As we head into the holiday season, we can look back and reflect on the past year to see how much internet marketing and social engagement have changed. The world of social media evolves so quickly; it's fun to capture the speeding trends of the past months.

Politics

It doesn't matter whether you're blue or red – you must admit that this administration has fully embraced social media. From his Twitter feed that announced his recent win, to his online interviews and Reddit Q&A sessions, and even his Facebook ads, this president has truly changed the way candidates use social media.

Image Intensive Marketing

Many social media sites have gone very image-heavy. Facebook even went so far as to allow fan pages much more (and much larger) images. Studies have shown that pictures get twice as many likes as text updates.

Pinterest for Branding

Due to the upward trend of image-based content, Pinterest is now the number three most popular social media site – and brands have taken notice. In fact, nearly 10% have added "pin it" buttons on their retail websites.

Kickstarting Success

Kickstarter has become the most prominent way to crowdfund new projects, but it's also getting attention as a marketing tool. Companies are now using the platform to generate pre-launch buzz around new products.

Brands as People

Following the likes of Jack in the Box, many brands are posting on social media sites as if they are a person. The idea is that we identifiy and engage with a person we'd be friends with – rather that a faceless corporation. From quirky Tweets and Facbook updates to large-scale milestone celebrations and cutomer thankyous on Youtube, companies are talking to us more than advertising at us. Hopefully this trend will mean more customer-focused product development, too.

What will 2012 have in store for the social media world? Watch for more video integration and new ways to incorporate different platforms via tools such as Storify, and that's just the start. If you're a business owner looking to cash in on these trends, contact Advise Media Group at (702) 951-7581 for internet marketing in Las Vegas

Do you have a vision of what's the come? Share it with us here!

Twitter is still gaining popularity. Over 50 percent of Twitter users have been a member for less than a year, meaning there is more growth and more people signing up on a daily basis.

Facebook has the greatest impact when it comes to purchasing. In 2011, 68 percent of Americans on Facebook said that their social media habits influenced their purchasing decisions.

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan via photopin cc

Social media isn't just for kids. The fastest growing age group in social media are people between 45-54 years old. In fact, 55 percent of Americans ages 45-54 now have some kind of social networking profile.

Having an online presence is habit-forming. In the past year, 12 million Americans visited their social networking sites more than once a day.

photo credit: Bunches and Bits {Karina} via photopin cc

More users are following more brands. The number of users who are following brands on social media sites has increased 106 percent since 2010.

Most Twitter users are extremely active. Out of all of its millions of members, 76 percent of them post regular status updates.

Top photo credit: MDGovpics via photopin cc

The Huffington Post

Whatever you may think of "The Huff" as a news outlet, The Huffington Post features cutting-edge, timely, relevant content coupled with shrewdly managed search engine optimization. The site is designed to be surfer-friendly and the content is archived in such a way that you can find what you're looking for with a simple mouse click.

Savvy Authors

Savvy Authors is one of the most authoritative blogs on the craft and art of writing. They have strict guidelines governing their content and guest bloggers from every facet of the writing industry are welcomed. Savvy Authors offers unique content and commentary which is relevant to the target audience, and offers enough diversity and SEO options to be not only entertaining, but informative.

Mashable

Mashable may be the biggest blog a lot of people have never heard of. This tech-savvy blog includes entertainment news and amusement along with reviews of the latest gadgets and gizmos for the techologically inclined. With their attractive, easy to use design and mix of light and serious discussion, Mashable offers a great example of what a blog should look like.

BuzzFeed

Running the gamut of art, fashion, politics, sports, and pop culture, BuzzFeed is quickly becoming one of the go-to destinations for an independent, often irreverent slant on the day's hot news stories and funniest fiascoes. Their blog is sorted into assorted landing pages, making it quick and easy to find the stories you're looking for at any given time.

The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast tends to run heavy on political news stories, but the hard-hitting commentary and scathing reportage makes this blog one to watch.

Topical, timely content that entertains and informs is obviously the first step to creating a successful blog, but there's more to it. Knowing how to harness and use the power of SEO Las Vegas companies use to direct traffic and business to them is a crucial step.  If you're stuck, confused, or just need a little something extra for your blog, Advise Media Group can help!
Powered by Las Vegas SEO company: ADviseMediaGroup

When I was researching Facebook promotions I stumbled on some interesting information. Promotions and giveaways have always been heavy hitters for marketers. Take those marketing platforms to the mean cyber streets of Facebook where 400 million active users are bustling around monthly and you’ve got Internet Thunder Dome on your hands. Facebook users are savvy consumers and well versed in the art of selective content viewing. With the swarms of promotional activities users are bombarded with on a daily basis how can you ensure that your promotions are getting through?

Rule #1: If you wanna win the game know the playing field.

