receiving heavy criticism from the very people who created them. The addictive nature of social media is “hijacking our minds,” having disastrous effects on our mental state and social cohesion. These are big issues that are making people think twice about checking their social media streams every 30 seconds. As more people become aware of the danger, social media participation may shrink — and perhaps the ball has already started to roll. Relevant data point: Facebook lost daily users for the first time ever in the U.S. and Canada in Q417.

• “Fake news” has brought criticism raining down from all sides on Facebook and other social platforms, causing them to rethink how and to what extent they control the publication and sharing of content. The platform owners and leadership cannot make everyone happy; there will be persistent, bitter complaints about too much censorship, not enough censorship and bias — with the upshot being growing distaste for and distrust of social media, perhaps reaching a point where a company’s presence on social platforms could harm rather than enhance its brand image. And unfortunately, the constant presence of bots, trolls and mean-spirited posts further erodes the value of social media for companies trying to use these platforms in a constructively engaging way.

• As if these trends aren’t serious enough (and they are very serious), studies are percolating into public awareness about the profound danger of screen time on developing brains. Mobile phones, tablets, television, electronic toys and desktop monitors all put children at risk. Problems begin at infancy and worsen from there. Regardless of your feelings about social media marketing, if you are a parent or grandparent, you should study the evidence — screen-related issues affecting children involve cognitive development, learning ability, speech, anxiety, depression, obesity, sleep and much more. It’s enough to make you want to trade in your screens for flip phones, books and radios.

• For older children and young adults, truly horrifying social media-related problems such as bullying, exposure to sexual predators and distracted driving continue to be major — sometimes literally life or death — concerns for parents and young people. The cumulative effect is again to discourage social media use, making younger generations less likely to use social media when they get older.

Contingency Marketing Plans Are Needed

Our love affair with social media could go on for a long time. Heaven knows there are forces at work that would love to have us online 24/7. But if marketers know anything, they know that people are unpredictable, and their preferences can change quickly. A couple examples:

• Twenty years ago, few people cared about sustainable packaging — then, one day, everybody did.

• As we speak, one of the biggest trends in food is a shift from meat to plants — consumer preferences are changing radically due to dietary, lifestyle and philosophical reasons that run deep.

If the public sours on social media, if people see the negatives of online participation exceeding the positives, then today’s big platforms will go the way of the dinosaur and the department store. It could happen in five years, 10 years, tomorrow or never. Smart marketers take advantage of what is working today while laying the groundwork for what will be working in the future.

Now is not too early to develop contingency plans to replace social campaigns. If social does indeed go south, companies that saw it coming will gain an amazing competitive advantage.

Twitter is in a fight for survival and is doubling down on content. Two recent moves by Twitter could have quite an impact on not only its platforms, but others as well. The two big changes are:

1. Expanding the character limit on tweets from 140 to 280

2. Adding a button to facilitate easy publishing of threads (i.e., multiple sequential tweets on a given topic)

Twitter, which for years was a quick-hitting forum for sound bites, is morphing into a more versatile platform for sharing much more detailed thoughts and information. Whether you think this shift is good or bad, it’s definitely different.

The End of Blogs?

Some people are already theorizing that the growth of threads will lead to a shift away from blogs. If bloggers are able to construct blog post-like content on Twitter and reach a wider audience, they would certainly find this a tempting option. Besides reaching a larger audience, Twitter relieves bloggers of the time and cost of maintaining a website.

On the other hand, publishing on Twitter forces bloggers to give up something extremely valuable — complete ownership and control of their content. If Twitter disappears or it archives, deletes or modifies content, there’s not much the creator can do about it.

What easy threads will do is create more competition for bloggers. People who never had a blog or never wanted a blog will now be publishing threads on topics bloggers also cover, giving Twitter users fewer reasons (perhaps) to visit blogs.

If this begins to happen, bloggers will need to make their content all the more useful, insightful and complex to give Twitter users plenty of reasons to start or continue reading.

The End of Brevity?

A Twitter user since 2008, I really liked the brevity of 140 characters. Twitter was an easy platform for scanning news and having pointed and entertaining conversations. And while tweets can certainly remain brief, content generally expands to fill the limit. In time, it’s likely we’ll hear people complaining they can’t stuff their ideas into a mere 280 characters. Double-length tweets and unlimited threads will give Twitter streams a whole new, longer look in a short time.

For marketers, more generous content limits give companies an opportunity to present information that is more useful, persuasive and engaging — and to interact with customers and prospects in deeper, more meaningful ways.

This is good, provided Twitter users don’t begin suffering from content overload and ignore all this information. It’s a very real danger. Longer messages are only effective if they are better messages — and this is really going to be the big challenge for social media campaigns on Twitter going forward.

Over to You

What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new rules? How will longer tweets and easier threads affect your Twitter marketing?

Marketing content is littered with buzzwords and catch phrases that sound OK the first 10,000 times you hear them, but begin to wear thin after that. Part of the problem is the pressure to produce content. Ever since content became king, the court has grown ever more crowded with copywriting courtiers. Here are a few of my least favorite, trending banalities.

