7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2015

By Jason DeMers at Forbes: 

It’s that time again: When I look ahead to 2015 to predict social media marketing trends we can expect over the coming year. If you want to see what I predicted for 2014 (and whether those predictions came true), you can do so here:

But without further ado, here are my top 7 social media marketing predictions for 2015!


1. We’ll witness the rise of Ello

What we couldn’t have predicted last year was the emergence of a new social platform intended to go head-to-head with social media giant, Facebook. The platform, which is still in public beta (meaning invite-only), has caused quite a stir; dubbed by some as the ‘hipster social network’, Ello offers a forever ad-free experience and promises to never sell its users’ information to third parties. Their website states: “Collecting and selling your personal data, reading your posts to your friends, and mapping your social connections for profit is both creepy and unethical. Under the guise of offering a “free” service, users pay a high price in intrusive advertising and lack of privacy.”


It’s unclear at this point whether the extreme buzz around the platform is simply because of its positioning as the ‘anti-Facebook’, or whether it has the substance, design and functionality to actually become a serious competitor for Facebook. Engagement on the platform doesn’t seem to be high at this point, and some are pointing out the current weaknesses of the platform, including the lack of video-integration and meaningful conversation and engagement.

Regardless, Ello is likely to grow in 2015, both in terms of numbers and engagement, and many will be watching closely. For more background on the platform, see my article,

Ello: What Is It and Why Does Everyone Want an Invite?


2. Facebook ad pricing and demand will significantly increase

It’s no secret that Facebook post reach is significantly decreasing, and has become a serious problem for business owners who are using the platform for marketing purposes. This steady decline in reach is what has been coined the Filtered Feed Problem.

As Facebook continues to limit the number of posts page fans actually see, the demand for promoted posts and ads will continue to increase. And with this increased demand will come increased pricing. According to an Ad Week article earlier this year, 2014 Q1 Facebook ad pricing was up 10% over 2013 Q4 pricing. This trend is likely to continue into 2015 as organic post reach continues to fall.


3. Twitter’s new business advertising model will skyrocket in popularity.

With Twitter’s move to offering businesses more choice and flexibility in how and what they pay for in terms of advertising, more small and medium sized businesses will jump on the Twitter ad bandwagon.  The new fee structure allows businesses to pay for certain performance-based actions rather than just retweets or clicks.

These objective-based campaigns, which are still currently in beta, will offer more flexibility including tweet engagements (retweets, replies, etc.), website clicks or conversions, app installs, new followers and leads. These campaigns will be particularly appealing to small business owners who want to pay for results, not just for brand visibility.


4. Google+ will begin to fade into obscurity

With the failure of Google’s Authorship experiment, Google+ now brings no unique value that Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook don’t already provide. After the highly publicized departure of Google+ chief evangelist Vic Gundotra earlier this year, along with TechCrunch declaring Google+ “The Walking Dead”, the platform is quickly making the descent into obscurity.

In fact, according to Tech Crunch, Google+ will “no longer be considered a product, but a platform — essentially ending its competition with other social networks like Facebook and Twitter.”

For an in-depth conversation on the rise and fall of Google+, see my post Is Google+ Really Walking Dead?.


5. Instagram will become essential for image-based social media marketing

Instagram isn’t showing any signs of slowing down; not by a long shot. With 200 million monthly users, Instagram has become the network when it comes to image-based social media marketing. Research confirms this, although perhaps not to the same extent: According to the Social Media Marketing Industry report, 42% of marketers are planning to increase their use of the platform this year, compared to 38% in 2013.

Instagram will also continue to grow in the micro-video space. With both Vine and Instagram vying for billing as the top video networking site, the platforms have continued to differentiate themselves from the other offering different features, video lengths and editing capabilities. However, I believe we’ll see Instagram begin to outpace Vine as we enter 2015.

And with the recent emergence of Instagram’s in-feed video advertising, marketers will now have the option of paying to target their 15-second videos to users based on age, gender and country. While some have called the new video ads incongruous, the new feature is a welcome addition for marketers looking to promote their wares to Instagram’s young, affluent user base.


6. LinkedIn will widen the gap as “the” B2B social network

LinkedIn has been the top network of choice for the B2B crowd for years already, and I believe we’ll see the gap between LinkedIn and other networks continue to widen in 2015.

While B2C marketers report LinkedIn as being significantly less important than Facebook or Twitter for their marketing efforts, the numbers are quite different for the B2B crowd: according to the 2014 Social Media Examiner survey, 88% of B2B marketers are using LinkedIn, compared to 89% for Facebook and 86% for Twitter. I believe 2015 is the year LinkedIn will surpass Facebook for B2B marketing.

For guidance on using LinkedIn for your business, see my article, The Definitive Guide to LinkedIn Groups for Marketing.


7. Social media marketing will finally be embraced as a core pillar of content marketing

In 2015, marketers will finally realize that there are two core pillars of a content marketing strategy: publication and distribution. Marketers will learn that social media is the most effective method of expanding the reach and visibility of their content, and because of this, will come to view social media as more of an “amplifier” for their published content rather than as the content itself.

In 2014, we saw marketers succeed at realizing the importance of creating and publishing content with the rise of “content strategy” as a buzzword and core focus of online marketers, but many failed when it came to designing and executing a successful content distribution strategy. I discussed this trend in my article, Why No One’s Reading Your Marketing Content.

So, while the content marketing buzz continues to pick up steam, marketers needs to remember that a distribution strategy for that content is just as important, if not more important, than the content itself.


Conclusion

These predictions aside, I’m curious to see the state of social shopping in 2015, particularly as it relates to Pinterest and to Facebook’s new ‘Buy’ button. I’ll keep an eye on this and other trends, and keep you posted as we venture into 2015 and beyond.

