Brands Take a Bite out of Shark Week

For one week every year, marketers turn into predators, and this year might be the most dangerous yet. I'm talking about Discovery Channel's Shark Week, which was moved up a month this year, likely in an effort to garner more advertising attention by shifting out of the doldrums of vacation-laden August, and capitalize on the post-4th of July summer momentum.

By A. A. Currey • July 7, 2015

What's Wrong With Your LinkedIn Photo?

A career consultant asked a recruiter "What's the most important part of the LinkedIn profile?" And the recruiter said, "The picture." Really? Not the headline? Not the summary? Not having the right keywords in your job experience section? Nope. The picture. "It's the first thing we see, and it can be a big turn on or turn off," said the recruiter.

By Sarah Snow • July 7, 2015

Twitter Ads Can Now Be Managed On-the-Go

Twitter has released some exciting news for today's modern, multi-tasking marketer. Now advertisers have the ability to manage Twitter ads directly through the mobile app when commuting to work, running errands, or taking their lunch breaks. "The mobile tool lets you check campaign performance, optimize budget and schedule, and respond to notifications," says Twitters Senior Product Manager, Christine Lee.

By Margot da Cunha • July 7, 2015

What Facebook's New Logo Means for Small Business

Facebook has updated its logo - a subtle, but significant alteration. What does this mean for small businesses? Here's a few notes on the new Facebook brand and how it relates to others.

By Darnelle O'Brien • July 7, 2015

Facegloria - a "Sin Free" Facebook Alternative, Built on Christian Values

Do you ever feel overwhelmed or disappointed by questionable material you see posted on Facebook? As it turns out, many people do, a movement which has lead to the creation of Facegloria, a social network where swearing and erotic content in any form is completely banned. Founded by a group of Evangelical Christians in Brazil, Facegloria has attracted more than 100,000 members since it launched last month, and is eyeing international expansion.

By Andrew Hutchinson • July 6, 2015

The Best Times to Tweet Based on Location, Activity and Tweet Outcomes [Infographic]

So what are the best times to tweet? It depends on your audience, it depends on your geographic location - it depends on a whole range of factors that are, to some degree, unique to you and/or your brand. The team at Buffer have examined more than 4.8 million tweets to narrow down the best tweet times based on location, activity and tweet outcomes, all contained within one infographic.

By Andrew Hutchinson • July 6, 2015

A Third of the World Using Social Media, But 90% Concerned About Privacy [Infographic]

With nearly a third of the world using social media on a regular basis, social media reach and privacy have become hot topics. This infographic looks at the main privacy concerns among social media users.

By Zach Taiji • July 6, 2015

Lights, Camera, Action - How to Perfect Your Vine Strategy [Infographic]

Since it's launch in January 2013, Vine has racked up millions of users. It's six-second videos replay on loop-perfect for our ever-shortening attention spans. With more than 100 million people viewing Vine videos each month and users sharing 8,333 videos every minute, how will you tap into this apps video potential? Here are some tips to broaden your brand awareness and enhance your social media presence beyond just photos and words.

By AJ Ghergich • July 6, 2015

Understanding and Using # Tags and @ Tags

Many (most?) people are confounded by the differences between # and @ tags; and as a result, they tend to use them interchangeably. Doing so, however, can undermine the goals one is trying to achieve by incorporating tags into their social media communications. This article clarifies the differences and offers guidance on how they work on various social media platforms.

By Courtney Hunt • July 6, 2015

U.S. Women's World Cup Win: Social Media Reactions

The United States' women's national soccer team defeated Japan in a dominant performance of 5 goals to 2 to become World Cup champions. And the world took to social media to respond and react. The team received whole-hearted congratulations from everyone from celebrities to politicians, including Vice President Joe Biden, who attended the final match with his wife, Jill.

By Aaron Miles • July 6, 2015

10 Snapchat Tricks and Tips Everyone Should Know About

If you're thinking of adding Snapchat to your or your company's marketing arsenal--and you should, as it was recently ranked the 3rd most popular app among millennials--be prepared to encounter a learning curve. It's one of my favorite social networks, but it works a bit differently than others, so figuring out a strategy may take some time.

By A. A. Currey • July 3, 2015

5 Reasons Instagram's New Explore and Search is Great for Your Business

Instagram's new "Explore and Search" features will make it a lot easier to connect with other users - and that's great news for your business. The new features showcase trending hashtags and make customized recommendations for accounts to follow, while the new search has options to search by top tags, people, or places.

By Jilly Badanes • July 2, 2015

7 Habits of HIghly Effective Tweeters

Why do some people rise to the top of Twitter and some people are destined for the dregs? Being "good at Twitter" can look really effortless, but seem exhausting to execute. And while Twitter has no gatekeeper, gaining access to another tier of Twitter can appear to be an impossible task. Is Twitter this important to be good at, anyway? The short answer: yes. Keep these 7 reminders above your desk or on a notepad for reference, and you'll earn a solid Twitter following in no time.

