The following infographic showcases some recent and interesting findings on how corporations are tackling social media. Initially skeptical of its use for business purposes, it appears many have adopted the two-way communication mindset during this modern age of information and relationship building.

Below are some of the more interesting highlights from the infographic:

• 94% of corporates use social media in some capacity.
• 75% saw an increase in website traffic.
• 58% use it for lead generation.
• Favorite social sites are Facebook (92%), Twitter (82%), LinkedIn (73%) and blogs (61%).
• 58% of Fortune 500 companies had Facebook pages in 2011, 62% had Twitter accounts.
• Companies with blogs dropped from 50% to 37%. Speculated due to content requirements. [I’m not sure about this statistic. My experience shows that more companies are seeing value in Inbound Marketing and blogging their thought leadership]
• Blog best practices: schedule posts on a regular basis, plan ahead, use a casual tone, interact with customers, and enable social sharing.

Courtesy of: MBA Programs

Consistent branding across your website, print, video, website, and social media accounts is essential in a modern world where consumers are hit with countless advertisements in a single day. It becomes even more difficult when each of those medium’s creative require different sizes, color, software, time, and expertise to produce. Take just publishing your logo on different social media profiles for example. You have to design different creative at a wide variety of sizes for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Google+.

Original Ginger, a “Digital Agency located in the heart of historic Fort Langley, a hip and artistic suburb of Vancouver BC”, created an infographic that quickly communicates the image sizes of each of the popular social media companies. Use this to work with your agency or have your design team prepare your creative so that you can have one look and feel to your brand across them all.

Quick Summary:

• Facebook Cover: 851 x 315
• Facebook Profile: 200 x 200
• Facebook App Boxes: 111 x 74
• Twitter Background: 2000 x 1200
• Twitter Profile: 128 x 128
• Twitter Company Header: 1200 x 600
• LinkedIn Profile: 200 x 200
• LinkedIn Company Banner: 640 x 220
• YouTube Avatar: 1600 x 1600
• YouTube Channel Background: 1500 x 2000 or 1200 x 2500
• Pinterest Avatar: 180 x 180
• Pinterest Image Max Width & Height: 554 & 5000
• Google+ Banner: 2120 x 1192 *UPDATED!
• Google+ Profile: 250 x 250
• Google+ Company Banner: 110 x 110

Social Media Image Sizing Guide Infographic:

Infographic by OriginalGinger.com

For the London 2012 Olympics, the organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized that people want to receive their event news in different ways. They have therefore responded by embracing and focusing on social media, in addition to more traditional media such as print and television. This is a change from even the last Olympics four years ago as Twitter was banned in China during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and there was no official Facebook integration.

For the London 2012 Olympics, the IOC created a website to become the hub of all digital media. Named appropriately, the website is HUB.OLYMPIC.ORG. It automatically pulls in Olympic Twitter posts and allows you to connect with Facebook. It also shows interesting facts such as the “Top Followed Athletes”, led by LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Social media has been a great success so far as viewers, athletes, and countries fully engage with each other throughout the games. You have the opportunity to follow most of the popular athletes or a particular event of your interest. The primary Twitter account is @London2012 but you can also follow every event.

Each event has it’s own Twitter account:
@L2012Archery, @L2012Athletics, @L2012Badminton, @L2012Basketball, @L2012BeachVball, @L2012Boxing, @L2012CanoeSLA, @L2012CanoeSPR, @L2012BMX, @L2012MTB, @L2012RdCycling, @L2012TrkCycling, @L2012Diving, @L2012Equestrian, @L2012Fencing, @L2012Football, @L2012ArtGym, @L2012RhyGym, @L2012Trampoline, @L2012Handball, @L2012Hockey, @L2012Judo, @L2012ModPent, @L2012Rowing, @L2012Sailing, @L2012Shooting, @L2012Swimming, @L2012Synchro, @L2012TT, @L2012Taekwondo, @L2012Tennis, @L2012Triathlon, @L2012Volleyball, @L2012WaterPolo, @L2012Weightlift, @L2012Wrestling

Below are some interesting infographics that also show social media rocking at the London 2012 Olympic games.

