Blog#14 - LinkedIn / Flickr / Periscope

Today's post is about social medias again, We are going to talk about LinkedIn, Flickr, and Periscope.
I am going to write about each one of them and give basics information then provide some marketing tips about each one.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via websites. It started in December 2002. It is more professional than Facebook. You put a picture of yourself and your resume and some background information about yourself. You can find most of the companies page and you can apply to jobs though it.

Here is some tips to market on LinkedIn:
- Complete Your Profile
When you start your account on LinkedIn, make sure that you complete all the sections with the right information. Try to put all the informations as much as you can so when you sell yourself the company that you are selling for can see who you are and know all the informations about you. There is a tab on the top right and it can tell you what is your percentage of completion.

-  Connect With Everyone
Always try to connect with all the people that you know. The more connection you have is better for you. You can also invite your family and friends to join LinkedIn by sending them an invitation. Also when you connect with a lot of people, you might see some stuff in common which can help you to apply for more jobs to different companies. It's a good way for networking.

- A Professional Profile Picture
I took this tip from Mrs Angie-Brown Peterson in her class of last fall. She was talking about how important to have a professional picture. Make sure with the lighting, the size (make it portrait), not have pictures on the beach or dancing in the club, and to be by yourself.

Flickr

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website and wen services suite that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 then bought by Yahoo! in March 2005. It is kind like Instagram but it has more professional pictures and higher quality. You can also write some blogs and comments on others.

Learn more about Flickr and follow those tips:
- Describe Your Photo and Tag it Wisely
When you post any picture, make sure to describe it clearly and make sure that people will understand the message that you are trying to deliver. And also tag your picture wisely so people know that you are not just posting picture for nothing.

- Get A Screen Name For Your Business
Every post you post or every image you upload is about you. It is so important to reflect what you do. Let people see what you do for living so they could know about you. Use your business name and website URL as your screen name so people can reach it easily and they could see it clearly.

- Upload Photos of Your Products and Services
When you create a profile for your business. Add pictures and videos of what you sell or what you offer to customers. It is so important to relate what you sell or provide to what you post because everything is synchronized.

Periscope

Periscope is a live streaming video app for iOS and Android. It is the newest out of all the social medias that I talked about, it was released in March 2015. It was acquired by Twitter before it was launched in 2015. It is exactly like Instagram Live. You video yourself live and people could watch you and see what you are doing at this moment.

Tips how to use Periscope:
- Watch Broadcast First
Best you start streaming yourself live, watch how the others do it first. Make sure that you check poplar people that used Periscope for longtime. You can notice that by how many followers they have.

- Add Emojis to Your Title
When you write about yourself on your profile, it will be great if you add some funny emojis. People on Periscope likes to use emojis because its fun. You can also add emojis on your comments too.

- Take Time to Welcome People
I am not saying to stay 5 hours just welcoming and greeting people. Just be smart and anyone who is watching you just make them feel that they are interacting with you and show them that you care that they are watching you.

I would recommend if you are looking for jobs to create a profile on LinkedIn, if you are tired of Instagram you can go and try Flickr, and finally if you want to have fun with strangers and want to have fun create a profile on Periscope.

Blog#13 - Reddit / Pinterest / Tumblr

Guess what? Today's post in about social networks again but they are not well knows like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They are little bit different. Today's tips will be on Reddit, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Reddit

Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. It is started in June 2005. Content entries are organized by areas of interests called "subreddits". The subreddit topics include news, science, gaming, movies, musics, books, fitness and food.

Here is some tips how to market on Reddit
- Make Your Advertisement Fun and Unique
When you plan to do an advertisement, try to make it as fun as possible. Don't put pictures that people already knew or don't put boring text. Be creative and draw things with your own hand. Just try to be yourself but don't make it complicated. Always easy and simple.

- Don't Post Meaningless comments
When you reply to a post or someone's comment don't just say "I like" or "I agree" or "Nice". Always try put your comment in a full sentence that makes sense. At the same time, it not good to write like 3 paragraph in a comment. Just be smart and have fun with your comments.

- Find Subreddit With Your Target Audience
Try to follow people that they have the same vision that you have. They like the same pages that you like. It is important because you can find interesting subreddits that you never thought about it before but it fits your needs.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a web and mobile application company that operates a photo sharing website. It was started in March 2010. Users can upload, save, sort, and manage images, knows as pins, and other media content through collections, known as pinboards.

Check these tips that will help you in Pinterest marketing:
- Include Price Tag
If you are a company that sells products don't just put the pictures of your products. Just add that price in the bottom in the information section so people could know how much you are selling your items for and to avoid thousands of people asking how much is this item.

