Thursday 26 February 2015

What is Social Media Optimization and How Can I Do It?

Social media optimization is one of the primary online marketing strategies you need to know--and it's getting more important every day. It is a catch-all term for making your pages more visible in social media searches and easier to link to.
It also refers to making your content easier to distribute via other websites, in a way that helps instead of hurts you (i.e. doesn't violate your copyright, brings in good social media traffic, etc.). Her are some social media optimization basics.
One of the most basic things you can do to improve your standing with social media is to place social media buttons on your web pages. Sites like Digg, Reddit, Sumbleupon and Technorati all have graphic buttons you can insert into your web pages, which make it easy for users of those sites to add you to their favorites list on those sites.
Finding those buttons isn't hard--it's easy to find the html for these buttons on each site (you can use Google or the site's own internal search engine). If you used WordPress to build your site, or you're running a Wordpress blog, a plugin called Socialble lets you add these buttons with the click of a mouse.
Digg.com has a special "Digg This" button that can work out better for you, if you think you'll be getting a lot of Digg traffic. This button allows members to vote on your site instead of adding a new bookmark or story. More votes give you a more powerful link/story, vs. many smaller ones. A few other social bookmarking sites--like Sphinn--offer this as well.
RSS feeds are another good way to increase your social bookmarking optimization, if you have a blog. Sites like Technorati--the number one social media and bookmarking site for blogs--and Google Blog search use RSS feeds to index blogs. Having an RSS feed also
Adding an RSS feed is relatively simple. Feedburner.com provides an easy way to RSS feed to your blog, making it great for beginners. It also offers tracking, and
Using video and photo sites is another essential part of social media optimization. You'll definitely want to get an account with Flickr.com. Then, add all the images from your blog or website, and link them to the appropriate pages or posts.
Video sites are good for increasing your visibility, as well. You can make a video of yourself or a friend using a product or talking about your niche. You can also use software like Camtasia, to make instructional videos.
Once you've done this, add a black bar at the bottom of the screen, with your website's name on it, then submit it to YouTube, Google Video, and any other video sharing site you can think of. If your video catches some attention, it may wind up on other people's blogs or websites. This helps out the website owner by providing free content--and helps you out by providing "free advertising" and social media optimization!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1454791

Using Social Media to Your Advantage

Working on the social media side of SEO isn't as easy as it seems, and should not be used merely to get links. Firstly, it is very time consuming and secondly there is a certain way to go about it. Spamming forums or blog comment boxes with "I agree!" type comments isn't exactly giving you or your company a good reputation, nor will it earn you any traffic.
I am going to touch on 5 social media practises: forums, social bookmarking, blogging, article submission and social networking sites. Not everyone will agree that all of these topics fall into social media, and that's fine. The way I see it, all of these topics deal directly with people and therefore fall into the social media category. But enough of that and on to the subject at hand.
1. Forums
Forums are a great source of information. You will find a wide range of expertise on the subject matter of your choice, from beginners to gurus, and all levels of people use forums to share their opinions and knowledge.
Generally, there are a few things that you need to remember when using forums:
- You may only be using them to try and find information but they are a great way to get your brand out there and get some backlinks - that doesn't mean you should spam them with replies or threads that don't really contribute or are merely for advertising purposes. Start threads that will entice people to reply or click the link in your signature, when you reply, reply with something helpful. Ask your own questions. Using forums in this way builds a good reputation for you and your brand, earning traffic as well as links. If you spam the sites people won't give your contributions a second glance and you may even get banned.
- You should read the rules for the forums that you join, that way there is less chance of you being banned for something you might not have known you were doing that is wrong.
- If you do have links to your websites in your signature, try not to list more than 3 otherwise it looks spammy. I'm more inclined to only list 1 as it is more "authentic" but most forums suggest no more than 3.
- The most important thing to remember is that it's not just about getting the links, this is a good opportunity to find regular traffic and learn new things, make it count.
Some good forums are webmaster-talk.com, http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com and webproworld.com.
2. Social bookmarking
This is another good way to get links and if you use it, the right kind of traffic too. Social bookmarking is simply telling bookmarking sites that you like certain articles or stories, and sharing those articles with other members when you submit them. You can vote on stories that you like or don't like and leave reviews.
Of course you can submit your own blog posts or article submissions, but if people see only submissions relating to your site, you could lose valuable traffic because you look like you are spamming the sites.
There is no "trick" to using this kind of social media - all you have to do is not "pretend" to look authentic...but actually be authentic. You will receive worthwhile traffic and build a good reputation this way. Submit interesting articles you read, or blog posts you find funny, include a profile picture...do anything a real user would do - because that is what you should be. There is no quick fix. You need to act like a human in order to receive human interaction with your site.
Some sites you can use are StumbleUpon, Digg and Sphinn.
3. Blogging
By owning a blog you get to share your thoughts, ideas and business with a huge audience. If your content is useful enough you will get links and loyal followers too.
The trick here is to not make the blog about you, make it about your audience. If you have specials running, sure, share it with them...but don't make your entire blog about specials your company is running. That will encourage...nothing. No links, no loyal followers and no comments.
Make your content relevant and interesting to read. Comment on other blogs you find interesting too - people read those comments and you may get some extra traffic if you contribute something worthwhile, maybe even a link from the blogger whose post you are commenting on - if you get their attention. Interaction is key to making your blog successful.
Other ways of getting more traffic and links in this social media category is by guest posting on other blogs and sponsoring competitions (you will earn links from the bloggers running those competitions etc).
Some good blogs for SEO are mattcutts.com/blog, seobook.com, seo-scoop.com and http://www.interleado.com/blog.
4. Article submission
There are many online article submission sites you can use to showcase your articles. As with blogging, if they are interesting and helpful enough, they will earn you links and traffic.
Most of these social media sites require an article length of around 500 words - this is to help to ensure that the articles that are submitted are worthwhile reading. As with the other mentioned social media categories, making an article all about a special you are running won't earn you anything and will probably not be published - most sites have a waiting period of up to 7 days so that the articles can be reviewed.
There are many free article submission sites online such as eZineArticles and ArticleBase. You will be able to find lists of these sites on forums and in blogs - all you have to do is search.
5. Social networking sites
These sites put you in touch with people of similar interests. You are able to create groups that you can send updates to, network with other members and on some sites post articles that the members of the groups may find interesting. Some examples are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
The thing to remember with social media is that pretending to be involved isn't enough to earn you the traffic you need. If you are interested, people will be interested in you - show them your interest. Let your audience know that you have opinions and knowledge to share, or questions to ask.
More importantly - make sure your business will benefit from this aspect of SEO as it is time consuming and hard work needs to be put in. Articles and blog posts need to be optimised for the search engines, profiles needs to be created, forums and blogs need to be checked and contributed to. But what's anything without a little hard work?


