Image Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

As social media goes mainstream, more companies are starting to pay close attention to building strong social media teams. With multiple social media campaigns and all the different types of content that goes with them, managing social media projects can become unwieldy very quickly. Someone has to track and manage all this stuff! This has given rise to the relatively new role of social media project manager.

What Does A Social Media Project Manager Do?

A social media project manager is responsible for managing and executing a company’s social media campaigns on time and on budget. This person understands the company’s business goals and how to lead, manage and communicate with the various team members charged with creating the company’s social media branding and content.

Social media project managers often have different names for essentially the same function. This can include social media manager, social program manager, social marketing manager, social media lead, etc.

A social media project manager must be able to communicate and collaborate clearly across the organization. Perhaps the biggest value-add they provide is in creating effective and efficient processes around ongoing content creation and management of existing content.

Getting Things Done

Most social media campaigns are based on a pre-determined strategy outlining specific business goals. Once the strategy is approved and in place, the social media project manager creates an implementation plan. This often includes a content calendar, resource assignments, and a moderation plan for comments and sharing.

Depending on the type of business, most social media content can be created and curated ahead of time. This makes it possible to manage multiple campaigns simultaneously. For example, the project manager creates a development schedule for all Facebook updates, tweets, blog posts, and any other relevant pieces of an upcoming social media program and assigns resources to do the work by a specific date.

Deliverable dates are matched up to the content calendar so that approved content launches on schedule. As another example, a company may have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Your social media project manager will ensure all four accounts:

• Are maintained appropriately
• Have a similar look and feel matching the company’s branding and messaging guidelines
• Post regular updates
• Comments are moderated and responded to in a timely manner.

The project manager will also review available metrics and identify any trends that can lead to improved engagement and interaction.

Because many messages are being created and approved by potentially numerous people, it’s important to have a central repository for all social media assets. This way people know where to find relevant copy, images, audio, video, metadata, and any other content involved in a given campaign. This information can be organized and stored on a local server, a collaboration tool like Basecamp, or a cloud-based solution like Dropbox.

The ideal social media project manager juggles all of this with a smile, lets you know what to expect well ahead of time and can tell you where the latest .jpg is for the CEO’s upcoming blog post next month.

Where To Find A Good Social Media Manager

Like anything, you get what you pay for, and finding a talented social media project manager is no different. At a bare minimum, you want someone familiar with the latest trends and uses for all the different social media channels.

You want someone with good familiarity with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and others. The more social platforms your candidate is familiar with the better.

The person should be likeable, friendly, trustworthy, detail-oriented and comfortable communicating up, down and throughout your organization. They should also be skilled in conflict resolution, since miscommunications will occasionally happen.

Candidates who have a background in web design or web content development can also work beautifully. Anyone who has experience with creative teams and technologists can likely handle a social media project management assignment. This could include college students, freelancers, and agency specialists.

Social Media Project Managers are available at marketing agencies, as independent consultants, on freelance websites such as Elance and Odesk, or maybe even down the hall from you.

Over To You

Does your company have a social media project manager? Should they? Have you used freelancers in this role or do you plan to in the future? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Image Credit: ©Depositphotos/bloomua

There are a multitude of choices and channels when it comes to social media. But let’s face it – you can’t be everywhere online. Well you can try, but unless you have an army of social media managers working for you it’s likely to work. You’ll spread yourself too thin and end up tossing in the social media towel. In this post I’ll discuss how to choose the best one or two social media platforms for your business and how to get started with each.

What Are Your Business Goals?

First get clear on your business goals. Why do you even want to use social media? What do you expect to get out of it? Be as specific as possible. Do you want to increase sales, build brand recognition, or grow an online community? Social media campaigns can be both time consuming and expensive. What results do you want in exchange for all this effort? Have a good long think and write everything down.

Pick One Or Two And Get Really Good Before Adding More

Once your social media business goals are clearly defined, assess the available platforms within the context of your goals. Pick one or two channels to start so you don’t get overwhelmed. Read the information in How to Decide Which Social Networks are Most Important to You.