- Use Pin It For Later Links
It is so useful to have a link of an article or image that you liked. Pin in for later so when you want to share it later or show it to your friends just send him the link instead of him searching for it on the search and find hundreds of search results that he will not know which one you are talking about.

- Find Popular Group Boards
It is an excellent way to reach more people to get repin, followers, and traffic. Popular groups helps you to engage with more people and when you repin you will get more followers because the other followers wants to look for popular group boards.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging and social network website. It was started in February 2007 and the bought by Yahoo! since 2013. It mainly contains blogs but you can also add other multimedias.

Here some marketing mistakes that you try to avoid on Tumblr:
- Don't use trending topics the wrong way
- Don't share anything offensive
- Don't overuse hashtags

Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr are not well known social networks but I guarantee if you go and take a look for each one of them you will find fun stuff and a lot of informations that you never heard of it before and will not find somewhere else. Go try them and let me know!

Blog#12 - YouTube / Instagram / Snapchat

Since we talked about three social media last post, we will discuss about three more this post. We are going to talk how to market on YouTube or Instagram or Snapchat. Here is some tips about each one of these social media networks.

YouTube

YouTube is an American sharing videos website. It was started in February 2005. It was bought by Google in November 2016 for US$1.65 billion. YouTube is the number one searching video website. You can find any type of videos in there. Videos that was produced in 1900s till the current day. You can also follow or subscribe to any big company or producer page so you can see everything up-to-date. Many people watch news by subscribing with CNN or FOX news.

Here is some tips how to market on YouTube:
- Keep it Short and Simple
The size to upload a video on YouTube is limited so you don't need to expand in the video. Always make sure that you keep it short while you need to add all the information needed in this video. Audience don't like to watch a 10 minutes video, they get bored.

- Keep it Relevant to The Topic
When you produce the video before uploading it, make sure that you are delivering the right information and that it is relevant to the topic that you are talking about. It is not good if your video title named iPhone 6s and you are talking about Samsung Galaxy S7. It doesn't make any sense.

- Use Humor in Your Videos
People like jokes so why not adding humor and jokes to your video. Make sure that people will like it and make it appropriate. It is always good if you make the audience smile or laugh while they are watching your video.

Instagram

Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing site that enables its user to take pictures and share it with other people. Instagram started in October 2006. Instagram is getting bigger each day by adding more features like moments, live video, and group conversation with your friends. I am a big fan of Instagram because if you think about it that it is so simple and you can get many things out of it.

Now its time for some marketing tips on Instagram:
- Shoot Square
It is so important when you take the picture or the video that you are going to post on Instagram with sure dimension. If you your picture or video is squared dimension, you will be sure that you will not miss any part from the picture or video when you upload it on Instagram. If you have a picture or video that is not in square dimension, I would recommend to use Instasize app. It will adjust your picture or video to be with square dimensions and you will be ready to go before you upload it.

- Mix Videos and Photos
It is always better to mix by uploading photos and videos. It is kind of boring if you are just adding photos or just videos. Your page will be a lot better if you have a mix of both. McDonald's do a very good job in mixing videos and photos on Instagram. I would recommend to check it.

- Take Advantage of Trending Hashtags
When you use the hashtags, make sure that you are using famous hashtags and that is it already used so you can get more followers. To be sure that you have the right hashtags always make it simple and not long.

Snapchat

Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application. Snapchat is used to send and receive images or videos with text with your friends. It was started in September 2011. It is used as private messaging by sending a picture or video to any specific friend or public by posting it as "My Story" so everyone can see where are you and what you are doing at this moment.

Here is some tips for Snapchat marketers:
- Reward Your Customers With Coupons
Once a while, give your followers and customers coupons to use so you can gain more followers. Kevin Hart is doing a good job with coupons by giving some Tommy John underwear coupons once each month or so. Follow Kevin Hart by adding him on: lilswag79

- Release Behind the Scenes Footage
People always like to know what is happening behind the scene. If you follow a celebrity or a famous pop star you always like to see what they do in their normal life. DJ Khaled do a very good job by showing what is he doing and sharing videos and pictures of his son. Make sure to film it correctly because you only have maximum of 10 seconds and don't add a lot of text because people won't have to read it in 10 seconds.

As conclusion, these sites and application is mainly about pictures and videos. Always make sure that you deliver the right content and always make it simple. I also noticed that these media is used mainly on the phones more than the laptops especially Snapchat is only available on phones. Always enjoy sharing photos and videos with your friends and make it fun.