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1646850

Simple Tricks to Make Your Site More Social Media Ready

Once thought to be a passing fad, and although still relatively new, social media is now taking a firm hold and warrants attention in many retailers' online marketing efforts.
You can't avoid it. No matter where you turn it seems you hear terms like "fan page", "followers", "tweet", "re-tweet", "blog" and more being used. With all the social media hype, many are questioning what social media actually is and how they can use it to move their business forward.
In this article I am going to explain what social media is, provide some strategies for making your site more social media friendly, touch upon differences between options presented by major social media outlets, and answer the question of whether you should do it yourself, or hire a consultant to do it for you.
Social Media can be time consuming, but when implemented correctly can add a level to your business that helps build brand loyalty, and awareness which in turn can boost your bottom line.
What is Social Media?
Wikipedia defines social media as: media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.
In other words, it is a group of Internet-based applications that utilize new web concepts to promote user generated content.
Examples of some of the major social applications currently online are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Twitter can be seen as a "micro blog" type service that enables you to post short messages of up to 140 characters that are fed in real time to your followers. Facebook is more of a "publishing" platform which enables you to create a page that integrates multiple media options into one (i.e. discussion boards, blogs, photos, shopping carts, etc...) YouTube is a service that enables you to produce video content to the masses (possibly to demonstrate the use of your product.)
The power and uniqueness of each provides pros and cons. Because Facebook has a little more of a learning curve to it and because it has a number of options to choose from, I'll briefly touch upon that below.
Simple Tricks to Make Your Site More Social Media Friendly
Whether or not you're on social media platforms or not, odds are you're customers are. They're sharing your URL with their friends on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or MySpace.
If you want to engage in social media marketing, you'll want to be sure to have that presence reflected on your e-commerce site.
Social Sharing
There are dozens of sites you can visit that will provide embeddable code which can be used to create social networking icons on your site. These icons make it easy for visitors to share what they like about your site with their social media friends and followers.
A couple of sites worth checking out are ShareThis. ShareThis is a tool you can install on your site that makes it easier for visitors to share with their network. You've probably seen some form of ShareThis on news sites. There are typically several icons spread out in a horizontal line or grouped together under a header of "Share." Installing this tool lets your visitors easily spread the word via social networking sites about a page or website - yours - they like.
Add This is very similar to ShareThis. Both require site registration and a little publisher information, but both are also easy to use and do basically the same thing.
Show off your Social Media presence
If you're on several social networking sites, it behooves you to display that affiliation somewhere on your site. For the consummate online shopper, these links show you're not just an e-commerce beginner. The more social media sites you're a part of, the more web-knowledgeable you look and the greater brand awareness you can build.
You can display your social media links either in self-created sidebar module or by using sites like Lijit ( http://www.lijit.com ). Lijit is similar to ShareThis; however, rather than pushing people out social networking sites, Lijit pulls them into your other sites.
Facebook Fan Page or Group?
A question that often gets asked when it comes to Facebook and brands is should you build a Facebook Group Page or a Fan Page?
It is a good question and the answer depends mostly on what your plans are for your site. I've broken down the pros and cons of both a fan page versus a group page below.
Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Fan Pages are a great option for brands - including e-commerce sites - that plan on posting information at least once a week.
Facebook Fan Page Pro's:
* Looks polished; closely resembles an individual profile page
* Can include videos, photos, links, events, etc.
* Can be fed into "fans'" update stream similar to an individual profile update
* Can be given a customized url similar to an individual profile
* Hides the name and address of the page creator
* Offers options to add applications such as a Twitter feed
