#INFOGRAPHIC: Tracking Social Media Data

By Christie Barakat at Social Times:


Many businesses make an effort to be active and involved on social media. But information-sharing and interactivity with users does not go far enough.  Tracking data and its effectiveness across channels is crucial to examining and altering activity levels and success strategies.

Traffic, the relevance and quality of content, voice, community size, engagement and sentiment can be tracked with measurable data and channel specific tools. Dashboards let you measure data from multiple sites at once. Aggregators are great for discovering Internet trends.

In addition to measuring the success of your social media profiles, other tools let you measure data such as click-through rates, when most of your followers are online and more. Infographicworld.com created the following infographic to break down what you should be measuring, the most useful tools and the capabilities of each.

Courtesy of: Infographic World

12 Tips For Tapping The Power Of Pinterest

By Lisa Pearson at BazaarVoice Blog: 


Pinterest is the ultimate shareable wishlist, but it comes with real rules of engagement. Here are 12 tips your brand can implement to engage audiences and build your presence.


A New Survey Reveals Which Social Media Brands People Are Most Attached To 
By Christine Champagne for Co.Create

A recent Brand Dependence Social Media Survey measured “the degree consumers believe a brand is like themselves and the degree to which thoughts and feelings about a brand come to mind.” The researchers were searching for the degree of attachment consumers feel for social media brands.

Among 18-24 year-olds and 25-44 year-olds, Pinterest ranks third. Comparatively, Instagram was first for adults 18-24 and second for adults 25-44. Facebook was the opposite, ranking second for the 18-24 segment and first for 25-44 year-olds. Twitter surprisingly didn’t make the top 5 for any age group. Researchers found that although people used Twitter, they “had a hard time relating to the brand because they didn’t fully understand how to use Twitter.”

Pinterest is an emerging social media giant, and a brand that people like and evangelize; further highlighting the potential of promoted pins.



5 Reasons Online Retailers Can’t Ignore Pinterest 

By Kris Spisak for Business 2 Community

In an average order, Pinterest shoppers spend $169. The average order by Facebook shoppers is $95, and $70 by Twitter shoppers. In case that isn’t convincing enough, Spisak shares five reasons why Pinterest shouldn’t be ignored.

1- People buy with their eyes first. Striking visuals are more effective and Pinterest is an image-driven social sharing network.

2- Pinterest has a big audience – over 70 million users.

3- Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn combined. Post valuable pins and they will spread organically through multiple pinners, driving traffic back to your site.

4- Rich Pins share real-time prices and inventories. Users are emailed by Pinterest when prices drop. Even if someone isn’t on a retailer’s email list, through rich pins retailers can still drive pinners back to their websites.

5- Retailers can identify trending products via a widget that collects data. Target’s Awesome Shop uses this data to create a collection of its most pinned items.

Pinterest is young compared to Facebook and Twitter, and it shows a ton of promise. Also, the competing noise is minimal right now, which means your buys and efforts are more effective.

If you aren’t on Pinterest, your first steps should include integrating pin-it buttons on appropriate website images and utilizing rich pins.



Five things brands should be doing with Pinterest 
By Simon Robinson for Marketing Magazine

Try out the steps above, and then implement these five steps to get the most from your Pinterest presence.

1- Monitor Pinterest for mentions to better understand your customer. People collect, organize, and share what inspires them, revealing their likes and wants. Use Pinterest’s API to better understand their preferences by examining your brand’s most-pinned content.

2- Re-pin to improve brand authenticity. By re-sharing content pinned by other users you demonstrate that you value their engagement. You should also comment on established boards to make your brand more visible. Make “stars of your most ideal customers by showing how they use your products & services”. Target is collaborating with top pinners to launch collections.

3- Build a Pinterest profile that tells your brand story. Embrace your story and share other stories that relate to your brand. Nordstrom created a board for guest pinner Sarah Jessica Parker, sharing her experiences in different cities and shoes.

4- Engage to deepen relationships and create advocates. Seek valuable brand advocates through their boards. Pinterest is at its heart a social network – so the same ideas about engaging through conversations apply. A tip for any social media contest: if you’re asking people to share branded content give them a topic or photo to use and a hashtag, which makes searching for posts easier.

