What is the place where people are more likely to share videos and sites? Facebook! you may answer but in the past few months there is another site that seems to have become extremely popular these days.

Two years ago, StumbleUpon was the main driver for social media traffic, but lost market share to Facebook  over the last 18 months. As of August, Facebook has fallen to about 38% of all U.S. traffic while sites like Twitter, Myspace, Digg, Reddit, YouTube and others are in a distant third. StumbleUpon has a relatively small user base (12 million) compared to Facebook (750 million), but the service is specifically designed to “stumble” between websites and continuing to check out new links.

Does this mean that Facebook is loosing it’s edge when it comes to being the number one social media site? Well, no. On an international level, Facebook is still on top with a user base of around 750M users in comparison with Stumbleupon which only has a mere 12M users. Still, it seems this site does have an edge over Facebook.

People are much more likely to share sites they’ve found on Stumble upon than on Facebook. This basically means that if you are planning to advertise a website, it is more likely to get noticed on Stumbleupon than on Facebook. Though the site may lack in terms of features, the site focuses on a single aspect that it has become good at-sharing websites and videos.

If you are using social media in your advertising campaigns, you would do well to look into using other social media sites that are good at what they do such as Stumbleupon.

More info here.

Social media has given the everybody in the world the chance to connect and keep connected. It’s a great place to meet friends, find old colleagues and develop new friendships. No matter how ‘free’ some people feel on these sites, the truth is, people you meet on them should be treated like they would if you met them in person.

Keeping good online etiquette when on these sites is extremely important. Here are some things to remember.

• Be clear and honest to avoid misinterpretation.  The thing with social media is that it’s so easy to be understood.  This isn’t something you would want to  happen since it can cause a lot of loss especially if you are a business using online marketing. Make sure everything you say on these sites is clear and true.
• Say please and Thank you. Whenever somebody shares something that is in your best interests, remember to thank them. People have to feel appreciated and a simple ‘thank you’ may be all they need. In addition, it shows that you notice and aren’t only after what you can get from them.
• Keep your fingers in check. Always think before you comment or say anything on these sites. It usually takes a single careless comment to ruin relationships for good. Try and avoid using these sites as your personal outlet and keep things professional.
• Expand your network. Do what you can to expand  your circle of friends. This will have a huge impact on your ratings and reputation.

Online social marketing is a very effective marketing method to employ but can also be used against you if you aren’t careful. In order to keep your online reputation up, you must keep good manners and maintain proper etiquette online.

Additional tips can be found here.

In many companies, what you do during work hours is totally their business. For this reason, social media sites have been blocked in the office. Though there have been a lot of differing ideas weather this should be done, many companies agree that it is in the best interests of the company to ban these sites.

You would think that this being so, there is nothing that the company can do if you spend your free time Facebooking your rants and raves. Think again:

Damian O’Keefe, a former employee of The Good Guys in Townsville, was dismissed after using Facebook to post an expletive-filled rant against a manager on his day off.

Fair Work Australia heard that O’Keefe’s employer sacked O’Keefe after interpreting his comments as a threat to operations manager Kelly Taylor.

What do you think? Did Damian deserve to be fired? After all, he was doing this on his day off, at home! The fact is the barrier between personal and company is narrowing and fast. Do companies have the right to use what is done in an employees personal time as ground for dismissal?

There should be clear rules about this or else a lot of injustice will happen. Companies ought to have clear rules and regulations about what is expected of them when it comes to using social media in and out of the office.

Having a clear policy is the only way for there to exist harmony between employee and employer. Everybody should understand what is expected of them.

Read more about this here.

Social media has indeed become a very powerful tool being used by businesses both big and small businesses. Traditional marketing alone has become seldomly used by companies these days. Still, there are many ways in which traditional methods still have an edge. One of these is when it comes to regulation. Newspapers, TV and other sources of media can be controlled to some degree. Even when customers don’t like what is being advertised, their opinions can’t really have such huge effects.

When it comes to social media, there is no controlling what and how news is spread. This can be a good thing if it is in favor of your business. The problem arises when comments are negative. One unhappy client simply needs to post something negative on their site and in minutes, your ‘bad’ reputation is is spread. Shrugging off such a spread as ‘temporary’  can be dangerous. Companies must act so that they can control how this news is spread.