* Includes a "wall" similar to individual profiles that people can post comments on
* Can be paired with a Facebook Fan Page Widget on your site
Facebook Fan Page Con's:
* More difficult to manage conversations between fans
* Conversations are on display for the public to see
* Unable to convert Facebook Groups to Fan Pages if you've already got a Group page set up
* Until you have an adequate number of fans, you'll be posting a lot
* A dismal Fan Page linked to your site can hurt your inbound links in SEO
Facebook Group Page
Facebook Group pages are easy to create and slightly more personal than a Fan Page. Because it is not a constantly fed profile-like page, posts do not need to be as often.
Facebook Group Pro's
* Can be more intimate; people see who created the group
* Still allows for pictures, photos, videos, events, etc. to be posted
* Allows for emails to be sent to all group members
* Pre-dates Fan Pages; more familiarity among early adopters of Facebook
Facebook Group Con's
* Visitors must visit your group page for updates
* Does not allow applications to be added to the group page
* Offers visibility
* Will automatically post related groups to your group page whether you want them or not
* Cannot be linked to your site via widget(s)
The Verdict? Consider a Facebook Fan Page if you want to keep your "fans" up to date on the goings on of your site. Consider a Group if you have a niche within your site that people might want to create conversations about.
Should You Hire a Social Media Consultant for Your Site?
With the hundreds of social sites and applications available, it's easy to get overwhelmed. When you're already trying to keep your e-commerce business afloat, social media can seem unnecessary and time-consuming.
Research has shown, however, that e-commerce retailers are reaping the benefits of this new media channel (i.e., offering better customer service and increased sales) so it pays to use it.
Not everyone is social media savvy nor do they have the time which is why a lot of companies hire consultants to help them with their campaigns.
Do you need a consultant or should you do your own work?
When to hire a social media consultant:
* If you really do not have the time to commit to a social marketing campaign.
* If you don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of social applications.
* If you don't consider yourself a strong writer and/or interactive with your audience.
* If you want to launch a large social media campaign and need experts to help get things off the ground.
* If you tend to defer project work to experts rather than attempt to try it yourself.
When to do your own social media work:
* If you're familiar with social media sites (like YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook) and use them on a personal basis.
* If you're a quick-learner and tech-savvy.
* If you're planning a small campaign with only one or two social sites.
* If you have content ready to post on a blog (or Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Note: Social media consultants tend to pay per project or per hour depending on their rates and availability.
What We've Learned
Social media seems to be here to stay. It most certainly will evolve and change as time goes, but you can be sure that in one form or another social media will continue. It's much like the TV or radio were when they began and the power it harnesses for those who use it will shine through.
It can bring awareness to your product or brand and help you build a stronger relationship with your customers which can lead to greater sales and future growth for your business.
Having said that, keep in mind that social media can be time consuming and integrating a social media marketing campaign into your business should not be taken lightly. Proper planning and implementation is critical to your success-you may even want to consider hiring an expert to handle it for you. This will largely depend on your needs, budget, and time you have to allocate your own resources to getting the job done in-house.
When it comes to Facebook and the choice between creating a Fan Page or a Group, you'll want to consider your objective before you determine which is best for you. Fan Pages are best for pushing brands and for ecommerce sites that can commit to posting at least once per week. Consider a Facebook Group if you want a more personal touch and if you can't commit to posting at least once per week.
Integrating social media into your site is easy. There are sites that provide the code and icons for you to simply paste into your web structure. Once you are utilizing social media make sure you display it on your site so customers know where to find you.
Remember, social media is a tool that can push your business and brand forward. Plan carefully and choose wisely. Like those that harnessed the power of TV and radio, social media adopters will see the benefits with time.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3498170

Instagram Tutorial!


