Courtesy of sellorelse.ogilvy.com

The Social Media Sales Funnel

As a small business owner and online marketer, you probably already know all about the social sales funnel. It can drive traffic to your websites and sales pages, and make those crucial monthly sales that will keep you in the green. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have a secondary power that you need to learn about.

These social media sites should be used as a supportive tool to promote carefully selected items that will help CLEAR out stock that isn’t selling, or will boost SALES items that aren’t performing as they should be. This is called individual product promotion, and it’s used as a secondary marketing strategy to keep your online sales healthy and growing.

• Use social media to sell one item in bulk
• Use it to clear out old stock
• Use it to sell stock that didn’t perform as well as planned
• Use it to sell expensive items that move slowly
• Use it to sell cheap items that move quickly

As a social media manager and business owner, it’s always your goal to make as many sales as possible. This is possible with long-term marketing and social media maintenance, but sometimes you’ll come across opportunities for blow-out sales. This is when you need to use your social media pages to sell in bulk, to everyone!

Identifying Individual Products For Mass Promotion

As you sell online, you’ll begin to notice and track what people want, what they don’t want, and how they behave on your storefront pages. I’ll never forget coming across some strange analytics data that prompted a new social media strategy for me a while back. I had my good sales, my great sales, and my poor performers – as all stores do.

Then I noticed I also had a particular product that was being visited like crazy, but no sales were happening. The bounce rate was even low – people were reading the product descriptions and looking through the images. Demand was there, but sales were not. I decided to give this product more exposure on social media sites.

The result was that by the end of week 3, I had run out of stock. I had also made a ton of extra sales, simply by honing in on a problem, and finding a solution to it. Here’s basically what I did, and how you can do it too!

Courtesy of socialselling.com.au

• I set a goal for the product: one month to sell-out
• I dedicated my financial resources to creating content for the promotion of this one individual product
• I had 10 additional images made, 3 infographics, 2 tutorials, and the rest were product images (some were used in real-world situations)
• I created a series of 5 blog posts around the product, and 2 guest posts that I used on some of my friend’s blogs
• Each image was paired with social media content. For Facebook I did high impact updates, for Twitter high converting tweets. Pinterest and Flickr got the images.
• I let my LinkedIn groups know about this special product sale
• I used other social media promotional tools like StumbleUpon, Dig, Reddit and Delicious
• I created a brief talking head video outlining why people should use the product
• I created 5 sales emails linked to social media pages, and a newsletter dedicated to exposure for this one product

I spent very little money, and the return on investment was large. I think there’s a good reason why this worked so well on my social media pages. For once, my customer base wasn’t being told to go and look at products. They were being told to buy a specific product, which is much more streamlined and efficient.

Secondly, my social media community helped make my images go viral – which meant that I managed to get thousands of viral views on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter because the content I created was credible, interesting and usable by other people or sellers. It reminded me how sometimes we just need to focus on the little things.

Yes, overall sales are important for your storefront – but having micro strategies can often lead to better results than you think. I sold maybe 3 or 4 of those products before this campaign, and moved literally hundreds of products by week 3.

Thanks to my social media infrastructure I got more fans, and even additional sales at my online store from one product promotion. That’s why today I’m giving you some homework to do. If you have an online storefront brimming with products that aren’t selling, try choosing and promoting just one. Have solid reasons for choosing it, via analytics.

Courtesy of flyingstartonline.co.uk

Then spend the next month launching a full-scale exposure campaign, focused on this one thing. See how it goes. I bet that the sales and the traffic returns will surprise you.

Adding these micro strategies to your overall marketing strategy will almost always result in a boost in site sales. Plus, you get the added bonus of getting rid of products that aren’t really selling.

The next time around, you can find some products that sell better, and add them to your inventory instead. Analytics is about performing these tests and changes, and utilizing the social media power of exposure to keep your profits rolling in.

I find that these strategies are very useful just after the holidays. Who wants to buy a Christmas tree ornament in January? Quite a few people actually. It’s just about using your social media networks to find them.

Have you ever tried focusing all of your social media power on one product? I’d love to hear about it!

Courtesy of hyype.com

The 5 Principles of Social Media Management

As a social media manager you need to be uniquely aware of the online marketplace, and the social dynamics that occur on each social media network. In order to begin your journey as a manager that knows what they are doing – you need to hold these principles in high esteem. Only then will you be able to properly define your job, and your goals.