INFOGRAPHIC #1 - The Olympics: Following the world’s most prestigious sporting event, from TV to Twitter

Quick stats:

• Over 1,000 athletes joined the Olympic Hub
• From 2008 to 2012, Twitter increased from 6 million to 140 million users
• From 2008 to 2012, Facebook increased from 100 million to 845 million users
• 4.3 billion viewers tuned into the 2008 Olympic games

INFOGRAPHIC #2 - Socialympics and the Twitter Games

This infographic by ExactTarget, a global Software as a Service leader was shared in a blog post titled “Facts and Figures Behind Social Media and the Olympics #Infographic“.

Quick stats:

• Equestrian, Swimming, and Volleyball have the most followers leading up to the games.
• LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are the most popular athletes, measured on Twitter and Facebook.
• Not all athletes are embracing social media when you compare followers to medals won.
• Twitter was banned in China in 2008, so it played a little role. That has changed with London hosting the games and embracing it by creating an account for every event.

This infographic is brought to you by ExactTarget, a leader in social media marketing.

Bonus Infographics:

INFOGRAPHIC #3 - Which Olympic Event is Winning on Social Media?

Mashable also released a pretty cool infographic in their post titled Which Olympic Event is Winning on Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC]. Including stats revealing the top 10 Olympic sports being discussed. Here they are in order of most popular to least popular: basketball, soccer, aquatics, gymnastics, track & field, tennis, cycling, equestrian, volleyball, and field hockey.

INFOGRAPHIC #4 - Econolympics: The Economic Impact of Hosting the Olympic Games (Infographic)

Although it’s not directly related to marketing, I thought I’d share this interesting infographic by Credit Season. They’re a UK financial solutions provider Credit Season and they put together an infographic showing the rising cost and economic growth resulting from hosting the games. They dub the infographic “ECONOLYMPICS”.

A recent infographic by Mogreet, a leader in mobile video and MMS messaging, stacks up the usage and engagement of SMS & MMS mobile communication against social media’s top players Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. They separate the two into what they call Narrowcast and Broadcast.

Narrowcasting is the sharing of information directly to its intended recipient, thereby breaking through all of the clutter. Broadcasting is the mass public sharing, such as a post or tweet. The infographic supports that you’re not only more likely to reach your audience but they’ll be more apt to respond when you do it. This conclusion is drawn from some very interesting statistics.

What does this mean for marketers?

SMS and MMS are powerful marketing tactics that can get your message directly to your audience and more importantly, they’ll see it. What is the average click rate of your last email? It’s unlikely it was above 15%. If it was, you’re part of the lucky minority. How many people viewed your Facebook page? Yes, you can see that now.  Tweets go by even faster. How many of those get a mention or retweet? According to the infographic, 98% of all SMS and MMS messages are opened. That’s a remarkable percentage and clearly demonstrates how much this medium is valued.

Build a Personal Touch-point with Your Loyal Customers

Recently I was talking with the owner of a small family restaurant in my area. They were experimenting with SMS messaging. At first, it was slow going collecting their customer’s information but after a while of asking nicely, displaying signs, and not abusing those already in the program, they started to get a good base of numbers. The owner has had great success with using this channel in a number of ways. In fact, it has become their primary means of communication that trumps email, social, and traditional advertising.

Here shows how they are using SMS messaging.

• Timely deals - Restaurants have predictable, and sometimes non-predictable, slow times that sack profit. Instead of making employees go home early, they send out a promotion offering a discount within the next few hours.
• Upcoming events - If you’re a local business then you know how valuable it is to be involved in the community. They announce where they’ll be and what they’ll be promoting. This is also a great way to include your partners and benefit from each others audiences.
• Special Announcements - Nobody can predict the future and sometimes weather or other events cause a change in regular business. They use the SMS channel to instantly inform their customers if they are closing early, not open on particular day, or a change in staff.

Below is the infographic titled “Is Bigger Always Better?”

Infographic by Mogreet

According to a recent infographic and article by online store platform Shopify.com…

Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular social network site in the world, and ecommerce stores can leverage its popularity to significantly increase traffic and sales.

