Rich Kahn says, “The holidays are an extremely profitable time of the year for businesses of all sizes. After all, they can account for 20-40 percent of a business’ yearly sales. But what about after the holidays? Budgets are tighter, consumers are exhausted and it can be hard to make the idea of shopping again appealing at all. Don’t let your marketing efforts go stale in the post-holiday shopping season. Your consumers are tired, but they’re still keeping an eye out for the next appealing product or service. Here’s what you can do to keep your business’s holiday success going. Keep... [...]

Jonathan Long says, “Instagram is hands-down one of the most popular social media networks. There is so much available attention to capture, which is why building a large following is such a top priority for brands and individuals. A friend of mine, Jessica Sorkin, better known as @thehandyj on Instagram, has built a very engaged following of more than 277,000 in a very short period of time. Warning: some of her content is NSFW. She received her masters in marriage and family therapy, but discovered the best therapy was laughter and found she could bring lots of laughter to a large amount... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Back in March 2016, you might remember Facebook announcing that three million businesses actively advertise on its social network. Well, now that number is four million. That’s one million advertisers added in less than seven months. For comparison, Facebook’s main current rival in the social advertising space, Twitter, claimed more than 130,000 advertisers in the fourth quarter of 2015 (Facebook’s real main rival, Google, no longer says how many advertisers it has). And Facebook-owned Instagram announced last week that more than 500,000 brands buy its ads each... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “This could be a really short article. LinkedIn is rolling out a way for advertisers to track when their ads lead people to do things on the brand’s site like buy a product or register an account, which is something that Facebook and Google and Twitter and Pinterest already offer. But LinkedIn is putting its own spin on a measurement tool that even Russ Glass, product boss at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, called “table stakes.” LinkedIn’s conversion tracking won’t only tally how many people saw or clicked on an ad and eventually did something on the advertiser’s... [...]

Kara Burney says, “In 2013, only 24.6% of Fortune 500 companies were active on Instagram. Fast-forward three years, and the adoption of Instagram among America’s biggest brands has doubled to 50%, with 250 brands represented on the social media platform. How are America’s biggest brands putting Instagram to use? I analyzed a year of Instagram content from Fortune 500 companies to find out. Here are four trends and takeaways that can help your own Instagram content stand out. 1. Instagram is a day job (but it shouldn’t be) Fortune 500 companies treat social media marketing on Instagram... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Earlier this year, Facebook announced News Feed updates to incorporate qualitative user feedback and prioritize content from friends and family. And last week, the world’s largest social network announced another News Feed update aimed at reducing clickbait. Both changes have the greatest potential impact on brands and publishers which, according to social media publishing platform provider SocialFlow, saw their reach per post on Facebook drop by a whopping 42% between January and May. As publishers using SocialFlow observed the effects of Facebook’s changes,... [...]

Christina Kumar says, “Instagram has risen to the half-billion number of users. This is a very high number compared to many similar social media apps and is considered the fastest growing app of all time. How did Instagram get to this level and how can you leverage your business on this app? Instagram’s CEO, Kevin Systrom announced, “It’s a big milestone for us because we set to create a community, not just a photo-sharing app.” (TIME) While the app has grown exceedingly since its acquisition by Facebook, there are a few ways which Instagram has specifically used to gain the record... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “No one really knows how many people actually had a chance to see one of their Instagram posts. They know the potential audience based on how many people follow their Instagram account, but they have no idea how many people are checking their feeds soon after that photo or video is posted or how many other people might come across it when checking a profile page or the Explore tab. That’s starting to change, at least for brands. Instagram is finally opening up about new tools it’s adding for businesses, which include business-specific profiles and a way for brands using... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “What do you do when you meet someone in a business setting and you want to find out more about their career? You look them up on LinkedIn, of course. LinkedIn is the number one place to show off your career successes, rewards, and goals so business contacts can get to know more about your professional experiences. It’s the place your business contacts go to see what you’ve accomplished, where you’ve worked, and which parts of the industry you’re most interested in and engaged with. That’s why it’s so important to continually update... [...]

Nicolas Chabot says, “Influencer Relationship Management (IRM) is the hottest new emerging practice in marketing and communications that is winning budgetary affirmation amongst some of the world’s major playing brands including Coca Cola, Adobe and Phillips. Taking its beginnings from the rationale and practice of Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM), IRM is also sometimes described as ‘CRM of the Marketer’. Beyond the terminology it is important to understand how IRM and CRM fundamentally differ and pursue differing goals, objectives and outcomes. Also why it’s critical that... [...]