One very important thing to consider is how you talk to your customers on these social media sites. Talking ‘at’ them gives a selfish impression that won’t be good at all. Your customers will think of you as simply a company trying to get something from them. A better way to interact is to talk ‘with’ them instead. Try and direct these converstations to involve  youself but also be a good listener.

The way news spreads on social media isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, many defects have been identified because of customers’ complaints on these sites. The key here is to build your integrity online and get your customers to trust you.

Marketers must find creative ways of directing these conversations, involving themselves, and, most importantly, listening to what’s being said.  Using this information, adjustments can be made to more effectively serve buyers’ needs.

Read more here.

Randi Zuckerberg, who is director of marketing at Facebook and also the sister of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg — is leaving the company after six years to start a new media firm to help companies become more social.

The question on everyone’s minds now is how will this affect Facebook? Randi-Mark’s sister has made very big contributions to Facebook and can definitely be said to be one of the pillars that has brought the company to where it is.

Randi plans to start her own company focused on the media trends underway. This will allow her to take on many clients but we really hope she doesn’t include Google + on her list or this will be very disloyal thing to do.

What did Mark have to say about all this? Well, no comment was made from Mark so we really don’t know how her brother feels about Randi’s resignation.

Mark better find a good Marketing director to take his sister’s place and hope Facebook keeps its current rank. The fact is, this change may be just what other networks need to get a little ahead of this giant company.

As for the other social networking sites, this new development may be viewed as a golden opportunity to get ahead.

Read more here.

Credit: maximumpc.com

Internet rage has come to a totally new level thanks to social media. Comments that are full of obscene language, derogatory terms and all the foul speech you can think of.  If you are a company using social media to get clients and get those sales up, is internet rage good for your company? Here are some things to think about:

It’s more of a protest. When people express their disgust on something posted on your wall, it’s not like they’re just being bad. Usually, they do have valid reasons behind these comments. Social media has therefore become a place people can protest about anything they want without worrying about facing any consequences.  Is this good for your company then? Well, since many people who share the sentiments will ‘like’ or comment in the same manner, you’ll be able to determine if there is need to address their complaints.

It moves to action. Think of it-without social media, how would you know what your customers really feel about your product? How would you know if you have to change  your strategies or something?  You wouldn’t. You’d be in the dark just hoping your doing the right thing and chances are by the time you realize your unpopularity, you would  have had a lot of losses made.  With internet rage though, you get to change course before it’s too late.

What should y0u do about it? Blocking or banning people who tend to post ‘negative’ comments on  your wall really won’t get you anywhere. If you block them on your page, they simply might start a new page focused on ‘bringing you down’! Yep, a thousand ‘angry’ comments is far better and easier to deal with than a thousand ‘pages’. The truth is, internet rage can be used to  your benefit. You can address serious concerns as they come and change  your company’s direction with these comments.

Read more here.

A social media monitoring tool allows a brand to control multiple social media profiles from a single source. Through utilizing such software, a brand can identify key influences that interact with the brand on a regular basis, and can look to accommodate them into future social strategies. Even if a brand isn’t looking to incorporate such users in future strategies, they could discuss with them what they would like to see in future campaigns, as these users are likely to be well-versed in what may appear most appealing to a brand’s follower.

It really would be of no use for you to have all those social media sites but not know how so use them. If  you are a brand,  you can use social media to the full by monitoring your fans well. There is a lot of information that you can get from these fans. In a way, getting viewpoints from your fans can be a steering wheel driving you in the right direction.  This especially applies to brands who really need to carefully examine their objectives before implementing any long or short term goals.

How can social media monitoring help in this regard then? Well, with a tool like this, you’ll be able to know how your fans are reacting to whatever strategies you are implementing at the moment. In turn, you will be able to make adjustments according to what works for you. Social media monitoring tools are able to flag comments and posts that may have specific words or phrases attached to them. This way, you’ll never have to blindly do things that you may regret in the future. This is something that you don’t get with the usual marketing strategies that you may be doing.

If there’s one thing you must love about social media marketing. You always have the chance to put light on your pathway and change directions whenever necessary.

Read more here

Practically all social media sites now have some button that allows you to express your ‘approval’ or like to whatever is being said or posted. This ‘like’ button may seem to be like a way to seeing who’s popular or for companies to endorse their products but what has happened with this ‘like’ button?