How did they determine this? Shopify analyzed 25,000 of their stores to see where the referral traffic was coming from. What’s amazing is visitors from Pinterest  are 10% more likely to make a purchase over other major social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Also, the orders tend to be higher, almost double in fact, than Facebook referral orders.

Are you using Pinterest to generate sales for your business? It might be worth a look.

See below as this infographic compares Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Infograhic created by Shopify.com

 

 

 

Tasty Placement, a search engine optimization and digital design company, attempted to solve the question “Can social media activity boost organic search ranking?” with an experiment. This infographic is a result of that experiment and shows very interesting results. Although maybe not the most perfect experiment, it appears the answer is “Yes”.

Read more about this infographic from the great blog post by Mind Jumpers.

Summary, in order from least effective on SEO to most effective:

• 100 Google+ Followers yielded a 14.63 rise in search engine ranking position.
• 300 Google+ Votes yielded a 9.44 rise in search engine ranking position.
• 60 Facebook Shares & 50 resulting “Likes” yielded a 6.9 rise in search engine ranking position.
• 50 Tweets yielded a 2.88 rise in search engine ranking position.
• 1,000 Twitter followers yielded a 1.22 fall in search engine ranking position.

It’s no surprise that advertising professionals are advocates of social media. We research, test, and execute marketing campaigns on a daily basis and they design these campaigns with the purpose of delivering a message to a targeted group of prospects. Social media not only allows for highly targeted messaging but it’s extremely scalable. The message can be sent and re-sent by the recipients. This inherently viral component, along with the ability to measure it, makes it very appealing for use.

But are “Normal” or non-advertising professionals using it the same way? Are they as engaged on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest? Do they log the same amount of hours as the marketing managers?

This infographic by SF Heat provides some interesting insight into the difference.

Some interesting highlights:

• 92% of Ad Pros follow brands they like versus 33% of normal people.
• 61% of Ad Pros have a Google+ account versus 23% of normal people.
• 63% of Ad Pros “Strongly Agree” that companies should invest in social media with their customers versus 23% of normal people.

View the full infographic below, click to enlarge:

As introduced to us by Business Insider, Buddy Media’s Social Enterprise Software is a suite of products is “designed to help brands build and maintain relationships with consumers to accelerate their business.”

Why do brands need help with this? Well, it’s complicated.

To demonstrate that complexity Buddy Media created this image that shows all of the brands/companies involved including: analytics, social scoring, ad networks, facebook apps, content curation, twitter apps, photo sharing, social TV, and URL shorteners… to name a few.

Click the image below to enlarge.

So what does this mean to companies and marketers who want to break into the social media space and start utilizing this industry without getting overwhelmed?

• Start small - if you’re just starting to test social media and determine if it’s appropriate for your clients or business then pick a few partners and go from there. Start sharing content and use social media as another channel to amplify it. Remember, social media is a conversation used to build relationships. It’s not a shouting match between competitors.
• Stay informed - as you can see there are a lot of moving parts and companies that are either becoming a social media network themselves or helping enhance the use of those sites. Stay productive, but also stay up-to-date on the latest case studies of companies that are doing a great job in social media - Zappos, American Express, Allstate, Oreo, NBC #TheVoice, Xbox… to name a few.
• Jump In - stop wondering if you can benefit from social media and just do it. Follow the leaders in your industry or blaze your own trail. Build champions in your company and get them on-board. Show them how they can distribute content, connect with fans, and measure results.

Below are some useful quotes for marketers who are looking to put all the marketing pieces together. Whether you’re a blogger, a small business entrepreneur, or a corporate CMO, you’ll find some value in these articles by some smart people.

