'Net Features : wm-socialmedia

Flickr Gives Users Space

Allison Howen — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:21:00 GMT

Although Yahoo has been in the news this week because of its billion dollar acquisition of Tumblr, the company has also revealed some big changes to its photo-sharing service Flickr.

The most noteworthy update is that Flickr is now offering its users a free terabyte of space. This is huge, as the Flickr blog states, “We believe you should share all your images in full resolution, so life’s moments can be relived in their original quality. No limited pixels, no cramped formats, no memories that fall flat. We’re giving your photos room to breathe, and you the space to upload a dizzying number of photos and videos, for free. Just how big is a terabyte? Well, you could take a photo every hour for forty years without filling one.”

In addition to a free terabyte of space, Flickr has unveiled a redesigned platform. The new interactive design features an Activity Feed that displays a combination of the recent activity on a user’s photos with their friends’ updates. Plus, users can add a customizable cover photo and high-resolution profile picture to their Photostream, as well as leverage the platform’s new Slideshare mode to view a showcase of photos.

It is also important to mention that users can now upload 1080p HD quality videos that are up to three minutes in length. Moreover, the photo-sharing site has added to its mobile application offering, which already includes an iOS app, by launching an Android app that allows users to interact, share and view photos.

That being said, only time will tell if a terabyte of space and new design will be enough to attract more photographers to the site – and along with the aquisition of Tumblr, more people back to Yahoo in the long run.

Pinterest Introduces Rich Pins

Allison Howen — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Pinterest has partnered up with some top brands in order to make pins more useful.

The pin-boarding social network is working with companies like Anthropologie, Home Depot, Target, Urban Outfitters, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping and Netflix to offer rich pins, which are pins that contain additional information and allow members to discover more about content without having to leave Pinterest.

Partners, for example, can include information like pricing, availability and where to purchase items onto product pins, as well as include information like cook time, ingredients and servings to recipe pins. Moreover, Netflix, Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes will be able to include content ratings and cast member information onto movie pins.

In order to see the new rich pins, however, users must first enable Pinterest’s new look, which can be done be clicking the “Get it now” button at the top of the homefeed. Additionally, businesses interested in using rich pins must first prep their site with meta tags, test out rich pins and then apply to get them on Pinterest.

It is also important to note that Pinterest has taken steps to make its social network more mobile, by making the Pin It button available on a variety of mobile apps, including Behance, Etsy, Jetsetter, The North Face and Zulily.

Viralheat Users Get Fired Up for iPhone App Release

Allison Howen — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:04:00 GMT

The Viralheat platform has gone mobile.

The social media marketing suite provider just launched an iPhone app, which enables users to manage multiple Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts from their smartphones. The app can be leveraged to publish updates, as well as engage with audiences by commenting on posts, replying to updates and retweeting tweets. Plus, users have the ability to analyze follower data for their connected Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

“Viralheat already provides marketers with a unique, all-in-one platform for social media management,” said Vishal Sankhla, co-founder, Viralheat. “Our new iPhone app brings this simple, cost-effective platform, that includes social media management, engagement, publishing and analytics capabilities to the mobile world.”

The app also provides Viralheat users with on-the-go access to a variety of the platform’s most popular features and tools, including the Viralheat Stream, cross-channel publishing, analytics, the ability to create and save custom streams, schedule posts and engage with communities in real-time.

7 Ways to Build Authority on Google+

Allison Howen — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

As the looming Penguin update (version 2.0) hovers overhead, search professionals are left wondering how the unknown changes to Google’s search algorithm will impact their company’s digital visibility.

While Google always holds its cards close to its virtual chest when it comes to its search algorithm, Matt Cutts (who is in charge of Google’s webspam team) has announced in a recently released video that the company is looking to give special ranking boosts to sites that are authorities in a specific industry, community or space. Although Cutts doesn’t define how authority will be determined, one could speculate that the company’s social network, Google+, could be an influencer.

