Keep your 2012 New Year Resolutions with these Five Helpful Mobile Apps

Have a list of New Year’s Resolutions? Need some help staying organized? Well there’s an App for that, of course. It may be easy thinking of resolutions to start in the upcoming new year, especially after the indulgent holidays…but not always as easy staying committed. Check out these Apps to tackle your resolutions a little more smoothly…

1. New Year’s Resolution List and To Do’s: An app called Resolutions 2012 allows one to record each resolution, identify what needs to be done in order to complete those resolutions (change of behavior, etc), and in turn track success by recording actions taken in the course of the new year. Cool features include being able to set custom motivations and rewards (recall Billy Madison preparing for an exam with his teacher) in order to stay motivated for noted resolutions. Customization is key and this app allows you to use your own photos, and more. For only .99 it may be worth the “splurge.”

2. Stay Organized with Notes: Ever take notes on one device, say your computer at work, but get home and realize you don’t have them on your laptop? It happens to the best of us, but with the help of Evernote, you can worry less and always have all your notes on any of your devices whether it be your multiple computers, tablet or smartphone! Best features include that you can even import emails, pictures from the web, and more. Save it to one device and it automatically saves to your other devices via the cloud. How much easier can it get? Being organized never seemed so sexy, than with Evernote.

3. Blog Easily and Frequently: So you have been slacking on your blogging but wish you could do it more easily and under those pesky time constraints. My new favorite way to blog, simply, yet effectively is through Tumblr. It allows you to share valuable content and even while you’re on-the-go. Imagine this…you have a great idea, but don’t want to wait until you get home to write about it. Write a quick post via your smartphone, have Tumblr post via the mobile app, and have it automatically share to your Facebook Friends/Fans and Twitter followers. Why wait, when it’s that easy?

4. Document more memories: Speaking of easy and awesome, Instagram allows photo enthusiasts to be unique through their mobile phones. So you’re walking through the city and take that perfect picture, add a cool twinge to the background (ex. toasted), then share to your Tumblr blog (See above), which then shares to your Facebook and Twitter. Geeky? Yes. Awesome? Definitely.

5. Run those calories off: So now you’re organized, on top of your resolution list, got some blogging and memories soaring through the cloud…but what about those pesky few pounds you gained over the holidays? With Runkeeper you can run, walk, bike or whatever suits your fancy. With this nifty GPS app, you can track your distance, calories, burned, and more. And did I mention you can connect it with your social apps so it keeps you accountable?

Next step? Download away. And get started! Although there are plenty more apps out there for your resolutions, these may get the inner geek in you started on some pretty nifty, helpful, and inspiring ones. Please feel to share other apps you love in the comments below!

Note: this post was originally written for Socialnomics. 

Five Google Plus Tips and Tricks for your Personal Brand

Like many people I was definitely hesitant at first about whether or not to utilize Google Plus? Another social platform? Another place to have to keep up with? But since I am a Google Fanatic with my Gmail, Docs, Calendar and more…and not to mention a complete digital geek…I had to join. Here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way from my own ventures and others who have shared…

1. Profile Picture

As we all know not all social networks make it easy for you to upload your avatar pics. Google Plus can have issues with resolution when uploading. Suggestion: make sure the picture you choose has higher resolution so it’s more clear.

2. Manage your Contacts

So many people, so much to share, so much hassle? Google Plus allows you to make it simpler so you can share with whom you want to share, when you want to share. For example, you can make one group for family, one for close friends, one for coworkers, and another for industry experts. Therefore you can share pictures of your dog with friends, while your blog post with others in your industry. Or whatever suits your fancy.

3. Sharing with Relevant Contacts

As stated above you can decide how you group your contacts so its easier to share what you want to share. Here I am emphasizing that this is great so you don’t share irrelevant content to all groups. For example your close friends may not care about a post related to your job, or vice versa. If you want the right exposure for that cool “tip post”….share with those who will actually respond and comment and be excited to read it. Share and share relevantly.

4.  Cutting Through the Noise

Too many items in your feed? Tired of seeing certain people post about the same old thing? Turn down the “volume” and cut through the chatter. Mute a post from the notification window. Simple, and way more manageable.

5. Take it on the Road

Want to keep up with your Google Plus circles but not at your computer as often?There’s an App for that! You can also get notifications via text on notifications.