Where are your customers already hanging out? Do some detective work and see if you can find them. For example, search for your customers on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you find them there, these two channels are likely good candidates for your first two platforms. If you haven’t already, set up your accounts and take a closer look around.

Listen Before You Leap

It’s a good idea to spend some time observing, or “listening” to your chosen social media channels before you dive in with daily updates. This will give you an opportunity to get a feel for how things work. Look to see what customers and your competition are saying. They might even be talking about your products and services. This is known as “social listening”.

Quite often, customers will express a marketplace need that you have not identified yet. Study what’s happening in these social streams to get a feel for the tone and tenor of the community. This will enable you to position yourself and your company in the best light when you decide to join the conversation.

Be Social

The point of all of this social media is to be, um, social. Just like any other social situation, once you have a lay of the land and something to say it’s time to mingle. You’ve studied the crowd, assessed what they are interested in, and now it’s time to provide value. Answer questions or share information that can truly help.

“Be interested and interesting” and you’ll be off to a great start.

Measure Results

It takes a while for social media interactions to blossom into tangible results, so give yourself some time before making a decision about the effectiveness of your chosen platform. Simple things you can measure are website referrals, increased or decreased follower counts, number of shares and whether or not you have connected directly with an influential blogger or customer. A good rule of thumb is to track these items monthly and then re-evaluate after 90 days.

Expansion Plan

After three months of using one or two social media accounts for your business you’ll have a good idea of whether or not those channels are a good fit. You will know how much work is involved in maintaining them. If you’re comfortable with the path you’re on, try adding another account. At that point you may decide to ask for some help. Sit down with your team and make a social media expansion plan, which will help you choose your next channel and grow your social media presence without losing any momentum.

Your Turn

What’s your experience with using multiple social media accounts for your business? Is it possible to be everywhere online and still focus on customers? If so, how do you do it? Let’s discuss in the comments.

If Social Media is similar to word-of-mouth advertising, how can you accurately measure the return on investment? Some social media managers believe it’s impossible, but in this post I’ll offer three ways to get you headed in the right direction. They’re not perfect, but each will help you take a pulse on each of your social channels at little or no cost.

While it seems that more and more software solutions crop up each day claiming to track the entire social media ecosystem, they often have a hefty price tag and/or learning curve. We’re not going to talk about them here. Instead I’ll show you how to setup a simple tracking system you can implement quickly using Google docs or another spreadsheet application.

Know Your Social Media Goals

Like any standard ROI calculation, it all starts with your goals. What do you expect to achieve from each social media channel? Increased sales, a bigger online community, or better brand recognition? Begin with the end in mind and set a baseline from which to track your results.

It often takes multiple touch points before a website conversion, so I like to track progress monthly for a minimum of three months before making any decisions based on the data. This gives each campaign a chance to take root over time.

Setup A Basic Tracking System

Using a Google doc or excel spreadsheet, setup a listing of each social media channel you want to track and then enter the following columns next to each:

• Monthly Referrals Percentage Increase/Decrease
• Monthly Followers Percentage/Decrease
• Influencer Status Percentage Increase/Decrease
• Notes column

1. Monthly Referrals

Monthly referrals will show you very quickly which social channels are driving traffic to your website or blog. Check your site’s Google Analytics stats and measure your site’s monthly referrals increase or decrease from Facebook, Twitter, or your other chosen social media platforms.

Once you have a baseline percentage, measure this monthly to identify ongoing trends. Watching increasing or decreasing trends will help you figure out what’s working vs. what’s not and better tailor your content for optimal sharing and engagement.

2. Monthly Followers

An increase or decrease in monthly followers is another clear indicator of what content resonates with your audience. Again, setting a baseline measurement is important. For example, if you have 500 Facebook likes on March 1 and then 600 on April 1, you would measure that as a 10% month-over-month increase.

Then let’s say you held a contest on Facebook in May and suddenly the number of Likes on your page doubled from 600 to 1200. This would indicate a 50% increase in followers thanks to your contest promotion.

3. Influencer Status

Influencer Status is a subjective measure that can definitely impact your social media ROI. Influencer status measures the number of mentions by any key bloggers, PR agencies, satisfied customers or high profile media outlets that you are trying to reach.

