Once the realm of hipsters and the dedicated social media disciples, Pinterest and Instagram are now positively thriving. Whilst Facebook continues to stagnate, these alternative social media platforms are proving that the big picture is big money. 

New data from Experian has shown that the popularity of both Pinterest and Instagram is burgeoning. Just take a look at these figures measured between July 2011 and July 2012:

Worldwide Instagram growth

• 17319% in North America
• 8121% in Singapore
• 2028% in the UK
• 843% in New Zealand
• 362% in Australia

Worldwide Pinterest growth

• 5124% in North America
• 2373% in Hong Kong
• 1489% in the UK
• 798% in Australia
• 643% in New Zealand

As you can see, both networks have experienced impressive growth in the short space of a year. This success, it appears, is down to both sites having found their respective niches. According to digital insights manager at Experian, James Murray, “the reason for their success is that they haven’t tried to be ‘another Facebook’”. Instead, they have both concentrated on providing a unique, high-quality user experience to a cult following – which is proving extremely and increasingly popular.

The niche social media platform is set to become more and more successful in the next 12 months as users begin to tire of the Facebook one-size-fits-all monopoly and start looking for new ways to express and share their identity online. Already doing well are Google+ in Brazil, Reddit in Australia and FanPop.com on our very own shores.

What this means for your social media campaigns

So what does this mean for the future of online marketing and, how can businesses hoping to utilise social media for interaction with customers and building brand identity, make the most of these platforms?

Well for one thing, widening scope to include more than just the generic, obligatory Twitter and Facebook profiles gives businesses an awful lot more freedom, reach and flexibility. The beauty of niche social networks is that, very often, they attract a very specific demographic. 

For example, around 80% of Pinterest users are female, and over 25% of all Pinterest users are between 25-34. Meanwhile, if you’re looking to target an older male audience you’d be better of getting involved with a platform like Slashdot where 30% of users are between 35-44 and over 80% are male. As you can see, knowing your target market and knowing your social media platforms can really pay off when you’re looking to get your message to the right people.

To make the most of social media, particularly niche platforms, you need to know the web inside out and the ways each platform can work for you. It is important to understand where your content will find the right audience and how to speak to your demographic using the appropriate tone, tools and techniques. To learn more about how to make social media work for you, in an ever changing online world, fell free to get in touch with the Liberty team for a chat.

So many businesses gear the social media element of their online marketing strategy around a few select sites, but to get the most out of social media, it’s important to remember that there’s many more opportunities out there than those provided by Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn alone. Compared to these giants, other social media sites may pale in comparison, but they are certainly no minnows and should not be ignored. So what other social media sites should you be sure to consider when devising your online marketing strategy?

Scribd

Scribd is the world’s largest social publishing company. It makes it simple to share PDF files which can be viewed as blogs, websites or social networks. Scribd can be used by businesses to generate additional views of documents on the search engines. The added exposure your company and brand will receive is likely to impact favourable on your sales.

Google+

Google+ is still very much in its infancy and it is yet to be seen whether anything will really materialise from the much hyped network. As yet it has been largely ignored by businesses, but as with all things Google, its functionality is expected to catch up quickly with some of the more established social media sites in the industry. For now it cannot hurt to include Google+ in your social media strategy as it is another way to increase fans and build online exposure.

Tumblr

Up until recently, Tumblr was seen as the new kid on the block of the social media world and as such has featured in many a web savvy company’s online marketing strategy. However, lifespan for social media sites can be short, with more recent additions capturing much of Tumblr’s limelight. With over 33 million users, Tumblr is far from forgotten and is an excellent platform on which to share blogs. With the vast majority of Tumblr’s users under the age of 35, companies with products and services aimed at the younger generation would be daft not to consider it as an option well worth exploring.

Pinterest

The latest social media online marketing platform to step out of the shadows of the industry giants, Pinterest takes the form of an online pinboard which allows companies to share information about new products, allowing them to connect with potential customers. Having reached 10 million users in a short space of time, a branded Pinterest site is not for everyone, but well worth looking into if your product range suits Pinterest’s demographic.

Here at online marketing agency Liberty, we explore every avenue to maximise your social media marketing strategy, ensuring your targeted campaign receives the exposure it deserves.

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has become a powerful platform for businesses looking to develop a closer relationship with customers as part of an effective, social media based online marketing campaign. With over 300 million users, Twitter helps even the smallest businesses create a big web buzz and connect with their demographic on an engaging, personal level.

