Black Friday is less than two weeks away, and if you haven’t prepped your website for the influx of visitors and sales, now is the time. It’s just not enough to post your deals and special offers and then wait for the dollars to roll in. Your website itself is going to need a little extra TLC to make sure it can give shoppers a smooth, frictionless experience. Let’s take a look at six ways to un-suck your eCommerce website for the holidays:

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Trends, Shares, Hashtags and Retweets!  Twitter is social media’s most interactive resource to keep in touch with virtually anything and anyone you so desire, and, in real time. Since Twitter became one of the leading social media sites, I have become curious to know the numbers that make Twitter unique; so I did some research and I came up with a list of my favorite ever-changing Twitter statistics.

– 124,000,000,000 (Yes, that’s 9 Zero’s!) Tweets worldwide in 2012

– 500 million Twitter users worldwide

– 300 thousand NEW Twitter visitors every day

– 73 percent of Twitter users are between 15 and 25 years old

– 50 percent of 2013 Super Bowl ads mentioned Twitter

– 24 million Tweets accounted for during the 2013 Super Bowl (XLVII); up nearly 50 percent from 12 million in 2011 and 15 million in 2012

– 22 percent of Twitter user accounts are located in the United States (that’s 110 million Americans!)

– 16 million: the amount of the official Twitter account followers

– 11 new accounts are created every second

– 7 years since Twitter’s 2006 launch at SXSW

– 2nd ranked country for Twitter users is the England, just behind the US

– 1st Ranked for Twitter followers is Justin Bieber, 34 million and counting

Regardless of what number or metric we measure, it’s clear that social media has taken the world by storm.  Nearly 1.5 billion people engage in one or more social media platform as of December 2012; that’s 30% of adults worldwide.  The numbers for the United States are even more impressive with 69% of Americans ages 15 and up using social media, for a tally of 168 million users.  It’s always been said that “numbers don’t lie”; so my educated guess is that this social media craze will only grow and become more embedded in our culture and economy just as the internet and television did some 20 and 60 years ago. Until next time, happy Tweeting, Liking, Pinning and connecting!

As consumers we know “brands” simply as a particular product or service we like or dislike. However, as a business owner we know there are several factors to be considered before consumers can truly identify and trust a specific brand. In a perfect world, everyone would be a great target for all marking and brand identities but that’s not the case. Let’s cover the three main steps to creating an interactive branding message that your consumers can begin to connect with!

1.  Logo – (Noun) “A symbol adopted by an organization to identify its products or services” We all know it’s never about what you have, it’s about how you use it that makes the difference! Since you’ve spent the time and/or money on this masterpiece called your “logo,” make sure it shows up everywhere including business cards, social media sites, and any other promotional materials. Your logo is your company’s identity in a picture and the more you show it off, the quicker your brand recognition will grow.

Does this really matter, you ask? Consider this… how likely are you to remember a random fast-food restaurant you visited when they use generic bags and soda cups versus the restaurant that brands every cup and bag with their logo? That garbage in your car becomes advertising and will make an impression every time you see it.

2.  Interact – Who knew this was a part of branding? Speak directly with your target and, even more importantly, with your clients. Share and respond to social media comments, answer your phone using your company name and/or slogan, and use interactive communication tools such as surveys and email marketing. Remember, everything you send and share should always include your logo and slogan.

3. Solve – Your mission should be simple. Every business offers a product or service that offers results and/or a solution; and just because you know that, it does not mean your target market does. Leverage your interactive tools to share a clear, concise, and consistent solution that is unique to your brand identity. Remember, the process you use to help your clients may be complicated but your message should be simple enough to earn the trust and comfort of your clients.

Branding is more of an art than a science; it takes creativity, time, patience, and just like a painting, it will even go through an ugly stage. An initial brand launch should focus on creating awareness for your unique product or services. Luckily you have a friend in the industry- whether your current brand is sour or your business is brand new, HMG can help you too!

Another video app? That’s right—as you’ve probably heard, Instagram rolled out video functions on June 20^th. But what does this mean for big video sharing software Vine? Recently I wrote a blog post about Vine and how to know when and if it’s appropriate to use for your business. Now it’s back to the drawing board, but before you decipher whether Instagram Video or Vine (or either) is right for you, let’s take a broad look at the capabilities of each.

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If you’re somewhat knowledgeable on social media, you’ve probably heard the word “Vine” thrown around in conversation here and there. Maybe you have an account, maybe your friend has one; maybe you’ve simply read an article about the growing trend. And if you’re as knowledgeable as you think you are, you’re probably aware that as of last week, Instagram released video functions comparable to Vine. Although it may seem counterintuitive that I’m discussing Vine less than a week after Instagram released rival video capabilities, it’s important to highlight each platform before effectively comparing the two.

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Everybody loves a good contest, right? For the customer, the contest is all about the prize; for your business, it’s all about the new contacts you make and future marketing opportunities. Let’s take a look at five steps to hitting the sweet spot for both parties.

