Creating a social media strategy before you “launch” is critical to the success of your social media presence. With the right tools in hand, a reliable process, and time, you will be able to define a great social media strategy for your business.
Here are the 10 steps illustrated by Steven Grech:
Step 1: Get buy in from the business
Step 2: Set your objectives and measurement plan
Step 3: Get to know your tribes
Step 4: What are people saying about your brand, products and services across the Social Web?
Step 5: Analyse our competitors’ social media strategy
Step 6: Create your story strategy
Step 7: Select your social channels
Step 8: Put together an engagement plan
Step 9: Set up a social media policy
Step 10: Bring your social media strategy to life!
Plus a list tools that can help you to create your social media strategy.
Read the entire article here: http://www.fourthsource.com/social-media/how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy-8027 ;
Very usefull!
From the article: "Reporting on Social Media Marketing involves defining a unique set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that help to measure the level of activity and effectiveness of your brand within the social realm. Social analytics can measure the impact of social media on your business. This means collecting intelligence from aggregating and analyzing online conversations and social activity generated by your brand. By using this data, your company will be able to improve and report on brand awareness and reputation, marketing and sales effectiveness, and customer satisfaction and advocacy.
The benchmarks to focus on will be those that combine specific engagement metrics that result in lead generation. This reporting will help define the effectiveness of social media as it relates to marketing, sales, and customer service performance. We have created the reference charts below with basic formulas for analyzing the metrics for the KPIs listed based on an Infographic created by Awareness Inc. [..]"
Read the full article: http://socialmediatoday.com/dleitchmorevisibilitycom/503717/social-analytics-formulas-use-roi-reports
Here are four ways to drive more engagement with the new Facebook ad units, along with tips for how to enhance performance.
From the article: "In the run up to Facebook’s fast-approaching IPO, the company is making extensive and ongoing improvements to its advertising platform. The most recent updates, which are not yet live, will allow marketers to optimize their ads for any Facebook action (not just likes). These new capabilities will also give advertisers a much greater understanding of their consumers, allowing them to segment marketing messages based on certain user groups. All of this goes to support the general belief that Facebook wants to turn their ad platform into the main driver of a brand’s reach.
To be successful in this space, brands will have to be very authentic. The first big move towards making ads into more organic-feeling messages came when Facebook introduced the updated Premium ad format, in which Premium ads could only be created from real content posted to a brand’s page. [..]"
Read more here: http://mashable.com/2012/05/02/drive-engagement-facebooks-new-ad-units/
In this Animate video, created by Think Visually Studios, David J. Linden describes how our addiction to mobile phones and modern electronic messaging is rooted in the pleasure that we receive from uncertainty.
To find out more about Think Visually Studios visit http://www.thinkvisuallystudios.com
From the article:
"SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week we asked, Does your community manager share personal details when speaking on behalf of the brand?
- No, all social media content comes from a single brand voice: 62.82%
As with all things social media, there are not really any known best practices, per se, more so that all of us working to develop better practices for ourselves, our companies and our clients. The decision regarding the amount of personal details shared by a community manager is a matter of preference, comfort and company culture. Sure, industry does also come into play, but deep down at the core of this issue is employee empowerment, trust and the fear of offending even a single person.
Forgive me, but what the heck is a “single brand voice” anyway, and have you ever met one? We don’t talk to brands or companies; we talk to the people who represent them. People have feelings, emotions, personalities and shared common interests. And, ideally, between you and your online community, one of those shared common interests is your company. [..]"
Written by Jeremy Victor (@jeremyvictor)
Read the entire article here: http://smartblogs.com/social-media/2012/03/28/do-you-make-this-community-managment-mistake/
In this article you will find 10 usefull Pinterest tools from analyzing your Pinterest activity to study your score and influence, pinning quotes, adding additional button as well as activity column on Pinterest page. The first 3 are tools I discovered around the web and the last 7 are taken from Hongkiat.com blog post.