This scenario wouldn’t be surprising at all, especially because Google has been incorporating its social network into a variety of its products, including its search engine, for a while now. So in the case that Google+ does indeed become a factor in determining authority, one question remains – How can a brand build authority on Google+?

1. Grow Your Circles

A brand with 20 followers on Google+ doesn’t come off as very authoritative in its niche. That said, building a fan base on this social network can be challenging, especially for companies whose fan base spends the bulk of its time on other social networks, like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. However, there are ways that brands can increase their popularity on Google+.

Start by growing the people within your circles, which is a tactic that is frequently used on Twitter. By doing this, your brand’s name and Google+ profile is being put in front of new people, which influences them to return the favor. And the more people a brand adds to its circles, the more likely it is to receive higher follow back numbers (keep in mind that not everyone will follow you back). While you can add anyone to your circles, this strategy is most effective when targeting relevant people. To do this, brands should search for influencers within their industry, as well as for contacts that they already have on other platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even email lists.

Furthermore, if you already have an active audience on a social network like Facebook or Twitter, make sure to promote your Google+ profile with your audience on these platforms. You can even tease exclusive Google+ content in order to persuade your audience members to make a profile and follow your brand on Google+.

2. Post Fabulous Content

Content is, and will always be, king. In fact, nothing says that you are an authority on a topic more than content that receives high engagement metrics, like shares, comments and +1’s. And regardless of your follower numbers, the only way to obtain high engagement rates is with content that captures attention and makes audiences feel like they need to share the information with their circles. There is absolutely no way around it – in order to receive high engagement numbers, brands must create and post content that resonates with their audience, is relevant and is in high-demand.

3. Leverage Communities and Hangouts

To be an authority within your niche, your presence on Google+ most go beyond posting regular status updates. Luckily, Google’s social network offers a variety of avenues for brands to foster relationships with their audience, including Google+ Communities and Hangouts.

Communities, for instance, allow users to create social groups based on specific topics or interests. And when a brand fosters an active community, it not only helps them build better relationships with their audience and acquire more brand advocates, but also helps them obtain more interactions and therefore gain authority within their niche. In addition, brands can use Google Hangouts as another unique way to build relationships and increase engagement rates, which, ultimately, helps a brand gain authority.

4. Interact with Your Audience

We have already established that shares, comments and +1’s help a brand gain authority, so what better way to encourage this type of behavior than by interacting with your own audience? Just as adding people to your circles can influence them to return the favor, so can interacting with people. That said, you shouldn’t just start interacting with everybody and every status update. Rather, choose your interactions wisely so that you do not come off as unprofessional (and un-authoritative). For example, if someone comments on one of your posts, consider responding back. This will help build brand loyalty by showing the audience member that you pay attention and care about what they say – making them more likely to interact with your brand in the future. Likewise, if someone posts interesting content that is relevant to your industry, an action as simple as a +1 or share could influence them to return the favor in the not-too-distant future.

5. Network with Other Brands

Take your interaction strategy up a notch by networking with other brands and industry professionals. While the aforementioned audience interaction tips can be applied here as well, you can also partner with other brands and professionals to share contributed (guest) content with your audience. By doing this, your business is not only providing its readers with relevant content from respected industry professionals, but it also helps to increase your business’s visibility. This is because the contributor is likely to share the content with their network as well, which puts your brand in front of a whole new audience and gives you the opportunity to increase your followers and engagement rates.

6. Use the Google+ Page Badge

Just as you display social sharing buttons for Facebook and Twitter on your site, it is also important to feature the Google +1 button. This button encourages site visitors to publicly recommend your content and share it with their Google+ circles. And the more +1’s you obtain, the more authority you gain, as it shows Google that you are a trusted source of information.

7. Take Advantage of Authorship

If your brand is publishing content, make sure to link that content to the authors' Google+ profiles with Authorship. This not only gives recognition to your hard-working employees, but it also shows Google that there is an identity connected with the content, which gives the content and your brand, better credibility.