Please add to this list in comments!

Bad Buzzwords

• Content is king. This king won’t die. A Google search for “content is king” yields more than 400,000 results, which is about 399,000 too many. Conceiving of content as being enthroned on the top of a hierarchy is not all that helpful. Content is an important ingredient in marketing campaigns, like the eggs in your omelet or the alcohol in your gin and tonic. Content is blended into a campaign like the sauce in your spaghetti — for tasty results, content sauce has to complement, not rule over, keyword research, font selection, A/B split testing and all the rest of it.

• This has to die. A mean-spirited way to describe a disliked idea, attitude or activity, this phrasing is a good example of what you might call antisocial media. Stating an opinion so emphatically and dramatically may draw cheers from one’s cheering section, but doesn’t set the stage for any type of constructive discussion — which is what social media is supposed to be all about, right?

• Let that sink in. Overused and pretentious, this phrase implies: I just said something so profound you’ve got to stop whatever you’re doing and process it! If you’ve actually said something profound, you don’t need an accompanying trumpet blast. The profundity will speak for itself.

• It begins. A trendy way to introduce a news item on social media, this simple phrase is deceptively problematic. What is “it?” Sometimes “it” is obvious; sometimes “it” is not. If the former, the phrase is unnecessary. If the latter, the phrase needs further elaboration. Either way, it’s annoying.

Good Vibrations

Original phrasing is hard to come by, but oh, so satisfying when you run into it. A source of inspiration for me is my local Starbucks. It has some clever baristas who may have missed their calling. A few examples:

• The first time I met one particular barista was at the drive-thru window. Instead of a “hi” or “how are you?” … he greeted me with a nonchalant, “How art thou?” I’m seldom at a loss for words, but that flummoxed me. It happened months ago, but I still chuckle when I think about it. Lesson: Original phrasing makes a lasting impression. Banalities do not.

• I asked this same barista, months later, how he was doing (banal). He replied, “Adequate.” A perfectly descriptive and nuanced response, yet one I don’t believe I’d ever heard before. Humorous with a hint of sadness. Lesson: There are no banal topics, only banal communicators.

• When I placed my usual order at the drive-thru, the 20-something barista responded through the loudspeaker with an ultra-enthusiastic, “Right on!!” Right on! I’ve been waiting for that phrase to make a comeback since 1973. Lesson: Original doesn’t necessarily mean new. What was trending is often more attention-getting than what is trending.

What copywriting hooks captured your attention recently?

Instagram has become one of the most used and popular social media platforms over the last few years. You know Instagram was on to something good when Facebook bought it for a billion dollars. Instagram has provided businesses with a new way to promote their brands and messages by visually representing who they are. Just like there are different strategies, types of content to post and ways to reach your audience between Twitter and Facebook, Instagram is no different. Here is your list of key ways to properly use Instagram for your business:

1. Use the right hashtag

The number of hashtags used — and making sure they are relevant to the post and your social media voice — is important. Hashtags are a great way to stay up with current trends and be active in your audience’s conversation. Using hashtags that aren’t relevant to your brand will result in low traffic. Not all posts need hashtags, but when used, don’t use more than five. Using too many hashtags in a post will make the viewer swipe right past your content.

2. Tag your location or city

Tagging your location or city creates relevance to your post and visually shows who is viewing your post where you are. It can help create foot traffic to a business or provide credibility for a potential customer knowing where the business is. Instagram users can search for photos and people by location or city. If you tag the city in your post, your post will appear in that city’s timeline, resulting in more ways for your post or page to be found.

3. Utilize Instagram Insights

Instagram provides page and individual post insights similar to Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics. It provides how many impressions the post got, how many unique accounts saw the post and the number of total engagements. With this data, you can tell which posts get high versus low engagement — to determine which posts resonate best with your audience.

4. Instagram ads through Facebook

Facebook has made it easy for businesses to run ads and campaigns for both Facebook and Instagram in one place. When creating Facebook ads or setting Facebook campaigns, you can select whether the ad or campaign is to be run on Instagram as well. Running Instagram ads and setting up campaigns are the best ways to increase your following, reach your target audience and create a call to action.

5. Real photos over graphic design or promotional material

Although graphic design work and infographics are a great way to inform your followers, they are best used on other platforms or through different tactics. People use Instagram to see real photos and how a company brands itself visually. Whether you are using a professional-quality camera or your iPhone, posting real photos makes your company look like real people are behind the screen. Take clear photos, experiment with the Instagram photo filters and be creative!

6. Add multiple photos to a post and make a mini-album

Recently, Instagram added a feature where you can add up to 10 pictures or videos to each post. The worst types of people or brands to follow are those that post 10 different times a day and are flooding your timeline with their content. This new feature allows you to create a mini-album and make a post that people will actually spend time looking at.

7. Engage with your followers and start conversation

Don’t just create posts that are throwing your brand on their timeline or using it to promote your services; create posts that allow for two-way communication between you and your followers. Ask them questions, start conversations, respond to their comments and create engagement. It allows you to personalize your brand and build a relationship with your followers and potential customers.

