Persuasive Picks for week of 5/13/13

5-Google+-Insights-Resources-and-Tips-for-Business-Plus-InfographicGoogle added 41 new features to their social network darling, Google+. Yes, 41! With 190 million monthly active users, Google+ is still not as popular as other social communities, but interactive expert Bernadette Coleman thinks that with these updates comes a more appealing, more competitive network. She explains why social media marketers and small businesses should pay special attention in New Google+ Features Hit the Web - via SocialMediaToday

Yahoo announced that Tweets have become an important information source for many and will now be featured in Yahoo’s news feed. While few details have been revealed, it’s probably safe to assume that Yahoo will feature tweets that are popular, influential and of course meet certain criteria for authenticity and newsworthiness. Business2Community contributor, Victoria Harres, helps communicators prepare and provides 4 Best Practices Brands Should Implement, Now That Twitter is a Yahoo News Source

emotionsKing Fish CMO Gordon Plutsky wants to remind brands that people buy for emotional reasons. So while the digital marketing revolution has enabled companies to communicate directly with customers, it’s how companies choose to communicate with customers that will determine their ability to create emotional connections. Check out Gordon’s picks in  4 brands that emotionally connect with consumers - a look at leading companies that are moving past transactional relationships to better connect with empowered customers on iMediaConnection.

When Did Social Media Lose Its Way? In the early days of social media, users interacted like real people do. However, in time, social networks evolved into pits of broadcast messages. MarketingProfs‘ Verónica Maria Jarski posts an infographic from Hubspot that demonstrates the history of how brands lost their way in social media, and how they can find a path back to their roots.

Persuasive Picks for week of 5/6/13

toolsBehind every successful social media marketer is an arsenal of marketing tools that help to ideate, implement, and track the success of a social media campaign. But social media tools are a dime a dozen, and keeping up with the latest offerings can be an overwhelming and frustrating process. Fortunately for us, Social Media Strategist Rebecca Debono has posted her Top 5 hottest social media tools on iMediaConnection.

As a marketer, brand manager, PR practitioner, or executive you have likely figured out that in this new, content-driven, multichannel environment your brand is now, among other things, a content publisher. With more than half of US consumers using smartphones, it is now time to plan your mobile content strategy. MarketingProfs‘ Frank Sinton gives some helpful tips to get you started in Seven Steps You Can Take to Capitalize on the Mobile Video Viewing Shift

Traffic to your websiteIf you are looking at LinkedIn as your next digital marketing project, then don’t forget to spend a decent amount of time focusing on your ‘company page’. If you are looking for some guidance, then check out LinkedIn Tips and Advice Part 2 – Company Page Optimisation for some sound recommendations provided by Business2Community contributor Kerry Dye.

Social media is 24/7. Someone is always tweeting, posting on Facebook, or uploading a new picture to Instagram. However, for social media managers and businesses alike, this can be quite a challenge. Brianna Smith at Social Media Today explains that there are a couple different ways to determine when your audience is online, and points to an insightful infographic to help you determine the Best Times to Post on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC].

Persuasive Picks for week of 11/5/12

MarketingProfs‘ Molly Glover Gallatin illustrates how to tie the kind of rich, actionable customer intelligence you can glean from social media into five overarching marketing decisions in Five Marketing Decisions Social Media Should Be Shaping.

The term “content marketing” includes two intimidating words that can be difficult to hear lately, due to the increased amount of content being shared on social networks by just about everyone. Viral Traffic Specialist and Content Creator Amanda Ryan posts 5 Content Marketing Tips That Will Give Your Business a Competitive Edge on Business2Community.

Just because online marketing is a digital medium does not mean it has to be cold and impersonal; rather, as marketing continues its rapid shift online, businesses must learn to personalize their digital assets in order to stay competitive. Strategic Marketing Consultant and SocialMediaToday contributor Chris Horton provides 3 Simple Ways to Connect with Your Target Audience.

An emerging social media trend is creating fresh ways for companies to engage with customers. With the rise of the visual, social web, clever brand ambassadors and marketers are breathing new life into contest marketing. Evan Vogel explains that the visual web is giving digital contests a major shot in the arm in How visuals are reviving digital contest on iMediaConnection.

Persuasive Picks for week of 10/22/12

In every industry there’s a bellwether that points to future trends. Do you know what it is for digital marketers? And more importantly, are you paying attention? Digital marketing industry insider Shelly Palmer speaks to iMediaConnection about the the changing technology landscape in How to predict the future of digital marketing.

Brand pages aren’t necessarily a new feature on LinkedIn, but recently the professional networking site revamped their brand pages in an effort to better connect the business to the customer and job hunters, with several new features reminiscent of what Facebook and Twitter are currently offering. Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation explains Why It’s Time for Your Business to Get a LinkedIn Brand Page on SocialMediaToday.

With the rise of social media, word-of-mouth marketing is becoming a more tangible form of consumer influence. And, brands are out there in strong force tapping the digital space for “influencers” of all kinds. It sounds intimidating, but Nick Cifuentes, Global Social Media Director for Ancestry.com, offers some insightful guidance to Understanding Digital Influence and How to Engage - via ClickZ.

One of the reasons many businesses do not create and publish online content to serve their communities is the assumption it has already been done. Business2Community contributor Jeff Korhan writes that this assumption ignores the fact that most problems are chronic and original perspectives are the only way to slowly break them down to develop sustainable solutions, and provides 3 Ways Content Marketing Makes Every Business Better.

Persuasive Picks for week of 8/6/12

Video is the undisputed darling of the marketing world in 2012. There are a variety of reasons web-based video is such an important media vehicle, and marketers that understand the nuances will be more successful than the laggards. To get started, Kent Lewis of iMediaConnection provides The ultimate guide to video marketing on YouTube.

How do you build buzz in social media? What makes social media real-life marketing events successful? It is not one thing in particular, but many things, according to Christel Quek and 2morrowknight of The Huffington Post and offer a few takeaways on Creating Social Media Buzz.

Social media, although a relatively recent phenomenon, has become an increasingly more important part of marketing and client base development platform for businesses. What could once be accomplished by a traditional website now needs to be supplemented by a robust and responsive utilization of the tools social media offers. Forbes contributor Jessica Bosari explains The Developing Role of Social Media in the Modern Business World and provides some tips for those looking to bring their business up to speed.

The social space has rapidly matured over the last decade-plus, but social media measurement remains a mystery for many. Adam Singer at ClickZ thinks that measurement is something that’s very possible, and offers 4 Ideas for Better Social Media Measurement.