How Businesses Can Utilise Social Media

Whether your poison is Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google Plus, social media is ingrained in our personal lives, including the workplace. Most companies have a policy about employees' use of social media at work, but they aren't taking advantage of the social media marketing phenomenon. 

Facebook is still the most-visited social media network in the world, with Twitter and Pinterest coming in second and third. Facebook had a record 7 billion visits in March. There's no doubt that Facebook and other social media sites have a pervasive hold on our society, and the larger question for business owners is how they can benefit from that pervasiveness. 

I've met a number of business owners who've decided not to jump on the social media bandwagon and stick to traditional marketing. I believe this is a mistake for any business. 

Customers are talking about your business right now on social media. Just because you don't see it and don't know about doesn't mean it isn't happening. 

What if you were able to see what customers were saying about your business, but you had a chance to respond and open a dialogue with them? This is what social media means to business. Social media marketing is a great opportunity for businesses to open a two-way conversation with customers to determine their likes, dislikes, wants and needs. If you wanted this information in the past, you would have had to pay a marketing firm a pretty penny to research that information. 

When businesses use social media properly, it opens up huge possibilities to address concerns, satisfy existing customers and attract new business. 

If you decide to jump into the social media world, make sure first to develop a strategy. 

1. MATCH YOUR PRODUCT 

Which social media platforms are best? Keep in mind the demographic of your customer, the reach of the network, and your product type. I wouldn't suggest that an auto shop start a Pinterest account but I would recommend a Pinterest account to a dress shop. 

2. MARKETING PLAN 

How do you want to market your business on social media? There are several ways to approach social media marketing, including building your brand, direct marketing of products, or creating a community of customers. It is important to understand your strategy before jumping in. 

3. BUILD AN AUDIENCE 

How do you build your social media page? After you determine your social media focus, this will be fairly easy to do. When picking photos, remember to only use images you have legal rights to use. It's best to use photos you've taken yourself. 

Last but not least, who will manage your social media accounts on a daily basis? The popular choice is to hand this responsibility off to a younger staff member who uses Facebook regularly, but that's not always a good idea. Just because someone spends a lot of time on social media doesn't mean they will use it properly. I'd suggest picking someone who understands social media but also has excellent customer service and marketing skills. You may want to consider paying an outside firm if you don't feel you have those skills available to you on your staff. 

When you get your account started, it's time to market it. On Facebook, ask your friends, employees, and loyal customers to "like" your page. On Twitter, find an account that is influential in your community and start following it and other "centers of influence." Proper Twitter etiquette will kick in and those you follow will follow you back. Treat Pinterest the same way you treat Twitter. Start following the "pins" of those in your community and your followers will start to grow. 

Now it's time to start using your social media account. Craft your messages carefully. In order to keep your customers and followers happy, your message needs to provide value and not just push products. Contests to gain followers and "likes" are fun at first but be careful that you don't gain followers who just want to win a prize and not true customers who will gain value from your posts. 

If at first you don't get a bunch of followers, don't fret. It will take some time and some work on your part but the rewards will pay off with repeat customers, new customers, and a new look at your business from the eyes of your customers. 


Original article here

YouTube loses court battle over music clips

YouTube could face a huge bill for royalties after it lost a court battle in Germany over music videos.

A court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube is responsible for the content that users post to the video sharing site.

It wants the video site to install filters that spot when users try to post music clips whose rights are held by royalty collection group, Gema.

The German industry group said in court that YouTube had not done enough to stop copyrighted clips being posted.

Rights battle

YouTube said it took no responsibility for what users did, but responded when told of copyright violations.

"Today's ruling confirms that YouTube as a hosting platform cannot be obliged to control the content of all videos uploaded to the site," said a spokesperson for the video site.

"We remain committed to finding a solution to the music licensing issue in Germany that will benefit artists, composers, authors, publishers and record labels, as well as the wider YouTube community," they added.

Gema's court case was based on 12 separate music clips posted to the website. The ruling concerns seven of the 12 clips.

If YouTube is forced to pay royalties for all the clips used on the site it will face a huge bill.

Gema represents about 60,000 German song writers and musicians.

If enforced, the ruling could also slow the rate at which video is posted to the site as any music clip would have to be cleared for copyright before being used.

Currently, it is estimated that about 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube worldwide every minute.

