US consumers are spending more time on social networks, according to the market research firm eMarketer. Due to a significant growth in usage of social networks and digital video, the overall average daily time spent online rose again in 2012, while old school media, like radio and newspapers, continued to lose share.

eMarketer reports that US consumers spent an average of 37 minutes daily on social networks in 2012, compared to 30 minutes daily in 2011.

The only other digital activity that gained as many minutes as social is online video, which rose from 17 minutes in 2011 to 24 minutes in 2012. This is largely due to a sharp increase in digital TV and movie content available online.

Social media and digital video seem to be closely correlated: the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported that, for one-quarter of online video viewers 18 and older, the third preferred way (after word or mouth and ads) to discover TV shows that they could watch on the web was through social sites.

In conclusion, the multi-media driven online social networks are here to stay and continue to evolve creating huge business opportunities for savvy marketers. Leveraging the power of social networks can represent a key opportunity to build a viable, valuable, and long lasting connection with your customers and prospects.

For most people, putting time into meticulously crafting all the elements of a social media profile is a task that only falls into the purview of a full-fledged social media campaign. However, as Google+ has gained steam, the impact of profile pages have expanded.

This is mostly because of AuthorRank – an unverified ranking signal that bears resemblance to PageRank, except that it measures the authority and influence of an individual author, rather than that of an entire website. Similar to increasing your PageRank for SEO purposes, there are advantages to increasing your AuthorRank.

One of the key methods for increasing your AuthorRank is optimizing your Google+ page. Originally, tying your content back to your Google+ profile was simply a means of establishing AuthorRank for yourself. However, as the signal has grown in complexity, even more factors of AuthorRank are tied to Google+. The stronger your Google+ profile, the better your Author Rank. As you go about crafting your Google+ profile, keep these points in mind:

• The “About” section: Keywords and hyperlinks placed in your About section can play an important role in your profile’s search ranking. Try to use relevant keywords in your Story, Work, and Education sections. Also, don’t forget that you can use HTML in these sections to create hyperlinks that are optimized with appropriate keywords. Take note though, that URLs displayed under the Links section of your profile are no-follow links. While it may seem like that section is meant to optimize your top links, it’s not very useful for that task.

• Build big circles: While the number of users in your circles does not directly affect ranking factors for your profile, it is still important to have lots of users. When more people link back to your profile and posts, that’s the number that helps Google sit up and take notice.

• Optimize your posts: You can give your Google+ posts titles by putting an asterisk at the beginning and end of the first sentence. Just like in HTML titles, keywords play an important role in post titles. Also, make sure to place URL’s in the link section. If they are placed in the body of the post, they will become no-follow links.

• Consistent use: A consistently updated website has much better ranking potential than a stale, static one – that’s why we recommend blog writing to so many of our clients. Consistent updates to your Google+ page have a similar effect; not to mention that new posts are new opportunities to strengthen some of the above points.

By focusing more effort toward optimizing your Google+ profile, you’ll be able to increase your relevance with Google as a web-author. The initial set-up may be a bit time consuming, but once it’s done the content you produce will be able to reach an even wider audience.

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger loved playing around with cameras when they were kids, and they came up with the ‘Instagram’ name from a mixture of using the concept of an instant camera, with the way they compared a picture to an old telegram that was sent over a wire to others.  Thus the name Instagram.  Their concept though simple, has transformed the photo taking and photo sharing world.

Taken directly from the Instagram FAQ page, this is how the two Stanford grads describe what Instagram was created for: “Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your mobile phone, and then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever. We’re building Instagram to allow you to experience moments in your friends’ lives through pictures as they happen. We imagine a world more connected through photos.”

Over the last few years, millions of users later, after being acquired by Facebook, after launching IOS and Android apps, and even after a desktop version, the use of Instagram by companies has skyrocketed.  It’s not just for personal use any longer either.  Instagram has become the perfect opportunity for brands and business to get quick, instant messages and photos to their target audience in a very rich, visual manner.