So let's get started:
#1 Pinerly: Pinerly is a new #Pinterest dashboard and helps you to manage your Pinterest account and make sense out of it. It's perfect for brands and users who are looking to get the most out of their Pinterest account. Now is in private beta but if you want an earlier access click here: http://www.pinerly.com/i/yQ1rn
#2 WP Pinner: WP Pinner is a free #Wordpress plugin that can let you easily manage your Pinterest account directly from your Wordpress website. In particular, this plugin lets you manage who you follow, schedule pins (based on your WordPress post or external sources) and keep track of your account (CTR, clicks, likes, repins, reach, etc). Like Pinerly.com, also this tool is in private beta and they're planning to do an extensive beta test with a small selection of beta testers. If you want to join and test it click here: http://wppinner.com/?ref=1Ap1r 
#3 Pinvolve: Pinvolve lets your fans discover your content published on Facebook Page in an beautiful way. Pin it button allows instant sharing and distributing your content on Pinterest - the fastest growing and the hottest social network today. Click here: https://apps.facebook.com/pinvolve/
#4 Pinpuff: This tool helps you calculate your Pinfluence, means that it measures your popularity on Pinterest and it also provides the value of your every pin. To get started with your analytics on Pinpuff, go to the website and fill in your email and your Pinterest username, then click on the button ‘Calculate your Pinfluence’. Website: www.pinpuff.com
#5 Pinreach: Similar to Pinpuff, Pinreach also provides you with analytics to study your influence on Pinterest except without the value estimation you can find in Pinpuff. Very usefull! Website: www.pinreach.com
#6 Pin A Quote: it allows you to post a quote to Pinterest. Although this is just a small part of what you can get from Pinstamatic, Pin A Quote makes it easy with their bookmarklet – you can simply post a quote by highlighting a text on any website much like how you Pin an image from a site. Website: www.pinaquote.com
#7 Pin Search is an extension for Chrome browser that will let you easily find more related photos and information of a photo you found on Pinterest. Click here to install it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/okiaciimfpgbpdhnfdllhdkicpmdoakm ; #8 Recent Activity Expander: Also an extension for Chrome, Recent Activity Expander will add an extra column on the left side of your Pinterest page, and list down all recent activity related to your account. It allows you to see who has followed and repinned your items since your last login. Click here to install it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/leiekllgmljfefghflklahofkeelffeo
#9 Pinterest Right-Click: It's an extension for your Firefox browser, it adds an additional right-click item to your right-click menu so you can pin any photos you found on the Internet. Click here to install it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pinterest-right-click/ ;
#10 Pinterest Pro: is another Chrome extension that comes with 3 main features to enhance your Pinterest experience: ‘Pin to Pinterest’ accessible by the right-click menu, image zooming and ‘Popular Pin Dropdown’. Click here to install it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nfbooeikickobcebioomphnekojoelip
So, this is it. I hope you find these tools usefull for marketing your Pinterest activity.
Flavian Mihai 
From the article: "Bloggers are flocking to Pinterest, particularly those whose blogs include some element of photography or design. The social media site—which recently became the third most popular behind Facebook and Twitter—gives them another outlet to display their photos and provides the ability to interact with their fellow bloggers.
There are a number of steps you can take to interact with these bloggers on Pinterest and get them to notice you (or your client).
Follow them/follow their boards. On Pinterest, users share images by “pinning” them to a “pinboard,” which is basically an online bulletin board with images and captions. In that way, a “repin”—in which a user shares another person’s picture—is akin to a “like” on Facebook or “retweet” on Twitter. A number of bloggers will pin images from their own blogs as well as pictures from other people’s blogs. To see what sort of content they are pinning, follow all of their boards. When a person gets a new follower on Pinterest, they usually receive an email alerting them of it. This will get your name in front of them. But don’t just stop there, follow the pinners that they follow to learn what they’re sharing, too.
- Repin their pins. Popular bloggers may not notice your name in their email right away, but if you keep repinning their pins, your name will consistently show up in their Pinterest feed and email box. The goal is to get them to see who you are and that you’ve been taking a genuine interest in their content before you pitch them.
