6 Types of Instagram Video Marketing

 

When most people think of Instagram they think of photos and completely forget that video is a huge part of the platform, especially with services like Vine shut down. This is due to the fact that when Instagram started, there was no video service.

Videos on Instagram open up a whole new opportunity of marketing; whether you have a product, a business or a brand you are trying to build up. Thanks to the limited time of 60 seconds for a video, it encourages you to increase your creativity to get your point across.

Every single second of your video counts which means you need to have content that grabs and more important keeps the attention of your audience.

It may sound like a lot to do but luckily reading on should give you plenty of different ideas for how you can use videos to market on Instagram.

Behind the Scenes

Some people will watch your Instagram to see what happens behind the glitz and glamour of a finished project.

A behind the scenes video will give you that insight and by letting your followers see exactly how your products are made. Being open and honest with your customers with your creation process will allow show them that there is nothing hidden in what they are getting from you.

Secondly you can give your followers a look into what happens in your office, letting them see that you are just like them will build a sense of relatability. Think of somebody like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on Instagram. He lets you see just how hard he works to inspire you but he will also let you see his lighter side, showing you he is just an everyday normal guy.

Finally a behind the scenes video can give you a secret inside look to an area that may never have been seen by public eyes before, the back stage at a festival for example. Getting in on this secret can be very tantalizing for your followers and gives them more incentive to continue following your profile.

How-To Videos

A How-To video can tease your audience with how simple and astounding a product can look.

They are also a perfect way to add value for your followers with showing them how to solve an everyday problem they may have. For example if you are in the fitness market, a How-To video on a specific exercise will prove the simplicity and effectiveness of your target audience.

You don’t have to be a business to utilize the How-To video.

This is where listening to your audience comes in handy, if you have a specific talent that impresses people they may be curious to how you do this. Engage with your audience and demonstrate how it is done with a video; they will be grateful and want to come back to you for more.

Make sure you get creative with this! It doesn’t just have to be a simple video of you talking through whatever you may be demonstrating.

Get imaginative and impress your followers with how creative you can be, especially if you are in a creative industry like music or art.

User-Generated Content

User-Generated Content or UGC, is the online version of audience participation.

The concept of this is getting your followers to create videos for you. Costa Coffee c has used UGC to market their ice drinks this summer. The company asked customers to post an Instagram video with the drink using the hashtag #shakeupsummer. Thousands of followers joined in and increased the pages engagement.

This is a clever way of marketing as it gets you more content without having to do anything, your followers do it all for you and it builds a connection between your brand and the public.

If you can get this to pick up traffic and begin snowballing, this can be a zero-cost high reward strategy to higher consumer interaction. Your followers will relish in the opportunity to create a video for your brand, many people enjoy attention and this gives them the chance to show off their talents and using your brand gives them an audience. It’s a win win situation for both parties.

Be Funny

There is not much better in life than laughing. If you can make a video that will make your followers life, they will always love you for it.  At the minute, most people go on Instagram for creativity and to smile. It’s a site they go to for entertainment and you can be the entertainer!

It is a great way to reach internet fame if you can make people laugh and smile. Take a time to look through your own Instagram feed, how many profiles do you follow purely because they make you laugh? Take that as inspiration and make people smile. Happy people come back to be made happy again!

Many of the biggest business brands on Instagram use humor to their advantage because they know it sells. Virgin America is one example, take a look at their feed and see what I mean.

One thing to bare in mind however is ensure your brand allows for humor. If you happen to be a funeral director on Instagram, being funny is not going to show you in a professional light. Make sure you know your audience in order to receive automatic views.

Sneak Peek

Sending out a press release to build excitement is getting to the stage where it is counted as old fashioned. Now you have to think outside the box to get people interested in what you’re about to bring out.

Using Instagrams video service you can give a tantalizing, teasing little taste of what is coming up. It will build a person’s anticipation and interest for your project, making your initial launch an incredible success.

Think of watching a trailer for a film: seeing little bits of the film will get you excited to see the rest of the film to see what happens.

Social media and Instagram give you the opportunity to get creative with a sneak peek at your upcoming product launch. Instagrams video sharing service makes it easy for you to spread the word and product launch video you have created. Ensure that you have a relatable hashtag with it that is easy to trace back to your page.

Be amazing

Finally you can simply be amazing to get people interested in your page and your product.

By this I mean do something that looks super human and impossible. For example think of the viral video of martial arts movie star, Jean-Claude Van Damme when he did his epic splits on the wing mirrors of trucks. When you saw that I imagine you may have wanted to share it on your social media accounts. The video was talked about for days by millions and went viral.

