5 Rules to Follow for Instagram Newbies - [COMIC]

Are you new to Instagram and want to know how to use the selfie-nation's social media. Then here are 5 basic rules of the trade you should follow.

No. 1 - Never spare on the hashtags. There's no limit on Instagram! The more you put down there, the better.

No. 2 forget your uber-HD camera. Now your picture should look like it was made by a 70's heroin-addicted Polaroid.

No. 3 The plate you're going to order or cook should get first in your camera and then in your stomach.

Read rest of the two rules in below comic infographic which comes in courtesy of themaplekind.

Comic - 5 Rules to Follow for Instagram Newbie

Photo by: Karly Domb Sadof washingtontimes

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How Are Small Businesses Using Social Media - infographic

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Social media is playing a critical role in how small business and organizations are conducting their business today. Check out this infographic which shares some of the important factors small businesses face in today's social media marketing world.

According a new study conducted by verticalresponse, 88 percent of small business owners still gravitate to Facebook as their social network of choice. While, Google+ and Pinterest are gradually growing as a viable marketing platforms.

The study also found that almost 6 out of 10 small business owners spend less than 6 hours a week to manage their social media, and surprisingly, 5 out of 10 still don't have a company blog. Nearly 56 percent of respondents use a third party tool to manage their social media activities.

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The Hipster's Guide to Berlin #infographic

A guide for all things Hipster in Berlin, from locations to clothing. Shoreditch in east London is so 00s, and you can forget the over-gentrified Brooklyn and Portland in the US. Berlin with its 400+ art galleries, independent DIY ethos and swarm of fixed-gear bikes, is the real hipster mecca.* There's nowhere else on the planet more suited to your tick-rimmed spectacles, a polled-up copy of vice magazine protruding from your Fjallraven kanken rucksack, and #nofilter Instagrammed pics of your friend's ironic beard.

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The Roadside Debate [Infographic]

Which one is safer, right-hand or left-hand traffic? Is there even a difference? Instead of guessing, let's drive into the statistics we've compiled from four different countries: the USA and Germany, which have right-hand traffic, and the UK and Australia, which have left-hand traffic.An auto collision can occur anywhere and anytime. While there is no such thing as absolute safety on the road, there are simple steps you can take to minimize your risk of becoming a statistic.

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The Truth About Pasta [Infographic]

Most of us know our Spaghetti from our Penn, but how much more about Pasta do you know? Palermo, in Sicily, is the historical home of dried pasta production, as documented by , Al Idrisi, the great Arabic traveler and writer, in 1154. In "Diversion for the Man Longing to Travel to For- off Places" he mentioned a flourishing dried pasta- making factory in Trabia, just outside the Sicily's capital.

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The Rocket Science Of How Web Links Pass Authority - gifographic

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Wondering, how web link authority passes from one webpage to another?

Then wonder no more.

Our pals at verticalmeasures have designed an infographic illustrating how link authority is build and passed from site to site on the internet today, which is one factor search engines like Google and Bing use to determine which site to rank above others.

Some key takeaways are:

Websites gain authority by building itself up as a reliable resource, with trustworthy content.

Semantic signals, social media signals, and co-citations can also be passed.

10 - 15 percent of page-rank on a page disappears before page-rank flows along to out-links.

How Links Pass Authority [INFOGRAPHIC]

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The History Of Social Collaboration - From 1960 To Present - [INTERACTIVE]

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How do humans in the workplace collaborate? We know now that with technology there is an array of possibilities but how did this technology unraveled throughout the years? Autodesk 360 took a stab at creating an interactive infographic taking you throughout the decades and the evolution of social collaboration. From the initial speech machine (the telephone) that facilitated short and long distance communication to instant messages and Video Conference nowadays. The world has drastically evolved and our work relationship automatically too. New terms such as social collaboration have emerged due to the tools we use to interact, participate and collaborate on a project. Our presence is not necessarily required in order to get things done anymore. New technologies like the cloud allow us to go further in the performance and efficiency process avoiding us to waste time on logistic matters and be more pro-active. In a fascinating technologic world it is important to understand where it all started and thanks to what and whom it has reached what we currently know.
Take a dive throughout the decades from the 1950’s to present days and (re)discover the many inventions that helped build the work environment we are all familiar with.

Tour "the evolution of social collaboration" in full version here: autodesk360innovate.