- "Like" their pins and/or leave a comment. Here's another way to interact with their content. "Liking" their pins involves less commitment than actually repining something, plus it will show up in their Pinterest news feed. Commenting will get attract more attention than a “like,” because people tend to read the comments on pins before they share them.
- Tweet about their pins and share (and tag) them on Facebook. If a blogger is on Pinterest, they probably have a Facebook and Twitter page associated with their blog. Make sure that when you “like” one of their pins—or repin some content from their blog—that you post about it on Twitter or Facebook and give them proper recognition by tagging them. Maybe they don’t watch their Pinterest feed often, but they will keep an eye on their Twitter @replies and Facebook mentions.
- Email them and reference their Pinterest content. Finally, once you’ve spent some time getting to know this blogger and the types of things they like to pin/blog about, you can email them about your client. Make sure you mention that you have been following their pins and like their style.
At this point, they should recognize that you’ve been following their social media efforts, something they will appreciate—especially if you actually read their blog and know what they like to read about. From there, help them see how your client would align nicely with their current blog/social media topics. Reference things they’ve posted and/or pinned for extra points."
Nicole Rose Dion is social media coordinator/graphic designer at The Abbi Agency. Find them on Twitter @theabbiagency. 
Viveka von Rosen, a LinkedIn expert, shares the 12 Most Important Metrics You Should Monitor on #LinkedIn.
From the article: "Measuring your progress on LinkedIn will help you stay on track and reach your goals. LinkedIn can be an elephant — and we all know the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Are you measuring those bites? There are two types of metrics you can measure on LinkedIn: Qualitative Measurements and Quantitative Measurements. Quantitative Measurements are usually associated with numbers and Qualitative with the quality of your engagement. Both are crucial to your success on LinkedIn.
So what are the 12 most important metrics for you to measure on LinkedIn?
Quantitative:
Qualitative:
Read the entire article here: http://12most.com/2012/03/23/12-important-metrics-monitor-linkedin/
Via Giuseppe Lucido 
Excerpted from the article:
"Today we’ll explore four ways to optimize your YouTube channel to ensure your videos are being discovered, watched and shared.
1. Optimize Your Videos Metadata: In terms of YouTube, the metadata makes up the title, descriptions and tags of your videos. Optimizing these key sections of your video content will help rank your videos in both Google and YouTube.
- Write a concise, descriptive title using key phrases that people would search to find your video, but also incorporate YouTube’s Keyword Suggestion Tool.
- Each of your videos should have a lengthy description of what the video’s content is all about. Always include a relevant URL to your website.
- Adding ten to twenty tags per video is an ideal way to make use of keywords relevant to your video but that couldn’t naturally fit in your title or description.
2. Use Descriptive Playlists: There are a few benefits in using playlists to organize your video collections on YouTube when it comes to achieving greater visibility to your channel’s content.
- Begin grouping videos of a similar topic into playlists. - Use keyword focused titles for your playlists. - Write a keyword focused, accurate description for the playlist.
3. Make the Most of Annotations: YouTube annotations are a way of adding interactive commentary to your videos. They act as a call to action on your content to help drive a viewer to complete a certain task, such as subscribing to your channel, watching more videos, pausing the video, adding a comment, following your brand on Twitter or Facebook and among many others.
There are six different types of annotations: - The Speech Bubble... - The Note... - The Title... - The Spotlight... - The Label... - The Pause...
4. Brand Your Page Consistently: Branding is important no matter the marketing channel. Many features for branding your YouTube channel are free and should be taken full advantage of. - Upload a Custom Background... - Showcase Your Other Social Channels Everywhere... - Custom Banners and Layout as a Brand Channel..."