Instagram for Small Businesses: Your New Best Friend

By Stephanie Jones at Social Media Today:  


Instagram is possibly the new lifeblood of social media platforms for small businesses.  Is that overdramatic? I thought so, but it’s true in a sense.  Businesses are seeing a drastic decrease in organic reach to their followers on Facebook, which until the last year or so has been the bread and butter for small businesses.  We’re not saying you need to get rid of your account, but it’s a good time to start putting you eggs in some other baskets, too.

Instagram is a great place to start.  Just in case you don’t know, Instagram is a social media platform that allows its users to share images with other followers.  For now, it is free to all users and is an easy way to get your business’ name out into the universe.  And it’s a growing universe; there were 200 million users as of the end of March 2014.  What’s more, 75 million are daily Instagram users.

Whether you’re brand spanking new to the world of Instagram or have found yourself unsure of how to manage your account, here are some tips to turn you into a small business Instagram marketing guru.

1)     Brand Your Account
The first thing you should do when setting up an IG account is to make your mark by personalizing and branding your profile.  Add your logo or headshot as your profile picture, type up a quick bio and include a link to your business’ website or Facebook page.  Leaving this information out is a red flag to other IG users as it appears you aren’t a credible source or a spammer.

2)     Grow Your Following
The next step is to connect your IG account to your Facebook account.  This not only allows you to see who is on Instagram, but it also allows you to cross post your images to Facebook – a great way to drive engagement on both platforms! The area where Instagram is the same as other social platforms: you must engage.  Like other users’ images and leave comments.  You can also create Facebook Instagram apps via Woobox. This gives your account further exposure on your business page.

3)     Follow Back
You don’t have to follow ALL of your followers, but those whose ideas and interests align with your business are exactly the type of folks you should follow.  That way you can stay engaged with them and they, in turn, will engage with you and your content.

4)     Don’t Over Post
It’s kind of easy to get carried away on Instagram, especially if you have several pieces of content that you know will make your followers go gaga! The great thing about Instagram’s news feed is that it’s pretty laid back, where an image can be viewed in a feed for up to 15 hours.  Because of this, it’s not necessary to even post daily, but many brands do.  The average amount of Instagram posts by Top 100 brands is 5.5 times per week.

5)     Balance Your Images
While Instagram is a fun platform and is a great way to share your business’ story, you have to remember you’re there to engage your customers.  Make sure that you have a balance of fun photos with photos that highlight your product or business.

People love visual content, so that makes Instagram the ideal social media marketing platform for small businesses.  It’s also currently a completely free way to market your business to potentially millions.  Follow people, engage and you will have an impassioned following before you can say hashtag.

Instagram For Your Business: 20 Brilliant Ideas!

By Megan Corwin at Social Solutions Collective:


Instagram For Service Providers?

Have you fallen into the trap of thinking that, if you’re a service provider there’s little you can share on Instagram? After all, you don’t have any products to photograph. And don’t forget the perception that business is boring.

It’s time to quit with the excuses! With a bit of creativity, it is possible for service providers to find and create consistent visual content to share with their audience.

Here are twenty (20) Instagram image ideas for service providers.

Text Based

Use text with the ideas below to create graphics.

1- Quotes from industry related literature. Be sure to provide source info.
2- Blog posts titles, quotes or teaser text
3- Quick tips or tricks
4- Information about a new service package or offering
5- Questions – great for engagement and gathering info

There are plenty of options for creating beautiful text based images for Instagram. This list of free resources is a good place to start.


Industry Related

By posting industry related images, you can share your knowledge about your business and areas of expertise.

6- Educational events or trade shows you attend
7- Pictures of you with speakers or industry experts you meet during events
8- The cover of a suggested book about an industry topic
9- Apps, tools, or products that might benefit your audience


Your Company & Services

Sharing images of your company, and your employees providing your services can be a subtle way of demonstrating the value you provide without feeling like you are selling or overly promoting.

10- The setting for a new workshop you are teaching
11- Newly purchased equipment or tools that will improve your services
12- Happy customers
13- Before and after showing the benefits of your service
14- Articles about your business or your ad in a local publication
15- Awards ceremonies
16- Your workspace


Relationship Building … Just For Fun!

All business and no fun can create a dull Instagram feed. Occasionally mix in an image that allows your audience to get to know your personality.

17- The coffee shop where you do your writing
18- Local weather –especially anything out of the ordinary or beautiful
19- Your office mascot – your pet, plant, or coffee mug
20- YOU! When few and far between, selfies can be a great way to connect.

There you go! A quick list of twenty ways service providers can make an impact with Instagram.


Do you have any ideas to add to the list?




Via Social Solutions Collective.

200M Instagramers: What Does This Mean For You?

By Avtar Ram Singh at Social Media Today:

In a release earlier today, Instagram announced that they've just hit the 200 million monthly active users mark. It's a number to celebrate, both for Instagram and Facebook, given that after the acquisition Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would be happy if Instagram were to reach 100 million users.

The number today is double of that - meaning Instagram managed a growth rate of 100% in the last year.

Exponential growth, however, isn't something that causes a storm in the social world any more, what with the crazy amounts of virality that Upworthy and BuzzFeed manage to muster from each article.

But what stands out in Instagram's growth story is that 50 million of their 200 million users joined in the last six months. Another story that's slowly surfacing is the addition and integration of Facebook places into Instagram, which would mean either adding Facebook places as an option for location tagging of photos, or a complete removal of Foursquare itself. Anything is possible - so wait before you take sides.

So Instagram hit 200 million monthly active users. What else do we know about it? Beta21 put together a crisp, shareable infographic with some interesting number based facts.

