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In recent years, inbound marketing as a strategy has proven to be the most popular choice over traditional outbound marketing strategies (which usually consists of buying ad space on media and waiting for queries to come in). A 2013 study by inbound marketing experts at Hubspot showed that 58 percent of marketers have adapted to inbound marketing, and more impressively, 34 percent of leads are generated through inbound marketing compared to the 22 percent of leads that are produced through outbound marketing. A marketing transformation has taken place and inbound marketing only has room to grow as the market expands in the next decade. Here is all you      need to know about inbound marketing and how its partnership with social media can be a startup company’s strongest lead generation tool. 

The hit AMC drama, Mad Men, has painted a romanticized portrait of the golden age of advertising. Brand messaging was created and signed off over drinks and cigarettes; a creative tag line was all you needed for success; and TV, print, and radio were your only options as a marketer. Cut to 2014 and the Mad Men mystique seems like nothing more than a fairytale. Print is dying, you can't smoke indoors, and online ads are limited by character counts and how large of a bid you can afford.The golden age of advertising may seem like a fantasy, but is it really gone? Not entirely. The spirit Mad Men portrays has not died; in fact, it is more alive than ever, specifically in Social Media and SEO campaigns.

As social media continues to grow in popularity, businesses everywhere continue to integrate it into their marketing efforts. As many reports can show, social media can help brand interaction, increased contacts, and eventually even lead to new customers.

As a small business owner you need to contemplate one simple but very important fact. When people perform a search in a major search engine (i.e. Google) for your products or services only one of two outcomes is possible: they will find your website, or they will find your competitors. Showing up in the first few results in a search for your products or services can have a huge impact on your business. Getting in those top posititions can be incredibly difficult though. The process can be daunting and elusive for any small business.

"A picture says a thousand words."

The classic saying has never been more true!  After all, social media recently witnessed a surge in both the number of and the significance of multi-media posts: the so-called visual content revolution.  While the more traditional blog post includes 500 to 1000 words, multi-media microblogs essentially eliminate the need for words.  Most importantly, keep in mind that 44% of users are more likely to engage with brands if they post pictures than any other media.  Visual content marketing, therefore, is essential to any social media marketing campaign.  So, which visual content platform is right for your brand?

Q: Which social networking platform should you use in your social media marketing campaign?

A: All of them!

Many people enjoy twitter because it moves at a much faster pace when compared to Facebook. The site is a constant stream of information and advertising that, if taken advantage of, can help to propel your business to the next level. Many of you probably joined Twitter to market a business. While marketing may be your primary focus, Twitter also emphasizes an element of personal branding you shouldn't neglect have you optimized both your personal and business Twitter presence to enable people to learn more about you and your business? If you haven't, keep reading. Let's look at a few of the methods to increase your Twitter presence.

Every day over 100 million people log into their twitter accounts, 52.7 million of these people being American, and every second over 5,000 tweets are posted online.  Twitter has grown to be enormous in the social media world and has proven to be very effective in the business world.  More and more companies have begun using Twitter as a marketing tool as it continues to demonstrate its success.  Twitter can help grow a business by providing a leeway so businesses can connect to customers on a personal level.  Additionally, Twitter helps create brand awareness and allows companies to market new products easily.   Aside from these direct benefits, Twitter allows you to keep an eye on your competition and see what they are up to so that you never fall behind the game.

Social media marketing is booming and there is no shortage of advice about the role social media marketing should play in a company’s marketing plan. Unfortunately, that advice can often be  filled with inaccuracies.