Instagram More Effective than Pinterest?

Allison Howen — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:15:00 GMT

Being acquired by Facebook does a brand good, according to a new study by Simply Measured.

In fact, just a year after being acquired by Facebook, Simply Measured reports that 67 percent of the top brands are now using Instagram – which has seen a 500 percent increase in users since its acquisition, with more than 100 million active monthly users.

According to Simply Measured’s study, which evaluates brands and verticals within the Interbrand 100, Instagram is actually growing faster and proving more valuable to brands than Pinterest. This is because the data reveals that as of May 1, the collective audience of the 76 top companies on Pinterest was less than 500,000, while the 67 top companies on Instagram reach more than 7 million audience members.

It is also important to note that Simply Measured’s quarterly study found that since Instagram's acquisition, engagement rates with images from the social network have dropped on Twitter. This is probably due to Instagram dropping support for embedded images on the micro-blogging social network. Conversely, engagement with Instagram images on Facebook is up by 23 percent quarter over quarter, which is likely the result of moves such as integrating “like” sharing and introducing Instagram Web profiles. For example, the study reports that more than 2 million likes, comments and shares of Instagram photos have occurred on Facebook since its acquisition of the image-based social networking app.

That said, the study also found that top brands are using Instagram more frequently, with 23 percent of the top companies on Instagram posting more than 50 times a month – which is up 20 percent from the previous quarter. Plus, those brands are receiving more than 5,600 engagements per photo, which is up 16 percent from last quarter. The study also rates Nike, MTV and Starbucks as the top brands on Instagram, with Nike becoming the third brand (joining MTV and Starbucks) to reach 1 million followers.

“A year ago, many people were skeptical about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and whether it would hinder the network’s growth,” said Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of Simply Measured. “However today it’s very clear that the synergies are not only bringing new users on board, but also creating incredible opportunities for brands to connect with consumers.”

Klout Moves into Q&A Industry

Allison Howen — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:30:00 GMT

Does your Klout score make you an expert in a certain area? If it does, the social platform may ask you to answer questions through a new program called Klout Experts.

Klout Experts is similar to a Q&A service. It allows Klout users who are influential in a specific topic to increase their authority in that subject by answering topic-related questions that are frequently searched for on Bing. The Klout blog provides this example:

“A person building their influence in photography might be asked, 'What’s the best digital SLR for beginners?' Someone who is an expert about fitness might answer, 'What’s a great exercise routine for someone with bad knees?' We are focused on practical advice that leverages the taste and wisdom we all have about something.”

That said, Klout Experts is currently in a preview period, with the company making the service available to a small percentage of influential users. These people have the chance to share their insights to questions that will be delivered on Bing, and in return, have the possibility of having their answers seen by millions of people who leverage Bing search everyday. It is also important to note that those who are interested in sharing their expertise with the digital world can request early access to Klout Experts by signing up for the waitlist.

Echo Helps Publishers Wrestling with Real-Time Content Moderation

Michael Garrity — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Conversations are constantly taking place all over the Web, from websites to applications to mobile devices that are always on the go. And although this presents brands with more opportunities to spread their messages and create awareness, it also makes it far more difficult to monitor everything that is being said about them online.

But moderating those conversations just got easier thanks to the real-time Web platform provider Echo, which recently just announced the availability of DiscussIt Moderator, a new application designed for high-volume environments that allows publishers to moderate real-time conversations about their brands across multiple applications and websites.

As part of the Echo App Ecosystem, DiscussIt Moderator works as a centralized moderation tool that will augment the Echo StreamServer’s built-in standard moderation features, which include “bad word” filtering, spam detection and community flagging. However, DiscussIt Moderator will also let publisher teams co-moderate content from any Echo Enabled application, such as Comments, Media Galleries, Forums, Social Chattter or Lifestreams, and all from within a single, centralized interface.