#1: Social Media Management is About Consistency

Principle number one states that consistency is key. As a social media manager you will have to learn to become a time management Jedi, as your accounts will achieve nothing without consistent content and quality. Daily posting is just a part of this overall plan. You need to create strategies that guarantee all your social properties are fed with content.

#2: Social Media Management is About Influence

Principle number two states that you must have an influencer strategy that runs alongside your other social media strategies. Experts know that small business pages won’t get anywhere without decent exposure and the only way to secure that is to make friends with top influencers. Social media managers need to focus on this more often.

#3: Social Media Management is About Practical Measurement

Principle number three states that social media success is dependent on your ability to practically test, measure, read and draw conclusions from analytics data. It’s a cycle of identifying an area that needs improvement, working on it – and then testing to see whether the results turned out in your favor. Constant improvement is key for social media managers.

#4: Social Media Management is About Exposure

Principle number four states that social media is about exposure, and the many ways you can get it. One area to work on is your appearance in mainstream media. Using press releases and online reporting sites like helpareporter.com, you can build authority – and even land television, radio or blog appearances that will help grow your communities.

#5: Social Media Management is About Engagement

Principle number five involves the one element that no good social strategy can be without – engagement. If your fans aren’t communicating with you, then you’ve failed as a social media manager. All of your strategies and content need to be geared towards prompting action or causing crowd sourced content from your fans.

The Basic Skills Every Social Media Manager Needs

If those 5 principles didn’t orientate you, then this surely will. All social media manager need to have a specific set of skills to do their job properly. First and foremost, social media managers are MEDIA specialists. They know how different types of content can be used to illicit emotional and physical responses from people.

• Ability to use Photoshop or other image editing programs
• Ability to use Lightwave or video editing software
• Ability to use apps like Vine, Instagram and TweetDeck
• Ability to optimize content for the search engines
• Ability to write engaging, grammatically correct copy
• A business understanding of social media platforms
• Ability to cleanly and easily market and sell in a social environment
• Ability to schedule, manage and navigate daily deadlines

Courtesy of mmarley.com

Each of these skills are very important to a social media manager. Without a few of these, you won’t be able to create your own media, or run your own social campaigns. If you don’t know how to work with images, or video for example – you’re excluding an essential part of an overall social media strategy that can be highly effective.

Great social media managers are intelligent, curious, conversational, fast, a natural goal-setter and a results-orientated media specialist.

The Social Media Management Routine

Social media managers should work to a set routine, to maximize their time. At least half an hour of their day should be dedicated to news in their niche. When a manager knows what the absolute latest news is, they can capitalize on it for all of their social media outlets. It’s important that a large portion of their daily content is to-the-minute fresh.

This is because many social platforms and Google rank content by ‘relevancy’ which means that it needs to be tied to a current event.

• Beginning of the month content strategy and scheduling
• The 80/20 rule – 80% valuable content, 20% direct marketing content
• Creating content for 3 hours a day
• Posting or publishing content for 2 hours a day
• Monitoring analytics for an hour a day
• Taking notes and staying informed for 1 hour a day
• Reaching out to influencers for an hour a day

Social media managers can also decide to have content made for them, or to dedicate more than 3 hours per day to content creation. The social media machine is always hungry, and it always needs to be fed.

Social Media Content Rules

For the efficient social media manager, the content is what matters most. All content needs to be organized in specific ways so that it is easier to manage. Let’s take a closer look at how content should be used, sourced or published.

Courtesy of shastapeakmarketing.com

• Holiday or occasion based content
• Relevant, time sensitive content
• RARE niche specific content
• Content sourced from influencers, experts and fans
• Content that is cured from the internet
• Content that is meant to sell, promote or market

All content must have a purpose, which means that it’s best to decide which platform you’re making the content for, before you actually create it. That way it will work a lot better.

• Social media dashboard

As a social media manager you’ll be working with several different types of content, within several different types of platforms in an ever changing online arena. You will need some help to manage this content, and that help comes in the form of a good social media dashboard like Hootsuite, TweetDeck or Argyle Social.

Social media managers use these dashboards to schedule their automatic content, and to organize what sort of content needs to come next. There is always content you can create that is very general, and this makes for good foundational content for your platforms.

There are certain rules that you must abide by if your content is going to do well, in a sea of millions of other pieces of content.