Bonus!

Want to know how it measures up against Facebook? Check out this sweet Infographic…

Who are you? A google plus fan? Still an Avid Facebooker? Or both?

Note: This post was originally written for Socialnomics

15 Incredible Mobile Statistics

Love your smart phone? Debating a tablet? Gone app crazy? Check out these stats on the mobile market …

1. Smart phones

“Of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones in use, 1.08 billion are smartphones.”

2. Smart phones

Of those, 3.08 billion are SMS enabled.

3. Mobile

One half of searches are done via a mobile device: smartphone,tablet, etc.

4. Mobile

86% use their mobile devices (smartphone/tablet) in conjunction with watching TV. My question, aren’t most of them watching TV on their mobile device too?

5. Mobile Apps

Over 300,00 mobile apps have been developed in three years. Apps have beendownloaded 10.9 billion times. But demand for download mobile apps is expected to peak in 2013.

6. Mobile Web

The number of people accessing the mobile Internet is growing fast and is expected toovertake the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web within five years.

7. Mobile Hours

Average Americans spend 2.7 hours a day “socializing” on a mobile device.

My thought…that’s all?

8. Mobile Use

61% use their mobile devices to play games.

9. Mobile Use

Almost 50% use for social networking. Like it, Share it, Tweet it, + it.

10. Mobile Demographics

Women 35-54 most active in social networking on a mobile device.

11. Mobile Marketing

Search ads and location ads (paid-for positioning on maps and augmented reality apps) will deliver the highest revenue, while video/audio ads will see the fastest growth through 2015.

12. Mobile Search Engine and Advertising

Google’s gross revenue from mobile advertising is over US$1 billion per year.

13. Mobile Marketing

71 percent of smartphone users that see TV, press or online ad, do a mobile search for more information.

14. Mobile Marketing

But 79 percent of large online advertisers still do not have a mobile optimized site.

15. Mobile Apps

One in four mobile apps once downloaded is never used again.

In short, Mobile devices, mobile marketing, and mobile apps are not going away. My advice, get in while it’s hot…!

This post was originally done for Socialnomics

Sources:
http://mobithinking.com
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/
http://tag.microsoft.com/home.aspx

Top 5 Social Media Tools Companies Use

We all know the three most popular social media apps in our toolkit are: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But what else are companies using to have an edge and be more efficient and productive in their social media efforts? How are they actually Tweeting? How are they monitoring? Here are five tools that were found to be popular and widely used among brands and businesses!

A. Cotweet

What’s awesome: Web-based social media engagement, management and reporting solution that helps companies of all sizes engage, track and analyze conversations about their brands across the most popular and influential social communities today, Twitter and Facebook.

Not so awesome: There can be issues with lag time in Tweets being posted and there is a lack of autofill of Twitter names for tagging in tweets and hashtags.

Companies that use it: Whole foods

Price: Standard for $600 or $1500/month for the Enterprise Edition (unlimited users, unlimited accounts). This is what I’ve read through other sources. The website does not tell exact prices unless you consult a sales agent.

B. Radian6

What’s awesome: A social media engagement tool that also lets you to find out who the top influencers are for your product/service category along with tracking conversations and engagement impact on your brand.
Not so awesome: The CRM capability would be great to have and thanks to their new integration with Salesforce, it is possible now via the integration.
Companies that use it: Dominos
Price: Radian6 dashboard pricing starts at $600 per month. They also offer a 50% discount for registered and qualified charitable organizations. Contact Sales for more info.

C. Tweetdeck

What’s awesome: Ability to listen, monitor, respond, and engage efficiently and effectively on your social platforms from one dashboard or on the go.
Not so awesome: Lacking Google Analytics integration and the ability to save draft tweets to schedule for later (why many have switched to hootsuite).
Companies that use it: NBC
Price: Free

D. Seesmic

What’s awesome: You can monitor mentions with ease by utilizing one dashboard for all your social platforms. Cool perk? Integration with Evernote and other nifty apps!
Not so awesome: Lacking theme support and push notification features for smartphone app.
Companies that use it: Samsung
Price: Free

E. Klout

What’s awesome: Determine your “influence” and compare/contrast with others in order to see how far your brand reaches and how your social networks like Twitter and Facebook impact that influence or target larger influencers in your target market to spread the word. Cool integration with Google Reader for blog influence too!
Not so awesome: Measuring of ROI regarding perk program for influencers appears difficult
Companies that use it: Audi
Price: Free
This post was originally written for Socialnomics

Myth Buster: Social Media is Free

Many individuals who are just getting into the game of social media have heard social media is free or cheap due to the fact that many platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are free to sign up for and maintain on a daily basis. Free to sign-up, but not exactly free to maintain.