If you have an amazing talent to show off, this can give you an incredible advantage to build up your social media page.

People will always want to share and tend to automatically like the shocking, surprising and awe inspiring videos they find online and you can use this to your advantage.

Conclusion

If you are wanting to get ahead on Instagram and get those followers, it is an absolute must to utilize video marketing in one of the ways listed to get people coming back to your page again and again.

The post 6 Types of Instagram Video Marketing appeared first on SocialProof.

Should you use Instagram Stories?

There are numerous ways to increase your follower count on Instagram but when you have those followers, what do you do with them, how can you utilize them and why should you bother?

Is it worth all the effort and time of focusing on Instagram? The simple answer is, yes!

Whether it be personal or business, you can use the platform for various purposes, including making money, and one way to expand and take advantage of that is by using the Instagram Stories service.

What is it, why should you bother, how do you do it and is their proof it works? Read on and see what you think.

What are Instagram Stories?

Instagram stories may sound familiar to you as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram all use a story service now, but what is it exactly?

Instagram Stories help users enjoy the platform which displays smart, polished visuals with a range of filters to increase the visual attractiveness. In addition you can add captions or doodle on your images or videos in a fun assortment of colors and all this allows for your creativity to run wild to give the best content you are going to be displaying to entertain and entice your users.

These stories are available for 24 hours before disappearing forever from the system, giving your followers a small window to enjoy your post. Since it is a story service similar to others your users might be aware of, they should already be accustomed to the way it works as Instagram uses a similar system.

Stories integrate beautifully with the regular Instagram feed but it adds an added element of rush and excitement as they are only available for a short amount of time – this means that viewers are likely to check their feed more often, so as not to miss any stories.

Viewers who are enjoying your story have the choice to view it all in real time, skip through segments if it doesn’t relate to them or replay any parts during the 24 hour period the story is available for.

Why should I use them?

Now you know what an Instagram story is, why exactly would you want to use it? Well lets go through why you should!

1. Show off your humanity

Most things you see on Instagram are carefully planned and take time for a perfect look. When you look at someone’s feed you probably assume that these photos on peoples feed are just a quick throw away snap where someone got lucky!

It takes time and effort for these photos you see that look so easy. It takes design, multiple takes, perfect lighting , editing, and that all important photographer’s eye.

A story on the other hand gives you a sense of freedom as it takes away all the timing, planning and editing and lets your followers see you in every day situations in real time. This gives the people who like your page a peek behind the life and style of your successful light.

It’s all about perception and relatability and personality helps to no end.

Using the Instagram stories in this manner gives you a risk free way of putting up things you may not generally post as there is no like or comment system for your stories, meaning that there won’t be any major backlash.

2. Offer exclusive content

You can use Instagram stories to stage a promotion or release a teaser for the release of something you want your followers to be excited about. Taking advantage of the limited time the story is displayed for can increase urgency and drive traffic to your page to see the story.

You can use this to remind followers of upcoming events, offer sneak peeks for a product or run limited time exclusive offers.

For example you can use stories to release a behind the scenes video of how your product came to life. Taking the viewers through a journey of the creation process that they can find out about and view for one day only.

Alternatively you could hold a 24 hour sale. Your followers will have to view your Instagram story in the 24 hours it is available to be able to qualify for the discount code that is hidden (Ideally towards the end of the story so they have to watch it all) in your story.

You can generate great excitement in the moment without a big investment into a traditional Instagram marketing campaign.

3. Reach a new audience

Stories can let you collaborate with other popular Instagram users and stage what are known as “Takeovers”

Find and talk to someone you think would be suitable, someone in the same vein of business as yourself but who isn’t a direct competitor, and then persuade them to create some content for your page and then return the favor.

You can each make a short video or an image for the other one to post and just like that both of you have had an increase in market through a simple “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back deal”.

With another page showing off your content you have the potential to greatly increase your fan base and they will get the same opportunity and both pages followers get new and different content in a franchise they already love. It’s a win-win-win situation, that’s a lot of win!

When attempting this path, ensure that you chose the right person to partner up with. If you are in the market of promoting vegan recipes, you won’t want to partner up with a hunting clubs page for example, this is an extreme case but it would just cause aggravation and potentially lose both sides customers.

Who uses Instagram Stories?

Instagram stories are used by countless businesses, celebrities and personalities.

