Are you happy with your company’s social media presence? Do you keep it up to date? Does it work for you? Here are six tips from Quickbooks for how to rethink, refurbish and turbocharge your social media efforts.

(See: How to clean up your small business’ social media presence on QuickBooks for a more complete version of these tips.)

1 . Update your contact information

Different social platforms display different information.

• Facebook: The “about” section of your Facebook page has designated fields for all of your contact information
• Twitter: Your Twitter profile has fields for your website link and your general location (meaning only your city and state). List your best contact information (a phone number and email address) there too.
• Instagram: Instagram bios don’t offer as much flexibility—there’s only a space for one clickable link. However, you can incorporate your contact information into your bio copy so that it’s accessible to users.
• LinkedIn: If you have a LinkedIn business page, the “about” section has many fields for identifying information about your business

2. Update access and permissions

When an employee leaves, change their password and remove any access they may have to social media accounts

3. Make better use of bios

Your social bio should clearly explain what your business is, what you offer, and any unique attributes that make you different.

4. Make sure you have a cohesive look throughout your social media

If your website recently went through a rebrand, make sure your look and message are reflected in your social media presence.

5. Remove any neglected accounts

Deactivate or remove any social accounts that you don’t have the time to maintain.

6. Respond to reviews and messages

Social media should be about interaction. Set aside some time each day or week when you can log into your social accounts and reply to any messages or comments that came through.

GettyImages

Facebook is opening nine holiday pop-up stores in Macy’s around the U.S. that will feature 100 digital-native brands and small businesses that have found success on Facebook or Instagram. In other words, there are some things about retailing that begs for high-touch, not just high tech.

According to Facebook, millions of people discover brands and products they love on Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook). The pop-up stores will allow customers to get up-close and personal with around 100 of these products. The digital-native businesses will have the opportunity to showcase their brands in a physical location, allowing shoppers to feel the brand’s clothing for themselves, according to Facebook.

The pop-up stores will be in Macy’s in the following cities

• New York City
• Pittsburgh
• Atlanta
• Fort Lauderdale
• San Antonio
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Seattle

Among the 100 products that will be featured

• Love Your Melon
• Charleston Gourmet Burger Company
• Two Blind Brothers (Photo below)
• Bespoke Post

Image | TwoBlindBrothers.com
Image | Facebook

In March, Google engineers discovered a bug that could have given developers private data to hundreds of thousands of users of the Google+ social media network. The company chose not to disclose its discovery of the bug at the time. Reporters from the Wall Street Journal published a memo prepared by Google’s legal and policy staff and shared with senior executives warning that disclosing the incident would likely trigger “immediate regulatory interest” and invite comparisons to Facebook’s leak of user information to data firm Cambridge Analytica. In a blog post yesterday, Ben Smith, Google Fellow and vice president of engineering, announced that Google had “found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and we found no evidence that any Profile data was misused.”

via GIPHY

Google is shutting down the consumer version of Google+ 

As part of the post, Smith announced that Google is shutting down the consumer version of Google+, the beleaguered social network that was supposed to be Google’s answer to Facebook. However, users stayed away from it in droves.

Google will still support the “corporate social network” version of Google+ that is part of its paid version of G-Suite. “Google+ is better suited as an enterprise product where co-workers can engage in internal discussions on a secure corporate social network,” said Smith. “We’ve decided to focus on our enterprise efforts and will be launching new features purpose-built for businesses.”

Google will be shutting the consumer version of Google+ during the next 10-month period. Over the coming months, Google will provide Google+ users related information, including ways they can download and migrate their data.

What NOT to do! Do not confuse your Google+ Profile page with your Google business listing

If you manage a Google+ profile page for your business, DO NOT CONFUSE your Google+ profile page (that’s being shuttered) with your company’s Google business listing.

Your Google business listing (also called Google My Business) is a very, very important way to keep your Google listing up to date on search results and Google Maps.

For more information about managing your Google listing see: The SmallBusiness.com Guide to Managing a Listing on Google Search and Maps.