Using configurable rules, DiscussIt Moderator is able to automatically flag any questionable content for review, and then insert said content into a live message stream that can be split into various sub-streams that allow individual moderators to collaborate on different sections simultaneously. This means they can approve, deny, edit or directly respond to items through the user interface and remove any inappropriate material.

The tool also features the ability to moderate multiple websites/domains, advanced real-time search functionality, the ability to “deputize” standout community members as moderators and in-depth usage analytics. Plus, it’s made to be quick and easy to configure and launch.

One of the biggest brands already on board with DiscussIt Moderator is the global professional wrestling corporation WWE, a company that has openly embraced social media as part of its recent marketing efforts.

“WWE fans are passionate and generate thousands of comments during each live event, both on social networks, as well as directly on WWE.com,” said the company’s EVP of Digital Media, Perkins Miller. “DiscussIt Moderator enables our team to easily co-moderate real-time content across all of our properties, which makes it easier for our fans to feel connected to our content and our WWE Superstars.”

Social Media Solution Uses Twitter to Drive Traffic to Partner Channels

Michael Garrity — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:15:00 GMT

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company TIE Kinetix has added a new social element to its Content Syndication Platform with the launch of the Social Media Syndication Solution that is designed to make delivering dynamic marketing messages to a partner community on Twitter more accurate and effective.

This solution was created to allow vendors that sell through partners to connect their Twitter messages with the “right” content and lead capturing tools that will use syndication to drive conversions on their partners’ websites, and when that happens, it boosts sales and benefits both parties.

“Twitter is an extremely powerful tool in today’s business world,” said TIE Kinetix CEO Jan Sundelin. “We’re excited to be offering our customers a unique solution that enhances their marketing efforts and helps them better utilize these key social avenues.”

So, companies leveraging Twitter in their sales cycles can use the Social Media Syndication Solution to send messages from multiple partner Twitter handles, and users will not be able to detect the involvement of the original company at all. Plus, since it’s integrated into the Content Syndication Platform, when tweets include a PDF attachment, it will automatically be co-branded for each partner, and other links in tweets will direct traffic to the website of the partner that originally posted the message.

“This solution allows companies to not only tap into their own Twitter base, but also effectively access their partners’ Twitter followers,” explained Sundelin, “Which increases the number of eyeballs on their marketing material exponentially, in turn boosting sales and revenue for all.”

The first company to utilize this new solution is the longtime TIE Kinetix customer Siemens Enterprise Communications, which partners with a number of small resellers that have few marketing resources. Through the Social Media Syndication Solution, however, Siemens is able to help its partners cultivate their Twitter presence by automatically posting its own content to its partners’ followers, which helps them “find, engage and nurture new potential sales opportunities.”

Five Mother’s Day Social Strategies

Allison Howen — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Sunday is Mother’s Day, which not only means that you still have time to pick up gifts for the most important ladies in your life, but also that brands have put their Mother’s Day marketing campaigns into full force across all social networks.

In fact, every holiday, event and change of season provides marketers with a timely promotional angle. And naturally, all brands take a different approach in their holiday-related campaigns. For example, a retailer typically promotes products as gift ideas, while content publishers create relevant content or contests to increase engagement. Yet, the best and most complete strategies combine multiple techniques in order to cater to every fan and followers’ preferences.

Website Magazine located five stellar Mother's Day social examples to offer inspiration for this holiday and future ones, too. Remember, Father’s Day is just around the corner…

Goal: Get People Talking

Brand: Seventh Generation

Social Network: Facebook

Strategy: Seventh Generation took to Facebook to ask a feel-good question and remind us how important moms are in our lives. The company’s use of an image to assist in asking the question “What is the best advice your mom has ever given you?” certainly grabs fans’ attention better than a text-based post and most likely leads to better engagement rates. Additionally, these fan interactions help Seventh Generation foster better relationships with its customers, as well as helps to increase brand awareness.

