Business
Social media is quite the valuable tool in an inbound marketer’s repertoire, and this is far from a secret. As social networks continue to grow, evolve, and sometimes fall out of relevancy, we must always stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the world of social media. Any inbound marketer can tell you how effective and inexpensive a well-run social media campaign can be, and that is exactly why it’s a must-have tool in your marketing arsenal. This week’s round-up will fill you in on all of the latest changes in social media that you’ll need to know to keep that edge. Enjoy! What HP’s 1 Million LinkedIn Followers Means for Marketers, From LinkedIn Blog (http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/02/28/what-hps-1-million-linkedin-followers-means-for-marketers-infographic/) HP has officially become the first company to draw in one million followers to their LinkedIn page. This is a huge win for HP because these aren’t followers you would find on Twitter or Facebook, these are a highly targeted audience of professionals that matter to their business. This means that HP is now indirectly connected to 43 million other professionals on LinkedIn, which makes up roughly a quarter of the entire LinkedIn population. Google Offers Social Sign-In Alternative to Facebook, From Ad Week (http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/google-offers-social-sign-alternative-facebook-147561) We all know that Facebook has had a pretty big monopoly on the world of social sign-ins and security, but that may be changing very soon. Google has released its own social powered sign-in option for online publishers and apps. This means that users will be able to connect with sites like USA Today, The Guardian, FitBit, Fancy, OpenTable, and more with their Google + accounts. Trendrr Reports: Social TV Oscar Activity Tripled, From Marketing Pilgrim (http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/02/trendrr-reports-social-tv-oscar-activity-tripled-and-the-ratings-were-up-too.html) The Oscars; usually spent in the comfort of our sweat pants while we obnoxiously rant and rave about who was dressed best, worst, and stupidest. Yes, stupidest. You know you've seen some pretty stupid looking outfits at the Oscars before. But, I digress. This year was different. This year, we made our voices heard. We took to the streets…okay, we took to our respective social networks. During this years Oscar broadcast, real-time social media tracking company Trendrr kept tabs on all of our witty and not so witty comments across the Facebook, Twitter, GetGlue, and Viggie. Spotify’s Social Network Arrives: New Follow Tab is Now Gradually Rolling Out to Users, From The Next Web (http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/27/spotify-the-social-network-arrives-begins-rolling-out-follow-features-to-users/) A little ways back in December of last year, Spotify announced that it would be rolling out a slew of social media features to its popular music friendly app. Well, the time has come for Spotify to announce that its social network is ready to start shipping to a desktop near you. The latest feature to grace our computer screens is the new Follow tab that will list all of the users you are currently “following”, and will be replacing the current People tab. Spotify sees this move as a way to lessen their social dependency on Facebook, which has not reaped them many benefits. Facebook Lets Advertisers Tap Purchase Data Partners to Target Customers, Categories, Like Car-Buyers, From Tech Crunch (http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/27/facebook-ad-data-providers/) It’s no secret that Facebook has been looking to dive deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of online advertising. The most recent news reveals that Facebook has partnered up with top online and offline purchase data providers like Epsilon, Acxiom, Datalogix, and BlueKai to provide advertisers with a hashed list of existing customers, potential prospects, and categories of people like pet lovers, soda drinkers, and car buyers. The goal is for Facebook to attract some big spenders by offering them a way to target the exact customers that have or will buy their products.