8. Newer Instagram features

Instagram has continued to improve its platform and allow the user to do more. Using different features such as Instagram Live, Story mode and Boomerang adds variety and creativity to your post and page. Posting in the same style using the same type of content gets repetitive, and the way you use Instagram becomes very one-dimensional. Instagram encourages its users to post new content all the time.

9. Mix of photos and videos

Similar to No. 8, posting a mix of photos and videos creates a new experience for the viewers, and makes your page and company look very social media savvy.

10. Don’t just recycle your Facebook and Twitter posts on your Instagram

Many businesses that have Instagram accounts simply repost the same images that they used on Facebook, with the same copy. Different platforms have different audiences who want to see new content and material. Strategize how to differentiate your Instagram from your Twitter and Facebook, while conveying the same message and brand image.

11. Make sure content is sized for IG

Fuzzy and blurry images on Instagram stand out in a bad way from all the other content. Sizing between platforms varies, so what looks good in a Twitter picture may not look as good in an Instagram post. The ideal Instagram photo size is 1080 x 1080 pixel resolution. You want your Instagram images being crisp and vibrant, and not out of focus.

About the Author

Soon graduating from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a degree in Advertising & Public Relations, Lane Davis already has years of experience in the industry. He has gained his professional experience in social media and digital media marketing. He focuses on SEO, analytics, digital content strategy and running social media campaigns. Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davislane/

I am one of the few people who can boast that I have made some serious money (for a company my size) from “Twittering.” Notice I didn't write that I made money "on" Twitter. That is just about impossible — except in cases where tweets and hashtags can be configured to launch a sale of an item, such as a pizza. Though in the B2B landscape, that type of sales transaction is usually not feasible, due to complexity, legality and buying authority issues. Can you imagine tweeting to order a fleet of vehicles, a commercial real estate lease or hospital supplies? Not going to happen.

What I have found is that in the B2B arena, Twitter is a public relations and inbound marketing tool that, eventually, could lead to a sale. Here are some additional observations about using this incredible social media platform.

Note that I will not be covering Twitter ads or promoted/sponsored tweets in this post. I will be writing about the regular — free — Twitter platform, with the help of some additional (sometimes free) Twitter scheduling and monitoring tools.

The Crawl

As of this writing, Twitter is still an unfiltered chronological posting platform. In other words, if you post a tweet at 2:53 p.m., it will post in your followers' timelines at 2:53 p.m. This is unlike platforms such as Facebook, which will decide what posts your followers see and when they'll see them. It is one of Twitter's redeeming qualities as a platform, and one that B2B users can exploit.

Here’s the catch: You need to get into the "crawl." What is the crawl? You've no doubt, at some point, watched news and sports channels that have a continuous headline update crawling along the lower third or so of the screen. For me, that is Twitter. Also, as with news and sports channels, Twitter users check in at all times — day and night. Therefore, it becomes necessary to continue to tweet throughout the day. Not tweeting so much that it gets annoying, of course, but maintaining a frequent daily presence in the hopes that it will appear at the times when your target client types are logged in to Twitter.

How do you find those times? There are a variety of tools that help marketers "listen" to their communities. I use one that gives me a range of hours when the bulk of my followers are on Twitter. For example, I've learned that midday to midafternoon and then late afternoon are peak periods. Who'd have thought that? I wouldn't, since I'm on Twitter in the morning. Also, note that these peak periods can change over time. A year or so ago, midmorning was noted as a good time. Periodically check to see if those peak posting periods change.

To get in the crawl, you need to:

1. Know when your users are most likely to be logged in.
2. Schedule posts of quality content containing relevant keywords and hashtags during those peak times. Using a tweet scheduling app or program (Hootsuite is an example) can be helpful.

The Mentions and The DMs

I've been asked how I know Twitter has resulted in sales. That's easy: Potential customers indicated their interest in corresponding with me in a standard tweet — via a mention or a Twitter direct message (DM).

However, those tweets and messages are rare. More common are mentions and retweets (shares) of posts I've made. While these are not "sales lead” tweets per se, they are strong indicators of people who are observing your crawl. They may be potential customers or influencers in communities you want to serve. They've already declared interest!

Check their bios, start following and making friendly connections with those who seem most viable for your business. However, for heaven's sake, NEVER EVER immediately fire a tweet that invites them to a sales conversation. Remember Twitter is inbound marketing, which is built on you gaining a reputation as a thought leader.

The Long Haul

Just how long does it take to start seeing sales activity from Twitter? That is a question plaguing all social media marketing. I've seen it happen in as little as months. Yet I also just got a genuine sales lead from a Twitter connection that I made five years ago. I do know, though, that my sales results from Twitter would have been zero without staying active on the platform.

Apparently it has become “en vogue” to dump most of the people you follow on Twitter and follow just a few hundred. I currently follow over 15,000 accounts, which is close to half of the number of followers who follow me.  So, why do I follow so many?  Here are some reasons:

I’m naturally really curious:  I am a naturally curious person and I like to learn and meet new people.  I can’t do that if I am predisposed to think that I already know everyone who is fabulous and interesting.  Nor do I believe that there are only a few hundred people who have something of value to say to me.  Following a lot of people gives me an opportunity to get exposed to even more content.