One more time

Google business listing |  GOOD
Google+ profile | GOING AWAY

Are you impatient? Here’s how to delete your Google+ profile anytime

Instagram last week announced that third-party developers (like Hootsuite) can now provide their users with new features for Instagram business profiles. The new features will allow business users of Instagram to schedule photo posts, view posts they’ve been tagged in and view other business profiles. 

These new features will start showing up in content management services that are Facebook Marketing Partners or Instagram Partners.

Content Publishing Beta

• Post an image to feed with or without a caption.

Business Discovery

• Discover and read the profile info and media of other business profiles.

Mentions

• Read public media that a business has been photo tagged or @mentioned in.
• Post comments on a business’ behalf on media it was tagged or mentioned in.

What platforms will include the new features?

Look for the new features on the platforms listed in these directories:

• Facebook Marketing Partners
• Instagram Marketing Partners

Let’s face it. There are only so many hours in a day for a small business owner to (in addition to running their business) keep up with all of the online marketing options available. The best advice we can give is this: If you can’t do it all, pick the channels that your customers consider most important. For instance, if you are a local retailer, then Facebook may work best for you. If you are a business-to-business marketer, a social media platform specific to your industry may work best. Or, if you are a services-oriented consultant, LinkedIn may be your best bet.

Your Website

Your website is the most important digital marketing tool in your toolbox. A good website is a must. All other tools should point back to your website, and it should be included in every marketing activity you undertake. Your website is like a brochure in which a potential or current customer can find out anything they need to learn about you and your products or services.

Learn more from the SmallBusiness.com Guide to Website Basics.

Your Blog

If your website is a brochure, then your blog is like a daily news show. It is where people go to learn the latest information about your company.

Learn more from the SmallBusiness.com Guide to Starting a Blog.

Email

Like the weather, we can hate and complain about email, but there’s not much we can do about it. Email marketing is an admission to the reality that there is only one universal communications channel that every user of the web has: email. Mastering email marketing is a challenge, but if done correctly, it offers lots of rewards. And that address list you have is like gold, so be sure to treat it that way.

Facebook

Your Facebook page is not your website. Your website is more important. Don’t be one of those people who think that digital marketing is covered if you have a Facebook page.

Instagram

If you have a visually driven product like produce, flowers, fashion, retail, or a restaurant, then Instagram is for you. Post to Instagram and simultaneously post to Facebook (Instagram is owned by Facebook).

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has been around longer than any other social media platforms on this list. However, the “social” part came after a period of time when LinkedIn was more like a Rolodex for keeping up with your professional friends. Today, it’s a must-use tool for researching people. Sales professionals in consulting and services fields should go ahead and spring for the paid premium version. Should you post articles? Again, that’s up to your industry and profession.

Twitter

Think of Twitter as a blog that allows you to only write a couple of sentences, a link and an image. You must promote your Twitter account and learn to use #hashtags and other means to get you customers to sign up. Use your Twitter feed to share exclusive news or instant sales.

Snapchat

Unless your customers are heavy-duty Snapchat users, it should not be your priority. If your customers are heavy-duty Snapchat users, there’s a good chance you are already tuned-in.

Yelp, Google My Business, and other directory and review sites

For some of you (restaurants, retail, etc.) Google and Yelp could rival your website in importance. Keep it up to date.

Learn more in the
SmallBusiness.com Guide to
Managing a Listing on Google Search and Maps.

Digital advertising

Again, this depends on the specific situation and audience you have. Chances are, if you’re a local business, you should try out Facebook and Google advertising options. If there are advertising opportunities in your industry, try those also.

Dean Mitchell/istock

When internet trolls barge into a person’s Twitter notifications with offensive replies, legitimate users soon stop coming back to Twitter. Today (7.10.2017) the company rolled out new tools to help silence such abusive users. They’ve added new options to mute notifications from the most likely sources: newly registered accounts, people you don’t follow and people who don’t follow you.

