By now, if social media isn't a critical element in your online marketing strategy, it should be. Having a presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can add value to your product, to customer service and ultimately to your brand.

But simply having an account and broadcasting company news isn't enough. To attract and keep customers -- and to build a strong brand online -- business owners need to be active on social media. They have to provide valuable information and engage with their followers.


Here are four things businesses should be doing on social media in order to grow the brand online:

1. Engage with followers and provide customer service.

Your customers are engaging with your brand wherever they are -- including over social media. Don't miss this opportunity to listen to what they're saying to and about you, and to provide the best customer service.

Why is this so important? Responding to customer questions and resolving issues over social media shows everyone who's following you -- and potentially anyone who is online -- that your company cares about its customers, potential customers and goes the extra mile for people.

Tools like Hootsuite and Tweedeck can be handy for monitoring mentions of your brand over social media. As for when and who you respond to, set the tone early. If you reply often, people will expect it. If you don't reply a lot, people will see that as well and might stop engaging with you as often.

2. Crowdsource ideas.
 
Use social media as a marketing research tool. Just as people can reach out to you, follow you and stay connected with you, business owners can do the same with their customers. Social media is a two-way street.

Say, for instance, you're getting ready to launch a new product. You can ask your fans and followers what they think about specific details like which colors they prefer or what types of features they want. Not only can you get real, valuable market research at no cost, you're involving the consumer in decisions. Asking customers for their opinions can help show that they matter, and when they see their ideas become a reality, ideally you create brand and product champions.

3. Keep an eye on the competition.

Remember the old saying: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.

When it comes to business, it's good to know what your competitors and other companies in your market niche are doing. By keeping an eye on their social media feeds, you can learn a lot about a company -- what it is doing differently, what it's good at and what it's bad it. Use this information to implement things in your strategy that you might be missing such as contests, giveaways or forms of content that their followers respond to most.

4. Establish yourself as an industry expert.

Nobody can know what you know unless you share your knowledge. By sharing information like tips, advice and answering questions about your industry, you can position yourself as a valuable resource.

Develop a content-sharing strategy where you respond to questions daily, provide unsolicited tips and share your perspective on industry news. Over sites like Twitter and reddit, also consider scheduling events such as question and answer sessions. Let your followers know that you'll be hosting the session, set the date and time, and determine the theme or topic you'd like to discuss. Then let your followers know that you'll try to answer everything they ask.











































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Twitter was never meant to be a social network. In fact Twitter started life as an internal messaging service for a podcasting company just over seven years ago.



But how things have changed.

On the social web we live on a diet of fast change and rapid media evolution. Twitter’s slow burning maturation often flies below the radar and Facebook changes such as the new timeline and graph search attract numerous blog articles, comments on Facebook and mass media attention.

Twitter has become a multi-media social network without anyone really noticing.

Are you just tweeting text?

Many of us are just using it for tweeting text and links and forget that you can increase engagement by including video, images and even Slideshare presentations that can be viewed within the Twitter platform. Twitter is hoping that we will use the network to share multi-media in new ways.They are even punting on changing the world of video marketing and communication by integrating their new 6 second video service called Vine into the Twitter ecosystem.

Twitter’s aim is to make video an acceptable marketing medium that is short, snappy and sharp, that cuts through the clutter just like they have done with the humble 140 character text.

Effective marketing is multi-channel and multi-media

The question is often asked “what social network should you be using?“. The answer is, “As many as you can manage and that time and resources allow where your target audience is hanging out”

Multi-channel marketing should be your goal.

Coca Cola knows this well and Wendy Clark the  senior VP-integrated marketing communications and capabilities at Coca Cola had this to say about effective marketing strategies in a digital world.

“None of our plans are simply social, or TV, or mobile or experiential. On the contrary, it’s the combination of owned, earned, shared and paid media connections“.

She went on to say

“No single medium is as strong as the combination of media”

To highlight this point she mentioned that for their Olympic campaign in 2012, Coca Cola used 60 different types of media!

In other words multi-channel  and multi-media combined are vital to create marketing synergies that have the potential to become viral.

Did you know this about Twitter?

Twitter has released some internal research that shows how multi-media rich its platform has become and also its increasing role as an effective buzz and engagement tool that can used by journalists, news organisations and  users to increase their Twitter followers and retweets.

#1. Tweeting more gets you more followers

For journalists who post a concentrated number of Tweets in a short time span, follower growth is 50% more than expected.