I use lists: While I like finding interesting people to follow, I don’t always have time to view what everyone is saying, so I use lists to cultivate the core group of people whose updates I want to get on a daily basis.  That allows me to “have my cake” of following a broad range of people and “eat it too” by spending more time with the lists.  As people pique my interest, I move them in and out of my core lists.

I am secure with who I am: I guess some people think that it makes them look more important or cool or something to have lots of followers and only follow a few back.  That doesn’t concern me.

I ignore DMs: Some others have claimed that they don’t’ follow a lot of people because they can’t keep up with all of the random and spam direct messages from followers.  I don’t typically use that feature of Twitter, so it’s not a problem for me.

It’s about relationships: It’s harder to build a relationship with someone you don’t follow.

That being said, I don’t follow everyone who follows me.  If you are following me and I am not following you, most likely it’s because of timing.  I try to look at profiles to see if they are of interest when I pick followers, but sometimes I get busy and you get lost due to bad timing.  I also tend to favor those who have interacted with me a few times, so interaction is a good way to get back to the top of my mind.

I also try not to follow people (although there are exceptions) who tweet to porn stars, use misogynistic language or the like.  Once in a while, you don’t have enough of a track record for me to assess whether your tweets are interesting to me.

And finally, sometimes Twitter or Tweetdeck accidentally unfollow people who I really do want to be following. I’ve got no answer for that one.

Anyways, that’s my explanation of how my Twitter use might be different than some of my peers. Perhaps it gives you an idea of how you may want to broaden your Twitter horizons.

(This post originally appeared on the Carol Roth Blog.)

About the Author

Carol has worked with hundreds of companies on all aspects of business and financial strategy. Collectively, she has helped her clients raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete $750+ million in mergers and acquisitions, secure high-profile licensing and partnership deals and create 7-figure brand loyalty programs. Carol also acts as a brand spokesperson, ambassador and influencer for a number of companies and brands, with a focus on those looking to reach small business owners and entrepreneurs, professional women and retail investors. Through her firm, Carol also invests in a limited number of private companies.  She is an avid NFL football fan and has and action figure made in her own likeness. Follow Carol on Twitter.

Over the years, social media has become a crucial part of online marketing. The power of social media is unmatched; it allows you to consistently build relationships with potential customers online. Your Facebook or Twitter feed can potentially become a brand in itself, granting you the ability to instantly share promotions and information with your social media following. Find out how you can gain greater awareness through social media and what tactics to use to build your brand.

Social Media Profile

First of all, you want your homepage to be attractive and engaging. You will be surprised how many businesses actually neglect their page but still build awareness. You need to make it attractive to the visitors, use quality images, clear information, and link back to your website.

Gaining Followers and "Likes"

This is the secret to social media: the more likes and followers you gain, the more often visitors will be aware of the information you are displaying, Here are a few ways to cultivate a following:

• Hold competitions and giveaways – everyone is always interested in gaining something with little effort. Promote a competition where followers have to Tweet about your brand. You can gain a lot of coverage for little cost.
• Update content regularly. Your site should be updated with a couple of posts each day, on all platforms. Make the posts informative and relevant; this will help add value to the reader.
• Use humor – everybody likes to laugh once in a while. Obviously this is dependent on the topic you choose promote, but any topic that isn't too serious should always include some good humor.
• Take advantage of a current trend in the news. Covering news that is current will position you as an authoritative figure. Try and make it as relevant as possible to your niche!
• Befriend other authorities in your niche. By making friends and sharing content with those in your industry, they may be more inclined to help you out – perhaps even exchanging vital information and resources.

Structure Your Campaign

As with any marketing campaign, you should always structure it with clear aims and objectives. Before carrying out anything, you should decide what you want from the campaign. For example, do you want more direct sales? In this case, you may want to try to constantly place promotions and links on your site, rather than focusing on general reader engagement. In an ideal world, it would be advisable to do both; you should be constantly engaging your crowd and constantly make people aware of any promotions.

Make It Unique

Social media gives your brand a chance to flourish and gain a personality. You need to be unique in order to maximize your engagement and following. You would be surprised how many brands just simply carry out the same routine week in and week out. You need to constantly think of how you can improve your campaigns.

Use Videos and Ask Questions

Video marketing is an excellent tool to use online; it can engage customers and clearly disseminate information to your following. A video competition where you encourage your following to post an original video is one way of promoting further engagement. Finally, you should always ask and answer questions on your feeds, as this builds relationships with customers.

Implementing these steps across all social media platforms is crucial to success. Sometimes a different approach to each platform is appropriate. For example, LinkedIn would require a more professional stance whilst Twitter is much more casual and can benefit from humor.

This Straight North contributor is Magnetize PR, a UK inbound marketing agency that specializes in social media campaigns, PPC, a guest post service, and content marketing strategies.