Wednesday 18 February 2015

Social Networking: Instagram Vs Pinterest Which One Is Right for Your Business?

Instagram
The visual social network Instagram has gained over 100 million users and more than 40% of leading brands in approximately 2 years. Instagram is attractive for businesses as it provides them access to an extensive and engaged mobile user base through visual content.
Instagram recently overtook Twitter by having a larger number of daily active mobile users. Where Instagram had 7.3 million users, Twitter was slightly behind with 6.9 million. This statistic is more significant because Twitter has more than 555 million users, which reflects the high engagement levels of Instagram users. If your business is still not on Instagram, you could be missing out on all these engaged users.
You could benefit from being on Instagram if you are an online retail business and have excellent photos of your products. Instagram audience would provide feedback about your products with comments, which is more effective than Pinterest, where users tend to like and pin more and comment less. The photos on Instagram are usually less traditional, because creative photos are likely to get more attention.
Instagram could be right for you if you have an interesting story to tell. Instagram is more intimate, which is why celebrities post their photos and can connect with fans on Instagram immediately. Photos of your company events, employees and their achievements connect with audiences on a level where they see what goes on behind the scenes. Such photos would not be right to post on Pinterest.
Furthermore, it is very easy to share images from Instagram to your Twitter, Facebook or Flickr pages.
Pinterest
Pinterest is the fastest growing website that provides a brilliant visual social platform for any business to capture and engage an audience. Pinterest is different from Instagram as it does not require users to sign up for an individual account to browse and view pins. Although Pinterest has only 12 million registered users compared to the 100 million users at Instagram, the significant number or users without accounts and unique visitors make up to more than 104 million visits in a month for Pinterest. Pinterest has provided more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn altogether.
Pinterest is a suitable platform for your company if you have an online business with videos or photos of your products that falls into a few categories on Pinterest. your popular andrelevant pins could be visible to users interested in these categories and a click will get them to the relevant page on your website.
Pinterest would be good for your company if it creates excellent content, such as infographics, blog posts or company news. Push your content on Pinterest as you do on other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
The conclusion
Both Instagram and Pinterest offer distinctive ways to connect and engage with online audiences, so the best tool for your business would have to be Pinstagram! Since your audience members might be on any one of these sites, you might miss out on opportunities by not being on either one.
For more information on social media, always consult with a reputable social media company or website design company.
Max Chohan is a professional web designer in Dubai working for a leading graphic design company in the Middle East. At Puzzleworks Design, he has has the expertise to offer advice on successful social media strategies.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7653053

What Is Instagram?

Such a big agreement is likely to once again provoke cries of a website bubble and draw incredulous pants from user wondering why a 16 month old image sharing application is value so much finance.
So what is instagram, and why is it made so much finance?
Instagram bills itself as a big fun way to share image with friends. Users snap images with cell phones and then select from more than a dozen filters to give the images a special look. They have caption and their place, and share with friends on social networking websites such as twitter and Facebook.
But the true value to Facebook is the cell phone community instagram made in such a small time.
It is now one of the biggest social networks with more than 40 million sign up users, which can follow friends like images and comments on them. More than 1 billion images have been downloaded or about 6 million per day. The amount of daily user is very high, the images generate more than 600 likes per second and more than 85 comments per second.
Instagram holds the record for the quick application to reach 1.5 million downloads, on 21 Dec, 2010. Apple titled it the application of the years in 2011.
Like so many other application and social networks websites. Anyway, Instagram has not yet figured out a company model. But firms such as Urban out filters and Ann Taylor have made accounts to market their brands, and many politicians and celebrities are members.
Instagram has a largest connection to Facebook and twitter, which has also been rumored as a powerful buyer. Instagram application CEO and founder Kevin was an ODEO, the firm that spawned social networking website twitter. In 2006 Stanford University spend two years at Google search engine, working on Google reader and Gmail, and also on the corporate development group.
Users
  • By 2010 December, Instagram had 1.5 million registered users. In june 2011 instagram released 5 million users announcement, passing 10 million in 2010 September.
  • Instagram announced that 100 million images have been shared to its service as 2011 July. The sum reached 150 million share in 2012 April to August, it was released that over 30 million registration of instagram application.
  • Instagram fresh android edition in Google play a vital role and have more than 1 million download within only half day.
Awards
  • In 2011 January, Instagram was the best little guy for Mobile phone application at the year 2010 Tech Crunch crunchies.
  • In 2011 May, Best and fast firm scheduled CEO Kevin systrom at number 66 in the, top best people in Business 2011.
  • In 2011 June, Inc magazine haven co-founders Krieger and systrom in its 2011, 30 list and 30 under.
  • In 2011 September, instagram won "top locally made mobile phone application award" in the SF weekly.
  • 7x7 popular magazines issued in 2011 featured Krieger and systrom on the first cover of their top business deals.
  • In December 2011, Apple Inc, title instagram "Application of the year in 2011"