Determine Your Goal
When the contest is over, what will you have to show for it? Potential goals might include growing your fan or follower base, increasing click-throughs to your website, boosting conversion rates, creating awareness of a new product, getting customer testimonials, and encouraging likes and shares on your Facebook page. Social media makes it possible to accomplish goals far beyond the contact-gathering efforts of the business-card-in-a-fishbowl, so think outside the box (bowl).Start with something new and check .

Create a Plan
Best Instagram photos, video testimonials, creative pictures of a product in use, and content creation for your website all make great social media contest ideas. If you’re looking to grow your contact list, a simple click-and-share contest may help you accomplish your goal. Make sure your idea will actually help you reach the goal you determined in Step One.

Make the Prize Desirable
The quality of the prize should be relative to the amount of effort participants had to exert. A musician I know is currently running a Facebook contest in which participants send in recordings of themselves and compete for a chance to win a CD recording session. That’s a great incentive designed to reach out to serious musicians. If he wanted to merely increase the number of likes on his Facebook page, he could run a contest with one of his own CDs as the prize. Smaller effort, smaller incentive.

Spread the Word
Social media creates the opportunity for your contest to go viral if you package it right. Offer the right prize and the right level of engagement, and people will want to share the chance to win with their friends. You can also include an option to share your link as part of the entry process. Promote the contest on as many social channels as possible, targeting your existing fans first.

Announce the Winner
Don’t forget to showcase the winner at the end of the contest. It’s not only a feather in the winner’s cap, but also another chance for you to interact with all those new contacts.

Social media contests should be easy to enter and easy to share. In order for your contest to go viral, you need a solid plan, a desirable incentive, and a plan for getting the word out. Oh, and if you’re giving away an iPad, be sure and send me an invite.

What makes a video go viral? Perhaps it’s the catchy dance-inspired jingle or the tooth biting little brother.  Whatever it is, we can all agree that they have one thing in common: originality. Add in some humor, sex appeal or complete random-ness and you have yourself a Grade-A viral anomaly. Here at Startifacts.com, take a look at seven of our favorite viral videos.

Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal

I Told My Kid I Ate All Their Halloween Candy Again

Felix Baumgartner

Gangnam Style

Dollar Shave Club presents best electric shaver

Kony

The Dog Strikes Back

Twitter is gaining momentum at an alarming rate and more and more businesses are using Twitter to create new revenue, build relationships and solve customer issues. As a Twitter user for both personal and business use, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. Below are 6 tips to writing good tweets and getting more followers!

1.  Keep it simple! Probably the most important piece of advice anyone can give you…no one wants to read a novel; especially on a network of fast-moving posts.

2.  Be original. Yes, I know this is trivial but a lot of people forget to use their own thoughts.

3.  Be personal. Bring your followers into your world, show them what YOU are about and make them feel welcome.

4.  Make ‘em laugh. If you can’t come up with anything creative then default to a funny joke, everyone can appreciate a laugh now and then!

5.  In conjunction with keeping it simple, make it catchy at the same time! Use words that define you and intrigue the reader. Separate yourself from the pack.

6.  Hashtags. Another no-brainer in the Twittersphere;  hashtags are to Twitter as SEO is to a solid website.

If you’ve never heard of this odd application before, never fear (I was just introduced to it a few months ago)!  Once you get started, it’s a piece of cake.  For those of you that love organization, it’s a wonderful tool for you to manage all of your social media platforms in one easy place.  Although there are a few different types of HootSuite accounts, the version we will be investigating will be the basic account.

So let’s start with the basics.  All you need to do is go to hootsuite.com and create an account.  This doesn’t require much but an email, name and password.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll start by adding a social network.  As you can see, the three networks you are initially offered are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  By clicking on “add a different social network”, you are given many more options, such as: Google+, foursquare, WordPress, MySpace and mixi.

Choose the account you wish to sync first, allow HootSuite permission to that account and voila!  You should see something like this:

You can either compose or schedule a message by clicking in the “Compose message” box.  You will need to select your account by searching in the box which is right next to message composition.  To schedule, choose the calendar icon and pick your desired date and time.

If you would like to make any changes or view your scheduled items, choose the arrow icon located on the far left Dashboard.

To add on additional accounts.  Select the “+” tab at the top of the page.  You will then see the option to “Add Stream.” With the basic account, you are allowed up to FIVE different streams.  (Other accounts will allow for more streams depending on the price.)

You should now be able to complete the basic functions of HootSuite!  Can I get a woot, woot?!  If you’d like to learn more, you can always check out the free online tutorial they offer every member or contact us and we’d be happy to help.  Good luck!

At HMG Creative, we know that like most things in life, blogging is better when done with friends. So we searched from coast to coast to bring you some of the most-respected marketing experts in the business. We know it is important to not only share our thoughts and insights, but impart the expertise and perspective of others; and we think these 3 individuals got it going on. Enjoy opening these 3 gifts from industry experts and friends of HMG Creative.

6 Ways to Use Images to Improve Your Web Conversion Rate by Tim Ash
CEO SiteTuners, Author, Landing Page Optimization

5 Types of Blog Content That Drive Engagement by Shelly Kramer
Founder and CEO V3 Integrated Marketing, FORBES Top 50 Social Media Influencer

3 keys to Scaling Content Marketing Success by Lee Odden
CEO TopRank Marketing; Author, Optimize