For the small business owner, social media management often takes a backseat to other more pressing issues. With so much on your plate, overseeing a company Facebook page or Twitter account can feel like a drain on your already depleted mental energy; but that outlook is outdated and can lose you customers and hinder company growth.

When used effectively, Facebook can be a powerful marketing tool for business. You can grow your customer base, gain valuable product feedback, and boost sales. Here are three simple but useful Facebook strategies to build out a relevant Facebook presence without burning a lot of time or energy.

Ask Questions

Use Facebook as a forum to gain insight from existing customers. Short of sending out surveys, knowing clients’ likes and dislikes can be difficult. Review sites like Angie’s List offer customers the chance to rate local businesses, but these evaluations tend to be overwhelmingly negative or positive and not particularly constructive criticism.

By asking Facebook followers brand-specific questions through the company’s profile page, a company’s most loyal customers get the chance to provide their feedback.  Beyond asking questions for the sake of improving your services, you can grow your customer base by asking simple questions that invite responses and increase page engagement. The more people interact with your Facebook page, the more your audience expands, and the more customers you gain down the line.

Tip:  For advanced learning, research the concept of ‘EdgeRank’ to better understand what gives you the most visibility in Facebook’s NewsFeed.

Use Images Anywhere & Everywhere

Pictures are a great way to draw attention to a company’s Facebook page. Images are more likely to be shared and liked, and tend to display more frequently in newsfeeds than links or simple text. Take advantage of free image editing options (like Skitch or PicMonkey) to crop, brighten, or add text to pictures before posting on Facebook.

Create an attractive and descriptive cover photo. Think of Facebook as free publicity. As you grow your community and increase the number of followers, your site benefits from increased exposure across the Web. So, make sure the company’s profile and cover picture are relevant and visually appealing. It’s usually a good idea to include the logo front and center – and any taglines or mottos should be included too. Again, try photo-editing site PicMonkey to create a collage in the exact dimensions of the Facebook cover photo. Include any images that are pertinent to the mission of the business and use the different design options to edit and adjust the image to perfection.

Tip:  No time or skills for design?  Get it done on the cheap through sites like Fiverr.com and oDesk.com.

Advertise Exclusive Product Discounts

Offering a deal that is visible to anyone checking out the company FB page is one option, but if the promotion is exclusive to those who “like” the company’s profile, you can grow the business’s fan base and exponentially increase real-life customers. Facebook ad campaigns are simple to set up and just require a clear set of rules and guidelines. Make sure the description of the deal includes any fine print to avoid confusion or pushback from customers and be prepared to see an uptick in sales.

Try promoting a customized status update. Like Facebook ads, a promoted status is a great way to increase page exposure. Use Facebook as a marketing platform for other company media outlets. Do you write a company blog, but lack readership? Write a catchy status on the Facebook page and link to the latest blog post. Choose to promote a status if you want to encourage engagement and send the post to the top of friends’ newsfeeds. For a nominal fee, you can enhance brand visibility, increase page likes, and boost your blog’s viewership. Most companies can target an audience comprised primarily of Facebook friends and obtain over 1,000 impressions with a single promoted status.

Facebook is most likely not going to boost a company’s image overnight; however, setting up and managing a Facebook page are crucial for companies to establish themselves as credible businesses. In today’s fast-paced professional environment, a well maintained Facebook page could be the main differentiator that sets your business apart from competitors.

Don’t let the time and effort required to maintain the social media platform prevent you from reaping the benefits of a company Facebook page. It’s truly an essential component of a successful marketing strategy.

About The Author

Brian Patterson is an SEO professional for Washington, DC-area based Go Fish Digital and works with clients such as Online Trading Academy to boost their rankings in the search engines and carve out solid market visibility in social media.

Each time I read the newspaper or log on to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, I am bombarded by new trends or issues, whether they be about fashion, business, SEO, finance, travel, or even art.

But out of all these observable changes in society, none is more obvious, rapid, or unpredictable than the trends in social media. Social Media continues to go beyond our expectations, challenges our current knowledge of online marketing, and sets new standards for effective networking.

If you still have to catch up on your reading about “trending topics,” these current issues will give you a good head start:

Social Television

Years ago, a major pastime was watching TV. TV time was a way to bond with your family and friends—talking to the person sitting beside you, discussing the shows you were watching, and sharing a laugh or two.

But today, the television is being “rebooted” to make way for social media. For example, the famous British show The X Factor encourages viewers to vote for the best contestant via Twitter and uses other platforms to market its contestants. Essentially, this encourages audiences to log on to their social media accounts while watching TV. Other major channels are doing the same by featuring hashtag terms beside their channel logo, inviting viewers to “Follow us on Twitter” or “Like us on Facebook” and by posting polls or updates on their YouTube channels.

Additionally, TV manufacturers are developing high-end flat-screen monitors that show dual or even triple screens featuring cable channels and Internet tabs. In a gist, you can watch TV and browse the Web at the same time.

And now a new network, Get Glue, which is similar to Foursquare except it targets media, allows users to “check-in” to their favorite TV shows and acquire stickers that show the world what programs they favor.