Goal: Generate Conversions

Brand: Sephora

Social Network: Pinterest

Strategy: Retailers and Pinterest go together like peanut butter and jelly, as this social network has proven to drive valuable traffic to e-commerce websites. Beauty company Sephora is taking advantage of this influential social network by creating an entire board devoted to Mother’s Day gift ideas. Not only do these featured items take visitors directly to product pages on Sephora's website when clicked on, but many of the images also include the hashtag, #mothersday, in order to increase the product's and Sephora's visibility on the pin boarding social network.

Goal: Boost Follower Numbers

Brand: ExtraTV

Social Network: Twitter

Strategy: Giveaways and contests are always a good tactic for increasing your social following, so why not combine these promotions with a timely event? Not only does this strategy from ExtraTV help the brand obtain more followers, but since the company asks for retweets, it also increases their visibility. Plus, this strategy will ultimately leave the two winning followers very happy.

We're giving away 2 @bfflco gift bags for #MothersDay! Follow @extratv & RT this message for your chance to win! bit.ly/MDWin
— ExtraTV (@extratv) May 7, 2013

Goal: Increase Brand Awareness

Brand: Google

Social Network: Google+

Strategy: Another feel-good strategy comes from Google, who has chosen to use Sunday’s holiday as a way to shamelessly promote its very own social network. That said, this video is very relatable (almost a tear-jerker), and truly shows how technology can be used to connect with the most important people in your life.

Goal: Improve Visibility and Engagement

Brand: Beats By Dre

Social Network: Twitter

Strategy: Advertisements are always a good way to increase your brand’s visibility, but Beats By Dre takes this strategy a step further by using an interactive and timely Promoted Tweet to reach new audience members. In fact, once someone clicks on the link to make a #Pillconfession (Pill is the name of one the company’s wireless speakers), they are directed to the company’s website where they can explore products and interact with the #Pillconfession campaign by posting a Mother’s Day confession either on Twitter or Facebook. Additionally, visitors can view the confessions of other consumers at the bottom of the webpage, which features an interactive collage of tweets and posts.

Got a #pillconfession? Make yours on beats.is/PillConfessTW. Apologies to moms everywhere! twitter.com/beatsbydre/sta…
— Beats By Dre (@beatsbydre) May 2, 2013

Social Commerce Continues to Grow on Ecwid

Allison Howen — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:22:00 GMT

The popularity of social commerce hasn’t slowed down, instead, first quarter data from Facebook shopping cart application Ecwid shows that this trend has seen significant year-over-year growth.

The data reveals that merchants leveraging the Ecwid platform have seen orders grow by 37 percent in their Facebook-based stores compared to the same period last year, as well as a 26 percent increase in sales.

The merchants included within this research maintain stores both on a website and on Facebook. According to the data, these merchants’ Facebook-based sales saw a 25 percent year-over-year increase, making up 10.3 percent of the merchants’ total online sales.

“We’re seeing an increasing number of our merchants open online stores on multiple sites – like their website, blog, mobile site and a Facebook page,” said Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid, Inc. “We believe retailers should be able to sell anywhere their customers wish to shop online, not just on a traditional website store, eBay or Amazon. Retailers should have multiple online storefronts to reflect where their target customers look for products. In fact, some of our most successful merchants derive 50 to 80 percent of total online sales on Facebook, as they learn how to work the developing social commerce marketplace.”

This research suggests that consumer-shopping behavior is becoming increasingly more social. In fact, many shoppers are using social networks like Facebook and Pinterest as a way to discover products instead of traditional search, which has resulted in more merchants deploying multiple storefronts to reach this customer segment.

Now Open: Twitter Self-Serve Ads

Allison Howen — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

After spending a year in limited release, Twitter has finally opened its self-service advertising program to the public.