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7257178

Ways To Get More Followers On Instagram

People who use Instagram always want more followers. If they are new, they want more followers, and if they have used Instagram for years, they want more followers.
People always want to be popular in real life, and that is the same on their social networks. Instagram is no different and the people who have a lot of followers can make a living off their social networks.
If you are new to Instagram, then it can be a little bit intimidating, but you should take your time and have fun. Don't be worrying if you only have followers who are your friends in real life. The more you post, the more followers you will get.
Schedule
If you want to be popular on Instagram and you want to keep your followers, then you have to post often. If you want to take it a bit more seriously, you should stick to a posting schedule, so your followers know when the new image is going to be updated.
If you have some downtime and you don't post for a while, then your followers might delete you in favor of following someone else. Your friends in real life won't do this to you, but if you have followers who follow you because they have similar interests, then they might unfollow you.
Tagging
When you first upload to Instagram, you probably won't know to use tags. This is something that is true for everyone, when they first started using the website or App. So, don't think that you are on your own here.
Even the most popular Instagrammer has a first image and if you go through their history to find it, they probably won't have any tags on it.
However, you should learn quickly that you should be tagging your pictures if you want to make more friends. If you don't tag, then the image will only be visible to users who are already on your friends list.
This is because there is nothing attached to the image, to make it searchable. For example, if you tag your image with the word 'football,' then when other users search for 'football,' the image will appear in the search results.
That is how you get more followers. When someone finds your images and they are interested in whatever the tag is they will add you to their friends list because they are interested in seeing more.
Social Networks
It is possible to find more followers by using your other social media platforms. If you link social networks like Twitter and Facebook to your Instagram, then the image will be shared there when you post to Instagram.
You will get more followers this way because your tags will also work on those social networks. So, you will get followers with similar interests. You might even engage followers who don't have Instagram. You post might be the post that gets them to join Instagram.
Trends
You can also get more followers by looking at the hashtag trends and posting an image that suits that trend. For example, if you know that a lot of people post POTD (picture of the day) tags, then you can post an image on that similar trend.
It could be anything that you want and a lot of people will see it. Once you have posted with this tag a few times, you will notice that people who like pictures of the day will start to add you as their friend. Your exposure will have doubled.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8395875

INSTAGRAM TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNERS AND NEWBIES


Monday 16 February 2015

Brands on Instagram

The popular photo-sharing app, Instagram, gives its 50 million users the opportunity to become armature photographers with a unique photo editing feature set that has exploded in popularity over the last year. However, Instagram has not only provided a creative new medium for wannabe photographers, but for brands as well. Many brands have taken advantage of the opportunity to give consumers an artistic, behind-the-scenes look at what their products and services have to offer.
Today, some brands are using Instagram to give consumers behind-the-scenes looks at sporting events or fashion shows. Some brands have even enlisted highly influential Instagram users for advertising purposes. Here are a few brands that are effectively using Instagram for marketing, branding and advertising purposes:
1. Red Bull: From the average social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, to the new and uncharted social apps like the popular video sharing app, Viddy, Red Bull is definitely an industry leader when it comes to online marketing - and their Instagram presence is no exception. Red Bull posts a "daily awesome" photo, and maintains the tradition of "Flying Friday" to keep fans and followers engaged. However, Red Bull doesn't stop with just posting engaging content, the brand has also been known to "Like" other users photos as well.
2. Puma: Rather than simply celebrating shoes, Puma's Instagram was set up to highlight all the cool places that shoes take you. Puma has been known to send influential Instagram users to big events across the globe and take pictures. Puma even sent some very lucky and influential Instagram users to Abu Dhabi so they can Instagram the Volvo Ocean Race. Since Puma doesn't have the following of some other brands (like Red Bull), this strategy of employing influential users to photograph events was a good way of ensuring more people saw the pictures.
3. Tiffany's: Tiffany's adopted Instagram as part of its campaign about true love. They employed a well-known fashion blogging couple to take snapshots of love stories in Paris and New York and them on Instagram. Tiffany's also gave couples the opportunity to submit their own photos using the Tiffany's downloadable Instagram filter. Beyond just incorporating Instagram into their true love campaign, Tiffany's also used the photo-sharing app to give fans an inside look at how jewelry is made.
Though Instagram is still a fairly new medium for online marketing, many brands are realizing the power of and advantages of using the photo-sharing app for marketing purposes. Though it may require a great deal of creativity and thought to work Instagram into a company's social media strategy, those that have done so have seen amazing results and been greatly accepted by users on the platform.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7130961