 

#2. You can send tweets with a text message

Twitter was born with mobile in its DNA and that is obvious from its 140 character limit that was designed around the texting constraints of  mobile SMS. When Twitter became embedded within Apple’s mobile operating system it reached a tipping point that has continued to cement its place as the the web’s go to channel for breaking news and quick bytes of information.

Twitter can be set up to integrate with your texting.



Not only can you send tweets with a text message but you can receive text messages when someone new follows you, your tweet is retweeted and even when your tweet is marked as a favourite.

Below is the screen you see when setting up your mobile for texts and Twitter. To make sure that you aren’t receiving texts all the time from someone new following you or retweets it may be best to turn most of these off.



#3. Tweets with media receive on average 3 to 4 times more engagement

Twitter started as mono-media but has evolved into a multi-media social network. Media can include videos, photos and even Slideshare that can be viewed within Twitter. Tweets with multi-media receive 300-400% more engagement than tweets without media included.



#4. Using more @mentions increases your follower growth faster

Twitter research of its Twitter stream shows news organizations that tweet 20% fewer URLs and 100% more @mentions grow followers 17% more than expected.



#5. Hashtags can increase engagement by almost 100%

According to research from Twitter, journalists using hashtags increased engagement by 100% and the increase was 50%  for news organizations.



#6. Retweeting more gets you more followers

Sharing more but letting them know via a retweet can get you more followers.

So use the retweet button.

Twitter found that journalists with above expected follower growth send 200% more retweets (3X) compared to journalists with below expected follower growth.









































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1. Heavy Traffic

Craigslist receives more than 50 billion page monthly pageviews. More than 60 million people from the U.S. alone visit the site each month
Image courtesy of Flickr, epSos.de


2. Millions of Listings
Craigslist users post more than 100 million classified ads each month. Of those listings, more than 2 million are job ads.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Tax Credits


3. How Craigslist Makes Money
While some listings are free, Craigslist makes money by charging for job postings in 28 metro areas, brokered apartments in New York City and therapeutic services in the U.S.
Image courtesy of Flickr, epSos.de


4. Started in San Francisco
Craigslist started as an email list of events in San Francisco by Craig Newmark, a computer programmer.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Alex E. Primos


5. Why Craigslist Is a .ORG
Though Craigslist is incorporated as a for-profit, it uses a .org rather than a .com to signify the relatively non-commercial nature of the platform. It claims its mission is public service over spinning a profit.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, porcorex


6. Craigslist Is All Over the World
There are more than 700 local Craigslist sites in 70 countries around the globe.
Image courtesy of Flickr, shaire productions


7. A Small Team of Employees
Craigslist has 30-something employees in its San Francisco headquarters
Image courtesy of Flickr, Editor B


8. Craigslist Speaks 13 Languages
Craigslist supports Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portugese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
Image courtesy of Flickr, borkur.net


9. What Craig Is Up to Now
In March 2011, Newmark launched Craigconnects, a multi-issue non-profit working to "connect the world for the common good."
Image courtesy of Flickr, quinn.anya


10. EBay Has Partial Ownership
In August 2004, eBay acquired roughly 25% of Craigslist.
Image courtesy of Flickr, brianc


When you think of Craigslist, you probably imagine the sparsely designed Internet agora of job listings, apartment rentals and just about everything else in between. But what do you really know about the community-driven e-commerce hub?

We dug into Craigslist's About page to learn some lesser-known facts.

How many people actually post to Craigslist each month? Why is it craigslist.org rather than craigslist.com? And who is Craig, anyways? Take a look through the gallery above to become a Craigslist expert.

Are you a frequent Craigslist user? Let us know in the comments if any of these facts surprise you.

Homepage image courtesy of Flickr, Editor B

































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1. Civil War Foot Prop

This isn't just any foot — it's a Civil War soldier's infected, severed foot.

Well, it's actually a handmade prop. And it's all yours for just $39.99 plus shipping.

2. Barack Obama Toilet Paper

If you want to wipe your butt with democracy, this is the toilet paper for you.

This item sells for just $5.94 a roll, which would also buy you an entire pack of regular toilet paper, for the record.

3. Taxidermy Duckling

This taxidermied baby duckling looks so real, you'd think Chuck Testa made it.

It's currently up for bid at $21.50, but you can still beat the three people fighting over it.

4. Voodoo Spells

Looking for love? Beauty? Revenge?

Brigitte will perform a voodoo spell for you for $8.87.