Responding to a long term problem Twitter has had with abusive users who jump into tweet threads with taunting, hate speech and threats, the company has finally started taking more active measures to silence such abusers. But as Josh Constine of TechCrunch points out, Twitter’s new features merely “hide the abuse from victims, rather than exterminating the trolls that spew hate speech and threats.”

Advanced filter settings

Still, the new Twitter filters enable you to screen out obvious trolls without having to take more aggressive actions like requiring customers to request permission to access to your tweet feed. And the features are easier to manage than manually blocking accounts.

Here are the types of accounts the new filters will allow you to mute, according to Twitter.

• Accounts that are new (that you don’t follow).
• Accounts that don’t follow you (that you don’t follow).
• Accounts you don’t follow.
• Accounts with a default profile photo (that you don’t follow).
• Accounts without a confirmed email address (that you don’t follow).
• Accounts without a confirmed phone number (that you don’t follow).

How to set the advanced filters using a mobile app (GIF)

Now you have even more control over your notifications. Mute accounts that don’t follow you, new accounts, and more. https://t.co/UapP6DtTtY pic.twitter.com/RcBQGx219k

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 10, 2017

To set filters on the web:

1. Go to your Notifications timeline.
2. To filter your notifications, click on Settings.
3. Check the box of your preferred filter(s) to turn on.

To set filters using Twitter for iOS:

1. Go to your Notifications timeline
2. Tap on the gear icon
3. Tap Advanced filters.
4. Drag the slider next to your preferred filter(s) to turn on.

To set filters using Twitter for Android:

1. Go to your Notifications timeline
2. Tap on the gear icon
3. Tap Advanced filters.
4. Check the box of your preferred filter(s) to turn on.

istock

VIA: TechCrunch and Twitter Support

Also on SmallBusiness.com

How to Hit the Mute Button on Unwanted Tweets, Hashtags and Users

As part of this week’s Small Business Week,” one of its sponsors, the small business sales and automation company, Drip, is releasing the findings of a Small Business Conversion Marketing Report. Drip’s survey took place in March and included responses from over 1,000 small business decision makers.

As small business digital marketing has become more sophisticated (and for many small business owners,  confusing), the focus of digital marketing has to become more narrowly defined. For example, the term “conversion,” is now being used as achieving a specific goal of the marketer. (“Likes” or “Follows,” while important, are rarely a strategic goal.) To take a snapshot of how effective small businesses are not only generating leads but helping customers reach a desired conversion goal, Drip asked small business decision makers a series of questions.

Here are the highlights from Drip’s study.

1 | Which of the following is most challenging for your business?

Small businesses are likely to see customer acquisition as the primary hurdle. But significant numbers also struggle with other stages of the conversion-marketing cycle.

| 37.1% | Turning contacts or visitors into customers










| 23.0% | Capturing leads or subsc­ribers








| 22.0% | Getting web traffic


| 7.9% | Retaining customers

2 | If your business is planning to use digital marketing in the next year, what will be your primary goal?

Most small businesses will embark on digital marketing campaigns this year—and making direct sales is top on their minds.

| 28.6% | Driving more sales






| 15.5% | Colle­cting more leads or subsc­ribers






| 14.4% | Building brand awareness




| 11.6% | Getting started with digital marketing




10.1% | Retaining more customers

| 3.6% | Autom­ating our digital marketing






16.2% | We won’t be using digital marketing

3 | Which of the following marketing assets does your business currently use?

Most businesses have a basic web presence—which these days includes social media. But a minority are using any other marketing assets.

| 71.2% | A website




























| 67.8% | Social media accounts











| 27.7% | Digital ads (PPC, display, or social)










| 26.4% | Offline ads (such as print, TV, or mail)










| 23.2% | Landing pages or stand­alone web pages








| 21.9% | A blog




| 10.5% | None of the above

4 | Does your business collect leads, subscribers, or contact information online?

