Mention social media marketing and most people think of Facebook and Twitter. Sure, they are the biggest players on the Internet…or are they?

It’s true that Facebook and Twitter receive a lot of visitors each day, but that doesn’t make them the biggest players when it comes to social media marketing. There are some businesses that don’t seem to be able to make an impression on either of those sites, yet they find real success connecting with their audience on Pinterest or MySpace.

Where is your target audience online?

Social media sites are not all the same. Each site draws a different group of people for different reasons. With over 900 million users, Facebook has the widest appeal when it comes to demographics; however, each group has a different agenda when logging in. “Millenials” tend to want to upload photos, banter with their friends, and organize party dates – they really are social. Parents will log in to check on their children, compare notes with friends, ask questions, then log out again.  While that’s a bit of a generalization, it’s clear that everyone uses social media just a bit differently.

“If you look at the latest fad in social media, it’s Pinterest,” shared Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg. “By all accounts, Pinterest is driving more traffic than Facebook and Twitter combined for some niches. When it comes to Pinterest, the audience is 75%-80% female, generally mothers, and mostly interested in fashion, food, personal services and baby-related goods. If you deal in any of those niches, then you may well find that Pinterest is the best social media channel in which you should market.”

When considering a social media marketing campaign, you need to strategically segment the social media channels that are available. Analyze each one to see whether or not your audience (potential customers) is heavily involved, and if so, find out in what way. Just because the numbers are large, that doesn’t mean you are going to get a huge response. By carefully assessing each option, you can then plan a marketing campaign that doesn’t just deliver your message to the right audience, but one that delivers that message in a way that is acceptable to them in that channel.

“The days are long gone where you can just pump content through Facebook and Twitter,” said Melberg. “You now need to be smarter in how you approach social media – more importantly, smarter in how you assess your approach to each social media site.”

With over 850 million users, one might think that Facebook is a no-brainer from a business perspective.  The fact is, there are many businesses who have yet to embrace Facebook and other social media sites in a strategic manner.  I just spoke with a prospective customer last week who told me he “doesn’t quite know what to do with Facebook,” so he has chosen to do nothing.  (Yes, we can certainly help him!)

With Facebook heading toward it’s multi-billion dollar IPO, expected in May of this year, Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg predicts that changes will happen that will force businesses to take a look at their social media participation – and soon.

“You need to look at Facebook’s potential revenue drivers with this IPO on the horizon,” says Melberg.  “Yes, they currently make money on advertising, but to date they are leaving the entire search advertising market (valued at $15 billion annually) on the table.  Have you ever tried to search for something on Facebook?  It’s terrible.  Facebook today ranks today with the lowest amount of search volume (behind Google, Yahoo, Bing, EBay, Craigslist, Ask, AOL and even Amazon).  That is going to change with new investors on board.”

While Google is moving into social with it’s Google+ product, Facebook will move into search by adding a stronger search component within it’s existing platform – one that 850 million users (and growing) already use regularly.

According to this article on Bloomberg Businessweek, “Greg Sterling, a senior analyst at Opus Research, says Facebook could quickly become the second-most popular search engine if it tackles the (search) problem in earnest.”

So – what does this mean for your business?  When Facebook improves it’s search functionality, suddenly your customers won’t have to leave Facebook to search for what they want to find.  If your business isn’t on Facebook…how will they find you when they do so?

The much-anticipated launch of Timeline for Brands is coming soon to a Facebook Page near you.  Last September, when Facebook launched its “Timeline” initiative for personal profiles, speculation began about when this change would be available for Facebook Pages as well.

During today’s Facebook Conference for Marketers, the company announced their plans for Timeline for Brands.

What do business owners need to do now to prepare for this switch?

One of the most obvious things that will happen is Pages will get a new look and feel.  They will adopt the over-sized graphic (known as the “Cover”) on the Wall with a small inset profile graphic intended for your company logo.

“While the obvious first instinct for this space will be a huge promotional message from brands, it’s important to remember that a strong sales push is not the way to go with social media,” says Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg.  “It’s still about creating a relationship with your visitors and generating word of mouth – now companies have a larger space to tell our story in a branded way, and that’s a good thing.”

Pages are known as “Mission Control” in the Facebook world.  The “Cover” space on your page is designed to be the voice of your page, and your “visual status update.”  This sets the tone for your page, and is designed to be changed frequently.