Instagram Product Managers Attempt To Do The Impossible

Welcome to the crazy world of social media. You know, the market segment where one day there's nothing and then the next day there's a brand new company that is worth billions. The story of Instagram is just like this. This photo sharing social media hub came out of nowhere and ended up being bought by Facebook for US$1 billion. Now comes the hard part: how will Instagram's product managers change things so that Instagram can start to make money... ?
Instagram's World Today
Instagram is an "app" that runs on both Apple and Android mobile devices. The company has identified its mission statement as being "... to capture and share the world's moments... " It does this by allowing its users to snap photos with their cell phone cameras and then share them online.
When Facebook purchased Instagram for US$1 billion, they did it for one single purpose: to help Facebook expand into the mobile market segment. Facebook was struggling to capture a piece of this ever growing market.
Instagram has an active user base of roughly 150M users who all enjoy the app's cool, clean design that allows them to easily share photos. Any change to this could quickly cause users to leave and go find another app to use for their photo sharing needs - remember what happened to MySpace?
What Instagram's Product Managers Can Do
Instagram's product managers have a real challenge in front of them. The key to their success is to rethink their product development definition and find a way to add advertising to their app in a way that does not anger or upset their current base of users. The first step that the product managers have taken is to catalog all of the brand marketers who are currently using Instagram for free. This is a good effort and they can probably add it to their product manager resume.
The product managers are now sitting down with those companies to see how they can make advertising on Instagram even more valuable to them. The challenge that they face is that if the ads on the app become too "in your face", then they risk driving their base of customers away.
What is still missing from the product manager's bag of tricks are the quantitative tools that they are going to need to make selling ad space successful. These tools will allow advertisers to determine the reach and the efficacy of their Instagram advertising efforts. The long-term goal has to be to keep things simple for the end users. If they make things too complicated, then their product will not be successful.
What All Of This Means For You
There is no doubt about it: Instagram is a very popular social media service. However, they have a huge problem: right now they don't have any way to make money. Facebook didn't spend $1 billion dollars to buy Instagram just because they liked the way that it looked. They want it to make money. Changes need to happen.
Instagram's product managers have a delicate balance that they need to strike that was never discussed in their product manager job description. On one hand they have to keep Instagram's clean design that has attracted 150M users. On the other, they need to start to add ads so that the company can make money. One of the biggest challenges is that many companies are using Instagram for free to promote their products.
The goal of the Instagram product managers has to be to keep things simple. Avoiding overloading their users with splashy ads while still providing the "eyeballs" that their advertisers covet will be the key to Instagram's success. It can be done, it's just going to take some good product management to pull it off!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8474191

How to Add Instagram to Your YouTube Profile by Finding Your Instagram Profile Web Address or URL

