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Social media has become an increasingly important aspect of effective media marketing campaigns and this is an area where North Norfolk web design can help an organisation reach out more effectively to its customers.  As communication increasingly moves online, conversation about businesses, large and small, is moving there also, and businesses need not only to be able to respond but to initiate the conversation when appropriate.

Social media optimization

Social media can be defined as the use of particular internet-based technologies to generate and exchange information and ideas.  Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of social media platforms to promote a brand, product or event.  The objective of SMO is to direct traffic towards a particular website and to ensure that its content is shared across social media and networking platforms to the optimal degree.  SMO is becoming a more important aspect of search engine optimisation – raising the visibility of a website in a particular search engine’s results.  This is because search engines are becoming increasingly reliant on the recommendations of those using social networks in order to rank search results.

When individuals think about social media, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter come immediately to mind, but RSS feeds, blogging and video sites are also classified as social media outlets.  So if SMO is to work well, the idea of sharing content across a number of different platforms really has to take hold.  This is where links have an important part to play.  If a business creates a great video to go with its marketing campaign, it needs to post it on a real site page, with links so that those clicking on the video can follow through to the remainder of the site.  It is important to remember that any marketing campaign is about increasing the visibility of products or services; it is certainly no different in an online context.

Good content is vital

Effective marketing, online or off, begins with intelligent and relevant content.  It is through good content that a business or organisation connects with its intended audience, so the content has to be tweaked in a way that will appeal to those that read it.  Before a social media marketing campaign is even launched, an organisation should engage in research to see what the target audience is saying online.  Content needs to be very specific, so that its readers feel it adds something of value and is not just more online clutter that they can ignore.

Creating a website, posting content and sharing it is one thing, but effective SMO for brand promotion is an ongoing process.  Particular content and promotions become outdated very quickly – especially in a fast-paced media environment where it’s always about what the next big thing is – so content needs to be kept as fresh as possible.

Just as important, a social media campaign needs to be tracked and analysed online so the organisation in question can see how people are finding out about the campaign.  Links and tags can be adjusted accordingly if the campaign is not receiving the level of exposure the organisation had hoped for.  North Norfolk web design can advise an organization on how to keep social media marketing up to date and to build on the momentum generated by a particular campaign.

Microblogging site Tumblr is now part of the Yahoo Group. Its founder, David Karp, has sold the social media site for over US$1 billion, reports say.

Karp founded the start-up six years ago in his mother’s tiny apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Who would have thought that from its humble beginnings, Tumblr would make it big, boasting around 900 posts per second?

This is a remarkable achievement for a man who did not even finish high school. He reportedly dropped out at age 15 and turned to homeschooling, but failed to receive a diploma.

Professor Paul Levinson, who teaches Media Studies at Fordham University, said, “No one knows much about him at all. It’s interesting he was home schooled. You have Bill Gates, a college dropout, and really the same as Steve Jobs.”

What we now know for sure is that the sale gives Karp deep pockets at just 26 years old. In fact, he made it to the Forbes’ “30 under 30″ list recently. He also remains the CEO of the start-up

Karp assured users, “Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing.”

Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer welcomed Tumblr to the company while vowing not to change the site. She said Yahoo hopes to make the site faster and better whilst emphasising that it will be operated independently.

Apple is faced with another not-so-sweet controversy. US Senators Carl Levin and John McCain have alleged that the tech giant used its intricate network of offshore companies, particularly three foreign subsidiaries which the company claims are non-taxable, to escape billions of dollars in income taxes.

According to a US Senate investigation, Apple depends on several accounting tactics including its subsidiaries in Ireland, where it bargained for a tax rate of less than two per cent, to slash its tax bill. Comparatively, the corporate tax rate in the US is 35 per cent.

One of Apple’s Irish units, Apple Operations International (AOI), has no presence or employees in Ireland. In fact, the senators noted that it holds it bank accounts and board meetings in the United States.

AOI posted an income of US$30 billion between 2009 and 2011, although its management structure permitted its parent firm to take advantage of a loophole in US and Irish tax law. As a result, the company did not pay any taxes in either country.