These examples show the rise in socially integrated TV shows, which will no doubt double in the next few years.

The Mobile Evolution

Back in the day, the most convenient form of communication was the telephone. It was fast, simple, and cheap. Today, telephones are fast becoming obsolete. Why?

Internet technology has paved the way for better, faster, and more global means of interaction. First came e-mail. Although not everybody had it initially, email was always very convenient. Then came mobile phones. Although they have been in existence for many years now, the development of these compact and sleek gadgets heralded the total domination of small and portable communication gizmos. After mobile phones, laptops, portable Wi-Fi routers, tablets, and smartphones conquered much of the world. And mind you, this happened in just a matter of years, not decades.

Digital technology’s rapid progression helped boost membership in early social media sites like Friendster and Myspace, though these two are presently failing to get as much buzz as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

As a result, major social media platforms have developed new ways to integrate their programs into digital technology. Most notably, applications for Android and Apple have flourished, particularly because audiences demand easier and more convenient forms of socializing.

The Game Changers

When I was a kid, I had the privilege of playing ultra-fun video games such as Galaga, Super Mario, Donkey Kong Land, and The Sims. Even just talking about them brings back wonderful memories.

But returning to the point, those were the ancestors of today’s more-renowned games such as World of Warcraft, Halo, Mario Cart Racing, Assassin's Creed, Diablo III, and Defense of the Ancients.

Now what do all these have in common? Apart from being awesome, interactive, and challenging, these video games all have an online battle mode that allows players from all over the world to compete with each other. And let’s not forget the thousands of puzzles, adventures, treasure hunts, simulations, and other kinds of games currently available, some of which are hosted at social media sites.

In fact, there are now hundreds, if not thousands, of social apps for browsers and mobile devices, virtually making it simple for users to play their favorite games alone, with friends, or with contacts from around the world even while on-the-go.

Social Sharing

Growing up, I had diaries and journals where I wrote my thoughts and insights about trivial things. Today, we have blogs, statuses, tweets, pins, videos, pictures, memes, and even podcasts that publish our opinions and ideas to the world.

This is the basic premise of social sharing.

It is not just about broadcasting useful information to an audience, but about sharing your reactions to a particular issue or your suggestions about a certain problem. Public interaction is a powerful and unstoppable force, and nobody knows this better than social media channels.

In a good way, these social media sites are exploiting our basic human need to connect with other people. They present us with a convenient way to share and access information, conversing with people who share similar interests and socializing with a broad audience.

The Marketer

“We all have a brand.”

Everyone using the Web can utter this mantra. Whether you are a personal blogger, a reviewer, an Internet junkie, a social media user, or a website owner, we all own brands that need to be marketed globally.

This is where social media giants help us. In fact, just by having an account with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others, our visibility on the Web increases dramatically—more so if we update regularly, interact with other members, and enhance our profiles.

Plus, this targeted way of promoting your brand makes it easier to get feedback from your audience—find out what they need, ask for recommendations, and advertise a new line of products and/or services.

Final Thoughts

Whether social media will continue to flourish or pave the way for a more modern and convenient way of interacting, we can never truly know. But with these trends as our clues, the latter is more likely.

How about you? Where do you see social media in 2013?

About the Author

Jonny Lis is a Digital Marketing Specialist in charge of overseeing over 300 campaigns for Smart Traffic, an SEO company that provides quality services resulting in high rankings for its clients.

A well-knitted marketing campaign that successfully targets the heavy female presence on social networking platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) is one of the best ways to radically improve ROI, drive traffic to your site and increase your conversion rate. The truth is, it's not always easy.

The most difficult thing to conquer when it comes to marketing for women via the popular social networking platforms is how to outwit and outperform the competition, particularly when that competition is a large brand with a loyal following of female consumers.

The following tips will help you to work your best social networking magic on your potential female client and help you to keep that female client for life. Men and women are very different. Venus versus Mars, as they say, complicates the online advertising world; this is why it is important to target your male and female clients through separate online marketing campaigns.

What does it mean to “market” female?

Create an Emotional Connection

Perhaps one of the main and most important differences between marketing to men and women via social media is the need for an emotional connection between the brand and the potential client.

Women, generally speaking, need to feel emotionally connected to products or services before going ahead with the transaction. One of the most well-known brands that has managed to find and capitalize on this emotional connection via social networking sites is Dove.

Dove uses images of “real women” instead of the classic, stick-thin model image that we have become accustomed to accepting as the icon of “beauty.” By using images which reach out to the majority of the female market, Dove is able to connect to its potential female consumer on an emotional level.

Female consumers who visit the Dove social networking sites recognize themselves in the images shared. The connection encourages them to respond to the posts and updates that the brand posts regularly. As the female community responds and connects, the marketing campaigns that Dove wants to promote are sent flying around the social networking pages of interested women and their friends.

This emotional connection is the best way of getting women to connect with your brand, to promote your products and services and perhaps even invest in those products and services first hand.