Read, understand, and know Facebook’s official Promotions Guidelines. There’s important stuff in there to keep you out of trouble with Facebook. For instance, you’re not allowed to contact promotional winners via Facebook to alert them of their winning status. Facebook is constantly updating its rules and regulations so make sure you stay abreast of changes. Understanding local rules affects promotions too, so make sure you understand country and state specific laws.

Rule #2: Facebook is not your friend.

Okay, that’s not exactly true. Facebook is great and does a lot of great promoting for a lot of great businesses, but Facebook does not want to be confused as a partner and explicitly states in it’s guidelines, “You will not directly or indirectly indicate that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion or mention Facebook in any way…” So, you get the idea. Facebook does not want people saying, “We’re starting with Facebook today!” Instead businesses should say, “We’re starting on Facebook today.”

Rule #3: Gain promotional clearance with cash.

If you wanna run a promotion or giveaway on Facebook you have to go through a representative, but to get to the representative you need to spend a sizeable (i.e. $10,000) amount of coinage. If you’re promoting a contest involving Facebook via Facebook Connect you can avoid the fees, but you still have to comply with Facebook Connects terms and conditions.

Rule #4: You can force friends, but nothing more.

When hosting a promotion you can’t require loyal Facebookers to do anything more then become a fan of your page. This means you can’t ask users to post photos or update their statuses and you definitely can’t require people to sign up for Facebook before entering a promotion.

Rule #5: Know the formatting requirements.

Facebook has specific requirements for interactions that take place between promotions and Facebook’s platforms. It’s a good idea to read through these before creating a costly contest. Facebook requires that all promotions be created through an application on the Facebook platform.

The IBM study is proof that consumers are using their mobile devices to shop. The study also compared how Christmas mobile shopping compared to previous years.

“For the really smart retailers, the holiday season paid out with the rise of mobile consumers,” said John Squire, chief strategy officer of IBM Smarter Commerce, Armonk, NY.

Holiday spike
The IBM study looked at mobile usage over two days – Dec. 25 and Dec. 26.

On Dec. 25, 14.4 percent of all sales that IBM observed were made via a mobile device, which is up from 5.3 percent in 2010 –  a 172.9 percent increase.

Mobile traffic in general increased by 117.8 percent year-to-year on Christmas Day.

Of all Web traffic, iPads claimed seven percent of device share, iPhone devices totaled 6.4 percent and Android accounted for five percent of usage.

As a group, online sales grew 16.4 percent year-over-year on Christmas Day.

In addition to Christmas Day, consumers also spent more time and money via mobile the day after Christmas.

Online sales increased 27.8 percent year-to-year for Dec. 26.

Mobile traffic made up 16.4 percent of Web visits the day after Christmas, which is up 109.3 percent from 2010.

Sales from a mobile device accounted for 11.3 percent of all Web sales the day after Christmas, compared to 4.3 percent in 2010.

Mobile shift
IBM’s findings is only the latest piece of data showing that consumers are increasingly using mobile to shop.

Earlier this holiday season, San Francisco-based research firm released a study that found that online retail dollars that can be attributed to mobile increased from 1.87 percent in April to 3.74 percent in December (see story).

Going forward, 2012 is expected to be a year of innovation for mobile commerce.

“We expect mobile to increase – there are more mobile devices now and retailers can be expected to build out the mobile shopping experience,” said David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance, San Francisco.

Mr. Selinger also said that retailers can expect to see more use of interactive mobile initiatives, including check-ins, deals and games in 2012.

Additionally, eMarketer predicts that mobile commerce will total $11.6 billion in 2012, which is up from 2011’s projected $6.7 billion.

“Mobile has been growing since January, and our expectation is that we will see more overall online engagement coming in through mobile devices in the next year,” Mr. Squire said.

“There are big implications for retailers to think about the best ways to promote their products and their overall experience online for smart consumers who are using smartphones and tablets,” he said.

The non-profit foundation said it had “negotiated a significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement” with Google for the next three years.

Some analysts had predicted Google would back out of the deal as it tries to grow the market share of its Chrome browser.

Mozilla relies heavily on the income generated by search partnerships.

“Under this multi-year agreement, Google Search will continue to be the default search provider for hundreds of millions of Firefox users around the world,” said Gary Kovacs, Mozilla’s chief executive.

Alan Eustace, Google’s senior vice-president of search, said: “Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come.”

The foundation said the exact terms of the deal would not be disclosed.

In its accounts for 2010, the Mozilla Foundation said it earned $121.1m (£77m) from agreements with Google, Microsoft and others. The Google agreement was thought to make up about 85% of that amount.

The previous deal, which ran out in November, was signed before Google’s Chrome browser had gained a presence in the so-called “browser war”.

Some internet monitoring organisations suggest Chrome has overtaken Firefox to become the world’s second most widely used browser, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Many put this down to lavish advertising campaigns undertaken by the search giant across the world.

Chrome’s launch and subsequent growth has now put it in direct competition with Firefox, yet Google remains financially responsible for Mozilla’s survival.

