Why You Need a Social Media Management Company

Most business owners understand the importance of a social media presence but often cite three reasons why they don’t spend as much time on it as they should:

1. I don’t have time to visit my social accounts every day

2. I don’t know what makes a good tweet or update

3. I can’t keep up with best practices on all the different channels

That’s understandable! It seems like as soon as you get used to a social media channel, the company changes the rules. Just as you learn to construct the perfect update for one social site, everyone is talking about a new site that you just “have to be on.” Once you get good at posting pictures on your social channels, suddenly it’s de rigeur to post video instead.

It’s enough to make any CEO throw up their hands in frustration and go back to print media forever. This is where social media management companies can help your business shine. Hiring a team of experts who live and breathe social media helps you avoid the frustration of staying current on the latest dos and don’ts and keeps your social channels running smoothly so you’re free to run your business.

According to a study by customer relationship management vendor Constant Contact, small businesses owners spend as much as 33 hours a week on marketing activities. That’s nearly the equivalent of a full-time employee! It’s clear that outsourcing social media is a game-changer for anyone who wants to maximize their social impact without taking a toll on the people running the ship.

Even one social media channel takes a lot of time to run effectively. Here’s just some of what goes into managing just one account:

●  Creating an editorial calendar

●  Writing the perfect update, sometime within a strict character count

●  Responding to messages left on your timeline

●  Replying to private messages from customers

●  Engaging with other thought leaders in your industry

●  Finding great re-shareable content to be a good social media citizen

● Frequent daily monitoring of the account to quickly respond to followers or customers

●  Regular analytics reviews to determine the best content to post, what time of day to post it, etc

Now multiply that by the number of social media channels you have (or want) and you can see how quickly the hours stack up. The small business owners who responded to Constant Contact’s survey report that their time is worth at least $273 per hour -- it’s no wonder why so many see the benefit of outsourcing their social media.

In addition to the obvious cost benefit of outsourcing, don’t underestimate how helpful it is to have someone monitoring your channels around the clock and on weekends. Customers can pop up with comments or questions at any time of day. When you hire a social media management team you can enjoy much-needed time away from your computer without worrying about what’s happening on your Twitter or Facebook timeline.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to outsourcing your social media is the peace of mind of having one less thing to worry about. You can’t put a price tag on that. You can rest easy knowing that if a social site suddenly changes up the rules or an important conversation springs up about your industry, the team is on top of it right away.

Many business owners say the key to success lies in delegating tasks to people who are experts in the field. When it comes to the nuanced world of social media, it’s tough to stay on top of the avalanche of new ideas. Bringing a social media management company on board is the only “best practice” you need to know! 

Source - Social Media Management Company

10 Steps To Designing An Amazing Infographic

Information can be useful--and even beautiful--but only when it’s presented well. In an age of information overload, any guidance through the clutter comes as a welcome relief. That’s one reason for the recent popularity of information graphics. Infographics are visual designs that help to explain complicated data in a simple way (mental-health emergencies at Burning Man, anyone?). But how are they created? What can we learn from the designer’s process? And what does an infographic designer know about storks delivering babies?

Over the last decade, Hyperakt has come to specialize in this type of design, and we’ve found a process that works for us. Here’s how we go about creating an infographic in ten steps:

1. GATHERING DATA

Sifting through data is where it all begins. It arrives raw and messy: an excel spreadsheet, some PDFs and links to other resources are typical. While there is sometimes guidance--"We’d like to compare the charts on pages 12 and 65"--we take this as a clue to find the story being told. This is also when we begin to gather additional research from new sources. The full picture of a story is usually found scattered through multiple materials, not in isolated charts alone.

2. READING EVERYTHING

While it’s tempting to read only the highlighted facts and skim the rest, this shortcut tends to result in more time wasted later. Single pieces of information in an ecosystem of research can skew the big picture. Either your client will realize this during the process, or the audience will point it out once the project is complete. Nothing feels worse than working hard on a project, then seeing it picked apart because you didn’t connect the dots. Designers who make infographics are adept at spotting holes in the data, ensuring that no important information has been missed, and making sure the facts support the story being told.

3. FINDING THE NARRATIVE

What starts as boring data will become a boring infographic unless a great story can be found. Infographics start with a unique intent. It might be clarifying a complex set of data, explaining a process, highlighting a trend, or supporting some kind of argument. Finding a great narrative is the first hurdle. Now that the data is familiar, does it seem possible to tell this story with the information at hand? Are you interested in the subject matter? Is this a compelling story worth telling?

4. IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS

As a story emerges from the data at hand, it’s time to stop for a reality check. In many cases, the data doesn’t support the story a client wants to tell. What follows is usually a slightly awkward discussion. Sometimes a client will want the designer to use only the facts that make them look good, twist the data, or otherwise get around this snag. It quickly becomes evident that this pathway is futile for everyone. The data doesn’t lie, and good clients do not want to blatantly mislead. is the next step is a collaborative reworking of the story and the data. Having studied the topic for several days, the designer is a valuable guide to discovering more accurate narratives and presenting them. Pushing back on a client’s original idea can be a frustrating moment. In more subjective situations (color, typography, etc.), it is harder for a designer to win battles, but in these situations the designer’s careful eye for detail is obvious in the data--and often appreciated.

The truth in information takes experience to uncover. Data has a way of winning a debate, whether an argument is true or not. For example, drivers who own red cars are twice as likely to get into accidents than drivers who own blue cars. This truth may (incorrectly) imply that car color somehow causes driving accidents. But the true story is found in a hidden connection, known as the confounding variable. Aggressive personality types are shown to prefer the color red. This aggressive behavior, not car color, is the undisclosed reason that accident rates are affected.

5. CREATING A HIERARCHY

In almost any piece of research, there is a “hero” that leads the story. This piece of data will make your jaw drop. Once you find it, it becomes a way to organize the project and solidifies the hierarchical structure of the infographic. Supporting elements are then arranged to tell the rest of the story. This becomes a kind of mood board of research points. At this stage, the picture of a final product will begin to appear.

6. BUILDING A WIREFRAME

Once the data has been combed, the most interesting facts selected, and a hierarchy determined, a wireframe is created. Here, the designer builds an understandable visual representation of the important information and its hierarchy to send to the client for review. This is not the ultimate design but a tool for discussion, enabling agreement on the structure the final piece will take.

7. CHOOSING A FORMAT

There are endless ways to represent information. The best approach might be with traditional charts and graphs (bar, line, pie charts). It might require a diagram or flowchart to explain a process. A map might be the best way to tell the story. Or perhaps simply showcasing the numbers is best. If the budget is available and the data warrants it, interactivity might make sense and opens a world of possibilities for data visualization. Whatever the case, this decision is guided by the data, which will lend itself to one or a combination of these formats.

8. DETERMINING A VISUAL APPROACH

There are two overarching visual approaches to determining the look and feel of an infographic. In one camp, there are those who prefer to make the raw data beautiful (David McCandless, Nicholas Felton, and others subscribe to this view). These often take the form of charts and graphs, made visually exciting by their execution. The use of color, typography, and structure make the piece engaging, like an abstract work of art. Those in the second camp (Peter Orntoft, Scott Stowell), prefer to use illustration or metaphor. Here, the data is disguised, delivered to its audience in a visual narrative often bearing little resemblance to a chart or graph.

At Hyperakt, we are not beholden to any one strategy. Often we create a hybrid: charts and graphs surrounded by more illustrative elements, or a pure visual overlaid with traditional representations of data. The available information, medium, client brand, and subject are what determine an ultimate solution.

9. REFINEMENT AND TESTING

As the infographic takes shape and a visual form, refinements begin. Clients are involved in working through details, both in the data and the visual storytelling, to ensure that the finished product meshes well with their brand and original intent. Internally, we include the entire studio in a testing phase to ensure that the piece is readable and easy to understand, especially to those who have not seen the data before. We evaluate the design and iterate until the piece is as clear and simple as possible. This valuable back and forth between clients and our internal team ends when everyone is comfortable that we’ve delivered the information in the best possible way.

10. RELEASING IT INTO THE WORLD

Most infographics are shared online--even printed illustrations appear online in some fashion. This is the litmus test of your work. Data has the interesting characteristic of being read in many ways by different audiences. All of the fact-checking and expertise imaginable doesn’t mean you’ve discovered every aspect to the story. So even once your piece is published, online discussion can expand (or tear apart) your argument in new ways. This collective vetting often means the project is never quite done. Revisions might happen as new data comes to light. While it is intimidating to let your project become a part of this process, it is also the reason the medium is so rewarding. An intensely scrutinized design is one that has stirred the minds of its audience.