This is not only big news for businesses who maintain an active presence on the micro-blogging social network, but also for businesses that are new to Twitter and professionals who are trying to grow their personal brand – as these ads improve a user’s visibility and can even help a business increase key metrics like conversions.

Twitter Self-Serve Ads 101

Twitter's self-service platform offers Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts as advertising formats. Both formats are labeled as “Promoted” when they appear on the social network so that users can easily identify them as paid advertisements. That said, all Promoted content is displayed next to regular content on a Twitter user’s newsfeed, which means that these ads don’t interrupt the user experience.

Promoted Tweets, for example, appear in the newsfeed on mobile devices, desktops, laptops and tablets, while Promoted Accounts are featured in the “Who to follow” area of the homepage.

Once you begin the ad creation process, Twitter offers a variety of targeting options, including by location, gender, interest categories, user names, device and platform. These options should be leveraged to help users reach the most relevant audience. After the campaign’s audience has been selected, creating a budget is the next step.

Twitter’s self-serve ads only require users to pay when targeted audience members engage with Promoted Tweets or Accounts. This includes interactions such as clicks, retweets, replies, favorites and follows. During the set-up process, users can select their daily maximum budget as well as maximum bid per engagement or follow. In order to make the process easier for new advertisers, Twitter even provides a recommended maximum budget for each ad type ($1.50 for Promoted Tweets and $2.50 for Promoted Accounts). Moreover, the social network provides an “Estimated Reach” graph within the self-service interface, so that users have a better understanding of how their budget and targeting options will affect their ad’s visibility.

It is also important to note that Twitter’s self-serve ad platform provides users with real-time analytics, which can be used to analyze and optimize future campaigns. For instance, the Promoted Tweets dashboard displays valuable ad metrics, such as impressions, number of clicks and click rate, while the Follower growth chart helps users keep track of their brand's growth by providing data on followers that have been gained with and without Promoted Accounts.

5 Best Practices

1. Take advantage of location targeting – Twitter’s targeting options allow users to target by location on a country, state/region and metro level. This allows users to decide if their campaign should be launched on either a very broad or a local level. Moreover, users can target numerous locations with one campaign, which is beneficial to brands that are present in a variety of areas, businesses that have storefronts in multiple locations and expanding businesses.

2. Reach relevant people/groups – Ads perform best when they are displayed to people who are interested in the advertiser and their content, which is why this targeting option can greatly influence an ad’s effectiveness. Users can target by both @username interest and interest category. The interest category option is helpful when trying to reach a specific group of people, while the @username option helps businesses make sure their ads reach specific and influential Twitter users.

3. Target based on device/platform – The device and platform targeting options allow users to focus their campaigns on their most valuable or relevant customers. For example, if you’re launching a Promoted Tweet for a new iOS app, you most certainly want to target iOS devices and probably desktop and laptop computers, however, you might want to leave Android and Blackberry users out of your campaign so that your ad dollars aren’t wasted.

4. Don’t be over-promotional – The best part of Promoted Tweets is that they are incorporated into a user’s newsfeed, which means they are not an in-your-face advertisement. That said, the best way to obtain higher engagement rates with these ads is to make sure the content appears as it would in a regular tweet. This doesn’t mean that these tweets can’t contain links or some type of promotional information, however, it’s important to stay relatable so that customers are more likely to interact with your ads.

5. Amplify existing tweets – If you have already posted an engaging tweet that contains content suitable for an advertisement (such as a white paper link, a look at a new product or info on a hot promotion), consider using it for a Promoted Tweet. Twitter allows users to promote multiple tweets, including new and existing posts. Since some content has already proved to be engaging, businesses can put it in front of a brand new audience to further increase its visibility and boost its audience interactions.

Passing on Pinterest, Marketing to Men

Administrator — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:45:00 GMT

By Dana Rasmussen

If Pinterest was a woman, her friends would have the awkward task of telling her that men just aren't that into her.