Now, Twitter are masterminding new ways for small and medium businesses to promote themselves. After teaming up with American Express, Twitter are taking the online marketing potential of their platform to an entirely new level. Currently only available in the US, Twitter's new online advertising scheme is set to make the hop across the pond later this year.

The new online marketing scheme will make it even easier for businesses to grow their online visibility and boost their business using Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products. To get the ball rolling American Express and Twitter are offering a fantastic introductory offer to small business owners and other parties looking for an even better way to promote themselves on Twitter. For the first 10,000 eligible businesses to sign up for the scheme, each will be rewarded with $100 of totally free advertising.

This exciting introductory offer is an opportunity for the social networking giant to show small-to-medium business owners just how easy and profitable their online marketing services can be. It is also a sign of things to come. Part of the appeal of Twitter is that it is free of the intrusive ads found on other social networking platforms, now Twitter are finding clever online marketing solutions which don't jeopardise the user experience or the streamlined features which make Twitter so compelling.

For smaller UK businesses looking to use online marketing and social media marketing to increase consumer awareness and maximise customer participation in their brand, these new Twitter online marketing services are set to arrive on our shores later this year, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the meantime, there are dozens of alternative online marketing services out there which can give your online business a real boost. To find out more about how to create an online presence and maximise your business on the web get in touch with the Liberty team today.

It seems that Google launches a new service or upgrade to its infrastructure every week! The latest addition to its services, Google+, has left many scratching their heads wondering what it’s all about - especially seeing as most people can't access it yet. That's why we have put together this brief guide to Google+ and what it means to businesses looking to market themselves on the social media networks...

What is Google+?

Google+ is the latest attempt by the search engine giants to create a social network designed to rival Facebook. Launched on June 28, 2011 as a private Beta, the project was led by Vic Gundotra, Google’s SVP of social media.

Google+ could have many possibilities especially for social media marketing. The network is a series of social products including:

• Stream – A newsfeed service
• Sparks – A recommendation engine
• Hangouts – A video chat service
• Huddle – A group newsfeed
• Circles – Friend management service
• Photos – Photo albums and photo sharing

Many more features such as Games and Questions are expected in the very near future.

So, why the name Google+? Google want Google+ to be an extension of the main Google search engine. It’s actually designed to be an enhancement of Google which may explain by they opted to alter the Google navbar to incorporate a link to a user’s Google+ profile. You can also see a new icon displaying the Google+ notifications the user has received. This is very much designed to emulate the Facebook notification service.

Social media marketing is big news on Facebook and Twitter, with many companies building branded pages and online communities in a bid to win more business and increase online exposure. Google+ looks set to be the next in line to get attention from big business and it could work out to be very lucrative for the search engine moguls.

Why Use Google+?

Okay, so Google have launched a social network. You may be wondering why you should use it. After all, you’ve got the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Why move to or use yet another social network?

The only way to find out how good a service is rated, is to ask the users themselves. When questioned why somebody should use Google+, users answered that Google is a much cleaner way to share data with friends, Google integrates well with Google’s cloud products such as Docs and Calendar, and the whole interface and sharing processes seem to work faster. Users also described Google+ as being a more grown up alternative to Facebook and Twitter allowing for more control and a more organic experience. Because each component is broken up into separate areas, this reduces the distracting features that you get with Facebook for instance. After all, does everybody want to know how many virtual sheep you just bought for your virtual farm?!

How to Start Using Google+

Right now, you need to be invited by a friend to join Google+. This restriction will be lifted soon and it’s best to have your invite sent to your Gmail account so that you can use this account to sign in to your Google+ area. Once you accept the invite, you will be asked to create your Google+ profile, entering personal information such as your name and date of birth. Setup is very straightforward and once you are set up you can start inviting your friends to Google+ too. You may choose to use Google+ to sort the wheat from the chaff – so to speak – building a network of your closest friends or work colleagues.

Google+ Circles – Categorising Your Friends

Understanding what Circles is all about is one of the most essential parts of mastering Google+. Instead of finding friends or following people, Google+ allows you more control over who can see your content.

You can choose to drag and drop friends into groups, for example, a family group, or a group for close friends. You can also create a Business circle and plonk your boss and colleagues in there for easy sorting and sharing. Once you have created your circles, you can get more granular controls by clicking on each circle and setting its individual settings. Circles allows you to share different things with different people and also gives those in your circle a better experience, as they don’t need to filter through so much content in order to see what they want.