5- Up sell based on personal customer preferences. Pinterest’s API will eventually allow brands to deliver an even more personalized experience. Imagine a consumer pins a designer dress. She then receives an email from your brand thanking her for her pin, and suggesting relevant shoes and accessories for the dress. Maybe your email directs her to your guest blogger’s post on make-up and hair styling tips to complete the look.



Pinterest Readies for Its Big Ad Business Rollout 
By Melissa Hoffmann for Adweek

After October 2013’s experiment with promoted pins, Pinterest is ready to launch its highly-anticipated paid ad business. Starting in 2014’s second quarter, a select group of marketers will be the first to pay for promoted pins. Advertisers will be charged via a cost-per-thousand impressions model or a cost-per-click model, depending on their goals.

Is it worth paying for promoted pins when you can engage customers for free?

With paid ads, marketers will reach much more of Pinterest’s audience than is currently possible –  promoted pins will appear across the site. Right now, a user only sees a brand’s pin if she follows the brand or if someone she follows re-pins that pin. Promoted pins can be targeted to specific searches. The only noticeable difference between a promoted and regular pin is a small label on the bottom border. Imagine someone searching for kitchen makeover, seeing the latest Sherwin-Williams paint colors in a beautiful pin, and clicking through to a DIY on the brand’s website. Now offer a 10% coupon on paint and tools at the bottom of the post, when they join the emailing list. Pinterest can play a powerful part in reaching motivated potential customers.

This is a huge opportunity to partner with a site where image-focused ads are a strong, organic fit. Be thoughtful. The goal is to add value in ways customers will appreciate. Blatant sales messaging should be avoided at all costs. A Wall Street Journal article provided a good example:

“The key to success isn’t pushing commercial messaging too overtly. It’s OK to feature Hellmann’s brand messaging in a promoted pin, but better to post a recipe featuring Hellmann’s, said Jennifer Gardner, Unilever’s director of media investment partnerships North America.”

A consumer searching for a picnic side dish isn’t likely to be impressed by a glamour shot of a mayonnaise jar. But an appetizing photo with a recipe – that uses Hellmanns – is perfect. Think about your consumer and their needs; let that guide your brand.

Ultimately all of these tools help you deliver a better experience to ensure long-term loyalty. Pinterest is just one piece of this strategy, but it’s growing into a bigger piece every day. Create a Pinterest presence now and start interacting before it gets too noisy.

#INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Tweaks to Use Pinterest for eCommerce

These days, social networking websites have become more visual, and they become the best means of boosting your ecommerce business worldwide. Especially, Pinterest is an excellent social network that consists of images and videos arranged in a bulletin board style layout.

Today, you would find lots of e-commerce businesses, who are using Pinterest to promote their products, services and their business on the global level.

If you also want to expand your e-commerce business, this infographic contains 10 new and modern ways to use Pinterest for your business. Check this out and share your views by commenting below!

Published by Perception System.

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

Pinterest Just Made Shopping Easier

By Chris Crum at WebProNews: 

Pinterest has launched a new “Gifts” feed among the rest of its categories. The feed is meant specifically to get products that are actually for sale in front of users.

The company calls it a “work-in-progress,” so we’ll likely see additional features launched in the future. Some personalization would certainly help. Considering Pinterest’s recently launched “Interests” feature, that doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch.

The Gifts feed shows only Product Pins, which show details like pricing, availability, and where to buy the item.

“So far, we’ve learned that Product Pins get higher click-through rates than regular Pins and make your brand more visible because of the logo on the Pin,” says Pinterest’s Kevin Knight on the company’s business blog. “Pinners also get email notifications when Product Pins they’ve saved drop in price.”

That’s a nice feature for everyone involved.

“The Gifts feed also includes a few price filters so you can find something for every budget,” Knight adds. “$$$$ means the price is greater than $200, $$$ means the price is between $50-$200, $$ means the price is from $25 to $50 and $ is anything less than that.”

Businesses hoping to have their products actually show up in the Gifts feed must be taking advantage of Rich Pins, which you can learn more about here.



Read the full story >>

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: 5 Ways to Make your Pins Searchable on Pinterest

For many businesses, driving new and returning visitor traffic can be challenging. Pinterest is a valuable tool that not only has grown to have over 70 million users globally, but can be used to drive referral traffic to your site. Thankfully this infographic is a great guide to doing just that.

Published by Hall Internet Marketing.