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Social Media: Going Beyond Online Company Presence

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Companies are starting to use social media to set strong online presence. Since most people today use social media in their everyday lives, companies see this as a mean to improve their sales and brand awareness. To get better mileage from social media, let us look at how it is used beyond building online presence.

Social Media Improves Brand Management

Brand awareness is important for any company and social media is a good tool to achieve this. Since online communication is fast, you can easily reach to target markets to showcase your products and services. Combine it with traditional marketing strategies, brand management through social media becomes more effective. According to 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, a significant 89% of businesses who used social media platforms as part of their marketing strategy gets more exposure among their audience. In result 75% of these companies gained increase in web traffic, and 50% of them boost their sales.

Social Media is a Tool for PR and Advertising

Are you planning a public relation or advertising plan for your company? You might want to incorporate social media to your strategies. Social media guarantees infinite possibilities. Whether you want to invite people to an event or showcase a new product, these can help you reach to millions of people.

If you are creative enough, you can create shareable contents that can go viral. In social media, sharing is so easy. That is why it is the fastest way to connect to people and promote your company. In a study by Hubspot, photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-through. In other words, if you want more exposure and user engagement, posting quality photos is effective.

Social Media for Market Research

Social media platforms are used for marketing strategies. Little do people know, they can also be used to study their market. The idea is to use its real-time functions for a quick and efficient research. In traditional research methods, it takes months to study a sample or group. Plus, it takes a lot of money to utilize such study. Social media helps you slash the expenses and makes the process faster. You can use hashtags to see how people react to trends. You can also analyze which posts gets better response from your readers. Download social media analytic tools to help you study your online market.

Social Media Improves Customer Relation

Strong customer relation is important to keep brand image positive. You do not want people saying bad things about your company only because you didn't answer their questions and concerns. Remember word-of-mouth in social media spreads fast like a wild fire. It is very dangerous. Before you get burned, you have to knit strong relationship with your followers. Big companies like Jetstar and Nike wisely use social media to support complaints to their products and services. Nike even opened an account exclusive for customer service. Here are few things to remember when managing your social media accounts:

• Respond Quickly
• Be Available 24/7
• Give Viable Solutions and Suggestions
• Make things Easy for Your Customers to Complain

Do not be afraid of negative feedback. Actually, responding to them improves your brand identity and customer satisfaction.

Social Media for Education and Information Dissemination

More than 80% of people who has internet connection owns Facebook or Twitter accounts and with proper ways, you can easily send them information about your company and/or related topics. Connecting to them is fast and you can even target specific people to make the information dissemination effective. You can use hashtags to group same information. Hashtags help followers to collate related updates they want to read.

There are tons of social media platforms that you can use for your company. You have to learn how these platforms work to be able to use them efficiently in your strategies. Social media is a very effective tool in connecting your company to your target market. By knowing how social media is used beyond creating online presence, you can help step up the your business and boost your sales.

Author's Bio:
Maddy Bertelsen is a blogger, and journalist. She has been writing for several corporate newletters. Currently, she is writing for best essays uk. She dreams of publishing her own novel.

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Why We Need The "Nobody Likes You" Button On Twitter [COMIC]

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Do you think there should be a "Nobody Likes You" button on Twitter?

Twitter is a weird social networking site, people use it cause they think their opinions are relevant to complete strangers. Well, here's the truth, they're not.

Nobody likes auto-responders or hashtag spammer.

Its for reason that we'd need the "nobody likes you" button on this micro blogging site.

The folks at The Maple Kind have designed a graphic to warn Tweeters to be aware of The Creepy Weirdo, The Caps Locker, The Dog Lover and other prototypes of Twitter users.

What all these Twitteres have in common is they do what they do in excess which is what makes them so annoying.

Courtesy of: The Maple Kind – Where infographics meet comics.

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5 Effective Ways To Increase Readership

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The blogosphere is a big and competitive world. Building genuine relationship with your readers can increase the chance of your blogging success. Social media marketing is the trend these days. You can find new visitors in almost all social networking sites. So don't try so hard to get hundreds of readers for your blog instantly, instead find the right social network that fits best your blog niche.

In order to get plenty of visitors or regular readers for you blog site, you have to be likable. And for you to experience likability, you need to build your online authority and become interesting to your target audience. If you're struggling to get regular readers then you're not exerting enough effort to look for them or you're simply doing it the wrong way.

To get a positive result in your blogging journey, here are five effective ways to increase your readership.

