Email is one of the oldest tools which is still relied upon by the marketers. There is lot of information on optimizing email marketing but not all are true. To make email marketing as effective as possible it is first necessary to separate out the information which one can believe from ones to discard. Myth 1: Consumers are drowning in emails from trusted brands. Myth 1: Consumers are drowning in emails from trusted brands. 60% receive less than 6 mails per day. Myth2: Best time to mail is at 3 pm on Thursday. Only 21% of purchases happen within 2 days of sending mail. Myth 3: You should stop sending to inactive users after 6 months. They are still alive. Myth 4: Consumers mark email as spam. One out of 2000 does this. Myth 5: More the emails sent by brands, ignorance from customer’s side increases. Number of consumers checking the mail increases, increasing revenue. Myth 6: Short subject lines give better results. Over 70 characters increase clicks. Myth 7: Because of subject lines, email lands up in spam folder. According to 540bn emails sent till date, ‘spam’ keywords have little effects on ending up in spam folder. Read more at: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-myths-infographic

Google search algorithms affect around 90% of online searches. These strip out bad searches, sites with keywords, duplicated content and manipulated hyperlinks based on quality, originality and relevance of online content. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) needs to change, we cannot build links like we use to and are more focused on content making. Business still has the need of a SEO professional in a more changed and creative way and aware about how to implement basic optimization. Content written by a reputable journalist or blogger is ranked higher by Google. Google gives importance to the engagement of the user with the content than paid for content. SEO agencies focused on link manipulation through “black hat” techniques and keyword-focused methods of SEO are going out of business while those focused on content marketing are thriving. There is now less differences between the roles of PR, social media, SEO and digital marketing. It is important to create brand value and have good, creative content and be technical sounding. Thus to offer so much for content writing increased collaboration is required creating their own digital newsrooms for real-time marketing strategies. This would maximize on the benefits.

Expansion of SEO is never a threat to PR professionals. PR might now become a part of the SEO agency team as the skill of the former is more vital than before. Google changes are now more human-friendly and people now search online using questions and complex phrases than just stand-alone keywords and content makers solve this with SEO in mind.

 Read more at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/28/google-seo-social-media-search-marketing-panda-penguin- 

Social media addiction is quiet similar to any other addition. Disclosing information through social media generates similar sensation as eating or drinking and it can be as addicting as drug. Social media helps you contact with people without any risk. You can control what you show, you look, voice, emotions are not exposed. Little kids should be controlled on the time and extent of usage of internet and parents should have all the information about what they are doing on the web. Kids should not have any secrets. Adults along with children also get addicted to social media. When someone posts in the middle of a crisis or ignores the person next to him for posting on social media he is believed to be addicted. read m http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/07/26/study-social-media-my-be-just-as-addicting-as-other-vices-drugs-and-drinking/ore

Growth in social media networking with increased logging into Facebook and twitter accounts has been accounted to be about 37 % in 2013 according to trends in digital marketing, media and commerce. Though the global rate might be less the growth rate in India of social networking has been high especially in urban areas. India has recorded the second highest number of Facebook users and is likely to become the largest number of Facebook users in 2016. A survey by Internet and Mobile Association of India found that there has been a 50% increase after 2012 in Facebook use, 33 million in Twitter and 20 million on LinkedIn. Social media being the next being frontier is definitely unavoidable and has become an imperative part of a holistic marketing strategy benefiting businesses reducing costs and improving customer services. Corporate and B-schools give latest promoting strategies and marketing strategies through social media. Read more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/socialmedia-updates/india-records-highest-social-networking-growth-study/article1-1244761.aspx 

Realizing the rising importance of social media in any business every brand needs fourteen tools to make things simpler. They are: 1. Visual Google analytics report: this app creates a custom infographic of the company’s website activity and performances from complicated Google data. It delivers straight to the company’s inbox- the reasons for its win so that it can improve next time. 2. TweetDeck: it is a twitter based management tool gives one an overall aspect of their profile and also customizes the display and reduces navigation problems.