5. Jar of Farts

Why fart in a jar yourself when you can pay $27.52 for someone else to?

6. Haunted Demon Power Ring

For $165, you can have "the radiating, enchanted sigil ring of enochian alchemist." Apparently, it "grants the powers of wealth, sexual attraction and power."

The marketing on this demon ring is top-notch. There's even a YouTube video.

7. Baby Shark Embryo

Science geeks will love this baby shark embryo in a jar, for the reasonable price of $42.99.

8. Giant Granny Panties

Prank your friends with the world's biggest pair of underwear. $14.99 will guarantee laughter or confusion, but likely some combination of the two.

9. A Niece's Hand in Marriage

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Try eBay.

A woman calling herself "Aunt Diane" has placed her niece (who's apparently unaware) up for auction, starting at $9.99. The proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity, of course.

10. Haunted Baby Doll

The seller claims that this baby doll houses the spirit of a neglected 7-year-old middle child with autism.

She goes by the name of "Candy" and she can be purchased for $24.95.


As online shopping becomes more dominant than ever, Internet users seek incredibly creative entrepreneurial opportunities.

These are not your typical Etsy arts and crafts. Some people find whatever they can sell on ecommerce sites like eBay.

Whether a handcrafted Civil War soldier’s infected, severed foot or a voodoo spell for one’s exboyfriend, eBay arguably houses the weirdest things you can imagine — and they’re all for sale.

Take a look at 10 of the strangest things we could find. What would you spend your money on? Let us know in the comments below.


































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Mark Hughes is CEO and co-founder of C3 Metrics. Previously, Hughes served as vice president of marketing for eBay’s Half.com, where he grew the site to eight million online customers in less than three years. Follow C3 Metrics @C3Metrics.


Yes, we need to talk more about Facebook. That’s largely because if the company plans to do well in the post-IPO world it has to become more innovative about how it’s going to grow its ad revenue.

So Mark and company, here’s some free advice. Execute on three things to make shareholders happy: video, mobile, and analytics. Here’s why.

1. Video

Facebook doesn’t guess if you’re a man or a woman. It knows. Facebook doesn’t guess your age. It knows. Facebook doesn’t guess your interests and psychographics. It knows. It has the ability to target and scale. But where’s the video? Facebook’s announcement that it will let advertisers bid on ads is interesting, but more banners is not what Facebook needs. One of the three keys to Facebook’s stock performance resides in video, and not merely the fifteen-second versions from Madison Ave.

Facebook has the scale to enable custom video content that Colgate, Chevrolet, and every top-100 advertiser is yearning for. This means pulling from other sources. In other words, it should do more of what it’s already done with Google employees: Persuade them to leave Google and work for Facebook. The same is true for video content creators on YouTube. Persuade those YouTube content creators to make Facebook the home for their videos, and give them incentives to do so.

2. Mobile

The second key is location-based mobile. Imagine yourself shopping for a car. You have your smartphone with you, and stop by a car dealership to look. Without “checking into” the dealership or liking it, Facebook still knows you are at that specific dealership and could record the first step toward a purchase: You spent forty five minutes within 100 yards of a dealership. A week later, you and your smartphone are within 100 yards of two more car dealerships, where you also spend some time.

Through very simple behavioral analysis Facebook determines the obvious. You’re shopping for a car. Brands like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes are interested in this type of real-time, in-market data. In fact, this data is so valuable that Facebook could create an entirely new advertising exchange and advertisers could bid based on your intent.

In online advertising, we call this “pre-funnel” or “pre-search.” This is intent, and intent is the golden nugget that makes Google so valuable with advertisers.

3. Analytics

Many advertisers like Facebook, but it’s time for deeper analytics. Facebook has been reticent to invite traditional online tracking onto the company’s advertising platform. Why? Because online ad tracking is fundamentally broken. View-through pixels are not a standard on Facebook, and measurability has often been limited to on-site Facebook activity.

Every other RTB and DSP is held to accountable standards, but the fact remains that current standards need to replace the lie of last click attribution tracking. GM measured everything with last click attribution. But because social and display are often upper-funnel activities — driving awareness more than conversions — GM had no clue what it was doing when it yanked $10 million in advertising from Facebook.

To be fair, Facebook had no idea how it was performing for GM either. It’s in Facebook’s best interest to go beyond current standards and adopt view-though pixels, viewable impression standards, attribution modeling and other measurement advancements. Without them, Facebook will continue to get screwed out of performance credit, and we’ll see more and more stories like GM’s.






































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