The North American Space Association, or NASA as it is more commonly known, regularly uses the story system in fantastic and informative ways. They ensure to tell deep stories behind each and every one of their posts.

Recently NASA posted about the annual Perseid meteor shower on their Instagram and they used Stories to share more about the meteor shower and the research on it. They spoke to scientists who were involved in the research and showed some of the equipment that was used.

When the 2016 Rio Olympics were on, their Instagram page also got in on using Stories to great benefit. The social media team behind the event took the opportunity to share more about the Olympians and celebrate their wins.

Doing this gave the contests, who occasionally look super hero to the regular viewer, a more personal feel and gathered more support for them. You are instantly going to support someone who you can relate to.

Conclusion

Instagram stories may seem like a waste of time and just like a little bit of fun to mess around with when you have time but when used correctly you can greatly increase your followers and subsequently your business as well.

If you aren’t already using Instagram Stories, start doing so immediately!

The post Should you use Instagram Stories? appeared first on SocialProof.

Should you use Third Party Social Media Automation?

 

Everyone is busy these days. There is always so many things you need to be doing and they all have to be done yesterday! This is why if anything can be done for us, it sounds like a god send as it is one less thing we have to think about.

Social media has, without question, become a huge part of our everyday lives and we feel like it has to be taken care of, day in and day out. However, with the help of third party social media automation tools, this can be done with minimal effort.

What is Social Media Automation?

Social Media Automation is a tool that is used to post content to your social media networks for you after you have set it up to do so. This can range from linking your social media pages together so that when you post to one, it spreads across all of your social media platforms, reaching a potentially grander audience.

Using Social Media Automation does not mean you can come off of social media all together as you will still have to reply to your followers if they have an inquiry for you, but it does save you time and energy from switching between multiple platforms and posting the same thing on each and every one.

Social media is, as the name suggests, a social platform and the human touch will always be required in some form or another.

Tools for Automation

Choosing the right software for you might be difficult, so we’ve made it easier by highlighting the best social media automation tools around.

The range of tools are

 

• Hootsuite

Hootsuite is an incredibly helpful tool. There are so many actions that Hootsuite can help you with that it is a must to look in to using.

Hootsuite gives you the ability to keep track of many social media channels at once making life much easier for those of us who are regular users of social media platforms. Not only can you manage everything at once but it will also tell you if your brand has been mentioned, giving you a greater insight to how popular you are becoming. If your company is being addressed in a negative light then you can swiftly act upon it and improve what needs improving.

Hootsuite works across several different platforms and has the added benefit of allowing scheduled posts, it will even help decide the best time to be posting in order to gain the most interaction.

 

• Buffer

Buffer makes posting to your social media accounts incredibly simple. All you have to do is add your post to the queue and it will be posted for you with no need to schedule a time as Buffer will take care of that too.

Buffer will also provide you with great analytics, showing you what is and isn’t working across all  platforms. Buffer is always improving its analytic features to provide you with better insight.

If you want to keep track of a campaign link, Buffer now makes this available by making sure that each and every link is unique to each update or post.

 

• Crowdfire

Crowdfire works with both Twitter and Instagram and will keep track of who has unfollowed your profiles. We always want to know who is following us and those who have decided that are posts may not be for them.

Crowdfire will also hunt down those Twitter profiles who are inactive and delete them if you want to. You will want to ensure that you only have followers who are active, especially if you are in business, as an inactive profile will never buy from you.

After those inactive profiles are deleted you will want to regain the followers. Crowdfire has the ability to find other users that are relevant with the “Copy Followers” feature. Checking the relationship between any two Instagram or Twitter accounts is possible with Crowdfire.

These are just a few of the tools you can use for your social media automation. There are more and you need to feed the best one for you.

5 reasons to use social media automation

So why would you use an automation service rather than just posting it yourself. Here are 5 reasons why it’s a good idea to be using a third party social media automation service.

1. It’s easy!

It is so simple and easy to use it is almost too convenient. Third party applications like the ones we have mentioned allow marketers to post at the exact time they want to post and where they want to post to. It is incredibly efficient.

1. Optimized posting times

Some of the third party social media automation tools will delve deep into your account and find out what time they are most engaged. This means you can find the perfect time to post your content for your market.

This will take out the guesswork and is especially important on sites like Twitter where posts have a shelf life of about 18 minutes before it is swallowed up in the hustle and bustle of the Twitter world.

1. Time difference means nothing now

If you are targeting a particular post for a different continent you may find yourself coming across time zone issues,  this can drastically affect your potential sales and revenue. Thanks to the scheduling abilities of the third party tools this will never be an issue again.