A large number of influencer data points within a short time period can often catapult your monthly referral and follower numbers, so it’s important to track them.

So What’s The Return?

Assuming enough time has gone by and you have captured some good data, it’s time to tie it back to your original investment of time and/or money. Look back at your goals and assign a dollar value or weighted score to each measurement.

Then look at your results and calculate whether or not your efforts have been worth it. As I mentioned earlier this isn’t a perfect solution, but it will help you determine whether or not you are making progress.

Measuring social media ROI is an ongoing process and an important aspect of managing your online business. However it is often elusive depending on your goals. Hopefully these three methods will help you improve the overall quality and effectiveness of your social media campaigns.

How do you measure social media ROI? Let me know in the comments.

Image Credit: ©Depositphotos/Milo827

Social media has been making waves for a number of years in the marketing world. However, since last year businesses have increased their efforts to make social networking platforms a priority. It was even featured as one of the top digital trends for 2013 by Adobe.

We could sit here and list endless reasons why your company should improve your social media marketing. Yes, it will increase your customer communication, yes it is important to interact with consumers in an online community, and yes it is imperative to reach vast audiences like never before.

But we’re not going to do that. Nope. Instead, I am going to give you two examples of the best and worst social campaigns to have ever existed. Why? Well you can see for yourself why there were so successful / terrible, and you can then use them for inspiration /disincentive.

EXAMPLES OF THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Nike

Nike had one of the best social media campaigns for 2012. Despite Adidas being the official sponsor for the London Olympics, it was Nike that came out on top in terms of consumer engagement.

Nike: “Find Your Greatness” ad #findgreatness

The sports retailer created a massive billboard and social campaign to rival its competitor, and in short, it stole the limelight. They celebrated everyday athletes and featured the hashtag #findgreatness on Twitter.  In contrast Adidas used Team GB athletes and had the hashtag #takethestage.

The results? Nike had more than 16,000 tweets with the word Olympics, in comparison to only 9,295 for Adidas. What is more, Nike got 166,718 new fans on Facebook compared to only 80,761 for the official sponsor.

I don’t think that’s bad going, given that Adidas probably spent millions of pounds to be the official sponsor.

Evian

Yes this is quite an old campaign, but I just couldn’t NOT put it into my list. It was too darn cute! The ‘Roller babies’ video, which went crazy viral, involved lots of loveable babies (computer generated of course), breakdancing, back flipping and roller blading.

Check out the amazing video; we promise it will put a smile on your face!

At the time, The Guinness Book of World Records said
the megahit was the most viewed online ad in history.

Now obviously this has since been surpassed by the sensational ‘Gangnam Style’, but to date it has had over 62 million views on YouTube, over 12,000 comments and that isn’t counting the success rate on other marketing platforms like TV or Twitter.

EXAMPLES OF BAD SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Dr Pepper

Back in 2010, Dr Pepper, owned by Coca Cola, launched a Facebook campaign called ‘What’s The Worst that Could Happen?’This slogan became extremely ironic because the light-hearted campaign soon turned into a fiasco.

While this image is related to the Dublin Dr. Pepper fiasco rather than the “What’s The Worst That Could Happen” ads and Facebook campaign, it does answer the question well. From the Boycott Dr. Pepper Facebook Campaign.

Created by the Lean Mean Fighting Machine agency, it involved consumers being given the chance to win £1,000 if they gave over total control of their social media profiles.

The ‘takeover’ meant that anything could be posted on their Facebook status updates, however, what started out as harmless soon curdled.

The campaign used data input to create the updates, but it led to some really embarrassing / funny status updates such as running out of toilet paper and wetting yourself.

What is more, there was no minimum age requirement to enter the campaign so some damning and explicit statuses were posted on young contestant’s Facebook pages.

Many disgruntled mums vented their frustration online, with one
saying she was “absolutely fizzing with rage and disgust.”

The result? The drinks company had to pull the promotion down and its marketing department most probably had to do a lot of hard work to rebuild the brand’s image / reputation. Not everything posted was explicit, but some of the moves were very misguided.