With 75 million daily users, and 43% of the brands posting each day - Instagram definitely feels like a platform for all companies and brands to jump into. However - it would do you some good to understand what makes Instagram work, and whether or not it's still a viable option for your brand.

- The growth in Instagram hasn't quite changed the audience that flocks it. A reported 34% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18-24. What's more interesting is that the 12-17 age bracket takes up 20% of the total userspace on Instagram - meaning over half the people on Instagram are between the ages of 12-24.

- Instagram isn't a place to drive sales. Shopify's infographic that documents which social media platforms drive the most amount of sales should explain why.

- 3 out of the top 5 brands on Instagram are from the automobile industry. That should tell you a little bit more about what Instagram is all about.

I might be extremely simple in my thinking when it comes to choosing social networks for your brand - but the only policy I go with is this: If your target audience is on the social platform, you should be there too.

In what capacity? That's for you to decide.

If your target audience is the younger demographic between the ages of 12-24, then you should definitely have a presence on Instagram - even if it's one that involves you not talking about your product at all, but simply engaging and interacting with your fans to understand what they like.

After all, there are 200 million people on there - surely a few will be interested in what you have to show them. The question is - is it worth your while to be there now?

#INFOGRAPHIC: The Year of The Selfie! Facts and Statistics

By Shea Bennett at Media Bistro:

Seemingly overnight, the humble selfie has become nothing short of a phenomenon.

Millions are shared each and every day across all the major social media platforms. Indeed, according to data from Samsung, selfies make up almost one-third of all photos taken by people aged 18-24, with Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat bearing the brunt of that load.

And, of course, last month Bradley Cooper’s Oscars selfie become Twitter’s most retweeted post of all time.

This visual from Techinfographics.com reveals some eye-opening selfie statistics, facts and figures.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Tips and Tricks for Creating Videos on Vine and Instagram

By Christie Barakat at SocialTimes: 

Ever since Facebook rolled out video sharing on Instagram to compete with Twitter’s Vine service, the industry has been debating which platform is best. The day Instagram video launched, Vine shares on Twitter dropped by 40 percent. However, Vine continues to rise in popularity among brands. Both platforms have made short-form video a viable resource and important engagement medium for marketers — with a maximum of six seconds on Vine and 15 seconds on Instagram.


A recent three-month analysis by Socialbakers found that while consumers often share Vine videos, it has proven highly unsuccessful for marketers. The study found that 28 percent of brands currently use Instagram for content, whereas only 7 percent are using Vine.

Vine has 40 million users compared to Instagram’s 150 million. Yet other numbers indicate that Instagram is still primarily a photo-sharing app and that more users will see your video with Vine than with Instagram. Overall though, brands post content from both platforms on Twitter.

Engagement
Tell a story that adheres to the medium and represents your brand — resist the urge to cram too much content into a Vine or Instagram video. Add continuity throughout scenes by keeping either the foreground or background consistent, and remember that a single-shot clip or dramatic scene plays well on social video.

Instagram’s 15 seconds stimulates storytelling that has a beginning, middle and end. Vine’s infinite loops are enjoyable to watch and encourage viewing beyond six seconds — use the trendy #loop hashtag.

Content
Short videos can be used as building blocks, or story beats, of larger narratives more fitting for blog posts and web copy. Focus on inspirational and fun content that elicits positive emotions.

Instagram is better for creating “how-to” content and showcasing products. And it offers video stabilization, still frame and editing capabilities. Businesses are using Vine to promote new products and highlight special offers or giveaways. Major brands — and users — have used its stop-motion clips to create amazing videos.



Metrics
Vine’s Twitter integration makes it easy to analyze any given Vine’s performance, and its “revine” function encourages viewers to share Vines with their followers. Instagram offers seamlesss Facebook integration; its on-platform engagement entails comments, likes, hashtags and @name tagging.

On both platforms, brands often reference themselves as a hashtag instead of an “@” link to their profiles, which opens up the discussion to include user-generated content (rather than just pushing out advertising). Trending hashtags gather and promote testimonials and independently-created ads.

Which Social Media Platform Is Best for Your Business?

By Luke Chitwood at TNW:

It is commonly suggested that to increase your brand presence, you need to be active on all forms of social media. While that may be true, unless your company has a dedicated social media coordinator, finding the time to maintain every platform out there can be extremely time consuming.

If your company is just starting out on the Web and need to pick a few social media networks to rule over, here is our guide to choosing the best platform(s) for your business, and how to make the most out of them.


1. Twitter

Who should use it: Everyone – from individuals to the largest multinational corporations

What to share: Start, join, and lead conversations; interact directly with brands and customers

Post frequency: Multiple times per day

Twitter is the dominant democracy of the social-sharing economy. Relevancy, personality and brevity are the keys to making your voice heard.

Useful tools: Buffer lets you stockpile and schedule content in advance. Tools like this allow for posting around-the-clock, increasing the likelihood of snagging followers beyond your country or time zone without being working 24/7.

It’s a guarantee by this point that a conversation relevant to your industry or business is occurring on Twitter. The only question: are you part of it?



2. Instagram

Who should use it: Lifestyle, food, fashion, personalities and luxury brands

What to share: Share visual content, including short videos (less than 15 seconds)

Post frequency: Once a day

Instagram invites brands with visual content into their customers’ zone-out time. Create and post content accordingly.

You’ll want to experiment with your own userbase and followers, but it’s likely that the best time to target your posts will be to get to your audience’s eyes during their commutes, nights, and weekends.

Useful tools: While hashtags are clickable and useful for search purposes, links in comments and captions are not.

