Infographics to tell a story!

A picture speaks a thousand words and infographics do just that!
It is nothing but a graphic work that is designed to tell a story in words, pictures and graphics. Also known as Information Graphics it helps tell a story in few words.

Businesses and design professionals make use of this amazing technology to convey ideas in a simpler manner. Infographics appeal to social media marketers. With a vast amount of information to keep up with, it’s easier to reach out to social media experts through infographics which get the message in a clear and concise manner. It not only helps end users grab information but also helps social media marketers to sell what they got. As it is more appealing, users are more likely to bookmark, vote or share it online. Most social media marketers are using infographics to collect data in an image and get it across to users.

Working with design professionals for creating the best infographics is a must. It works when the information said is accurate, has less text, the image has colors that are visually appealing. Most businesses are resorting to infographics to communicate messages both internally and externally. Externally, it helps brands acquire more traffic, and saves time. It is an excellent method to showcase facts and figures.
For more on Infographics, read searchengineland
sociatic

Guide to Twitoaster

Twitoaster threads and archives all your Twitter conversations giving you statistics and ranking. Helps you improve and optimize your conversations with followers and your second followers. It helps in archiving and threading Twitter conversations, managing replies, simple mentions and retweets. Arnaud Meunier is the brain behind this successful application. Five things that make Twitoaster are – The Home page, Profile Page, Conversation Page, Search Page, and the Ranking Page.

Using the Home Page - Managing conversations, replying, tweeting, extracting links and images is a lot easier. You get to see hot users and #tags by the country in the home page. Yellow background next to the profile image means new replies since last visit.

In your Profile Page it will show you your rank and statistics by the day and hours. This is all with regard to replies. You can check your new replies and simple mentions. When it comes to following users, only those on Twitoaster will show up. If the profile name is in blue it shows that the person is using Twitoaster.

In the Conversation page – One can share, retweet, see who has started the conversation and extract the links, images from that conversation. You can reply to the right conversation or the point that you want to make.

The Search Page allows you to filter conversations by user, or titles and date. Also the experts in the conversation are highlighted in yellow. Filtering can be done in the following ways -
All Tweets (default): Whole timeline
With Replies: Only Tweets that received at least 1 reply
With Retweets: Only Tweets that received at least 1 retweet

The Rank Page shows you the ranking by category globally along with distinct users that week and a chart or graphical representation.
Also one can add Twitter conversation widget onto your blog/website and to iGoogle.
Twitoasters therefore is an useful application for brands, organizations, and people who have a large follower base and want to archive their conversations systematically.
Read more on this at twitoaster

Facebook status updates – Do they annoy you?

With Facebook reaching 500 million users worldwide, it is no wonder that its 'status updates' is the most widely used feature with 60 million status updates reported per day! This is in addition to the 700 million pieces of content shared on Facebook each day! Twitter a platform for sharing status updates and Google Buzz joining in to offer the same, it is overwhelming to see how individuals use these channels for updating what they do and think.

Looking into Facebook status updates is a task by itself. Add your friends and you’ll know how daunting it is to read these status updates. For one, it is a great way to share information about yourself and the world around you but seriously how does it matter to me whether you are going shopping alone! (Unless, we are good friends)

The best part about status updates is that you can tag people you want to send these updates to, which make the job easier, especially when updating something that is directed at a particular person or people. Also, Facebook settings allow you to customize who can share information and comment on your wall. In www.jeffbullas.com he talks about five types of Facebook updates to avoid.

It gets really annoying when your status updates show you as being a Facebook wannabe, trying to gain attention of all the Face bookers of the world or those on your list, and then there are some who live in a world of their own thinking people did miss their status updates!

But not all is chaos here, Facebook status updates go beyond what you ate, where you partied and those hate messages you direct to your ex. Using the status updates for sharing news, videos, images, content or your work is great. It shows your true personality rather than pretend to say or like something that you really don't or that which really is not you.

Check your Facebook news feeds and see what gets your attention and what annoys you. I'm sure you will figure out what's the best way to use status updates and how to really win likes and comments that are genuine.

What's buzzing?

Gmail's Google Buzz which is a take on for Twitter may not be as popular as Twitter for business purposes, but the statistics which state that it has over 9 million posts and comments make us explore Buzz better.

Well, for one it allows you to follow all your Gmail contacts. And getting real time updates from them. Google Buzz allows one to share links, images, videos, and anything that is of interest to the people you follow or to evoke interest and comments. One can reshare, like, comment on the updates too. Make sure to update your profile so that it appears on Google search results. Having an incomplete profile makes it unsuitable for Google search results.

It also lets you integrate websites such as Picasa, Flickr, Twitter, and your blogs. What you buzz will not go to Twitter but your tweets will show up on Buzz. It gives you the option of sharing updates either private or public. Most of the content published on Google Buzz is from Twitter and very less percentage of it is done manually on Google Buzz.

It is not being used the way it has to be and it is also seen that very few individuals use it regularly. Whether people would experiment with Google Buzz one cannot say, with Facebook and Twitter bringing in applications and features that are getting users hooked onto it.

Big Five of Social Media for Business

Using Social Media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and YouTube helps increase visibility and your Google rank too. Optimizing these channels in the right way will help drive traffic to the website. Most brands and organizations use these top five social media platforms in their business and incorporate ways to gain profitability. Social Media Optimization is the need of the hour. Brands like Starbucks, Zappos, Dell... use these social media platforms to the maximum and reap various benefits.

Having a Facebook business Page is the first step to getting the most of social media. Recent reports state that more than 3.5bn pieces of content are shared each week on Facebook! There are more than 50% of the brands marketing on Facebook, as it helps build relationships and establishes credibility and trust. Having a Page that talks about your brand and selling your brand image to millions of people online is the key. Initiating discussions, polls, and making it as interactive as possible gets people coming back to your Page for more. Making it as visual as possible with images, videos, interesting contests, and give aways etc. is a great way to optimize Facebook.