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

10 Ways to Get More Pinterest Followers

By Stephanie Frasco at Social Media Today: 

Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the most powerful social networks on the scene. Increasing your activity and knowing the tricks to get more Pinterest followers is important.

If your product is targeted towards women then it is crucial to have an online presence on Pinterest. Pinterest is the now the 3rd most popular social network and the 16th most popular website in the US. Not only does Pinterest rate very high in Google search, it's also very popular, drives a ton of traffic and is very positive in nature.


5 Things You Should Know About Pinterest

1. 47% of online shoppers in the U.S. have made a purchase based on a recommendation via Pinterest. (via Search Engine Journal)

2. Pinterest grabs about 41% of e-commerce traffic, which is 4% more than Facebook. (via ReadWriteWeb)

3. Pinterest generates more than 400% more revenue per click than Twitter and 27% more than Facebook.

4. Crafts, recipes and quotes reign supreme on Pinterest. But fashion and wedding pins are right up there.

5. Pinterest pins have a half life of over one week. Facebook posts receive half of their reach in 80 minutes. On Twitter it's even shorter at 5 to 25 minutes. (via Search Engine Journal)

Whether you are a Pinterest power user or just getting started these tips will help you grow your following and build a stronger presence.



10 Ways To Increase Your Pinterest Following

1. Follow Others
This is the first thing you should do but you want to make sure the people you are following are related to you. Don't go about following everyone. You will be better off with a targeted following when it comes to click-throughs and repins.

2. Comment On Pins
Pinterest is a community and the bottom line for community members to bond is to have conversations. Comment on other's pins and add to the conversation. Where there is conversation, there is community.

3. Repin Others
This is a good way to get noticed by other Pinterest users. By repining their content you are telling them, "hey, I like your stuff, let's be friends." It also gets your repined content in the overall category pool and if people like it, they are likely to follow you.

4. Connect Your Pinterest Account To Facebook
By connecting your Pinterest account to your Facebook account you achieve a few things. The first thing is you get notified when your friends join Pinterest and they'll be notified that you are a Pinterest user. This is a good way to grow. It also grows your presence by sharing your pins on your Facebook page which can open you up to a brand new audience and let your followers and fans know you are active on Pinterest.

5. Add Pinterest Follow Button To Your Site
This is a no-brainer. When people come to your site you want to make sure they know you are on Pinterest. I often go to a site and open all of their social pages and follow them. As a consumer or a fan, it makes me feel more comfortable that this company is social.

6. Add Pinterest Widget To Your Site
You can also showcase your Pinterest pins on your site. This is a great way to show people a bit of your Pinterest style.

7. Share Your Pins On Twitter
Does your Twitter following know you have a Pinterest? It's likely that they don't if you don't share your Pins there. If you are a super pinner, I'd be careful about how much you Tweet from your Pinterest page, but once in a while to let people know is a good idea.

8. Join Group Boards
Group boards are a great way to meet new people. You can collaborate on a common board and get to know new people who are interested in the same things you are. This is also a good way to increase your repins.

9. Run A Contest
I love contests. A Pin It To Win It contest is a great way to make sure people follow you. After all, they have to follow you in order to be considered. It's also a great way to get a lot of your product in the Pinterest world.

10. Be A Curator
By being very targeted you are more likely to have a targeted following. To be a good curator you need to pin a lot. When you pin a lot your pins come to the front page of the category pages and your own feed. Keeping your name out there is important for your social media following. Consistency is key.



Via Social Media Today.

3 Small Business Pinterest Marketing Tips

By Sarah Mincher at Social Media Today: 

First, if your company hasn’t made the plunge into the amazing world of Pinterest, I highly recommend you read the free Pinterest Marketing Guide for Small Businesses to get started successfully!

If your company is already on Pinterest, and you’re having some issues getting traction, then we have some awesome strategy tips designed to get your Pinterest marketing up and running.

Tip 1. Add A “Pin it” Button To Your Website and Individual Products

Having a “Pin it” button directly on your website is an essential element of a successful Pinterest strategy. You want to make it as simple as possible for people to interact with your brand on social, and a “Pin it”  button allows your audience to engage and pin your content instantly. If you currently don’t have a “Pin it” button on your website, this handy tutorial will show you how to easily add one!