A spokesperson for Coca Cola said at the time:

“We were unaware of the meaning of this line when the promotion was approved and have launched an investigation into why it was included. We take full responsibility and will be reviewing our promotional procedures.”

Editor note: Dr. Pepper has been running “What’s the Worst That Could Happen” themed ad spots since before the Facebook campaign – like that one some of us find them offensive as well.

Wal-Mart

Image Credit: ©Depositphotos/ Yuri_Arcurs

In 2006, a blog in America was created called ‘Wal- Marting Across America.’ The blog was written by a married couple called Laura and Jim, who were travelling from Las Vegas to Georgia and were parking overnight at various Wal-Marts.

Along the way, they charted their journey, writing about the staff they encountered and featured interesting interviews that were very much in favour of the store.

Speculation soon arose because the posts were always
showcasing the brand in a positive light, and
the blog soon turned out to be fake.

The travelling enthusiasts turned out to be James Thresher, a professional photographer for the Washington Post and Laura St. Claire, a freelancer writer for the Treasury Department. The pair are a couple and they do have three children, but are not married.

Laura had got permission from Wal-Mart’s PR firm Edelman to park for free and in response, the group sponsored them, paying for their flights and supplying them with an RV that was emblazoned with the Wal-Mart logo.

What is more, the writer was paid for each blog post.
None of these details had been shared on the site,
and the backlash was immense.

Edelman was crowned the “king of social media screw ups” and issued an apology saying:

“I want to acknowledge our error in failing to be transparent
about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset.
This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client’s.”

So there you have some social media campaigns to copy/avoid.

Do you know any other humdingers which are worth mentioning?
Let us know below, peeps!

Image Credit: ©Depositphotos/Migellito

Using Twitter is not optional if you want influencers to share your blog or business. It is the fastest way to get influencers to spread your message and brand.

Twitter is the easiest way to connect with super busy people – especially if they have gatekeepers who answer their phone and even their email. Often even they will respond on Twitter, and even if they don’t their people will at least see your message and possibly ask for details or get it to them.

Unfortunately, many new Twitter users just don’t “get” Twitter right away. Some have Twitter accounts, but they don’t know how to effectively use them. Others don’t know where Twitter moved something after a redesign.

Even if you are a power Twitter user, I encourage you to take the time to watch this short (under 5 minutes) video from BrideAppeal on How to Use the New Twitter Layout. I bet you’ll learn something new. I did.

Tell the truth. Did you know where everything was?
Have you been using the Compose New Tweet button in the top right corner?

Here are some Twitter resources to help you get the most out of Twitter:

• Easiest way to use Twitter and create relationships: Commun.it Twitter Relationship Management Solution.
• Twitter Best Practices ~ This is where I collect all the best posts and videos on how to Twitter better.
• Free Twitter Profile Images ~ pretty up your Twitter header

Do you have any Twitter tips you would like to share?
Know of a great post or video?
Leave them in the comments.

Click image to download these free Twitter Profile Header Images

Many are making a serious mistake in their Twitter accounts by adding profile images that make their bios and links nearly impossible to read. This will cost you new followers and reduce clicks on your links.

Text that is hard to read is ALWAYS a mistake!

One reason Twitter profiles are hard on the eyes is because Twitter is using white text on a dark background. White text, and particularly some fonts in white text, are among the hardest on the eyes.

With more and more of us being baby boomers who spend too many hours looking at computer monitors which are not great for our vision, those who design Web sites should consider using larger text and being more selective about font choice and color to make them easier to read.

Here is an example of a Twitter account chosen at random that has a header image that makes it hard for me to read the text:

This is really hard for me to read. What about you?

The way the text is shown over the alternating light and dark coloring means some people will spend less time trying to decipher what is written there to figure out whether they want to follow you, click your link, or become your customer.

Here is my Twitter profile with no header for comparison:

What my @GrowMap Twitter profile looks like with no header image. (Before)

While the text is still white on black, it is far easier to read. This is the default and what most people on Twitter use.