But Whit Andrews, an analyst for Gartner, was not at all surprised by Google’s decision to continue backing the browser.

“What Google really wants is more advertising on the internet. It’s very simple. If it drives more ads on the internet, they’re into it.

“Google want the shelf space. There’s a shelf sitting there and they’ve got a product. The fact that the shelf is with a competitor, they don’t really care. The alternative is that another competitor gets the shelf.”

Firefox 9, the Mozilla browser’s latest incarnation, was launched on Tuesday. Mozilla said it was “30% faster” than previous versions – a problem that has been cited by many users switching to Chrome.

AC

Ethics: At Advise Media Group, our motto is Proven. Measured. Results. We’re not in the business of short-term returns. Our goal is to get your name and your business right at the fingertips of the people who need it, without resorting to the kind of “black hat” tactics such as spamming and Google-bombing that some unscrupulous companies might. Our track record and emphasis on ethical, honest practices has made us the leader in internet marketing, not just for Las Vegas businesses, but for businesses of every size, shape, and description nationwide, from Florida to Seattle.

Straight Talk: Advise Media Group isn’t going to bury you under jargon to make what we do sound bigger or more important than what it is. We tell you in plain English what we do and how and why we do it, and we value client input. Your business is just as important to us as it is to you, and putting you at the forefront of the marketing spectrum is what we do. We do this with targeted or “niche” keywords to make sure that your company is as well-represented on the Internet as possible, drawing potential customers with a real need for your services right to your door.

Professionalism: At Advise Media Group, our professional group of web content designers and writers is among the best in the industry. We even employ professional authors to ensure that your content is as clear, exciting, and well-written as possible. Our client retention rate, at 93% since our inception in 1998, proves that we place a high premium on professionalism and client satisfaction. This has made us the firm for SEO Las Vegas businesses rely on to get themselves in front of their customers.

So now that you know how to find a great SEO company to market your business, there’s only one name you need to know. We don’t deal in gibberish and we don’t make promises we can’t keep. The same things that matter to you matter to us, which is why we offer Proven. Measured. Results.

Advise Media Group is the answer for Las Vegas search engine marketing. Our skilled team of marketing professionals can not only get your business to the top of the charts, but we work to keep you there using targeted keywords that put your business right in front of the people most likely to benefit from what you do.

We also employ professional, published authors as bloggers. Who has time to sit down and tell everyone why their business is the one to choose? You’re too busy making sure your product speaks for itself and providing great customer service. Advise Media Group can help your business stand out with professionally-executed blogs that look great and are packed with information about your business and its benefits.

Advise Media Group also sets the standard for Las Vegas internet marketing with strict adherence to and belief in ethical business practices. An advertising campaign that spams potential customers can not only have a very negative effect on your business, but can put you right out of the market if the major search engines ban your business. Our carefully directed and targeted Search Engine Optimization (SEO) approach helps prevent this by putting you right in the eye of the people who are looking for your services.

When you need help to successfully and ethically market your business on the Internet, Advise Media Group has a reputation that is second to none. We work hard to ensure that you’re satisfied with the results, and we don’t make empty promises. Instead, we give you Proven. Measured. Results. Anyone can say it; at Advise Media Group, we’re out to prove it.

At Advise Media Group, we have been busy managing high-quality search engine optimization campaigns for more than 40 clients located throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada. We rely on Facebook and other social media platforms to help virally spread news and information about our clients—and it works tremendously well. Once our press release, landing page or blog goes viral, we see a direct correlation between the social media “buzz” and higher rankings on search engine results.

Although our Las Vegas SEO team uses Facebook for SEO purposes, businesses should be utilizing this free tool. Facebook allows you to do the three Cs: Connect, Captivate and Communicate. Pick any 20-minute increment during the day, and you will find the following activity on Facebook:

-          1 million links shared

-          1.5 million wall posts created

-          2.7 million photos uploaded

-          10 million comments posted

You can’t ignore this type of activity! Facebook offers businesses two forms of advertising, one is free and one is not. You can create a fan page (this is the free option!)  for your business in which you can host a store where people can buy products right off of your Facebook page. You can also use the wall to leave posts about new products, promotions and news concerning your company. Within minutes, you can create this free fan page and use a Facebook icon on your business website to let customers know that you are on Facebook. For a business to effectively use a Facebook page, employees should check it at least once a day, and respond to any questions, comments or messages. Remember, this is an intimate, two-way communication tool between you and your customers.

The second form of advertising on Facebook is through pay per click campaigns. These are the ads that you see on the right-hand side of Facebook pages. We manage these campaigns for a few of our clients and it has been a great success. The beauty of Facebook advertising is that you can geo-target ads to populate for users in a particular zip code, sex, age group or by interest.

Sign up for your Facebook business page today here.

Advise Media Group, SEO Las Vegas