3. HootSuite: this app allows to manage multiple social media profiles at the same time. It allows to delegate between responses to fans and followers and responses coordination of responses and potentially overlooking fans is not required. But it has a backdrop of not being able to make images appear.

4. Sprout Social: it cleans interface and a dashboard built around six tabs, namely home, messages, feeds, publishing, discovery and reports. It suggests people to follow and schedules updates in advance.

5. Crowdbooster: it streamlines and schedules posts for twitter and Facebook, reminds followers one has not responded to and lists recent influential followers. It also directs growth and engagement metrics.

6. Twitter showdown: it compares twitter accounts of two industries and compares two competitors by finding the follower to following ratio, level of tweet engagement, mentions per tweet, tweet timing etc.

7. Edgerank Checker: it helps to understand how followers interact with each post by assigning a score and makes recommendations to assist future posts. 8. Buffer: A useful tool for small businesses with less time and resource. It helps to schedule posts and makes sharing easier but is not applicable for monitoring discussions. 

9. SocialBro: it provides insight to analytics, suggestions for targeting and engagement and highlights the key influencers and competitors. 10. Postling: it tracks responses, brands and people. Every mention of one’s brand is tracked easily. 11. Tailwind: it tracks your company, product and competitors and most profitable activities.

12. Social Mention: it scrapes user generated content across internet, and recent relevant results and metrics.

13. Shoutlet: it helps companies to understand its market, grow on social database and supplies all customers and fans need. 14. Argyle Social: it establishes the most valuable content ensuring efforts and value to marketing strategies. Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231851

WhatsApp and Snapchat being simple and ubiquitous are now the perfect crossroads of mobile and social media. A new study suggests that in spite of forcing the top five global digital platforms namely Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft to evolve. Apps like Line and WhatsApp have still not been able to reach a massive scale yet. Mobile and social strategies of majority marketers being immature are being unable to utilize the growing opportunities properly and bring a clear return. In reality these messaging apps at the cross road of mobile and social only complicate the challenge according to Thomas Husson. New developments are being made recently to have a frictionless mode of communication but the idea is still new and yet to be successful. Read more at: http://www.cio.com/article/2454370/social-media/are-messaging-apps-the-future-of-social-networking.html

Consumers these days are using social media for communications. Mention of brand names is done in huge numbers among which 76 percent mentions were neutral, 17.6 percent were positive and 5.8 percent were negative. . Majority of the neutral mentions comprises of queries about the company’s process and products.

Apart from increasing engagement, building brand awareness and marketing this study has been found to play a major role in customer service.  The names of companies are mentioned on social media more on weekdays than on weekends. Moreover most posts are mentioned in English followed by French and Spanish. Thus social media is a tool for global communication and social mentions increases exposure. Read more at:http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/social-media-equals-modern-day-customer-service-43281/

Checking emails have become the primary activity for smart phone and tablet users. Thus informing patients about new health care services through emails have become compulsory. Images are the best method of interacting with, informing and empowering patients.  This is because brain processes visual data faster which consists of 90% of the transmitted data. Twitter these days have become the best medium to interact with the aging population who consumes a major portion of the health services. In 2014, more than 50% internet users will redeem a digital coupon which can be used by partners for patient cost saving and adherence.  Marketing needs to be done on multiple platforms and for many devices because the internet device connection has become vast which includes Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The reviews of previous patients' online matters the most as 90% people get influenced by peer recommendations. Among the 10.3 billion Google searchers and 78% internet users a major portion hit the top links. Thus the top hits of any organization conclude the bottom line. Content marketing is cheaper than traditional marketing and generates an income 3 times as many leads. So for any strategy the target audience and their choices are to be realized first. Patients receiving newsletters along with emails spend more and are more informed. Most patients prefer articles to direct advertisements. Thus advertising campaigns along with patient experience testimonies, community reviews are important to highlight work being done inside out. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2014/07/15/10-things-hospital-leadership-need-to-know-about-social-media-and-marketing/