1. Use the most efficient content sharing tools.

Content sharing tools are just a click away. Take advantage of it and use these social media tools - Swayy, EverPost, Commun.it, Triberr, Shareaholic, SocialOomph, etc., to promote your content or brand. These tools can increase your online influence and attract more visitors to your blog. Each tool has its own uniqueness and capabilities all you need to do is utilize each function to save time in managing your social media accounts and increase your engagement opportunities.

2. Make your blog SEO friendly.

Search engine optimization is essential in marketing your blog. No matter how many posts you publish in your site if it's not search engine optimized, it won't reach a wide audience. In creating a SEO friendly content, you have to avoid keyword stuffing, write only original content with compelling headlines, and make sure to use reliable data. Learn about Basic SEO so you can implement SEO practices easily in your blog.

3. Incorporate Great Design Into Your Site.

Attractive and responsive web design makes your readers eager to visit your blog repeatedly. Theme and font choice are important for a blog because it indicates quality work experience and authority. If your web page is not pleasing to the eyes and user-friendly no one will spend time in reading your blog posts.

4. Build rapport with your readers.

One great way to urge people to visit your blog is through leaving interesting comments on other blogs. Make sure to leave relevant and informative thoughts in the comment section to add value in the conversation. If they like your comment, people will likely click on your name and wander on your blog. On the other hand, when other people leave a comment on your blog post you should respond quickly. If you do this it shows how you appreciate your readers.

5. Publish quality and interesting contents.

The main reason people visit blogs frequently is because they get something valuable from it. You have to be consistent in posting well-written and quality contents in your website because it is your blog's main attraction. Write something that is thought-provoking or attracts discussion to engage and establish your readership.

Getting tons of regular readers take time. It typically takes months or even a year of research and trial-and-error. You cannot simply force people to read your blog, unless they are interested in it, what you need to do is begin your market research and start building community of readers.

Author Bio:
Amber Stanley works as a writer in one of the trusted essay websites. She is a Communication Studies graduate and has a huge interest in Arts. She mostly blogs about Social media, careers, and technology. Feel free to add her in google+ or visit her website Art of Amber.

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Facebook vs. Twitter: Find The Best Match To Start Your Social Media Journey

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Social media can be used for reaching both a consumer and business audience, but deciding which social media platform would be best for your business and goals can present a challenge. Thanks to the folks at marketmesuite who designed below infographic that will make your work easy in choosing between Facebook and Twitter for your social media campaigns.

Some key takeaways are:

Facebook allows for close interaction with followers through private messaging and reviews, where as Twitter is best for finding new followers and leads. Plus, Facebook has the most users than any other social network... but Twitter has the fastest growing user base, especially with ages 45+ growing 79 percent since 2012.

Facebook vs. Twitter: Which Network is Best to Start with for Your Business

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The Science Behind Building A Loyal Blog Audience - infographic

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Is audience loyalty important to your blog? Are you wondering how to convert your cold blog traffic into returning customer? Then wonder no more, Quicksprout have created this infographic to show you the science behind building a loyal blog audience.

Some key takeaways are:

Why you need loyal readership? The answer is almost 8 out of 10 US online consumers trust info and advice from blogs. While nearly 9 in 10 brands and businesses that update their blog multiple times on a daily basis acquire customers from their blog.

How to develop a loyal audience? Just remember 1 things, Focus on producing quality content because 96 percent of readers decided to come back to a site that produce quality content.

How to keep people reading your blog? Be different, you have to stand out because almost 9 in 10 readers say they stop reading blog posts when they regurgitate old content.

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Videos: The Modern Form Of Content Marketing - infographic

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Are you leveraging video content as a part of your online marketing strategy?

The content marketing landscape is rapidly growing, and businesses have turned to video content to garner clicks, win traffic, drive sales and build their brand. With each days passing, video content is becoming more and more compelling than ever before. According to a recent study by CMO, Smartphones account for 10 percent of world-wide online video plays, while consumers are 27 times more likely to click through online video ads than standard image banners, plus, 44 percent of email marketers experience increased engagement rates in messages containing an explainer video.

Take a look at the following infographic created by the folks at IDT – to learn more about why the use of video marketing will rise even faster in 2014 and beyond.

Video Is the New Face of Content Marketing [Infographic]

image via: washingtonpost

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Secrets Of A Killer Blog Content - infographic

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A blog is an incredible medium for crafting your digital presence and success. And the true foundation of any successful blog solely depends upon its content.