Scheduling your posts means a larger audience, more opportunities and more eyes directed at the content you want to be viewed.

1. Consistency

Social media automation allows you to be consistently posting content to your social media profiles. Consistent content ensures your followers that you want to be active and you want to inform them on a daily, or even bi-daily basis.

People will ensure to come back to a page and keep following a page if they know you are going to be posting on a regular basis.

Regularity brings loyalty.

1. Go green with content

As has been mentioned, a tweet only has a shelf life of roughly 18 minutes, with Marketing automation this means you can recycle your content. Automation and recycling your posts ensures that you should never run out of content.

The shelf life of an Instagram Post is roughly one hour. This is why you want to automatically add likes or auto drip Instagram followers so you don’t have to manually do it. Timing is critical when getting the likes so let a service do it for you.

Simply reposting a bit of content with a different messaging and leaving enough time in between each repost will give you a full, interesting and exciting time line that people will love.

In Conclusion

If you work with social media on a regular basis, especially if you use several different social media platforms, third party social media automation tools are essentially to efficient and smart working.

Each person will get different benefits from different tools and as an individual you should ensure to research the benefits of each tool to find what is best for what you require.

The post Should you use Third Party Social Media Automation? appeared first on SocialProof.

5 Tips to Fast Instagram Followers

Instagram is one of the best ways to share photos of your adventures in life with multiple people around the world at once.

There are many advantages to having a large social media following apart from the incredible ego boost you get from people enjoying what you post and what you do. For example; if you gain yourself a sizable following you can begin making money from advertising products to your followers like many celebrities and reality TV stars.

Read on to learn how you can Instagram followers fast with these 5 strategies.  

The Basics

First and foremost you must ensure that you complete all the basics when you set up your Instagram profile.

When someone first arrives at your profile they need to be grabbed immediately otherwise they will lose interest and move on, according to research you have just 7 seconds to make an impression. If you don’t have a complete profile, people won’t get hooked in.

First, being an image sharing platform, ensure that your profile image accurately represents you or your business, you don’t want people being left confused. The thumbnail can be small so you must ensure that you use a clear, identifiable image that accurately represents who or what you are.

Secondly, you need to let people know who you are; you can do this by choosing the correct name, whether it be your name or your business name, along with a short bio that gives a quick description of who you are and what it is you can do for the visitor.

Finally, if you have a business it is imperative to include a link to your website, otherwise what’s the point of going through all this effort to not get yourself business! With these basic first steps, you’ll be on your way to get more Instagram followers fast!

Know your crowd

To build a strong following, you’ve got to know your crowd and in order to do this, you need to research them!

If it’s a personal account, post pictures of things and places that you think your friends will like. Whilst this is unlikely to gain you a massive following, it will at least please your friends!

If you are growing with business in mind however, ensure your page is tailored for it. People will not want to come to a page, selling a certain type of watch if all they are seeing is photos of your dinner.

Ensure you research your target market extensively for the absolute best results.   

For example, lets consider you want to sell a brand of sunglasses. First you must consider what type of sunglasses it is you are selling. If they are young, trendy sunglasses you will want to build your page to get young and trendy individuals to follow you by posting about subjects that they will find engaging and interesting like festivals and music.

If however you are selling for an older, rich market you will want to gear your page towards subjects like sailing and gardening.

Be Imaginative

If your Instagram was deleted would your followers notice? What makes you different to the countless other profiles?

You need to be able to stand out but at the same time, be imaginative so that your followers keep coming back for more. This is where a lot of people struggle to stand out. Ask yourself, what makes you special?

1. How many pages or groups do you follow just because they make you laugh? Humor can help you stand out from the crowd in a big way. However, bare in mind that this has to be done in the correct context as you can’t have a funny page if your business happens to be a funeral directors; an extreme example but you get the idea.
2. If you don’t want to sell your page on making people laugh then creating informative and interesting content is also a great option. Think of your own experiences, I am sure there are some groups you follow just because they give you news on various subjects you can’t get from anywhere else. This can be a bit more work than just being funny as you have to go and find the information to let your followers know but it will ensure to show you in a more professional light.
3. Finally, the absolute best way to be imaginative and have your readers coming back for more is a mixture of both. If your business is one that allows for it, you can inform your followers on the latest goings on AND make them laugh at the same time. If you can achieve this winning formula, you are on to a winner!