Social media has become the most important tool for connecting to a broad range of online customers at the same time. But because of its indirect ways it is difficult to measure the immediate results. According to Conduct Marketing Institute only 58 percent of marketers believe that social media is effective in spite of major businesses spending time and money for making their presence on these media. Interviews and studies have shown that five out of six millennial of youngsters between the ages of 18-36 years prefer social networking sites to interact with brands. But youngsters across most countries prefer some kind of incentives while they interact with the brands online. The study also revealed that most youngsters use at least two internet devices a day and pick up their phones 43 times on an average. Facebook has been found to be most popular among young followed by YouTube which has also been found quiet influential. Other sites include Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

Thus social media is definitely worth investing in and getting include in one’s content strategy if young consumers are its target audience.

Read more at:  http://www.castleford.com.au/blog/2014/is-social-media-the-best-way-to-reach-young-consumers

According to Mark Zuckerberg the potential of improving business through social media is very high. Sponsored ads appear everywhere nowadays in all social media platforms. If your ads are of quality customer service and eye catching visuals you can convert visitors to loyal customers. But there are few strategies required to gain from the use of social media. Firstly, be active but do not be overactive. One needs to have knowledge about how much his competitors are posting and then decide on how much to post every day. Compiling all content in an easy to read editorial calendar is a good idea which can be further separated by social channels. Secondly, ach channel should be treated as an individual entity. The content which might be spread across all channels should be adjusted depending on the audience for that channel. For example, LinkedIn has more business focused audience while Instagram has audiences looking for engaging visual content. Thirdly, tweets or other feedbacks made by customers should be answered properly and quickly. While positive feedbacks are to be responded with acknowledgements negative feedbacks should be dealt with patience and respect. Fourthly, one should accept their mistakes made on their posts. But reposting several times is not a good idea. One can send out content from their social accounts to make the customers aware. Fifthly, metrics important to one's business should be reviewed monthly, like number of posts, follower growth, clicks, page views, likes and shares etc. Tracking can be done by free tools like bit.ly, Google analytics etc. Lastly, being active on Google+ helps you to receive essential free ad space when users search for you on Google. Read more at:  http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/01/09/social-media-marketing-strategies

Social Media Participation has been limited to younger population and is rarely used by the older population. This has been a prevailing argument again social intelligence.  According to New Media Trend Watch 33 percent of the 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964 use social media, among which only US accounts for 26 million individuals. For Facebook and Google+ the population between 45 to 54-age is the fastest growing, seeing a 46 percent jump for Facebook and 56 percent leap for Google+. This growth has not been contained to the mainstream social networks and has spanned online communities, blogs and open comment sites, aside from the massive networks. According to Pew,presently 67 percent of Internet users between the ages of 50 and 64 are using online social circles. Beyond this, the segment of Internet users 65 and older who use  social media has significantly increased from 13 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in 2013.To know more go to: http://www.listenlogic.com/2013/11/senior-moment-social-media-shifts/

Social media defines an array of internet sites that enable people from all over the world to interact. Social media affects our mental health and well-being. Facebook might cause anxiety and make life miserable. Facebook followed by My Space, Twitter, LinkedIn are leading social networking sites. Majorly below 30 aged men women use internet and 42 percent of them use multiple sites. The ability to connect to the people around the world attracts people to these sites. Social media has become a way of self-distraction and boredom relief. This leads to addiction. Scoring four of six criteria indicates addiction. People who are more anxious and socially insecure tend to use Facebook more. They tend to gain attention and boost self-esteem through Facebook. 

Again these sites can feel less confident comparing their popularity with their friends which leads to negative emotion. It also creates worry and discomfort for people hampering face to face interactions. Moreover there are cases of cyber bullying by adolescents.