Relatively few small businesses indicate they are generating leads or building their email lists online, although nearly half are making some kind of effort.

| 30.9% | Yes, but it doesn’t bring in much business










| 26.3% | No, but we’d like to








| 19.3% | No, and we’re not planning to






| 13.6% | Yes, and we get good results




| 9.9% | No, because we don’t have a website

5 | Do you allow customers to make purchases, place orders, or book services on your website?

Despite small businesses’ focus on sales as a digital marketing goal, more than a quarter aren’t even planning to sell or book online.

| 28.7% | No, and we’re not planning to










| 23.5% | Yes, but it doesn’t bring in much business










| 19.0% | No, but we’d like to






| 16.4% | Yes, and we get plenty of business this way




| 12.4% | No, because we don’t have a website

6 | What does your business primarily use to store contact info and follow up with leads and customers?

More than any other system, small business marketers are using their own email accounts to market to prospects and communicate with customers.

| 30.9% | Indiv­idual email account (such as Gmail)




| 11.7% | CRM platform (such as Sales­force)




| 9.4% | Email marketing service (such as MailChimp)­
| | 1.6% | Marketing autom­ation tool (such as Marketo)






| 15.5% | A different kind of online system






| 15.0% | A different kind of offline system






| 16.1% | We don’t keep track of this infor­mation

7 | What’s your favorite way to get ideas to grow your business?

Small business owners listen to their peers, but also to the internet. Blogs and websites are seen as a valuable source of business-growth and marketing information.

| 29.8% | Talking to other business owners












| 28.2% | Reading blogs and websites






| 15.9% | Attending confe­rences or live events




| 10.3% | Other media (e.g. books, perio­dicals, or TV)


| 6.4% | Attending webinars or online events


| 6.0% | Listening to podcasts

| 3.3% | Other 

8 | Which of the following terms would you be able to define?

A majority of small business owners are familiar with two conversion marketing basics: landing pages and conversion rates. Fewer are comfortable with CRM and automation technologies, and fewer still have picked up the language of sales funnels and inbound marketing.

| 58.0% | Landing page






















| 53.7% | Conve­rsion rate
















| 39.5% | CRM














| 36.0% | Marketing autom­ation












| 30.4% | Sales funnel












| 27.8% | Inbound marketing








| 21.9% | None of the above

9 | About how many hours per week do you or your team spend on marketing?

Limited adoption of digital marketing technologies and concepts makes a lot of sense when you consider that half of small businesses devote less than 2 hours a week to all their marketing efforts.

| 49.7% | Under 2 hours










| 24.9% | 2–8 hours




| 12.1% | 8–16 hours


| 5.5% | 16–24 hours




| 7.9% | More than 24 hours

10 | How would you describe the return on investment (ROI) you get from your marketing?

While nearly 40 percent of small businesses see either mildly or extremely positive ROI from their marketing, an equal number have no idea whether their marketing dollars are doing anything for them.

| 39.3% | I’m not sure














| 33.7% | Our marketing ROI is accep­table








| 21.5% | Our marketing ROI is not accep­table


| 5.5% | Our marketing ROI is extremely positive

Twitter is a great tool for small businesses to keep in touch with customers. It’s also one of the simplest tools. But just like spammers have taken over email, spammers and trolls can send out unwanted tweets. While the company has always had certain blocking features in place, it is now in the process of rolling out more features that address several of the darker sides of the popular service. In much the way you can block or filter nuisance email, the new features (some have been around a while) are supposed to reveal what is good about Twitter (staying in touch with your customers, for instance) and mute what is bad (the people or topics you want to avoid).They give you the option to mute tweets that contain particular words, phrases, usernames, emojis or hashtags. Muting will remove these tweets from your notifications tab, push notifications, text-mail, email notifications, home timeline, and from replies to tweets.* Here are some explanations of Twitter mute features. For more, visit Twitter’s guide to muting and advanced guide to muting.

