SnapHawk Blog

Running Scared?

To be blunt: Facebook users cannot bear to leave the site after years of commitment. I find the recent major changes just as annoying as the next person but we learn to adjust and adapt because we can’t imagine actually erasing the history contained within one account. Many may threaten to shut down their accounts but when the mouse hovers above the “delete account” button and the site asks “Are you sure you want to delete your account?” they just can’t seem to follow through.

The Inspiration

A few weeks ago I read a great story about a coffee house in Houston that uses social media marketing (SMM) to personalize customer service in order to compete with larger franchises. The owner of the coffee house received a direct message via Twitter from a regular customer saying he was in a hurry and could he pick up a breakfast burrito as he drove by? The owner Tweeted back “What do you want on it?” Sounds pretty convenient to me.

With 750+ million users, 55% of all social site visits, and 40% of daily web traffic, Facebook is more than just a simple social media website. It enables users to stay up to date with current news about their friends and the world, check into places where they are currently hanging out at, view advertisements tailored to their interests, and send private messages and chat with friends. Facebook has also become a business tool, giving businesses a channel to connect with an interested audience who are more likely to respond to advertisements, deals, or discounts.

While Facebook is clearly not lacking in variety of features, the social media giant continues to innovate and launch new applications and updates frequently. It’s hard to stay current with all the new features, so here’s a summary of Facebook’s latest additions and how they can make your social experience even more awesome.

With an abundance of social media sites out there, and new ones cropping up all the time, it has become difficult to differentiate each site. After a while they start to blur and it can become frustrating and tiring to try and keep up a presence on each one and to keep up to date on the newest social media  and Internet trends. One site that is sometimes overlooked and is becoming increasingly important for professionals who want to be "plugged in" is LinkedIn.

Over the past few weeks, as I myself have become even more familiar with LinkedIn, I have noticed there is a lack of understanding of the benefits of LinkedIn and how the site is in fact different from other social media platforms. The questions, “Isn’t LinkedIn the same thing as Facebook?” and, “Do I need to be on LinkedIn?” are common ones. This may come as a surprise to some but no, Facebook and LinkedIn are not the same thing, and yes you need to be on LinkedIn if you are in the college phase of your life or beyond. Here’s why:

As with all social media sites there is a learning curve with Twitter. The vast amount of information on the web created to help guide you can be overwhelming and go into more detail than you ever cared to read. I have compiled some of the best pieces of advice I have seen out there on the “proper” way to use Twitter to create a quick and simple list of tips for getting started or improving your Twitter experience.

Before you dive in, take some time to look at other business’s Tweets and profiles. That way you can see for yourself what works and what does not.

For businesses struggling to generate a buzz without much money in the marketing budget, Foursquare might be the answer.  It’s low-cost and low-effort, but it gets the name out there through a very credible source – best friends.

Foursquare is a mobile phone application which allows consumers to tell their friends where they most like to eat, shop, hang out, and just generally live their lives.  They “check in” to their favorite spots, and the application notifies their friends via social media including Facebook and Twitter.

OK, I’ll admit it:  It’s a little late to be writing about Twitter’s growth, but the site’s incredibly fast evolution still has me intrigued.  Twitter’s explosive user growth took place way back in early 2009, but Twitter activity didn’t boom until mid-2009 and well into 2010 when the number of tweets per day skyrocketed from around 2 million to 50 million.  Since tweets, which are small text-based posts, are the biggest indicator of the site’s activity, this showed that Twitter is still growing extremely rapidly.

So what makes this relatively simple social networking and microblogging website so popular?  And just how has the site progressed from reaching a somewhat niche, obsessive audience to a more mainstream pop-culture savvy population? I mean, I’ve met a lot of people – frequent social media users and technophobes alike – whose first response to my explanation of the Twitterverse results in a dumbfounded look and a subsequent puzzled, “Huh? I don’t get it.”

Social Media Marketing has become one of the hottest buzzwords in the online marketing area. Though many companies have already started to provide social media services, few fully understand the complexities and impact of viral marketing or successful social media campaigns.

Marketers’ interest and involvement with Social Media Marketing are growing rapidly and offer a innovative opportunity for companies seeking to expand their online presence and brand awareness capabilities. To optimize your Search Engine Marketing strategy, you should consider Social Media Marketing a great chance to build a universal, effective, and powerful relationship with your clients using various non-text digital assets traditionally associated with current search engine marketing campaigns. In other words, use integrated marketing...