From 2009 to 2012, another Irish subsidiary by the name of Apple Sales International recorded US$74 billion in revenue. However, it only paid taxes based on a minute fraction of that sum.

Apple also evaded taxes on its US$44 billion income by sharing the rights to its intellectual property via cost-sharing contracts with its offshore subsidiaries.

These are big accusations, especially for a firm that has achieved great success in the States. The government is looking into tax reforms that will ensure the company cannot shift its profits to offshore entities to avoid paying taxes.

Some people say beauty is only skin deep, but on the internet, people sometimes feel judged based on the photos and videos they post and share. Consequently, some people are left feeling insecure about their looks because of the internet, with some even going under the knife just to fit the social media standards.

A new report by the American Academy of Facial and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) reveals that social media activity has been a main factor for many patients who requested plastic surgery. In fact, the number of these cases increased by 31 per cent, implying that more and more users want to change their physical appearance to look better on social media.

“We live in a very visual world, and have come to expect that we will be ‘Googled’ or ‘Facebooked’ even before actually meeting someone socially or professionally,” noted Dr Sam Rizk, member of AAFPRS and director of Manhattan Facial Plastic Surgery in New York.

“I see a lot of men and women who are executives or high profile so they are in the public eye. Their photos get taken all the time and they never know where they may end up.”

According to the study, which polled 752 of the AAFPRS’ board-certified facial plastic surgeons, there were more cosmetic plastic surgery cases than reconstructive procedures. The number of cosmetic surgeries increased to 73 per cent, with the most popular procedures including Botox, facelifts and rhinoplasty. This is a marked increase from the figure of 62 per cent noted in 2011.

“Whether you think it is harmful or not, it is a trend and I don’t think we will see it slowing down anytime soon,” noted Rizk.

If you have logged on to your Google+ account recently, you probably noticed a couple of changes. Google has redesigned its networking site to feature a more streamlined look with maximised screen space for a user’s feed in an effort to battle with Facebook and Twitter.

Google has ditched the sidebar and positioned all navigational tools at the top of the screen, in addition to launching several enhancements.

The site now has multi-column view choices reminiscent of Pinterest. Users can view a single column, two columns or three columns, depending on their screen size. Google has also added the ability to switch back to the old design.

Another noticeable new feature is called “Related hashtags”, which allows users to flip through related photos with a simple click on the current photo to find related hashtags. Users can also enjoy “Intelligent hashtags”. This feature analyses the photo and automatically places a hashtag on your post. The hashtag can be removed manually and users can also opt out of the feature altogether.

Photo editing has been made easier as Google+ now offers the new “Highlight” tool, which picks out a user’s best shots to display in photo streams while leaving out the blurry ones. The “Auto Enhance” tool can be used to remove red eye, improve skin tone, correct white balance and more. The “Awesome” tool strings photos together in an animated sequence.

Google also backs up all pictures taken from a user’s mobile device as soon as the photos are taken and is also providing accounts with up to 15 gigabytes of storage to accommodate full-resolution photos.

Sometimes, words are not enough to tell someone how you really feel, especially when talking via mobile or through social media. Emoticons can help users express feelings that normally would be conveyed via facial gestures.

Although these images are seemingly simple, trivial or even quirky, they have been a hit with savvy social media users. Now they are set to invade Facebook Messenger to help users communicate things that words alone might not convey. On Monday, the biggest social network upgraded its Messenger app with a few cute and colourful stickers.

These stickers are emoticons that show various feelings in the same way as facial expressions. The update has already been made available for the Facebook Messenger on Android and will be introduced in the iOS Messenger applications in the coming weeks.

Facebook’s stickers are currently still free, but there is a possibility that they might start charging a small fee for some stickers in the future. The social networking app Path also unveiled stickers recently, offering the first two packs for free but charging for additional packs. On Monday, Path also introduced new packs of stickers that included Peanuts characters.

Facebook first introduced its stickers in the general iOS app last month. Afterwards, new images crafted by illustrator Matt Jones were launched, including 16 facial expressions that show sympathy, surprise, cheerfulness and sadness.

In addition to this update, Facebook also resurrected the feature enabling users to delete conversations from their inboxes with just the swipe of a finger.