The same goes for the whole world today.  While waiting for the bus, waiting for your appointment or just relaxing, people are either texting, mms-ing or sending a business email on their smartphones, laptops or tabs.

Here are some reasons and proof that mobile social media is here to stay.

The point of social media is to share yourself – your thoughts, your fears and even what you had for lunch.  What good would it be if it is only heard three hours later?  Social media works on a real time schedule which means it is received as you type it in.  This feature has actually saved lives as people have tweeted when there was a robber in the house or when they had had an accident and was lying helpless on the floor.  Help could go out to them immediately through the live format of social media.

When mobiles and their features were first introduced, this feature had not been thought of and is becoming one of the most popular features of the application.

When you are on this real time basis with your contacts, it definitely causes for a more personal feel – as if you and the person were actually speaking.  Other than with the email system where you had to first download your emails and then reply, the live and interactive platform informs you as soon as you had received the tweet.

Before the social platforms exsisted, you had to save up before you could phone a family member overseas and also keep the conversation to the bare minimum as call costs overseas are very expensive.  You could email but once again there was the waiting time.

With social media, you could have a real-time conversation with anyone in the world.  It works on the same principal as a local tweet but has the advantage of being able to reach anywhere in the world at the same speed and quality.

Although this is such a wonderful innovation, there are still people who are thinking if mobile social networking is properly helping us make the right connections.  It has been said that people will now rather connect with a large group of followers, tweeters or friends than attempt the old style face to face conversation with a real human being.

Although the social network scene is obviously an advantage to communication for people, the hosting companies are always in the process of advancing their service and adding even more applications that could further simplify users’ lives.

According to the designers, the focus well be about context, frictionless sharing as well as push-notification driven user interfaces.

Source: mashable.com

This service could be used to find out more about a job candidate, a recent date or even your boss….  As soon as a person uses the internet by adding a comment, filling in a form, posting a YouTube clip or even joining a competition, some of your details will remain on the system.  The problem is that you yourself do not know who googled you.  But there is a website available that will be able to show you.

Brand Yourself is the website that can help you keep your online reputation up to date and is also able to keep a record of anyone who has previously googled you.  This is made possible through SEO and consists of the feature that indicates to the user where visitors are located who have searched for you on the BrandYourself profile.

BrandYourself works in the way that it builds up a database of IP addresses and thereby makes this feature possible.  Although a visitor will work through Google, the IP address will go through to BrandYourself as they are connected, and therefore you are able to pick up who searched your name, brand or cause.

But as with anything on the internet, this innovation is not quite 100% foolproof.  One problem is that mostly larger companies’ IP addresses will be listed and it will be more difficult to track down the IP address for smaller businesses and individuals.  So in other words, BrandYourself is more suited to large corporate companies wanting to market their brands and also be able to see who showed interest in what they had to offer.

By getting access to these statistics, it gives them an idea what areas of their service is more sought after and thereby motivates them to keep their service and reputation as high as possible at all times.

Ambron has launched a product that shows the user step-by-step how to make the most of their links that they want to make more visible when an interested party does a search on Google.  The company would create a profile page which would go to Ambron’s dashboard and be visible to someone googling the company name.

Since their lauch just a few months ago, more than 25 000 users have been reported of which 80% had profiles set up for use on the website.

Source: mashable.com

Gone are the days when you would line up your projector to match the white spot on the wall.  With the new technology today, it is far easier to do a presentation in the form of a hologram or cyber-type pictures and interactive content.

With the use of smartphones, laptops and tablets, this new form of technology is possible even in the comfort of your own home.  Children are growing up with this type of technology in their lives, so it will also make sense to use it while teaching them in the classroom.

Here are some examples on how you can better your training by using the latest technology.

Before you concur the training session, you could create a Facebook group for all the attendees.  They can all converse and share information on the topic of discussion.  Videos and images can also be shared that will give the attendees more information on the topic of discussion.

By using Facebook beforehand it will give the attendees an advantages of getting to know the trainer beforehand and engaging and getting to know all the attendees as well.

