“With social media itself an exponentially growing trend that’s here to stay, many companies both small and large are keeping tabs on new social technologies as they emerge. With new sites, services, apps and practices that help businesses connect more directly with customers coming online at a rapid pace, it’s often helpful to zoom out a bit and keep an eye on upcoming trends on the cusp or just over the horizon.

Whether or not particular individual services succeed, the following trends are likely to stick around in the near-term future. Some may not be immediately relevant to your company or industry, but being aware of oncoming movements in the social media landscape can help keep you and your business out ahead of the curve when a new trend holds promise for your organization’s growth.”

Read the rest of this article from Next-Media.

“Don’t waste time chasing a shiny new thing if your customers don’t hang out there, too. Today, 40% of college admissions offices use Twitter…but only 15% of prospective students want to use Twitter to connect with recruiters. That’s a huge mismatch!”

Read the rest of this article from Frontline Results.

“Once social activism meant protest marches, civil obedience and sit-ins. But for today’s 20-somethings — sometimes called “slactivists” — supporting or denouncing a cause is as simple as hitting the “like” button on Facebook or posting a hashtag to Twitter. And that’s often where it ends.

But that can also be where it begins, if marketers use social-media tools widely to get young adults more heavily involved in their cause-marketing efforts. For this demographic, sharing information about causes and social issues they feel passionate about is the first step to getting involved in a more concrete way, such as donating money or time, according to a study by ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day.”

Read the rest of this article from Adage.

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Frustrated with Social Media Overload?
If you want to get more out of your social media experience, we offer “One-on-One” Twitter Coaching and Blog Coaching specifically designed for your own individual or business needs.
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“Women owned business, home based business, entrepreneurs and other small businesses are discouraged from using Twitter because they don’t see it as a lead generating tool or a sales generating tool. Many small businesses look at Twitter as just another thing on their “to-do” list. Don’t let one of these 5 stupid reasons for not using Twitter for business keep you from embracing this new-media as a way to attract new clients.”

Read the rest of this article from 101 Free Tools.

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Frustrated with Social Media Overload?
If you want to get more out of your social media experience, we offer “One-on-One” Twitter Coaching and Blog Coaching specifically designed for your own individual or business needs.
—–

“A while back, I wrote 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business. It still gets plenty of attention, as it’s listed as an official resource on the Twitter business resources page (thanks, @ed!). But you know, I can’t leave well enough alone, so here I am with another 50 Power Twitter Tips. Feel free to repost all or any of this, but if you do, please give credit to this link.

I broke them down into five categories: intent, technical, business, integrated usage, and off-twitter. Some could probably fit in more than one category, such as it were.”

Read the rest of this article from Chris Brogan.

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Frustrated with Social Media Overload?
If you want to get more out of your social media experience, we offer “One-on-One” Twitter Coaching and Blog Coaching specifically designed for your own individual or business needs.
—–

“So, are you one of those businesses still holding out on the Social media world because it’s “A Waste Of Time”?

Well guess what? The conversation is happening whether you want to be involved or not. And, it’s stronger than you might expect.

In today’s world, the customer has the power. As a business owner, you are NOT in control. People will spread ideas and opinions about your business faster than you can imagine. That’s called Viral Marketing. And you better believe that they will spread it. Good or bad.

So how do you work with Social Media and keep your PR under control? We’re going to go through a few things that you should do in order to make the best of the tools that are out there.”

Read the rest of this article from Gather.com

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Frustrated with Social Media Overload?
If you want to get more out of your social media experience, we offer “One-on-One” Twitter Coaching and Blog Coaching specifically designed for your own individual or business needs.
—–

“Professional social network LinkedIn now has 70 million members, according to the company’s home page. The company hit 60 million users in February, and has been growing fast, especially in international markets. LinkedIn’s network’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, stated in a blog post last fall that half of LinkedIn’s membership is international. The company is also listing one million company profiles, which are similar to a user profile.”

Read the rest of this article from Next Media.

“Ironically, the most important feature on Twitter is one that Twitter itself did not develop, and has never adopted: the traditional retweet. It was developed by the customers, on their own, and not by the company. And amazingly, to this date Twitter itself has never incorporated it, although doing so would be as easy as pie.

My advice to all Twitter users is that you should not use what Twitter calls a “retweet”. It is a counterfeit, and does not have any of the key properties of a retweet. Just skip it.”

Read the rest of this article from Ray Beckerman.

When embracing social media, focus on that first word: social.

Many businesses that have added Facebook, Twitter and other social media to their marketing toolkit regard it  “as simply another corporate megaphone,” said Joe Hodas, senior vice president of brand communications for Colorado Springs-based advertising agency Vladimir Jones.

“With many, you’ll see that all of their Twitter feed is, ‘We just put out this press announcement, we just won this award.’ It’s just a one-way avenue to speak about their brand in very corporate terms. That’s a mistake.”

Businesses that use social media simply as a way to blast the online world with sales pitches will turn people off, said Kevin Knebl, owner of Colorado Springs-based Knebl Communications, which specializes in online and offline networking skills and social media training. It’s about building relationships with current and prospective customers, he said — and thus increasing your “like, know and trust factor.”

Here are some local businesses that are using social media to do just that…”

read the rest of this article from the Gazette.

This article was written by Eric Milner.

“My friend and twitter coach Trilby Jeeves spoke at The Social Media Challenge. The Challenge is a marketing and sales coaching program for business builders put on by Neil Godin and was held at The Hampton Inn in Langley, BC.

Trilby gave a great one hour tutorial and introduction to using Twitter to a few dozen small business owners. She wowed the crowd with the power of Twitter by demonstrating the nearly instant results that her followers created by their web page visits to the couple of the business owners that volunteered.”

Read the rest of this article from Eric Milner.