• Your images must always be beautiful, inspiring, educational or profound
• Your videos must always be stylized (fans must be able to see they belong to you)
• Your text must always be the absolute best you can make it

There is a reason why social media managers need to create content that is way better than their competitors. If they don’t, they won’t accelerate the pace of their strategies. Everything slows down when content is average, or poor. Social media is about speed and quality – the publishers with the best content, published the quickest – get the traffic, fans and sales.

The Social Media Manager and Connections

There is a principle that is used in social media, known loosely as the ‘association’ principle – whereby authority, credibility and fame is gained according to who is in your network, and who you are visibility close to online. A no-name blogger that gets guest posts from other no-name bloggers doesn’t mean anything to people.

But a no-name blogger that gets guest posts, videos, audio and images from top names in their niche is clearly someone to follow. They are ‘up and coming’ stars. That’s why, the savvy social media manager knows that to make the RIGHT friends online can skyrocket any strategies from the beginning. It should be your first priority when you begin.

Connect with bloggers, authors, experts and speakers that can help you launch your business properly. This is one strategy you won’t find anywhere online. It’s tough to approach and impress people that don’t know you. But there are ways!

• Create an influencer strategy
• List 20 people you simply must have in your networks
• Follow all of their social media pages
• Comment, share, like, on all of their social media for 4 weeks
• Engage them in conversation several times
• Be an advocate for their business, before approaching them
• Once they know who you are, send an introductory email
• Get blogs, tweets, events, videos and audio from them!

Your Social Media Manager Scoreboard

As old as Excel is to many people, it’s still the only efficient way you can really keep track of all your social media strategies and practices online. Use an Excel spread sheet to detail which platforms you’re on, what you’re doing there, when and how. Take notes all the time and record your results.

You’ll notice patterns forming over time, and you’ll be able to make your own adjustments to improve your overall campaign. The ‘overall’ improvement is tough, as social media dashboards only offer limited help. That’s why every social media manager, in my opinion, should know how to use Excel. It’s one scoreboard you don’t want to ignore.

Common Social Media Management Mistakes

All social media managers are basically self-taught, unless you did a few of our excellent courses that we offer here at SMMU. But on the whole, the industry is littered with mistakes, based on practices that don’t work. Here are a few to avoid.

• Marketing and advertising practices are short term. This is wrong! Marketing content is a long term strategy, while advertising is more of an instant technique.

• Social media is about online exposure and engagement first. Wrong! Social media is first and foremost about selling in a non-intrusive manner. One example may be to build communities around you brand…for long term selling.

• People hate all forms of selling on social media. Wrong! People don’t like direct sales, but there are many other ways to sell – by being a quality brand, by engaging your customers, by offering discounts, deals and value to your consumers.

• Winging it will work. Wrong! You can wing it on social media, but don’t expect any serious results. Only really lazy, really bad social media manager’s wing-it, with no strategy at all. This is considered poor practice in the industry.

Courtesy of maestrosocialmedia.com

The Route To Social Management Success

The only way to really excel as a social media manager for your own business, is to make sure that your basic infrastructure is in place. You must have access to content on a daily basis. You must be posting several times a day. You must build the main assets of your business online – these are:

• Your website or blog email list is an asset
• Your fan count on any social platform is an asset
• Your level of engagement on any social platform is an asset
• The viral potential of your content is an asset

A modern social media manager can achieve success with very little financial input, if they are willing to trade their time for results. Don’t expect to follow the ‘15 mins’ a day recipe and suddenly expect to have a lot of sales from your online profile. Sales – which are your ultimate goal – only come from strategy, analysis and expertise in content.

As a social media manager you are a seller above all else. A social seller that is able to access many people, many opinions and many wallets on your own social media properties.

What part of managing your social media do you find the most difficult? Drop me a line and I’ll see if I can help.

Courtesy of mybloggertricks.com

Social Websites That Help To Boost Your SEO

• Social media sites that are content heavy are great for SEO
• Social sites that are image heavy and highly viral are great for inspiring traffic
• Social media marketing platforms with fast interaction are great for SEO

Let’s take a look at these 5 hidden social media sites that will help you drive enormous traffic numbers to your websites.

#1: The Power of Pinterest

Pinterest, the break-out social media success of 2012 is THE social marketing platform for creating and driving traffic now. Pinterest beats Twitter, StumbleUpon, Google, Bing and Yahoo in referral traffic stats. It’s the fourth largest platform for traffic referrals in the world.