Instagram is becoming ever more popular. Even to the point of being acquired by Facebook for $1 Billion. But how do you find your Instagram profile web address or URL? And how do you share your feeds with other people on the net? Not only that but how do you add your Instagram account to your YouTube profile? All that and more will be answered in this article.
Step A: Find the Custom URL Submission Form
1. Sign into YouTube.
2. Click and open the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner of the page where you see your username.
3. Click on "My Channel"
4. Locate the "About" section of your channel and click on "Edit"
5. Scroll down to the form that says:
Add a new link
Title_______________
Custom URL________
6. Minimize this window for later use.
STEP B: How to Get Your Instagram URL or Web Address
1. Visit www[dot]Followgram[dot]me
2. Click in the upper right and corner where it says "Sign in via Instagram"
3. Type your Instagram username into the "Username" form field located on the Instagram page you were redirected to.
4. Type your Instagram password into the "Password" form field located on the same page.
5. Click on the "Login" button located on that same page.
6. Read the agreement terms before you authorize Followgram.me to gain access to your account but keep in mind that you will not be able to retrieve a Instagram web address or URL until you accept their terms. It's like this with all the 3rd party Instagram apps since Instagram does not supply web addresses or URL's for their members.
7. Click on the "Yes" button.
8. Type your email address into the "Verify your account" form.
9. Click on the "Send" button.
STEP C: Confirm Your Followgram.me Account
1. Open a new internet window via FireFox, Chrome or Internet Explorer.
2. Sign into your email service E.g. Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, etc.
3. Check your inbox for the confirmation email that Followgram.me sent you.
- If you cannot find it check inside your spam folder since there is a really good chance it's in there.
- If it's not in your inbox or spam folder, wait five to ten minutes for it to arrive.
4. Open the email sent from info[at]followgram[dot]me entitled "Confirm your followgram.me account"
5. Click on the link at the bottom of the email they sent you (e.g. [http]://followgram[dot]me/confirm/sda92u354ksfae934waewfrsdfj3 )
6. You just created your very own Instagram web address / URL.
STEP D: How to Add Your Followgram.me Web Address / URL to Your YouTube Profile
1. If you finished the numbers outlined in STEP C it would have opened another window with the following web address / URL:
[http]://followgram[dot]me/dashboard.
2. Look to the right hand side of the pop-up page you opened (the page that you opened after clicking on the confirmation link) and highlight your new custom web address / URL (e.g. [http]://followgram[dot]me/pinkiericegurl/ ). It's right below "Share your vanity page" and right above the "Tweet" button.

3. Press Ctrl + C or right click over the web address / URL showed in section two of this step (STEP D). 
4. Minimize the Followgram.me internet window for later use. 
5. Reopen the internet window you used to find your Custom URL Submission Form on YouTube showed in STEP A. 
6. Click in the "Title" field in the "Add a new link" form found in STEP A then type in a title that is appropriate for your Instagram profile E.g. PinkieRiceGurl (Instagram). This title will be displayed on your YouTube Channel unless you remove it later. 
7. Press Ctrl + V or right click in the "Title" field and select "Paste" 
8. Click on the "Add" button. 
9. Scroll up to the top of the page and click "Apply" just below the "Search Channel" field. 
10. Congratulations! You now have a custom Instagram web address / URL displayed on your YouTube Channel! Feel free to share your new URL on Facebook, Twitter or via email.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7016941

Instagram for Beginners - A little video


Tips For Using Instagram For Business

Now that many of us have finally figured out how to spell Pinterest along comes Instagram. Instagram is a mobile application that is the brain child of Kevin Systrom, a college friend of Mark Zuckerberg's. In fact, Zuckerberg invited Systrom to join him at Facebook when the social media site was still just an idea in Zuckerberg's head, but Systrom opted to stay in school. That decision has resulted in Systrom becoming Silicon Valley's, and Stanford University's, latest internet billionaire.
Instagram is a free photo sharing social media site launched on October 6, 2010. It allows users to download photos, process them through a digital filter, and share them with other users they are connected to. Instagram has been wildly successful from the start. By December 2010 they already had over 1 million users. By April 2012, 30 million users were downloading over 150 million photos on Instagram. Also in April, Instagram became available to android users. Seeing a threat to its social media dominance, Facebook acted fast to neutralize its latest competitor. Again in April, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion.
How can local small businesses utilize Instagram? First, you have to register. To register a business you must have a location page. In order to create location page for your business, you must create an account in Foursquare. Foursquare is a location based social media site for mobile users. Instagram uses Foursquare's location database to tag a photo to that location. If your location is not already listed on Foursquare's database, you can add it by following these steps as recommended on Instagram's webpage:
  1. Download and sign up for Foursquare from the App Store: http://bit.ly/lx9vzb or on Google Play.
  2. Go to the Check-in tab and search for the name of the place you want to add
  3. Tap the "Add this place" option.
  4. Once you've added the place to the Foursquare database, you should be able to search for it on the Location screen in Instagram and select it to tag your photo with the place you've created.
  5. Upload your photo, then tap on the place name (in blue text) that appears above your photo to see the location page you've created, where your photo and all photos tagged with this location in the future will appear.
Once you're set with Foursquare, go ahead and set up your Instagram account:
1. Sing up using your brand name as the user name.
2. Add a profile picture, information about the business and a link to your website
3. Link to our other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Now that you have your account set up, you can begin to build a presence on Instagram. Among the strategies that you can use are:
1. Share compelling content. Where have you heard that before? Anyone who has followed inbound marketing, seo, and building an online presence knows that it all starts with content. Don't be afraid to experiment with your photos. Ask for feedback from your followers. What do they like the most? How about the least?
2. Use hashtags to find more followers and share your photos. When using hashtags, be specific. This will help you find like-minded people who will be more likely to be interested in your product or service. So instead of simply saying #car, say #bmw. Try to engage the people who are most directly interested in your product. Look at what other businesses are doing within your industry. They probably have used ideas that have not occurred to you.
3. Share the photo on other social media sites. Instagram allows you to easily share photos on Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Once these users see your photo they will go to your site, or begin to follow you on Instagram.
4. Make sure your photos tell the story you want to tell. Posting a photo of that great steak dinner you're about to eat won't do you much good if you own a tire shop. Be authentic. Your users will be able to tell if the photos you are posting are actual or not
5. Be consistent. Don't over-saturate your posts, but post often enough to keep our followers engaged.
One of the criticisms of Instagram is that its filters destroy good photographs. This complaint has come mainly from professional photographers who may be feeling the heat of competition. Their standards of what is acceptable are generally higher than the public at large as well. For most business purposes, the photo reproduction in Instagram is "good enough".
The other criticism is that Instagram has no business model and little or no income. But that is Facebook's problem, not yours. As more and more online searchers conduct business on mobile devices, it is the prudent online marketer who will benefit the most. Leveraging apps like Instagram will pay dividends down the road.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7247643

