Category

Social Media

Our social media marketing coverage addresses management tools, educational courses, platform tips, social analytics, and strategies for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more. We’ve interviewed merchants who rely on social media traffic, and vendors who provide specialized services.

Social Media
Understanding YouTube’s Redesign of Channels

May 2, 2013 • Paul Chaney

YouTube recently announced major design changes to its channel interface. YouTube cited three reasons for the changes: Increase the number of channel subscribers; Ensure branding works across all devices — desktops, tablets, smartphones and television; Show more content to draw viewer...
Social Media
Facebook Changes Layout of Mobile App

April 29, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently changed the Pages layout in its Apple iOS mobile app. The reason for the change, according to Facebook, is that roughly 50 percent of Page visits come from mobile devices. A new Android version is coming soon, Facebook announced. "We've developed a new mobile Pages l...
Social Media
10 Ideas for Facebook’s New Cover Images

April 23, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently changed its policy on cover images for business pages. The 20 percent text overlay rule is still in effect, but other restrictions have been dismissed. The new guidelines provide much greater flexibility in what owners can do with their pages, stating, "All covers ar...
Social Media
13 Inspiring Brands on Pinterest

April 22, 2013 • Sig Ueland

Pinterest is a place for inspiration. Successful brands use it not only to show off a product, but also to inspire people with the ideas, moods, and images behind the brand. Here is a list of brands that inspire on Pinterest. Their boards are filled with beautiful images and amazing d...
Social Media
25 Tips for Successful Twitter Engagement

April 22, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Many ecommerce merchants use Twitter to connect with customers, build personal relationships, and influence conversations to meet business objectives. Merchants can learn what customers have to say about their brands and products, provide proactive customer service, and create promoti...
Social Media
Using Twitter Hashtags for Ecommerce Marketing

April 17, 2013 • Paul Chaney

By some accounts, as many as 75 percent of Twitter users include hashtags in their tweets. While hashtags are popular, from a marketing perspective it helps to understand why and how to use them. This article outlines 10 ways merchants can use hashtags, along with guidelines for their u...
Social Media
Facebook Changes Ads Manager to Improve Tracking

April 12, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook recently made several changes to Ads Manager to make it easier for advertisers to track performance against goals and to better measure the return on investment. Ads Manager Changes Advertising goals highlighted. Ads Manager now shows the most relevant actions for your adver...
Social Media
Buffer: Timesaving Social Sharing and Management Application

April 8, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Sharing content to social networks typically happens in one of two ways: by clicking a social sharing button found on many blogs and websites, or by using a social media management platform such as HootSuite. Buffer, a new social sharing application, combines both of these functions. ...
Social Media
5 Social Marketplaces for Merchants and Shoppers

April 2, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Social marketplaces promote interaction between merchants and their customers, and enable product discovery in a social environment where shoppers can rely on the influence of friends to help them make informed shopping decisions. One successful social commerce model is bazaar-style ma...
Social Media
4 Tools to Simplify the Blogging Process

March 27, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Bloggers can spend a lot of time selecting topics and researching and writing the posts. Here are four tools I use to speed up the research process. Used in the ...
Social Media
Pinterest Adds Analytics Component

March 20, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Pinterest launched business pages a few months ago, which allow companies to create accounts specifically related to their websites. Last week, Pinterest took another step toward increasing the value it provides businesses by adding an analytics component. "Bloggers, businesses, and...
Social Media
6 Alternatives to Google Reader

March 19, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Google announced last week that it is retiring Google Reader, its longstanding RSS feed reader application, citing a decrease in use. The announcement created a furor across the Internet. Deliberating Google’s ...
Social Media
Facebook Changes News Feed; Implications for Merchants

March 14, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook announced in a press conference last Thursday that it has drastically revamped the all-important News Feed, turning it into a “personalized newspaper” that emphasizes what friends are sharing.
Social Media
Understanding Google+ Design Changes

March 11, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Google+ recently made several design changes. The most prominent is to the cover image, which is now much larger. Google+ also changed the "About" page, and a "Local" tab was added to the left-column menu. The About page now consists of separate "cards" — such as Story, Places, Work, an...
Social Media
How to Use Google+ Hangouts; Benefits to Merchants

March 6, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Hangouts is a popular component in the Google+ platform. Hangouts enables live video chats with up to 10 people using Google+, your website, and mobile apps for Android and iPhone. With Hangouts you can: Host live, face-to-face conference calls with customers, suppliers, affiliates ...
Social Media
Hashtag Your Products on Instagram