Pinterest is the third most popular social networking site on the Internet behind Facebook and Twitter. It's a place where users go to share images of things that they love. A quick look at the Pinterest homepage shows an inordinate amount of jewelry, cute animals, recipes, female clothing, hairstyles and virtually anything else relating to femininity. Not surprisingly, roughly 80 percent of its users are women. That's good news for businesses targeting women, but doesn't leave much room to market to guys.

So where do marketers go to find men? Where do men go to find men sharing images of things they like?

Build It And They Will Come

Other sites like Pinterest are out there. They don't pull in as many unique hits as Pinterest does, but they do get up to a solid 1 million hits each month. Some of the most popular Pinterest alternatives include Gentlemint, MANteresting and Tapiture.

Photo Sharing For the Refined Male

While one might think that a male-dominated photo sharing site would be plastered with images of the female anatomy, hot wings and beer, that is not the case with all of these sites. Take Gentlemint, for instance.

This site, as the name suggests, is for gentlemen with a penchant for highbrow tastes. It's accessible by invitation only and is for a classier set of men. In essence, the site looks like it is tailor-made for men wearing tailored suits.

Imported ales, expensive suits, and handcrafted tobacco pipes are just a few of the images shared by the gentlemen of Gentlemint. A site like this lends itself naturally to an upperclass sect interested in the finer things.

The Internet's Mancave

Then there's MANteresting. This is the meat-and-potatoes' man's site. Users don't pin what they like onto their board on MANteresting, they nail it to their workbench. Some of the top posts include scantily clad women, cars, more women, some jokes, a few sobering pictures of fallen war heroes and some recipes. Users can join without an invitation and find all kinds of things that appeal to those with the Y chromosome.

The Money Maker

When the world started to take notice of Pinterest they realized that men weren't necessarily uninterested in photo-sharing sites so much as they were just totally bored by what was being pinned on female-dominated Pinterest. Naturally some decided to cash in on a niche market and find the guys out there wanting a page just for dudes. Tapiture was among one of the first male-centric photo sharing sites to get out there and one of the first to be backed by more than $800,000 in seed money.

One thing unique about Tapiture is that it is not exclusively for males. None of the sites are, really, seeing as there is no real monitoring that requires users to prove gender, but Tapiture's creator said it is up to the users to make it their own. Whether that means the site lends itself more to men and their wants and needs is entirely up to the users.

That idea is also the rationale behind Pinterest. It's not just for women by any means. It's just women flock to the site in greater numbers and spend more time on the site. Because of this, many photos shared are items that men find unappealing. It’s no surprise they spend about a nanosecond on the site before continuing on to something more interesting.

Cashing In On the Trend

The bottom line on image sharing sites is that men will probably never be a target market, so marketing to these men will continue to be challenging. Businesses interested in increasing their number of male followers on these sites need to make their content appealing to the male mind.

All of these sites allow users to see which posts have been reposted by followers or, as Facebook users would say, "liked" by another user. It gives users an idea of what kind of content is interesting to followers and what kind of content falls flat.

Pinterest, for the time being, is still the most well-known of all of these social media platforms and most major corporations and brands would be wise to create a Pinterest page. However, male-centric Pinterest alternatives should be watched as more and more men decide if they want to hit it and quit it or stick around awhile.

Dana Rasmussen writes about social marketing trends, social media and Internet reputation management.

Salesforce Unveils Self-Serving Social Ad App

Allison Howen — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:55:00 GMT

A new self-serving social advertising application, dubbed Social.com, is now available through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

The app connects social ads with CRM and social data, which allows brands and agencies to power ad campaigns on Facebook and Twitter using real-time customer and social listening data. Moreover, the launch of Social.com adds new technology to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which already includes social listening app Salesforce Radian6 and publishing app Salesforce Buddy Media.