In the article each element is analyzed with useful information and many examples. Read full interesting article here: http://j.mp/IJj4Im
Via Giuseppe Mauriello ![How to Create Custom Facebook Pages [Video] | The Social Media Marketing | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/Bv0pebH3PJzlt3NvHVPSpTl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
Facebook has made some significant changes to the layout of Facebook Pages in recent months. The custom landing tabs are gone and all Facebook Pages are now rendered using the new Timeline view. Page owners can add cover photos and they can also highlight important stories by pinning them to the top.
The official Facebook Page for Nokia has a Welcome Tab that highlights some of their recent phones. The Nike page has a Locations Tab that highlights the location of Nokia stores in the country. Apple’s App Store page has a Featured Tab where they have put a list of their top-selling apps and games. The Al Jazeera Page on Facebook has a “Watch Live” Tab where you can watch news right inside Facebook.
Have you ever wondered how do big brands create such interesting Facebook pages? They may have big marketing budgets but do you really need to hire skilled designers or programmers to build such fan pages? Well the answer is obviously no. You can create beautiful custom apps for your Facebook Page without writing a single line of code and all you need are few minutes. [..]
Read more: http://www.labnol.org/internet/create-custom-facebook-pages/17957/
A tactical guide for Google Plus covering page creation, daily management, and key optimizations with other Google products. #socialmedia #google+optimization #smallbiz
Analyzing data accurately can help you improve your marketing efforts, especially on Facebook, and tell you if you're doing it right or not. If you're a marketer or a small business entrepreneur and you want to know how to analyze your Facebook page data with Facebook Insights, in this article from Hubspot you will find usefull information on how to do it. Plus, you'll find a video tutorial that guides you step by step.
Very usefull.
Read the entire article (and video) here: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31965/how-to-analyze-facebook-insights-to-improve-your-content-strategy-with-video?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_uniq=aba0add5098179dc
Have you been able to turn your fans and followers into active prospects?Are you interested in monetizing the social media channel? It’s pretty difficult to place leads into the sales funnel if you don’t have a clear understanding of the sales process that supports it. In this article you'll find usefull information on how to monetize your social media efforts. Here's a preview:
1) Understand Your Sales Funnel: the first step in monetizing the social media channel is to have a clear understanding of which marketing channels are currently contributing leads to the funnel, what the sales follow-up process is and how long it takes to close the sale.
2) Optimize Your Path to Conversion: make sure it is super-easy for potential buyers to buy or contact you.
3) Provide Opportunities for Soft Conversion: the social media lead likely enters the sales funnel earlier in the buying process. He or she may not be ready to make a purchase; however, you have an opportunity to convert interested social media fans and followers into email subscribers.
4) Nurture the Social Media Lead Differently: you have to understand the difference between the social media lead and the traditional lead because traditional sales-related email campaigns will kill the sale with the social media buyer.
5) Measure Your Results: the only way to identify where leads are in the sales process is to measure your efforts.
Flavian Mihai
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-tips-for-moving-social-media-leads-into-the-sales-funnel/
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"Data plays a significant role in opportunity identification, resource allocation and content programming. So we’ve broken ‘data’ in to 5 segments to help you understand what each type means and where it adds value to your overall strategic pathway. Performance data: essentially performance data answers the question “how are we going right now?”. Conversation data: it's about monitoring real-time conversations, brand mentions, demographics and user characteristics, sentiment and content. Industry or topic data: monitoring industry and topic conversations helps us identify key influencers and interesting content. Traffic and link data: in this category you're interested in learning where traffic comes from, which social networks, items of content or ads are adding the most value. Conversion or results data: here you begin to develop success metrics. [..]" Read the full article here: http://justinflitter.co.nz/5-types-social-data/
It used to be that it was just us writer people that were responsible for publishing blog posts. But, my, how times have changed. As business owners, marketers, and social media mavens, we’re all responsible for publishing content on a regular basis. We publish posts to our own blogs to build our authority and search engine happiness, and we publish guest posts on other blogs to increase your readership and gain new eyes. With all the time we now devote to writing great content, we want to make sure we’re getting the most out of it that we can. And that means taking the time to optimize your content before you ever hit the publish button. Because search engine optimization always works better when it’s a priority, not an afterthought.