February 28, 2013 • Jason Lawrence

Instagram is a massive social network built around a beautifully designed — and addictive — mobile photography app. As of September 2012, Instagram reportedly had 11 million active users. It was famously bought by Facebook for $1 billion in April 2012. Instagram is creating new and exc...
Social Media
6 Key Twitter Practices for Smaller Businesses

February 26, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Many small business owners have told me they understand how Facebook is a good fit for business, but have difficulty drawing a similar conclusion when it comes to Twitter. According to a report from GlobalWebIndex, an analysis firm, Twitter increased its user base by more than 288 mil...
Social Media
10 Blog Topics for Online Retailers

February 22, 2013 • Paul Chaney

One of the best ways for an ecommerce site to rank highly in Google search results is through blogging. Most blog platforms are search engine friendly, and easy to use. But merchants sometimes struggle with what topics to write about. Here are 10 post types to spark writing ideas that...
Social Media
Facebook Power Editor: Time-saving Ad Management Tool

February 19, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook’s Power Editor can help administrators manage multiple ad campaigns and Pages with greater efficiency. Facebook created it primarily for agencies with multiple client accounts. But Power Editor offers benefits ...
Social Media
Search Result Domination with Social Media

February 15, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

Social media and organic search work hand in hand, but not in the way most people think. Building up a grand social media presence will not drive link authority back to your ecommerce site. The major social networks have long since stripped the link authority from their outbound links...
Social Media
10 Google Chrome Social Media Apps

February 14, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Google's Chrome Web Store offers many applications for that browser. These include apps for businesses — to help with accounting, invoicing, creating documents, setting appointments, logging phone calls, and performing other critical business functions. They also include sales and marke...
Social Media
Facebook ‘Nearby’ Increases Mobile Search Capability

February 12, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Facebook knows a lot about what its users like. Thanks to a recent upgrade of its mobile app, a feature called Nearby turns that information into meaningful search data that local businesses with a Facebook Page and physical location can turn to their advantage. Considering that more th...
Social Media
Selling on Facebook Easier for Smaller Merchants

February 8, 2013 • Marcia Kaplan

The merits of selling goods on Facebook are a topic of much debate. Several large retailers, including GameStop, Gap, jcpenney, and Nordstrom, experienced disappointing results and shut down their Facebook stores within months. But according to Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at For...
Social Media
6 Twitter Marketing Lessons from the Super Bowl Blackout

February 7, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Several large brands — including Oreo and Tide — took advantage of Super Bowl 47's blackout to quickly create Twitter ads. Oreo's ad reminded followers that "You can still dunk in the dark," while Tide declared "We can't get your blackout. But we can get your stains out." Other brands...
Social Media
2 Ways to Create Facebook Ads

February 5, 2013 • Paul Chaney

A number of changes have taken place at Facebook with regard to how businesses use the platform. I will be reporting on these over the next few weeks. In this article, I discuss changes made to Facebook Ads. Recently, Facebook revised its advertising platform to make it easier for bu...
Social Media
Can New Myspace Help Ecommerce Businesses?

February 2, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Myspace is one social network I thought I would never address again, especially in a business context. The site became the most popular social network in 2005 and surpassed Google as the most visited website in 2006. In later years, use of the site quickly declined due to the growing ...
Social Media
10 Ways Merchants Can Use Google+

January 30, 2013 • Paul Chaney

The continued growth of Google+, along with an increased understanding of the nature of the platform, has caused many companies to establish a presence there. Google has also positioned Google+ as a channel businesses can use. With that in mind, here are 10 ways you can take advantage...
Social Media
Facebook Takes on Local Search

January 17, 2013 • Jill Kocher Brown

Consumers use the Internet to search for local businesses, events, and topics. Google is a major player in local search, but so is Bing, Yahoo!, Yelp, YellowPages.com, Foursquare, and other sites. Local search now has a new competitor: Facebook Graph Search. Launched this week, Facebo...
Social Media
10 Tips for Syndicating Blog Content

January 16, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Blogging is hard work. It takes much time to research a topic, write copy, and find useful images, videos, and infographics. But writing a post is only the first step. For ...
Social Media
8 Instagram Photo-Sharing Alternatives

January 8, 2013 • Paul Chaney

Photo-sharing site Instagram created a controversy recently when it proposed a change in its terms of service that would have allowed the company to incorporate user generated images in ads without users' permission. The company has since reconsidered its decision. Having written "10 W...

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