YouTube owner Google has yet to comment on the ruling.

The court case began in 2010 and came after talks between YouTube and Gema about royalties broke down. In 2009, the stalemate meant that videos from German recording firms were briefly blocked on the site.

Gema has rung up several victories against sites it has claimed are using music without paying royalties.

In 2009, file-sharing site Rapidshare was told to start filtering songs users were uploading following action by Gema. In March, 2012 a second judgement told Rapidshare to be more proactive when hunting down content pirated by users.

Music streaming site Grooveshark pulled out of Germany claiming licencing rates set by Gema made it impossible to run a profitable business in the country.

Original article here

Sir Richard Branson invests in new social network, Path!

'Path' is a new social network to rival others like Facebook, but with a little twist, it is a mobile-centric social network. This means that members can only access their accounts via the use of their mobile device which can be downloaded by the Apple App Store and the Android Marketplace. Path was created by former Facebook employee Dave Morin in 2010, and the social network surprisingly only allows its members to have 150 friends.


Path's original high profile investors include the likes of serial technology investor Ashton Kutcher who has previously invested in such ventures as Foursquare and GroupMe. But during the site's latest round of investment which managed to generate more than $30 million, Sir Richard Branson was one of those investors. 

Last month Path felt the wrath of its members because the site was automatically uploading users' mobile phone contact details and storing the information without gaining proper consent from its members.

From this, Morin was forced to apologise for this and changed the mobile settings on Path. Currently, Path members are now asked whether they want to opt in to share their mobile address book with the site. 

A spokesman from Apple said at the time; "Apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines.”

Path has other high profile investors which include;

• Yuri Milner, the Russian investor in Facebook, social games company Zynga and Twitter
• Mark Pincus, the chief executive of Zynga

The news of Path comes only weeks after the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook who snapped up the deal for $1 billion. 

Path who currently has two million users has yet to roll out the commercial version of the social media network.

(Above is a video of the demo for Path)

Social Media - Facebook adds "Listen" button to band and artist fan pages

On the 17^th April 2012, Facebook added a “Listen” button to its artist and band pages that gives fans an easy way to listen to their favourite songs directly on Facebook itself.

From writing this, fans can listen to songs from artists such as Linkin Park, Lady Gaga and Jessie J to name a few, directly on Facebook via various music services like Spotify, MOG and Deezer. The “Listen” button is available on most artists’ pages. Check out your favourite bands fan pages!

The “Listen” button is located in between the “Like” and “Message” buttons on the artist’s page and will connect the user to the music service that they use most often. The very first time you click on the “Listen” button, a notice from the resulting participating service will pop up and ask you to grant access. If you will to listen to music you will have to accept this access.

All your listening activity will be published to your page in real-time since the music service apps are connected with the Facebook Timeline.

Will you be using Facebook to listen to your favourite artists? Do you think Facebook will be introducing more music orientated tools onto their social media network in the future? Let us know your thoughts.

 

Instagram Valuations for the Social Media Crowd

By Kyle Stock of The Daily

Is Instagram, a mobile photo-sharing app without a business model, worth $1 billion?Sure, why not?

Facebook’s bid for the burgeoning firm, often described as a visual version of Twitter, is right in line with the amounts that investors are paying for so-called eyeballs in today’s frothy tech market.

With roughly 30 million users, Instagram would be getting $33 for every person who has downloaded its app. In comparison, Zynga, the social-gaming startup that held its IPO in December, has a market value of about $36 per user.

(Click here for a nice big table.)

Meanwhile, if Facebook goes public at its expected worth of $100 billion, shareholders will be spending more than $100 for each person using the platform.

Of course, Facebook is buying much more than a fixed set of users. Instagram gives it a solid beachhead in the mobile market, terrain where it has struggled.

And Mark Zuckerberg’s merger and acquisition advisers likely considered Instagram’s growth potential to be as much or more than its current size. The firm has won over a respectable 1.6 million users a month on average. That pales in comparison with Facebook, which has been on a pace of about 9 million a month.

However, Instagram is outstripping LinkedIn, which has added about 1.4 million members a month.

LinkedIn, however, has something Instagram doesn’t: revenue. Instagram remains free and ad-free. The company is still in the land-grab stage, like Pinterest, another hot social-media startup without a fully built money-making mechanism.

Read the whole post here.