By A. A. Currey • July 2, 2015

Should Companies Remain Politically Neutral on Social Media?

At this point, a sizable proportion of your Facebook friends have changed their profile picture to an image filtered through a rainbow flag to celebrate a landmark Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage a right nationwide. Companies, public figures, and millions of other people across the country and world have taken to social media to commemorate the occasion, including the 26 million Facebook users (and counting) who've changed their Facebook photos to show support.

By Leeyen Rogers • July 2, 2015

VQR Proves Why Instagram Isn't Just for Visual Brands

This year, Instagram surpassed the 300 million user mark, growing by 100 million users in just 9 months. Since then, it's become a platform to be reckoned with, especially among typically visual brands, such as fashion, food, and travel.But what if it could be used for something else? What if you are a text-based organization? How would you use it?

By A. A. Currey • July 1, 2015

Facebook Algorithm Update - Actions Taken Within Videos Now Factored In

If you've ever found yourself thinking "Facebook aren't tracking, like, every single action on the platform, are they?" The answer is yes, and they've underlined this with their latest update - in yet another algorithmic tweak, Facebook has announced that actions taken while viewing a video will be taken into account and used as signals to indicate whether a user was interested in that content.

By Andrew Hutchinson • July 1, 2015

Social Media Day Reflections: 2015's Social Media Trends

Most of us use social media on a daily basis. Facebook keeps us connected to family and friends, Twitter is our go-to news resource, Instagram lets us share the photos and images we love... so do we really need a designated Social Media Day? Mashable said yes and declared the 30th June to be the official Social Media Day. With the world of social media changing all the time, here at Talkwalker we decided to look at some of the latest developments and see how they measure up against our predictions on the future of social..

By Ingrid Ewen • July 1, 2015

10 Ways to Creatively Design Your Business Twitter Profile

It might seem like all you need to do with Twitter is slap up a profile image, and possible cover image, and then start tweeting. People only follow you because of what you tweet, right? While this is definitely a contributing factor to why someone wants to follow your business or brand, another great element to convince someone to click that follow button and read your content is to have an epic, creative, and powerful Twitter profile.

By Julia McCoy • July 1, 2015

3 Tools to Gain More Twitter Followers

Gaining Twitter followers is one thing, and engagement is another. Sometimes you just want to get those follower numbers up--to jumpstart a business, for example, get those RTs and favorites rolling in

By Carianne King • June 30, 2015

Study: 43% of Facebook Pages Use Paid Advertising

Welcome to the latest study in which Locowise looks at 5,000 Facebook pages and their growth, reach and engagement results in the month of May.

By Marko Saric • June 30, 2015

5 Things Social Media Professionals Need to Know About Facebook Place Tips

Introduced in June 2015, Facebook's 'Place Tips' feature gathers useful information about a business or landmark and shows it at the top of the News Feed for in-store visitors. So what does this mean for social media managers? In this post I'll review the 'ins and outs' of the business applications of Place Tips on Facebook.

By Megan Pruitt • June 30, 2015

Is Facebook Tracking Data on Users Who Use the Rainbow Profile Image Filter?

Last Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples would have the right to marry in all US states, an historic event and a major win for gay rights activists. To help users celebrate the announcement, Facebook unveiled a new option, enabling users to overlay their profile images with the rainbow flag, a symbol for the Pride movement. But is this feature being used for research purposes by Zuckerberg and Co.?

By Andrew Hutchinson • June 30, 2015

Into the Great Unknown: Understanding and Leveraging Dark Social Traffic

The term "Dark Social" was originally coined back in 2012 by Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic, to describe "untrackable" social content sharing through means like email, instant messages and even mobile applications. Dark Social traffic represents the sharing activity via private digital communication channels exclusive of referral headers and as a result, cannot be tracked by analytics tools. Most web analytics tools categorize Dark Social traffic as Direct, meaning grouping these content sharers together with users who reached a webpage by typing an exact page URL.

By Yaniv Navot • June 29, 2015

Financial Advisors on LinkedIn Must Manage Their Compliant Messages

Most of us can go through our day without giving a second thought to the messages we receive and send on LinkedIn, but financial advisors on LinkedIn must make certain their messages comply with Federal regulations.

By Brad Friedman • June 28, 2015

Social Media Responds to SCOTUS Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage

In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court has announced that under the 14th Amendment states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex unions that have been legally performed in other states. The announcement has sparked a range of reactions across the social media landscape - here are some of the best.

By Andrew Hutchinson • June 26, 2015