Infographic designers are unusual people. Though budgets rarely account for this involved process, their labor of love continues. Get to know an information designer and prepare to hear some strange facts: Who was the most chillwave band of 2011? Is driving why you’re fat? What are the top five cosmetic procedures in the U.S.? They might even reveal a data geek’s example of causation that explains the storks-and-babies folk tale: The data shows that the more storks in a town, the more newborn babies there will be. But the hidden variable is a town’s land area: the larger the town, the more babies are born there--and, of course, the more habitable area for storks, too.

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14 Digital And Social Media Marketing Trends For 2014 [INFOGRAPHIC]

It’s been a huge year for social media, particularly in marketing, but what’s on the horizon for the next 12 months?

Content marketing has quickly established itself as an important tool for brands, and that trend is expected to develop next year. Images will continue to outperform words for engagement metrics, and hashtags are going to become a leading search tool. Mobile marketing is likely to surpass other forms of online advertising, and social media will become an essential aspect of all business strategies.

This infographic from TwinEngine proposes 14 online and social media marketing trends for 2014.

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Mobile Now Exceeds PC: The Biggest Shift Since the Internet Began

If you’re still struggling to leverage the website to support goals, you have some catching up to do, as the landscape has recently experienced a tectonic shift.

Mobile Exceeds PC Internet Usage for First Time in History

In early 2014, the landscape in which businesses operate changed forever when Internet usage on mobile devices exceeded PC usage.

It has taken considerable time for businesses and brands to embrace the potential of the Internet. Today, most recognize the Internet as a vital foundation for everything from operations to marketing and sales to logistics, CRM, and customer service.

Still, many businesses and brands struggle to truly leverage the digital landscape to meet the expectations of their customers. Many more will struggle with the migration of audiences (customers) to mobile.

The time has come to seriously consider integration of mobile-friendly versions of all mission-critical assets: applications, data, the website, communications, demos, sales materials, customer service, etc.

What Are Consumers Doing on Mobile?

How do consumers use mobile devices to access the Web? According to Online Publishers Association/Frank N. Magid Associates:

• 99.5 percent access content/information
• 63.1 access the Internet
• 62.1 percent check email
• 49.2 percent listen to music
• 46 percent play games
• 41.7 percent download and use apps
• 15 percent make purchases
• 15 percent read a book

Shift to Mobile Impacts B2B Significantly

If you imagine that the mobile usage is merely a reflection of consumers logging onto social media, checking email or conducting search, or shopping, think again.

Executives lead the way in mobile adoption, validating the theory that digital assets for a business or brand must serve target audiences 24/7, and not just during business hours.

Meeting your customers wherever they work is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity. If you wish to convert interaction to action you must compel the decision-maker.

B2B Decision-Makers Rely on Mobile Devices

Mobile is preferred over the PC for executives conducting research during and after office hours, according to the IDG Global Mobile Survey 2014.

• 92 percent of executives own a smartphone used for business.
• 77 percent of executives use their smartphone to research a product or service for their business.
• 93 percent of executives will purchase that product via the Internet using a laptop or desktop.
• 86 percent use their tablet and 72 percent of executives use their smartphone to conduct research for products or services for their business.

Executives rely upon mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) to conduct business research more frequently in the evenings than any other time of day.

Mobile as a Competitive Advantage

Whether your day-to-day focus is business management, marketing, sales, SEO, social media, advertising, software development, or customer relationship management, the mobile device has increasingly become the preferred tool for work and communication. How quickly and effectively an organization plans, develops, and adapts to deliver quality mobile experiences will likely become a competitive advantage.

Some organizations may continue to view mobile as an “add-on” or supplementary effort when planning for digital interaction with customers. However, those who embrace the shift in behavior and deliver what their customers want and need to make a purchase decision will likely be the ultimate winners.

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The Prepared Writer’s Process for Creating Excellent Content Every Day

I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately, I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning. ~ William Faulkner

Authors often claim that writing a book is like having a baby — both in effort and length of time.

Since I’ve done both myself, I would personally insist that birthing a child is, in fact, more difficult.

There is value in the comparison though.

Even when you write from a place of passion and purpose, you may still have trouble birthing your important ideas consistently.