How To Use Pinterest?

If traffic is your goal, make social media sites like Pinterest a priority. Include it as one of your top 3, along with Facebook and Twitter. It really has incredible viral potential, and has the ability to drive thousands of people to your websites merely using images and comments as an attraction model. It’s affordable, simple and you’ll see results immediately.

Courtesy of marketingpilgrim.com

#2: The Fury of Facebook

It’s true – Facebook produces 75% of all referral traffic on social media sites. The reason why it’s here at number 2, is that Pinterest users are a lot more likely to buy, share and interact once they get to your websites – making them more valuable than Facebook users.

How To Use Facebook?

Social media sites like Facebook need to be your top priority for driving traffic to your websites. Use social media management to effectively diversify your update strategy, and create lots of engaging content there. Videos, media, podcasts, slideshows, text and images – Facebook wants it all.

#3: The Rise of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has just undergone a makeover, and has recently seen a 1000% jump in referral traffic to Facebook. Twitter decided to part ways with the business social media marketing giant, which had an impact on both sites. The main impact being that people were now moving from LinkedIn to Facebook, to your websites.

How To Use LinkedIn?

Social media sites like LinkedIn should be used for business purposes, but they need to be optimized as well. All of your group or business posts need to be SEO’d, not to mention your profile. If you can create a nice LinkedIn traffic boost, your Facebook referral traffic will automatically increase, as will your website traffic.

Courtesy of entrepreneur.com

#4: The Booming Blog

Social websites like your blog have the power to generate tons of excellent traffic, simply by focusing on a comprehensive SEO strategy. When you rise in the ranks, people will visit your blog more often, and your social sites will funnel extra visitors there as well. Your blog can then do what your website can’t – gain clients as fans.

How To Use Your Blog?

The only way to use social media sites properly in this instance, is to have a daily content strategy. Your optimized blog posts and accompanying social media updates should send your blog running up the ranking ladder. After 3 months you should be on page 1. But you must post on these social media pages each day.

#5: Growling Google+ or Terrific Twitter?

You’ve probably heard a lot about social media sites like Google+ being great as an SEO tool to boost your traffic ratios – right? Well, here’s some news for you – don’t bother. People have reported a steady decline in referral traffic from Google+ since its inception. You are better off using Twitter as a social site to generate traffic. Why? Because sharing there is fast and Google likes that.

How To Use Twitter?

I would recommend at least 4-8 tweets per day that have been pre-written and optimized with keywords and appropriate hashtags. These don’t include the ‘response’ tweets you should be sending to inspire conversation in your network.

These social media sites will get you that extra traffic you need each day. All you have to do is maintain a solid, performance –based social strategy and the traffic will happen. What are you waiting for? Go and work on your social SEO immediately!

Sign up for our new webinar on LinkedIn here!

Otherwise, how do you increase traffic to your websites using social media?

Courtesy of Mashable.com

#1: Real Life Drives Online Social

If, like many other small businesses online, you find your social campaigns lacking interaction – there’s a very simple way to solve that problem. As the Mashable meetups proved, real life is what truly drives social interaction online. Get out there, take photographic evidence, share real experiences and network with others who are doing the same!

Tip! If you’re not yet involved in conferences, workshops, seminars and networking events, then get involved now.

#2: The Power of Hashtags Revisited

Social media day was just another piece of evidence that hashtags can be an instrumental part of your marketing campaign. Mashable seized upon the hashtag #SMDay, and promoted it across 278 cities. The result was a blast of information during the meetups, with enough attention to make even the most lazy marketer come away with new fans, and a massive boost in sales. It’s the eyes and interaction you want.

Tip! If you’re going to be part of an event, get a hashtag going so that people can interact online during the event!

#3: The Benefits of Live Tweeting

Pete Cashmore understands the benefits of live tweeting. I’d bet almost anything that during these meetups, the Mashable site received a huge increase in traffic from all over the net. Live tweeting is a potent form of marketing, and can be used to speak directly to large numbers of people all over the globe, at a given time.

Tip! Live tweeting allows you to collect live market research, source social proof, do some high impact sales, and will attract bulk traffic to your sites.