By producing a combination of original and curated content, you can draw in and reach new audiences. While consistently posting keeps them coming back for more and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.

In case you are new to the content marketing sphere and not sure how and where to start the game then here is a handy infographic designed by our pals at WhoIsHostingThis that highlights the step-by-step breakdown of how to get the job done.

Some key takeaways:

Choosing a topics - The topics you choose help you establish credibility within your niche. Write about what you know and love.

Original and curated content - Creating all original content is hard to do for most people, there simply isn't enough time. That's where curated content comes in, you can add your perspective to third-party content and continue to publish new posts consistently.

Be mindful of small details - It's easy to get wrapped up in ideas, but execution matters. Proofread your posts for typographical and grammar errors.

Be consistent - Keeping a consistent, clear vision for your blog is extremely important. So always plan an editorial calendar.

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Who Broke Twitter: The Selfie Retweeted Round The World - infographic

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Wondering how many celebrities does it take to break micro-blogging platform - Twitter?

Ellen DeGeneres tweeted an epic OSCAR celebrity selfie that quickly broke the record for most retweeted tweets and possibly Twitter (for 20 minutes). But we all are wondering who was actually responsible for this viral photo.

The folks at bigspaceship have analyzed this selfie backwards and forwards in an infographic, trying to find out who the most influential retweeters were and where in the world people were retweeting from.

Their visual also looks at how responsible each individual celebrity was for setting this record and ruining the Twitter Oscars party. Check out their findings below.

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

A key takeaways is 66 percent of all Retweets came from U.S. of which 75 percent came from North America. While the Ellen's celebrity selfie was retweeted over 3.3 million times.

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LinkedIn By The Numbers - infographic

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LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network and being tied to the popularity of social recruiting. It is also known as a business oriented network and through this you can share and receive updated news, job details, marketing a business or about any other brand details. LinkedIn is very popular among the marketers and business professionals those who are seeking work and trying to connect with those who are interested in their services.

LinkedIn having 280 million total users and more than 87 percent of the total people belief the product-related information they find on the network. Some are getting involved with it only to extend their friends circle to make fun and gossip and some are to maintain a strong network of close professional colleagues to get success in their professional life.

For more details about the LinkedIn’s success as a professional social networking site and its market value, here is an explained infographic which comes courtesy of Degreequery.

Takeaway:
If you work for a living, or plan to after college, you should consider having a LinkedIn profile.


Robert Libetti/ Business Insider

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5 Ways to Generate Lead On Google+

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Talking about lead generation does not mean that we are indulging in selling product on the social media channels. Social media should be your primary focus to establish a strong bond in order to attract leads as sales will follow up gradually.

Google+ is paving a great way to generate profitable business leads. Through this post, marketers can learn the process to drive visitors from Google+ to your business. The purpose is to move visitors from groundwork stage to a competent stage of online marketing funnel.

If you use Google+ to reach a potential new client, you need to accompany links back to your landing page, from text to visual descriptions to enable conversion. The landing page may include a contact form, for a free consultation, or if the marketing funnel appears a bit complex, you can simply invite visitors to join your email list. In both the case, you generate leads.

In the initial stage, generating leads involves different ways to attract potential leads and engages them into speaking with businesses making potential purchases. Google+ is the upcoming social network to fire up customer interest.

Here, are the five most effective ways to generate leads through Google+ platform:

Ultimo Boost for Your AdWords Campaign is +1

‘Like’ button in Google+ is a unique feature and it is called the “+1” button. People clicks on PlusOne button to show their preference. ‘+1’ button shows up in Google search results, in your Google+ profile even in the AdWords ads. As soon as you link AdWords ads to your Google+ page, your followers can start supporting, just clicking the ‘+1’. This helps to increase social awareness and relevance.

In order to initiate, the process you need to add links to your website, and verify the page. You will find a check mark next to your website to reach the Google+ page, or you can simply add Google+ badge to your website. As soon as the pages link back, you can start with social extension in AdWords Ads. Google finally check out who has “+1” the page and link it to the landing page you advertise, bringing more visibility and exposure to your website.

Share Snacky Contents (TEXT and Visual)

TEXT: By maintaining, a steady stream of snacky content adds value to your community. Often these contents, recommended as big guns in the marketing industry helps to gather leads via Google Plus.

You just need a content snippet to start an engaging conversation. Then, direct readers back to your blog to find the actual content and turn them into potential leads. However, all depends on the quality of content shared.