Instead, use the integrated sharing functions for Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter to repurpose your Instagram posts for more shareable media. Include a relevant hashtag to become more discoverable on Instagram and to track engagement across sites where you share the content.

Additionally, Followgram is a great tool for tracking your stats on the most liked and commented posts, along with top tags and locations.



3. LinkedIn

Who should use it: Businesses (especially B2B service providers), Recruiters and Job-Seekers

What to share: Job-postings, company descriptions, employer/employee research

Post frequency: Two to four times a week

LinkedIn is the online analog to old fashioned networking. People – and connections to people – are everything

Keep a company description and profile page mindful of keyword SEO, but your network of employees and contacts is your most valuable (and potentially damaging) content on LinkedIn. Make sure people in your organization are appropriate, professional and on-brand. There’s nowhere online where employers and employees are more intimately linked.

Company seeking clients and individuals seeking employment should grow their LinkedIn networks by adding as many real connections as possible. Use your second and third-degree connections to request personal introductions (when reasonable), and weed out the Internet’s infinity of companies and applications, focusing on opportunities where you have some real connection.

Top tip: LinkedIn shares more about your own electronic creeping than any other network. Paid users can see who’s viewing their profiles.

If you’re researching a competitor or doing some preliminary job-seeking you’d rather your boss didn’t know about, try a Google search specifically for the LinkedIn page you want to see.



4. Facebook

Who should use it: Everyone and their grandmas (literally)

What to share: All types of online content, events, ads

Post frequency: Once or twice a day

Consider advertising or paying to promote your page on Facebook, but don’t make your brand’s Facebook page itself look like an advertisement. Inspire conversations and shares – and be sure to ask questions.

Of all social networks, Facebook is best equipped to linearly share responses to a post asking a question or sparking conversation. Answers then appear in friends of your respondents, spreading the conversation.

Facebook offers personal connection and an enjoyable distraction amidst the work day, but use typically peaks outside of work hours. There’s no shortage of options for analyzing Facebook data. Track the success of your content by date and time to hone in on the best times for engaging your audience.

Useful tools: URL shortener Bitly does more than just shrink down links. Each time you convert a link, Bitly offers stats on clicks generated from that specific link, making it helpful to see how much traffic is brought directly from sharing to Facebook.

5. Google+

Who should use it: Brands already on the other major social networks, B2B networking, bloggers

What to share: More formal and professional than Facebook; Hashtags have major search value

Post frequency: Once or twice a day

As Google’s proposed alternative to Facebook, keywords and search engine optimization are central to the appeal of Google+. Link often to content on your own website to direct this search boost where you want it most.

Useful tools: Bloggers, set up Google Authorship to have your Google+ profile follow your content from across the Web in search results. More than any particular feature of Google+, users are enticed by integration with Google’s other products.

Case in point? Comments on this article’s next social network now link to Google+ accounts.



6. YouTube

Who should use it: Brands with video content and ads, anyone giving explanations or sharing expertise

What to share: Short (less than 1.5 minutes) video content

Post frequency: Once or twice a week

Google treats its own well, and YouTube is the prime example of this fact. YouTube videos feature prominently in Google search results.

Keep this in mind when naming and describing videos, and direct people looking for insight or explanations within your industry topics to your brand’s page.

Useful tools: A subscription widget or link to your website can help convert single views into long-term influence.



7. Pinterest

Who should use it: Fashion, food, design, travel and anything DIY; audience skews female by 4:1

What to share: Creative, visual content

Post frequency: Multiple times per day

Users pin and re-pin posts to Pinterest Boards, which naturally push the content on Pinterest into categories. This makes easily-categorized content most apt for sharing, and wisely-chosen keywords essential to successful post captions.

Pinterest differs from other popular search engines in heavily favoring recent content. Pinning and re-pinning frequently is necessary to appear within current results for a given search term, regardless of how popular your content is.

Top tip: That stunning visual content on Pinterest? Undoubtedly the hard work of a designer, photographer or videographer. Technically, you’re only supposed to pin content you own or that’s within the public domain. Be sure to attribute your pins appropriately.



8. Yelp and/or Foursquare

Who should use it: B2C companies, brick-and-mortar outlets (especially stores, restaurants, and travel/tourism related), reviewers and bloggers

What to share: Location-based business search and reviews

Post frequency: Before your physical business opens and whenever information changes. Otherwise, at least weekly.

Share details about your business on an official company profile page. Monitor customer feedback related to your business, and respond to concerns raised in reviews. Consider it free promotion and advertisement (although paid promotions are also available).

Keep your information updated, and pay attention to keywords and SEO in crafting descriptions – Yelp listings in particular feature prominently in Google searches for local businesses.

On the consumer side of these B2C networks, reviewers and bloggers can use Yelp and Foursquare to grow their following. You can’t post a link in a review (Yelp with flag those and potentially suspend your profile), but you can develop a reputation for reliable reviews.

Top tip: Both Yelp and Foursquare users tend to glance, so it’s important to get as many high numbered ratings as possible to gain a positive first impression. Add a link to your blog or personal website under the profile section to capture additional readership.

#INFOGRAPHIC: Where Teens Spend Their Time Online

Despite reports that young people are moving away from Facebook, they’re still using the social network in big numbers—fully 66 percent of people 14-34 say they’re frequent users, according to The Cassandra Report, Fall/Winter 2013 edition. Further, usership rises as people get older, suggesting that the youngest teens aren’t moving away from Facebook as much as using other platforms along with it. Nevertheless, other platforms are challenging its dominance, chiefly YouTube, which is frequently used by 68 percent of those 14-34.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

20 Social Apps That Got Us Talking in 2013

By Ken Yeung at The Next Web: 

As we wind down the year, The Next Web compiled a list of some of the social apps that have made some significant moves in 2013. How did we qualify what a social app was? In our mind, it was a service that had a core functionality that enabled users to interact and engage with other people, either online or offline.