 

 

1. On Success Through “Thinking Small” with Content Marketing

Somewhere, we got away from this notion and started to embrace a “bigger is better” philosophy with regard to publishing (and now content marketing). We need to swing the pendulum back the other way, and start atomizing our content. - convinceandconvert.com

2. On Staying a Healthy as an Entrepreneuer

I believe that taking care of oneself only fuels our ability to dig deeper, to persist longer, and to give more to our co-workers, community, and causes. Exercise in fact might be the best investment you’ll ever make towards the success of your startup. - under30ceo.com

3. On Making Money By Blogging

If you want to make money with your blog for the long haul you MUST help as many people as you can succeed with their blogs first. You must sell YOU… selling you gives you full control of your product with no surprises in the future. - johnpaulaguiar.com

4. On Growing Your Twitter Followers, By Thousands

Grow your following organically by producing sharable tweets that people want to pass along to their own followers. When your tweets get re-tweeted and, thus, your twitter handle shared, it acts as an advertisement for you. This free, word-of-mouth buzz will help keep you attracting new followers. - ann-tran.com

5. On Telling Your Story

Good copy not only introduces a product or service to the audience, it creates a relationship between the product and the audience, and compels that audience to act.  Stories help you connect with your audience in a meaningful, natural manner. - bizziwriter.com

6. On Public Relations Damage Control Planning

Key to managing issues is to be plugged into media and the environment in which your company does business. Be aware of what regulators such as government officials are doing, and understand that even though you may manage issues well, a crisis will happen. - getsocialpr.com

When I first joined Twitter, I didn’t know quite what I would get out of it. However, like all other social media I knew it was about building real relationships. For all relationships, in-person or otherwise, the connection should always be genuine and helpful.

Based on what I’ve learned, I believe that your Twitter strategy should be based on reciprocity of sharing others’ content first and then engaging them with interesting conversation.

Below are 10 Tips that can help make you a success on Twitter.

1. Tweet 10-20 times throughout the day.If you’re not posting anything then nobody will want to follow you. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. Be active. Force yourself to commit to Tweeting and see if you can interact with a few new people each day.
2. Express gratitude for those that mention or retweet. Anytime someone adds you to a list, retweets you, or mentions you, they should receive a “Thank You” from you. They took the time to actively engage with your post. The least you can do is express gratitude. If someone thanks you, respond with a “You’re welcome”. Read their bio. Do you have anything in common? This is an excellent opportunity to continue the conversation.
3. Learn what the best Tweeple are doing.There are a few people/brands on Twitter that are getting some real value out of it. Follow them and pay attention to what they are doing. Are they starting conversations? Are they replying to people? Are the freely promoting others? My guess would be “yes” to all three of those questions.
4. Give 10x more than you receive.Don’t expect anything in return. Although you want people to reciprocate and engage with you, don’t expect it. Don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t respond. Instead, genuinely want to help people. Answer a question they are asking. Give them advice. Share a product with them. Promote their product. All of these actions are intended to help them first with nothing in return.
5. Be interesting and relevant.Now’s your chance to contribute. You have a unique perspective that no one else in the world has. Use that to be interesting. If you can’t be interesting, find something that excites you an share it. There is a good chance that someone else would find it interesting as well.
6. Use hashtags for events, webinars, activities, and popular topics.Utilize all functionality that social media and Twitter offers you that helps spread your post. People are actively searching and following hashtags. If all it takes if for you to add a quick hashtag at the end of your post to potentially get some more eyes on it, then it’s a no brainer. Add it. This works especially well for live events and webinars.
7. Keep your tone is educational and appreciative.Everything you post on Twitter should be positive. If you have a negative opinion about something, my belief is not to share it. You want to be perceived as helpful. Don’t complain. Don’t put anyone down. Your goal on Twitter is to make friends.
8. Consistently provide value to all those who follow you.Your reputation won’t be built in a single tweet. In fact, most of your Twitter followers won’t see everyone of your tweets. I haven’t seen any research on it but I’d be surprised if at any given time if more than 5% of your followers see that post. So constantly be “on your game”. Keep posting great stuff and eventually your followers will start paying attention, engaging with you, and your list will grow.
9. Expand your relationship outside of Twitter. Many people or brands are promoting something other than their Twitter account. Almost all of them will call that out in one way or anothing. Whether it’s a blog, a product, or services they provide, you have an opportunity to expand the relationship. Comment on their website. Meet up with them at a conference. Give their product or service a quick review. Think “how else can I engage with them?”
10. Test and revisit what works for you.You should be constantly learning, trying, and evaluating what you’re doing. If you’ve done something that worked in the past, try it again. Replicate it until you find something better. What works for someone doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, and the opposite is also true.

If you have any other tips to help make you a success on Twitter, please share in the comments.