Living in the inbound marketing era, we must remember, "content is king". So, post contents to tickle the funny bones of your followers and compel them to click on the link, but do not digress from your business. Some types of textual contents you can share such as - E-Books, Webinars, Blog Posts, Guides, Tutorials, Whitepapers.

VISUAL: No doubt, visual contents rule the social media, and Google+ is no exception. Besides texts, you can easily add links to images, videos or infograph making it possible for your followers to click through the landing page.

Well, images, videos or infograph have more appeal among people compared to text-based counterparts. Adding an appropriate link with the visual content, with a small text description, (say 100 words) increases your chances of Google+ users to visit the landing page.

Look who is on the Circle

Circle is one of the notable features in Google+ that allow you to place different clients in different circles in line with relevance. You can place each contact in a circle, or you can ask the new contacts in which circle they would like to be added. You can segment the circle by interest, geographic location or demographics and send the targeted content to each circle. You can use the notification feature to drop an email.

Type of content you share with each circle may vary, and the call to action used may keep on changing. Just make sure that the content is snacky and relevant, or users can mark you as a spammer and might mute your posts or block you. Better the content, more it will convert.

Branding

You need to be perfect in your endeavor, when we talk of branding. Google+, unlike other social media sites gives the ultimate break to brands and builds a strong existence by interacting with customers (both existing and potential).

How will you restore goodwill for your brand using the GooglePlus?

• Engaging other individuals, especially the experts of your niche, not directly related to your business on Google+ conversations
• Addressing concerns of your users
• Resolving questions that users ask you over any sessions

Branding is the master key to unlock potential leads and seeks out businesses that seem to care about their own customer support.

Broaden your Reach - Organize Hangouts

If you can reach out to more people and feed them in the sales pipeline, generating leads becomes easier. Try to stay connected to people through email lists, and ask them to join your Google+ circles. If a reader finds your content interesting, he or she can choose to share content with his or her acquaintances. Thus allowing your business to create a self-perpetuating and virtuous cycles for business benefits.

GooglePlus has introduced a unique style to communicate with users other than making a request to join circles, popularly called Hangouts. It is the ultimate video tool where your followers can meet you, have a chat with you, and confirm new potential leads for your business. Google+ Hangout syncs with Google+ Events helping your followers to get the email notification on your current Events or share their experience they had with you in the previous events.

Nevertheless, you need to personalize your marketing approach and make it better targeted. Use of Hashtags, following up with a keyword makes updates easily searchable. Whereas you can tag a person in your post simply adding “+” sign before his or her name, well whatever marketing tactic you adopt, timing and consistency is must for social media sites. You must avoid posting many updates at one single shot as it holds a bad opinion about your brand. Maintain the steady stream of updates, but do not overdo.

Rapid changes that take place in the Google+ helps to spread the brand word to a large number of people in less time. However, business trying to generate leads through Google+ depends on the hosted content motivating enough to grab the attention of the potential customers.

Do not miss the valuable leads available on Google+.

Author Bio

William Walker lives in Birmingham, Alabama and works as a telesales executive after majoring in Economics. He jams up the best with startups working on products, growth, mobile, online business and brand equity. He enjoys writing informative blogs with good coffee or wine to inspire the wannabe market leaders.

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20 Mind-Blowing Stats To Get You Active On Google+

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Unless you are OK with tossing off your budget on pricey individuals and their pricier strategies, social media isn’t a platform you can afford to ignore. You aren’t likely to fall short on options that social media tosses at you to promote your products and brand as a whole, and you can find the biggest of brands reciting homilies on how it has helped them achieve the level of success they make a boast of today.

That said, everyone has their own take on different platforms on offer. While some like to channelize most of their resources on Facebook, others are keener on Twitter or LinkedIn or for that matter, Google Plus.

But, let’s be honest, despite being a Google product, Google Plus hasn’t got the kind of credit it commands from the brand community. Even after 2.75 years of its existence, it remains underrated and undervalued as a social media marketing platform. And, is it justified? Darn no! So, just to make sure you aren’t left oblivious to the various leverages Google+ can power you with, here is a list to convince you of the efficacy of this highly resourceful platform.

And no, I am not reciting any of those homilies; I present to you some incredibly convincing GPlus facts by the means of stats (something that works for me as well, as they are more likely to intrigue you to the page).