What Does It Take to Get to the Instagram "Most Popular" List?

No doubt, the most effective way of gaining tremendous and quick social recognition in Instagram is to appear in the "Most Popular" list.
Imagine the Instagram team sends you a congratulation message and soon after that your number of followers rapidly increases. The feeling of making it to the "Most Popular" list in Instagram will be quite exciting.
You might be wondering how to make it to Instagram's "most popular" list.
If you want to become a "most popular" in Instagram, then you should consider the following strategies.
What is the Secret Formula to Become an Instagram "Most Popular" Member?
Instagram's "Most Populars" algorithm is not really known although the amount of "likes" seems to be an important factor. Your chances of appearing in the "Most Popular" will increase the more likes you get as quickly as possible.
You will most likely become a part of this valued chart once you receive lots of "Likes".
This means that the most fundamental and important criterion is the number of followers. Nonetheless, it is also equally important that you work on your profile with genuine interest.
Just like Twitter, following a lot of people on Instagram is the easiest way of having "followers" and in return, a certain number of them will add to you too. Nonetheless, keep in mind that doing good work, being constant and patient is the most natural way of getting new followers.
How to promote your Instagram profile excellently?
1. Who you are
Use your original name and nickname, which are easy to mention and remember.
2. Your profile picture
If you are not an extremely handsome guy or a good-looking girl, there are still a few tricks you can use to make your profile picture stand out.
3. Some other elements that you promote your profile include humanity, humility and humor.
Boost yourself to the "Most Populars"
1. Picture quality
Be creative, original and spend time editing.
2. Picture information
Give your pictures a human touch, titles and use effects.
3. Where is it?
Link Instagram account to Foursquare and Geo-Tag your pictures.
4. Transmit knowledge to your users
Add value to the lives of your users and they will follow you with more interest.
5. Put interest in your users
If you want a bigger group of friends, be ready to spend more time communicating with your community.
6. Be original by using emoticons in your comments and nicks.
7. Organize original contests
It's good but can take lots of time.
8. "Hits" are worth celebrating! Never forget to thank and congratulate your followers.
Remember there are over one million Instagramers in the world. Do not forget, Instagram is a global app and your location is very important in your attempt to become the most popular on Instagram.
If you are from a country like Japan or USA, where Instagram is massively used, you will have higher chances of entering the "Most Populars" ranking. Along with location, the time you post is equally important to get followers. Soon enough, Instagram might also start taking different countries, different thematics, and more local factors into consideration when creating a "Most Popular" ranking. This might not have happened yet, but can be expected in the near future.
If you want local followers from your time zone, then you should post in the morning while they are awake but still in bed, and/or at night when they are headed to bed. Users tend to check their Instagram account and other social network profiles at these times. Then again, if you want to make it to the "Most Populars" list, you will also have to focus on followers from all around the world.
Good photos and patience!
If you want one of your photos to appear in the Instagram "most popular" list, then you will have to work hard and be patient. Patience is not just a virtue but will turn out to become the key to being rated "Most Popular".
To be patient you will also have to learn to be dedicated as well. To become "most popular" on Instagram, you will also have to start thinking and helping others as well. You cannot create a network in just a single shot!
Being ranked into the "Most Popular" list on Instagram is certainly an accomplishment worth bragging, but to get there you will have to make quite an effort, and it will take time.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7251228