How to mute words and hashtags*

1. Muting is not case-sensitive. For example: If you add “CATS” to your mute list, any mention of “cats” will be muted from your notifications.
2. You can include punctuation within a word or phrase when muting. Punctuation at the end of a word or phrase is not necessary.
3. Muting a word will mute both the word itself and its hashtag. For example:
   If you mute “unicorn,” both “unicorn” and “#unicorn” will be muted from your notifications.
4. To mute tweet notifications, tweets in your home timeline, or replies to tweets that mention a particular account, you must include the “@” sign before the name. Doing this will mute tweet notifications that mention that account, but won’t mute the account itself. Learn how to mute accounts here.
5. Words, phrases, usernames, emojis, and hashtags up to 140 characters can be muted.
6. Muting is possible across all Twitter-supported languages.
7. Muting is set to a default time period of forever. Instructions on how to adjust the mute time period is listed below for supported devices.
8. You can view a list of your muted words (and unmute them) in your settings.
9. Recommendations delivered to you via email or through Twitter will not suggest content that includes your muted words and hashtags.

Device and software-specific ways to mute words or hashtags on Twitter

From the Twitter for iOS app

1. Go to your notifications tab 
2. Tap the gear icon 
3. Tap Muted words.
4. Tap Add.
5. Type in the word or hashtag you’d like to mute.
   Note: Entries can only be added one a time.
6. Select whether to enable this in home timeline or notifications, or both.
7. Select whether this is From anyone or From people you don’t follow (for enabled notifications only).
8. Tap For how long? and choose between Forever, 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days.
9. Tap Save.
10. You will see the mute time period indicated next to each entered word or hashtag.
11. Tap Done to exit.

From the Twitter for Android app

1. Go to your notifications tab 
2. Tap the gear icon 
3. Tap Muted words.
4. Tap the plus icon 
5. Type in the word or hashtag you’d like to mute.
   Note: Entries can only be added one a time.
6. Select whether to enable this in home timeline or notifications, or both.
7. Select whether this is Anyone or From people you don’t follow (for enabled notifications only, tap notifications to adjust).
8. Tap For how long? and choose between Forever, 24 hours from now, 7 days from now, or 30 days from now.)
9. Tap Save.
10. You will see the muted icon  and the mute time period next to each entered word or hashtag.

Via Twitter.com

1. Click Settings and privacy from your profile image drop-down.
2. Click Muted words.
3. Click Add.
4. Enter the word or hashtag you’d like to mute.
   Note: Entries can only be added one a time.
5. Select home timeline if you wish to mute the word or phrase from your home timeline.
6. Select notifications if you wish to mute the word or phrase from your notifications.
   1. Specify From anyone or From only people I don’t follow.
7. Under For how long? choose between Forever, 24 hours from now, 7 days from now, or 30 days from now.)
8. Click Add.
9. You will see the mute time period indicated next to each entered word or hashtag.

Via mobile.twitter.com

1. Go to your notifications tab 
2. Tap the gear icon 
3. Tap Muted words.
4. Click +Add muted or phrase.
5. Type in the word or hashtag you’d like to mute.
   Note: Entries can only be added one a time.
6. If you wish to mute that word or phrase on your home timeline, check the box.
7. If you wish to mute that word or phrase from your notifications, check the box.
   1. Select whether this is From anyone or From only people I follow (for notifications only).
8. Under For how long? choose between Forever, 24 hours from now, 7 days from now, or 30 days from now.)
9. Click Save.
10. You will see a muted button  and the mute time period next to each entered word or hashtag.

Muting notifications for a conversation

If you would like to stop receiving notifications for a particular conversation, you can choose to mute it. When you mute a conversation, you won’t get any new notifications about that conversation. You will, however, still see tweets from the conversation in your timeline and when you click into the original tweet.

To mute a conversation via twitter.com, or from your Twitter for iOS or Android app:

1. Go to the tweet detail of any tweet or a reply in the conversation you wish to mute.
2. Click or tap the  icon.
3. Tap Mute this conversation.