1. On this date in 2014, Google Plus boasts of more than a thousand million visits every month

Here is the stat in its bare bones. For all those naysayers claiming GPlus is deprived of the kind of numbers that its peers 9 Facebook and Twitter) boast of, this number should dump all those myths to a pigeonhole.

2. There are more than 1.5 billion photos uploaded by users in a week

When yours is a website which contains a lot of images, this is a stat you would want to tuck in.

3. The number of users sharing and uploading Videos is increasing by the day, with a rate of 20x

Go ahead and create some interesting video around your brand, and upload it on your G+ page. If it is intriguing, there is every chance it may go viral.

4. Here is the active Google Plus Users – 540 million per month

So, those who share photos, upload videos and post statuses, blending those numbers gives you a figure of 540 million users per month. Isn’t that number worth of promoting your offerings to.

5. Those with Accounts on Google Plus are in excess of one billion

Going back to the number war between Facebook and Google Plus, how’s that number for some consideration?

6. 68% of Google Plus users comprise of male users, while rest of the 32% are female users

For those who want to know what audience they are pitching to, this is one priceless stat.

7. Close to 70% active companies have their Google Plus Pages

What’s stopping you then?

8. The +1 button on websites get more than 4 billion hits in a day

All the more reason for you to include those on your website

9. The Google Plus unique monthly visitors are in excess of 20 million

That’s where a chunk of your audience comes from

10. How many social users login to Google plus: Close to 33%

That tells you, it is one of the leading social media platforms out there

11. Close to 7 million Google+ users are from America

If you have your clients in US, or you are targeting the market there, this is one stat you can’t afford to ignore.

12. Every months, approximately 800,000 Google Plus accounts are created

Be rest assured, as GooglePlus is headed north in its popularity, the numbers are only going to grow further, higher.

13. No website is growing at a faster rate than Google Plus

And tell you this much, this success wasn’t a fluke. This is a result of years of organized planning

14. Among the 15-35 year olds, there are more than 28% folks who use Google Plus

If yours is a brand that targets this audience, that is a good enough stat

15. People aged between 45-54 have shown an interest that has increased by 56% since 2012

For brands with market among older audiences, this is…...

16. Lady Gaga has most followers on Google+ : 8.4 Million

This tells you entertainment sells everywhere

17. 26% of the Internet users who access social media sites from their Smartphones surf Google Plus

Another reason for you to target mobile phone audience

18. More than 40% digital marketing professionals use GooglePlus

It is being adopted by a larger band of audience now, jump in

19. Your website gets indexed in Google with greater assurance and degree

Figuring in Google searches more often than not is a target to be achieved. And Google Plus takes you closer.

20. No Google Plus, nothing gets more eyeballs than Android

This tells you, people indeed are brand conscious – make your brand to be one worthy of someone following it loyally.

Takeaway:

If the above stats are anything to go by, there is every reason to believe Google Plus will give your business the velvet touch it has been vying for.

Author bio – Mike Swan is a blogger by mood and web designer by profession. He gives ideas to convert Phoptoshop to wordpress theme and loves to share his thoughts on social media. You can log in to his web (Markupcloud Ltd) for various other conversion services.

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How Do People Feel About Mobile Technology - infographic

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With mobile and internet technology overshadowing a huge number of aspects of our day-to-day lives, people are gradually looking forward to embrace mobile technology as a way of making life easier. Today, mobile technology has an all-immersive reach, and is increasingly being used by people to ease communication processes.

However, not everyone thinks alike, which has given rise to a pretty diverse opinion on the usefulness and capabilities of mobile technology. While it is an undeniable truth that the widespread range and ability of the mobile phone has influenced human behavior and activity to a large extent, the benefits (or the lack thereof) of mobile phones are a widely debatable issue.

From an infographic originally shared on BlogMost, we can get a clear insight into the various opinions people have regarding the use of mobile technology. That mobile phones have been one of the greatest inventions ever is an undisputed truth, as is the inevitability of its usage in today’s highly globalized world. The question that needs to be asked is, how do mobile phone users themselves feel about the overwhelming preponderance of mobile technology?

An undisputed majority of around 73 percent of people believe that the pros of mobile technology weight out its cons, especially because of the ease of access to instant communication it provides, which is a huge benefit, especially when it comes to emergencies. From the vantage point of those who see it this way, cell phones are inseparable from the daily life of a person, and while there may be certain downsides of this otherwise brilliant technology, these little shortcomings are too few and far in between to actually pay attention to.An opposing 13 percent of people feel that mobile technology is debilitating, and cripples healthy human interaction, as well as being a burden on mobile phone users, and society in general. That this new and advanced technology, however swish it may be, has more disadvantages than advantages is the vantage point of this sector. A further 11% are undecided, and have no say in whether they see mobile technology as a boon or a bane.