Those with graphics skills can customize theirs -
or if you are a business you may want to hire a graphic designer.
Everyone else can use these free Twitter header images.

Here is what my Twitter profile looks like with one of Eren McKay’s free header images:

You can click the image to see it live on Twitter.

While the text is still white on black, it is just as readable – possibly even a hair easier to read – than the default image. And it just looks nicer. While I am not a graphic designer and care more about words that appearances, even I like an attractive look.

It is very easy to upload a new header image. If you have ever uploaded any image anywhere, you already have the skills. So just pop on over to Eren McKay’s blog and see which of her free Twitter header graphics looks best on your profile.

I mentioned in Google Plus Strategies, Benefits, Drawbacks, How-to Tips and Videos that up until last week I had not discovered an effective way to use G+ because of the way Google fractures the discussions.

That has all changed with the emergence of large communities because now you can have powerful discussions, easily meet subject matter experts, and – provided the group moderators don’t mind – get visibility for what you share there.

Google Plus Community Basics:

For reasons known only to Google, you won’t see communities when you’re in Google Plus unless you point at or click “more” to see the Communities Icon.

Communities have “folders” or “discussion topics” so when you click into a community be sure to check for those so you get active in the right place. This is important. They are listed just to the right of the left hand navigation under All Posts.

Most communities I’ve seen have a “Introductions” or “Member Introductions” post type, but almost everyone misses that and posts in the main section.

IMPORTANT: Choose the most relevant category BEFORE posting!

How to Find Google + Communities:

It is not immediately obvious how to find communities by niche or interest. Once you’re on the G+ communities page, you have to scroll down below the communities you’ve been invited to join, that people you have circled belong to, and those suggested by Google to get to the search box located immediately to the right of Discover Communities.

Type in whatever you want to find and click the little magnifying glass icon to start your search. Then choose the communities that most interest you. You can also leave the ones that you decide aren’t benefiting you so you can focus on the ones that are.

Best Google Plus Communities:

The very best community I’ve discovered so far is Entrepreneurs, Self-Employed and Small Business with 8,215 members as I type this and growing fast. I strongly encourage anyone interested in entrepreneurship or small business to get active in that G+ community.

There are currently too many G+ communities for many topics. Here are some examples of communities our readers are most likely to be searching for and the specific communities recommended by social media influencers:

Social Media G+ Communities:

• G+ Social Media Communities ~ Social Media Strategy has the most members and activities
• NEW: Strategic Social Networking
• Wade Harmon started this G+ Social Media Community
• G+ Social Media with Kim Garst
• Pinterest for Business

SEO G+ Communities:

• G+ SEO communities ~ There is no clear leader at this point. We need an SEO to point out which SEO communities are best for different levels of expertise.
• Eren McKay recommended this SEO Pros Best Practices G+ Community
• Eren also recommends SEO Questions G+ Community

Blogging G+ Communities:

• G+ Blogging Communities – Pro blogger Kristi Hines owns the largest G+ Blogging Tips community so that is the one I will focus on.
• Google Authorship and Author Rank Community

Google Plus Communities Not recommended (and why):

• Small Business community – opposed to using existing content to answer questions. Recommend joining Entrepreneurs, Self-Employed and Small Business instead.

It will be difficult to keep track of which communities are which with so many carrying the same “name”. For example, there are many communities simply called “Small Business”.

I am saving in this section communities that are opposed to sharing links to answers that already exist. It is ridiculous to expect someone to rewrite the same answer over and over and over because they are anti-links.

I have to wonder why there were exactly 20 communities of each type above shown on these searches. Does anyone know how Google decides which 20 communities to show the person who is searching or whether there could be a limit of 20 communities per topic?

Eventually some of these will fall by the wayside and clear leaders will emerge. In the meantime, looking at who is in each community and determining whether they are sharing advanced strategies or teaching beginners can assist you in choosing which to get active in.

Google Plus Communities How-to Videos

For those who prefer to learn from videos, here is the first of three you can watch to see how to use the new G+ communities.