Images are being used more and more within business social media marketing strategies.  Here are a few ways to use Instagram to market your business:

1. Take advantage of the desktop version and set up a Profile that gives your audience a better insight into your company.  The desktop version is bigger, therefore more visual and robust, so take advantage of the increased real estate and tell a story with the images.
2. Create engagement with photo contests.  Contests are easy to create on Instagram.  Companies can ask users to incorporate a specific hashtag (#) for the contest, so after uploading their pictures, they can tag it with that hashtag.  That way, it’s easy to search through pictures, ask other followers to vote for their favorite pictures, and pick a winner.
3. Reward followers with promo codes within your photos.  This will definitely keep followers coming back to check in and see what new photos have been posted and what promos are being offered.
4. Post photos of your customers - nothing says brand loyalty more than a happy customer.  Take quick pictures of your customers, with their permission of course, and showcase a sneak peek into what the experience with your company or brand is like for them.  Make sure the photos showcase your brand values while also highlighting the customer experience.
5. Most importantly, promote your Instagram feed across all of your other social networks.  Create a custom tab under the Timeline photo on Facebook, add the Instagram badge to your website and to your G+ page, and make sure to include it in all email marketing.

Customers want a personal experience with a brand, and by adding Instagram to your marketing tools, your brand can start engaging with customers instantly while telling a story with images that are quick and easy for customers and fans to digest, process, and ultimately share with others.

Last week Google+, Google’s social network updated their profile pages with larger cover photos, a redesigned “About” tab and created a new “Local reviews” tab. These added features were based on feedback from Google+ users who wanted more editing control, flashier displays and clearer social networking.

Cover Photo

The new profile “cover photos” have a much larger display at 2,120px by 1,192px and adjust sizes depending on web browsers, zoom and monitor size.  Now that the cover photos have gotten larger, the profile pictures have been reduced from 250×250px to 120×120px, which can be tough for branding purposes.  Notice in the screenshot below that the MoreVisibility profile picture is much smaller and the text is not as noticeable.

Google’s justification for the change was as follows, “This way more images can be used as cover photos, and there’s more room for your selection to shine,” It appears Google+ updated their cover photos to almost mimic Facebook’s large background cover.

About Tab

The ‘About’ section now organizes user info into category boxes created for easier user modifications.  These boxes enable Google+ users to edit information from their ‘About’ tab such as education, work, links and places. The information being provided on the ‘About Tab’ is optional and like before, can be hidden or only shared between your selected circles.

Also, along with the cleaner look, Google has added a splash of color above each section, labeling the section’s people - blue, story - red, work - teal and education - yellow. Google is becoming more creative on how they use their logo’s colors and I am sure we will see much more of these colors in the future.

Reviews Tab

The newest addition to Google+ is the ‘Local review’ tab.  The ‘Local review’ tab can be shared within your network of circles, assuming you would rather post your preferences, opinions & reviews on Google+ versus other popular rating sites.

Similar to photos and the +1 buttons, Google+ users now have the ability to highlight reviews for their favorite businesses and share experiences.  This is optional and can be hidden within your settings.

Google has hope that with this new tab these recommendations will enhance its own social search results and increase the development of business pages. Chances are this “Local review” tab will most likely become a part of the search integration within the Google platform and this is one thing brands should be aware of.  See below for the organic results that auto populated when I typed “Boca Raton, FL” in G+ “Local” search.

Google Plus has added updated their pages to not only benefit personal users, but also to increase the involvement of business pages.  Local pages allow businesses to be found by their customers or prospects through better visibility in Google’s search rankings.

This social network is engaging and when pursued effectively, can create buzz for your business, drive traffic to your website and benefit your search results.  If you haven’t created a Google Plus business page I would highly recommend starting one now.

SlideShare is the world’s largest online presentation sharing community.  With over 60 million unique visitors monthly, and over 16 million registered users, (http://www.slideshare.net/about ) SlideShare is a community where business professionals and individuals can research topics, get inspiration for their presentation or simply check out a sales deck without an annoying sales rep.

SlideShare was launched in 2006 and was acquired in May 2012 by social media powerhouse LinkedIn.  LinkedIn just recently reached the 200 million registered user mark, and is the world’s largest online professional networking community, so the SlideShare acquisition is a perfect fit.  The SlideShare app integrates with your LinkedIn company page so you can showcase all your professional presentations seamlessly, while keeping more real estate for yourself on your LinkedIn profile.

SlideShare is effective for storing, sharing and studying presentations. The ability to embed presentations into a blog or website is also a very handy feature. Businesses, educators and entrepreneurs are all target-users for SlideShare, which makes the demographic very similar to LinkedIn’s.