You could then start networking through LinkedIn as it will give you more exposure and spread your brand, cause or company to so many more corporate contacts than you otherwise could have done.

When the attendees have all set up their LinkedIn account, they can be given tasks to do on the site.  They could update their profiles to include reference to the training and make a recommendation to further spread the word.

The third thing you could do is to map out the team of attendees.  This will build a sense of identity of each of the attendees.  Google Maps or Bing Maps could be used to implement a customized map.

You would ask every attendee to choose a marker or pushpin.  Each of them can insert the pushpin at a well known landmark near them.  This will give the users of the site more information on how big of a field you had covered with your training session.

Source: mashable.com

There is an option though for you to create a statement on how you would like your social media profiles to be handles both when you are on earth and not.  It would be then handled in your specified way once you have passed.

But with everything there would be both advantages and disadvantages to this feature.  Legally it could become difficult as your will will then become public.  Rather make use of a trust or just an informal agreement with all the important information like your password and management details of your account.

One difficulty is that the person’s social media accounts or their passwords are not static.  This could lead to legal problems once the person itself is not using the account.

Source: mashable.com

When you look at any landing page, it will include a button that will be part of the call to action.

But once again, if it is not inserted in the correct area on the landing page, it will not be as visible and therefore have no effect to further business relations.  This is a very important part to a successful website and should be one of the things paid attention to.

Here are some tips on how to insert your actions buttons at the most strategic areas on your website for optimum effect.

The most important thing that must firstly be done is to prioritize. The perfect idea is to have a very clear and impressive call-to-action button on you page and if you have more than one, it will important to place and colour them so that they are easy to differentiate.

If the two are side by side the right hand button should be the default button which means it will be clicked on first.

Secondly, you make sure that you have the format of the buttons correctly.  You could test a whole lot of different button shapes and see which shape is best for you.

There are many features  to choose from including the shapes, dimensions, drops, shadows, curves, colours, contrast, visual embellishments like chevrons and of course the size.

These will all have an influence on how easily visible your click to call button/s will be.

The next thing you can do is be specific the action you would like to have happen.  The  buttons should explain what will happen if it is clicked on like: “click here for more information”, “buy now” or “add to cart”.  This will have the user be clear on what they should do and thereby make your page more user-friendly.

When naming buttons, try to also think what the users would like to have happen like for instance “Start my free trial” or “Give me more information”. This makes it so much more personal for them and makes them feel like you are on their side and understand what they need.

Source: mashable.com

One of the latest innovations they have installed is an update that will allow a marketer to optimize their ads for any Facebook action over and above the “like” option.  This is not live yet but is soon to be.

Here are four other ways in which Facebook will strive to further improve their service to their millions of users.

They are planning to create versatile video content in which, when a user views the premium advertisement accompanied by the video, it can be watched straight from the ad.  They can then click through directly to the page to view more information.

The second action they are planning to do is to use promotions to track ROI as well as Ad Performance.  Thereby all Facebook users will be able to use only the demographic area of their specific marketing strategies by giving the client the options to buy, click or share.

The third service they would like to provide is to make product lines available in a showcase. They are able to showcase separate items by highlighting their popularity and showing off their uniqueness to all the other products that are similar. This will make the brand stand out from the crowd and be noticed instantly.

The last but not least is that they are aiming to create even more interactive content.  This will include content that tells the user to take action which is called “call-to-action”.  This is a very good way to interact with the client on a more personal level which makes them feel like they are appreciated and not only treated like a number.

Source: mashable.com

Well this is what a group of companies are claiming to have made possible throughout their platforms.

After many analizations have been done on different vendors within this field, it was found that different types of software tools and methods have been used to analyze, plan and deliver media in a much better way.  But the development and research has cost quite a penny as could be expected.

Although a very new concept, it has been found that there are already alot of companies involved that are supporting this new innovation, with Adobe acquisitions and Omniture being only two of them.  Webtrends Social for one is able to trace social content off of a domain and send it back to any corporate website.

Another advantage to this innovation is that it these companies are very willing and able to support this innovation that helps with optomized publishing like Crowdbooster.