- Snapchat

Perhaps one of the apps that made the most headlines this year, Snapchat ends this year with a rather large valuation, coming off reports that the company entertained acquisition talks with Facebook. It was said that the social networking company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had sought to purchase the ephemeral messaging service for north of $3 billion.

Snapchat functions as a messaging service, but in an “ephemeral” way. Messages can be sent to friends, but will only be stored momentarily — up to 10 seconds, in fact. Afterwards, they disappears from existence.

In February, Snapchat launched video messaging for its Android app. It then unveiled a new service specifically aimed at kids on iOS to help it expand its user base. The company has certainly been busy trying to justify its growing valuation. This summer, it said that 350 million messages were sent through the service each day.

Of course, let’s not forget that Snapchat recently hired away Instagram’s head of business to be its Chief Operating Officer, a sign that the startup is looking to stay independent and may help it to begin monetize its service. Will the new ‘replay’ feature play a role here?

➤ Snapchat for iOS | Android


- WhatsApp

WhatsApp recently announced that it has more than 400 million monthly active users, giving it an extra leg up in the mobile messaging battle. Available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, and Nokia Symbian devices, the service has certainly been active both in the US and around the world. It ended 2012 saying that it processed 18 billion messages on the last day of the year alone, but found itself on the wrong side of the law when Canadian and Dutch authorities claimed WhatsApp violated international privacy laws.

In 2013, more activity took place on the mobile messaging service — in June, it hit a new milestone when it processed 27 billion messages in just one day.

➤ WhatsApp for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone | Nokia Symbian


- Line

Another messaging app that has made news in 2013, Line has been expanding rapidly around the world, but hasn’t quite made it to the United States. In November, it passed 300 million registered users and is known for its stickers, another popular thing of 2013.

Line’s stickers feature has become so popular that it has generated $188 million in gross revenue in Q3 2013, alongside other in-app purchases with its ‘connected’ games. In August, the company said that it makes over $10 million per month just from stickers.

With such a booming business, there are even reports that suggest Line is preparing for a US or Japanese IPO soon that could be worth up to $28 billion.

This week, the company revealed that it would be introducing video ads into its product, but would pay users to watch them through its Line Coins payment system.

In a fit of philanthropy, the mobile messaging service announced this week that it had raised $500,000 to help benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines through the sale of ‘charitable’ stickers.

➤ Line for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone | Nokia Symbian


- Google+

Social networks have also been busy this year. Google+ has remained active, now with 17 comments. It has also become a hub for photos, something that Google has exploited with new services such as releasing an improved, Snapseed-powered editing tools, the release of Auto Awesome, and more.

Other updates to Google+’s iOS and Android app include photo sharing, auto ‘Locations’ updates, unified search, and other features.

As Google+ has become a haven for photographers, the company has been making significant changes, including new filters, better profiles, improved user flows, and more.

➤ Google+ for iOS | Android


- Foursquare

Yes, people still do use Foursquare and its seen a bit of a resurgence in 2013. In fact, just this week it raised $35 million in a Series D round. Although still fundamentally a location-based service, Foursquare has evolved its product so that it’s not about the check-in, but more about local recommendations and proactive learning.

Years ago, users were obsessed with checking into a location in order to earn badges or become the “mayor”. Now the app gives you smart recommendations based on friends’ data, and in 2013, the company began giving relevant, location-based information and tips to users, using push notifications (even for users who rarely – or never – actually open the app itself).

This year, the company also opened up its self-service ad platform to small businesses. With this feature, any company can pay to have a personalized promotion appear in a user’s feed in an attempt to garner more business. App users can also parse through 43 million menu items from more than 500,000 restaurants now with an improved Explore option.

In August, Foursquare released a new app to bring the location service to Windows Phone 8 devices.

➤ Foursquare for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Vine

In its inaugural year of existence, Vine has been a big player in helping Twitter move away from being just a text-based service to one expanding into other media. The company first launched its six-second video app in January before quickly being acquired by Twitter. Soon after, Vine quickly added Web embeds, Android and Kindle Fire versions, the ability to edit videos and save multiple drafts, and just recently added vanity URLs ahead of future Web-based user profiles.

This video app has also been at the top of Apple’s App Store charts earlier this year for free and social apps and counts more than 13 million users on its platform.

➤ Vine for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Waze

Crowdsourced traffic management app Waze hit it big time when it was acquired by Google earlier this year for a reported $1.3 billion. Before then, there was speculation that Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook were all in contention to grab the company.

The Israeli-based startup joins Google as part of its Maps team and brings with it the 50 million users that have signed up to help tell others where there are traffic delays.

➤ Waze for iOS | Android | Windows Phone


- Instagram

The photo-taking and sharing app made some big updates in 2013, including the addition of 15-second video technology and the launch of a pseudo-Snapchat-like feature it called Direct. In addition, Instagram began solidifying its monetization strategy by launching sponsored ads directly into users’ feeds.

The company’s ad product is still in its early stages, but Instagram says early testing shows “promising” results across various metrics like ad recall, awareness, and reach.

➤ Instagram for iOS | Android


- QuizUp

A popular game this year, QuizUp launched on the iPhone to give players countless hours of entertainment by participating in trivia games against their friends or random people. Created by Plain Vanilla Games, there are more than 100,000 questions across 300 categories. It still has far to go before it gets to the level of King’s Candy Crush, but it certainly has helped to provide countless hours of time drain.