#4: Building a Large Fan Base

The recent meetups for social media day are a great reminder about how important it is to build a following of real people, who interact with your business. In less than a week, you can organize events, and have large numbers on your side. Imagine how much more successful your product launches, sales and gatherings will be.

Tip! Don’t forget to build your fan base each month. Just remember to make sure that they are all real people, who genuinely like interacting with you.

#5: Fan Relationships For Viral Networking

When you have a dedicated fan base of ‘friends’ you have access to their communities. Your 5000 followers, and 50 other people’s 2000 followers will all be able to see your message, if you really want to get it out there. That’s over 100,000 people that might see your message. It’s controlled viral marketing, and it only happens when you have close relationships with fans.

Tip! Build up a network of fans who are only too glad to share your posts. This will trigger a controlled viral marketing effect, which leads to success nearly every time.

Do you have a great social media tip that you learned during social media day? Share it with the SMM community here!

Courtesy of virgin.com

#1: Real Estate Sales

At number 1, is the real estate industry. People love connecting and sharing text, images and videos about property. Plus, the realtors have learned to use mobile social technology, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ to increase sales – even for big ticket items like multi-million dollar homes

#2: Careers Niche

Job hunting, head hunting, executive search and career advice couldn’t be a bigger social niche than it is right now. If you’re in careers, you’re in social.

#3: Blogging For Money

In at 3 is blogging for money – loads of people are teaching individuals and companies how to achieve excellent results by running a business blog.

#4: Universities

Education loves social media – to the point where students are even connected to a mobile social network to receive direct updates from the Dean.

#5: PC Hardware

Direct sales for PC and tech equipment abounds, not only on private sites, but on places like Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist – where it’s all built around social communities.

#6: Technology Field

With gadgets, innovations, technology and inventions on the rise, the tech field is very integrated with all things social media. You’ll find that tech newsletters have the best social integration of all, with an entire community infused into monthly updates.

#7: Mobile Marketing

While mobile marketing is technically a form of social media, there’s no doubting that social and mobile belong together. It’s the hottest niche right now, by far.

#8: Social Media

Strange as it sounds, social media itself is a massive niche, with millions of people claiming to be ‘experts’ on the subject. I guess as a viral niche, you don’t get any better! If you select this niche though, make sure you start from the ground up.

#9: Gaming Niche

App games, PC games or console games – the world is obsessed with gaming. That’s why it works so well with social media. Gamers want to be in-the-know all the time.

#10: The Humor Racket

Coming in last is a vague niche that still dominates the internet – humor! With memes and joke sites on the rise, social is taking this niche to a whole new level. One meme has so much viral potential that millions of people could view it after just a few hours.

These 10 niches are the fields that are making the most of social media, to modernize their processes and make more money. If you’ve been searching for a new niche that would benefit from your social media skills – pick one of these!

Heard of any other niches that should be part of this list? Tell me what it is and why it’s leading the way with social media, here.

Courtesy of blog.seevibes.com

Red Carpet Mayhem: It’s In The Image

When the cameras come out, the internet comes alive. If there’s one thing the Oscars proved this year, it’s that social image sharing and grouping is on the rise. With sites like Pinterest leading the way, you need to make sure that you ramp up your image strategies to meet the demand.

There’s Nothing Like a Good Story

The movies that came away as big winners this year were all based around engrossing, emotional stories. Just look at Hugo and The Artist as an example. This proves that all people want to watch, read and experience a darn good story. If your blog has been clicking along, perhaps it’s time to change your tactics. Sell your readers a great story, and see how they respond!

Twitter is an Events Goldmine

If you happened to be on Twitter on the night of the Oscars, you’ll remember the huge impact that it had on the network. For several hours it was all people could talk about! While the Oscars is a big deal in Hollywood, you can translate the hype on Twitter to make something happen for your small business. Clearly, if you want word to get out fast, tweeting about it is the right thing to do.

Why don’t you try live-tweeting from your next event? It’s free exposure!

Self Promotion Pays Off Big Time

Everyone watched the Oscars this year. It’s because they learned to take advantage of different social media! There was an Oscar’s application that you could download to keep you posted on all things Oscar-related.

Then there was the ‘second screen’ interaction play that they made. Fans could tune in, and see the Oscars from a non-traditional point of view through the Oscar.com website and their application. On the night there were 20 live cameras broadcasting additional content.

If you think up extraordinary ways for fans to interact and experience your brand, it will pay off. You need to look into different subscriber models and live action-packed experiences on your Youtube feed.