Blog#11 - Facebook / Twitter / Google+

Today's post is little bit different than the other posts. We are going to talk how to market your company on Facebook or Twitter or Google+. I am going to give you some tips on each of these social media.

Facebook

Facebook started officially on February 4th 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg. It's a public business that you can create your profile so you could get close to many people around you and far away from you. Facebook was my first social media that I started it. It was so fun for me because I started it on 2007 so it was improved and had a lot of facilities to use.

Here is some tips for Facebook marketing:
- Timing is EVERYTHING
Make sure when you post your posts in the right timing. For example, if you are hosting a college student party you know that they don't have classes on Saturday because its the weekend and they will always want to hang out at night.

- Include Social Media Images
When you post a post or something on your page it would be better if you add an imagine related to your topic so it will attract the eyes of audience. People don't like just to see some texts without anything to make it more elegant and fun.

- Seek Audience Insights
Always let the interaction begin and never end. Always look what your audience wants and add it to your posts. It is always important to show your audience that you answer on their comments and make what they want valuable.

Twitter

Twitter is an online news and social networking service where people post and read messages which are called "tweets". It is also a public service where anyone could have an account and see others account for free. It was created in March 2006, so two years after Facebook.

If you want ti improve your marketing on twitter I would recommend to look on these tips:
- Find the Right Search Results
You need to make sure that you are following the right person or page because there is a lot of people who create fake accounts to gain followers but they are not the right provider. Twitter enhanced this option by the blue checkmark beside the profile name. If you want to follow for example Ariana Grande you are going to find many profile with this name but if you find the name and beside it a blue checkmark so that's means that Ariana Grande approved that this is her profile which lead people to follow the right people.

- Ensure Images and Videos Show Up
Make sure that your images are shown and videos can be played because a lot of times I open posts and try to see images or videos but they don't open. Audience sometimes get annoyed and they will not follow any post you post again.

- Reply to the Right Audience
Audience always like when they type a comment or an opinion to be answered by the guy who they asked. It is so important for them because if you don't answer they will think that you don't care which lead people will unfollow you and not be loyal to you or your brand. Always make sure to reply on them even if it was a negative post.

Google+

Google+ (or people pronounce it Google Plus) is an interest-based social network that is owned and operated by Google. It is not a social media where you post pictures of your cat and friends. It is more about business and marketers. It is the newest out of Facebook and Twitter. It started on June 2011. Google always create new things like Google+, Google Hangouts,  and Gmail.

Here is some tips how to be good in marketing with Google+:
- Comment on Other's Posts Before You Create Yours
Make people feel that they are important to you and their comments is beneficial for you. When someone add a comment to your post make sure than you answer all of them before creating a new one.

- Use Visuals - A LOT OF THEM!
Visuals is so entertaining and make your post look better. People get tired of just reading a text. Audience want to see visuals so they could understand your post better and don't get bored.

- Have A Friendly Profile Picture
Since Google+ is more about business then just writing and commenting posts with your friends, so put a professional picture of yours with a suit and tie. Make sure you look good and professional.

After giving some tips on all the social media listed, you notice that there is a lot in common. Pictures with your text is so important because it make your post fun and not bored. Audience eyes get tired by just reading some texts. Another important tip is replying on your audience's comments. Audience always want to feel special and exceptional. When you reply to their post they feel special and they take it more personal that they feel that you are close to them and are about them. I would recommend to follow these tips so you could get a lot of audience. Good audience spread good words!

Blog#10 - Creating Video for Social Media

Creating a video for social media is not so hard and not expensive. The easiest way you can use YouTube. Many people trust it and use it. Till now, I didn't see someone who search for videos online other than YouTube. To create your video there is some steps that you will have to follow.

- Decide what to feature in your video
Before you star filming or recording anything, you will need to know why you are doing this videos. So to make a video, there will be a message delivered to your audience. You have to make a strategy how you are going to deliver this message and how much it will cost you because create a video is advertising expense. You will have to create your own content. It will be your own idea and not stolen from someone.

- Create your video
How do you want your video look like. Do you want it a recorded from a camera in real life? or do you want it a graphics cartoon using Adobe or other programs? or do you want it sketched on a piece of paper and put many images after each other in a shape of video? There is a lot of options how to create a video, the question is how much you are willing to pay to film this movie?

- Share you video
After deciding how your are going to make the video, now its time time to share! As I mentioned before that YouTube is the most used search for videos website. It is very easy to share a video on YouTube. If you need more information how, press this link now.

