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[Infographic] Optimizing Facebook Photos

posted on May 9, 2013

Edgerank 103 PreviewWe have seen some pretty cool summaries of photo sizes for various social media outlets.

It’s important stuff because images are driving the Internet these days. Sure it’s nice to put a few words together but who is actually reading (other than Google)?

The folks at PostRocket put together this infographic showing how to optimize photos for Facebook. As we used to do all the time with PR that was disguised as research, we ask you to use this data with caution. Just because it’s in an infographic it doesn’t mean it’s spot on information. But wait, it’s on the Internet so it must be real. Sorry about that, I lost my head for a minute there.

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52 Percent of Customers Have Taken Their Business Elsewhere: But Why?

posted on May 8, 2013

customers are pickyIf you didn’t have a competitor in this world, you could afford to be out of stock, leave broken links on your website and provide poor customer service. But here’s the thing — 95% of the time customers do have another option. They can type a new web address, drive down the street, or switch service providers (what a pain, but we’ll do it!).

Redwood Software conducted a survey to find out what it is that makes consumers want to take their business elsewhere and it was the little things that added up to big problems.

The one thing that irks customers more than anything else (61%) is having to repeat personal information to a human on the phone after dealing with an automated machine. As far as I’m concerned, that machine is a big part of the problem in the first place. Instead of helping people move through the queue faster, all it does is aggravate. (Human! Operator! Person! Help!)

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Want to Know the Mood in America? Check the Twitter Hedonometer

posted on May 8, 2013

sad dayAs a nation, we’re not shy about expressing our feelings in public. When things happen – good or bad – we react en masse, pouring our heart out in blog comments and on social media. When it comes to tragic events in particular, Twitter is like the first responder on scene. People close to an event will begin Tweeting within minutes, long before the news crews have the story. From there, the circle grows and grows until the whole country is talking and reacting. It’s at that peak moment when the Hedonometer goes to work.

Hedonometer.org is an instrument that measures our populations mood in real time using social media reactions. At the moment, it’s all Twitter based but researchers Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth say the concept can be expanded so it works with any social media input.

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Klout Offers Perk With American Airlines and You Don’t Even Need a Ticket

posted on May 8, 2013

AA Admirals ClubSay what you will about Klout (and I am sure someone will have plenty to say about it for sure) but they are making progress in tying a measure of social media impact with Perks for those who ‘measure up’.

The latest offering is actually pretty interesting. The Klout blog explains

Today we’re announcing a partnership with American Airlines that gives Klout users access to nearly 40 worldwide lounge locations including San Francisco, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, London and many more. Starting today, if you have a Klout Score of 55 or higher, you can gain access to the Admirals Club by going to aa.com/klout. You do not have to be an American Airlines passenger to be eligible for this Perk.(emphasis added)

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For Maximum Productivity People Would Rather Work Alone but Not at Home

posted on May 7, 2013

332483_office_and_working_place_pics_7I sat down to write this post two hours ago. Then I got distracted. I took a phone call, that led to a couple of follow-up tasks, and then two emails came in that I could deal with in under ten minutes, so I took care of those, too. Then I had to deal with the coffee pot someone left brewing on the stove. . . (burning coffee. . and I don’t even drink the stuff.) Now, here I am, trying to get back on task while part of my brain freaks out about how late it is.

Imagine how much we could get done if we worked in a distraction free environment? Since that’s not going to happen, Ask.com distracted office workers all over America by asking them what could be done to help them achieve maximum productivity.

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LinkedIn Celebrates 10 Years of Bringing Business People Together [Infographic]

posted on May 7, 2013

membership on Linked inLinkedIn is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this week, so I thought I’d join the party and give you my thoughts on what their success means to you, the marketer.

To begin with, if you’re ever feeling discouraged about your company’s growth, spend a few minutes flipping through “A Brief History of LinkedIn” on Slideshare. The creator was kind enough to share snapshots of start-up meeting notes, original site designs and early comments from the first users.

This is blurry, but I think it’s worth noting, so bear with. . .

Right off the bat, users found some pretty big flaws in the site design and concept.

linkedin comments

 

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[Infographic] When Did Social Media Lose Its Way?

posted on May 7, 2013

Social Media Infographic PreviewSocial media has had quite a ride over the past 10 years (or however many you want to apply to its lifetime if you don’t agree with 10).

As companies have discovered and embraced the process they have also managed to abuse it in the process. The practice has devolved and is now trying to get its footing as an effective Internet tool while not having to claim that it will save the world for whomever chooses to use it. The reality is that when done properly it is a very effective way to accomplish a lot for a business in areas as diverse as marketing, legal, sales, PR, HR and on down the line.

The inbound marketing software company, HubSpot, has created an interesting infographic to show this kind of life cycle development we are eluding to here. Check it out.