There is nothing wrong with comparing and taking inspiration from some of your favorite people on Instagram, don’t flat out copy them but you can see what works best in the market you are targeting.

Remain Engaged

When you have a page on Instagram nothing makes people feel more involved and a part of your world than when you interact with them personally in some way or another.

Building a personal Instagram page I have no doubt that you will be constantly replying, DMing and loving pictures of your friends. Building a business page should be no different.

When people come to your Instagram, it is because they will want to see what you do, how you do it and why you do it. This means they may also have questions. For instance, they may want to ask you where you are in a picture you have posted, they may want your opinion on something you are wearing or they may have a question about your business.

It is a good habit to try and reply to everyone who takes the time out of their day to ask you something.   

Talking to your followers will make them happy because you have taken the time out of your busy day to interact with them, they will remember that and tell their friends how helpful your page is, bringing in more followers.

Buying Them

The strategies up to this stage have been a lot of work on your behalf! Researching your market, creating highly informative amusing content and replying to numerous people each day will work to get you followers but it can be time consuming and stressful. Do you have all that time and energy?

The good news is, with a service like SocialProof you can pay for automatic Instagram likes on all of your posts, Daily Instagram authentic followers to your page and high numbers of views on your posts.

All of this will be done without anyone knowing you are using this sneaky little hack! It will be our secret and your page will reach incredible new heights of popularity.

With SocialProof increasing your pages popularity will start a snowball effect that will get others liking and engaging your profile, if you see an Instagram page with a lot of interaction you will wonder yourself what the fuss is all about and want to join in!

Conclusion

I hope the strategies listed above get your profile to the heights you want it to be at. Remember with great amount of followers comes a great amount of responsibility.

The post 5 Tips to Fast Instagram Followers appeared first on SocialProof.

How to cancel Automatic Likes Subscription using Paypal.

One of the biggest questions asked by people who subscribe to Automatic Likes or Auto Followers is how do you cancel the subscription?

Subscription services through Paypal can all be handled the same way and it’s very easy to stop.

The following 5 step process will quickly help you suspend the Membership Service.

1. Log into Paypal with the Account you used on the website at the time you Signed Up to the Merchant.
   
2. Click on your Profile button in the Top Right and choose Profile and Settings:
   
3. Choose My Money in the left hand Menu and Click on the “Update” link next to your Preapproved Payments.
   
4. You should see a list of Subscription you have in Paypal, click on the Payment you want to Cancel.
   
5. Once you’ve selected the Merchant you want to modify, you will see a Cancel Link at the Top Left of the page.
   

Within 5 steps you can easily stop any subscription you have with Paypal. Recurring payments can be a real pain in your butt if you don’t manage them. It’s easily to lose track of how much money you are paying out every month to Merchant services.

A few things you should keep in mind before you stop your membership!

Your Subscription is still active until the Expiry date, this means your service will continue until it expires. If you need the service to stop completely it’s best to contact the provider so they can manually fix it for you.

The post How to cancel Automatic Likes Subscription using Paypal. appeared first on SocialProof.

Instagram Page Traffic, Statistics and Analytics for Free

We’re happy to announce some great new features to SocialProof. Today we launched the beginning stages of our Free Stats and Analytics service. Our Free Instagram Stats page is live and ready to be used. It updates in real time so you never miss anything.

We’ve managed to dissect and spit out some really cool information you can actually use about your Instagram Page, or maybe you’re curious about your favorite Celebrities page?

The good news is we don’t even need your login info. By simply providing the Username of the page you want to check, we can return a series of analytics for you to pour over.

We can give you a wealth of information like:

1. When was the last time this user posted a new video or photo?
2. What is their Post frequency?
3. How many Likes do they average per post?
4. Find out what Hashtags they prefer. (Hint: A good growth hack to help you know how they are growing their page)
5. The average comments per post (Helps you see their engagement)

Upcoming Analysis and Traffic Statistics:

We will be implementing new features like the following types of stats you can use.

1. Number of followers an account has.
2. Who has followed you today, yesterday, this week.
3. Who has unfollowed you
4. Which followers don’t interact with your posts, i.e. Ghost Followers
5. We’ll provide a live graph showing you in real time how many likes a site is getting.
6. Is the site growing or dying based on number of followers.
7. What are the best days to post in order to get more likes or views.
8. What the the most popular days to post?

By looking at your competition or similar niche pages you can figure out how they are growing. Once you have visibility you can make better decisions with your own Account.

The post Instagram Page Traffic, Statistics and Analytics for Free appeared first on SocialProof.