Driving traffic is the name of the game here. If you can figure out how to use social media to drive the kind of traffic the Oscars delivered, you’re in for a pay rise. They might have larger resources and deeper pockets than you have, but all of these methods can be implemented on a smaller scale by a creative team, or an ambitious individual!

Don’t forget to focus on images and live content this year in your social strategy. The Oscars have proven that they work wonders. They can work for you too!

What was your favourite Oscar moment? Does it inspire you to be more social online? Tell us your story!

Courtesy of viralblog.com

#1: Get in On Mobile

Mobile marketing will take on a whole new dimension this year, as app creation increases, ad platforms evolve and more and more people search for services on their smartphones. If you haven’t made your website mobile compliant yet, then add this to your to-do list. It’s also a good idea to look into mobile advertising.

Trends predict that 2012 will be the year of the smartphone, so plan for it now and it may bring you additional revenue this year.

#2: Use Pinterest For Business

Look at adding Pinterest to your social networks in 2012. The site is growing fast, and there are tons of different business functions that you can use. Add a Pinterest button to your website or blog, or use the new network for a viral image campaign. Get your profile up and running!

Pinterest already attracts more traffic than Google+, this should tell you something!

#3: Make Your Emails Social

If you haven’t already integrated social marketing into your email campaign, this is the year to do it. Research shows that people love social community emails, especially if they’re involved in them. Send more free courses and tips to your lists, and encourage them to be active on your social networks, with your emails.

Make a point of appreciating a community member in your monthly emails.

#4: Launch Your First Live Twitter Chat

Twitter is evolving, which means that now is the right time to break into the Twitter chat market. Host special live Twitter chats for your clients, fans and networks, and always leave them wanting more of your industry know-how. If you do this once a month, your Twitter community will expand like crazy.

A large Twitter following will come in handy when they launch the new business pages.

#5: Youtube Television

If you still haven’t started your own Youtube television series, 2012 is waiting. Youtube is growing in leaps and bounds – and you want an established presence when the social network hits its full potential. Create small, brief video clips and brand them as a series to attract more subscribers.

Youtube is still the linchpin of video marketing on the internet. But it’s become a social network now, and your business strategy needs to adjust to it!

Use these 5 must have inclusions in your 2012 social media strategy. Any one of them has the potential to catapult your social marketing income from a little, to a lot! It’s all about focusing on the right sites this year. So, take our advice and invest a bit more into these specific areas.

What do you think social marketers should be doing this year? Add to our list to contribute to the SMM community.

Courtesy of theuksportsnetwork.com

Eight 2012 Social Media Predictions

• Facebook will continue to be a site for social interaction, while Google+ moves towards becoming more of a business network. Our prediction is that Google+ will be an invaluable business tool this year.

• The growth of content networks will be a big one in 2012. Businesses will realize that to efficiently impact their target demographics – they have to spread out and be highly visible on a number of sites.

• Content production. Because network growth will increase, the need for original or curated content will also increase. Smaller brands will find it tough to keep up with the demand – so plan for a content windfall this year.

• Youtube videos will become ten times more important this year. Small businesses should be creating and posting their own videos to keep up with larger companies that are trying to seize the market share again.

• The impact of applications will become prominent in 2012, which means that all small businesses should invest in one. Even if it’s small and basic, it’s a value added service that you can’t pass up to stay competitive.

• Small business owners will begin to see the value of having mobile versions of their online sites created. Optimizing for mobile is critical in 2012, as mobile marketing, applications and ad spend will skyrocket this year.

• Email will make a comeback, but only if marketers learn to integrate it into their social strategies in 2012, with socially driven email campaigns, brands will be able to build their lists faster, and get more repeat visits and sales.

• Twitter will become less of a social network this year, and more of a business tool – just like Google+. Its growth in the B2B sector will largely be thanks to the new changes that Twitter has recently made on their site.

A few other fearless predications have been that Apple will buy Twitter, because it needs to secure a greater social presence. That Google will shamelessly use Youtube to re-launch the failed Google TV idea, and that new sites like Pinterest and Instagram will grow exponentially – largely to a declining interest in the larger sites.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the realm of social media this year. While many of these predictions may already be coming true – we’ll see their full impact as we edge towards August. Some marketers have already predicted the end of Twitter or the decline of Facebook.