Tip 2. Drive A Call To Action Through Imagery

I love this tip! A typical call to action is text which prompts your readers to take the next action- whether it be to call your business, enter a contest, join an emailing list or so forth. However, a visual call to action is the perfect way to connect with your audience via Pinterest, since the network is centered around imagery. This helpful guide from Hubspot on How to Make A Visual Call To Action For Your Small Business is a great resource to get started on this tip.


Tip 3. When Pinning, Focus On Quality Not Quantity

While Pinterest is certainly a popular network, you don’t want to overload your small businesses feed with too many pins (this practice is often referred to as ‘pin dumping’) and risk annoying your followers. We recommend not posting more than 5 new pins an hour. View Pinterest as a gallery where you upload your most noteworthy or popular products, and keep the majority of your inventory on your website. We wrote a great article earlier this year on How To Get More Pinterest Repins using quality content- check it out! It’s full of helpful tips to make sure you choose the best content for your next pin.

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.

#INFOGRAPHIC: Pinterest Makes Holiday Planning Less Stressful

By Kimberlee Morrison at Social Times, Via Lab42: 

Pinterest may not be a place people turn to for the latest news, but the social-scrapbooking site is still good for organizing ideas. Case in point: according to a study from market research firm Lab42, nearly 100 percent of surveyed users said Pinterest made holiday planning less stressful.

Indeed, among those surveyed, more than 50 percent admitted to spending more and longer periods of time on Pinterest. The three most browsed categories: DIY and crafts, holidays and events, and food and drink. While almost 70 percent of users are satisfied with the ideas in the winter holiday collections, nearly 80 percent have shared these ideas with a friend or family member.

60 percent of those surveyed by Lab42 said they purchased something they saw on Pinterest. These same users attributed an increase in spending to their Pinterest activity and about 70 percent who follow brands said they felt more connected to those brands.

These findings are consistent with other studies that indicate Pinterest is a powerful driver of high value retail conversions. But more than driving sales, Pinterest seems to be a great discovery engine.

In fact, the Lab42 study identified three main ways Pinterest was changing holiday preparation. More than 80 percent of those surveyed said they tried new recipes, nearly 75 percent said they used Pinterest for new gift ideas and almost 65 percent said they found useful DIY decorating ideas.

How’s that for useful? Here’s the infographic.

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

12 Holiday Pinterest Marketing Tips

By James Scherer at Wishpond:

Need to know how to get the most out of Pinterest this holiday season?

You’re already promoting your business on Pinterest. But have you optimized it for the holiday season?  If you are, are you getting the most engagement out of your Pins as you can?

It’s not too late to increase your sales. Here are 12 Pinterest tips to give your holiday marketing the boost it deserves.


1. Remember the Details
Before you dive into optimizing your Pinterest profile for the holidays, you need to be sure you’ve got the basics sorted out.

Make sure your brand description is focused on the holidays, and don’t ignore SEO-friendly keywords.

Oh, and make sure your brand profile is searchable on Google (check your Pinterest account settings for that one).

It’s easy to forget about the little things on Pinterest, but the words you use can make the difference between your brand’s Pin being seen and not

Keep general SEO rules in mind.  Include keywords in your product and board descriptions.

Remember to change your brand description to focus on the holidays as well



2. Offer Recipes
The holiday season is about food, seeing family, and hosting. Post beautiful and appealing images of food, with links to the recipe on your website.

An optimized landing page with great lead generation or links to your products is how you make money from Pinterest.

- Holiday recipes are a great way to encourage engagement

- They elicit responses of ‘my favorite!’, or ‘I added more nutmeg’. Comments are currency on social media

- If your brand isn’t suited to recipes, make the recipe post personal like ‘Our CEO made a delicious apple-cherry crumble, here’s the recipe!’



3. Go Warm and Cuddly
During the festive season focus on making your brand profile festive (it makes sense). Make your perona even more personal and emotionally connected.

Go for personal (and personable). Focus on pictures of family, relationships, warmth, tradition, etc. ‘Tis the season for those warm memories  - past and future.

- Focus on cozy and festive images this holiday season

- Use images with the color red, and green. Avoid blue and black (as they’re perceived as cold and clean - we’re going for warm and cozy)

- Creative, distinct, boards like ‘Everyday Aww’ help your brand stand out on Pinterest



4. Focus on Standing Out
Don’t just throw a picture up and leave it there. Put time into which board it goes on. Does it need a rich pin (see #8 below)? And don’t skimp on the description as this not only increases SEO, but it inspires comments.