Before you hit publish on that post, make sure you’re hitting seven important points. They may just make all the difference.
Read more: http://bit.ly/KMIeVT Via Martin Gysler 
From the article: "Are you considering Facebook Ads but are confused by all the options? You’ve undoubtedly heard that “social ads” are the future of advertising, but what does that mean in practical terms for you today? This article will help you make smart decisions about how to promote your brand and engage with fans through advertising on Facebook. As a Facebook Preferred Developer, I’ve had the opportunity to gather a lot of information from the proverbial “horse’s mouth.” This article will provide a useful lay of the land around the new ad solutions that were introduced at the Facebook Marketing Conference (fMC) in February. [..]"
Read more: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-facebook-ads-an-introduction/
Maybe you’ve been distracted lately by Tupac’s hologram stealing the show at Coachella, but if you’ll allow me, I’d like to turn the conversation to content marketing for a moment. Okay, maybe a few moments—get comfy. From the bold strategy Coca-Cola shared with the public, to debates over whether content marketing sucks, content marketing has captured quite a bit of Internet attention, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up.
But one thing I’ve noticed is most people are focusing on the marketing part, and not so much on the content part. The general consensus is that quality content is the way to high rankings, traffic, and conversions. But while I’ve read a lot of posts that say you need quality content, I haven’t seen many that outline exactly how to create it. There seems to be a disconnect between copywriting advice, and content marketing how-tos. So let’s connect those dots.
Read more: http://bit.ly/HW3YDc Via Martin Gysler 
This is a usefull post written by Vlad Barshai (@vbarshai) that gives you tips on how and why you should treat your customers or users like your girlfriend. This is an example I always use during the training sessions I take about social media marketing for small businesses. Whether you're a start-up or a small business facing some problems with your customers on social media, you'll find it usefull!
"You always have to remember that until you have users, you're just another cool lemonade stand (website) in the middle of the dessert (web). One of the most important questions to ask yourself is: how do I get her (people) to love me? How do I get her (them) to care about my (its) existence? Let's take a step back and look at our "users" as our girlfriend. Here are some scenarios:
#2 She (they) won't know what to do unless it's right in front of her (them): It's true, every girl (user) likes to have everything taken care of. They want you to take the initiative and iron out a path... ask them on that first date (an initial e-mail submit) and clearly show them why you're worth their time (pitching the value proposition). Then they want You to have everything planned out beautifully (your layout) and ready so that they won't have to think of much (single path and call-to-action). They want to enjoy a great end-to-end experience (every move is simple, clear, precise) from the moment they leave the house (come to your site) to the moment they return home (press the back button or x). The girlfriends (users) really don't care how hard it was for you to do it, they just want it done so that they can brag to their friends (other influencers) about how good you are.
#3 Be nice! Overly nice if you have to: Everyone loves to feel loved. Everyone loves to feel that they matter. She (users) is no different. They want to know that if there are issues, you're a quick reach away from and can solve them immediately. They hate waiting! The way to make her (them) know you're great is to make sure that you're always there when there is a problem. Remember, the bad will stick with her (users) for years ... and the good will only be reminisced when there is nothing better ... but there will usually be something better.
Read the entire article here: http://not99.posterous.com/treat-your-users-like-your-girlfriend
From the article: "I find Twitter the most essential social media tool for Internet Marketers on many levels, mainly because of its search API. Unlike Facebook's and Google Plus's non-existent search options, Twitter makes it easy to go through the huge amounts of updates being published every minute and find those which are relevant (and important) to your brand.
Twitter search is priceless for various tasks:
- Track updates from any niche conference or event (through the official hashtag). In this particular case, archiving is very essential because your archive will let you find testimonials for your next event or quotes for your event coverage, etc.
The free Google Spreadsheet I am reviewing in this article can help you with all the above tasks: it collects tweets, archives them and lets you analyze them! [..]"