Google+ Stream – Sharing Data

Google+ Stream is very easy to get the hang of especially if you’re already a Facebook user. It’s really just a newsfeed that you share with your circles. You can choose to share anything from a status update to a video or photo.  

The differences between Google+ Stream and Facebook are few. The main difference is that instead of a ‘like’ button you can choose to ‘+1’ a post or photo.  Status updates are also very similar to the Facebook updates.

Google+ Sparks

If you are stuck as to what to share on Google+ first then Sparks will lend a hand! This content recommendation engine finds the most interesting and relevant articles and videos across a wide range of subjects and genres. If you can find it online then Spark can reference it and find the latest information on your chosen topic.

Google provides an automated list of subjects, but you can customise this as you wish, ensuring that Sparks only retrieves the data that you want to see. Spark content can also be shared with your Circles.

Google+ Hangouts

If Google+ is to have one killer feature then Hangouts may just be it. This interesting twist on the conventional group video chat feature has received a very positive response from the current Google+ community.

You click on the ‘Start a hangout’ button and invite friends to ‘hangout’ with you online and to join a live video stream. Other friends will also see your open hangout and choose to join in if they wish. It’s a great way for up to ten people to chat via video link and because it’s not available on Facebook, this could be the one feature that attracts the masses to Google+.

Photos

Google+ also includes a fully-fledged feature for photos and photo albums. Powered by Google’s Picasa (as you would expect), Photos allows you to display photos uploaded by friends, share your photos, and to organise them into albums. You can also view photos in slideshow format and tag yourself or a friend in any photos you can both access. You can also drill down to other information such as what type of camera was used to take the snap.

Google+ and social media marketing

With its clean interface and sharing features, Google+ is great news for those wishing to promote their business through social media marketing. Google+ keeps some of the best features of Facebook, but also allows users to filter out unwanted information and to tailor news feeds to their exact needs. This means information overload is a thing of the past and that companies can design their Google+ pages and campaigns to drive clear messages to those interested in specific services and products.

But before you start to build your company’s Google+ page it’s worth knowing that Google is going to release a dedicated Google+ platform for businesses. This will take some time to build, but is set to have some interesting and useful features. This feature is expected to be released in Beta format in the next few weeks.

As with any social media platform, the social media marketing opportunities are many and it’s only a matter of time before companies large and small start to make use of Google’s new communication and sharing medium. Once the communities start to grow and the service gains momentum, there’s no telling how big Google+ may become. But one thing’s for sure, with the Google name attached, it’s sure to be a threat to Facebook and Twitter.

Social network ad spend has been rising steadily over the last few years with marketers extending their online pay per click and banner advertising beyond the seach engines to include the social networks as well. It is estimated that during 2011 marketers in the US alone will spend £3.08 billion on social network advertising. eMarketer predicts that US ad spend will be up 55% on 2010 when marketers spent $1.99 billion, and that worldwide social network spend will be up 71.6% in 2011 to $5.97billion.



Facebook, by far the largest social network, is clearly having the greatest impact on this growth through a year-on-year increase in Facebook advertising. Facebook therefore contributes up to 65% of the 2011 prediciton. eMarketer predicts that advertising spend on facebook will hit $2.19 billion in the US alone in 2011 and over $4 billion worldwide. That's more than double the total spent in 2010!


So as we move further into 2011 social networks are poised to absorb an even greater percentage of all online spending making them difficult to ignore for any business serious about their online marketing. We will be watching eagerly to see what developments Facebook has planned for the forthcoming year.

What's Next? is a social media event coming to Cardiff on 15th March. We are sponsoring it, so will be there exhibiting as well as attending the exciting list of seminars.

There are four guest speakers and the topics of discussion centre around Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and using video on the web.

You can Like it on Facebook, Follow it on Twitter, and book your place here: http://www.whatsnextevent.co.uk/blog/welcome/

In a clean-up of its services, Yahoo! is about to remove a number of “underperforming” websites, including a few very well known brands.

Those of us who have been involved in search engine marketing for years will remember when Altavista was the Google of its day. Anyone involved in social media marketing will undoubtedly have spent time on the bookmarking website, Delicious.

In addition to these two sites, AlltheWeb (another search site), Babelfish (a translation service), Buzz (a news aggregation site) and MyBlogLog (a social media network, similar to Facebook) are all also likely to be taken off the web.

For the sake of posterity, here’s a screenshot of Delicious:

 

A Yahoo! spokeswoman said “Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond...We continuously evaluate and prioritize our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months...We will communicate specific plans when appropriate."