Be Useful

Women, more than men, love tips, advice and useful information. If you own a fashion site, posting real tips on how to wear the latest style of belt, for example, with explanatory photographs to match is one of the best ways of getting your potential female consumer to buy your product or invest time checking in with your brand on a regular basis.

Putting new ideas into practice is a real joy for women. They love to learn, they love finding ways to make things better, more practical or more beautiful. The more useful you can make the posts on your social networking profile, the more interest you will generate and hopefully the more sales you will eventually secure.

Female fans love checking in and receiving information on time. If they know that your brand will publish a useful tip every single Monday morning and that tip will be worth looking into, they will connect with you. Therefore, usefulness and regular updates are the keys to promoting to a female audience.

Complement Her Life, Don’t Complicate It

In general, nature creates a man who loves a challenge: a problem to get his teeth stuck into. The bigger the problem, the more fascinating it is. However, even though women deal with challenges incredibly well and even though they are often better equipped to deal with the emotional turmoil that challenges can bring, women want solutions. Women want to have things all straightened out.

“Pick up your socks,” “This house needs to be organized and tidy.” Women need a certain degree of order in their lives and problems brought to them by others are not healthy challenges, they are annoying situations that women could really do without. Women want products and services that make things easier, smoother and far less turbulent in general.

Therefore, when putting together a social networking campaign for women, make sure that you are offering your potential female client something that is going to complement her life and not something that will complicate it further. A simple “10% off of everything” works much better with women than “10% off During July on Maybelline Products”, for example. Too much detail is a real turnoff for women. Keep it simple and get women on board.

Remember: Women Talk

One of the essential lessons of life, let alone for social networking marketing campaigns targeting female consumers, is that women talk.

Never cheat on your woman, because she will find out. She is connected to the world. She speaks with everyone and she will come into contact with vital information without having to do very much. Someone will send her the information if she doesn’t actually go looking for it in advance. Women talk. It’s a fact.

Therefore, the final social networking tip for online advertisers who want to target women is to treat your female client community with the utmost respect at all times. If a woman has a bad experience with a company, she will share her disgust. She will talk, offline and online, about the terrible problems that she had and this conversation could go on for weeks or months and even make a reappearance years later over a dinner party with friends.

If you make an enemy of a female consumer, without little effort on her part, she will be able to destroy your company’s reputation. Never take advantage of your female fans. Never promise them something that you cannot deliver and never abuse their trust. Women trust women more than they trust brands. If other women are bad-mouthing your company, you will find it difficult to compete against them.

Keep your offers clear and keep your processes honest. Make sure that you provide feedback and respond to comments and requests super quickly and take criticism on board. Women know what they want. Let them guide you to target them better.

About the Author

David Chapman is Director of Marketing at Webrageous and a specialist in pay per click management.

Thinking a thought doesn't qualify you to be a trendsetter in thought leadership. Being a seasoned social media user doesn't either, for that matter. What does?

One of the most highly regarded thought leaders in today's ever-evolving business world is published author and speaker Brian Solis. Brian has written several books on the topic of new media and has achieved greatness as a sociologist and digital analyst. He has studied how businesses can grow, thrive and measure success through the power of social media. As an individual, Solis has nearly 157,000 followers on Twitter. To put that in perspective, Solis has more followers than the Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet, two American-made brands that have quite the loyal following indeed.

What if I told you that you can establish a following in thought leadership the way Brian did? It's not easy, but it's easier than you may think.

So what exactly is a thought leader?

A thought leader is an innovator, someone whose passion for their industry or craft inspires others to create conversations and seek guidance through their expertise.

How can you establish yourself as a leader in your field or industry?

Keep your ears open, i.e., a little less talk and a little more listening action.

Create conversations and dialogues, but listen more than you speak. No one likes a know-it-all, and there is always something to be learned from someone else in your field, or, plainly, any related field. Make sure you are well-versed before you speak on any topic in your industry and others will respect the considerate and well-chosen words that you use to get your point across.

Know your audience.

How old are they? What are they looking for? What social media outlets are most useful in reaching them? Pose questions that will help you get to know your audience better ... what they read, what they want to see, what their personal passions and industry interests are. Once you have all of that info, you can spring forward into action.

Take a leap and think outside the box.

Your individuality and unique practices are what makes all the difference. Your innovative way of looking at the world and your industry will set you apart. Don't be afraid to be bold and speak your mind to what you know to be true. If you have found success, don't be afraid to share your knowledge with others through social media outlets.

Focus your own content.

If you want to be recognized as a leader on a particular topic or niche in your industry, be sure you are following your own advice. Blog daily about what you want to be known for (keep your personal life separate) and establish a timeframe when you publish; as your following grows, people will seek out your blog when they expect to see it, whether it is at 8 a.m. or 4 p.m. Make sure your content is sharable on multiple social media platforms.

Be thoughtful; share content.

Sharing is a beautiful thing, something your mother likely instilled in you from a young age when you were surrounded with toys and games and that annoying younger sibling. Sharing content from other people in your industry (whether it be blogs, articles or insightful Tweets and Facebook post observations) will help you establish relationships. Have each other's backs and support others with similar goals in mind, thus establishing yourself as a leader in your industry and someone people admire and trust. A major part of thought leadership is the ability to believe a person's convictions; their advice is much more valuable when they are a trustworthy individual with proven results.