Infographic Courtesy of: BlogMost.com, Photo Credit: Robert S. Donovan. H/T Parampreet Chanana.

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Does Social Media Affect Your Mental Health - infographic

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It's no secret that we spend a lot of our time Tweeting, Facebooking and using other social networking sites. From photo sharing and over texting to the loss of workout time, we may be putting our mental and physical health at risk. And to give you a better understanding of this, our pals at Fix.com designed an infograph delineating Is social networking bad for your health?

According a recent study, nearly 7 in 10 of online adults use social networks. And the average social media user spends 23 hours a week emailing, chatting and using other forms of online communication that is nearly 14 percent of total time in a week.
In addition, 67 percent afraid they will miss something if they don't stay glued to their social networks, whie 38 percent aged 18 - 34 check their social networks when they wake up before they check their emails.

So does social media affect your mental health?
According to the University of Salford's study, 5 out of 10 respondents said using Facebook and Twitter makes their lives worse, their self-esteem suffers when they compare their own accomplishments to those of their online friends.
Plus, 66 percent claim that it's difficult to relax or sleep after spending time on social media, while 50 percent say, they feel "worried or uncomfortable" when they can't access Facebook or email.

So why social media so highly addictive?
The Harvard University answers that: during self-disclosure on social media, participants activated the Nucleus Accumbens - the region of the brain, which is important in the development of addictions - it lights up when someone takes cocaine or other drugs. Self-disclosed activates the part of the brain associated with the sensation of pleasure - the same pleasure that we get from receiving money or eating food.

So how can you maintain a balanced social media and healthy lifestyle? Get your answers and more in below infographic.

How Social Media Has Become an Addiction - infographic

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SMM - Business Owners Fall for These Mistakes AGAIN and AGAIN

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Thousands of dollars have been lost, but sadly, business owners still keep on falling for the same misconception again and again.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about the 5 most common misconceptions that business owners have about social media marketing, that’s costing them A LOT OF DOLLARS!

Before I even share what they are, I’d like you to think about your social media marketing strategy as you read through. Should you find that you’re making the same mistakes, do whatever it takes to stop what you’re doing before you invest any more of your resources in these damaging activities/concepts.

Without further adieu...

Your profile should be all about your company

Think about the features vs. benefit concept.
The thing is, while you profiles should of course contain some information about your company, you shouldn’t really be as focused on that. Rather, your profiles should talk about the kind of benefits that your customers can get from you. Because in the end, they don’t really care who you are, they just want their problems solved so you should focus on that.

Having said this, you need to carefully phrase your profile’s or product’s description. Instead of simply saying, “our company has been in business for years and has established credibility”, you ought to think about saying something like this instead… “Safeguard your assets with a company that’s been around for years…”.

Notice how the latter has MORE EMPHASIS on the customer’s assets being safeguarded (which is about them) compared to the first sentence which just talks more about the company.

The more you post the better

Careful! That’s how spammers think!
If you’re social media marketer has the same concept of going about social media marketing, then that should be a HUGE red flag for you!

Remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all rule for the frequency of your posts. To determine just how many posts you need to make, this is where testing and measurement comes in. These is where you conduct surveys, check when the views of your posts peak (among many others).

Spending thousands of dollars just so people can add a redonkulous amount of posts on your social media profile isn’t cost efficient. It’s just downright expensive, PLUS you risk the probability of your community thinking that you’re spamming them.

You have to be EVERYWHERE

Let’s try to analyze this. Let’s say that we have 10 social media sites. And 50% of your customers are on Facebook while the rest of the social media sites have about 2% (more or less) of your customers each.

Would it make sense for you to spend the equal amount of resources on each site for your social media marketing? Can you imagine how low your returns would be on those sites where only 2% of your customers are residing in?

It just doesn’t make sense doesn’t it?

Instead of thinking about being everywhere, it’d be more prudent if you study which social media sites your customers are and invest majority (if not all) of your social media marketing budget there.

Social Media Marketing is free

Whenever people tell you that social media marketing is free, you need to ask yourself if your time is worth something. Because if it is and you’re spending your time creating profiles, making posts, etc…. then social media marketing isn’t free after all! Actually, it never was!