The company is also planning on cutting its workforce by 4%, which equates to about 600 jobs.

If your website receives traffic or has links pointing to it from any of the Yahoo! properties that are going to disappear then put measures in place to limit the impact. Start taking advantage of other social media, bookmarking and blog sites ASAP, to strengthen your link profile and the number of referring sites.

In the first case of its kind, a UK citizen has just been fined £1000 after one of his tweets landed him in hot water.

Back in January, upon hearing the news that Robin Hood Airport was closing due to snow, angry Twitter user, Paul Chambers vented his anger by posting: "C**p! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your s**t together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

Whilst the airport themselves didn’t take the joke seriously, the police did and this week he was fined £1,000 due to the post being "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.

On top of the fine, Mr Chambers was given a criminal record and also had his computer confiscated. This hasn’t stopped him using the micro-blogging site as since he has commented on the judgment with "I'd like to thank the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) for their level-best efforts in f**king up the life of an ordinary citizen. I love Britain."

Mr Chambers is now considering launching an appeal, something which other Twitterers, including well known user Steven Fry, have said they would help fund.

A few days ago, Google announced that they would be launching their new social media service: Google Buzz. It’s currently being rolled out across the world, with some users still waiting to receive full access to the service, while others have already been able to try it out.

How does it differ to other social media platforms?

Google has worked hard to differentiate Buzz from other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which it does in a few different ways:

1. Integration with email

Google has integrated its successful email feature Gmail into Buzz, giving it an advantage over even the most popular social media platforms, whose email functions – if they have them – tend to be poor. Google is confident that Buzz users will see the advantage of not having to log into both a social media platform and separate email account.

2. Fast, full screen photo presentation

Buzz offers a photo viewing feature, which allows its users to view large, high quality photos that fill the screen and can be scrolled through at a high speed.

3. Buzz places high emphasis on location

Google believes that location is an important indicator of how relevant information is to you. Buzz can work out your location and is even able to ascertain the name of the building you are in.

4. Only shows posts which will interest you

Google has used it extensive knowledge of algorithms to create Buzz and shows this off by claiming that it will filter out posts that are not of interest to you – even if they are by your contacts – and vice versa: interesting posts by people you don’t already know. Then, depending on which tidbits you choose to approve or hide, its algorithm will attempt to gear more relevant and interesting results your way, personalised to your tastes.

Can it rival Facebook and Twitter?

What’s interesting is Buzz’s integration of other social media platforms, including Flickr and Twitter, but not with Facebook. Perhaps a deal is in the pipeline between the two, but until then it almost suggests that Google is content to live in harmony with Twitter (after all, Google recently paid $25m to index Twitter’s content), but with Buzz containing similar features to Facebook, it seems like Buzz’s main intention is to topple the current social media king.

It’s no secret that Facebook is currently dominating the social media market, with an official blog post on the site recently reporting that it had reached over 400 million users. While a completely fresh and unknown social media platform may struggle to compete with such a giant already in place, Google’s advantage is in its brand, which is already popular and established in almost every other aspect of the Internet - if anyone is going to compete with Facebook and Twitter, it’s going to be Google.

What should businesses do?

It’s too soon to tell whether Google’s new venture will take the world by storm or end up as a failed attempt, but at the very least, it’s certainly worth taking a look at and registering a profile, even if simply to get to grips with the interface and reserve your company name. For those who already have a Gmail account, getting started is easy, with current contacts automatically becoming friends/followers and therefore eliminating the registration process - not every social media site can claim to start off with millions of users raring to go.

Significant results have emerged from a nationwide survey which concluded that the majority of journalists now use social media as an essential source for finding information. The survey, conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University, stressed that although PR firms are still used to verify and expand on information, social media sites are the first point of call for journalists who are researching articles or uncovering stories.

These findings will have major implications for many companies’ current PR strategies. Of the journalists questioned, 65% use social media sites including Facebook and Linkedin as part of their research process with a further 89% using blogs to obtain information. Micro blogging sites were also found to be popular among journalists with 51% consulting twitter when conducting research.

The use of social media is widespread throughout the profession, the survey found that those journalists who had greater experience (20 or more years) relied on blogs almost as much as those with fewer years experience (under 9 years) with only a 2% difference between the two groups. Of the journalists questioned 71% claimed to use the web ‘far more’ than they did five years ago when writing an article.

If your business wants to be successful when engaging in public relations then you must ensure that your firm or your PR agency is effectively using social media marketing techniques and consider it an imperative part of all PR work.