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How to Make the Most of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the most valuable resources for working professionals, but few users understand every feature the site has to offer. Sylvan Lane shares “8 Tips and Tricks for LinkedIn Power Users” on Mashable and here are our top 3:

1. Set up anonymous profile viewing

Though Lane admits “it’s natural to want to delve a little deeper into someone’s professional past,” LinkedIn automatically notifies users when their profile is viewed. By changing profile settings to anonymous, one can search the LinkedIn network without the fear of appearing creepy.

2. Ask connections to leave you recommendations

The point of making connections on LinkedIn is so friends and colleagues can bolster your professional profile. While it might be awkward to ask for these endorsements, “these recommendations add immediate credibility and depth to your experience,” Lane notes. LinkedIn connections are mutually beneficial relationships, so don’t forget to recommend others as well.

3. Save job searches and receive email alerts

One of LinkedIn’s most helpful resources is its job search tool. Don’t have time to sift through lengthy job postings? Save searches and opt to receive email alerts daily, weekly or monthly. This is the perfect way to make LinkedIn “work for you, as you look for work yourself,” Lane concludes. Your dream job could be hiding in your inbox disguised as an email from LinkedIn!

Get more tips and tricks to step up your LinkedIn game here: http://mashable.com/2014/08/07/linkedin-tips-and-tricks/

Facebook’s Latest Privacy Challenge

FB privacy

Described as a “Big Brother move”, Facebook’s new eavesdropping feature has reached an entirely new level of creepy. The opt-in feature turns on your smartphone’s microphone and picks up on surrounding noises like music, TV or even conversations. The mobile app then posts a status update like “Watching Orange is the New Black” or “Listening to Iggy Azalea”.

Facebook spokesperson Momo Zhou spoke to Kashmir Hill about the feature in a recent article on Forbes. Zhou insists that Facebook has no interest in private conversations and audio recordings will not be saved. “We’re not recording audio or sound and sending it to Facebook or its servers,” Zhou says. “We turn the audio it hears into a code — code that is not reversible into audio — and then we match it against a database of code.”

Kashmir Hill shares some interesting thoughts about the new feature, focusing specifically on why Facebook continues to push the limits of privacy invasion “in these days of Snowden surveillance revelations”. Hill believes Facebook is encouraging users to constantly share stream-of-consciousness type information. Facebook, Hill concludes, “wants to displace Twitter as the go-to place for real-time commenting on sporting events, awards shows, and other communal television watching”.

The feature has sparked a wave of outrage among Facebook users and has resulted in a petition for its removal. The petition currently has over 585,000 signatures.

In a world of catfishing, government surveillance, stalking and random Facebook “acquaintances”, privacy is a huge concern. Understanding and maintaining privacy settings is an important aspect of protecting yourself against privacy invasion.

15 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid- Especially for PR Pros

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As social media becomes more and more integrated with public relations, PR professionals have to be social media savvy. More than 90 percent of businesses use social media- and a lot of the time, it is the PR professionals behind the brand helping create content and interact with fans.

PR Daily’s article helps point out 15 social media mistakes to avoid, perfect for those PR professionals out there helping with the daily social media needs of their clients. Are you making any of these mistakes? Check it out!

 1. Not Using Images

Visual Images are essential to driving engagement on social media websites. This is especially important because people respond better to visual images rather than plain text. According to the article, “on average, photos get 50 percent more impressions than any other post type on Facebook, as well as more likes and comments. Images used on Twitter have 200 percent more engagement than tweets without.”

 2. Not Using Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags allow readers to filter through posts, tweets, or images. They help enter a business into a conversation and trending topics while also getting more engagement with the audience. “Using strategic hashtags can help businesses find their target audiences, reach non-followers in large numbers and grow a brand’s influence” explains the article. The key word to take away from this is: effectively.  Do not overdo it on the hashtags. By inserting a obscene amount of hashtags makes a business post look like it is spam and annoys the audience. It is important to use hashtags that are relevant to the post or business.

3. Not Having a Consistent Voice or A Voice at All

There is a fine line on having a voice on social media. You want to sound human but you also want to get your message across without repeating the same post. PR Daily explains that there is a fine line. “Brands shouldn’t sound like robots. Repeatedly sending out the same messages can create ill will from consumers. The key is to find a happy middle ground where the brand’s voice is consistent, caring and human.”  It is important to interact with the audience and consumers. In fact, it is expected. Social media is interactive and consumers want to be heard.  It is also important to think about the audience when posting. Post the content that they would want to see. Give them a behind the scenes look at something your business is doing via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  This creates a feeling of connectedness between the followers and business.

Read the full article here: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/16470.aspx#

Social Big Data

Did you know that an average internet user spends nearly two and a half hours on social media every single day? Not only that, all the information you generate on online is collected as Big Data by social media networks to create personalized  and hyper targeted content.  For example, Facebook features customized content based on  daily interactions, likes and shares. Roughly 2.4 billion global users are transferring data each minute all with the common aim of making information accessible, streamlined and efficient. So where does this Big Data come from and how can you most effectively utilize it?

The Infographic by  Kapow illustrates how various sources of big data originate and how they differ. It also illustrates a technique to measure their velocity, variety and volume. Who knew Big Data could be so simple?

BIG DATA

Ignite Your Content with Social Media

Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker

Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker

The most important aspect in PR is staying relevant with the content. Social media is one of the most effective channels to spread the content. In today’s digital day and age most people access news through their cellular devices or the internet. It’s important to incorporate digital technology when creating content. Content is important because it’s a means to create consumer engagement through storytelling. Content is also what ultimately drives leads and sales. You need to put thought and structure behind the content you create.