YouTube now is so well-know that you could share any video that you post or you see to your own social media profile as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. YouTube now is used by multiple companies to share their advertisements. Many people now even listen to music from YouTube. YouTube network is huge that you could fix an issue on your laptop by just following some instruction on a video who had the same issue. I would recommend everyone who sees this post to go to YouTube and you will see everything that you need in there in a shape of a video. It brings videos from the 1900s to today, not only today, but the next second that will pass right now.

This is an advertisement for Volkswagen that you can see on YouTube. I really like this one because their commercial always has humor and fun. Check it and let me know if you like it or no.

Blog#9 - Visual Storytelling

When you are leading a company, you need to make sure that you provide good visuals likes photos and posts. You need to make sure that you have good images with good quality and make it clear to your customers so they could understand where you are heading to. Customers care so much about the visual and what they see because for them this is the truth and this is what they care about. Visual content doesn't mean just the image, it also means the text that related to the imagine so you could understand more the image.

There is three key factors helps you to nail the visual storytelling:
- Authenticity
You will need to make it real as much as you can. Customers doesn't like fake informations or images. You have to make sure that it is real and that the customers will enjoy it. A good marketer takes images in the real like and then he will edit it if needed. GoPro is a good example of a company that designed their camera that you will not need to edit or adjust anything in the picture because it is perfect.

- Sensory
Make the image catch their eye. Put colors related to what in your input so they could understand what is in your mind. Let the viewers feel what you want them to feel in the image that you post. If you want them to feel love, put love colors like red. If you want them to feel fresh, put fresh colors like white.

- Relevance

Make your pictures relevant to your viewers. They will need to relevant the picture to something. Think about your customers values and make them think about these values when they hear the name of your company. Customers wants to have images that will talk to them and show they how a company can be loyal to them.

Instagram is an online mobile sharing site that you can share your moments just by adding some pictures and caption. If you think about it this way, it sounds so simple but look how much profit did they make. There is not a big or a small company that doesn't use Instagram for one of their social media. Instagram provides you also some effects that can make your picture looks better and more natural with vivid colors. Now, Instagram is a lot bigger than just pictures. You could share your moment like put a story on snapchat, you could start a group conversation, and you could even share where you are and what are you doing by starting a live video of yourself. I hope you would act and start a new account if you don't have an account on Instagram because you will see that you will have a lot of fun interacting with your family and friends.

Blog#8 - Developing Social Media Strategies

It is very important to develop Social Media strategies to insure that you reaches your targeted audience and that the readers share it again as to reach the most amount of people. There are various challenges to developing social media strategies. One of the greatest challenges is the social media is constantly developing. Here under I will discuss five ways the will help develop a good social media strategy.

1: Do A Social Media Audit:

It is essential to go over your older media posts and see which posts had the most views and shares, as it is a very good indicator of which posts appealed the most to the audience. There are various tools to analyze your media traffic such as google analytics. After finding which posts had the most traffic and engagement then a trend in those posts can be found. This trend can be further developed and used in future posts. This will ensure the most benefit and success from all your future posts.

2: Use A "Shotgun Approach" For Relatable Reach.

Due to the fact that many brands are now using social media, your posts could not make it through to your audience. For example, there are many posts each day that I skip because of the sheer amount of posts that are thrown my way.

The Shotgun Approach simply relies on the mathematical probabilities of increasing the amount of content and posting in more places to increase the chance that it will be seen.

3: Analyze Your Competition:

This is one of the most beneficial things you can do. You can research what your competitors do and learn from them what works and what does not work and see how this can help benefit and develop your social media strategy.

4: Create An Audience Strategy:

It is important to know who your costumer are and what they want and what appeals to them. After this you can create content with your whole audience in mind. This endures that it reaches the the most amount of people.

5: Analyze Mobile Options:

This is a very important strategy because people use mobile phones a lot.
For mobile content, the header image is very important as it is the first thing people see and it is what will grab their attention. This is the best way to make a strong impression.

In conclusion, if you do a social media audit, use the "Shotgun Approach", analyze your completion, create and audience strategy and analyze mobile options then you will have a very strong social media strategy that will definitely improve your future posts.

Toyota is a huge Japanese automobile manufacturer. It provide all types of cars that makes them leading the international market. Toyota has a lot of followers on their social media and they do a very good job on their campaign. Toyota also has multiple social media, there is one for USA, Europe, Asia, and many more. Toyota's main competitor is Honda. Both of them was founded in Japan. I would recommend to check the new Toyota's cars and trucks. Toyota also is partnership with Lexus that provide more capabilities and higher level. They are well know with the luxury and cheaper than other German manufacturer like Mercedes, BMW, and Audi.