It hasn’t all been good news for Plain Vanilla Games — in November, it was reported that QuizUp had privacy and security issues. It was said that the app was believed to be sending user data in plain text and even deceiving players, allowing others to exploit a weakness and cheat. In response, the company said that third-party server code had been patched in order to resolve insecurities and acknowledged that match-ups against ‘ghost’ players are used to improve the user experience when a small number of users are online.

Currently only available for iOS devices, the game’s developer says that an Android version is coming soon.

➤ QuizUp for iOS


- Circle

Circle has been around a while and focuses on answering the question “Who’s around you?” It raised $6 million from notable investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, actor Ashton Kutcher, CrunchFund’s Michael Arrington, and others.

Instead of telling you when other users are nearby like Foursquare or Highlight, Circle instead hones in on those in your network like your friends, family, and close acquaintances. While apps like Highlight almost allow you to virtually stalk who’s around you, whether they’re friends or strangers, Circle doesn’t retain that creepiness factor, and you can dictate what you’re interested in around you, not what’s happening across the country.

Earlier this month, the mobile-first ‘local network’ released an update for its iOS and Android app that allows users to share photos with each other and gave the ability to post content based on specific topics.

At last count, the company said that it has more than 10 million users and is receiving more than a million new members each month. However, its user acquisition techniques have been called into question by some.

➤ Circle for iOS | Android


- BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)

Here me out for a second … yes, we all know that BlackBerry is in a bit of trouble and disarray. However, 2013 was a good year at least for its BlackBerry Messenger app. The company finally launched the iOS and Android versions of the app, but it wasn’t without a bit of drama — a leaked app preempted the official release that probably prompted some users to simply roll their eyes.

When it was released, BlackBerry forced interested users to queue up. But amid all the criticism, the phone manufacturer said that 5 million users downloaded the app in the first eight hours of its release.

➤ BlackBerry Messenger for iOS | Android


- Candy Crush Saga

Still as addictive as ever, Candy Crush makes it on our list because it’s the game that made the most revenue in 2013, according to Apple’s App Store. It has been downloaded more than 500 million times and played 150 billion times across the Web, Facebook, and on mobile. Chances are that you have a friend that’s hooked on the game — it might even be you.

Earlier this week, the game’s developer, King, announced a new expansion to the game called Dreamworld that is available to those players that have advanced beyond level 50.

➤ Candy Crush for iOS | Android


- Viber

Free, Skype-like app Viber has been in the news as it expands its service. Already available for iOS and Android devices, this year it launched on BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Windows 8. It currently stands at over 200 million users with 500,000 downloads each month, and has updated its apps with new features, such as group messaging and stickers.

➤ Viber for iOS | Android | BlackBerry | Windows Phone


- MixBit

The latest creation from the YouTube founders, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, MixBit dives into the ever-crowded marketplace of video creation and social sharing services. Available for iOS and Android, it lets anyone capture video clips of up to 16 seconds each and then build a longer video (up to 1 hour) from other collaborators.

Earlier this week, MixBit’s iOS app was updated to enable users to respond to any video with their own. It also increased the size of an individual clip rather substantially. Instead of 16 seconds, it’s now 60 seconds. However, this is only for iOS only.

MixBit is a product of Chen and Hurley’s San Mateo-based incubator AVOS, which they founded soon after they left Google-owned YouTube. You can check out our deep dive here. Similar competitors include JumpCam and Montaj.

➤ MixBit for iOS | Android


- Flipboard

Flipboard has seen the number of magazines appear on its publishing platform grow pretty rapidly in 2013. It now has more than 85 million registered users, thanks to its one of its biggest features. In March, the company released updates to its apps that enabled users to create their own magazines. No longer did available magazines need to be curated by Flipboard itself — now anyone with an interest could generate their own. This became so popular that within the first two weeks more than 500,000 magazines were created.

Soon afterwards, another update saw Flipboard adding profile pages, SMS sharing, and the ability to collaborate with one another. But if this wasn’t enough, later in the year, it made its magazines accessible via the Web browser and then added new functionality that let anyone add product listings directly to their magazines.

Flipboard also became available on Windows 8.1-supported devices, complete with Live Tile support and native gesturing. It also added Reuters, TIME Magazine, and other new publications to its roster.

Of course it wasn’t a perfect year for Flipboard as it faced increased competition from the likes of Clipped and Zite, and even rumors of a Facebook social reader. It also had a couple of outages in July and was even blocked in China in August.

➤ Flipboard for iOS | Android | Windows 8.1


- App.net

2013 marked the one-year anniversary of App.net, the latest incarnation of a social network created by Dalton Caldwell. The service launched as a social platform that puts more of a focus on developers than generating revenue. And while it still has a bit of a way to go before it finds itself on a level playing field with Twitter and Facebook, App.net does appear to be creating a community vibe quite yet, despite its ecosystem of third-party apps.

To help move its mission forward, App.net added 10 GB of storage for every one of its users and opened up its File API in order for developers to create apps that can store and share images on its platform. In order to entice developers, the company increased its incentive plan by 50 percent, giving out $30,000 each month — developers like Hootsuite and Ohai have already created apps for Caldwell’s creation.

A free tier option for users was also unveiled this year in an effort to get more customers to sign up. Available by invite only, these free accounts will allow users to follow up to 40 accounts and receive 500 MB of storage.

➤ App.net for iOS | Android


- Pinterest

Pinterest ends 2013 with plans to a monetization plan, a new API and functionality to support travel interests. It also released a redesigned app for the iPad to accommodate iOS 7, along with a new menu, long-press board sharing, and improved discovery.

The interest-based, visually-focused social network continues to expand its accessibility throughout the world. Pinterest has said it had plans to launch 10 new countries this year — it has a 125 percent growth rate internationally. Earlier this month, it localized its service for those in Russia, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The month prior, a similar version was available for those in the Nordics.