Angie Pascale from Clickz illustrates 7 tips on how you can create strong content for social media:

 

  1. Know Your Audience: It’s important to get a good understanding of your audience. Analyze you consumer demographic, interests, needs, mindsets, and behaviors. You can also do industry research, focus groups, and brand surveys using social monitoring software and Facebook Custom Audience
  2. Provide Value: Your content should highlight long-term awareness and brand recall. Your brand should be with the consumer at every step till final purchase.
  3. Expand Your Conversation: Shift focus from the importance of the brand to what your brand can do for consumers. You can broaden conversation by creating content pillars that represent the brand’s core environment and its application.
  4. Look Beyond Facebook and Twitter: Create content through owned, earned, and paid methods across a variety of channels rather than just facebook or twitter
  5. Know Your Dimensions: Focus on understanding the various dimension of each channel for spreading your content and how accessible you make it.
  6. Don’t Ignore the SEO Impact: It is equally important to enhance the ranking of your content. There are several key factors to take into consideration such as lead traffic and how to generate links
  7. Measure Success: Before you begin writing your content determine the objective and metrics you will use to measure performance such as awareness, consumption, engagement, actions, and SEO impact

To read the Original Article, click here: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2332197/7-tips-for-managing-and-maximizing-content-in-social-media

How To be Most Effective with Twitter In Just 10 Minutes

 Image: Mashable composite. iStock, TonySoh, Marchiez


Image: Mashable composite. iStock, TonySoh, Marchiez

Social media doesn’t always require a huge commitment. If you’re looking for a free and effective social networking platform, you should use Twitter. Aubre Andrus from Mashable shows us how you can be most effective in the workplace with simple tools like Hootsuite and Twitter Lists for your Twitter accounts. In just under ten minutes, you can launch your plan of attack quickly. Here are 5 quick steps to follow:

1. Set up your Hootsuite account.

Hootsuite is a free social media dashboard. There are others available, but this one is my favorite. Once you’ve linked your Twitter to Hootsuite, you can add streams, social networks (which we’ll ignore now) and tabs. Add these streams to your first tab: Scheduled Tweets, Sent Tweets, Mentions, Direct Messages and My Tweets, Retweeted. Simply click “Add Stream” and follow the prompts.

Image: Hootesuite


2: Create Twitter Lists.

Jump over to Twitter.com and navigate to your settings (the gear symbol in the upper-right corner). Click Lists > Create list. From here, curate public and private lists to organize the type of content you want to see by topic, user, hashtag, etc. Organize your lists by theme, and choose specific Twitter users to fill each one.

Be sure to create one secret “Important Connections” list that will hold all the smart people you wish to network with on a daily basis. Other list ideas include “Clients,” “Super Fans,” “Industry Leaders,” “Favorite Blogs,” “Social Media Superstars,” “Chefs I love” and the like. Get specific here.

Image: Twitter

 

 

3: Add your Twitter Lists to Hootsuite.
Create a new tab on your Hootsuite dashboard by clicking the black plus sign. Label it “Important.” This tab will be your second stop in your new Twitter routine. In this tab, click “Add Stream,” then “Lists.” From your lists, choose a few of your most pressing streams, including your “Important Connections” feed. Create a few new tabs and organize your remaining Twitter lists by topic. Four streams fit in each tab comfortably, but you can add up to 10.

4: Add #hashtag streams to Hootsuite.
Create a new tab called “Hashtags” and fill it with at least four important hashtags you follow. Don’t forget about industry tweetups that would be good for you to keep an eye on. If you’re a writer, follow the #amwriting hashtag. If you’re a fashion blogger, follow #stylechat, which is an industry tweetup. Under “Add a stream,” search for the hashtag that is relevant to your business or your brand, and create a stream. If you’d like, add relevant hashtag streams to your your themed tabs, as well.

5: Begin your 10-minute per day routine.
Log in to Hootsuite and check your first tab, which includes any mentions or tweets you’ve received. Respond to these first. Now check your “Important” tab. Like, respond to, or retweet anything that interests you from your important connections or your brand’s super fans. Now check your hashtag tab. Is there anything interesting going on in your industry? Use that inspiration to write up a few new posts. Use Hootsuite’s “auto-schedule” feature, which optimizes your posts to publish at the next high-traffic time. They’ll appear in your “Scheduled Tweets” stream on your first tab.

Practice makes perfect. The more you practice this routine, the faster you’ll get. If you use relevant hashtags, tweet interesting content, respond to tweets and retweet others, you’ll gain a following with only 10 minutes per day in no time.

For the full article visit : http://mashable.com/2014/02/17/twitter-time/

 

Staying on Top of the Latest Social Media Trends for Your New Year’s Resolutions

With a new year under our belts, Mashable’s Alex Honeysett believes that in order to keep our social media resolutions, we need to know the latest trend predictions in the industry.

These trends include:

1. The Social Media Job Scene: Bigger and Better

This year, jobs in social media will explode. From SEO Specialists to Social Media Marketing Managers, these jobs will be in high demand.

2. Beyond Facebook: The New Platforms on the Block

Other social media platforms will make a name for themselves this year and cast a shadow over the ever popular Facebook page.

3. Small Moments, Big Trends

The smallest Instagram photo or tweet can make a huge impact on the way a company is perceived or continues running in today’s world. Keep it small, yet effective!

To read the full article: http://mashable.com/2014/01/01/social-media-trends/