If your business is new to SlideShare, here are 10 tips to help you get the most out of its community and start sharing your presentations online:

1. Create a main Company profile including a well-branded username that represents your business or your objectives well.  Your company name should be used to build your brand.  For example, www.slideshare.net/yourcompanyname (minimum of 3 characters with a maximum of 25 characters).
2. Fill out your profile information completely.  Profile fields include your location, phone number, About Us, all other social media URL’s such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and a tags field where all your keywords go.  Make sure to include a link to your website.
3. Try to include your company contact details, address and web address url within the first few slides in case people don’t watch the entire presentation, and make sure your company branding is within the footer of each slide.
4. Always include clear links back to your website within your slides to drive users there.
5. Keep presentations visual and eye catching, without being overly wordy.
6. SlideShare adds navigation around your presentations, so make sure to leave enough space around your slides so there is no important information too close to the edge that could get covered.
7. Ensure your title is captivating and contains targeted and unique keywords for search optimization.
8. Cross promote your presentations to all other social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Plus.  You can even add snapshots of them to Pinterest.
9. The description of your presentation should be compelling and contain relevant keywords. You can also add your website address (unfortunately this will not be clickable) and your full business address and telephone number (ideally exactly as Google has it in your Google Places account).
10. If you find yourself using SlideShare a lot, it may be worth looking into a “Pro” account. They start at $19 per month and will allow you to capture leads, upload larger Hi-Res images, track presentations you share by getting alerts when a user views your shared presentation, and many other features that business users value.

Even short Powerpoint or Keynote presentations take a good amount of time and resources to prepare, so use these tips and let SlideShare help you to maximize your return on investment.

Introducing….. Vine.  This new video sharing mobile app is now available in the ITunes store for free download to your IOS mobile device, and is quickly gaining in popularity.  Social media giant Twitter acquired this New York based, 3 person start-up in October 2012, and launched it in early January 2013.

Vine is a stand alone mobile video application that allows you to share 6 second video snippets on your Twitter and Facebook social networks.  Vine is not part of the Twitter interface, but after you download it from the ITunes store, Vine settings give you the option to connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts so any videos you take on Vine can be tweeted to your Twitter profile or posted to your Facebook page with the touch of a button.  If you download the Vine app this week, it contains an important update to share your video on Twitter or Facebook AFTER you post it to Vine, whereas before this update, you could not share it to either social network after the video posts to your profile!

If you’ve always wanted to shoot a quick video without any editing, Vine is for you.  It’s simple to use and very fun.  To begin, press the video camera icon on the top right corner of your home screen.

You have a progress bar on the top of your video screen telling you how much time you have left, since you only have 6 seconds in total.  Start shooting by tapping your finger anywhere on the screen and while recording, your progress bar turns green, showing you how much longer you have before your 6 seconds are up.  Tap again anywhere on the screen to stop shooting and the progress bar stops.  Tap again, start shooting.

It’s that easy. When the progress bar reaches the end, your 6 seconds are up, and Vine automatically pieces your video snippets together, and voila, you have a 6 second video created which is then ready to tweet!  It’s really that simple. Any business, large or small, can use Vine to come up with creative ways to advertise their brand.  You can also shoot and hold for 6 seconds without piecing anything together.  Here is an example of how I used Vine:

#morevisibility Leaders in search, design & Internet marketing #socialmedia vine.co/v/bnj6H5JIuv2

— meredith corsillo (@mcorsillo) February 7, 2013

Vine’s short, 6 second time frame makes for some quick thinking and creative pre-planned shooting.  It’s fun and easy. Download this app and give it a try.

So, you have a great company website.  After reading all the hoopla about social media you realize that quality engagement begins with listening to your target audience, so, you decide to set up a company Facebook page.  You’re off to the right “social” start, and now you’re ready to engage!

But just having a Facebook company page is the tip of the social iceberg in relation to obtaining a quality audience to speak with.  If your Facebook company page seems to be having trouble gathering that target audience, consider “plugging-in” your website to Facebook for some super direct, high speed help.