Transacting via your social media profiles is enough

This kind of thinking should be ok if you’re looking for mediocre success, but if you’re looking to truly excel and reach the next level of your business, then you have to do more than just doing one time transactions on your social media profiles.

Instead of doing that, you can have a capture page and grow your list every time someone purchases your product. You can also route them to your website so you can show them more of your products and what your website has to offer.

Besides, there are a lot of free website builders out there than can help you create professional looking websites. Just add a few texts and some amazing photos and you should be good to go.

Adding your customers on your list and routing them to your website allows you to capitalize on repeat business.

I seriously hope that you aren’t guilty of any of these mistakes. If you are, I hope you’re now convinced that you’re missing on a lot of opportunity or perhaps just burning some money.

Let’s hear it from you!
Was there ever a mistake that you did when marketing via social media that cost you A LOT of money! And I’m talking about a lot of money WITHOUT any returns AT ALL (or close to it)? I’d love to hear from you so do share in the comments section below. I’m sure we’ll all have an awesome time reading and learning from each other!

Photo credit: depositphotos

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Millennials And Smartphones: Stats On Apps And mCommerce - infographic

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Did you know that 6 in 10 "Generation Y" youngsters (15 to 34 years old) own a smartphone device, while most of them have a data subscription for it as well.

What if I told you that daily internet access through smartphone is highest in Japan (92 percent) and then in China with 89 percent, while Americans take third place with 84 percent. And that "fun and gaming apps" counts as the most popular activity of 56 percent Gen-Y smartphone users.

According to a recent study by InSites Consulting, 44 percent of Millennials say that their current mobile phone is doing just fine, while surprisingly, 32 percent still think they don't need a smartphone at all.

In addition, 65 percent use it to store notes and information while 6 out of 10 use their phone to keep in touch with their friend on social media.

The study also shows that Chinese and American millennials are clearly leaders when it comes to "mobile apps installation" with respectively 96 percent and 94 percent.

Check out this infographic created by How Cool Brands Stay Hot that takes a closer look at what smartphone apps and services Gen-Y are most fond of.

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Social Commerce: Which Social Media Platforms Drive The Most Sales - infographic

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Marketers and small business owners often wonder about the Return-of-investment of social media marketing. Is my Pinterest profile really doing anything for my bottom line? Is my Twitter account actually driving sales? Should I be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.

Well, it's clear that, when it comes to eCommerce, being social is the most effective way to multiply your presence online.

To give you a better understanding of how social media is influencing the eCommerce industry, the team at shopify has analyzed the data from 37 Million visits via social media that led to 529K orders.

A key takeaways is: An average of 85 percent of all orders from social media belong to Facebook. They dominate some industries such as Photography, Sports and rec and Supplies by nearly 95 percent.

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Secrets of a Killer Blog Post: References

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Want to know, what are the secrets of "a killer blog post's references"? And why using high-quality, authority sources for your content is critical?

Writing quality content requires much more than a quick Google search. In order to stand out among the top bloggers in your industry you must know how and where to find credible sources.

And to show you how to research for content on the internet and how to properly cite references, the folks at whoishostingthis designed the below infographic, that will help you build authority and turn readers into followers and advocates.

Some key takeaways are:

Research for content - When searching for content make sure you use reliable sources and information. Don't always trust open-sourced sites like Wikipedia. Instead, try dig deeper, there are reliable sources beyond page one of the search engine results. Look to the news websites and industry experts for stories related to your topic, this will give you the hard facts, not opinions.

Consider social media for search - In addition to your usual research tactics consider doing research on social media sites, like Twitter, YouTube, Plancast, StumbleUpon and BuzzSumo.

Cite your sources - An amazing asset of the internet is that many people are willing to share their information, but at a small cost, of course. They are going to at least expect a link back or some kind of attribution. There are copyright laws, but no strict rules about how exactly you should attribute the sources.

Photo: Getty Images

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2014 The Numbers Behind Social Media - infographic

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Whether you use them for reaching potential customers, interact with people, or to generate content, Social Media is a power tool for businesses. Check out this infographic by thelogocompany for some of the most popular online networks and how much of an impact they each have.

Key takeaways:

Facebook has 1,230,000,000 users, and every user spent almost 18 minutes per day on the platform. And about 350 million photos upload on Facebook every day.

Twitter has 645,750,000 registered users, while the average time spent on Twitter is 12 minutes and 51 seconds per day.

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