Its mobile apps have received functionality like improved pin discovery, profile editing, push notification support, predictive search results, and friend mentions.

➤ Pinterest for iOS | Android


- Oggl

Hipstamatic unveiled a brand new standalone app this year called Oggl. When it launched, it had more than 4 million users and was a blend of Instagram and 500px. The company hoped that it would offer a new way for fans of Hipstamatic’s filters to connect with others in the community.

Trailing behind Instagram in the photo-sharing market, Oggl tries to take the experience beyond just snapping a photo and applying a filter. Instead, it functions almost akin to what you would find on a point and shoot camera.

Months after its debut, it released a version for Windows Phone 8 devices, beating Instagram in landing on Microsoft’s platform. It became one of the first supported apps on Nokia’s Lumia 928 smartphone. This was a good move for Oggl, especially as Microsoft had been touting the performance of the device’s camera. However, in August, it was said that fewer than 100,000 people had downloaded the app.

Oggl does have a subscription model where users can pay $2.99 per quarter or $9.99 annually in order to access new lenses and filters — an entirely different model from the original Hipstamatic app.

This month, Oggl’s iOS app was updated to provide an Instagram feed and a Pinterest-style Collections and Discovery tab.

➤ Oggl for iOS | Windows Phone


- YPlan

YPlan is a mobile app that helps you find out what to do around you, similar to WillCall and Sosh. It focuses on giving you last-minute access to a small number of hand-picked events happening tonight. The company launched its second city and expanded internationally all in the same move. Originally centered around London, in September, it touched down in New York City after being installed on over 15 percent of iPhones in London and being downloaded more than 300,000 times.

The company released an Android and iPad app this year as well.

➤ YPlan for iOS | Android


- Quora

The question-and-answer platform makes it onto our list as it spent this year making updates to its service to help curate knowledge from its users. It added a blogging feature to its social network allowing anyone to publish long-form thoughts about any topic. Additionally, recognizing that mobile devices like the iPhone and Android device are the best for reading and responding to questions, Quora released app updates that included a rich-text editing component.

Other improvements made include a new save option for draft answers and a predictive question suggestion capability. As more users begin to create content and share their knowledge on Quora, the company wants to make sure that everyone knows how impactful it is. In November, the social network revamped its analytics service to now measure content distribution, views, upvotes, and shares.

Quora even rebuilt its iOS app to work with the latest operating system. While it’s currently available for iPhone and Android smartphones, an iPad version is coming soon.

➤ Quora for iOS | Android




Via TNW.

Share Privately With Instagram Direct

Instagram is turning its successful photo and video-sharing service into a communication platform, with the introduction of private messaging. It’s called Instagram Direct, and will be available with version 5.0 of the mobile app, available for iOS and Android users today. A release date for the Windows Phone app, however, wasn’t disclosed.

Instagram has added a new icon in the top-right hand corner of the hoe screen, which will reveal an inbox full of photos and videos that other users have shared to you specifically. Furthermore, when you go to capture an image or clip with the camera button, you’ll see two new sharing options: Followers and Direct.

Direct allows you to specify particular Instagram users. It’s granular sharing, tailored to content that is personalized, and possibly sensitive in nature. Just select your friends, write a caption as before and hit ‘send’ to fire off a copy directly to their inbox.



Read the full story >>

#INFOGRAPHIC: The Secret to Generating More Likes On Instagram

With studies indicating that posts with images in them are more engaging for social media audiences, of course someone would set out to discover the secret to generating more likes on Instagram. Thanks to the folks at visual marketing and analytics firm, Curalate, now we know how color theory effects social media engagement.

According to the Curalate study, Instagram likes are coveted and difficult to generate. In fact, 65 percent of Instagram images early a measly 0-10 likes. So what’s the secret sauce for getting people to “like” your images on Instagram?

The study found that blue images perform the best. In fact, images with blue as the dominant color outperform images with red as the dominant color by nearly 25 percent. Despite the fact that 90 percent of images have a 20 percent or less dominant hue, Images with a 40 percent dominant hue also generate the most likes.

Images with 90 percent background space and texture also perform well, while dark images are less likely to be shared or liked, according the study.

This is information marketers need take heed since the study also indicates that less than 40 percent of brands are following these guidelines. With the success of the first run of sponsored posts, Michael Kors must have done something right to have generated more than 200,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Check out the Curalate findings in the infographic below.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Instagram: How to Optimize Your Reach

By Miriam Hara at Social Media Today: 

The first thing you see when you visit Instagram’s webpage is their tagline: “Capture and Share the World’s Moments” – which is the purpose for the multi-billion dollar company (now owned by Facebook). What users actually use it for, however, can vary in a multitude of ways. This is great news for businesses because they can optimize their reach in ways that other social media outlets may not allow for. Not to mention, this untapped demographic may include people that are on Instagram but don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account.

Personally, I’m an avid Instagram user and will swear by its significance in both personal and professional avenues.

Instagram can connect you with people that you would otherwise never have been connected with.
For businesses, this can mean reinforcing their brand identity while increasing revenue.

1. Michael Kors:
At the beginning of November 2013, Michael Kors was the first business to run an advertisement on Instagram – only to be met with criticism from their followers. The statistics, however, show that despite the disapproval from many followers, the results were exactly what Michael Kors had hoped for: in the first 18 hours of its launch, Michael Kors gained 34,000 new followers putting them at 1.3 million followers.

2. Sponsored Posts:
A sponsored post can increase viewership by pushing them to users that are not already following the account. Like Facebook, it promises impressions but not necessarily “follows” or “likes”, and unlike Facebook, you can’t target a specific demographic. In any case, a riveting ad or a great offer isn’t normally rejected by most – so it’s still worth considering.