This Google Plus Daily post is a good primer on How to Get the Most Out of Google Plus Communities and HotBlogTips offers this useful Google Plus Communities Q and A. See also:

• How to Be a Great Google+ Community Member
• 12 Google Plus Communities for Marketers
• Tips for Choosing a Google+ Community to Join
• How to schedule Google+ Posts
• How to Increase Your Followers on Google+

Finally there is a way to spend time on G+ that won’t be wasted! Now would be an excellent time to select key communities and get active. Doing so should increase the number of +1s you receive on content you share in them.

Remember that some community moderators may welcome sharing links and others may consider them “self-promotional”.  Time will tell which are the best fit for you.

I invite you to join me in Google Plus Communities.

Do you have communities you recommend?
Leave a description plus a link in the comments.

How you feel when you realize you just wasted all your time for naught! Image Credit: ©Depositphotos/Xalanx

Most social networks bite the hands that feed them on a regular basis. For some reason, they do not appreciate the power users who share the most content, spread the word about them, and teach others how to use their platforms.

Instead, they treat influencers and power users badly. One of the worst things they do is allow you to waste your time doing something that isn’t actually working. Here are some examples:

STUMBLEUPON:

If you follow too many people on StumbleUpon too quickly their system lets you believe you are following people – but does not actually follow them.

IMPORTANT: It appears that you can follow about 20 at
a time, so choose wisely and spread out your following.

We’ll be publishing more StumbleUpon tips soon. Here’s the most important one: the category you choose is critical so make sure it is the best one. Use our StumbleUpon Interests list to decide which one that applies has the largest audience.

REDDIT:

Reddit is famous for ghost-banning members. You can share all you like – but you’re the only one who can see what you share. More details on that in Reddit Tips: How to Use Reddit.

If you’re going to be serious about social media,
be sure you understand how each platform works
BEFORE you jump in with both feet.

The best way to do that is to find a mentor. Many bloggers – including me – are happy to help you. Just ask questions in the comments or look at the contact tab on our primary blog for how to get in touch.

No one would argue that the primary reason we must use Google Plus is because Google has tied using it into where your site may rank in the Google search engine. No other social network can compel participation in that way.

Profiles, Pages, Circles, Communities – very confusing. The video above explains the new changes as of December 2012 and how they benefit small business.

Google Plus Drawbacks

That said, there is a major drawback to Google+ and that is they do not aggregate shares and comments. That severely limits the benefits of using it because discussions are splintered in so many pieces.

How many do you really think are going to search for and comment
in more than one instance of your content being shared on G+?

There are other obstacles to participating on Google Plus. For example:

Google Plus Usability Issues

There are too many different ways content gets shared with different sets of people. Here’s an example. I do follow Mark Traphagen who is a passionate Google Plus expert. I can see this discussion and get to the post where Mark is seeking Google + influencers, and I can reshare it, but I can not comment in it at G+.

Why? Maybe I’m not in that community? But then if I’m not why can I see their discussions? Because I am in Mark’s circles?

Sometimes I can share – other times I can’t share what I see and comment in, but I can search for the original source and share from there. Maybe if you don’t have expectations of consistency this type of inconsistent usability doesn’t bother you, but I find it a strong disincentive to use G+ (and Facebook which is even worse).

Social networks should be easy to use, consistent, and NOT work.
If your head hurts trying to figure them out they are losing users.

Google Plus Strategy

It is obvious that we need to be active on G+ but the question is what is the best way to make using it worthwhile? These tips come from Google Plus for Business Expert Mark Traphagen who writes a monthly Google Plus column on Neal Schaffer’s Windmill Marketing.

I think it comes down to just like in real life. You have to organize and prioritize. In a reply to your comment on my Windmill post, I used an analogy of Google as a library, and I’ll reapply it here.

If you walk into a library, it’s just as overwhelming as a social network like Google+. You have to use the available tools to narrow down to what is most likely of interest to you.

I long ago gave up trying to see everything in a social network. I’m very selective about who I add to circles here, and every once in a while I go through and trim out anyone who isn’t adding value to my experience here.

I’ve also been using the circle stream filters to improve my experience. If you haven’t noticed, if you switch the home page view to any of your circles, using the tabs at the top of the stream, there is a slider at upper right. This adjusts how much of each circle you see in your default Home view.