Your posts will also have larger image areas attached to them, so each post will have the ability to generate increased engagement (as posts with photos attached get twice or more the engagement of plain text status updates, according to average figures from internal Facebook research studies).

Less obvious will be the way that companies will need to change how they manage and interact on their Facebook Pages with the launch of Timeline for Brands.

As it’s name suggests, “Timeline” gives companies the opportunity to tell your entire company history (compared with just the history of your company since Facebook came to be).  “This is in line with Facebook’s goal of encouraging engagement and interaction,” says Melberg.  “The more a company has the opportunity to tell their whole story, the more interaction can be fostered.”

Because of the increase in focus on interaction and engagement, “blast posts” to the masses on your Page will have even less positive effect than they do currently.  It will become more important to watch your Page more frequently to engage in conversations happening there about your company, products and services or industry, and likely to post more frequently and with more relevance as a result.

“Gone will be the days that scheduled blast posts are effective,” says Melberg.  “Companies who succeed with Timeline for Brands will be those who can create a theme with content that is bigger than the products or services they sell and who create a strategy for helping build passion and engagement around that mission on Facebook and integrate that across their entire marketing strategy.”

Facebook is also giving companies the opportunity to become more creative with custom apps.  Similar to popular social media break-out site, Pinterest, companies can now create Facebook apps for their Pages using customized verbs for actions taken on the Page.  Instead of “Liked” for instance, Pinterest uses “Pinned”.  While existing apps will continue to work (with potentially some maintenance), it’s easy to see that a whole new world is opening up for companies ready to take advantage of this exciting new phase of marketing on Facebook.

Posting too frequently on social media sites can annoy friends and followers, but if you’re not posting often enough, you might be missing your chance to stay top-of-mind to your target audience. If you’re the administrator for a company’s Facebook page, do you know how often you should be posting?

According to Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg, the convergence between Twitter and Facebook continues. “The half-life of a Facebook post is now 3.2 hours, and the new Facebook Timeline feature means that amount of time will continue to shrink,” said Melberg. “No longer can a business post once per day to their page and expect that they will achieve the reach they are hoping for.  This means businesses will need to post more frequently to their Facebook pages to achieve the same reach as they did prior to Timeline.”

Just like Twitter, you can now start to think of Facebook like a “stream” versus a lake.  What you see floating by is dependent upon when you are sitting there, and different people will be sitting at different times. With Facebook Timeline, you’ll want to send more messages down stream in order to reach folks who watch at different times.

It’s also critical that you check your Facebook Insights to find out what the best times for you to post are – those times when you receive the most engagement. Be sure to monitor that on a regular basis, as we expect to see this change with Timeline.

While Facebook Timline was a major change, what do you think will be the next big change in the world of social media?

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the reliability of online information that is compiled by individual users (think Wikipedia). Others scrutinize sites that allow users to share/upload files, music and videos freely. But who can really define whether these sites are doing right or wrong?

The Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) is an effort to regulate all content online. It has been creating buzz because, if passed, the Act “…makes the streaming of unauthorized content a felony,” reported MSNBC.com.

The reactions to this proposed law are definitely being heard. Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare are just a few of the online sites that are threatening to “…take a ‘nuclear option’ and ‘go simultaneously dark’ in protest of the bill,” MSNBC.com published earlier this week.

There are those who support the bill and would like to see unauthorized content removed from all websites. Others rely on shared information from internet users on a daily basis. How about if you’re a student writing a research paper – can you cite Wikipedia as a credible resource for your information? Educational institutions and their professors/instructors have a wide range of policies for students using these crowd-sourced encyclopedias as a reliable source in coursework. Since users can change the content, who’s to say that what you’re reading on those sites is factual?

Try asking followers of The Colbert Report with Steven Colbert on Comedy Central. In 2006 he encouraged viewers to change the Wikipedia entries on elephants to state that their population had tripled in the last six months. So what happened? Roughly 20 Wikipedia articles on elephants were vandalized by numerous users stating exactly what Colbert had suggested – until Wikipedia administrators caught wind of what had actually happened, locked the pages and blocked Colbert from the site. According to Colbert, a made up thing or idea becomes true reality if enough people agree with you. He coined it as “wikiality,” and he was proving it.

Does SOPA silent free speech? Or does it help regulate false information on the infinite Internet?