Facebook is all about helping people share their experiences with one another.  When people are looking directly at your website, what better opportunity do you have to ask them to engage with you further, and ultimately share what they found interesting on your site with their entire social network? Without a Facebook social plug-in, people would have to go through a laborious procedure to copy the link of your page and paste it into an email, and send that email to all of their friends.  Facebook offers people an easier way with their social plug-ins which are helpful little graphic tools you get right from the Facebook website that you insert onto your website to provide people on your site a more personalized and social experience, while also giving them a very easy way to see you have a Facebook page and voluntarily connect themselves with it.  Here is an example of the Facebook “like” button plug-in you might see on a website:

But the best social “magic” that happens when people click that “like” button within the social plug-in you’ve inserted onto your site, is that their “like” action will automatically post to their personal Facebook page, which is seen by all of their Facebook friends, thus advertising your page exponentially by word of mouth marketing at no cost to you.  This increases the likelihood that because one potential customer liked your page, their friends will too, increasing your chances of getting more traffic to your site and your Facebook company page.

There are many types of plug-ins offered that serve different social functions such as the “Comments” plug-in which allows people to comment on any piece of your site, the “Recommendations Box” which gives people personalized suggestions for pages on your site they find interesting, or my favorite, the “Facepile” plug-in that displays the Facebook profile pictures of people who have liked your page or have signed up for your site.  This plug-in shows people which of their friends already like your page, as well as how many people all together like your page, thus prompting them to also like your page because it gives them that “I want to be a part of that group too” feeling.

If you want to try some free word of mouth marketing on Facebook and reach way beyond your own sphere of influence, try inserting one of the Facebook social plug-ins onto your website’s homepage to gain more targeted fans at the speed of light.

Google+ Circles allow businesses to group Google+ users into different Circles, so they can share certain things with particular groups. Once a G+ user has added a business’ page to their own Circle, they will start to see that business’ posts in their stream. Then that business will be able to add them back, group them into a Circle, and post comments on that G+ user’s page.

Recently, however, the rules of engagement in Google+ have changed. Businesses can now interact with G+ users who haven’t circled them on Google+ yet. What does this mean for companies? Well, from a marketing perspective, it means they can now cast a wider net to reach potential customers. For example, if a G+ user writes a post on their personal page raving about a local restaurant, that restaurant can then respond to that comment and it will show up live in the stream.

Conversely, if someone writes a negative comment about a business, that business has the opportunity to respond. While it opens the door for businesses to engage with potential or current customers — whether they like it or not – it also opens the door for spam. But if businesses use it wisely, it could help brands increase their following on Google+ — along with their customer base.

Facebook launches a new local business tool that allows a user to search for local businesses with their mobile application.  The biggest difference with this new app is that it features their “Friends” recommendations.

The new feature is only available on mobile applications and the goal is to focus on reviews, check-ins, and ratings by user’s “Friends” list.  This allows for a much more unique customer experience as the searcher will know exactly who gave the reviews and what their “Friends” thought of the experience at the local establishment.  This application is only available on Facebook’s mobile platform and not the desktop version.

This is a huge opportunity for local businesses to establish their brands within a community.  By receiving reviews from customers that will directly influence other customers, it will help them gain maximum exposure.  The only thing required to be able to use the Nearby feature is to have a Facebook page, as the feature does not openly use data on the web.

Here are some tips from Facebook on how to promote your business within Nearby:

1. Update your page’s basic information, including address, hours of business, phone number, and details about your product/service.
2. Update your Category – Example:  If you’re a restaurant, make sure you select the appropriate category in order for Nearby to allow your business to be found appropriately.
3. Encourage Friends/Fans to “like”, “check-in”, ratings, and recommendations

At this time, the Nearby feature is completely free and automatically indexes all business that have pages on Facebook.

Google recently added a very Facebook-like feature to its burgeoning social network – Google+ Communities. Almost immediately, small, intensely-focused communities starting sprouting up across the network. Because these communities are full of highly-engaged early adopters, there’s a huge opportunity to use them to connect with influencers in your niche.

The best way to go about this is to join the communities that are relevant to your field, and take an active role in them – creating community-specific content just as you would for your social media profile.

Posts that work best are those that take an active, sincere interest in what you’re audience has to say. You can poll your audience, asking advice based on their experience and perspectives, or propose hangouts and plan events with community members.

This can be especially useful as part of a larger campaign designed to build relationships with social media influencers in your niche.

But make sure not to come on too strong. Because these communities are relatively small, you want to make sure not to overwhelm the feed. The appearance of spamming will not only turn current members off to your brand, it will inhibit the growth of the community.

The best way to behave within Google+ Communities is how you would in real life, with earnest sincerity and interest for what your target audience has to say.