Babies tend to come into the world when they are ready, but how do you regularly give birth to remarkable content?

You have to command it.

Rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, I take control of the content on my blog.

The secret of the prepared writer

I’ve been a writer for over a decade.

I began as a journalist and my reporting experience has greatly contributed to the success of my blog, but for reasons you might not expect.

Of course I was trained to follow grammar rules and avoid commonly misused words, but the real value was the practice of writing daily, on subjects I didn’t necessarily care about, and meeting a deadline.

I also knew that potentially thousands of people were going to read my work, so mediocre effort was not an option.

During those years of reporting, and throughout more than five years of blogging, I’ve also never encountered writer’s block. In fact, I don’t believe it actually exists.

Why?

Because writing good content, like anything else, requires proper research, planning, and execution. A prepared writer can implement a system to prevent writer’s block.

I developed a process that allowed me to write articles in under an hour and hand them off to my editor, and I still use this process each day when I blog.

This process assumes you already have two foundations in place:

• A content strategy — before I created my blog, I mapped out my ultimate goal and the content I would need to write to accomplish it. I created 300 post topics and planned how they all would eventually link to each other.
• An ultimate goal — my writing goal is to provide useful information that will aid my readers in making lasting changes for our children’s futures. My ultimate goal keeps me focused on writing content that my readers will be able to find, enjoy, and use immediately.

Here is my step-by-step process. See if it will work for you as well as it’s work for me …

1. Create a writing environment

I discovered early in my journalism career that optimizing a writing environment and creating rituals are important. I optimize my environment by removing all of the excuses and interruptions that slow down the writing process.

My current writing environment is a room in my house where I can put on soft music, avoid outside noise, have a cup of coffee or tea, and turn off the Internet. Years ago, I didn’t have the luxury of writing in the same place every day, so I created a writing environment with music on my CD player and a cup of coffee.

Creating a special writing environment trains your mind to get in the mood to write when you are in that space.

I’ve practiced this routine for so long that even a cup of coffee is usually enough to get me in the zone to write these days.

2. Schedule writing time

If you’ve used the excuse you don’t have time to write, writing isn’t a priority for you.

Harsh?

Maybe, but consider this: I have five children and the oldest is seven. I homeschool them. Our family is involved in multiple sports and activities. I cook 21 meals a week from scratch. I just finished the first draft of a cookbook. And I have written over 750 blog posts in the last three and a half years.

It comes down to priorities.

Blogging is on my daily schedule. In fact, I block off one hour and treat it with the same importance that I treat a doctor’s appointment or my son’s baseball game. I won’t miss it.

I stand at my desk (standing helps my creative juices), and for that hour I do nothing but write or attempt to write.

If I finish one post, I start on another one until that hour is up.

Then, I stop.

Schedule this time every day, even if you don’t need to create a new post. The extra writing time will help you become a better writer and give you time to practice without the pressure of having to hit Publish.

3. Have a framework

One of the most frustrating aspects of blogging is the ailment known as “what-should-I-write-about-today-itis.” To avoid this illness of mind, I have a framework for topics I write about for different days of the week.

For me, this is:

• Monday: health/core content
• Tuesday: natural living
• Wednesday: recipes
• Thursday: DIY

I have individual checklists for the structures of each of these types of posts to make the writing process faster. The more structure you add to the framework, the less you have to start from scratch each time you write.

Once you have established your content strategy and ultimate goal, split up your post topics into categories that refer back to your cornerstone content.

A framework also provides consistency for your readers and teaches them what to expect from you so that you can become an authoritative online presence in your area of speciality.

I also keep a running list of possible blog topics organized by category in Evernote for easy reference when writing.

4. Outline for two minutes

Sit down with a piece of paper and pen and create a two-minute outline for the content you plan to write.

I start by writing the topic and working title at the top of the page. Then, I number three to five main points (or occasionally up to nine) and fill in bullet points under each of these sections.

Use the full two minutes to get all of your ideas on paper before you begin so you can write the full post quickly.

5. Write 200 words

I only commit to writing the first 200 words after I outline. After 200 words, I re-read what I’ve written and make sure that I like the direction of the post. If not, I re-start with a new direction.

I very rarely have to restart, but taking 30 seconds to reread and reevaluate helps refine the focus on my post.

If I start over, I’ll save the 200 words I’ve already written in another document, so I can use them later in the post or for another post.