Be diligent.

Answer any questions that come your way in a timely manner. Reply to comments to show your interest in reader feedback and your respect for others in your field. Accept constructive criticism (or even general criticism) with tact and understanding. It's also vital to provide answers to commonly asked questions across the Internet. A clear answer to a question asked in a LinkedIn group forum or an expert advice request on HARO (Help a Reporter Out) will get your name out there and a solid link to your blog or website. Lead by example and you will reap the rewards.

Network, network, network.

Get your face out there with live chats and join or host a Twitter party focused on your area of expertise. Apply for a spot on a panel or as a speaker at a local organization that would benefit from your expert opinions and advice and to build a reputation with potential clients or create new business partnerships.

Show off a little.

Link to client testimonials or solid recommendations on social media. If others see how much the top businesses or organizations value you, they will likely follow suit by taking an interest in your content and by adding you to their social media network.

Utilize social media moderation tools.

Social media tools can help you organize your efforts and set up a time schedule. Here are some of our favorites (both free and paid services):

Google Alerts: Receive email updates about keywords and trends you care about. Also utilize Google Trends to see what terms are trending by day, time and location.

Radiant6: Get the latest news and measure how your social media strategies and brands are engaging the public.

HootSuite: Manage multiple networks and enhance your content with this management system.

Tweetdeck: Connect with all of your social media connections on one platform.

Klout: Measure signals by network with the Klout Score.

HowSociable: Find out how visible your brand is on the Internet.

Lithium: Build brand advocacy and aggregate data across social media.

Is there a social media tool you use that you believe to be a cut above the rest? Do you have aspirations in the the area of thought leadership? Let me know!

It doesn’t matter what your industry, social media matters. And whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur or some other professional, you’ve probably wondered what that means for you.

Here, to give you some interesting food for thought, are 50 statistics about social media for business today!

General Social Media Facts

1. 62% of adults worldwide now use social media
2. Over 80% of Americans use social media
3. 91% of those Americans access social media every month
4. People spend more online time social networking than they do emailing, searching or shopping
5. Social media is the most popular online activity
6. 22% of online time is spent on social networks
7. Around 40% of people access their social media accounts on mobile devices

Specific Social Networks

1. Facebook is still the top destination among social networks
2. There are over 800 million people using Facebook
3. Americans spend more time on Facebook than on any other United States website
4. More than half of Facebook users log in every day
5. 42% of mobile users are sharing multimedia on Facebook
6. 51% of Facebook users are more likely to buy from brands they follow
7. Smartphone users now spend as much time on social networking apps as they do playing games
8. 40% of Twitter users regularly search for products via Twitter
9. 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands they follow
10. 12% of people have bought a product because of info on Twitter
11. Pinterest is the third most popular social network, right behind Twitter and Facebook
12. Buyers referred from Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase
13. On mobile devices, Google+ is the second most used social network

Demographics Info

1. 98% of 18- to 24-year-olds use social accounts every month
2. College towns have the highest Facebook logins
3. 57% of Facebook users have completed some college (and 24% have degrees)
4. 46% of Facebook users are 45 or older
5. 60% of Pinterest users are female
6. 50% of Pinterest users are in the United States
7. 50% of Google+ users are 24 or younger

Social Media for Business

1. 53% of small businesses are using social media
2. 88% of them are using social media to increase exposure
3. 60% of small business decision makers spend less than $100 on social media
4. 53% of active social media users follow a brand
5. 65% of the world’s top companies have an active Twitter profile
6. 90% of marketers are using social media for business
7. 93% of marketers using social media rank these tools as important
8. 43% of marketers have seen sales increase due to social campaigns
9. According to Ning, it only takes 20 people to build meaningful, many-to-many networking

 Social Media for B2B

1. 44% of small to mid-sized business (SMB) decision-makers use social media
2. 86% of those SMB decision-makers use Facebook
3. 41% of SMB decision-makers use LinkedIn
4. 33% use Twitter

Social Media and Customer Relations

1. 20% of social media users would make a purchase from a social media site
2. 50% of small business owners have reported getting new customers through social media activity
3. 47% of consumers are somewhat likely to buy from a brand they follow online
4. Active adult social media users are 75% more likely to spend a lot of money on music
5. Active adult social media users are 47% more likely to spend a lot of money on clothes, shoes and accessories
6. Social media users are willing to pay a 21% premium for brands that deliver great service through social media
7. Social media users who have a great service experience tell an average of 42 people, compared to 9 for those who aren’t on social channels
8. 60% of them are also willing to post on Facebook about products/services if they get a great deal or discount
9. Social media users who have a bad service experience will tell an average of 53 people, compared to 17 for those who aren’t on social channels
10. According to research from ComScore, brands that post at least once a day will reach 22% of their fans in a given week

Stat sources:

The Social Skinny

Media Bistro

Social Media Examiner

Mashable