When I started on G+ I put people in circles by topics, but that proved ridiculous. I might have put someone in a Social Media Marketing circle because they post good stuff on that topic, but if I go to that circle I’m also going to see everything else they post, so it’s not really a SMM circle. Communities solved that problem for me; I join the communities with the best experts and discussions on the topics that interest me.

Now I’m in the process of paring all my circles down to just a few. I’ll still have a few category circles, like “Family,” but for most people, I’m going to put them in five circles, corresponding to how much I care about seeing what they post. Each circle will correspond to one of the five positions on the slider, where I’ll set that circle. I think this will give me a better filtered experience on my home page.Google

And I never add Shared Circles unless I really trust the person who curated them and they aren’t very large

As for Communities, I try not to join too many, and be selective about the ones I do join. I take some time to look before joining. Are there good discussions happening regularly? Are there a lot of spam posts the mods aren’t cleaning out? Are a good number of the members participating?

These posts by Mark will get you started on Google Plus:

• Your Google Plus Network Is More Powerful Than You Know
• Google Plus Hangouts for Business: Customer Contact on Steroids
• Build Your Google Plus Page Following with Topical Pages
• How to Build Search Engine Ranking Power with a Google Plus Brand Page
• New Features That Make Google+ a No Brainer for Business Marketing
• How to Create Google+ Posts That Get Read, +1ed, and Re-Shared
• Three Ways to Use a Personal Google+ Profile to Build Your Business
• Grow Your Google+ Business Page with the Power of Sharing
• The First 5 Things You Should Do With Your Google+ Business Page

Be sure to circle Mark on Google+ as he shares tips there as well as in his monthly column. You can follow him on Twitter @marktraphagen.

Hubspot Google Plus Resources

Hubspot has some of the very best resources for small businesses, and many resources for Google Plus:

• Google+ Finally Rolling Out Custom URLs for Pages and Profiles
• Free Guide: How to Use Google+ for Business
• How to Optimize Your Google+ Business Page [Free Ebook!]
• Google+ Local Replaces Google Places: What Local Businesses
• 4 Critical Ways Google+ Is Changing Search
• How to Create a Google+ Business Page in 5 Simple Steps
• How To Track Google +1 and Facebook “Like Button” Clicks

Click this image to go to HubSpot to download their free Google+ Lead Generation ebook

Google Plus How-to Videos

Extended Tutorial of How To Use Google+ For Business Webinar by Chris Abraham:

• How to Use Google Plus For Business

• Google +1 How Plus 1 Will Affect Search and Google – Staged.com

This post will be updated with the best Google Plus strategies, how-tos and videos as I come across them.

If you use Google + and have strategies that work for you,
do please share them in the comments.

If you know of other posts that will benefit those trying to maximize the benefit of being active on G+ do please share them as well. Relevant links will be approved.

Image Credit:: GadgetLite.com ~ Click image to read StumbleUpon App Discovery review

While long time users of StumbleUpon are just finally getting over their heartbreak over having so much they had stored there for years unceremoniously deleted, and StumbleUpon traffic dropped like a rock over last year’s redesigns, the primary reason for the changes is probably mobile devices.

StumbleUpon App for Iphones and iPads

The StumbleUpon blog announced a brand new app for iPhones and Ipads.

• Download it here: StumbleUpon App for iPhone and iPad
• Read about the StumbleUpon iPhone iPad announcement here

One of the key new features is StumbleUpon Lists. Read about those in the announcement above.

StumbleUpon App for Android

Earlier this month they made a similar announcement for Androids:

• Download StumbleUpon App for Android
• Announcing the StumbleUpon App for Android

• Helpful Hints for Happier Android Stumbling

Shares had to be reformatted to fit better on smartphones and other mobile devices. This should increase traffic to and from StumbleUpon, so many social media people are now using it again.

Watch for additional posts here on using StumbleUpon effectively:

• Top StumbleUpon Interests, Tags and Categories

Do you have tips for getting the most out of StumbleUpon?
Leave them in the comments.
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