Stereotyping. Let’s say your friend posts some picture and you decide you ‘like’ it. The only other choice if you’ve enable the button that is is ‘dislike’. The fact is you probably have your own personal opinion on the picture, there’s something you like about it. This is where the problem comes in-the like button has ended up stereotyping everything you say.It’s either you like it or not. That viewpoint is really narrow. It makes things too easy.

Deceptive. Getting the most likes has become a ‘popularity’ game many companies play. The fact is that some things can’t be compared! So how can you generalize them into ‘like’?

Here’s another interesting scenario:

In response to people Liking criticism of the Queensland Police Service, the QPS tried to explain how to use the Like button:

“The ‘like’ button is used to show interest in a topic and to help alert other FB friends, or even to ensure you’re informed of updates.

“It does not literally mean that you like something, please refrain from continuing this debate.”

More than 1,200 Facebook users then Liked that comment. Were all those users endorsing the same concept, and how many were being sarcastic?

Something worth thinking about right? How do you know what the person liked about your post? Were they just doing it because they had nothing to comment? Do they sincerely agree with you? Or do they just like the fact that you were able to say that? It’s a mess!

Then there’s something that I’m sure you’ve noticed especially on Facebook. My friend for example posted a status with a photo saying ‘this was the last shot I had with my cam before I heard a crack’. Obviously not good news at all but vioala-people liked it!Why?

Did they sympathize? Did they like the fact that his cam broke?

The ‘like’ button has made people lazy. Instead of really understanding something and expressing their opinion, they just ‘like’ it. Sometimes not even knowing what exactly they liked.

The social media war for your opinion, then, is also a war between institutional control of public assessment on the one hand, and personal freedom of expression on the other.

Source article here.

First of all, is can and should you trust anyone when it comes to the internet? I mean, we all know whatever goes on there stays there so why bother? Well, the fact doesn’t change that Facebook and Google are two of the most effective marketing tools a company can use out there. Whether you find them safe or not- if you want to compete, YOU MUST USE THEM!

This being said, the question is which of the two deserves to be trusted more? Well, many would answer Google and I do agree with them. Think about these simple facts that really make you think twice before you trust Facebook.

• The man behind the book. When you compare the men behind Google and Facebook, it’s quite clear who deserves to be trusted more. I mean, how can you compare the ‘college guy’ Mark Zuckerburg to the two MEN who founded Google? It’s discriminating or anything, it’s just that it matters. Facebook is basically a ‘college project’ that happened to become popular. The only reason why businesses seem to flock to it is just because of the audience it’s been able to reach-nothing more.
• The trend in privacy settings. We all heard about the issue that came about because Facebook added the new face tagging thing without informing users first. Now if you ask me, someone who can do those things behind my back really is’t someone I’d like to trust. Compare that with Google, well let’s say they’ve never been any privacy issues.

Whatever happened to being fair, giving the benefit of the doubt and not judging you may ask? When it comes to privacy, you really have to take sides. Your reputation is at stake-that’s definitely not something you’d want to gamble with.

Read more here.

To get ahead in this competitive world, you must try and be different. Weather it be by finding a new ‘killer’ product or experimenting with some new marketing strategy, you just have to be different! With the way social media is doing today, having a Facebook page, Tweeting and all isn’t anything special. Everyone else is doing it including your competitors so what now?

This is what businesses ought to ask themselves. Once you’ve gotten onto the social media bandwagon, you have to make sure that you stay on board. With the way things currently are-what does this mean? You’ve got yourself an account in all the top social media sites, you tweet a couple of times a day, you interact, you post valuable content but the point is-everybody else does it!

How do you stand out in this social media mad world? Should you now start to find more ways to get engaged like maybe be more frequent in your tweets or be more updated in your news feeds? Just what do you have to do to get up on top? Maybe it’s all about keeping updated to any news in the social media world. Being the first at everything that comes up. Is that what will get you ahead of your competitors?

The dilemma is this: how far will you have to go in this social media marketing for you to say ‘you’re on top’? In fact, will there ever be an end to how much time and money you put into your marketing?

Does it suggest success in social media is monitoring activity 24/7 so any inquiries or potential opportunities can be jumped on? Does it mean having a dedicated team to create compelling videos, blog posts, tweets, etc.? If so, does that mean whoever invests the most wins?

Read more here.