The only way to know for sure is to keep reading. We’ll watch out for any news that arises and keep you informed.

Any 2012 social media predictions you’d like to make? Add them to our list below.

Courtesy of viget.com

Today we’re going to take a look at the different types of social personality people relate to, and how you can create your own powerful online personality.

A Quick Disclaimer

You might be thinking – “but I’ve heard that being yourself is always best?” While this is true for many people, not everyone can communicate their personality in words. We aren’t all born writers, so it helps to have some guidelines in place!

What’s Your Social Media Personality?

You can fit yourself into one of these 3 categories, which will help you understand how you communicate with people online. From there we will identify what you need to work on, and why. The #1 rule is consistency. Always be the same person on every page.

#1: The Quiet Observer

You post infrequently, and check up on those posts all the time to see if you get any responses. You read tons of social content, but you rarely comment. In fact, you’re a big fan of the ‘like’ button. Your personality online is reserved and hesitant.

You can’t wait around for things to happen online. If you’re going to succeed you need to work harder on the amount of content you post, and respond too. Always speak in the first person, and practice chatting to people on other networks.

#2: The Active Participator

You love to comment on other people’s posts, but you have no idea what to post on your own pages. You tend to think that more is better, because it increases your chances of getting responses. Most of the content you post has no real purpose.

Continue to comment on other feeds, but sit down and work out what people love to talk about in your niche. Figure out a friendly, approachable and interactive way to start conversations on your pages. Learn what interests your readers and use it.

#3: The Rule Follower

You want your pages to be successful so you implement techniques and tactics you learn from authorities. The problem is, that you’re so busy testing what works, your content lacks that personal touch. Strategies are important, but it’s time to inject some life into your social campaign. Not everything has to be done by the book!

Do you fit into one of these three categories? Most of us will relate to at least one of these personality types. If you don’t want to share your private life with your fans, invent an alter-ego that everyone can enjoy. Often when you don’t speak as yourself it lets your creativity run wild, which is great for personal connections.

Most of all, empathize, listen, relate and have fun with your readers. Each post should set up the conversation, and then you have the green light to inject that personality into the comment sections! Tell stories, and let your readers see who you are!

Which one of these social personality types do you relate to and why? We want to hear from you!

Courtesy of shopify.com

#1: Bare Minimum or Bust

Posting the occasional update on Facebook and Twitter, and popping up a blog once a month, is not how you succeed in social media. Doing the bare minimum is a waste of time. You need strategy, innovation and creativity to succeed in the social sphere. Avoid making this mistake by planning for success first, with a social strategy.

#2: Responses as an Afterthought

Social media is about two-way communication. If you’re posting like mad, and firing off quick replies: stop! Replies and responses are the most important part of your strategy. Your goal is always to create and stimulate a conversation. Avoid this horrible mistake by spending time replying, with insight and authority.

#3: A 1 Person Social Strategy

There is no way that you can maintain a great social presence on your own. One person social campaigns don’t work, unless they’re done by a pro – who works on it full time. You need help. Avoid this mistake by applying all of your effort to one social page, or hire a team who can dedicate the right resources to your strategy.

#4: Social Media is Free!

Let’s get something straight – social media is not free. It takes investment on your part to make it work. You’ll have to invest in content, SEO, multimedia, strategies and learning resources before you can kick it off properly. It’s extremely rare that someone gets massive returns without investing any money in social media.

#5: Cross Networking is King

For a complete social strategy you have to connect and unify your social sites. You can’t just work on each site individually. Each piece of content you create, needs to be reworked and shared in other formats across all of your networks. Avoid wasting your content themes by only publishing them on one social site!

#6: Ignoring Social Analytics Tools

It’s possible to monitor, track and analyze a ton of data from your marketing efforts on social sites. Yet, people still ignore analytics tools! If you don’t know what works and what doesn’t, you’ll keep making the same mistakes and your campaign will fail. Avoid failure by learning how to use analytics tools before you launch a strategy.

#7: Not Nurturing Real Relationships

It can be an overwhelming task, but you must try and connect with people, to nurture real online relationships. It’s these community members that will go on to buy from you. If you’re distant or not genuinely interested in befriending them, it will show. Avoid this by becoming a people magnet. Make those relationships bonds like steel!

Is there a social media mistake that isn’t on this list? Please add a mistake below, to share your knowledge with our community.