- Put time and energy into your images and your pin descriptions

- Anybody can post on Pinterest. You want to post awesome pictures with creative descriptions that inspire engagement



5. Use Contests
Pinterest contests are more effective during the holidays than they are at any other time of year.

People are spending a lot. There’s buying excitement in the air. For many, though, money is tight. People can go nuts on any opportunity to win or save.

Take advantage of this with a pin-it-to-win-it photo contest on Pinterest.

- Pinterest Contests are especially successful in the holiday season, as money is tight and people will take any opportunity to save (or win)

- Try a recurring contest, in which a smaller prize is given away each day for 12 days.

- Focus it around the holidays, with either the prize being holiday-related, or the theme.



6. Inspire Comments
Comments increase the virality of your pin - which increases the chance of a sale or other form of engagement. I seriously recommend responding to any comments which deserve it. People love being social during the holidays, and replying to comments makes your business more relatable.

- Inspire comments by asking questions or asserting your own opinions

- Be pro-active during the Holidays by commenting and responding to comments you receive. People like interaction during the festive season

- Comments increase the visibility of your Pins - which increases brand awareness



7. Segment your Gifts
More boards means more interaction, and more chance of a re-pin. This is especially important if you have a lot of gifts to promote this holiday season. Get creative with your board titles, as well. Try to steer clear of ‘gift ideas for him’. Instead, how about ‘gifts he’ll love’?

- Creating more boards is Pinterest best practice as it increases the reach of your brand

- Keep your main (during the holidays, your holiday-related) boards above the Pinterest fold

- Get creative with your board names and themes. Try to get beyond ‘gifts for him’ or ‘gifts for her’



8. Use Rich Pins
Rich pins make Pinterest awesome for brands - they’re what make the ROI make sense. Yes, the process to get them for your brand is a bit complex, but it’s worth it in the future.

They allow you to give more links to your site and for the product, as well as provide price and availability for the products Pinterest users love.

- Rich Pins have an 82% higher re-pin rate than normal pins

- Product pins include more business links, the price, availability, and where you can purchase the item.

- With repins, you’re going to get more people seeing more of your products on Pinterest, with the information you want to communicate most right there.



9. Get Creative
I can’t stress enough how important it is to put time and energy, and creativity, into your pinning this holiday season.

You need to stand out from the million other brands on Pinterest.

Make your images awesome, and don’t be afraid to re-pin awesome images from other people (though, probably, not your competitors). For instance, if you pin an image of the coolest, most expensive hot tub in the world and people love it they’ll be more likely to buy a realistically-priced one from you.

- Focus on creativity this holiday season to stand out from other brands

- Everybody’s pushing their products, find a way to push the happiness your products will cause, or the problem they’ll solve

- Don’t be afraid to promote products, or pictures, that aren’t your own. Keeping your brand active and awesome on Pinterest is more important than pushing a product every couple hours



10. Ask Questions
Questions within your pin descriptions are important in inspiring comments. Sometimes it’s the little things that can change your brand’s performance on Pinterest. Don’t neglect it.

- Ask questions in your pin descriptions, to inspire people to comment and engage

- Comments increase virality and also increase the chance of more people commenting and pinning themselves

- People like interaction during the holidays, and they like brands that come across as personable and human. This is also why you need to respond comments as well as inspire them.



11. Get the Family Involved
Focusing on family during the holidays is simply best practice. Try children-related crafts, or ideas of how to get your whole family involved in decoration, the Christmas dinner, etc. Offer ideas of holiday games for the whole family (with awesome and relevant pictures).

- Getting the family involved is a great way to make your brand relatable and appealing

- Try children-oriented craft ideas, pictures with festive families, or

- This is another instance of how important it is to put the social in social media during the holidays



12. Include a CTA
CTAs are essential on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. See if the same is true for your brand on Pinterest. Track your Pinterest analytics and check if CTAs are working for you.

- Test out a CTA in your pin description

- Try ‘Click for more details’ or ‘Click through to learn more’

- Test this for yourself to see if it improves your Pinterest engagement. It results in huge virality and participation increases on Facebook and Twitter so it’s worth a shot!



Conclusion
Hopefully you’ve now got some ideas of how to market on Pinterest this holiday season. Focus on getting creative, don’t be afraid to market your brand as much as you’re promoting your products. Make your brand look awesome and you’ll increase sales, I promise.