Twitter, the best microblogging site is growing in leaps and bounds! Twitterers are blogging on things that matter and on every field and aspect of life. Tweeting can be done anywhere anytime thanks to various mobile and iPhone applications. News, images, videos etc can be easily shared in a short span of time. Twitter allows users to follow like-minded people and share ideas and knowledge faster than any other platform. Following the right profile and updating tweets must be looked into. Overdoing it gets very annoying, also tweets don't last long. Hence make sure to tweet at the right time using the right tool. Hashtags allow one to follow and search information in an organized way. There are various Twitter tools out there that help you follow the right profiles, schedule tweets, add images, videos etc... Do try them out and optimize Twitter for your business in the right way.

The most popular Video Sharing Site, YouTube, is another way one can optimize social media. It is the third most visited website. Most brands today have a YouTube channel that has videos that talk about their company, products, offerings, demos, interviews, events, announcements and many more. Some have third party videos that do the job of spreading the message for your brand. Having a YouTube channel lets you add friends, who comment on your videos, subscribe to your channel and this in turn increases views which are the only measuring factor for YouTube. It’s streaming two billion views per day!

The world's largest PNS – LinkedIn, is getting businesses and organizations hooked onto it. It is seen as a channel that not only gets you grab the right job and business deals, but also where professionals ask questions, participate in discussions, conduct polls and arrive at what's best for their business and career. LinkedIn now has 70 million members, with one million company profiles! Places like India are seeing a rapid growth in LinkedIn users. The integration of various LinkedIn applications such as Twitter, Slide Share, Polls, Box.net make the platform more appealing. One can have a personal profile, group profile or a company profile on LinkedIn, each having its own merits.

Lastly, it’s the good old blogs that give you the liberty to share views and opinions on just about anything under the sun. Blogs need to be optimized so that it is read by people who matter; also it ranks high in search engines... Blogs that are updated regularly have greater chances of being ranked high in search engine results. Incorporating RSS feeds is another way to increase your blog subscriptions, and followers. Having a blog that talks specifically on a nice subject is the key. Company blogs like Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have been great examples. Blogs are an excellent way to market your brand image, sell products and services, maintain and acquire customers... and many more. Blogging and then tweeting your blog post, sharing it on Facebook, MySpace is a good way to share your content, which in other words is known as Interlinking.

Get the most of these big five for your social media...

Source: www.jeffbullas.com

Unlock Your World With Foursquare

A geo-location based mobile social media tool which lets other users know where they are by ‘checking in’ at locations and you may also earn rewards & badges by checking in’ frequently.
Foursquare can be used whereever you go be it at an Airport, public transport, museum,concerts, restuarants etc… The maximum ‘check in’ at one particular place or regular ‘check ins’ makes that user the ‘Mayor’ of the particular place. You can also see who else has ‘checked in’at the particular location. One can even add or plot the details about location on the map you are at, if it is not yet on Foursquare.
Foursquare can be a powerful tool for businesses. Foursquare is collaborating with restaurants and service providers to offer promotions for those who check in to their location with this app. For businesses, Foursquare“check-in” has become the equivalent of a new “fan” on a Facebook fan page. One such example is their recent partnership with Starbucks. As of March 11, 2010, frequent Starbucks customers who ‘check in’ at locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards.

Download the Foursquare app to your cell phone and instantly link to your address book and Facebook and Twitter accounts to discover where your friends are hanging out. See if they’re near you by looking at where they’ve recently checked in.

Social Media statistics

Social Media statistics astound us every minute with their findings and numbers!

Picture this -
Social Media Networks and Blogs consume nearly 25% of peoples time online (one in every four and half minutes online)

Brazil is the top nation when it comes to internet consumers with 86% visiting a social media network (74% of USA internet users visit a social media network)

Facebook is the world’s most visited social media brand with 54% of the worlds internet population visiting the brand

Japan has the lowest reach of Facebook active users at 3%

More than 35m Facebook users update their status each day

Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%. Currently, there are around 2.5bn uploads to the site each month

There are more than 70 translations available on Facebook

There are more than 3.5bn pieces of content shared each week on Facebook

India is currently the fastest-growing country to use LinkedIn, with around 3m total users

70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog

Twitter received 180 million unique visitors a month to its website

Total number of Twitter users at 105 million (12 months ago that number was 8 million)


More can be found at:

Jeffbullas.com

Econsultancy.com

An introduction to LinkedIn

It's not just the Social Networking Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut making waves across the globe and among various demographics, it's also the PNS or the Professional Networking Site - LinkedIn. Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is a business-oriented platform that helps individuals and organizations network with people across the globe.

Its growth has been amazing with more than 70 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide as of June 2010. The features of LinkedIn give you plenty of opportunities to expand and grow your network. LinkedIn helps businesses and organizations acquire new customers, buy & sell various products, recruit suitable hires, and make you sell yourself and your company for better prospects.

The advantages of LinkedIn cannot be ignored... One can know and learn more about one's own organization and other organizations receive updates on company information, get news and announcements and many more. Adding connections not only expands your network but makes your profile credible. Following people and companies is another way to keep-up-to-date with the discussions and news around.

Joining various groups depending on your industry and area of interest is a great way to share knowledge. Participating in polls, discussions, answering and posting questions make you gain visibility and more importantly gives you a whole lot of information needed to make your job easy.

Various applications like incorporating the Twitter account to LinkedIn, adding in SlideShare, polls, blogs etc makes your profile look interesting. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile yet, do create one right away and get the most of it!