Do you know if your Facebook profile is in violation of any rules? What about your business or company page? While some people might not see any problem with bending a rule or two, Facebook is really stepping up to enforce their guidelines in 2012– and many users could lose their pages or profiles.

Did you even know that by setting up a Facebook personal profile, you are acknowledging that you will adhere to the following guidelines?

• Facebook users must provide their real names and information
• You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
• You will not create more than one personal profile.
• If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
• If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user’s actual name)

And more…

Here’s an example – if you meant to set up a company or business profile but accidentally set it up as a personal profile, Facebook is allowing you to switch the account to a business page to correct the accident. Another option is to delete the duplicate personal profile and setup the correct brand page. Facebook has also made it possible to merge duplicate company pages that you may have accidentally set up.

Please note that if you are planning to make many changes to a page, you probably want to make sure you’re confident in what you’re doing, or that you get help from someone who knows what he or she is doing. Just make sure that the person(s) handling the details of your account can advise you correctly. After all,  some of the changes you make to your account are permanent.

Facebook is simply trying to ensure safety and convenience for all users. Although the social media giant is making an effort to allow people to correct their mistakes, this may not continue forever. Eventually people, brands and companies who do not abide by Facebook’s rules or adhere to ethical standards could have their profiles deleted or blocked.

Guidelines provided by Facebook.com.

While we all get ready to ring in the New Year, Facebook has gotten an early start by launching their new Timeline design. As we mentioned this past September, Facebook Timeline provides users with a single place to display what has happened in their lives over the years since starting an account with the site.

“It’s a way to tell all the important stories from your life on a single page,” said Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The new design allows users to customize many features, and it even includes a map where people can input places they’ve been around the world.

There have been many mixed reviews on the new layout, but only time will tell whether or not Facebook users will accept or reject the new change. There’s a good chance that the design will simply take some getting-used-to before users forget that the change was even made and become comfortable navigating it.

Read more about Facebook Timeline on Yahoo.

What do you think of Facebook Timeline?

Oh, what the click of one button can do. A single click can cause an uproar of negative responses, uncover groundbreaking stories, or release an unlimited amount of information. In this case, we take a look at Ad Age‘s article about individuals and representatives of companies who seem to have simply clicked “Post” before thinking twice.

Are you always double-checking your details before posting content online?

From the offensive tweets of a spokesperson impersonating a duck, to the ‘Qwik’ fail of a new name and site for a DVD rental service, 2011 definitely saw its fair share of social media blunders. Twitter was a common site for many of the mishaps, including a short rant about the drivers of the Motor City that was posted on Chrysler’s own Twitter account by accident. One person on the list was even fined $500,000 for the contents of his tweet – that’s an expensive fee for a post that was 160 characters or less.

Keep in mind that what you post online can be seen as a direct reflection of your character. Most people don’t think that accidentally sending their next text to the wrong person or place could result in the loss of their job – and it’s likely that New York congressman Anthony Weiner didn’t think so either.

What can be learned from this entertaining list? Think twice and check your facts before posting anything online – especially if you’re posting on the behalf of another person or entity. If you wouldn’t be willing to have the information printed on the front cover of Time, don’t publish it online.

Do you have a social media policy in place in case you or your business made a social media mistake?

It’s time for the 2013 Weatherguide Facebook Photo Contest!

Freshwater Society invites you to submit your best photo of the first signs of winter for the 2013 Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar.

The 2012 Minnesota Weather Guide Environment Calendar

Remember that funny post your friend shared on Facebook last month, but now you can’t seem to find it? Google it! The search engine giant will soon begin indexing posts on Facebook and other sites and showing those comments in Google search results.

Are your online posts and comments meant to be private or public?

Will this apply to absolutely every Facebook user? The answer is no. One key factor to remember is that those who keep their posts private, comment on private groups or restrict profile access will not have as many of their comments available publicly. Only users who make their comments public or comment on any public, open group or page will be affected by this new policy.

Also keep in mind that this change will not just apply to Facebook. Any site that includes PostData, such as WordPress blogs, will be searched by Google. How do you know if information on those sites can be found by search engines? If you don’t have the choice to make your post or comment limited to a certain audience, assume that it is most likely searchable.

This new “feature” is just another reason why users need to be careful what they post online. Social Media Strategist Caroline Melberg puts it best when she says that “you shouldn’t post something online that you wouldn’t be willing to have printed on the front page of The New York Times.”

Do you see this as a helpful feature? Or does it present more potential problems online?