• Muting accounts on Twitter
• Advanced muting of words, hashtags, etc.
• About Direct Messages

Nearly a year ago, we shared a Twitter announcement about a planned increase in the number of characters users can have in a tweet. One of the features announced, that @usernames would not count toward a tweet’s limit of 140 characters, did not make the cut until yesterday. Now, according to a Twitter announcement, when you reply to someone or a group, @usernames won’t count toward your Tweet’s 140 character limit. (Including the “@”.) But not everyone likes the new feature.

Here’s how it works

• Who you are replying to will appear above the Tweet text rather than within the Tweet text itself, so you have more characters to have conversations.
• You can tap on “Replying to…” to see and control who’s part of your conversation.
• When reading a conversation, you’ll see what people are saying, rather than seeing lots of @usernames at the start of a Tweet.

According to the announcement, “it’s now easier to follow a conversation, so you can focus on what a discussion is about, and who is having it. Also, with all 140 characters for your replies, you have more room to participate in group conversations.”

What (finally) doesn’t count against the 140 character limit

The “@” | When you use the “@” to identify a user, the “@” won’t count against the 140-character limit

The letters in a username | People with a long username can now say as much as those with a short one.

Attached media | (Released earlier) When you add any of the following to a tweet, they won’t count against the 140-character limit: photos, GIFs, videos, polls, or Tweet quotes

Availability | The update started rolling out on March 30 on twitter.com as well as on Twitter for iOS and Android. You must update your app to see the new feature.

Not everyone’s a fan of the new feature

As discovered by Motherboard.Vice.com‘s Sarah Jeong, the new feature allows someone to add up to 50 handles (@usernames) in a thread. Worse, she says, it makes it very, very difficult to untag people. The result:

istock

Before you decide your company’s target customer is a user of a specific social medium due to their gender or age, check out the Pew Research Center’s most recent annual survey of social media usage among Americans. It’s important you know who is using these services as a majority of Americans tell Pew and other researchers that they get news via social media.

Now in its tenth year, Pew’s research into social media usage among adults reveals that a majority of Americans are using social media in the context of work (whether to take a mental break on the job or to seek out employment). In its national survey of 1,520 adults conducted March 7-April 4, 2016, Pew Research found that Facebook continues to be America’s most popular social networking platform by a substantial margin.

Percentage of internet-using Americans who use popular social media

79% | Facebook
32% | Instagram
31% | Pinterest
29% | LinkedIn
24% | Twitter

Percentage of all American adults who use popular social media

68% | Facebook
28% | Instagram
26% | Pinterest
25% | LinkedIn
21% | Twitter

Trends in usage causing growth in social media usage | All about Facebook

Because of growing number of older adults who are joining the site, Facebook use appears to be on the rise: The share of online adults who report using Facebook has increased by 7 percentage points compared with a Pew Research Center survey conducted at a similar point in 2015.

76% | 2016 Percentage of Facebook users who check in daily
70% | 2015 Percentage of Facebook users who check in daily
55% | Percentage of Facebook users who report they visit the site several times a day

Young adults continue to report using Facebook at high rates, but older adults are joining in increasing numbers.

62% | 2016 Percentage of people online ages 65+
48% | 2015 Percentage of people online ages 65+

83% | Percentage of online females who use Facebook
75% | Percentage of online males who use Facebook

Instagram usage still skews younger

59% | Percentage of online adults ages 18-29 who use Instagram
33% | Percentage of online adults ages 30-49 who use Instagram
8% | Percentage of online adults ages 65+ who use Instagram

38% | Percentage of online female adults who use Instagram
26% | Percentage of online male adults who use Instagram

Growth in Twitter users virtually unchanged

24% | 2016 percentage of internet users who use Twitter
23% | 2017 percentage of internet users who use Twitter

Among those who only use one social media platform, 88% indicate that Facebook is the one site they use.

Twitter popular with younger, more educated adults

36% | Percentage of internet users ages 18-29 who use Twitter
10% | Percentage of internet users 65+ who use Twitter

29% | Percentage of Twitter users with college degrees or more
20% | Percentage of Twitter users with high school degrees or less

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