“Today Salesforce.com is doubling down on social ads,” said Michael Lazerow, CMO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce.com. “Social ads cannot be disconnected from your business. By bringing together Social.com with the world’s #1 CRM, Salesforce CRM, and the world’s #1 social listening application, Radian6, we’ve made it possible for marketers to connect social advertising with their customer data and real-time trends to maximize return from their advertising dollars.”

With Social.com, brands can create, optimize and automate social ad campaigns. Here are some of the self-serving social ad app’s features:

Create social and mobile ad campaigns – Users can build, test and launch social ad campaigns that reach consumers on any device. Marketers can execute more effective campaigns by testing all of the available targeting, creative and placement combinations, to drive both localized and relevant ads. Additionally, they can leverage Facebook and Twitter data to identify the best content for advertising.

Optimize social ad campaigns – Users can track and analyze metrics over time with live campaign monitoring and receive immediate feedback on social ad performance based on particular goals.

Automate social ad campaigns – Users can adjust ad spend by defining rules to make real-time optimization decisions across all ads and campaigns.

It is important to note that Salesforce.com is building on the success of Social.com by delivering new innovations for targeting social ads to make campaigns more relevant and effective. For example, Social.com customers will be able to use Salesforce CRM to connect offline and online purchase data, customer loyalty data, as well as data from contests, sweepstakes, whitepaper downloads and other conversion pages directly to their social ad campaigns in real-time. Furthermore, connecting Social.com with social listening app Radian6 will allow marketers to tap into real-time conversations from more than 500 million sources, including the Twitter Firehose. That said, although Social.com is currently available to the public, its real-time customer data and listening is currently scheduled to be generally available in Summer '13.

Viralheat Launches Social Login, Explore

Allison Howen — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:15:00 GMT

Social media marketing provider Viralheat is making it even easier to monitor a brand’s social presence with the launch of two new tools, Social Login and Explore.

Social Login allows Viralheat users to login to their accounts with their email address or social credentials for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+. This feature reduces the number of passwords users need to remember in order to access their accounts.

“Viralheat’s new Social Login feature is surprisingly unique in the social media space today, allowing for a quicker, less hassle option for users to be able to sign into their accounts,” said Vishal Sankhla, Co-founder, Viralheat. “In fact, we are the first social media marketing suite to offer Social Sign On as a way to sign up, or sign in, to this type of technology product … it’s truly a sign of social evolution across the industry.”

Moreover, Viralheat’s new Explore feature allows brand managers to search an unlimited number of keywords on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ in real-time. Keywords searches can be used to help brands monitor what is being said about their company, product or even a competitor. Additionally, these searches can be saved for later viewing and analyzing.

It is important to note that Explore allows users to search @mentions and hashtags on Twitter, as well as keywords and phrases on both Facebook and Google+. While this new feature is free on Twitter and Facebook for all Viralheat customers, the Google+ searches are unlimited only to users with Pro, Premier and Enterprise accounts.

“With our new Explore feature, users now have the ability to search in real-time various social media platforms for any keywords, helping them to understand what is being said on these social networks about their company, products or even competitors,” Sankhla said. “Companies can definitely use this valuable data to their advantage.”

These new features add to Viralheat’s current popular set of tools that help brand managers monitor, analyze, publish and engage across multiple social media platforms.

Big List of Personal Branding Solutions

Michael Garrity — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

The Web has made the “personal brand” more of an actual thing than ever before. These days, individuals can have their own websites, online portfolios, social media profiles and other online spaces where they can share work, market themselves or connect with their audiences or customers.

Personal branding is a useful tool for freelancers and individuals who own their own businesses, but it also has numerous benefits and presents marketing opportunities for people who work for larger organizations, as it allows them to share company news and information (although you have to be careful to follow SEC guidelines), personally interact with their customers and generally humanize their organizations a bit.

Luckily, the Internet won’t just leave you hanging. There are a number of useful tools available online that can help you simplify, automate and improve your personal branding efforts around the Web. Check out Website Magazine’s big list of personal branding solutions by clicking "Read More" below.