Are companies waisting their time with social media profiles?

Companies are not wasting their time in social media profile, they just need some of the best strategies from starting slow and getting creative .Small companies have an advantage, he says, since they don't have layers of management getting in the way. Use your Facebook page to keep customers and prospects informed about special offers and company news.  Companies can develop plans around the major social networking sites, or they can investigate more targeted, industry-specific forums and blogs. Mainstream sites such as Facebook, twitter and Google Plus are best for companies marketing consumer goods. Twitter, for instance, is a "must-do" for anyone working in the technology industry, For company`s own branding.  Larger companies can afford to hire an agency or even a team of people to handle the time-consuming chores of creating content, making regular updates and monitoring corporate social media pages. A small company may only have a part-time resource. Even having one person dedicated to your social media profile better have an intense payoff at the other end.

Company’s social media networking helps people to communicate with each other through the company's media profiles and learn more about a company's product offering which creates an opportunity for advertising and improve company's brand reputation. All social media profiles require the user to utilize communication technologies that works to aids people to be technologically literate. This can help small companies to learn and become a contributor.

What Companies are trying to get from social media is to acquire and engage new customers, to gain leads and referrals, and to boost awareness. Facebook was most cited as the hardest-to-maintain platform and many small businesses worry their customers will leave them if they don’t interact with them on social media. Companies are not wasting their time in social media profiles, is just another strategy of getting closer to the people.

TweetDeck vs Hootsuite

Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are both regarded as two of the most popular social media management tools. Clients are constantly asking which is the best one. BOTH do have a favorite, but what works for one, doesn’t always work for another and I think you have to decide what you want your management tool to do for you.
Hootsuite and Tweetdeck offer excellent easy to use features, but in order to find out which might work best for you would be useful to identify the pro’s and cons of each management tool by going through some of their features.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a web-based application and a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various social networks including Facebook, Twitter,linkedin Google+, Foursquare and WordPress.
Hootsuite has over 300 million users, boasting several awards including “Best Twitter app”.
Hootsuite offers free versions where users can manage up to 5 profiles and it doesn’t limit you to one account per network. Hootsuite also has a free mobile app which is very easy to use.

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various  social networks. Tweetdeck is a software programme that you can download onto your desktop.
Tweetdeck is currently the most popular Twitter application. Tweetdeck also offers a free mobile app.

On the side of TweetDeck advantages, I would actually add that its auto-complete function when you are typing in a Twitter username is better. With HootSuite you actually have to have physically typed the username once for it to regster; with TweetDeck, the user just has to be one that you are following.

Finally, the 2 features that put HS over the top for me are the ability to schedule tweets for later and the option to monitor/track your links and click-throughs. Prior to HS you had to use third parties for this kind of thing and now it’s all in one place.

Both TweetDeck and HootSuite will allow you to add multiple social media accounts so you can manage everything at once. TweetDeck combines all of your accounts into one window whereas HootSuite provides a tabbed interface with a tab for each account you add.
The special feature you will find with HootSuite is that you can also add multiple users because of it’s browser based interface, allowing you to create posts from multiple users and even allowing them to add a signature to each of their specific posts.  This is particularly beneficial if you are using social media as a customer service tool. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to update your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles regardless of whether or not you are using the free or paid version.  However, HootSuite’s features allow you to update your Facebook Business and Brand Pages , Foursquare and WordPress.com accounts.

T.I Chastises Media for connecting Boston bombing to Hip Hop

T.I. says Hip Hop isn't "about hurting innocent people."

One of the many reports that have come out in the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing last week was the fact that bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev often visited Real-HipHop.com, even having an email address associated with the website.
While various media outlets have used the connection to infer that Hip Hop may have played a role in Tsarnaev's actions, T.I. dismisses that notion.
"Hip Hop narrates the activity and conditions of our culture," said Tip to TMZ. "It doesn't create them."
"Hip hop ain't never been about hurting innocent people," he continued, adding that the bombing "was a horrible tragedy and my prayers go out to the families involved."
Interestingly, TMZ had reported earlier in the week that Tsarnaev was "heavy into Hip Hop," drawing the very connection that upset T.I. in the first place.
Tamerlan's younger brother Dzhokhar, the other suspect in the bombings, was captured alive on Friday (April 19th).

Twitter Etiquette: 5 Rules to Keep in Mind

A lot of people think that the internet is a lawless place where they can 'communicate' and 'share' freely, without taking care of legitimacy, source or the intellectual property of the information they share. Well, it is not such a place.
"Do you remember what teachers told us in college regarding decorum and plagiarism? I do! And I kept these lessons in mind until today because if you ever publish any content over the internet, these rules do apply to you as well".Florence Poirel.
For more info...http://bit.ly/10esOEi