3. Optimization:
There has been viral videos wreaking havoc on the usage of hashtags – for those who don’t know, a hashtag is the number sign (#) followed by a word or phrase. Some people have abused the purpose of this tool, but it’s actually very useful if used properly. Hashtagging organizes your photos by topic so that interested users can easily access relevant photos.

What are some of your favourite Instagram accounts to follow?

5 Lessons from Instagram Influencers

By Jeanette Phang at ClickZ: 

Facebook last year, it signalled that the social network had graduated from indie to the big leagues—and it definitely has. Since being bought, Instagram has grown by more than 600 percent, adding over 120 million monthly active users to its network. Its 150 million monthly active users may be a drop in the ocean compared to Facebook’s 1.19 billion monthly active users, but it’s substantial nevertheless.
Like Facebook, its maturity means that more and more brands have jumped on board. These days, it seems every brand, band and brat (here’s looking at ya, @justinbieber with your 11.8 million followers) is trying to tap into the Instagram gold mine.

But why?

A key reason is that more than any other major social network (barring Pinterest), Instagram functions as an image-based discovery network. Like those shoes? Discover more just like them by browsing hashtags. Love that image? Find similar ones by browsing/stalking the account holder’s follow list. As a consumer, the ability to find and curate based on a quick glance and snap judgement of a few pictures is enticing and exciting.

Secondly, following brands and people is a far less involved and committed process: no long newsfeeds and updates to follow, just a single picture and on to the next one. Because you can easily unfollow an account that no longer meets your needs, there’s no hesitation when it comes to adding new ones on your list.
Instagram has always been a mobile first network. Unlike other social networks that have adopted mobile, Instagram was born in it and moulded by it. The entire Instagram experience has been optimized for mobiles; those little square photos make the most sense on a mobile screen. With adoption and time spent on smartphones on the up and up, Instagram and other applications and networks which have come from mobile will increasingly become the norm.


Learn from the best

Of course, knowing why Instagram has been successful is only half of the picture. The key piece of the puzzle is really understanding how to leverage the platform, and no one does that better than the Internet influencer. The online blogger’s priority is to maintain their brand and voice in a cluttered space, consistently produce great content and showcase products when they need to. So here’s what you can learn from some of Instagram’s top influencers:

1. Make an impression: Instagram is clearly all about imagery. There’s space for spontaneous photos, but Instagram influencers know that spur-of-the-moment photos need to be mixed in with planned, stylized images. @khiesti (129,000 followers) produces whimsical paper drawings, which average more than 12,000 likes. @mattfrench (190,000 followers) shares muted landscapes. Aimee Song of @SongofStyle (1.13 million followers) mixes everyday photos with stylized photoshoots. It’s not always about behind-the-scenes or the spontaneous and blurry shot. Take time to create your Instagram and you’ll reap the rewards.

2. Have a consistent voice: @garypeppergirl (over 700,000 followers) has always used her blog to showcase her outfits amongst exotic and picturesque backdrops. Her brand revolves around fashion styling and her Instagram is no different. She uses it to effectively drive traffic to her blog because blog posts and Instagram photos work in conjunction. @kimkardashian, no surprises here, shares photos of herself with her 11.3million followers. @joythebaker (86,400 followers) complements her blog posts with Instagrams of rustic food shots and scenes. A quick scan of your profile should tell a consistent story about you and the content users can expect in their newsfeed.

3. Personality first: Did you know there are more than 35 million selfies on Instagram? That’s over 87 million pictures associated with #me.  Clearly, this is a social network based on personality (or one’s self if we’re being cynical). In fact 9 out of the top 10 Instagram accounts are owned by people, and the lone brand account is Instagram. There’s a reason why Oscar de la Renta’s Instagram account, @oscarprgirl (240, 800 followers) is run by their PR girl who instils the brand with her personality. Successful Instagrammers ensure the pictures they take, even if promotional, are true to their voice. @theglamourai (79,000 followers) is a master at promoting brands whilst making you feel like they are part of her day-to-day life.

4. The art of revenue: Another skill that Instagram influencers master is product promotion and new ways of retailing. Besides editorial content and tagging brands, @songdani (202,800 followers) uses Instagram to effectively drive purchases. Because Instagram does not yet allow for linking off the app, other than in the profile, she works with a mobile partner that uses SMS to provide links to products. See it in action: http://instagram.com/p/gXJC2fGG-K/ . She also consistently tags brands she wears and uses the ability to tag a friend in a photo to highlight where her items come from.

Other clever tactics I’ve seen have been to include the SKU (stock keeping unit) of the product, so consumers can quickly search for it on e-commerce sites, making the link in your profile link directly to the shop, or creating Instagram only vouchers.

5. Optimize to appear on the Explore Page: The holy grail of every Instagram is the Explore Page, get on there and you can guarantee a boost to your followers. Arriving there is the challenge. Like Google’s algorithm, Instagram has a “special formula” that determines which pictures are featured on the Explore page. Here are a few factors which drive it: how many likes you get in the first 30 minutes to 1 hour of your picture being posted (the more followers you have the more likes you’ll need), how many likes you gain from other influencers, and the topic of your photo. Test to see which photos and topics garner likes and comments. You might be tempted to #hashtageverything but resist the temptation to over hashtag, as it reduces your chances of it appearing on the Explore Page. And when in doubt think cats, food, fashion and children, all favorites of the Instagram community.
Ultimately, Instagram is about sharing photos about yourself or your brand to capture the imaginations of others. The power of an image to move, connect, and persuade us cannot be denied—after all a picture is worth a thousand words.



By Jeanette Phang, insights director, Isobar Australia.