In spite of these facts social media could be helpful to identify mental health issues. For example people with less pictures and friends might have the inability to enjoy from activities which normal people enjoy. Moreover a happy status may sometimes inspire others to post happy updates too. They might cause their friends’ emotional expression to change. Positive expressions spread more than negative expressions. In a magnified version this might cause an ‘epidemic of well-being’. But in conclusion whatever might be the affects, positive or negative, the usage of internet and social media is unlikely to fade any time soon. read more at : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275361.php

Big Data has joined the crowd of millions with the fever of 2014 FIFA World Cup on. Much like the social media, marketing, advertising- big data has become important. With a whooping figure of 3.2 billion people who watched the last World Cup, this year the figure is expected to explode even further. Ronaldo's Nike shoes ad is one of the example to illustrate the growth and potential of online videos. It was seen online by 78 million people before it appeared on TV. 12.2 million tweets about the 'first-match' all during the hours match was played, depicts the social captivity of the universe. An event of this magnitude is likely to generate Big Data. The 2014 World Cup is so big that it is expected to have a negative impact on the economy of Brazil, as "major Brazilian cities have the power to grant local public holidays on the dates that World Cup matches are played". Read more at: http://www.infinitive.com/category/big-data/

Associations are always searching for approaches to help their clients. Better administration, modified items, and value certifications are simply a few ways that associations attempt to guarantee client dependability. For administration and information suppliers, be that as it may, it is not generally simple to give included esteem past the administration or information gave. The guarantee of more information and better perceive help guarantee client fulfilment by giving them the tools they have to addition included experiences. Non-profit, educational, and government organizations are illustrations of commercial ventures that have posted demographics or other explanatory information online for open utilization. This means associations create provisions that are inserted inside their answers that could be given as an administration to clients. This right to gain entrance to investigation assists furnish clients with more extensive experiences into their records, clients, patterns, reporting needs, and so on. Generally, associations incorporate these additional reporting or dismemberment capacities as an additional to the organizations or information successfully gave. To read more visit: http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/using-embedded-analytics-enhanced-customer-experie#.U5_Dw_mSxvM 

In the present world, advertising is shifting towards digital media, and experts say that small business owners should keep up with that trend in spite of prevalence of billboards and newspapers ads. Whatever the product is, marketing the product to target customer is critical. With the limited budget advertising decisions should be taken wisely. According to Eric Schiffer (head of marketing firms' digitalmarketing.com and socialmediamarketing.com) "You can easily throw a lot of money down the drain if you don't think about the right strategy and right platforms". Owners can build a local business profile on either Facebook or Twitter, and they will be presented with buttons to "promote" or "advertise" their page. Using this process will enable the owners to identify and convert customers at far less cost compared to search based advertising. According to Sidney Smith "E-mail is still king, and building out your e-mail list is so important". Services such as ConstantContact, Vertical Response and iContact can be used to manage an e-mail marketing list. Companies uses GPS data to push coupons and deals via text messages to individuals near a store. To know more about usage of social media, e-mails, text messages and loyalty cards for advertising visit: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/small-business-guide-how-to-invest-your-digital-advertising-dollars/2014/04/20/67f5ad6c-c4a7-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html  .