“A significant 58% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week and 34% are 11 or more hours weekly. It’s interesting to note that 15% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.” (2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Social Media Examiner)

As the old adage says, “time is money” and time is not free. Marketers who want to increase brand awareness and engagement do not spend just 10 minutes here or there Tweeting and posting. They take the time to listen to what people are saying regarding their brand, what the competition is saying, what consumers are saying regarding the competition, and more. Then they take the time to respond, question, and comment in a relevant manner.

“Those with more years of social media experience spend more time each week conducting social media activities. For example, 63% of people with 3 or more years of experience spend more than 10 hours a week doing social media activities.Only 41% of those with 1 to 3 years experience spend that much time.” (2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Social Media Examiner)

Conversation in social media is not an overnight success like winning the lottery. It takes time, effort, and in turn money, spent on the people who “manage” the brand online. Those with experience in digital marketing realize the more time and effort spend in social, the greater the reward. Newbies, take note.

This was post was originally written for Socialnomics.

Facebook shares are 6x stronger than Tweets

Eventbrite demonstrates Social Commerce in action; specifically the Facebook “Like” and the “Tweet”  increase ticket purchases, especially when shared after the point of purchase. Between the social networks, Facebook shares led the pack, generating an average of $2.52 while Linkedin shares were worth $0.90, and Tweets just $.0.43.  The impact of sharing via email was still strong at $2.34.

People are more likely to post to Facebook after they have purchased a ticket to an event, in order to share with their friends and family what awesome conference, party, or networking event they are planning to attend. In turn, when friends and family see this post shared, they may also purchase a ticket to the same event because if that person is attending, it must be worth checking out.

As seen below: Over the last six months, 40% of sharing through Facebook occurred on the event page (pre-purchase) vs. 60% of sharing which occurred on the order confirmation page (post-purchase).

As seen in the stats above, unfortunately for Twitter, Facebook still overshadows it in reach for sharing by almost four times the amount. Facebook to this day is still a more “social” platform where people show who they are, what they do, and where they like to go. It “mirrors” their real life. Twitter, although enormous as well and still growing, has not been adopted by as many people, just yet. Will this change with the new quirks that are coming out with “liking” something on Facebook? Will people want to “like” something when it will be shown as a “share” versus a harmless “like?” Perhaps. Perhaps not. But for now, Facebook still takes the cake on ROI on event sales and promotion via social media.

This post was originally written by me for Socialnomics

Save the Date: February 18, 2011

Suffolk University brings you Bridging The Gap: A Mashup of Academic Framework & Business Social Media Conference on February 18th, 2011.

Social Media and Inbound Marketing are making their way through business and culture.  This migration of ideologies creates opportunities and complexities within all organizations.  Our conference intends to connect academia and real world practices, strengthen the connection between the frameworks preached in schools and the practical applications being used in organizations.

The Info:

February 18th, 2011
Suffolk University
120 Tremont St
Boston, Massachusetts 02108

Registration Time: 8:00 am

Lunch Included.

6pm Post-Conference Cocktail Networking Event at Red Sky

The Agenda (order may be switched):

1. Academic Keynote

2. Expert Panel on Facebook

3. How to utilize SEO in your Marketing Plan

4. Expert Panel on Blogging

5. Expert Panel on Twitter

6. Industry Keynote

Our two keynotes are Erik Qualman and  Mike Volpe !! In addition we have confirmed speakers such as Julia Roy, Brian Simpson, and Michelle McCormack with Joselin Mane as our main man MC!! Stay tuned to find out who else will be speaking.

Also stay tuned for the landing site (under construction) for up to date details.

Until then…Hit us up for more info:

The Planning Committee:

Pam Sahota

Sean Zinsmeister

Paul Schmidt