Sponsored Content: 6 Strategies for Success in Social Media

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Business owners should be developing comprehensive social marketing strategies. Those merchants who haven’t taken the first step by creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for their businesses are losing out on customer loyalty, as well as new opportunities for growth.

Studies Find More SMBs Want to Manage Their Own Social Media

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There is compelling evidence that SMBs’ understanding and aptitude for social media is growing. More importantly, it seems that a significant number of SMBs want and may be ready to take the reins of their social media marketing.

Street Fight Daily: Marketers Spend On Social, Clinkle Pivots (Again)

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology70% Of Marketers Plan To Boost Social Spending In 2015 (Marketing Land)… Clinkle Pivots From Its Soured Brand To “Treats” For Sharing Discounts (TechCrunch)… How Zomato Plans To Eat Yelp’s Lunch In America (Quartz)…

7 Ways Loyalty Programs Can Increase Social Media Exposure

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More than one-in-three small businesses now has a loyalty program in place, but that doesn’t mean that local merchants are always taking full advantage of the benefits that these hyperlocal marketing platforms can provide. Here are seven ways that businesses can use existing digital loyalty programs to help increase reach on social networks…

8 Strategies for Reaching Out to Online Influencers

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Rather than sitting idly by while influencers dictate what’s being said about their businesses on social media and review websites, merchants are beginning to reach out to these social media users on a personal basis. Here are eight strategies that marketers should consider when reaching out to influencers online…

Case Study: Mountain Shop Finds Balance Between Paid and Unpaid Promotions

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Soon after taking over control of the 34-year-old mountain shop Alpenglow Sports, in Tahoe City, California, Brendan Madigan got to work crafting a strategic marketing plan that included both online and offline initiatives and relied heavily on social media for generating awareness among customers in his target demographics…

6 Tools for Gathering Insight from Digital Customer Interactions

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A lack of time and knowledge are two factors that explain why business owners don’t take a more active role in monitoring how they’re perceived online. However, a number of hyperlocal platforms are now aiming to streamline that process by giving small businesses access to advanced marketing automation tools and analytics suites that were once reserved for national brands and agencies. Here are six platforms that businesses can use to gather insight from online customer interactions…

5 Platforms for Analyzing Customer Sentiment

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To help marketers gain a better understanding of what people are truly saying about their companies, a number of hyperlocal vendors are stepping in with tools that automatically analyze customer sentiment on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter…

Report: Mobile Will Account for Half of Social Advertising Revenue by 2017

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Mobile is poised to account for a majority of spending on social media advertising in the U.S. by 2017, eclipsing spending on desktop a year later, according to report from BIA/Kelsey released this morning. The research firm estimates that spending on social advertising in the U.S. will nearly triple over the next five years, swelling from $5.1 billion last year to $15 billion by 2018. In 2017, the firms expects that marketers will spend $6.7 billion — or half of all social media advertising revenues — on mobile ad formats.

5 Tools For Analyzing Location Data from Social Media

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The volume of data available through social media overwhelms marketers of all sizes, including large brands with hundreds of outposts. Whereas it might be possible for a merchant with a single location to manually monitor the tweets, reviews, and photos being posted about his business each day, that kind of personal attention to detail is virtually impossible for larger brands. Here are five examples of platforms that marketers can use to make sense of the location-specific data coming from social media.

Hyperlocal Social Ads Need to Be ‘Current, Relevant, and Contextual’

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Topsy is one of a handful data analytics startups that are helping brands make sense of the deluge of data flowing through social networks. Street Fight recently caught up with Jamie de Guerre, the company’s VP of product, to talk about the intersection social media and location, and how marketers can leverage location data to make social media marketing work…

7 Strategies for Maximizing the Success of SMB Social Media Campaigns

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More than four out of every five small businesses now use Facebook as a marketing vehicle, but that doesn’t mean merchants on Main Street have social media all figured out. Thirty-one percent of merchants who don’t use social media say they “don’t know how,” and 13% say they “don’t know what to post.” Here are seven strategies for maximizing the success of an existing social media campaign from a few of the experts who work in this field.

Street Fight’s 5 Most Popular Stories From the First Half of 2013

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The first six months of 2013 has brought a whirlwind of developments in local, from massive fundraising to exciting new products, and of course a few stumbles. What have readers been most interested in to date? Innovation around point-of-sale systems has been hot-hot-hot. Social media strategies for brands and SMBs are also highly evolving and therefore closely read. And it’s hardly a surprise that readers glommed onto our look into where investment dollars may lie. Enjoy this look back at the stories you loved (or may have missed!)…

5 Platforms for Location-Based Listening & Analytics

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With more than 400 million tweets being sent worldwide each day, merchants and brands are desperate to cut through the clutter. A number of platforms are being developed that combine social media monitoring with location-based analytics, helping marketers pinpoint relevant messages in their own cities and regions. Here are five examples of these hybrid tools…

6 Ways SMBs Can Turn Social Media Fans Into Actual Customers

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Although 36% of SMBs have said acquiring and engaging new customers was their primary goal in using social media, according to a recent survey, only 39% said they were seeing ROI from their online activities. In an effort to solve the mystery and find out how merchants can turn online followers into customers, we consulted with the experts…

SMB Social Media Is All About Branding, Not Conversions

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SMBs may become frustrated when they can’t see tangible results from social media, but they should realize that most of their potential customers are absorbing and reacting to social media conversations and understanding brands through these interactions. Brand marketing, not the 0% conversion rates, is social media’s key strength…

LBS Evzdrop Wants to Deepen SMB Relationships With Consumers

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The location-based service is trying to to help businesses use its user-generated data to interact and build relationships with consumers. Street Fight recently caught up with the company’s CEO, David Rush, to talk about the value of real-time data to businesses, how they can better use location for marketing and more…

7 Social Media Strategies for Small Business Owners

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Investing in free social media tools is one of the most cost-effective things a small business owner can do to increase brand recognition and awareness, and yet fewer than 20% of SMBs currently have websites that link to popular social media networks. Here are seven tips from experts in the social media marketing industry about how business owners can take advantage of the social media tools available today…

Helping SMBs Understand the Importance of Social Marketing

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Most small businesses are still stuck in the Golden Age of Advertising, and don’t understand the concepts behind this marketing sea change. They see a brand new industry full of hundreds of startup companies babbling about seemingly identical solutions to a marketing methodology they can’t quite grasp. Here are three simple concepts SMBs need to understand about social marketing…

5 Ways Hyperlocal News Sites Can Use Social Media to Drive Engagement

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Social media is a powerful and necessary tool for hyperlocal publications to engage with their readers and promote their work. In small communities, it can be a vital conduit to reach local people, build traffic, and provide value for advertisers. Here are five tips from hyperlocal publishers on how to increase a site’s social media presence…