The ongoing World Cup is expected to see most Social Media mentions of any sporting event. Since June 2013, there have been 19 million social mentions including the phrase “World Cup”! Soccer is the most popular sport in earth and social media is the creamiest option for fan & follower interaction and debate. However, for business houses, it is also the right time to explore this hype to turn the tides in their favour. With proper social media strategy, this world cup fever can help you reach 230 countries! According to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, FIFA will earn $4bn (£2.3bn) in revenue from this tournament – ten per cent more than last time. About $1.4bn (£837m) will come from sponsorship deals, the balance from TV rights. Much of that increased investment will go into content and social media. "They will certainly continue to use conventional paid-for media, but owned and earned media are occupying a larger share of the communications mix as brands increasingly become publishers in their own right during major cultural moments," says Martin. The brands are at war! Brands like Nike, pepsi, Adidas all are trying to bank on this social media interaction Tsunami and beat competitors. While brands have long been publishers in one way or another, the latest iteration of brand publishing using social media to engage and magnify the content is really only now coming to maturity. There is even a tenuous strain of thought that suggests the 2014 World Cup could mark the high tide of this approach. Nancy Smith, President and CEO of New York-based marketing consultancy Analytic Partners, says her company has examined billions of dollars of marketing spend and has come to very different conclusions. She said that “Budgets are increasingly stretched and social media are a very good way to extend those dollars. It is clear that owned and earned media are a must. We have found that owned and earned engagement has boosted incremental sales from paid marketing by two to six per cent. The average is about five per cent, although we have seen effects from social media for smaller niche companies as high as four hundred per cent”. The question remains open: Brands are going full throttle on their online channels for this footy frenzy but could the 20th World Cup be the high watermark for social media? To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.prweek.com/article/1297965/20th-world-cup-social-media-strategies-brand-war-rooms

Companies can maintain customer support department to answer customer doubts and problems in social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook. Answers to customers should be quick and within few hours of posting. We can implement softwares that can be synchronized with Facebook, to manage private messages and posts, and to keep track of customer service questions & problems and also to serve requests. Some of these softwares are Sales Force Desk, Happy Fox etc. One can use the Facebook page to spread the problems associated with that particular product and other product issues. Social space provides a platform to make people aware of the product defects. It will demonstrate the business house's willingness to take responsibility for mistakes making fans aware of the present business scenario and maintaining transparency. Some brands often offer their fans monthly exclusive deals and some host frequent giveaways. To know about this aspect follow Jim Belosic (CEO of ShortStack)'s link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-customer-service-facebook/ .

Nowadays, social media customer care represents a tremendous growing opportunity for businesses to foster strong customer relationships. According to Bianca Buckridee (presently the vice president of social media operations) JP Morgan's twitter page enables customers to see the individual with whom they are talking which in turn restores some of the intimacy and comfort that is lost in a phone conversation.   Katy Phillips, a senior analyst for American Airlines, identifies social space as an important factor which has helped them build customer loyalty and brand reputation and will continue to create some "wow'' moments for customers. In spite of such boons of social media customer care, not many businesses have exploited it. Evolve24-a Maritz Research company, found in 2011 that approximately 70% of customer service complaints made on Twitter were unanswered. The panelists at the recent Wharton Social Media Best Practices Conference believe that the percentage has not changed significantly. Read more at: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/ignored-side-social-media-customer-service/

An article by Sue Cockburn, Founder of Growing Social Biz, conveys that it's not that the customer is always right. They're not. But, they need to see us owning the problem when they believe they are right. Arguing to prove we are right and they are wrong may allow us to win the battle, but we'll likely lose the client. Clients deserve the benefit of the doubt. Maybe sometimes we'll be taken advantage of and sometimes we won't be able to fix mistakes or won't be able to take responsibility for something that is very clearly customer error and possibly not fixable. Keeping the customers we have and building on that base is much more cost effective than gaining new customers while existing ones stream out the back door!

To know more visit http://socialmediatoday.com/suecockburn/2428621/great-customer-service-not-about-being-perfect

When a company reaches out to someone, it shows that the individual is valued. By taking initiative to include an individual, the company makes itself stand out as an entity to be liked because people tend to like those that like them back. On the flip side, proactive marketing strategies are a win for leaders of companies because it means taking charge of the futures of their companies. Companies develop strategies to reach out to relevant people and acquire a fan base. Being proactive is ultimately a winning situation on both sides because not only can companies take charge of their image and client base, a customer is satisfied as well because they feel valued.

 To gather more insight read the article by Anqi Cong, student at Carnegie Mellon University, follow http://socialmediatoday.com/anqicong/2421436/why-are-proactive-marketing-strategies-so-effective