Other companies like Shoutlet, Social Flow, Tigerlily and UberVu all contribute to this innovation by each bringing in their own unique strong point to make this work.

When approaching these companies for statistics on how successful they are, they do not hesitate to produce good results like your click through rates being able to increase by 50%, driving up more fans and influencing larger order values which will drive extra sales.

They will also be able to back up their statistics by giving you facts on how they can do this.  Here are some of them:

They make use of alternative social networks other than Facebook like Bazaarvoice which is able to take standard social ads and make it appear off domain. Brands are starting with content publishing optimization, thereby analyzing content and re posting it to social ads within Facebook’s sponsored stories.

This innovation is fast becoming so popular that it could start including existing direct and performance marketing software companies.  The more this is being used, the more standard the tools will become until they become automated.

Source: mashable.com

SlideShare is often called the YouTube for slideshows as it lets companies store, share and present themselves and their brands.  It also allows for PDF documents, videos and webinars and has been going since 2006. In all it is seen as “Corporate Santa’s little helper”. SlideShow is already hosting more than 7 million presentations that are shared on almost 1.5 million different domains.

In the corporate world it is so popular that it is quickly catching up to  LinkedIn’s viewer base of 107million. With LindedIn having already 161 million viewers, this it definitely a corporate partner that they could benefit from.

The combining of these two companies will make it more convenient and faster for all professionals to find good contacts within the business world.  This could lead to very fruitful business relationships which will benefit both parties.

With LinkedIn having lauched the iPad application in apri, Index Tank and email Rapportive, along with acquiring SlideShare, it is well on its way to become one of the most powerful social media networks around.

Source: mashable.com

Although it has already given $100 million to YouTube in order to be able to create better quality video on their site, but they have now given $200 million into the marketing of these new look videos all across its many advertising campaigns and networks.

Google hosted a huge social evening to celebrate this step forward which was attended by many international artists like Jay-Z, Julie Stiles, Jennifer Beals, Virginia Madsen and Flo Rida to name a few.  They included in the celebrations the innovation of creating a channel guide for users to find this new content much easier and convenient.

Some of the famous stars that would have their shows running on this new YouTube platform are in the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Amy Poehler and Shaquile O’Neal.

This innovation is seen by the world as Google only adding a thin layer of better quality to its already huge and successful reputation.  It is seen in a very positive light as it is giving YouTube a good nudge in the right direction.  YouTube will be more advertiser friendly and all the tools like Apple TV will be more and better as well.

Source:  mashable.com

With customer service, it is important to make sure that you follow up with an unhappy client.  This applies to social media within an online business as well.  If a client blogs that he/she is not happy about something, it will be your responsibility to make sure that you follow up on the blogs that the client has left regarding his/her predicament.  Your successful liason with the client will directly relate to your company’s success in the future.

As you know, there are many more important PR points to know in order to keep your company’s name high.  Here are some of them:

An important factor is to have a good online monitoring system for your company.  In this way you will be constantly informed on what is being said by consumers about your service, brand ect.

When you do see a negative remark, remember that many more people see it too, therefore it is important for you to reply to this comment and make it open for all to see.  Do the same for complement as it is important that readers also see the positive things that consumers have to say.

The worst online reply you can get is an auto-reply system as it makes the customer feel like they are speaking to a computer and not a human.  Make sure you do your follow ups yourself or employ someone to do so.

It is best to get a specific person/s to do the “frontline” follow up ie. keep in direct contact with consumers.  They would then get to know these company representatives and feel more comfortable in future dealings.

Keep your tone and online dealings professional at all times.  Do not share a personal family  event neither pick a fight.  Keep it as professional as when you are dealing with clientele face to face.

When replying, keep it short, simple and powerful.  Tell the client only what they want to hear and thereby keep them happy.

As with face to face client liason, be sure to thank the customer for his/her support as well as opinion.  This will make them feel important as well as making your company look good.

It is important to be open for constructive criticism.  It is not only there to let the client get rid of frustration but is also there for you to learn valuable lessons in business.  Do not only reply to the complaint, but go back, identify the problem and make sure that you rectify it to avoid any future complaints.

Source:  mashable.com