Google+ One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Google+. On June 28, 2011 Google rolled out its social media platform Google+ to rival Facebook’s dominance in the social media category. However, one year later Google’s “next big thing” is being called a ghost town. 170 million people have signed up for Google+, compared to over 900 million people on Facebook. comScore released a report earlier this year showing users spent an average of 3.3 minutes on Google+ in the month of January, compared to 7.5 hours on Facebook in the same month. Another report by RJ Metrics showed that even among active users on Google+, their average time between posts was 12 days and 30% of people who post once never return to the social media platform again. In contrast, 53% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platforms daily according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

While there is a small loyal following that swears by Google+, it’s safe to say that the social media platform’s popularity has yet to trump that of Facebook. Continue reading “Google+ One Year Later” »


Facebook Integrates with WordPress to allow Social Publishing

Facebook has integrated with WordPress to offer a new plugin that allows users to share blog content on the social media network with just one click. The plugin can be downloaded on WordPress under the name Facebook for WordPress. “The plugin was built by Facebook engineers in collaboration with open source partners, and makes it simple for anyone to make their WordPress site more social – no coding required,” says Facebook engineer Matt Kelly in a blog post.

Now, WordPress publishers are able to cross-publish content on their blogs and on their Facebook Timelines and Pages they manage. For example, mention a friend in a WordPress blog post and it will appear on that person’s Facebook Timeline. It will also appear on the author’s Facebook Timeline and the company’s Facebook Page as the information is further distributed. Continue reading “Facebook Integrates with WordPress to allow Social Publishing” »


How to Objectively Measure Social Media Success

You’ve implemented a social media strategy for your organization. You post daily updates and tweets and you start to see an increase in followers. However, in the world of social media marketing, it can be difficult to objectively measure results if you’re not sure what to look for. We’ve compiled a list of performance indicators to help you measure your brand’s social media presence.

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Five Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes

Social media marketing is an effective method to interact with your target audience and showcase products and services. Facebook marketing is especially powerful with its 900 million users constantly commenting, liking and interacting with brands. However, there are common mistakes that companies make on Facebook that may jeopardize their brand name. Here are a few to watch out for.

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Facebook Now Offering Mobile-Only Advertising

Facebook first introduced its Sponsored Stories advertisements in January of 2011. Then in December, the social network announced it would bring Sponsored Stories into the News Feed portion of the Facebook home page. These advertisements are more subtle than ads in the right-hand side desktop in that they show up as “posts from your friends or Pages on Facebook that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight,” says the Facebook website. An example could be a friend’s check-in at a local restaurant, or a Like for a certain brand. This latest evolution in Sponsored Stories is available in five placement options: Continue reading “Facebook Now Offering Mobile-Only Advertising” »


Two New Features that Improve Facebook Marketing

On Thursday Facebook rolled out two new features that drastically improve the way companies market their products and services on the social media platform. For starters, Facebook has finally introduced the capability to schedule postings. While this was previously available by installing third party apps, this much needed option greatly improves the Facebook user experience. Social media marketers everywhere can now click on the clock icon to schedule updates in 15-minutes intervals and up to six months in advance. You can even choose a date in the past, and Facebook will automatically place the posting in the appropriate place on the page’s timeline.

The second valuable function Facebook introduced yesterday is the Admin Roles option. Admins of business pages can now assign five different levels of roles to others, ranging from manager, content creator, moderator, advertiser and insights analyst. Each role has different permissions (see chart on left) so that each user only has access to what they need to do for their job function. For example, a content creator can post status updates while a moderator can only view and respond to comments. An insights analyst does not have publishing capabilities but can view Facebook insights. The five levels of permissions help companies boost their security for improved brand monitoring and reputation management. Continue reading “Two New Features that Improve Facebook Marketing” »


Facebook Shifts Focus to Mobile Apps

Back in April Facebook officially announced its plans to purchase Instagram for an astonishing $1 billion. This week the social media platform rolled out its own photo sharing app, Facebook Camera, now available in the App Store for free. The app was programmed independently from the Instagram team, as it had already been in development prior to the purchase of the company.

Like Instagram, Facebook Camera allows users to crop, rotate and filter photos and upload multiple images to Facebook. Overall, Facebook Camera is an improvement on Facebook’s primary app for iPhone and iPod touch devices. However, is not meant to replace Instagram by any means. Just as Google purchased YouTube when it already had Google Video, Facebook purchased Instagram to own the brand name. Instagram is truly a mobile-only offering, aligning with Facebook’s goal of improving its mobile experience. Continue reading “Facebook Shifts Focus to Mobile Apps” »