The Social Media sites Every Business should be using

Best Social Media Sites for Small Businesses

Are you feeling confused or behind on the current social media trends? Owning a small business can make you feel like you don’t need to be totally up on current social media standards like the major companies out there. However, that is totally false! Every sized business needs to capitalize every aspect of social media. Although social media may seem currently overwhelming to you, this blog post will help simplify and break down the different social media sites that your small business needs!

First, before you read any further, we need to establish something very important. Establishing your website must be of greater importance before you move on establishing your social media sites. Your website is the “portal” where you connect to and from any other external points.

With that being said, your social media sites are the important component to help guide your customers to your website! See what we did there? Social media sites are the vehicle that drives your traffic to your website, which is your key component to your business. This is why becoming “social” is so important to your marketing plan. Social media is the main source where your potential and new customers will be coming from.

So, where do you start now that you know how important having social media is to your small business? The guide below on the best social media sites for your small business is listed in order of highest importance.

Facebook

Currently the largest social media platform, Facebook is hosting over one billion users. If you don’t already have a Facebook, you’re missing out on your main source of new customers. We are talking billions of people here! Lucky for you, setting up a Facebook is a fairly easy process. Once you create your page for your business, users will then “like” your page, which then posts it on their “wall”. In this case, your page will start being shared and seen quickly every time someone likes your posts or page. Facebook is putting your brand in front of an audience you didn’t have before.

Twitter

The next top leading social media app in the world is Twitter. This “mini-blogging” social media app is just a large network of information. Posts can only have 140 max characters, allowing people to post short and to-the-point tweets (messages) to the world. Twitter is different from Facebook because users “follow” you rather than “like” you. Once they follow you, your tweets (posts) show up on their “feed”. You can also follow other users, which is usually the best way to gain followers for yourself, as well as using strong hashtags (#food, #fashion, etc.).

Twitter is an amazing tool to connect with people and other businesses participating in the same events and gatherings. Through Twitter, you can follow hashtags, like if you were attending a concert or live event of any sort. As a business, you can use this to your advantage and use your own hashtag! Twitter is one of the easiest social media apps to understand, there’s not much more to it than following, tweeting, and liking.

YouTube

If your small business can incorporate videos in any way, YouTube is the social media app for you. YouTube is a video-sharing social media site owned by Google. Hosting one billion new active users each month, with new video uploads of 48 hours every minute! As a small business owner, video strategies, and keywords for your videos is another important component of your online strategy.

Instagram

One of the newest and largest hits in the business world is Instagram. It is slowly becoming one of the most widely used business tools today. If you are not caught up with Instagram, you are lacking serious potential with gaining new customers and targeting specific audiences. Instagram is mainly a photo app, where you post photos and add captions to each photo. Your photos will show up on your followers feed, and create a picture collage on your Instagram company “page”.

That is why Instagram is huge for small businesses, you get to showcase your products and the lifestyle your business promotes through photos. Instagram allows you to create a certain image for your business to attract new customers. The best way to grow on Instagram is by following a targeted audience, using hashtags related to your product or service, and staying active to your audience by liking and commenting on their posts. The more engaged you are with other pages in your industry, the more likely you can grow your following automatically.

Google Plus

Google+ is obviously owned by Google, and is a similar social media app to Tumblr or Pinterest, but is it more corporate and professional. It includes Google+ messenger, hangouts, circles, and instant uploads. Its search engine rankings are what your small business can benefit from Google+.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the official social networking site connecting 135 million people from 200 countries. Wow! Basically, LinkedIn is an online resume for an individual or business, and connects you to mutual friends or businesses, and allows others to “connect” or view your resume. It also has job listings, interest groups, and helps jobs and people find you! Dedicating about an hour or two a week on LinkedIn by connecting with other people, and updating your profile is important for your businesses resume.

Pinterest

If your type of service or product is visually appealing (probably a yes), then Pinterest is the social media app for you. Pinterest is a massive vision board filled with stylish, trending, and inspiring photo sharing. The mission of Pinterest is to connect the world through a shared taste and interests. Users can follow or create themed “boards” and “pin” their favorite photos. Pinterest also allows you to link your website to your beautiful photos so users can buy your products!

Yelp

As the king of all reviews, Yelp is not structured like the normal social media networking site, however, it has over 140 million users. Customers trust Yelp with reviews and ratings of all sorts of companies and businesses. You can acquire a lot of new business through your customer’s reviews and comments!

The post The Social Media sites Every Business should be using appeared first on SocialProof.