Read the entire article: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/how-to-archive-twitter-search-results-in-a-google-spreadsheet-and-analyze-them
That could be very interesting to know how do that. [note mg]
Have you seen those pre-written “tweet this” links and buttons that some websites use to make sharing a tweet much faster, and give additional control to the website that created it? I’m going to show you how to make a Pre-Formatted Re-Tweet Link or Button. When a user clicks on it they will be taken to their Twitter account with your message already filled in. All that is left for them to do is send the tweet! It’s useful in several situations, and isn’t the same as the stock Twitter Re-Tweet button.
Twitter is becoming known as the place to get news before it even becomes news. Getting news before everyone else has made it a premiere place to look for content, which by default has made it a premiere place to share content.
Read more: http://bit.ly/IXVoyW Via Martin Gysler 
Facebook is rolling out Offers which allows someone who likes a business or brand on Facebook to receive special deals. This can be beneficial to Page Owners.
Read the entire article to find out how this new feature works: http://vasimpleservices.com/facebook-offers-how-it-works
Via Genevieve Lachance 
From the article: "I’m sure you know by now about Pinterest, which is just about one of the fastest growing social networking sites ever. It connects people not only based on their friend’s network, but by their shared interest. While Facebook has great virility, Pinterest offers greater content exposure to its targeted audience, and this enhances the content-sharing experience. Timeline for Brands on Facebook may have its benefits and appeal, but if you secretly wished that it was just as easy to use as Pinterest, then we have good news for you.
In this quick-tip, we will guide you on how to use Pinvolve, a Facebook app that will automatically rearrange and polish your content presentation to mimic the styles of Pinterest. On top of that, the app will add a pin button to each of your shared content to make it easier for your fans to share your featured contents to Pinterest. [..]"
Read the entire article here: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/browse-facebook-like-it-is-pinterest/
How it’s driving more traffic than anything in the known universe. How you need to be “pinning” and have “pinnable stuff” or you’re going to fail at this magical new social network. How it’s the greatest thing since, well, the last greatest thing.
Read more: http://www.copyblogger.com/pinterest-analytics/
Enhance your Facebook Pages with these timeline ready apps. A total of 25 facebook apps to choose from, including BONUS app suggestions to improve fans engagement.
For page managers who know how to work with Facebook apps, the new Timeline layout for Pages is a great opportunity to highlight their application tab for maximum visibility and increase click through rates. But for those who aren’t, finding those timeline ready apps can be a massive headache.
NOT all facebook applications are suitable for your Page NOT all facebook applications are free Understand the use of each app before installing Understand each approved facebook app WILL HAVE access to a certain amount of your personal data on Facebook Facebook app is an ADDED advantage to achieve a particular purpose you have for your brand (get leads, customer contact info) but certainly NOT a compulsory It’s OK to NOT install any third party apps on your page if you don’t feel like it Read more: http://www.wchingya.com/2012/04/timeline-apps-facebook-page.html Via Martin Gysler 
This article is a “how-to” guide for businesses to spark desirable effects and outcomes through social media influence. Inside you'll find a report from Brian Solis as part of the Altimeter Group, called “The Rise of Digital Influence.”
The Rise of Digital Influence examines why “what” services track is useful and how to make it useful to your business as it relates to specific business objectives. The report shows how to use each tool to build an effective “influence” strategy…step by step.
Digital Influence is one of the hottest trends in social media and it is also one of the least understood. Klout, PeerIndex, Kred among many others are investing millions of dollars to understand how our social media activity translates into influence. The market for influence is only heating up with more entrants expected to debut and acquisitions or mergers likely on the horizon.
Whether we agree with them in principle or not, the topic of digital influence is only becoming more influential. Almost anyone with a social media profile is already indexed in at least one of the many vendors on the scene today. Consumers are trying to figure out what it means. Brands are realizing the promise of connecting to connected consumers. Advertising and PR agencies are spending budget against it. So what is influence and what does it really mean?
Source: http://www.briansolis.com/2012/03/the-pillars-of-influence-and-how-to-activate-them-in-business/
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