6. Refine

Spend 10 to 15 minutes refining and editing your content. If you have an editor, you get to skip this step.

I don’t, so I use the last 10 to 15 minutes of my writing time to find weak sections and refine the content. I usually trim down a blog post by a few hundred words and add links to relevant content.

7. Optimize

After I’ve written a post, I run through the following check list before I publish:

• Set the featured image and make sure it’s eye-catching
• Run WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Run Scribe Content Optimizer

Bonus exercises: creativity triggers if you get stuck

If I’m really having trouble getting into the writing zone, I take two minutes to do one of these creativity triggers:

• Read an unrelated article that is inspiring or funny
• Stand on your head (really, it gets the blood flowing!)
• Review your cornerstone content to ensure your post aligns with your goals

Now over to you …

Have you ever struggled to get in the mood to write?

Does a blogging schedule and routine help keep you on track?

Let’s go over to Google+ and discuss other ways to birth extraordinary content on our blogs.

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Twitter appoints Katie Stanton global media chief

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter Inc has appointed Katie Stanton its new media chief, placing the former Google executive at the heart of its crucial relationships with Hollywood and the global media industry, a source with knowledge of the move said on Monday. 

Stanton, formerly head of international strategy, fills in for Chloe Sladden, who left the online messaging service as part of a recent management shake-up that also included the departure of former chief operating officer Ali Rowghani. 

Twitter has reported lackluster user and usage growth for the last couple of quarters, and its stock price has nearly halved in the last six months. 

Stanton will now oversee Twitter's continuing efforts to court TV networks, Hollywood studios and other media companies around the world. The service in recent years has become a popular platform for promoting the content of media companies, and for viewers to interact around programs and live events. 

That in turn drove advertising and revenue growth. 

Stanton's new role as vice president of global media entails working with media companies around the world. That expands on Sladden's US brief and builds on Stanton's previous role, which involved expanding Twitter's operations outside of the United States, the source said on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been announced. 

Stanton, who formerly worked for the US state department, already leads Twitter's relationships with foreign media companies such as the BBC and Brazil's Globo, and sits on the board of French conglomerate Vivendi. 

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Digital Media Marketing: Making The Most of Mobile Email Marketing

What was the first thing you did this morning after you woke up? Brushed your teeth? Turned on SportsCenter? Ate some nice, fiber-filled cereal?

I checked email on my phone.

Surprised? Well, according to a 2013 study, 49 percent of mobile users read emails on their smartphones immediately when they wake up.

That’s half of everyone with a smartphone firing up their inboxes, first thing in the morning before they even set foot out of bed.

As a business owner and marketer, you want into those bedrooms.

By following some essential steps for mobile email marketing, you can!

Write killer headlines to get your email opened:

Write a subject line that is five to seven words long, no more, no less.

Provide value, be specific, be compelling, and create urgency.

Play on buyer personas and psychological triggers.

Be clear, succinct and consistent in your message:

Focus on your readers’ needs, wants, and feelings.

Create a “value exchange” where you provide great content for your readers’ (limited) time.

Assuage any fears directly. Give readers confidence in you as an authority with an easy-to-read message.

Be persuasive. Everyone from Aristotle to Obama knows the importance of effective persuasion. Convince your readers that they should act, in a subtle yet direct way.

Organize for maximum readabilty on mobile devices:

Make your email look spectacular on mobile - easy to read and full of “alt-tagged” images and hyperlinks with plenty of space around them for easy clickability.

Divide the layout of your email into short sections for clearer navigation.

Send a plain text version of your email to include readers with less sophisticated technology.

Get personal with your emails:

Use your readers’ interests to learn who your readers are.

Establish authority as a likeable expert through niche-specific, high-quality content.

Use autoresponders to create a universal experience from your first subscriber to your last.

Ask your readers to “whitelist” you to keep your emails out of their spam folder.

Test, analyze, change, and resend.

Include a discount or special offer for subscribing

According to Copyblogger, more than 70 percent of mobile purchasing decisions are influenced by promotional emails!

It creates an exclusive community of readers (and consumers) by offering something only subscribers can have, allowing them to benefit in ways that others can’t.

Fifty percent of users say they subscribe to email specifically because of special offers they receive.

So why wait? Reach customers from the comfort of their morning routine; take advantage of digital marketing’s powerful tool, (mobile) email marketing.

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